The rise of populism is often explained by political factors, economic factors, and media and communication factors. This article analyzes populism in the context of an increased focus on authenticity in political communication. The main aim is to discuss to what degree mediated authenticity strengthens the populist message and what consequences the nexus between authenticity and populism might have for the quality of democratic governance. As a theoretical backdrop, the article discusses the implications of increased valorization of authenticity in times of distrust, and how perforned truth is a key appeal of populism in representative democracies. The methodological approach is a systematic analysis of seven authenticity strategies identified in previous research: consistency, spontaneity, ordinariness, confession, immediacy, ambivalence, and imperfection. In addition to the theoretical analysis, the article offers a case study of the performance of Donald Trump, focusing on how mediated authenticity strengthens the populist message. The study is conducted in a mainly U.S.-context and includes material collected between 2016 and 2023. A key argument is that although performed authenticity can be both advantageous and disadvantageous, depending on the status of the candidate, there is lower risk involved for populist politicians than mainstream politicians because the strategies correspond more with the ideology. In conclusion, the article argues that performed authenticity might legitimize hate speech, conspiracy theories, and post-truth politics because populists claim to have a particular relation to the truth.

中文翻译：

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民粹主义作为“真理”：中介的真实性如何强化民粹主义信息

民粹主义的兴起通常可以用政治因素、经济因素以及媒体和传播因素来解释。本文在日益关注政治传播真实性的背景下分析了民粹主义。主要目的是讨论经过调解的真实性在多大程度上强化了民粹主义信息，以及真实性和民粹主义之间的联系可能对民主治理的质量产生什么影响。作为理论背景，本文讨论了在不信任时期对真实性日益重视的影响，以及如何表现真实性是代议制民主中民粹主义的关键诉求。该方法论是对先前研究中确定的七种真实性策略的系统分析：一致性、自发性、平凡性、坦白、即时性、矛盾性和不完美性。除了理论分析之外，本文还提供了唐纳德·特朗普表现的案例研究，重点关注中介的真实性如何强化民粹主义信息。该研究主要在美国背景下进行，包括 2016 年至 2023 年期间收集的材料。一个关键论点是，尽管根据候选人的地位，表现出的真实性可能有利也有弊，但对于民粹主义政客来说，风险较低比主流政治家更重要，因为他们的策略更符合意识形态。总之，文章认为，表演的真实性可能会使仇恨言论、阴谋论和后真相政治合法化，因为民粹主义者声称与真相有特殊的关系。