What happened in the 1890s was not unlike today's era - Corporations just got "personhood". Railroad tycoons entrench hold on US commerce. Southern states push for undoing reconstruction-era reforms. Chinese exclusion act is enacted to drive Chinese laborers (who were instrumental to the national railroad buildout) out of the US.
I'm sure there are tons of parallels. The national party constituencies were reversed (Southern whites favored Democrats vs. Northern elites favoring Republicans).
The populist party almost won! I wonder if its loss made everyone disillusioned about breaking the two-party system, and the individual person's re-affiliating with one of the other parties are what "switched" what the Democrat and Republican parties represented.
I'm sure there are tons of parallels. The national party constituencies were reversed (Southern whites favored Democrats vs. Northern elites favoring Republicans).