It sounds like they want to dismiss all populism as basically fascist or fascist-adjacent, which is pretty suspect in a system where elites really do disregard the concerns of ordinary people and publishing and academia tends to be funded by the very wealthy who would maintain that state of affairs. Also, we already have the word 'fascist'.And I'll refer you to Elena Block and Ralph Negrine and their definition of populist style political communication.
Also, also
Evo Morales doesn't appear to be a populist by your definition, so there's that.