A Democrat Who Is Thinking Differently
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What is the main problem facing Democrats after the election?
From New York Times Opinion, this is The Ezra Klein Show. After the election, I started asking congressional Democrats I talked to the same question, one after the other. If it had gone the other way, if they had won a trifecta, what would their first big bill have been? What was going to be their priority? In almost every case, they said they didn't know. It's a problem. Democrats are in the opposition now. That means fighting the worst of what Trump is doing. But it also means providing an alternative, creating another center of gravity in American politics. So one thing I'm going to do on the show this year is talk to Democrats who sound like they are trying to find their way to that alternative.
Democrats who sound like they are crafting an agenda alive to this moment, not just one carried over from the past. One Democrat I found interesting here is Jake Auchincloss, a congressman from Massachusetts. Among the Democrats talking about the abundance agenda, and my book on abundance comes out next month, so I will admit to being particularly interested here, he's been really pretty substantive. It's not that I agree with every idea he offers here. I don't. But when I hear him, I hear someone wrestling with a question I pose to other Democrats. What is your alternative? What did people need to hear from you over these last few years that they didn't? What do they need to believe you will do if you get power? This conversation was recorded at the end of January, so you're not going to hear us discuss the latest Trump news. But it's also not the point here. The country needs a resistance, but it also needs an alternative.
As always, my email is reclineshow at nytimes.com. Congressman Jake Alkencloss, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me on, Ezra. So, after the election, a lot of Democrats have responded to Donald Trump's particular form of populism by offering what you call a Diet Coke version of it. Tell me about your Diet Coke theory of the Democratic Party.
What is the Diet Coke theory of the Democratic Party?
I'm concerned that bold-faced-named Democrats have been leaning into populism. They have said... Boy, Donald Trump has done what we dreamed of, which was building a multi-ethnic working class coalition. Biggest city in my district, Ezra Fall River, which is the exemplar of a multi-ethnic working class city, voted for a Republican in 2024 for the first time in 100 years. And Democrats across the country have been looking at cities like Fall River and have said, well, if they're doing populism, we got to do populism too, whether that's immigration or trans issues or the culture wars. And my view on that is... Voters who ordered a Coca-Cola don't want a Diet Coke. There's two different parties, and we have to start by understanding who our voters are not and then understand who our voters could be and go and try to win them over.
If you're walking to the polls and your number one issue is guns, if you're walking to the polls and your number one issue is immigration, if you're walking to the polls and your number one issue is trans participation in sports, you're probably not going to be a Democratic voter. That's okay. There's two parties.
How can Democrats build a multiracial working-class coalition?
But if you are a voter who went Obama, Trump, Biden, Trump, and you're walking to the polls and your number one issue is cost of living, boy, we'd better win you back.
You say that Trump did what Democrats have long dreamed of, which is have a multiracial working class coalition. Democrats used to have a multiracial working class coalition. They won voters making less than 50,000 by significant margins. They won non-white voters by significant margins. That was their coalition, right? What is your explanation of what broke it?
I think we were seen as taking our eye off the ball on both kitchen table and front porch issues. That the notorious ad, Kamala's for they, them, Trump's for you, was not just about... the particular salience of trans issues in this election, but as a broader cultural thesis that Democrats have taken their finger off the cultural mainstream.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main problem facing Democrats after the election?
0:05–2:33
2
What is the Diet Coke theory of the Democratic Party?
2:33–3:37
3
How can Democrats build a multiracial working-class coalition?
3:37–6:48
4
What is cost disease and how does it affect housing and healthcare?
6:48–13:20
5
What innovative ideas exist for improving education?
13:20–25:55
6
How is technology reshaping political and cultural landscapes?
25:55–31:22
7
What are the implications of social media's influence on attention?
31:22–55:35
8
How can a tax on attention improve public good?
55:35–1:03:29