Inconvenient Truths? Populist Epistemology and the Case of Portugal

For a long time considered a European exception to its spread, populism in Portugal is rapidly recovering lost ground in both cultural and electoral terms. For example, the populist party Chega is increasingly supported by the population, including members of the public sector such as the police, and populism is slowly normalizing in the Portuguese political debate. In addition, Portugal is a country where conspiracy theories rarely gain traction in the public sphere. Against this background, and in the frame of the scholarly discussion around populist epistemology, the current chapter analyzes the Facebook page Verdade Inconveniente (Inconvenient Truth), an independent media outlet—then civic movement, with a twofold aim. First, the study explores the inconvenient truths that posters to the page feel the need to convey, highlighting the fields of action and debate that its supporters deem relevant. Second, the analysis details the conception of truth and its relationship with politics and science that emerges in the discussions.