MSNBC Explores Trump's Magnetism for Working-Class Voters

MSNBC’s John Heilemann has noted that President Donald Trump successfully established a working-class coalition that is challenging the Democratic Party. Heilemann emphasized that the Democratic Party has failed to understand why Trump continues to resonate with a significant portion of the working class. He argued that the Democratic Party’s alienation of working-class voters has contributed to Trump’s electoral successes.

Heilemann said, “I would say that the focus on language is something we’ve seen in a lot of political parties when they get into trouble. This is something, you know, you can think back to the periods where the Republican Party has been out of favor. People think, ‘Oh, well, how do we how do we talk differently? How do we — we have to reach this group, we have to reach that group.”

Heilemann stated, “And the way to reach this group or that group is to tailor our messaging to try to reach those groups.’ And it turns out, at least in our lifetimes, that the way that you start to reach groups that you have lost favor with or that used to support the party, but now don’t and you’re losing traction with them, is partly a language thing, but really it’s more of a substance thing.”

Heilemann criticized the party for failing to build the coalition that former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) pursued in the 1960s. He noted that Trump has united working-class Americans across racial lines more effectively than any Democratic leader.

Heilemann said, “It’s a thing of, like, what does the party believe in? And so when I hear Rahm, enormous respect for Rahm Emanuel, he’s accomplished a lot, I said this literally on the show last week, Elissa Slotkin is another person who’s been saying the same sort of thing, ‘weak and woke,’ that phrase is a phrase that various people who want to moderate the party have been throwing around. What I think is important here is that it’s not the question of what the party’s image is, but is what does the party stand for.”

Heilemann added, “If the party takes positions on issues that are weak and woke, it will seem weak and woke. If it takes positions that are strong and not woke, that is the way to go forward. It’s not about language, it’s about where are you going to deviate from what has become Democratic ideological conformity.”

Heilemann also claimed that Democrats have struggled to define their identity and communicate effectively while managing Trump’s influence. He mentioned Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as exceptions who draw large crowds.

Lawmakers have increasingly advocated for change and moderation within the party, but the specifics of these proposed changes remain unclear. Heilemann argued that right-leaning cultural narratives have gained traction because the Democratic Party is perceived as having dominated mainstream culture for too long.

Heilemann said, “I’m sure Rahm has examples, Elissa Slotkin probably has examples, but that’s the conversation, that’s the debate, that’s the work the Democrats have to do right now, is not thinking about their language. The language will follow the positions.”

Heilemann added, “The language will follow the substance. And what I am not hearing so far in this first six months after November 6th, after the big loss last year, is that kind of work, the kind of reform work that goes to what does this party want to believe in, that will lure working class voters of all races back to it.”

Heilemann asserted that control of Hollywood and media by left-leaning entities has also alienated many Americans. Heilemann said, “Right now, somehow the Democratic Party finds itself in a place where it is no longer the home of working Americans, largely. And if Bobby Kennedy, the coalition that Bobby Kennedy was trying to put together in 1968 before he was killed, that coalition of working-class Whites, working-class Latinos, working-class African-Americans, that coalition has been put together more effectively by President Trump than by anybody in the Democratic Party. That’s a huge problem.”

John Baker covers U.S. politics & news for content partner Modern Newsstand LLC.