The presidential election of 2024 is history. Donald Trump and the Republican Party have had an earth-shaking victory. Yet it’s not about a man or a party; it was about the rise of the working class.
We rely on these people for just about everything. They build our houses and our cars. They repair everything from plumbing to electrical. They drive our trucks to bring food to our supermarkets and stocked the shelves during the pandemic. They had to continue to work, unlike the rest of us. They have had to work harder for less gain due to inflation.
The people saw the border, the prices at the supermarket and the crime in the streets and were smart enough to figure out we were headed in the wrong direction. They said, “We have had enough.”
Donald Trump, the billionaire, is the least likely person to connect with the working class, but that is precisely what happened. Trump reconstituted the Republican Party by listening to the discontent of the middle class. The Democrats looked to the famous and influential and became the party of the coastal elites. Trump’s success shows that people don’t care how much money you have if you don’t look down on them, like garbage or the deplorables.
The Democrats are starting to cannibalize each other. The Kamala Harris people are blaming Joe Biden and vice versa. They both ought to look in the mirror to find the culprit.
Ken Barnes
Mechanicsville
The writer is a former Brownsville resident.