sadopopulism en · NOUN
Etymology
From sado- + populism, coined by historian Timothy Snyder, then influenced by earlier terms and concepts like "political sadism".
Meanings
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(uncountable) A political strategy or act in which a leader appeals to people by harming them but convincing them that people they hate are at fault or suffering worse harm.
[…] 'sadopopulism', in which people are willing to inflict pain on themselves so long as they can believe that, in the same moment, they are making their enemies hurt more: […]'
2019 November 5, Fintan O'Toole, The Politics of Pain: Postwar England and the Rise of Nationalism, Liveright Publishing, →ISBN: