On June 3 The New York Times podcast, “The Daily” featured an interview with New York Times  political correspondent, Shane Goldmacher, who had just completed a voting analysis of how every county in the country voted in the last three presidential elections. Boy, was this an eye opener! The shift in voting behavior in this election was staggering. In counties where there were significant numbers of low income and working class people, Trump made huge gains—and not just from white working class voters. More African Americans and Latinos also voted for Trump and switched their votes in large numbers from Democratic to Republican. His conclusion: In 2024 the Republican Party became the party of the working class in America due to the charisma of Donald Trump and his message trashing the Democrats as elitist. Goldmacher’s message was this: Trump owes his victory in large part to this switch in voting behavior and since there are more moderate income and working class voters in presidential elections than there are professionals, intellectuals, and highly educated people, if the Democrats have any hope of recovering, they must reclaim their former role as the party of the working class.

I was not surprised about the white working class, but African Americans, Latinos, and others with moderate incomes? I was shocked. What are those who switched their votes to Trump thinking? What do they see in Trump?

Trump, of course, is a fraud. However, he also has talent in marketing and communicating, saw an opening and pounced on it. He sensed the anger and despair so many feel who live from paycheck to paycheck. His message of revenge and retribution resonated with many who are struggling and the Democrats allowed him to get away with the Big Lie that he and only he will right the wrongs that ail America’s working class.

I am hopeful that it will soon become obvious to many people  who voted for him that fundamentally his polices overwhelmingly favor the rich and the superrich, not the working class. He has tossed them a few crumbs like no taxes on tips or overtime work, but the thrust of the Trump/ Republican budget bill now being debated is a huge giveaway to the ultrarich, partially paid for with cuts to programs which help those with modest incomes—Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps), the ACA, and affordable housing subsidies. In addition, Trump’s tariffs, the huge increase in the national debt due to tax breaks for the megarich and his trade wars will result in higher prices across the board along with higher interest rates, hurting lower income Americans the most. This is classic Bait and Switch 101.

Surely, when you lose your health care, your food stamps, and your rents go up and when the prices of essentials at the grocery store start to skyrocket, you are likely to ask the question, is this really what I voted for. It is only a matter of time. But how long will it take? And how much damage will have been done? Recent polls indicate that Latino converts are already having second thoughts as they see their neighbors handcuffed and carted away.

At this point it is not clear what will emerge out of the Senate. Trump can only lose three votes, and of the five or six Republican Senators who say they will not vote for the bill that came out of the House, it appears to be split down the middle between those who are against the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and those who demand more cuts to social programs which help the working class in order to lower the deficit. How this ultimately works out is “to be continued,” but already there is pushback from Latinos who are terrified by the deportations and by others who depend on the social programs for survival. Good luck, Republicans, on keeping the new working class voters who helped elect you and Trump in 2024. So there is hope for the Democrats, but this  won’t happen until  the midterm elections in 2026 and lots of damage will have been done before the Democrats can regain control of the House.