How liberals lost America

WHO “lost” the 2024 United States presidential election? How could Donald Trump receive 77 million votes and easily capture a majority of the Electoral College? Those questions will haunt the Democratic Party – and liberals everywhere – for a long time.

Some centrists in the Democratic party argue that it was all about “wokeness”. By focusing on trans rights, preferred pronouns and unpopular ideas like “defund the police”, left-wing Democrats alienated the white working class that had once voted reliably Democratic. One particularly effective Republican ad, repeated incessantly across traditional and social media, proclaimed “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you”. According to the centrist argument, Democrats waged a culture war – and got beaten.

Not so fast, say Democratic progressives. The election was not about a culture war but, instead, a class war. Working Americans resented the high cost of groceries and healthcare and the loss of jobs to China. Had Democrats embraced “economic populism”, they would have beaten Trump.