My research gives me the following understanding:
Populist is derived from the Latin populus which means people. Since populist sounded a great deal like popular I looked up the origins of popular and, of course, it derives from the same Latin word, populus. The etymology for popular also referenced the Latin word popularis which is defined as "belonging to the people, general, common; devoted to or accepted by the people; democratic". OK, I'm getting a feel for the word populist; people.
So when was the term populist first coined? Circa the early 1890s, it seems. It basically stemmed from a movement among farmers in response to the growth of our economy and therefore the need for banks to lend money for various capital (machinery) needed to produce crops. The farmers became distrustful of banks, big business, wall street and our government because a result of this growth and lending was that sometimes farmers were forced to default on loans due to poor growing seasons and thus not bringing in enough money to pay installments on loans. Of course this caused repossession, by the banks, of the equipment they needed to compete economically. The complete story is more complex and is presented well in the link to Britanica, below.
The Populist party was formed in the early 1890s but no longer existed by 1920. One reference source pinpoints the founding of the party as February 1892. What did the Populist party 'stand' for? Well some of their stances are quite interesting. Government control of monopolies, especially rail roads, a graduated income tax, unlimited minting of silver coinage and the direct election of U.S. Senators were the main planks in the Populist Party platform.
One of the references cited notes that populism is a "belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite."
How do these stances by the Populist Party line up with what is now called populism? Does the current use of the word populism match common definitions? Supposedly, trump's election was due to a 'populist' ground swell. Well, since part of the definition for populism is "representing the views of the masses" it needs to be pointed out that there were almost three million more of the "masses" that voted for trump's opponent, than for him, so not a majority of the "masses".
Per another source, populism "[a]t its root, is a belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite". In all ways this is not what we've got. As far as a "small group of political insiders" goes; to run a country as large as ours, there is no way around this. Relative to the total population of the U.S., the people that we elect to represent us and administer the government will always be a "small group". We do however have the power of the vote, but the Electoral College removes some of that power. With reference to a "wealthy elite" .......... yo, wake up and smell the coffee that's been brewed. If, and I certainly haven't seen any proof that it is the case, but IF trump has as much money as he claims, then the "wealthy elite' is what we've got.
So on all counts, we do not have a Populist choice for our head admin. What populism initially stood for has many features that those who claim to be today's populists are completely against. Some 'clever' politicians have usurped the word because its intrinsic meaning suggests whatever is a 'popular' view. So, these politicians have manipulated the word to convince a segment of the electorate that they are the 'popular ones', they have the 'popular view'.
Our country is very much split down the middle and has been for many elections, many decades. There has been no great plurality since Ronald Reagan. With that in mind, both halves of the schism represent a populist point of view, if the meaning is to be, views that are 'popular', views of the people. They just happen to be different views.
CITATIONS & EXCERPTS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism
Populism is a political style of action that mobilizes a large alienated element of population against a government seen as controlled by an out-of-touch closed elite that acts on behalf of its own interests. The underlying ideology of the Populists can be left, right, or middle. Its goal is to unite the uncorrupt and the unsophisticated (the 'little man') against the corrupt dominant elites (usually the orthodox politicians) and their camp followers (usually the rich and the intellectuals). It is guided by the belief that political and social goals are best achieved by the direct actions of the masses. Although it comes into being where mainstream political institutions fail to deliver, there is no identifiable economic or social set of conditions that give rise to it, and it is not confined to any particular social class.
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/populism
At its root, populism is a belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite. The word belonging to the people, general, common; devoted to or accepted by the people; democraticpopulism comes from the Latin word for "people," populus. Definitions of populism.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/populist
Definition of populist:
1: a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people; especially often capitalized : a member of a United States political party formed in 1891 primarily to represent agrarian interests and to advocate the free coinage of silver and government control of monopolies
2: a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=popular
popular (adj.)
early 15c., "public," from Middle French populier (Modern French populaire) and directly from Latin popularis "belonging to the people, general, common; devoted to or accepted by the people; democratic," from populus "people" (see people (n.)).
Meaning "suited to ordinary people" is from 1570s in English; hence, of prices, "low, affordable to average persons" (1859). Meaning "well-liked, admired by the people" is attested from c. 1600. Of art, entertainment, etc., "favored by people generally" from 1819 (popular song). Related: Popularly. Popular Front "coalition of Communists, Socialists, and radicals" is from 1936, first in a French context.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=populist
populist
1892 (n.) "adherent of populism;" 1893 (adj.), American English, from Latin populus "people" (see people (n.)) + -ist. Originally in reference to the U.S. Populist Party organized February 1892 to promote certain issues important to farmers and workers. The term outlasted the party, and by 1920s came to mean "representing the views of the masses" in a general way.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Populist-Moveme
Throughout the 1880s local political action groups known as Farmers’ Alliances sprang up among Middle Westerners and Southerners, who were discontented because of crop failures, falling prices, and poor marketing and credit facilities. Although it won some significant regional victories, the alliances generally proved politically ineffective on a national scale. Thus in 1892 their leaders organized the Populist, or People’s, Party, and the Farmers’ Alliances melted away. While trying to broaden their base to include labour and other groups, thePopulists remained almost entirely agrarian-oriented. They demanded an increase in the circulating currency (to be achieved by the unlimited coinage of silver), a graduated income tax, government ownership of the railroads, a tariff for revenue only, the direct election of U.S. senators, and other measures designed to strengthen political democracy and give farmers economic parity with business and industry.
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