'Why Haven't the Democrats Completely Cleaned the Republicans' Clock?'
About this episode
Klein interviews political analyst Ruy Teixeira, co-author of The Emerging Democratic Majority and Where Have All the Democrats Gone?, about his pessimistic case for Democrats. Teixeira argues the party is losing the working class: white non-college voters have drifted away since 2010, and Democrats are now also bleeding nonwhite working-class voters, especially men and Hispanics. He blames a 'great divide' driven by deindustrialization, a neoliberal 'compensate the losers' economics, and a 'cultural radicalism' on immigration, race, gender, crime, and climate that he says is out of step with working-class voters — turning Democrats into a Piketty-style 'Brahmin Left' party of professionals. Klein pushes back, questioning whether policy really drives these shifts and noting Biden's industrial policy hasn't moved perceptions, while agreeing that party 'vibes' and attention-space signals matter more than policy detail.