patrick.net

It occurred to me that ever since the Democrats abandoned their representation of working people in favor of non-stop identity politics, there has been a vacuum.

Democratic leaders assumed that working class and poor white people would simply continue to vote Democratic even while being demonized by their own party, since the Republicans remained the party of capital as ever, and still do not really represent working class and poor people. But this left poor whites, and poor white men in particular, with no representation in either party.

In steps Donald Trump, and starts saying exactly what the Democrats have failed to say:

* American workers have been badly screwed by globalization, particularly the wholesale shipping of US manufacturing to China.
* Illegal aliens drive down wages for poor US citizens.
* Obamacare has dramatically increased the cost of medical insurance, to the point where insurance for a family of four can easily be greater than rent or a mortgage.

The Democrats say that manufacturing is not possible for our economy anymore, but the massive examples of Japan and Germany doing just fine on modern manufacturing prove them wrong. What working whites hear is that the Democratic Party really doesn't care what happens to them, and maybe actually hates them just for their race or gender.

So whether by luck or skill, The Donald actually says the truths that Democrats still fail to acknowledge. Thus his "inexplicable" popularity among poorer white voters, who are then demonized yet again as racists by the Democrats, simply for wanting some representation in government.

I keep trying to understand exactly what happened, and I think this is a fair explanation. Trump needed to declare himself a Republican to get access to the party machinery, but in reality, he is a one-man Labor Party, something America has been missing.