This post from Corbin is one to print, highlight, and hang on the wall. Americans and probably humanity around the World have literally become slaves to the few with the "few" represented by powerful politicians, big corporations, and greedy corruption in general.
Great message. However, your 1945-75 history is a little off. That period was not one of Democratic dominance. We had 16 years of Republican presidencies during that period. Eisenhower and Nixon were more liberal than some Democrats nowadays, and it just goes to show how batshit crazy the Republican Party has become. It's the Democratic dominance from 1932-52 that is the purer example, and as I get older, the more and more I appreciate just how truly extraordinary FDR and his administration were. I consider him our best and most transformative president, by a very clear margin. Lincoln got US Grant who won the Civil War, but Lincoln didn't finish the job. FDR got us through the depression and WWII, and transformed this country in the process. And he couldn't even walk.
Keep up the good work, Corbin. You're the only guy mapping a constructive route out of this mess.
Absolutely, I was more talking the majorities and supermajorities in congress for the Dems during much of that period. For sure though Ford and Kennedy and LBJ were only 12 years compared to the 16 of Republican control. That said both Eisenhower and Nixon would be to the left of the establishment Democrats with regard to industrial policy, economic policy, and taxes. We've allowed the Overton window to go batshit right.
Great article but I think it's important to add that we are fighting a class war against a plutocracy of which the Democratic leadership is a major member. Many Democratic voters have been gaslighted into having blind faith in the current neoliberal Democratic leadership believing that personalities are more important than the issues.
It just occurred to me that the Democratic Party is the party of the "Liberal" members of the 20%. I have a lot of friends like this. They are doing OK. They supported Hillary and Biden - not Bernie. They are OK with the old normal and are freaking out at the rapid slide into a police state. I've shared your posts with them and they agree but don't engage. It seems to me that the core of our coalition is the 80%. If the more affluent dems want to join - great. But courting them or those they support seems pretty pointless.
Excellent perspective (as usual!). Supermajorities come from broad awakening to the bad faith of the opposition. Public awareness is the priority, and strategy will follow, to persuade the likes of progressives who are still fighting their own battles. It's a heady time, and while we cannot afford to be patient, neither can we afford to be impatient -- we need to commit to action, to learning why bad faith prevails, and what lies persist over the centuries. It's in front of our noses, and we need to pay attention. Thank you, Corbin, for your commitment and perspective!
Corbin, I read your "column" every time that it appears in my inbox. I disagree with you on one point: lumping Bernie Sanders in with Chuck Schumer and other "mainstream" Democrats. I voted for Bernie in 2016 and 2020, heard him speak live, went door-to-door for him in 2016, and still support his campaign. Bernie is the real deal, and even though he's in his mid-80s, he's far more eloquent than Schumer and other milquetoast Demos. We will be at our local NO KINGs tomorrow, and urge everyone who cares about our Democracy to be there!
I love this post and agree with the case you make. But I think there’s more needed than economic populism alone. Many MAGA followers are drawn less by Trump’s economic promises than by the sense of belonging and identity the movement offers.
One of the great strengths of progressive politics over the past 75 years has also become a challenge we need to confront. Identity-based movements were essential for marginalized groups to build power and win rights — and they still are. But they’ve also helped fragment our collective sense of “we,” and unintentionally fed the “us-versus-them” narratives that Republicans are so skilled at weaponizing.
Alongside a bold economic platform, we need a reconciliation and unification project — something that rebuilds the sense that we share a common fate as Americans, however we vote. And that goal is famously in tension with protecting the legitimate needs of marginalized communities. There’s no easy formula for holding both truths at once, but without addressing that tension, no amount of economic populism or socialism will build the kind of super-majority this moment demands.
I suppose, in my mind, the effort that it’s gonna take to rebuild our infrastructure and rebuild our society to rebuild our government to rebuild. Our democracy, provides the opportunity for engagement and community building, and a realignment of who is in and who is out because the number of folks that we’re gonna need to do the work is going to be fast and that end up itself makes it easier and more possible to expand the end crowd to include more people, but maybe I’m naïve and I just think that the idea of working along side folks gives you the opportunity to see them in a new light
You make a great point. I think it’s a “yes, and…” for me. Yes — large-scale public works can absolutely create shared purpose and connection across divides. And it’s also true that many of the mid-century projects we look back on so fondly were double-edged: they built prosperity and entrenched segregation, exclusion, and cronyism. If we want new public investment to be a unifying force, we’ll need to reckon directly with that history and design it differently this time.
And base it on what the earth can carry. I have been calling attention to the fact that a massive new movement in this era of collapse was not only predictable but unavoidable. We are at a point where every human need and human response requires a foundation from which a unified movement can spring. No more pot shots at class versus economy versus education versus community versus ... We cannot keep designing future realities at 60,000 feet as if our crises were only about humans. We still think of every effort at change as a fight rather than an opportunity to cooperate.
Totally agree, Paul. I think this aspect of the problem is under-appreciated but is made clear from Arlie Hochschild's last two books and by the work of a Franklin & Marshall prof whose name I'm blanking on who embedded with Trump campaign volunteers in PA.
"They’d be joining us. Jeffries, Schumer, Pelosi—they’d make sure the biggest mobilization against Trump knew Democratic leadership was standing with us. They’d help articulate demands. They’d connect this energy to a strategy for winning."
If the Democratic Party establishment that demanded we citizens kowtow to their AIPAC supporters' shadow-governing this country and dropped their party to a 27% approval rating tried to co-opt tomorrow's demonstration, it would be all about THEM, not the people. I wouldn't turn out for that. It is time for this cartel Party to support the people and stop demanding the people support corruption and genocide. Rest assured I am marching in support of the people tomorrow and their Bill of Rights, not this corrupt, cowardly clusterf--k of a "party.'
It’s not just supporting progressive primary candidates, it’s also supporting independents, third-party candidates, socialists, etc. in both primaries …. and …. general elections, when only corporatist, bought and paid for Democratic candidates are on the ballot.
Agree totally here with your critique of Bernie and AOC; they are still afraid of being ‘Nadered’.
Do the right thing, or get the hell out of the way.
I would add a fourth requirement for Democrats, and Bernie, probably because he is an independent, has been the only one to voice this; to acknowledge, and apologize for, Democratic Party complicity in the embrace of neoliberal economics, and be willing to critique Clinton and Obama for their duplicitous roles in it.
Corbin, you seem to be the only writer out there that get's it. I consume way to many podcasts and either it is the left of center, right of center or the sensationalists.
Yes, Yes and Yes! I'm happy to hear that a coalition seems to be forming. I wonder how best to pressure or persuade Bernie, AOC and the other progressives in office to go all in? Are Schumer and Jeffries being primaried yet? That seems like a good place to start. It would definitely send a message. For sure, Saikat deserves massive support. It is well past time for the old guard to get out of the new road if they can't lend a hand.
As usual, Corbin Trent makes many good points and lays out a solid outline for progressive action rooted in historical trends and policy successes (and failures) over time.
Even so, like many progressive from what I'll very generally call the more Bernie-side of the Left, his analysis lacks any discussion of the fundamental role of racism in American political history in general, and in the Democratic Party until relatively recently. It's an oversimplification,. but 'class vs race', has been an ongoing argument within the Left for some time, and is still an important issue that must be addressed.
Trent writes about the successes during the New Deal and the Great Society periods that were due to the dominance of the Democratic Party. He is correct that there were major advances during these periods, but he does not mention that the Democratic Party was also the party of segregation throughout these periods. When he writes that ' 1945 to 1975 was the greatest expansion of shared prosperity in American history', this is true to an extent, but was this prosperity really 'shared' so much by African-American workers, who were still barred from many labor unions, universities, and workplaces? The Democratic Party was the party of such virulent racists as Strom Thurmond and George Wallace during this time, up until the last years of this period. The shifts in both major parties due to the 'Southern strategy' is not unrelated to the shifts in the US economy and shifts in US labor and manufacturing that took hold in the aftermaths of these changes.
It is of course a misframing to imply the white working class as just 'the working class', as is so common in today's discussions, but at the same time, progressives need to address that the needs and challenges faced by nonwhite working class Americans are not the same as their white counterparts. I see another comment here that states 'without addressing that tension, no amount of economic populism or socialism will build the kind of super-majority this moment demands'. I agree. The greater Left must find a way to address the pervasive and continuing impact of racism in American culture, which is so foundational that it impacts virtually every aspect of our society, with the need to address and strengthen working class consciousness across racial and ethnic divides.
I fully concur. At the same time these are the exact issues the republicans are excoriating and tearing apart the progress of the civil rights movement. The Supreme Court goes along. They are openly racist in many ways. So it seems fully half the country is content to strip away civil rights progress, laws, programs, regulations etc, cheerleading it onward. We certainly need bold, creative, inspiring leadership and action to rekindle equality and inclusion in a way that can engage the better angels of the populace, along with the economic restructuring.
I commend you for pulling together all the different threads. I focus on tax rates and a job guarantee. Platner yesterday said that we need "material freedom". That is exactly right. And more candidates need to start talking about economic freedom. Keep up the good work.
This messaging is spot on. Now how do you condense this message and spread it widely when the majority of Americans don’t read anymore? That’s how MAGA was able to do it- quick hard hitting soundbites for all those who just scroll away.
And here in NJ? Our gubernatorial dem candidate brings in Whitmer to hold a big free rally AT THE SAME TIME as No kings rallies. Great. Bleed off the sophisticated etc supporters
This post from Corbin is one to print, highlight, and hang on the wall. Americans and probably humanity around the World have literally become slaves to the few with the "few" represented by powerful politicians, big corporations, and greedy corruption in general.
Great message. However, your 1945-75 history is a little off. That period was not one of Democratic dominance. We had 16 years of Republican presidencies during that period. Eisenhower and Nixon were more liberal than some Democrats nowadays, and it just goes to show how batshit crazy the Republican Party has become. It's the Democratic dominance from 1932-52 that is the purer example, and as I get older, the more and more I appreciate just how truly extraordinary FDR and his administration were. I consider him our best and most transformative president, by a very clear margin. Lincoln got US Grant who won the Civil War, but Lincoln didn't finish the job. FDR got us through the depression and WWII, and transformed this country in the process. And he couldn't even walk.
Keep up the good work, Corbin. You're the only guy mapping a constructive route out of this mess.
Absolutely, I was more talking the majorities and supermajorities in congress for the Dems during much of that period. For sure though Ford and Kennedy and LBJ were only 12 years compared to the 16 of Republican control. That said both Eisenhower and Nixon would be to the left of the establishment Democrats with regard to industrial policy, economic policy, and taxes. We've allowed the Overton window to go batshit right.
Great article but I think it's important to add that we are fighting a class war against a plutocracy of which the Democratic leadership is a major member. Many Democratic voters have been gaslighted into having blind faith in the current neoliberal Democratic leadership believing that personalities are more important than the issues.
It just occurred to me that the Democratic Party is the party of the "Liberal" members of the 20%. I have a lot of friends like this. They are doing OK. They supported Hillary and Biden - not Bernie. They are OK with the old normal and are freaking out at the rapid slide into a police state. I've shared your posts with them and they agree but don't engage. It seems to me that the core of our coalition is the 80%. If the more affluent dems want to join - great. But courting them or those they support seems pretty pointless.
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly!
Corbin, I am just getting to know you. Wow! You are so right. Keep telling it. I will follow.
dB
Excellent perspective (as usual!). Supermajorities come from broad awakening to the bad faith of the opposition. Public awareness is the priority, and strategy will follow, to persuade the likes of progressives who are still fighting their own battles. It's a heady time, and while we cannot afford to be patient, neither can we afford to be impatient -- we need to commit to action, to learning why bad faith prevails, and what lies persist over the centuries. It's in front of our noses, and we need to pay attention. Thank you, Corbin, for your commitment and perspective!
Corbin, I read your "column" every time that it appears in my inbox. I disagree with you on one point: lumping Bernie Sanders in with Chuck Schumer and other "mainstream" Democrats. I voted for Bernie in 2016 and 2020, heard him speak live, went door-to-door for him in 2016, and still support his campaign. Bernie is the real deal, and even though he's in his mid-80s, he's far more eloquent than Schumer and other milquetoast Demos. We will be at our local NO KINGs tomorrow, and urge everyone who cares about our Democracy to be there!
I love this post and agree with the case you make. But I think there’s more needed than economic populism alone. Many MAGA followers are drawn less by Trump’s economic promises than by the sense of belonging and identity the movement offers.
One of the great strengths of progressive politics over the past 75 years has also become a challenge we need to confront. Identity-based movements were essential for marginalized groups to build power and win rights — and they still are. But they’ve also helped fragment our collective sense of “we,” and unintentionally fed the “us-versus-them” narratives that Republicans are so skilled at weaponizing.
Alongside a bold economic platform, we need a reconciliation and unification project — something that rebuilds the sense that we share a common fate as Americans, however we vote. And that goal is famously in tension with protecting the legitimate needs of marginalized communities. There’s no easy formula for holding both truths at once, but without addressing that tension, no amount of economic populism or socialism will build the kind of super-majority this moment demands.
I suppose, in my mind, the effort that it’s gonna take to rebuild our infrastructure and rebuild our society to rebuild our government to rebuild. Our democracy, provides the opportunity for engagement and community building, and a realignment of who is in and who is out because the number of folks that we’re gonna need to do the work is going to be fast and that end up itself makes it easier and more possible to expand the end crowd to include more people, but maybe I’m naïve and I just think that the idea of working along side folks gives you the opportunity to see them in a new light
You make a great point. I think it’s a “yes, and…” for me. Yes — large-scale public works can absolutely create shared purpose and connection across divides. And it’s also true that many of the mid-century projects we look back on so fondly were double-edged: they built prosperity and entrenched segregation, exclusion, and cronyism. If we want new public investment to be a unifying force, we’ll need to reckon directly with that history and design it differently this time.
And base it on what the earth can carry. I have been calling attention to the fact that a massive new movement in this era of collapse was not only predictable but unavoidable. We are at a point where every human need and human response requires a foundation from which a unified movement can spring. No more pot shots at class versus economy versus education versus community versus ... We cannot keep designing future realities at 60,000 feet as if our crises were only about humans. We still think of every effort at change as a fight rather than an opportunity to cooperate.
Totally agree, Paul. I think this aspect of the problem is under-appreciated but is made clear from Arlie Hochschild's last two books and by the work of a Franklin & Marshall prof whose name I'm blanking on who embedded with Trump campaign volunteers in PA.
"They’d be joining us. Jeffries, Schumer, Pelosi—they’d make sure the biggest mobilization against Trump knew Democratic leadership was standing with us. They’d help articulate demands. They’d connect this energy to a strategy for winning."
If the Democratic Party establishment that demanded we citizens kowtow to their AIPAC supporters' shadow-governing this country and dropped their party to a 27% approval rating tried to co-opt tomorrow's demonstration, it would be all about THEM, not the people. I wouldn't turn out for that. It is time for this cartel Party to support the people and stop demanding the people support corruption and genocide. Rest assured I am marching in support of the people tomorrow and their Bill of Rights, not this corrupt, cowardly clusterf--k of a "party.'
It’s not just supporting progressive primary candidates, it’s also supporting independents, third-party candidates, socialists, etc. in both primaries …. and …. general elections, when only corporatist, bought and paid for Democratic candidates are on the ballot.
Agree totally here with your critique of Bernie and AOC; they are still afraid of being ‘Nadered’.
Do the right thing, or get the hell out of the way.
I would add a fourth requirement for Democrats, and Bernie, probably because he is an independent, has been the only one to voice this; to acknowledge, and apologize for, Democratic Party complicity in the embrace of neoliberal economics, and be willing to critique Clinton and Obama for their duplicitous roles in it.
Corbin, you seem to be the only writer out there that get's it. I consume way to many podcasts and either it is the left of center, right of center or the sensationalists.
Thank you so much for saying so.
Yes, Yes and Yes! I'm happy to hear that a coalition seems to be forming. I wonder how best to pressure or persuade Bernie, AOC and the other progressives in office to go all in? Are Schumer and Jeffries being primaried yet? That seems like a good place to start. It would definitely send a message. For sure, Saikat deserves massive support. It is well past time for the old guard to get out of the new road if they can't lend a hand.
As usual, Corbin Trent makes many good points and lays out a solid outline for progressive action rooted in historical trends and policy successes (and failures) over time.
Even so, like many progressive from what I'll very generally call the more Bernie-side of the Left, his analysis lacks any discussion of the fundamental role of racism in American political history in general, and in the Democratic Party until relatively recently. It's an oversimplification,. but 'class vs race', has been an ongoing argument within the Left for some time, and is still an important issue that must be addressed.
Trent writes about the successes during the New Deal and the Great Society periods that were due to the dominance of the Democratic Party. He is correct that there were major advances during these periods, but he does not mention that the Democratic Party was also the party of segregation throughout these periods. When he writes that ' 1945 to 1975 was the greatest expansion of shared prosperity in American history', this is true to an extent, but was this prosperity really 'shared' so much by African-American workers, who were still barred from many labor unions, universities, and workplaces? The Democratic Party was the party of such virulent racists as Strom Thurmond and George Wallace during this time, up until the last years of this period. The shifts in both major parties due to the 'Southern strategy' is not unrelated to the shifts in the US economy and shifts in US labor and manufacturing that took hold in the aftermaths of these changes.
It is of course a misframing to imply the white working class as just 'the working class', as is so common in today's discussions, but at the same time, progressives need to address that the needs and challenges faced by nonwhite working class Americans are not the same as their white counterparts. I see another comment here that states 'without addressing that tension, no amount of economic populism or socialism will build the kind of super-majority this moment demands'. I agree. The greater Left must find a way to address the pervasive and continuing impact of racism in American culture, which is so foundational that it impacts virtually every aspect of our society, with the need to address and strengthen working class consciousness across racial and ethnic divides.
I fully concur. At the same time these are the exact issues the republicans are excoriating and tearing apart the progress of the civil rights movement. The Supreme Court goes along. They are openly racist in many ways. So it seems fully half the country is content to strip away civil rights progress, laws, programs, regulations etc, cheerleading it onward. We certainly need bold, creative, inspiring leadership and action to rekindle equality and inclusion in a way that can engage the better angels of the populace, along with the economic restructuring.
I commend you for pulling together all the different threads. I focus on tax rates and a job guarantee. Platner yesterday said that we need "material freedom". That is exactly right. And more candidates need to start talking about economic freedom. Keep up the good work.
This messaging is spot on. Now how do you condense this message and spread it widely when the majority of Americans don’t read anymore? That’s how MAGA was able to do it- quick hard hitting soundbites for all those who just scroll away.
And here in NJ? Our gubernatorial dem candidate brings in Whitmer to hold a big free rally AT THE SAME TIME as No kings rallies. Great. Bleed off the sophisticated etc supporters