This piece reframes populism not as personal aberration but as adaptive response to the mismatch between hyper-mobile capital and territorial states. Particularly this bit on why inconsistency is a feature:
This explains several otherwise puzzling features of populist politics. Ideological inconsistency is not a bug but a requirement. Ethical incoherence is not accidental but adaptive. Reversals, contradictions, and symbolic excess are tolerated because responsiveness, not consistency, is the optimization criterion. The leader’s role is not to resolve systemic tension, but to remain aligned with its most salient expressions.
Show HN: Why Populism Isn't the Disease, It's the Symptom
medium.com