Democrats Hate Their Own Party. The People Can Take It Back.

At a newest rally at U S Steel in Pennsylvania Donald Trump stood in front of a row of workers in hard hats and safety vests and proclaimed We re right now on the verge of passing the largest working class tax cuts in American history He framed his Big Beautiful Bill a massive tax cut for the wealthy as a blue-collar blessing The sleight of hand is classic Trump and what makes his appeal to voters enduring The Republican Party is building the multiracial working class coalition that the Democrats have inevitably revealed that they want to build says David Sirota founder of The Lever and a former Bernie Sanders speechwriter This week on The Intercept Briefing host Jordan Uhl speaks to Sirota and politics reporter Jessica Washington about how Trump has successfully used culture-war grievances to win over working-class voters and why the Democratic Party continues to hemorrhage endorsement Related The Futile Quest to Build a Liberal Joe Rogan The episode also features Ilyse Hogue the former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America and the co-creator of a new million project called Speaking With American Men or SAM The initiative aims to understand and win back young male voters who ve drifted to the right A lot of what we heard from people is that they feel invisible to the Democratic coalition she says The plan has sparked skepticism but Houge says the input is clear We re losing young men of every race ethnicity educational background and economic class in every state we looked at Trump is constantly trying to exploit and demagogue any issue Sirota explains and really ramrod any issue into a society war battle where he portrays himself as the Archie Bunker defender of middle America silent America s values and portrays Democrats as mostly interested in talking about advocating for and protecting those who are not part of so-called middle America According to Hogue voters SAM have spoken to say They want affordable housing They want access to physical condition care They veritably feel like Democrats can t get it done Sirota believes it s not just lack of faith in their ability to get it done The average rank-and-file Democratic voter does not like the Democratic Party does not like the Democratic leadership says Sirota And that he argues is an opening for change You cannot serve the donors and the voters simultaneously Washington who has covered the SAM initiative and broader trends in the Democratic politics points to a central and persistent contradiction You can t serve two masters she says You cannot serve the donors and the voters simultaneously You cannot serve the average American and the person who has million in the exact same way If Democrats want to stop hemorrhaging help particularly among disillusioned voters and younger men they ll need to do more than tweak their messaging They ll need to pick a side and start naming villains As Sirota argues Economic populism is not just the governing body will strengthen or make more robust the safety net but that the economic powers and villains in the market will be limited in their power You can hear the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts Spotify or wherever you listen The post Democrats Hate Their Own Party The People Can Take It Back appeared first on The Intercept