Regarding the story on Walter Kirn ’83: I agree that the tone of Democratic Party leaders toward middle-class Americans who do not support them can be condescending. I despise condescension, but I despise being lied to even more.
Alas, when someone is really good at telling me lies I want to hear, I have trouble spotting them. I believe that that is something Republican Party leaders have perfected in the case of many middle-class Americans, especially regarding their economic best interests.
Many of the lies involve deflecting blame onto others: pregnant women, migrants, anyone identifying as LGBTQ, anyone who does not want to own a gun in order to feel safe, anyone who believes that only secular education should be at public expense.
The biggest lie, though, is that massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will ever benefit anyone except the wealthy and corporations. The last 40 years have made that amply clear. Only more progressive taxation, a robustly nonpartisan judicial system, and a firmly secular education system can benefit the vast majority of middle-class Americans, regardless of their color, creed, or gender.