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With the rise of Trump, Sanders, Corbyn and Brexit, hundreds of pundits, reporters, and talking heads have been warning about the problems of "populism" and its alleged attack on democracy over the past three years. \xa0 \u201cPopulism and immigration pose major threat to global democracy,\u201d the Gates Foundation insists. \u201cThe Dangerous Rise of Populism - Global Attacks on Human Rights Values,\u201c wrote Human Rights Watch in 2017. \u201cTrump's Rise Proves How Dangerous Populism Is for Democracy\u201d NBC says. \u201cPopulism is still a threat to Europe,\u201d The European University Institute tells us. \xa0 But what exactly is populism? How is a term that allegedly applies to Hugo Ch\xe1vez and Bernie Sanders also casually used to describe fascists and far-right forces? \xa0 Under the thin, ideology-flattening definition of populism, the term is more often than not used as a euphemism for demagogic cults of personality and fascism and as the ultimate horseshoe theory reduction to lump together movements for equity and justice on the Left with those of revanchism, nationalism and explicit racism on the Right. We are joined on this episode by writer and historian Thomas Frank. \xa0