You might put a young Bull Connor in the "populist" camp along with many other conservatives (and liberals). You'd have a hard time devising a narrative that would support your Conner as socialist bullshit. Conner, like his fellow Right-wing populist Joseph McCarthy, was vehemently anti-communist;
"In 1948, Connor's officers arrested U.S. Senator from Idaho, Glen H. Taylor, the running mate of Progressive presidential candidate (and former Democratic Vice President) Henry Wallace. Taylor, who had attempted to speak to the Southern Negro Youth Congress, was arrested for violating Birmingham's segregation laws. Connor's concerted effort to enforce the law was sparked by the group's reported communist philosophy, with Connor noting at the time, "There's not enough room in town for Bull and the Commies."
AND;
"A second run for Governor fell flat in 1954, but Connor remained a focal point of controversy that year by pushing through a new city ordinance in Birmingham that outlawed communism".
Those snippets are both from wikipedia. There's mountains of evidence to support the fact that Connor was just about as far from socialism as you can get. Including Connors own files. A treasure trove of these files are preserved in the Birmingham Public Library and are available on line through the Birmingham Public Library digital collections
here. I've gone through them, I invite you to do the same and see if you can still hold on to that notion of Connor as socialist.
At that 1948 Democratic convention Connor was a delegate and led the Alabama delegation in it's walkout when the platform committee included a civil rights plank.
I can understand Republicans trying to distance themselves from the conservative racists who rally under their banner today, but you would be more honest by outing them instead of denying they exist and tortuously distorting and making a mockery of historical facts. Name calling and bizarre Orwellian manipulation of language does not an argument make, they just add to the aura of lunacy you folks have about you.