Public administration might be viewed as a potential victim of populist-inspired backsliding. This chapter argues that when considering how to respond to populism public administration needs to recognize that some of its practices may have created an opening for the populist charge. Public administration may be a victim but also may have been an unwitting harbinger of the populist surge. The public administration reforms in vogue over the last two decades helped to create the conditions for populism. Performance management, citizen consultation, and evidence-based policymaking were popular managerial tools, but the evidence presented in this chapter suggests they may have encouraged a loss of public trust due to the way they were put into practice. The threat of democratic backsliding, driven by populism, should stimulate public administration not to hunker down but to search for better ways of operating in order to rebuild public trust.There are some positive signs of new thinking and practice.