Chris Matthews had me on his show right after a wild weekend - Jay Taber's book was dropping, news about Biden's health was breaking, and Republicans were ramming through their budget at 10 PM on a Sunday night.
But we didn't spend much time on the news cycle. Instead, we got into why Democrats keep getting their asses kicked by a guy like Trump.
The $150,000 Question
Chris asked why nobody in the party spoke up about Biden's age and unpopularity. Here's my answer:
"In 2022, I was a communications consultant. I got quoted saying Joe Biden was deeply unpopular and old as shit and that we should be looking for a primary challenger. I lost a bunch of contracts. Cost me about $150,000 a year."
That's why people don't speak up.
The College Degree Problem
I'd been researching the makeup of Congress for my Substack. Here's what I found:
Senate today: 99% have college degrees
Senate in 1945: 72% had college degrees
House in 1945: 54% had college degrees
"How are you going to relate to that block of people if you don't have any of those people around you?" I asked Chris. "If you're this insular party surrounded by Harvard, Yale, Princeton?"
Chris jumped in: "How many journalists today have Ivy League degrees and don't know anybody like that? They actually don't know anybody who voted for Trump."
He gets it. The bubble around Washington and the New York West Side is so thick they can't see through it. As somebody said in a book Chris had just read: "If you ignore half the country, don't be surprised when it turns the tables on you."
The Inflation Lie
This is where Chris and I really connected. Democrats keep looking at GDP, real wage growth, all these figures that tell them everything is great.
"If you believe that data is impenetrably true," I told him, "then you have to wonder, I guess it's just a perception problem. We need to be better at communicating. But the fact is, that's not the reality people live in. You can't talk to people if you believe they're full of shit."
Chris agreed completely. He talked about relatives in Pennsylvania - sophisticated suburbanites around Philly who read the Times, then you drive two hours to Reading and they're listening to country music. Different worlds.
My Political Journey
When Chris asked about my political heroes, the answer told the whole story:
Al Gore - First vote I ever cast. That election turned me against politics for a while.
Barack Obama - Candidate Obama was definitely a hero. President Obama less so. "The influence of Rahm Emanuel and the sort of triangulation they tried to do, I found to be a disservice to the Democratic Party."
Bernie Sanders - "I'm standing on my food truck listening to Tom Hartman on the radio. I hear Bernie for the first time. He's describing my town - the closing factories, the opiate crisis. He's describing the decay of people's capacity to make a living."
The Master's Degree Making $15/Hour
I told Chris I was looking for a producer for my show. Paying $15 an hour because I'm not well-funded. "I got people with master's degrees applying for that job. That's insane, right? It's not a living wage."
People entering the workforce now don't have the same capacity our grandparents had. In 1950-1960, one income could support a family, buy a house, buy a car. That's gone.
The Pattern Is Clear
Look at the last few elections:
Bernie Sanders - change candidate
Donald Trump - change candidate
Barack Obama - change candidate
"You've got tons of evidence that shows the electorate wants something different. Not just year by year or election by election. They're looking for something fundamentally different."
Chris Gets It
What surprised me was how much Chris Matthews - the ultimate DC insider - understood this. He talked about his own relatives who he can't discuss politics with because they'll think he's condescending. He ran against the Democratic machine in Philadelphia at 28 and still has to explain it to people.
We ended talking about Republicans passing their budget in the middle of the night, letting their hardliners vote "present" so they don't have to own the Medicaid cuts and tax breaks for the rich.
"What can you say about a party that has to operate by moonlight?" Chris asked.
But honestly? At least they know what they're doing is unpopular. Democrats keep doing unpopular shit while insisting it's actually great and we're just too stupid to understand.
That's the difference.
Watch the full interview where a Hardball host and a Bernie guy figure out they're mad about the same things.
When did you realize the Democratic Party had lost touch with regular people? Let me know in the comments.
Share this post