Top 186 Populist Quotes & Sayings

I believe in and love the populist, nationalist, antiglobalist rebellion happening all over the West.

I don't know if I'm a populist artist, but I do try to maintain a spirit of generosity.

I'm vulgar, I'm a populist. But isn't that what the mayor should be?

Simply because something is a populist movement doesn't make it either good or bad.

Washington's Alfalfa Club dinner is a populist's nightmare.

I come from a working class community in eastern Scotland, and I've always been a populist, though not a patronising populist.

I'm not a populist. But I try to present complicated issues in such a way that people know where I stand.

I'm so proud of being a populist!

. . . rock and roll, as I see it, is the ultimate populist art form, democracy in action, because it's true: anybody can do it.

When elections are not democratic, even the most populist discussions become superficial, disconnected from real power; they are theatre.

I see a continuation of the populist outrage that prompted the Brexit and sparked the Bernie Sanders campaign.

I'm a nationalist and populist.

Catering to populist anger with extremist proposals that are certain to fail is not a viable strategy for political success.

Trump is holding together the shakiest coalition that you could conceivably govern on. It is a conservative, populist alliance that agrees with itself on very little.

Governments can't escape from taking tough steps. One can't be populist about it. You can't flirt with such serious issues like security.

It's a very beautiful word, populism. I'm proud to be a populist.

I tell the truth and they call me a fascist, a racist, an ugly, dirty, nasty, xenophobic populist.

I think Donald Trump is trying to use populist rhetoric to cover up a right-wing agenda.

Extremists and populist movements are exploiting people's fear of those who are not like us. We can see the consequences in the form of terrorism and racially motivated violence.

It is important to show up. Showing up at marches and rallies and town halls and protests. I remember I was really quite sad from Election Night last year until Jan. 20. And then I remember waking up Jan. 21 and seeing these amazing Women's Marches across America, and I thought to myself, That's the country that I know. And that's a larger populist movement that I'm seeing than Donald Trump's relatively small populist movement. And that gave me a lot of hope and energy, and from that day forward, I've taken a view that we'll flip the House next year.

The normalization of Trump is one indicator that there may be less to the populist insurrection than imagined.

As with fascism, the rise of Islamic totalitarianism has partly to do with its populist appeal to the class resentments of an economically oppressed population and to anger at political subordination and humiliation.

I just think, realistically, there's a lot of room outside the Trump populist right and the Bernie-Sanders-Elizabeth-Warren populist left. There are a lot of us who believe in open trade, open borders, a dynamic forward-looking economy, not a nostalgic economy, but do want to provide a significant level of social service or sort of economic Milton Friedman foreign policy, Ronald Reagan domestic policy, Franklin Roosevelt. And there's a lot of room in the center.

It’s easy to see why politicians would be drawn to the populist pose. First, it makes everything so simple. The economic crisis was caused by a complex web of factors, including global imbalances caused by the rise of China. But with the populist narrative, you can just blame Goldman Sachs.

Populism is folkish, patriotism is not. One can be a patriot and a cosmopolitan. But a populist is inevitably a nationalist of sorts. Patriotism, too, is less racist than is populism. A patriot will not exclude a person of another nationality from the community where they have lived side by side and whom he has known for many years, but a populist will always remain suspicious of someone who does not seem to belong to his tribe.

Anything popular is populist, and populist is rarely a good adjective.

Compromise disappoints those who buy into the most ambitious and simplistic populist slogans.

I've always seen myself as a populist filmmaker.

I'm anti-big power. I don't know if that's populist or not.

America is always a good target for a populist. In many countries, particularly authoritarian systems, if you want to get an extra bonus, you bash the Americans.

The Republican party is changing. It's becoming more populist.

There can be an energy in a populist campaign that isn't always in the best interest of the party.

If we say leaders are incompetent, we are going to fuel extremist, populist, xenophobic and ultra-nationalist parties.

Beating up on the so-called elite media has a nice populist ring to it.

We are doing politics differently - smart, populist, political movement.

I think it's always hard for people to get their head around the fact that populist, commercial films can also actually be great works of art.

In these troubled times we live in, we should remain vigilant and see through populist arguments.

Hindi news is much more determinedly populist and lowbrow than the English channels.

Pundits talk about 'populist rage' as a way to trivialize the anger and fear coursing through the middle class.

If I had chosen the populist course, it would have been a breach of the trust placed in me by the people.

Trump channeled ethno-populist rage as naturally and charismatically as George Wallace had during the 1960s, while seating a billionaire cabinet.

Populist promises to reverse every tough decision are nothing but empty rhetoric, irresponsible leadership, and bad politics. They are not the solution to Ireland's problems.

English plus Microsoft equals a new cultural revolution a global means of communication that is irrepressibly contagious, adaptable, populist and subversive.

If you can't be a populist in Arkansas, you ain't going to be a populist in Washington.

Has Donald Trump ever called himself a populist? I don't think Donald Trump's ever called himself a populist. I think other people have called him a populist, and other people have called Steve Bannon a populist. But I don't think Trump's ever called himself that and he may not know what one is, within the political realm or definition. He's not a political person, and that I think is leading to many people having just a devil of a time translating the guy, analyzing the guy, predicting the guy, projecting the guy.

The difference between us and the other side is that they use populist and...kind of slogans that are...they fool the people. They are the kind of dishonest and populist slogans that we are not willing to use.

Donald Trump was appealing to a lot of people with his populist message.

The lack of societal and institutional safeguards provides fertile ground for populist movements fueled by fear.

I think Trump had this general populist agenda but has not been particularly adept at using the levers of power in Washington.

I think Donald Trump is truly a populist.

Even some of my Republican friends say I have a populist, progressive streak. I am not a doctrinaire, anti-government person.

I like to think that I'm a populist entertainer, but I'm a little bit idiosyncratic, and sometimes the networks wouldn't really roll with that.

There's something in life that's cool, it's relatively cheap, and fun, and populist. Even when it's elitist.

I don't see myself as particularly highbrow. I am much more populist.

There are voters out there that a moralistic and populist conservative right might win but a flagrantly hypocritical and ethnonationalist conservatism cannot.

The New York Times had a headline on its website - Trump Turning To Ultra Wealthy To Steer Economic Policy. This doesn't sound very populist to me. Today's commerce secretary, the names being talked about for treasury secretary, I think there will be populist talk but maybe no populist action.

Abolish the monarchy. That is my populist take.

I think that social media platforms and technology have been the accelerator for the push for the populist-style administrations in democratically elected presidents.

The crisis of the 1930s and the populist reactions of that time must not be forgotten.

Trump might have a populist message that resonates with some voters, but the man doesn't care about any of the people he's appealing to.