What gives cultural attacks their real power

There’s a revealing anecdote in the Project Enduring Majority: A Roadmap to Win America report that I keep returning to. It goes like this:

Attack ads like ‘Kamala Harris is for they/them; Donald Trump is for you.’ resonated not because voters were overwhelmingly anti-LGBTQ+, but because they saw Democrats as prioritizing cultural fights. One pollster recalled a memorable focus group of Hispanic voters: “No Latino man in this focus group was like, ‘Screw transgender people.’ They were like, ‘Why is she even talking about that? She should be talking about us.”

We’ll never resolve the endless debate about whether Democrats lost the working class over economic or cultural issues. It is, of course, a mix of both. But this much should be clear.

It’s decades of selling out working class voters, ignoring the devastating consequences of globalization, and catering to the interests of the donor class that have amplified the ability of Trump and other Republicans to use cultural issues as a powerful wedge.

If Democrats can return to our roots and once again become brawlers for the working class, those cultural issues won’t be nearly as powerful a tool in the cynical Republican playbook.