SS: After the discussion of the benefits (or otherwise) of democracy I thought it would be interesting to revisit the career of the original populist — and potential American dictator — Huey Long.

Unlike Trump, Long was a consummate politician whose programs inspired the New Deal and brought tangible benefits to his downtrodden constituents. Like Trump he was a demagogue who sharply divided the country. To his followers he could do no wrong; his detractors claimed he was profoundly corrosive and only in politics for himself. He himself claimed — not without reason — that the only way to break the stranglehold of vested interests (such as big oil), and deliver a larger slice of the pie to his voters, was to resort to extra-legal means.

PBS:

He was a populist hero and a corrupt demagogue, hailed as a champion of the poor and reviled as a dictator. Louisiana’s Huey Long built his remarkable career as governor and U.S. Senator on a platform of social reform and justice, all the while employing graft and corruption to get what he wanted. Long’s spellbinding personality and political machine might have taken him to the White House had he not been assassinated in 1935.

This finely crafted film by Ken Burns reveals a complex and comprehensive portrait of the man and the era, his politics and the power he so obsessively sought. Extensive archival footage and recollections by Louisianans who knew Long are juxtaposed with candid contemporary interviews with historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.; the late journalist I.F. Stone; and the late author Robert Penn Warren, whose magnificent novel All the King’s Men was inspired by the rise and fall of Huey Long.

A really well made film that looks back at a rough period of American politics. It's inspired me to learn more.