ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the performance of the populist security imaginary after the end of the Trump presidency, which was marked by both political continuity and institutional contestation. It explores to what extent the anti-populist rhetoric of Joe Biden contrasted a fundamentally different conceptualization of US politics and American democracy, defined by unity, bipartisanship, and an emphasis of institutional integrity. At the same time, the chapter argues that President Biden co-opted many of Trump’s populist security narratives and the affective framing of policy issues, in particular in legitimating his own protectionist economic agenda of reindustrialization of the heartland, as well as in adopting an enemy-centric framework of strategic competition with revisionist great powers, such as China and Russia. The chapter will also explore the continued hegemonic status of nationalist populism on the American Right, both in terms of the continued influence of Trumpism on Republican voters, and the Republican Party’s response to the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January 2021. Finally, the chapter will consider the institutional response to the threat of nationalist populism to American democracy, focusing on its contestation by Congress, the Armed Forces, and the legal system.
