Trump won the America that Democrats forgot

President Donald Trump won in 2024 largely by arguing that, unlike Democrats, he was focused on people’s economic insecurity. While Democrats debated Gaza, transgender rights, abortion and democracy itself, Trump’s message was largely focused on economic security.

Trump had no real political agenda to lower prices »day 1“, but that didn’t matter to many voters. They just wanted to be seen. While Democrats (myself included) pointed to improving jobs and economic numbers, many Americans didn’t feel good about their own finances — and at least someone acknowledged their pain.

This message was so powerful that 46% of Latino voters supported Trump despite its explicitly racist rhetoric. A person’s concerns about bigotry and democracy are almost always outweighed by their concerns about the need to feed their family.

Years ago, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards spoke of “two Americas” during his term in office. 2004 And 2008 presidential campaigns. His argument was simple: There was an America for the wealthy and well-connected — with privilege, access to quality health care and education, and political influence — and there was another America for everyone else, where people struggled to make ends meet, juggled multiple jobs, lacked health care, sent their children to underfunded schools, and had no political power.

Today, this divide between “two Americas” has become more marked. Earlier this year, an economic analysis by Moody’s Analytics found that the top 10 percent of earners — those earning about $250,000 a year or more — now make up a surprising number of people. 49.7% of all consumer spending. Thirty years ago, this figure was around 36%.

Moody’s chief economist estimated that that same 10% now represents nearly a third of the country’s gross domestic product. “The finances of the rich have never been better, their spending has never been stronger, and the economy has never been more dependent on this group,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

Education and income remain closely linked, as government studies show 2018 And 2022. And 56% of college graduates supported Democratic candidate Kamala Harris last year. But among non-college voters, his support was only 45 percent.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that she won those making more than $100,000 a year, 51 percent to Trump’s 47 percent, while losing those making less than $100,000 by the same margin, by the same margin. leaving the polls.

It’s sad that Democrats have lost the argument they once defined. Edwards warned of two Americas: one with power and privilege, the other fighting for survival. Twenty years later, that divide has widened, and somehow it was Trump who managed to speak to the people of the second America. It does not offer them solutions, only recognition – and in a country where so many people feel invisible, that is enough.

The greatest drawback in American political history is not just that Trump presented himself as their champion. It’s because the Democrats have completely stopped talking to them.