Winston Marshall, former member of the folk-rock band Mumford & Sons, rebuked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) to her face during a recent Oxford Union debate.

Marshall spoke in opposition to the Oxford Union notion that “This House Believes Populism is a Threat to Democracy” during the April 25 debate. Pelosi had argued that certain Americans she described as “poor souls” looking for answers have turned away from Democrats due to their position on “guns, gays, [and] God.” Marshall said that elites have purposely changed the definition of populism to suit their ends.

“‘Populism’ has become a word used synonymously with ‘racist.’ We’ve heard ‘ethno-nationalist,’ we have ‘bigot,’ we have ‘hillbilly,’ ‘redneck,’ we have ‘deplorable,’” Marshall said.

“Elites use it to show their contempt for ordinary people,” Marshall added.

Marshall pointed to a 2016 speech from former President Barack Obama when expressly “took umbrage with the notion that Trump be called a populist.”

“If anything, Obama argued that he was the populist. If anything, Obama argued that Bernie was the populist,” he said. “Something curious happens. If you watch Obama’s speeches after that point, more and more recently, he uses the word ‘populist’ interchangeably with ‘strong man,’ ‘authoritarian.’ The word changes meaning. It becomes a negative, a pejorative, a slur.”

Marshall addressed the January 6 Capitol riots, referring to them as a “a dark day for America,” but noted that Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues were not nearly as outraged when Antifa committed political violence against government property.

“I’m sure Congresswoman Pelosi will agree that the entire month of June 2020, when the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, was under siege and under insurrection by radical progressives, those, too, were dark days for America,” he said.

Pelosi immediately raised her hand to say, “There is no equivalence there. . . .  It is not like what happened on January 6th, which was an insurrection incited by the President of the United States.”

“My point, though, is that all political movements are susceptible to violence and, indeed, insurrection,” Marshall said. “Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. And why else have universal suffrage if not to keep elites in check?”

Marshall even pointed out Pelosi’s hypocrisy by even being against populism, believing that the “left was supposed to be anti-establishment.”

“Today, particularly in America, the globalist left have become the establishment,” he said. “I suppose for Mrs. Pelosi to have taken this side of the argument, she’d be arguing herself out of a job.”

“Now, don’t get me wrong, we need elites. If President Biden has shown us anything, we need someone to run the countries,” he said. “When the president has severe dementia, it’s not just America that crumbles, the whole world burns.”

While Marshall conceded that Trump should have accepted the results of the 2020 election, he called out Pelosi and the Democrats for not accepting 2016.

“So should Hillary in 2016, so should Brussels and Westminster in 2016, and so, too, should Congresswoman Pelosi instead of saying the 2016 election was, quote, ‘hijacked.’”

“It was,” Pelosi interjected. “That doesn’t mean we don’t accept the results of it.”

According to Fox News, the motion “debated by Marshall and Pelosi ultimately received a passing vote from those attending the Oxford Union event, 177 to 68.”

Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.