Since Donald Trump’s Presidential win, there has been the development of a narrative that the Democrats had forgotten the white working class. The narrative goes something like this: at some point over the last several decades, Democrats stopped caring about labor, and started caring only about corporations, and the white working class noticed this and stopped voting Democratic. The solution, as the narrative goes, is for Democrats to support labor and European style socialism. The narrative proponents claim that Democratic support for universal healthcare, attacking Wall Street, and free college will instantly bring the white working class back into the Democratic fold.....

The narrative has been spread far and wide by many well-known and reputable figures in politics, business, and media. I’m here to say that the narrative is complete bullshit. These white working class voters left the Democratic Party after the party passed Civil Rights in the mid-1960s. The white working class has had no problem voting for big business Republicans that oppose free college, support Wall-Street, and oppose universal healthcare. Donald Trump is readying to appoint the richest cabinet in US history, and has already installed several Goldman Sachs executives in top posts. There has been no white working class outcry at Trump pushing “wealthy neoliberal coastal elites” in his inner circle. The white working class is not in an uprising and is not devastated by the bankers Trump installed in government. They largely don’t care. That’s why the narrative is bullshit. These white working class voters aren’t voting against elites or neoliberalism. They have been find voting for elites for decades, as long as those elites seem to oppose minority interests. According to the exits, in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin (the lionized rust belt), Clinton won voters whose number one issue was the economy. The rust belt voters focused on the economy voted Democratic. But for the rust belt voters whose number one issue was terrorism or immigration, Trump won decisively.

Centering the white working class doesn’t look like democratic socialism. It doesn’t look like Bernie Sanders. It looks like Manchin and Heitkamp, two Democrats who are friendly enough with Trump to consider joining his Administration. Centering the white working class would mean a more conservative Democratic Party which is friendly with the NRA, anti-abortion, against same-sex marriage, against climate change regulations, “strong” on national security and against immigration. It means being softer on social programs and issues of wealth redistribution. Democrats shouldn’t be focused on “becoming the party of the heartland.” It would mean sacrificing much of the party’s core values in order to become GOP-lite. The party should instead focus on opposing voter suppression and gerrymandering and boosting turnout among already established demographics: Black people, Latinos, Asian Americans, and young voters