EP 879 Class Decisive in Recent Election
The far right has been masterful at manipulating class anger to outmaneuver progressive goals and liberals often put ‘the smoking gun’ right in the hands of their political opponents. Can this tendency be reversed? Yes, but a lot of work needs to be done to change messengers, messaging and there needs to be a blunt focus on bread and butter issues. In her new book, “Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back,” Joan Williams, a scholar of issues relating to social inequality, Joan Williams meticulously combs through the data to explain why Democrats lost to a once disgraced and maligned, Donald Trump, following his 2020 loss. Who did he win over–and why? She explores the growth that he demonstrated among what once were considered strong adherents to the Democratic Party, as far back as FDR and the New Deal. As an atypical Republican, he found a voice that spoke to class concerns borne of the neoliberal economic policies from the 1970’s on. Since class is such an important determinant in our politics today, go to classbubblequiz.com and see where you stand in this equation.
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