Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt

Chapter 249 - 128: Reagan Democrats 2

"Mr. President, this is illogical. Warren represents big capital, the energy giants, and the military-industrial complex. Why? Why are people still so devoted to supporting him?"

"Can’t they see that Warren is using them? Do they really believe that a Senator worth tens of millions can empathize with them?"

"Leo."

Roosevelt’s voice rang out.

"You must understand a concept."

"Reagan Democrats."

Leo was taken aback for a moment.

"I know that term. It refers to the white, blue-collar workers who switched sides to support Reagan in the 1980 election."

"It’s more than just a historical political term," Roosevelt corrected. "It’s the deepest fissure in the United States’ political landscape, a fissure that’s still bleeding today. And Warren is a man who grew up feeding on the blood from that wound."

Roosevelt drew Leo’s mind back to the previous century.

"Once upon a time, the white, blue-collar workers of the North were our Democratic Party’s most loyal voting bloc. They were my base. In their homes, they’d hang a picture of Jesus, and right next to it, they’d hang a portrait of me."

"They trusted the Party, because the Party gave them the Union, it gave them overtime pay, it gave them dignity as workers."

"But in 1980, everything changed."

"They defected in droves. They abandoned the Democratic Party and threw their support behind the Republican Party’s Ronald Reagan."

"Why?"

"Because of money? Because they liked supply-side economics? Because they were eager to cut taxes for the rich?" Leo’s questions were laced with mockery.

"Of course not."

Roosevelt’s voice grew somber.

"It was because the Republicans very cleverly reframed the issue."

"They discovered a secret: for the white working class, something else was just as important as bread."

"Dignity."

"Or, a sense of identity."

Roosevelt broke down the logic behind it.

"The civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements of the sixties and seventies gradually transformed the Democratic Party into one that embraced diversity and intellectual elites."

"During this process, those traditional white, blue-collar workers felt they had been forgotten, or even offended."

"That’s when the Republican Party stepped in."

"They launched a culture war."

"They stopped talking about wages. They stopped talking about working hours. They started talking about God, guns, the flag, and abortion."

"They told those workers: look at those Democrats, look at those liberal elites living in big cities on the East Coast. They look down on you, they mock your faith, they want to take away the guns you use to defend your homes, and they support lifestyles you can’t comprehend."

"Your enemy isn’t the boss who exploits you."

"Your enemies are the condescending, self-righteous cultural elites who want to reshape your minds."

"It’s an incredibly powerful narrative."

Roosevelt sighed.

"This narrative successfully masked the class conflict."

"It put a steelworker earning thirty thousand US dollars a year in the same trench as a Wall Street banker earning thirty million. All because they both claimed to believe in God, support gun ownership, and oppose abortion."

"They used a cultural ’us’ to negate the reality of economic exploitation."

"This is what Russell Warren lives on."

Roosevelt’s gaze seemed to pierce through the map, seeing the scenes playing out in those deep-red counties.

"Warren is smart. He knows he can’t give the workers bread, because his financial backers won’t let him raise taxes to fund social programs."

"So, he gives the workers dignity instead."

"Even if it’s a false dignity."

"He speaks at churches, he goes to shooting ranges, he gets on television and lambasts the ’radicals who are destroying American tradition’."

"He offers the workers a psychological shield."

"He promises them, ’Just vote for me, and I’ll protect your way of life from those people in the cities.’"

"And for that, the workers are eternally grateful."

"In return, they turn a blind eye to Warren’s actions in Washington, where he sells out their economic interests. They might even feel that enduring some poverty is a worthy sacrifice to defend their faith."

Roosevelt’s voice grew even more somber.

"And that’s not to mention that Russell Warren is a master of political theater. He understands the art of manipulating votes on Capitol Hill better than anyone."

"On certain key bills, he won’t hesitate to ’betray’ the Republican Party."

"When a bill that is guaranteed to harm workers’ interests—but is also guaranteed to pass—is on the table, he’ll vote against it. When a bill that would benefit workers—but is guaranteed to fail—comes up, he’ll loudly voice his support."

"He precisely calculates the value of every vote. As long as it doesn’t affect the overall outcome, as long as it doesn’t harm the fundamental interests of his financial backers, he will side with the workers."

"The outcome doesn’t change. The factories still close, and benefits are still cut. But Warren will go back to Pennsylvania, clutch his voting record in his hand, and tell his constituents with a look of firm resolve, ’See? I did my best. I even went against my own party for you, but the swamp in Washington is too deep. I’m just one man, and I can’t fight it alone.’"

"He successfully creates an illusion: even though the bill didn’t pass, he tried his best. Even though their lives got worse, he’s the only one fighting for them."

"So you see, it’s not that Warren has done nothing in that region, as we might have thought."