<p>How can a populist leader make the claim ‘I’m not a politician’ while competing for or even holding the highest political office? And if populist leaders are not politicians, as they claim not to be, then what are they in the minds of their supporters? To answer these questions, this article focuses on the antipolitics of right-wing populist movements. We argue that the negative moral connotations that politics itself has in the minds of many populist supporters compel populist leaders to appropriate nonpolitical symbolism to separate themselves from the ‘corrupt’ political sphere. We then show how right-wing populists posit the family and familial rule as a counter-ideal for societal organization and a preferable alternative to the ‘corrupt’ world of politics and political rule. Right-wing populist efforts to restructure the political realm after the familial realm helps explain some of its most distinctive features, such as ostentatious nepotism, norm-breaking, and anti-pluralism.</p>