Over the past few years, the liberal-left has looked on in horror at the rise of various populist right-wing movements creeping up around Europe and the United States.

French National Front leader Marine Le Pen was one of the two finalists to become France’s next president. Islamophobe Geert Wilders at one point looked to be headed towards an unprecedentedly large share of the vote in the Netherlands. The United Kingdom narrowly voted to leave the European Union. And, of course, Donald Trump became president of the United States.

These electoral victories have all been cast, accurately, as products of populist rage and activism. Some votes for the populist right were a frustrated middle finger in the face of their economic and political “betters.” Some were motivated by economic anxiety and represented a desperate rejection of the neoliberal policies that have failed time and again to bring the benefits they promise. And some were an expression of ugly nativist and xenophobic sentiments. Many were some combination of all three.