The “populist” crusade to make the suburbs more segregated and expensive

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) questions Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a hearing on February 5, 2026. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

To its fiercest critics, “populism” is a politics of mindless resentment: The populist’s animating ambition is not to help people in general — or the downtrodden in particular — so much as to hurt some vilified elite. If afflicting the comfortable also requires discomforting the afflicted, so be it. 

Personally, I think this is wildly unfair. But...