Bret Stephens sees a cleavage in American society between privileged remote office workers and the army of essential workers who risk their lives to serve them. Stephens clearly views this division in Trumpian terms: the remote workers are the self-serving, meritocratic coastal elites, while the essential workers are Trump’s angry base. Is he right?
Hardly. The Democrats are primarily responsible for all of the worker-friendly legislation that made it through Congress over the last few months, while the GOP’s objective is to reopen businesses as quickly as possible in order to cut spending and force workers to choose between their jobs and their health. Trump and the GOP intend to eliminate the extra layer of federal unemployment benefits and to jam employer immunity legislation through Congress– not the Democrats. This, of course, is intended to please the small business owners who actually comprise the GOP’s base. They are the people who are attending the anti-lockout demonstrations with their assault rifles, not nurses or drivers for Amazon Prime.
So, yes, the cleavage exists, but no, it will not operate to Trump’s advantage in November. Essential workers are not entrepreneurs who are frustrated by government regulations; they are just workers, period.