National Populists champion ordinary people against a self-serving elite that they believe has rigged the economy and sold out the country. They see both political parties as captured by donors and special interests—Wall Street, Silicon Valley, multinational corporations—that profit from policies hurting working Americans: trade deals that ship jobs overseas, immigration that undercuts wages, and endless wars that sacrifice American lives for unclear gains.
This strain surged with Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, which broke from Republican orthodoxy on trade, immigration, and foreign policy while speaking directly to working-class frustrations. But the roots run deeper: to Ross Perot's anti-NAFTA campaigns, Pat Buchanan's "peasants with pitchforks," and a long American tradition of populist revolt against perceived elite betrayal.
The core conviction is that the system is rigged. Free trade agreements were sold as benefiting everyone but actually benefited corporations and China while devastating American manufacturing communities. Immigration, both legal and illegal, floods labor markets and changes communities without the consent of those affected. The "rules-based international order" extracts American resources to police the world while neglecting problems at home.
National Populists are neither conventionally left nor right on economics. They support entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare that benefit working people. They're skeptical of corporate tax cuts that flow to shareholders. But they're also suspicious of means-tested welfare and programs they see as benefiting those who don't work or aren't American citizens.
At roughly 7% of the population, National Populists are a major political force—the core of Trump's base and a significant faction in the realigned Republican Party. They've fundamentally shifted GOP positions on trade, immigration, and foreign policy. Critics see them as nativist and authoritarian; supporters see them as finally giving voice to forgotten Americans.