Why both the Left and the Right are failing American workers

Working-class voters had high hopes that Donald Trump would help them out economically: Inflation and the economy were top priorities for Trump voters in 2024.These voters have seen the fading of the American Dream first-hand: Over 90% of Americans did better than their parents in the decades after World War II, but only half born in 1980 will.

Why? A major reason is that employers pocketed workers’ fair share of productivity increases.Wages used to rise when productivity did; if that had continued, workers’ wages would be 43% higher than they are today. You won’t hear about this from President Trump.

Instead, his villain is foreign trade, and his solution is to use tariffs to bring back blue-collar jobs.But tariffs won’t work quickly, because onshoring means building new factories, which takes years.

And it may never happen. Meanwhile, tariffs threaten to take away the only real benefit workers got from globalization: cheap Nikes, T-shirts, and party favors.To add to that, the Trump administration is DOGE-ing away stability at the Veterans Administration and Medicaid, which middle-class and rural Americans rely on. In short, the right isn’t doing right by Lunchpail Joe and Jane.But neither is the left.

Instead, it’s obsessing nonstop about Trump’s flouting of democratic norms — that’s all progressives want to talk about.Defense of democracy was a top priority for those who voted for Kamala Harris, but way, way down for those who voted for Trump.The left also wants to talk about how DOGE is firing government workers, making professionals’ jobs unstable and nerve-wracking. Welcome to our world, say non-college voters.

Thirty years ago, sales personnel at Macy’s had full-time jobs with benefits.Today, associates worry constantly about whether they will accrue enough hours to pay the rent, in jobs that typically lack health insurance.

As a result, many workers without degrees are working all kinds of hours. A 38-year-old construction w...