In 2020, when faced with four more years of Trump, the Democratic Party nominated the least woke alternative–an elderly white man without an Ivy League degree who rejected defunding the police and opening the border. That same elderly white man became arguably the most pro-union president in history. He also helped design legislation that invested huge amount of public funds in depressed red areas. Workers without degrees did better under his administration than their supervisors. Did any of that help him with workers? No! He was hideously unpopular, and was forced to drop out of the race.
Sherrod Brown is a genuine populist who oozes concern about the working class. There is absolutely nothing about him that looks Ivy League. He ran a strong campaign against a car dealer. Did he win? No! It wasn’t even that close.
Never Trumpers are now arguing that the problem with Democrats is that they’re snooty elitists who don’t care about workers without degrees. The fate of Biden and Brown tells us that wasn’t the problem. In any event, which Republicans really care about workers? The editorial board of the WSJ? Elon Musk? The billionaire former casino owner and developer who is going back to the White House carrying a plan to cut corporate taxes and business regulations again?
Elitism wasn’t the problem. Inflation was.