We need to launch a jobs stimulus program,” the announcement read. Why? “To help all of the populism scholars in these difficult times.” With Joe Biden moving in to the White House, Dutch far-right parties imploding, and the COVID-19 crisis empowering technocrats around the globe, the populism industry had fallen on hard times. With “just 5 billion dollars,” however, “we could have populism scholars retrained as critical race theorists.”

The suggestions from philosopher John-Baptiste Oduor might have been tinged with the usual dose of internet irony, but they speak to the mixture of political relief and professional despair we felt in November 2020. More than anything, questions remained. Was populism really on its way out? Would Donald Trump leave office? And was this the long-awaited end of the end of the end of history?

Early feelings of euphoria were quickly dampened by a new pile of numbers. Rather than shrink into insignificance, in defeat, America’s right-populist president had actually widened his voter base — by 7 million. For someone who purposefully botched the worst health crisis in a century, the achievement was astounding. Nor did he have only white men to thank. Instead, Trump lost support among white men and increased his support among minority voters, from black women to Hispanic men.