Who
Speaks for the Powerless?
Most political buffs have concluded
that the best predictor of a Trump supporter would be a middle aged white man
who hasn’t graduated from college. But
the Rand Corporation has found an even more precise way to predict a Trump
supporter – voters who agree with the statement, “People like me don’t have any
say about what the government does,” are most likely to be Trump
supporters. Feelings of being powerless
and without a voice are “much better predictors of Trump support than age,
race, college attainment, income, attitudes toward Muslims, illegal immigrants,
or Hispanic identity.”
Rand’s conclusions turn Democrats'
self-image on its head. Democrats have
traditionally aspired to give voice to the voiceless and power to the
powerless. That formula worked fine for
decades when the powerless were poor, black or Hispanic. But where is the Democratic Party when those
who feel they have no political voice are middle aged white men? Where is the Democratic program for a
generation of formerly privileged white men who no longer feel privileged? Who speaks for them? Trump.
*****
Recapturing
Innocence
There was, to me, a defining moment
in the Michigan debate between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Hillary blasted Bernie in Michigan for voting
against saving the auto industry. Bernie
came back with his usual rant about Hillary voting to bail out Wall Street. At the time, it seemed like a lame attempt by
Bernie to divert our attention away from a major mistake.
After two days of cable commentary,
I finally got the story straight. Bernie
(and Hillary) had, in fact, voted for a pure stand-alone bill which funded the
auto industry bailout. But when that
failed, the Senate was presented with an up or down vote on a bill which
combined about $380 billion to stabilize Wall Street (the TARP bailout) with
about $80 billion to support restructuring the auto industry. Sanders voted no, and Clinton voted yes. The combined bill passed and between two and
four million jobs were saved. 