We’ve known for a long time that the Democrats loathe and disdain normal Americans. Whether we are busy clinging to our guns and God (Obama), just downright deplorables (Hillary), or threats to the soul of nation (Biden), everyday American voters are constantly belittled, demonized, and/or ignored by Democrat elites (by establishment elites on both sides of the aisle, frankly, but particularly overtly so by Democrats).
So it was with great interest that I watched the recent Oxford Union Debate on whether or not populism is a threat to democracy. While the debate consisted of numerous speakers (you can view all the parts here), I was most interested in hearing what Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had to say and to the now-viral response by Winston Marshall.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was rebuked as an “elite” during a recent Oxford Union debate, where she argued that populism in the United States is a threat to democracy.Pelosi — a self-described “devout” Catholic — said during the April 25 debate that certain Americans, whom she considered to be “poor souls who are looking for some answers,” refuse to accept the answers Democrats give them on particular topics due to their beliefs about “guns, gays, [and] God.”Challenging Pelosi’s position in the debate about populism, Winston Marshall, a musician who was once a part of Mumford and Sons and now hosts the “Marshall Matters” podcast for The Spectator, spoke in opposition to the Oxford Union motion that “This House Believes Populism is a Threat to Democracy.”. . . . Pelosi said, “Democracy is the rule of law, democracy is free and fair elections, democracy is about independent judiciary, it’s about freedom of the press to have transparency and to have accountability of elected officials to the people.””It’s about all of that, and that is everything that the populist regime in Washington, D.C., is against,” she added. “Ethno-nationalistic populism, as is the threat to democracy, is about threatening what they call elites, a free press,” she said. “It’s about fighting issues that relate to free and fair elections, where we have voter suppression to the nth degree under this regime and its resistance to passing the Voting Rights Act, the John Lewis Act, all of that.”. . . . At one point, while speaking about those who may consider themselves a part of the populist movement and/or are “poor souls who are looking for some answers,” Pelosi said, “We’ve given them to them, but they’re blocked by some of their views on guns – they have the three Gs, guns, gays, God, that would be a woman’s right to choose — and the cultural issues cloud some of their reception of an argument that really is in their interest.”
Here’s Pelosi:
At about 10:10, Pelosi rambles on about random people asking her “what happens if he [presumably Trump] gets reelected?”. Her response is chilling: “Well, we can’t let that happen.”
Her argument appears to be that “democracy” means something different today than it did in our country’s past. It’s a bit scattered and ill-presented, but that seems to be the general gist of what she is saying. Very strange all the way around.
Marshall was much more coherent and made a great, thankfully linear case for populism, seeming to expand the meaning far beyond the one Pelosi offered (ethno-centric isolationists who cling to religion and guns and who can’t be trusted to vote properly or correctly because voters are so confused by the term “fake news.” Or something. She really didn’t make much sense.).
Fox News continues:
Marshall argued at the April 25 debate that the meaning of the word “populist” has been changed by “elites [who] have failed” to align with their own narrative.”‘Populism’ has become a word used synonymously with ‘racist.’ We’ve heard ‘ethno-nationalist,’ we have ‘bigot,’ we have ‘hillbilly,’ ‘redneck,’ we have ‘deplorable,’” Marshall said. Pelosi had argued in her remarks that contemporary American populism currently had an ethno-nationalist character.”Elites use it to show their contempt for ordinary people,” Marshall said.Marshall argued that the change in meaning of the word “populist” is “a recent change,” and pointed to a 2016 speech delivered by then-President Barack Obama, who he said “took umbrage with the notion that Trump be called a populist.””If anything, Obama argued that he was the populist. If anything, Obama argued that Bernie was the populist,” he said. “Something curious happens. If you watch Obama’s speeches after that point, more and more recently, he uses the word ‘populist’ interchangeably with ‘strong man,’ ‘authoritarian.’ The word changes meaning. It becomes a negative, a pejorative, a slur.”. . . . “Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. And why else have universal suffrage if not to keep elites in check?”Marshall said he was “rather surprised” that Pelosi was arguing in favor of the motion as he thought “the left was supposed to be anti-elite” and that the “left was supposed to be anti-establishment.””Today, particularly in America, the globalist left have become the establishment,” he continued. “I suppose for Mrs. Pelosi to have taken this side of the argument, she’d be arguing herself out of a job.Marshall went on to claim that “populism is the voice of the voiceless” and that the “real threat to democracy is from the elites.”
Here’s Marshall:
Marshall’s full argument:
Marshall makes great points about J6 and what Trump actually said vs. the Democrat elite lies, about our federal government’s role in suppressing free speech online, and about the economy-crushing policies coming from Democrats (and Davos, he mentions the Farmers’ Revolt across Europe, as well as the trucker convoys in Canada). Well worth watching the whole thing.
According to Marshall, Pelosi was less than gracious while listening to his argument.
The Oxford elites voted—177 to 68—that populism is a threat to democracy, but the internet has clearly begged to differ.
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