Opinion: A class analysis of our last presidential election

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk watch the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. Brandon Bell / Getty Images / TNS
Published: 12-23-2024 6:00 AM |
Jonathan P. Baird lives in Wilmot.
Early in the “Communist Manifesto,” Karl Marx wrote these famous words: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Whatever one thinks of Marx, it is undeniable that class analysis provides a powerful searchlight on how to understand our world. Political figures bring an agenda, goals, financing and ideology to their campaign efforts. Analytically, it is valuable to consider what social class preferences their ideas embody and advance.
The old adage “follow the money” has utility in looking at who is behind politicians. Especially since the Citizens United decision unleashed an avalanche of money, the financial factor has become far more determinative. The money required to run as a viable presidential candidate is now astronomical. With that in mind, what class interests did the major party candidates reflect and what can that tell us about likely trajectories, especially of the president-elect?
As has been widely noted, Donald Trump has surrounded himself with a coterie of billionaires. Axios has reported that he has 14 billionaires staffing his administration. Besides Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, his efficiency czars, we have, to name a few, Howard Lutnick, his commerce secretary, Linda McMahon, his education secretary, Scott Bessent, his treasury secretary and Doug Burgum, his interior secretary.
In 2021, Forbes reported Joe Biden’s cabinet had a net worth of about $188 million. The Guardian puts the net worth of Trump’s administration leaders at more than $300 billion. These billionaires who poured many millions into Trump’s coffers donated with plenty of strings attached. They will want payback either through tax cuts or relaxed regulations. They want greed without limitation. We are talking Robber Baron 2.0.
Considering the outsized role of billionaires and the great probability that Trump policies will reflect the interests of the billionaire class, it is remarkable how he sold himself as an alpha male fighting elites. Trump is repelled by his own MAGA supporters and would never give them the time of day. Count on it that he considers his own supporters as easy marks. It is like the contempt he has expressed for veterans as suckers and losers.
No president in my lifetime has been as devoid of compassion but he is accomplished at image creation. Trump did win the votes of many working-class people of all races and nationalities who were angry and wanted to lash out at the system. Trump successfully directed their rage at immigrants and trans people.
It was instructive to watch Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, saying the U.S. must “live within our mean” and that his proposed federal budget cuts will cause “temporary hardship.” I don’t believe the word “hardship” would exist in the Musk lexicon. Musk isn’t having any trouble living “within his mean.” How many countless billions are enough for these ultra-avaricious money grubbers?
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Trump has emerged as an agent of the super-wealthy class of American oligarchs. He will feather his own nest while he will also be doing billionaire bidding. Money is his passion. Expect him to de-fang the IRS and allow the billionaires more opportunity to stash money offshore beyond reach.
One thing that surprises me is that the old-money American ruling class would feel comfortable letting someone who is a loose cannon like Trump mind the store. Our ruling class has had a much less flashy, hide-the-money style, complemented by a noblesse oblige tradition. Trump is the antithesis of that. I would think others with great wealth and power would worry about having a convicted felon in charge. It is not their preferred image of America.
Just on climate alone, I would imagine the old ruling class would find Trump very problematic. Children of the ruling class also need a habitable planet. Trump’s climate change denialism is dopey and short-sighted and I suspect it would concern scions of great wealth. Musk may choose to live on Mars but that is not an option for the rest of us.
As for the Democrats, they failed to appeal to the masses of working people who have been hurting economically and who have urgently felt the rising cost of inflation. Compared to 2020, they failed to turn out their base. A big part of the problem was the Democratic message that the economy was fine when voters were very dissatisfied and wanted change.
Whether out of loyalty to Biden or just wrong ideas, Vice President Harris made clear nothing would change under her administration. Instead of being a change agent, she defined herself as someone who would be a continuation of Biden policies. Running as a status quo candidate when people desire change is a recipe for failure. Campaigning with Liz Chaney, she unsuccessfully tried to appeal to the moderate Republican voter, a seeming declining species.
Harris’s campaign embodied the internal class contradictions within the Democratic Party. The party includes corporate liberal billionaires, the professional-managerial class, labor unions, and many working-class people. Harris emerged as a moderate, distancing herself from the party’s progressive wing. Gone was any mention of a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, a higher minimum wage and ending student loan debt. Out of fear of alienating constituencies, Harris shamefully avoided the issue of Gaza.
Her stance was a class amalgam, trying to bridge billionaire and worker interests, which led to blurred politics. Harris talked in vague generalities about an opportunity economy. She refused to identify corporate villains and she did not direct anger at the ruling class for our outrageous economic inequality. She hoped it would be enough to talk about abortion rights and saving democracy.
In trying to appeal to the more conservative professional-managerial class in the suburbs, she failed to give her working-class base reasons to vote for her. She proved to be out of touch with how much people were hurting. A survey by CNBC found that 63% of workers cannot pay for a $500 emergency expense. Harris did not talk about evictions, homelessness, credit card debt or ending poverty.
In this last election, neither candidate spoke to the real economic needs of our working class. Two million fewer people voted in 2024 than voted in 2020 even though our population increased by 4.5 million. To win, Democrats need to give working-class people reasons to vote for them. They need to speak far more clearly to universal pocketbook issues and they must stop being afraid to call out the billionaire class who are the architects of a society designed to funnel money to the 1%.
This last election cycle the plurality of voters went for someone who said he would blow things up. Many uninspired Democrats stayed home. Now we will all pay the price.