As Donald Trump prepares for his inauguration, many have begun to debate how best to build a committed political opposition. Instead of reviving the 2016 era #resistance – which was big on spectacle and short on substance – those on the left would do well to take seriously the frustrations of working-class voters and craft a strategy accordingly.
Trump’s victory can credibly be read as a class revolt. Blue-collar voters – Black, white, Latino and Asian, in rural and urban areas alike – gave a big middle finger to the progressive professional class elite. Kamala Harris represented the epitome of a Democratic party that has become increasingly dominated by affluent and educated voters (and funded by even wealthier donors). Her ascension itself represented the transformation of the “party of the people” into an aristocratic private club, liberal elites were so terrified of the hoi polloi that they ensured not one ordinary person would vote on her nomination to lead the Democratic party into battle. Are we shocked that the same voters failed to show-up on the battlefield? Hardly.
