You seem to use 'populist' as a pejorative term. I would suggest that populism can be a good thing. I'm opposed to Trump, but not because he's populist. I'm not even sure he is a populist, since I don't believe he or his administration have any real concern for the democratic masses; they're riding a populist wave out they're out to gain power and wealth for themselves. This contrasts strongly with, e.g., the New Deal or Civil Rights reforms, which were real populism.

"populism" without a modifier is quite often used in the specific sense in which others use the more specific "authoritarian populism"; that is, demagoguery which features use of populist rhetoric to build support for authoritarianism.

This can be a source of much confusion because it is often unclear from a single encounter whether someone criticizing "populism" is an elitist opposed to politics genuinely directed at the interests of the masses, or simply warning of authoritarian demagoguery.