There is a critical issue that Gest does not address: that there is competition between working class whites and blacks for jobs that pay a living wage and provide benefits. These are jobs that are "protected from market competition," and the only way to get such jobs is through connections to family and friends who can help you gain an "inside edge." The reason for lack of opportunity for such jobs is because of the structural changes in the economy, including the effects of globalization, but most working class whites see the problem as that the government is giving preference to blacks and other minorities or women over white men. The Democratic Party needs to bridge this class versus racial politics to keep both groups in their coalition. The left drove the white working class out of the Democratic Party in the 1960s, and now blames the Party for not addressing working class interests.

He had until this point...I feel like he's about to mention the cliche phrase "identity politics." Democrats have not played well to its base of minorities either in case that's what he's hitting at. 

This situation is remarkably simple and obvious. A substantial swath of the electorate believed in Obama's "One America," and voted for Obama as a figure who personified that very vision, transcending race. These voters were not “white nationalists”; they didn’t even think in terms of a “white” identity.  Then, just as their economic fortunes stagnated or declined, these same people found themselves being lectured on their “privilege,” on “institutional racism,” on whose lives (not theirs!) truly “matter.” Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton didn’t even attempt to transcend gender in the same sense that Obama seemed to transcend race.  Those voters felt they’d been conned — that the vision they believed in had been betrayed — and they voted for Trump, who personified their (understandable) resentment. Trump now can keep conning those same voters, because he isn’t projecting any vision. All he needs to do is exude bitterness and spite.

Great interview.  Very timely.  Helped me to understand the current American political situation.

As much as Trump initiated the era of "Politics of Nostalgia" we need to examine the very concept of the working class -- regardless of race or color --  and if it still holds economic, social and structural validity in a society in the throws of fundamental change from the industrial (manufacturing) age to the digital age. Professor Gest has tapped into an enormously vital question we all, not just political parties, need to examine if we want to achieve progress and equality on social and economic terms. I was glad to hear that the author finally ended up putting the focus on education's role in this transition. To say it more bluntly in Trumpian terms: if our President were really concerned for the well being of his voting base he would focus on bringing education to the coal miners in West Virginia, among other regions, rather than re-open the mines.

Justin Gest, author of 'The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality' discusses why working-class whites continue to stick by President Trump.

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