'Dirty'Right-Wing Populist Leader: Between Moral Relativism and Cynical Practices of Leadership Authority

Authors

• Filip Pierzchalski
• Mark J. Kaswan, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-29-2026

Abstract

The aim of this article is to try to explain the phenomenon of dirty hands in political leadership as a manifestation of anti-political practices of gaining and maintaining political authority, especially Donald Trump’s leadership phenomenon. The starting point for discussing the phenomenon of ‘dirty’ leadership will be ethical relativism, which can be interpreted not only as a practical denial of the idea of axiological absolutism in politics (a state of diversity regarding moral attitudes among political actors), but also as a manifestation of cynical behavior of a political leader. The phenomenon of the ‘dirty’ leader not only challenges our ideas about ethics and leadership, it also reveals certain weaknesses of elite-driven liberal democracy, which illiberal elites around the world have used to their advantage and reflects a kind of anti-political politics associated with authoritarianism.

Comments

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

“‘Dirty’ Right-Wing Populist Leader: Between Moral Relativism and Cynical Practices of Leadership Authority”. 2026. Politeja 23 (2(102): 195-213. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.23.2026.102.11.  

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Politeja

DOI

10.12797/Politeja.23.2026.102.11