The Populist Moment: Why Heist Matters Now

By Zack Kaldveer

We are living through an extraordinary political moment. Thom Hartmann nails why it matters.

Thom, author, broadcaster, and narrator of Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?, has released a powerful new video about the populist moment unfolding in America and the choices it presents.

At its core, he argues, populism emerges when people lose faith in institutions they believe no longer serve them and begin searching for alternatives. In Thom's words, “At its core, populism is a way of understanding politics as a struggle between ordinary people and a powerful elite that has stopped serving them.” Hartmann Report

Hartmann believes America has reached another inflection point. Widespread dissatisfaction with the existing system is fueling competing populist movements with very different explanations for what went wrong, who is responsible, and what should come next.

That connects directly to the story Heist tells.

More than 50 years ago, the Powell Memo called on corporate America to organize and build power across American institutions. Business leaders were urged to invest for the long term, influence public opinion, and become far more politically organized.

What followed wasn't inevitable. But the strategy was there. Over the decades that followed, organized labor declined, wealth became increasingly concentrated, and corporations and the ultrawealthy accumulated enormous resources with which to influence American public life.

Heist traces that transformation and asks a question that has become even more urgent since the film was originally released: Who stole the American Dream?

Today, people are living with the consequences of profound economic and political changes that unfolded over decades. Housing, healthcare, and education have become increasingly difficult for many families to afford. Workers have seen economic security erode. At the same time, extraordinary wealth and political influence have become concentrated among a relatively small number of people and corporations.

Hartmann's argument is that these conditions have helped create today's populist moment. People across the political spectrum are challenging established institutions and demanding fundamental change, even while disagreeing profoundly about what that change should look like. 

That is one reason we re-released Heist now. History matters because political and economic systems don't simply appear. People organize to create them. Institutions are built. Ideas are promoted. Laws and policies change. Power accumulates.

The Powell Memo understood something fundamental about political power more than half a century ago. Having a plan matters. That lesson matters just as much for people seeking a more just, fair, sustainable, and democratic future.

We need to understand how we got here if we hope to change where we're going. The history documented in Heist shows how decades of organizing, money, institution-building, and political strategy helped transform America.

But that history also offers hope. Systems built by people can be changed by people. What was built can be unbuilt.

Organized money has extraordinary power. History also shows the power of organized people when they understand the forces shaping their lives, work together, and act strategically.

Watch Thom's video. Watch Heist. Share them with your friends and family. Most importantly, keep asking the question at the heart of both:

Hartmann Video: https://bit.ly/4xBibz1

HEIST: https://www.heist-themovie2025.com/