Populism, the idea of a revolt of “the people” against the elites, has been the most discussed if slippery of political concepts of the century so far. The books and learned articles have poured out from the professors and the political commentariat.

Of course 2016 was the annus mirabilis for the populists. Brexit, a raw populist project, won in England, and Donald Trump won in America. Trump sent his chief strategist Steve Bannon, populism’s principal cheerleader, to Europe to shape a crusade against the EU’s animating idea that people of different nations, races and religions could live together harmoniously and more prosperously within a supranational community. Bannon pulled together the rising forces of populism, including those of Matteo Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France, the AfD in Germany, the Freedom Party in Austria and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. They shared a distaste for migrants, for Muslims and for multicultural values, derided protections for minorities as liberal wokery, often used coded white supremacy language and, above all, denounced the European Union.