A Trump Judge Just Nixed Overtime Pay for Millions—and Media Yawned
It’s unlikely Trump will continue that fight. To be fair, Trump’s record on this is mixed. In 2016, when the eligibility threshold was around $23,000, President Barack Obama tried to raise it to around $47,000, but a court struck that down. As president, Trump did raise the threshold, but only to a meager $35,000 (the current level), which happened to be a level that business groups could accept. Biden would expand this to millions more workers, which is why business interests tried to thwart it—apparently succeeding.
During the “Rich Men North of Richmond” controversy, certain columnists pointed a finger at liberal elites, urging deep introspection about why they have lost touch with the anxieties of people like Oliver Anthony. Now that Trump has been reelected while winning more working-class voters, including Latinos, we’re mired in another such debate.
No one should deny the need for such introspection. It’s obviously not enough for Democrats and liberals to say, “Our policies are better for people like Oliver Anthony.” A reformed approach should include an agenda that’s substantially more economically populist; a clear-eyed look at why certain liberal policies alienate working-class voters; and a deep dive into why working people are skeptical that Democrats fight for their material interests these days.
