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KEEP DEMONSTRATING AGAINST TRUMP — BUT ALSO FOR A BETTER FUTURE.  
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Robert Reich
May 6, 2025
Robert Reich Substack
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_ The importance of progressive populism _

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Friends,

Demonstrations against Trump are getting larger and louder. Fabulous.
This is absolutely essential.

But at some point we’ll need to demonstrate not just against Trump
but also _for_ the America we want.

Trump’s regressive populism — cruel, tyrannical, bigoted,
authoritarian — must be met by a bold _progressive_ populism that
strengthens democracy and shares the wealth.

We can’t simply return to the path we were on before Trump. Even
then, big money was taking over our democracy and siphoning off most
of the economy’s gains.

Two of America’s most respected political scientists — Professors
Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern
University — analyzed
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1,799 policy issues decided between 1981 and 2002. They found that
“the preferences of the average American appear to have only a
minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public
policy.”

Instead, lawmakers responded to the demands of wealthy individuals
(typically corporate executives and Wall Street moguls) and big
corporations — those with the most lobbying prowess and deepest
pockets to bankroll campaigns. And “when a majority of citizens
disagrees with economic elites or with organized interests, they
generally lose.”

Notably, Gilens and Page’s research data was gathered _before_ the
Supreme Court opened the floodgates to big money in _Citizens United.
_After that, the voices of typical Americans were entirely drowned.

In the election cycle of 2016, which first delivered the White House
to Trump, the richest _one hundredth of one percent _of Americans
accounted for a record-breaking _40 percent _of all campaign
donations. (By contrast, in 1980, the top 0.01 percent accounted for
only 15 percent of all contributions.)

The direction we were heading was unsustainable. Even before Trump’s
first regime, trust in every major institution of society was
plummeting — including Congress, the courts, corporations, Wall
Street, universities, the legal establishment, and the media.

The entire system seemed rigged for the benefit of the establishment
— and in many ways, it was.

The typical family’s inflation-adjusted income had barely risen for
decades. Most of the economy’s gains had gone to the top.

Wall Street got bailed out when its gambling addiction caused it
enormous losses, but homeowners who were underwater did not. Nor did
people who lost their jobs and savings. Not a single top Wall Street
executive went to jail.

A populist — antiestablishment — revolution was inevitable. But it
didn’t have to be a tyrannical one. It didn’t have to be
regressive populism.

Instead of putting the blame where it belonged — on big
corporations, Wall Street, and the billionaire class — Trump has
blamed immigrants, the “deep state,” socialists, “coastal
elites,” transgender people, “DEI,” and “woke.”

How has Trump gotten away with this while giving the super-rich large
tax benefits and regulatory relief and surrounding himself (especially
in his second term) with a record number of billionaires, including
the richest person in the world?

Largely because Democrats — with the notable exceptions of Bernie
Sanders (who isn’t even a Democrat), AOC, and a handful of others
— could not, and still cannot, bring themselves to enunciate a
_progressive_ version of populism that puts the blame squarely where
it belongs.

Too many have been eating from the same campaign buffet as the
Republicans and dare not criticize the hands that feed them.

This has left Trump’s regressive populism the only version of
antiestablishment politics available to Americans. It’s a tragedy.
Antiestablishment fury remains at the heart of our politics, and for
good reason.

What would progressive populism entail?

Strengthening democracy by busting up big corporations. Stopping Wall
Street’s gambling (e.g., replicating the Glass-Steagall Act).
Getting big money out of politics, even if this requires amending the
Constitution. Requiring big corporations to share their profits with
their average workers. Strengthening unions. And raising taxes on the
super-wealthy to finance a universal basic income, Medicare for all,
and paid family leave.

Hopefully, demonstrations against Trump’s regressive, tyrannical
populism will continue to grow.

But we must also be demonstrating _for_ a better future beyond Trump
— one that strengthens democracy and works on behalf of all
Americans rather than a privileged few.

* Trump's Populism; Progressive Populism; Corporations and Wall
Street;
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