David Brooks accurately reports that America is deeply divided between the college-educated and those who are not, between the working class and higher achievers. He observes that the feelings between the two classes have hardened and become more antagonistic.
While Mr. Brooks recognizes that the working class has moved to the Right and supports Republican candidates, he overlooks a glaring anomaly. In modern times the Republican party has always been and continues to be the party of the wealthy and corporations, representing the antithesis of the working class. Yet, somehow, that party has successfully misled workers, especially white workers, to believe that it champions their interests and beliefs.
This sleight-of-hand has been perpetrated by appealing to and encouraging the basest prejudices of the working class, by paying lip service to its cultural preferences and by using as a facade the likes of Donald Trump, a privileged scion who masquerades as kindred and who gives voice to and approval of their thinly veiled hostility and anger. Perhaps workers will rethink their embrace of Republicans when they awaken to the loss of their social security and medical coverage.
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