Daily Sabah’s Hacı Mehmet Boyraz summarized what most people think of French President Emmanuel Macron’s weak victory in the elections as follows: "The French voted for Macron in the second round not because they really believed in him but because they did not want to see Le Pen as president." That too! In fact, the French did not know why they should vote for Macron to begin with. The far-right’s Marine Le Pen and the left-wing’s Jean-Luc Melenchon put forward thought-out plans and programs; while Macron oscillated between his competitors, claiming he would be a better implement their programs.

This is political populism, pure and simple. Some define modern populism as "democratic illiberalism;" some confuse it with xenophobia and nativism – the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants – or with autocracy, a system of government in which one person wields absolute power. While these are some of its traits, they fail to capture the essence of populism. The mantra "I’ll do whatever they promise better than them" is at the core of populism and has been repeated by world leaders from Macron to former U.S. President Donald Trump, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President and war hero Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Despite his affiliation with the long-established political ideology of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected as the leader of the party in 2019, not because he was the best defender of political conservatism but because he was riding on his own coattails after serving as the mayor of London for eight years. He made no promises for the decaying city of London; he was elected in part because of the candies he said he would deliver to the people. His hairstyle was discussed more than the policies he would bring to City Hall since he never implemented any but had more hair than the media could handle. He was sacked when he was caught up in the parliamentary expenses scandal and accused of excessive personal spending on taxi journeys. His Deputy Mayor Ian Clement was found to have misused a City Hall credit card, resulting in his resignation.

U.S. President Joe Biden is no different than Trump in his political promises; he offered no progressive agenda, not even the traditional "democratic" pledges. Biden simply promised to "Build Back Better," a basic post-disaster reconstruction effort. Here we see the infamous populist mantra: "I can do it better!"

This is always the case with populists: They remain popular figures with strong celebrity status but don't provide clear and persuasive evidence that their plans and programs are what society needs. This is because they have no plans or programs!

The same fate everywhere

The end result for the nations these populists lead is always the same, they are left rudderless in the ever-growing storms of modern societies. Zelenskyy was elected as president because he was a popular character in a TV series in which he played a president who rides his bicycle to work. Ukrainian people should know better: They had five disastrous terms of presidents and one-third of their country was already under Russian occupation. The country needed an experienced politician who strongly believed in the plans and programs their political orientation dictated. As the London electors were focused on Boris and the people of America were paying attention to Donald’s hair, the Ukrainian people were happy to hear the promise of a "war on corruption." The character on the TV series "Servant of the People" was very successful on all fronts because it was a scripted political satire, completely fiction. People do that: They chase their whims which are unusual, unexplained or unexperienced before in politics.

Many experts have revealed that rising populism is threatening liberal democracies. Back in Ancient Greece, Plato theorized that when the elite fail, when they become spoiled, lazy, wasteful, extravagant, prodigal, lavish – you get the picture – and start developing interests outside of those they rule, they offer fictional heavens. Their personality, not their experience or accumulation of political expertise, comes to the front burner. Some people see this as a sign of democratic resilience, providing a necessary corrective that will help address popular grievances. It is true that the political elite possessing excessive power does make liberal democracies more illiberal and undemocratic. But the ills of liberal democracies cannot be cured by resorting to more illiberalism and non-democracy. The people's servant quickly becomes the people's champion and then finally, the people's tyrant. Trump ended up disregarding the election results and organized a mob raid on the Capitol. When was the most recent Cabinet meeting in Kyiv? Who remembers the name of the French prime minister?

Today, Ukraine is just a front to exercise Biden’s only ideology: American exceptionalism, the notion that the United States is inherently different from other nations. This idea that the U.S. is both destined and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the world stage does not have an empirical basis, however, it serves Biden and his neocons as it did Trump and his neocolonialists. NATO, the European Union, AUKUS and now the new alliance being fomented with India and Pakistan against China, all encapsulate a very populist call suitable for the masses. But they offer no specifics, no blueprints, no balance sheets. The only proof they have is their belief in themselves: We are better than you are; we do better than you do.

Consequently, the populist leaders of the EU treat all others as detestable, low-class. So, when a Turkish court passes a conviction in a case involving a defendant who is close to their globalist hearts, they feel comfortable asking the government to overturn said court decision and let this person go free. When there is simply no legal possibility of overruling court decisions in your system and you disregard their calls, they summon your ambassador to their feet and chastise your country, government and courts.

Modern populism is being escalated by the popular notion that one's nation is superior to all others. However, this popular sycophantic approach in politics could promise enormous yields: Politicians turn to the German people and tell them "You see, we are not Angela Merkel, we handle Turkey better than she would." People will not see the changes in the attitude of Scholz and his Foreign Ministry, they will simply see valiancy: our government is now doing better!

This is a rhetorical balm according to vox.com’s Sean Illing, and, according to Plato, just the sort of thing that sends the city over a cliff.

But this time around it is not a city that is about to go over a cliff, it is the whole world that is fast approaching the edge of a cliff called the nuclear age. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told China’s Xinhua News Agency in an interview published last week that European nations are being offered "a false choice between the West and Russia." The West’s push to create a unipolar world, one that involves NATO’s unabated eastward expansion, according to Lavrov, is the main reason Ukraine has been pushed into the fire it is in. Denmark, Finland and Sweden are being smeared with the most recent rhetorical balm called "climate change populism." Remember Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist who is known for yapping at U.N. leaders with her "How dare you?" She is Swedish. Sweden’s first female Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson resigns less than 12 hours into the job; and for her second stint, she offered but a call for heroism: to cast away traditional Swedish neutrality and seek NATO membership. But still, she is afraid that after the Ukrainian adventure in NATO membership, the Swedish people might reject that much heroism; she is refusing to hold a referendum if parliament decides to proceed with an application for NATO membership.

It is a big ocean and the West wends its way in the uncharted waters of populism.