Fareed Zacharia had an interesting OP Ed this weekend on the decline of populism across the globe. It may be that PP’s entry late in the game is what is driving it.
It’s hard not to be fixated on the drama unfolding in the House of Representatives, where the Republican Party is having a nervous breakdown in full public view. This crisis is entirely of the party’s own making. For decades it has whipped its base into a righteous fury by promising radical policies
fareedzakaria.com
(Could be behind a paywall, apologies)
While looking for a few other articles on that I came across one that claims that the pandemic sowed deep distrust in populism and populist ideas. It does specify though that it did not reinforce liberal democracy (in fact it also showed distrust in it)
Support for populist parties and politicians, and agreement with populist sentiment, has diminished during the pandemic, according to a “mega-dataset” taking in attitudes of over half a million people across 109 countries since 2020.
www.cam.ac.uk
It could be that PP’s embrace of a populist approach is what is the issue. It would explain why he hasn’t said a word on the convoy in some time and said nothing about anything regarding the inquiry into the EA.