Donald Trump’s second term has been marked by erratic and eccentric behavior. He no sooner took the oath of office than he proceeded with a campaign of revenge against his enemies. From shock and awe led by Elon Musk to his liberation day, introducing unpopular tariffs, Trump seemed more addicted to drama than governing. Add to that the suggestion that Canada should become the 51st state and Greenland be annexed, and he has succeeded in raising the national blood pressure by the second.

Despite all this peripatetic action, Trump seemed furiously pedaling towards nowhere. Despite his presidential campaign that promised everything, including ending “forever wars” and reducing inflation, very little in the way of MAGA reforms has been achieved. What has occurred would have been implemented by any Republican. Large tax cuts for the rich have been a staple of GOP presidents since Ronald Reagan. Instead of reducing prices, Trump’s MAGA policies regarding the tariff has raised prices, not to mention the Iran War.

Trump’s eccentricities not only confuse but also defy his so-called populist leanings. He insists on a Gilded Age ballroom that is not only ostentatious but also a hustle. Lindsey Graham desires that citizens who will not see this dance floor foot the bill. If this is populism, it is a very bizarre version of the original. The old People’s Party platform in 1892 described American society as being divided between “tramps and millionaires.”

Trump’s policies are geared toward the billionaire class, not those MAGA stalwarts that saw him through three Republican nominations. Never has a government been associated with corporate dominance as Trump’s has been.

Trump seems to think that populism is powered solely by resentment, and he romanticizes capitalism, creating a sort of Robin Hood in reverse. Trump is a dream weaver bolstered by hyperbole that describes a future where everyone will benefit from having the very wealthy become even more so. The ballroom in his imagination is a “sop” to the “folks” who, in turn, will be inspired by his MAGA base to aspire to better themselves. All of this will be a gift to the American people, very much like Ross Perot, who promised that his Reform Party would motivate Americans to help themselves.

Trump reminds one of the patent medicine salesmen of a bygone age. The principle of making a fast buck by selling worthless remedies through entertainment and colorful language is very much alive in the president. Although the elixirs were made of sugar, water, and alcohol, the remedies were harmless but medically useless.

This style of salesmanship is as old as the Republic. Huey Long regaled his audience about two medicines, sold by a drummer in Louisiana, called High Popalorum and Low Popahirum. One was extracted from bark taken from the highest part of the tree, and the other from the lower part. They were the same and equally useless. Trump uses the same formula: hyperbole and inference, but he does not lie. With these tactics, Trump creates his concepts out of whole cloth, then weaves them together with skill and panache. This is his view of populism.

In reality, he has no intention of protecting the “common man.” Trump is closer to those who espoused the “gospel of wealth,” such as Horatio Alger, Russell Conwell, and his personal favorite, Reverend Norman Vincent Peale. This is self-help, not government action. Populism, as defined by Trump, is no more than a recycled ultra-right agenda.