In an earlier post on ‘neoliberalism,’ I included the results of a search of the terms ‘neo(-)liberal(ism)’ in the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Times (U.K.), Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Reuters:
Source: Factiva.
The increase in the number of mentions after 2016 suggests that ‘neoliberalism’ was being invoked to account for the Trump phenomenon. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the Factiva database, so cannot update the search, but a recent FT interview with Joe Stiglitz promoting his latest book suggests little has changed:
Populism is stronger in countries such as Brazil, the US and Hungary, which have not addressed inequality, Stiglitz argues. Stalling living standards, and the resultant loss of hope, creates “a fertile field for [a] demagogue like Trump . . . He is what neoliberalism produces.”
Some have even sought to trace the origins of Trumpism back to the Reagan administration based on much the same argument. Even if neoliberalism is viewed as antithetical to Trump’s populism in a policy sense, that does not preclude the possibility that Trumpism is an unintended consequence of neoliberalism.