Thomas Frank Offers Some Frank Advice to The Democratic Party

What's The Matter with Kansas? author Thomas Frank has written an article for The Guardian which can charitably be described as, well, frank. He excoriates the Democratic Party for its contempt of America's working-class and calls upon it to disavow its "Davos ideology.":


Pretending to rediscover the exotic, newly red states of the Midwest, in the manner of the New York Times, is not the answer to this problem. Listening to the voices of the good people of Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan is not really the answer, either. Cursing those bad people for the stupid way they voted is an even lousier idea.


What we need is for the Democratic party and its media enablers to alter course. It’s not enough to hear people’s voices and feel their pain; the party actually needs to change. They need to understand that the enlightened Davos ideology they have embraced over the years has done material harm to millions of their own former constituents. The Democrats need to offer something different next time. And then they need to deliver.


Frank doesn't specifically define "Davos ideology" although from the tenor of his writing it would be one in its simplest terms that embraces free trade and deregulation. Of course, this is easier said than done. Suppose Bernie Sanders is somehow elected President in 2020. Is he anymore likely to abrogate NAFTA than President Trump? And if he does what good does withdrawing from global markets? China will surely be happy to fill the void.


Nevertheless, Frank is right to say that Democrats must not make enemies with those who voted for Trump:


People in the labor movement that I met in my turn around the midwest expressed complicated feelings about Donald Trump. On the one hand, everyone understands that he is an obvious scoundrel and they fear that his administration will bring about (via a possible supreme court ruling against public-sector unions) an epic defeat for organized labor.


In the union hall of the Steelworkers local that represents workers at the Indianapolis Carrier plant – a union hall where you might expect Trump to be venerated – I spotted instead a flyer depicting the billionaire president with his famous pompadour on fire. The headline: “Lying Con and Volatile Gasbag is Enemy of the Working Class.”


On the other hand, Trump at least pretended to be a friend of the working class, and it was working-class people in this part of America who turned against the Democrats and helped delivered him into the White House. By a certain school of thought, this should make working-class people the Number One swing group for Democrats to court.

Of course it isn’t working out that way. So far, liberal organs seem far less interested in courting such voters than they do in scolding them, insulting them for their coarse taste and the hate for humanity they supposedly cherish in their ignorant hearts.

These sentiments were put on full display by Hillary Clinton last September during her infamous basket of deplorables speech. There were certainly Trump supporters who behaved deplorably, but for her tar half of Trump supporters was a wound she cannot blame on James Comey.

Of course, Barack Obama was plenty condescending in the 2008 election when he spoke of those clung bitterly to their guns and religion. Did Obama get away with this because of his race? Or is it because he knows how to work a room and Hillary Clinton doesn't? Whatever the reason, Obama is the exception which proves Frank's argument. While Obama got two terms, Democrats lost 13 Senate seats, 12 governor's mansions and nearly 1,000 state legislative seats. Back to Frank:

Ignorance is not the issue, however. Many midwesterners I met share an outlook that is profoundly bleak. They believe that the life has gone out of this region; indeed, they fear that a civilization based on making things is no longer sustainable.


They tell me about seniors falling prey to Fox News syndrome and young people who are growing up without hope. And just about everyone I talked to believes that the national Democratic party has abandoned them. They are frustrated beyond words with the stupidity of the party’s leadership.


In a way, "so much winning" was to Trump what "hope and change" was to Obama. As I argued the other day, if Trump convinces voters that they are winning then he will win in 2020.


Thomas Frank has offered Democrats some frank advice. Frankly, I doubt they will take up him on it.