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In his new book “Listen, Liberal, Or Whatever Happened to the Party of the People,” progressive commentator Thomas Frank (author of “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”) says Democrats need to take a good long look in the mirror if they want answers to why blue-collar workers are feeling abandoned and even infuriated by what used to be their party.
Many such voters are now backing Donald Trump, who is sketching out the problem with America in exactly the terms they agree with: Jobs are either going to Mexico, or going to Mexicans. Unchecked illegal immigration on the one hand and free trade on the other hand are driving down the wages of working-class Americans, or losing their jobs outright.
This isn’t racism: angry Americans told they were losing their jobs at a doomed air-conditioner factory in Indiana wouldn’t have applauded if told production was moving to Canada instead of Mexico. Either way, they’re losing their jobs.
Of course they have. Clinton's (Bill) "New Democrats" have completely reduced that party over the last 23 or so years to nothing more than crony capitalists, free traders, and globalists completely owned by Wall Street while pretending to be "progressive". They haven't looked out for the interests of workers since the early 1980s.
And because of it the middle class is abandoning that party in droves.
Have you ever thought that maybe it was the Republicans themselves who have spurred the rise of Trump? He is not running as a Dem, he is running as a Con. I don't see Dems supporting him but I do know of a lot of Cons supporting him.
Truth be told it started with Reagan and the firing of the Air Traffic Controllers. And the rise of Trump is a good thing. If he gets elected it will truly be a revolution and the grip of both parties, who don't in any way represent the middle class will be broken. Outside the main stream politicians and electable non-politicians will be spurred to run for POTUS.
The loss of jobs to foreign countries was a bipartisan effort. Both sides adamantly supported free trade so I'm not sure why he's trying to act as if the other party opposed offshoring, they all chose to line corporate pockets at the expense of the average American worker. Well here we are today, 30+ years of it and workers are still waiting for those corporations to trickle down the wealth out of the goodness of their hearts.
Have you ever thought that maybe it was the Republicans themselves who have spurred the rise of Trump? He is not running as a Dem, he is running as a Con. I don't see Dems supporting him but I do know of a lot of Cons supporting him.
They keep trying to pawn Trump off on everyone but themselves.
Remember how the right embraced him during his birther days? They LOVED him - as long as his vitriol was directed at Obama.
But now that it's directed at the 'Establishment', I guess it's not so fun anymore. Republicans have only themselves to blame. Otherwise, Trump would be heading up the Democratic party. We wouldn't have him. I guess we're just not that pissed off.
"How Democrats Abandoned the Working Class and Spurred the Rise of Trump"
Establishment Republicans have been saying exactly what Donald Trump is saying out loud but for years these Republicans would say it with dog whistles and subtlety. Now, the establishment Republicans are horrified by the rise of Trump.
The truth is that the road to Trumpism began long ago, when movement conservatives took over the GOP. Regardless of what Mr. Trump says, he's proposed huge tax cuts for the wealthy, even though a large majority of voters, including many Republicans, want to see taxes on the rich increased instead.
Trump is doing exactly the same tactics the establishment he says he is against does. He is hawking an ideology voters dislike by masking it in obfuscation, demagogy and an appeal to tribalism. Racial dog whistles and suggestions that Democrats are un-American if not active traitors are an integral part of Republican political strategy and part of Trump's strategy.
For the underlying assumption behind the establishment strategy was that voters could be fooled again and again: persuaded to vote Republican out of rage against Those People, then ignored after the election while the party pursued its true, plutocrat-friendly priorities. Now comes Mr. Trump, turning the dog whistles into fully audible shouting, and telling the base that it can have the bait without the switch. And the establishment is being destroyed by the monster it created.
If elected, don't expect any different policies from Trump that you wouldn't get from establishment Republicans. Trump says he is a populist, but his tax-plan is exactly what you'd expect from an GOP nominee -- tax-cuts for the rich. His plan also blows the debt up an additional $10 trillion.
Donald Trump is 100% the doing of Republicans. Democrats have no complicity at all. He's yours.
The loss of jobs to foreign countries was a bipartisan effort. Both sides adamantly supported free trade so I'm not sure why he's trying to act as if the other party opposed offshoring, they all chose to line corporate pockets at the expense of the average American worker. Well here we are today, 30+ years of it and workers are still waiting for those corporations to trickle down the wealth out of the goodness of their hearts.
Yea, trickle down economics, what a crock. If I'm not mistaken that term was quoted by someone in the Reagan administration.
Yea, trickle down economics, what a crock. If I'm not mistaken that term was quoted by someone in the Reagan administration.
The term comes from Robert Laffer, when with the Reagan Admin. The self-serving theory was that tax-cuts spur so much more economic activity that the tax-cuts pay for themselves. It didn't work under Reagan and it didn't work under Bush but the fantasy to tax-cut conservatives don't let reality get in the way.
Of course they have. Clinton's (Bill) "New Democrats" have completely reduced that party over the last 23 or so years to nothing more than crony capitalists, free traders, and globalists completely owned by Wall Street while pretending to be "progressive". They haven't looked out for the interests of workers since the early 1980s.
And because of it the middle class is abandoning that party in droves.
It's not just the middle class -- there's white flight and smart minorities abandoning the party from all economic classes -- mostly moving to Independent , not particularly Republican Party -- as the Rs haven't done anything to help America in a looooong time either.
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