The Biden Democrats as a Brahmin Left party

Kurt Mahlburg has an interesting Mercator piece where he portrays the Biden Democrats as what he calls a Brahmin Left party.


The Biden Democrats have been transformed into a Brahmin Left party

Once upon a time, you could hardly have imagined a stronger political alignment than the one that existed between nonwhite working class voters and left-wing political parties.

Spanning well over a century, the US Democrats have strengthened this alignment through initiatives like the Progressive Era reforms (1890s-1920s), the New Deal (1930s), the Civil Rights movement (1960s) and Obamacare (2010s).

Though many are yet to come to terms with it, a major political realignment has been taking place in recent decades.

What were once marginalised and anti-establishment ideals — whether the sexual revolution, radical environmentalism, Marxism or transgenderism — have colonised the establishment. While continuing to take working-class support for granted, left-wing parties like the Democrats have pushed tirelessly for causes that mostly concern the college-educated, urban well-to-do.


The whole piece is well worth reading as a commentary on major US political realignments which may also be stirring here in the UK.


What Democrat analysts have tended to ignore, Douthat suggests, is that in the 2020s, skin colour and progressive politics no longer come as a guaranteed package deal.

And the reason is not rocket science.

“[H]igh borrowing costs for homes and cars seem especially punishing to voters trying to move up the economic ladder,” he explains, adding that “the hold of cultural progressivism over Democratic politics might be pushing more culturally conservative minorities to the right”.

All of this might be news to the establishment, but it has been the obvious conclusion drawn by many from the early days of the Trump era.

How it all plays out in November is another question — and it will be fascinating to watch.