Anthony Bourdain eviscerates privileged Eastern liberals' for utter contempt of working-class

[FarCenter]

Anthony Bourdain says East Coast liberals like himself are the reason why Donald Trump got elected.

In a new interview with Reason, the famous chef, author and host of CNN's Parts Unknown eviscerated the left for their condescension of working-class America.

'The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the up swell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that we're seeing now,' Bourdain said.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4077172/Anthony-Bourdain-eviscerates-privileged-Eastern-liberals-utter-contempt-working-class-Americans.html

[underpants]

1. He knows better than that

It's the media

[cwydro]

29. Soo, he didn't mean what he said?

I'm sure he'd love you to interpret what he said into what you think he meant to say.

Perhaps you could write him?

[LonePirate]

2. Anyone who is willing to destroy the country due to hurt feelings deserves the condescension.

And they definitely voted to destroy the country.

[JHan]

4. [phone]

[baldguy]

22. And the far end of the spectrum of rhetoric coming from Trumpist Dumbfuckistan, people get killed.

Last edited Fri Dec 30, 2016, 08:51 PM - Edit history (1)

AMERICAN people get killed.

Hurt feelings =/= getting killed

[LeftishBrit]

72. The real irony here is that the right-wingers scream about 'special snowflakes wanting safe spaces'

and about 'political correctness run mad'. And yet THEY seem to be demanding 'political correctness run mad' for themselves!

[HughBeaumont]

59. +1,000,000.

It is CONSERVATIVES who want the "Safe Space".

[JHan]

3. Yeah..

If only people were less smug, Obama wouldn't get called the n word and hillary the c-word.

[uponit7771]

8. +1

[JustAnotherGen]

55. +1000

[HughBeaumont]

60. + 1,000.

SICK of white guy tone police.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

5. "Mmm, holy shit, what is this?"

"Basted and fried red-state, gun-country, working-class American moron rube."

"Amazing. Delicious. So good it's almost evil. Unbelievable."

[50 Shades Of Blue]

6. Speak for yourself, asshole!

[uponit7771]

7. Another white or rich liberal who can afford Benedict Donald... why listen to these people?

[nini]

9. The fact the term 'working-class' has been hijacked by the right and the left keeps using it

in this context is pissing me off beyond belief.

The working class in this country is as diverse as anything on earth - political affiliation, race, sex, religion, etc etc etc..

The contempt is not for the 'working-class' but those who voted with their racism, homophobia etc.. or just plain ignorance.

I am so sick of the left allowing this hijacking of the term 'working class'. I like this guy but want to kick his butt right now.

STOP DOING THE REPUKE'S WORK FOR THEM.

[Generator]

44. Good point on the working class!

And what I am supposed to do ADMIRE you if you believe Clinton is a pedophile? There is a lack of sense and just bias hatred. I made up a term just now-bias hatred.

As if most of us on this site aren't working class. As if most of the people that voted for her aren't working class. Just because some media or celebrities voted for her doesn't change that. Do I hold stupid people in contempt? Yes. Not because they live in the south or on a farm but because they voted with stupidity, bias and hatred.

[nini]

46. It plays right into their game of working people are republicans

We're just lazy welfare recipients in their eyes. Every time I hear anyone on our side say we have to reach out to the working class I want to throw things.. WE ARE THE WORKING CLASS! We just haven't been fooled by the right wing talking points about abortion or gays or the bible or whatever garbage they use to fool the bible belt.

[SammyWinstonJack]

63. +1000000!

[Different Drummer]

73. "The contempt is not for the 'working-class' but those who voted with their racism, homophobia..."

This. Exactly.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. When somebody says some racist shit should we ignore them?

When someone says their rural part of the country is the only place where real Americans live we should turn the other cheek and ignore the fact that we subsidize these states with our tax dollars?

If they want respect they shouldn't dish this kind of shit out.

[JI7]

11. there are working class people in the east and west coast

[Wiseman32218]

48. EXACTLY!!!!! Working class people from coast to coast!

[JI7]

12. how about the way his friend ted nugent talks about certain people

[PoliticAverse]

13. Actual published interview can be found here...

No need to link to the "Daily Fail"...
http://reason.com/archives/2016/12/29/anthony-bourdain

Bisley: What concerns you about Trump?

Bourdain: What I am not concerned about with Trump? Wherever one lives in the world right now I wouldn't feel too comfortable about the rise of authoritarianism. I think it's a global trend, and one that should be of concern to everyone.

[gratuitous]

14. Yup, if we hadn't disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters

We could have won a bunch of elections instead of just winning more votes. We offered rural America health care, higher wages, and better schools and roads. They threw it back in our faces because somebody somewhere they didn't like was also going to get to see a doctor, get paid more, and attend those schools and drive those roads.

Meanwhile, Republicans were full of promises about jobs in 2010, but six years later they've yet to deliver any jobs bill at all. Have our "working-class America" friends held them responsible for their broken promise? No? What are we supposed to do when we remind them of that? Based on their other responses, they're going to be stubborn and resentful of us for noticing that their elected officials have failed them, not that their heroes have fucked up.

Their imaginary fears about gun-grabbing and church closings haven't materialized, but the increase in wealth inequality has shown up, in spades. Just like we told them. They're enraged, but they're enraged at the people who've tried to make the country work better for them, not the folks who have thwarted every effort to make their lives better.

But maybe I'm not the person Bourdain is talking about, since I'm not from the east, not terribly privileged, and working class.

[Me.]

19. And Don't Forget

How many of them actually believe that Hillary traffics in children and Obama is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Just how does one deal with people like that? Anthony Bourdain needs to put down his fork and acquaint himself with what's what.

[JI7]

15. Trump is a privileged east coast person

Who actually had ripped off the "little" guy.

These people identify with trump more than a struggling working class poc.

[aikoaiko]

16. Bourdain's mostly correct. Hubris led to displays of contempt.

Calling half of Trump supporters deplorable was the biggest instance.

[m-lekktor]

18. Even if it was true it was the one of the most stupid things she did.

They wore that deplorable label as a badge of honor.

[Fast Walker 52]

20. oh fuck that bullshit, Trump insulted our intelligence on a daily basis

how is that not just as bad if not worse???

[aikoaiko]

23. Politics isn't a fair game is the only answer I have for you.

But it is stil a good example of of what Bourdain was talking about.

[spin]

27. There is no doubt that Hillary's statement about 1/2 of Trumps supporters ...

being deplorable and irredeemable cost her votes. She may have been right but there's an old proverb that says, "You can attract a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar."

[KingCharlemagne]

49. do you have any polling data to support your assertion? If not, I would

say theres HUGE doubt her "deplorables" comment cost her a single vote.

[spin]

52. If I had polling data how could I tell if it was accurate or not? ...

All the polling data prior to the election showed Trump had ABSOLUTELY no path to win 270 votes in the Electoral College. I had great faith in these polls but they were dead wrong. Consequently I have developed a lot of distrust for polls and the people who take them.

I did find this interesting opinion piece in the Boston Globe.

Understanding the undecided voters
By Diane Hessan NOVEMBER 21, 2016

***snip***

At first, I couldn’t understand how anyone could be undecided. The distinction between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was so clear to me, the gap so wide. Much to my surprise, it was easy to find the Undecideds: people who had significant enough reservations about both candidates that they were searching for a sign, looking for more information, or just waiting it out until November.

Over the summer, I found and interviewed over 300 undecided voters, and 250 of them agreed to stay in touch, to send me weekly diary entries about their emotions, what they were thinking about both Clinton and Trump, and how they were leaning when it came to their vote. I had no responsibility to change their views; instead, I synthesized the data that I was collecting, and reported in to the campaign. I also added the insights that I had and made regular suggestions about how the campaign might better articulate its positions and modify its strategies

***snip***

During the debates, I tracked what was compelling and reported in. They liked it when Clinton was calm and not shouting. They were bombarded by NRA ads that claimed Clinton would take away their guns. It bothered them that Trump was a bully and was outrageous in his insensitivity to people with disabilities. It bothered them that someone on Clinton’s staff literally took a hammer and smashed her Blackberries. On the other hand, Bernie Sanders was right: My voters were sick of hearing about e-mails.

Last week, I reread all of my notes. There was one moment when I saw more undecided voters shift to Trump than any other, when it all changed, when voters began to speak differently about their choice. It wasn’t FBI Director James Comey, Part One or Part Two; it wasn’t Benghazi or the e-mails or Bill Clinton’s visit with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on the tarmac. No, the conversation shifted the most during the weekend of Sept. 9, after Clinton said, “You can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.”

***snip***

Things were not the same after that, at least with my voters. I remember wondering whether that moment was like Romney’s 47 percent: a comment during a fund-raiser from which the candidate would never recover, proof that, like Romney, Clinton was an out-of-touch rich person who didn’t really get it. It struck me that many of the people who were considering Trump were just hard-working Americans who wanted better odds for a good life.

***snip***

It is crushing to me that Clinton lost. When my mother was dying, in 2014, she told me that her only regret was that she never saw a woman president. I wanted to see one, and Clinton was my big chance: a smart, committed, experienced woman who would be trusted to deal with the most serious of crises. I could taste her victory: Even with her flaws, she was running against a misogynistic, racist, inexperienced birther.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/11/21/understanding-undecided-voters/9EjNHVkt99b4re2VAB8ziI/story.html

The surprising part to me is that if Hillary did lose a significant number of the undecided voters because of her "deplorable" statement why didn't Trump lose even more undecided voters with his many obnoxious statements? Did the undecided voters give Trump a break because he wasn't a polished politician?

To be honest there are times when I feel I have stepped into a parallel universe where the rules are far different and logic is illogical. The problem is I can't seem to find a way to return to my home universe.

[KingCharlemagne]

54. That is an amazing find (and my compliments and heartfelt

appreciation to you for taking the time to post it). As for your question about why Trump's confession to serial sexual assaults didn't produce an equivalent backlash against Trump, my own feeling (unsupported by any data is that simply because someone says he or she is "undecided" does not necessarily make it so. The current of white male supremacy runs long and deep in this culture but people cannot admit, even to pollsters, that they are white make supremacists because it is now taboo. Nothing easier than to say one us "undecided," while one desperately looks for reasons to oppose the threat to white male supremacy while grasping at ant straw, no matter how thin ("boys will be boys" or "locker-room&quot , to sustain white supremacy.

[spin]

65. You might well be right about white make supremacy. ...

It may well help explain why compared to Hillary Trump was Teflon coated.

During the Presidential campaign Trump seemed to say something incredibly stupid almost every day. I actually suspect he was doing his best to sabotage his own campaign. If so he failed and now he is stuck with a job in the Oval Office and we are stuck with him.

I hope for the nation's sake that he grows up while in office. My father who died back in 1963 said that usually the winning candidate would rise to the job of President when he took office.

However I honestly feel the next few years will prove to be a bumpy ride at best.

[tenderfoot]

17. Bullshit.

It's the working class that has contempt, not the other way around.

[treestar]

21. They don't have contempt for them

Where is this accusation coming from? Liberals don't have that contempt. It would be more likely to come from the right, who will claim to have worked harder and such and deserve their riches.

Further I am intrigued by how people would vote against their own interests over something so childish. Make it worse for themselves because they don't think the east coast educated liberals like them enough.

[yardwork]

39. Very good point. It's the bigots who have contempt for anybody else.

[NightWatcher]

24. Are we supposed to wipe their asses for them too?

I blame rw "news", radio, 30+ years of celebrating gleeful ignorance, and religion for teaching a generation to not think critically and believe garbage and hate.

[smirkymonkey]

25. We do not have contempt for the working class. Quite the contrary.

We only have contempt for the stupid and ignorant. If they happen to be members of the working class, that is just a coincidence.

[SidDithers]

26. Rich white guy gives interview to Libertarian magazine Reason...

which gets picked up by Conservative and UKIP supporting Daily Mail.

Tell me again why I should give a fuck what Anthony Bourdain has to say?

Sid

[A-Schwarzenegger]

28. This is not surprising because Bourdain will swallow anything.

[Dawson Leery]

30. ...from the same "man" who sees fighting on the floor as

time well spent.

[oberliner]

31. The Daily Mail is a right-wing British tabloid

I don't understand why people link to articles from there so often.

They have this tendency to repackage other people's reporting, like they've done here.

Why not just link to the actual interview itself?

[frankieallen]

32. Interesting, I must say I have to agree with this quote.

The self-congratulatory tone of the privileged left - just repeating and repeating and repeating the outrages of the opposition - this does not win hearts and minds.

I agree that this approach is never going build the party, only strengthen the resolve of the right wing voter. If we are going to turn things around, we need to have a conversation with them, not call them racist gun loving hicks. Trump never should of won, regardless of the email bullshit and voter ID states, this was suppose to be a landslide Hillary victory.
ugh.

[pnwmom]

33. Bull. Coastal liberals have contempt for bigots of all stripes.

That has nothing to do with being working class.

[NewsomeSF]

34. Fuck those bumpkins

Middle America flyover pig phuckers. They will not change by being sympathetic to their dumb down interests and having conversations about what they want in their America. It's in their corn eating DNA!! Let them eat their god damn pot roast Andy Griffith watching asshats!

[Iggo]

35. I clicked on this thread intending to reply "You mean yourself, you smug asshole?"

And then I saw that's exactly who he meant.

[LittleBlue]

36. Bourdain for DNC chair

Maybe he actually gets it. Most are still in denial, and will remain in denial until we inevitably get clobbered in 2018.

[yardwork]

37. I doubt this, actually.

I grew up in the rural Midwest. They don't pay much attention to east coast elites. They're narrow minded all in their own way. If they ever think about New York City at all, it's to shiver with fear at how dangerous they think it is - you know, full of scary black men and Muslims like Obama.

[stevenleser]

38. Bourdain is assuming everyone is like him. He is an extreme elitist. I doubt he thinks any of us

should be allowed to eat because the food we cook for ourselves is beneath him.

I don't agree with what he says, and he should certainly not be the one lamenting too much elitism.

[oasis]

40. "morons and rubes" are now seeking the protection of political correctness.

[SharonClark]

41. No one has more contempt for the working class than do republicans

[RiverStone]

43. Exactly - that's the real story!

[okieinpain]

42. my only problem with this is those red state

rubes usually are racist and homophobic. so we just over look that stuff.

[milestogo]

45. The problem isn't red-state, gun-country, working-class America...

the problem is being gullible to a con artist.

[BlueSpot]

47. Dude needs to eat more brains. n/t

[BlueStater]

50. I have contempt for stupid, racist, hate-filled people regardless of whatever the hell they are.

If many members of the "working class" happen to fall into that category, then so be it.

[Snackshack]

51. I partially agree with him.

"When we deny them their basic humanity and legitimacy of their views, however different they may be than ours, when we mock them at every turn, and treat them with contempt, we do no one any good."

Fair enough statement.

Having said that his comment above makes no condition of the veracity concerning the "legitimacy" of the "view" expressed. As Neil Degrasse Tyson basically framed for example there should not be a seat at the debate table for someone who's "view" is that the Earth is flat. If a persons view is contrary to all reality based facts they should not be in the debate. This slow creep in the public arena towards the idea the everyone's view is legitimate (over the last decade or so) is proving to be very costly. At some point this is going to have to stop or we really are going to end up irrigating our crops with "Brawndo" because it's what plant crave.

[muriel_volestrangler]

53. He could do with examining his own hypocrisy

From later in the interview:

Bourdain: There's just so much. I hate the term political correctness, the way in which speech that is found to be unpleasant or offensive is often banned from universities. Which is exactly where speech that is potentially hurtful and offensive should be heard.

The way we demonize comedians for use of language or terminology is unspeakable. Because that's exactly what comedians should be doing, offending and upsetting people, and being offensive. Comedy is there, like art, to make people uncomfortable, and challenge their views, and hopefully have a spirited yet civil argument. If you're a comedian whose bread and butter seems to be language, situations, and jokes that I find racist and offensive, I won't buy tickets to your show or watch you on TV. I will not support you. If people ask me what I think, I will say you suck, and that I think you are racist and offensive. But I'm not going to try to put you out of work. I'm not going to start a boycott, or a hashtag, looking to get you driven out of the business.
...
Bisley: In your new cookbook, Appetites, you have a section called "Big Fucking Steak." In Kitchen Confidential, you wrote this about vegetarians: "To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food."

Bourdain: I can certainly eat vegetarian food in India for a considerable period of time. They actually make good vegetarian dishes. Appetites is a representation of how I cook at home, and my personal preferences, and doesn't pretend to be anything other than that.

So, he hates the term "political correctness" (which is, of course, used by the right wing against liberals, but somehow he includes it in his answer to "what's wrong with liberals&quot . He stands up, in a oh-so-Reason Magazine fashion, for complete freedom of speech, even if racist or offensive, saying people should just not watch it if they don't like it, and drawing attention to it with a hashtag is wrong. As far as he's concerned, drawing attention to racism is wrong, and he'll just wait for people to decide on their own that racism is wrong, even if that takes many generations if people won't talk about it to each other.

Then he writes a fucking book calling vegetarians " the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit". No, Mr. Bourdain, no fucking double standard there at all. You claim it's your "personal preferences", but you're publishing your insults in a fucking book. You are pretending to be a libertarian when interviews by a libertarian magazine, when it's just your own prejudices showing through.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

56. There's some parts of the South where I suspect he'd get his ass kicked...

for talking like a snob.

I've seen enough of his travel shows to know he probably wouldn't want to linger in parts of southern Ohio very long.

I went fishing at a place called Paint Creek Lake years ago, and some locals around there acted like they hated my guts as soon as they heard my "Yankee" voice... which was actually about as "Midwest" as they come. I certainly didn't act haughty around them either.

[MountCleaners]

58. It cuts both ways

I grew up in the MW, blue-collar, had guns. But personally I felt threatened by the racism and homophobia of people who were ignorant about cities. Also Bourdain is racially biased - those who vote Democrat are URBAN, not "coastal elites". I don't see why black or hispanic or LGBT people have to feel guilty about their votes.

[HughBeaumont]

61. Maybe Anthony needs to take a gander at this:

I never understood why WE are expected to play by an ambiguous and unspoken set of debate rules when we battle troglodytes who would never play by ANY rules in a thousand years.

* Having no spine is a bad thing.
* Being too loudmouth is a bad thing.
* It's inflammatory to suggest American citizens deserve rights.
* The Bible IS a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
* Don't take white people to task when they say something racist, sexist, anti-gay or anti-Democratic.
* You need to accommodate logic fails.

[font size="6"]WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?[/font]

[Vinca]

62. I might point out to Anthony that if it wasn't for "privileged Eastern liberals," the people he is

now lobbying for would have few of the social benefits they now enjoy. "Privileged Eastern liberals" fight for things that help people and - sorry - that includes limiting access to guns sometimes and not believing Jesus will take care of everything. I like Anthony Bourdain, but he's buying the bullshit at this point.

[jack_krass]

64. Anthony is right

[alarimer]

66. He's right

I hear that contempt right here all the time.

"Why do they always vote against their best interests?" "Why are people in (Texas, the South, the midwest) such rubes?"

Liberals hang out in their enclaves, never brushing up against "those people."

[JCMach1]

67. Bull Puckey... Close-minded Fundamentalism (not just the religious sense)

created the rural/urban schism we have in this country. No amount of hand-holding, or hand-wringing is going to change that.

The future of the planet is The City. Our party ignores that at our peril.

I grew-up white, rural, working-class to poor in what is now the 13th poorest county in the USA. I went back there and opened a small business only to find that my 'home-town' had become the type of nightmare, fundamentalist place I am talking about. It has changed totally from the place of my childhood. And, frankly, there is nothing there worth saving at the moment... nothing.

So yeah, we (as a party) are going to need to accept that mantle that it's going to take power to fix things.

First things first, fix the damn Electoral College and fight like hell over voting rights and gerrymandering.

Obama's biggest failure as a President was to not use what he was given in 2008 to kick the Republican's teeth instead of playing patty cake.

[JCMach1]

68. Anthony needs to read this article:

ELECTION 2016
An Insider's View: The Dark Rigidity of Fundamentalist Rural America
In deep-red white America, the white Christian God is king.
By Forsetti's Justice / AlterNet November 22, 2016
119K4.5K
Print
1699 COMMENTS

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com / Shane Trotter

As the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump is being sorted out, a common theme keeps cropping up from all sides: "Democrats failed to understand white, working-class, fly-over America.”

Trump supporters are saying this. Progressive pundits are saying this. Talking heads across all forms of the media are saying this. Even some Democratic leaders are saying this. It doesn’t matter how many people say it, it is complete BS. It is an intellectual/linguistic sleight of hand meant to draw attention away from the real problem. The real problem isn’t East Coast elites who don’t understand or care about rural America. The real problem is that rural Americans don't understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out. They don’t want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because they don’t want to admit it is in large part because of the choices they’ve made and the horrible things they’ve allowed themselves to believe.

I grew up in rural Christian white America. You’d be hard-pressed to find an area of the country with a higher percentage of Christians or whites. I spent most of the first 24 years of my life deeply embedded in this culture. I religiously (pun intended) attended their Christian services. I worked off and on on their rural farms. I dated their calico-skirted daughters. I camped, hunted and fished with their sons. I listened to their political rants at the local diner and truck stop. I winced at their racist/bigoted jokes and epithets that were said more out of ignorance than animosity. I have watched the town I grew up in go from a robust economy with well-kept homes and infrastructure to a struggling economy with shuttered businesses, dilapidated homes and a broken-down infrastructure over the past 30 years. The problem isn’t that I don’t understand these people. The problem is they don’t understand themselves or the reasons for their anger and frustration.

In deep-red America, the white Christian god is king, figuratively and literally. Religious fundamentalism has shaped most of their belief systems. Systems built on a fundamentalist framework are not conducive to introspection, questioning, learning, or change. When you have a belief system built on fundamentalism, it isn’t open to outside criticism, especially by anyone not a member of your tribe and in a position of power. The problem isn’t that coastal elites don’t understand rural Americans. The problem is that rural America doesn’t understand itself and will never listen to anyone outside its bubble. It doesn’t matter how “understanding” you are, how well you listen, what language you use…if you are viewed as an outsider, your views will be automatically discounted. I’ve had hundreds of discussions with rural white Americans and whenever I present them any information that contradicts their entrenched beliefs, no matter how sound, how unquestionable, how obvious, they will not even entertain the possibility that it might be true. Their refusal is a result of the nature of their fundamentalist belief system and the fact that I’m the enemy because I’m an educated liberal... http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/rural-america-understanding-isnt-problem

[hunter]

69. The majority of working class people are NOT fearful racist gun humping white guys.

The most dangerous Trump voters are the affluent white guys who don't want women, minorities, or LGBT people in their clubhouse.

[LeftishBrit]

70. Speak for yourself, Bourdain!

And the Daily Mail is unreliable right-wing spin!

[LeftishBrit]

71. The right-wing elite are playing a very clever game IMO

They are playing on the weak points of liberals to discourage us from fighting the Right. Liberals have a tendency to feel guilty; to feel that there must be two sides to arguments; that intolerance is wrong; that there is no absolute right or wrong; that one must not be too judgemental, especially of people who may be seen as disadvantaged. As a liberal, I think these are good things - but like all good things, they may be subject to manipulation for bad ends.

Thus, the Right are trying to convince liberals that they are being unkind to those poor, disadvantaged Trump voters; that they are prejudiced against the working-class (with a further implication that all working-class people are white); that they have 'made' people vote for Trump by not giving them enough respect (shades of 'She *made* me hit her, because she didn't respect me enough!'); and that the left have to 'reach out' to the right.

This is IMO a deliberate attempt to weaken the left and discourage us from fighting for our principles; and the implicit conclusion is 'If Democrats would only accept right-wing racial attitudes, they could go back to pre-1965, and have lots of nominally Democratic George Wallaces and Orbal Faubuses in power!'

It may indeed be true that neither party addressed some of the economic concerns of poorer people sufficiently to get them out to vote. In American presidential elections, about 45% of the electorate never get to the polls, and this disproportionately includes poor working-class people. Some of it is apathy; some of it is voter suppression; but undoubtedly some of it is never having a candidate who represents poorer people's concerns . But this does not mean that liberal criticisms of billionaire Trump and his voters are just snobbery, or that the liberals somehow lost because they were too snooty. Too complacent, and too internally divided, perhaps.

People are trying exactly the same in the UK post-Brexit. And at least there is some truth in the view that a significant proportion, though not a majority, of Brexit voters were working-class people desperate to improve their economic position, and blaming the EU or immigrants for problems which were really caused by our own governments. In America, Trump voters were better off than Clinton voters, and as usual, most really poor people didn't vote.