Politics has felt weird for a while now. From Donald Trump himself to the noteworthy rise of populist sentiment that is affecting both parties, many informed people are left scratching their heads trying to understand what has come over the country. The American economy, historically the number one issue for voters, is the “envy of the world” according to a recent special report by The Economist; crime and illegal immigration are also down. Yet the 2024 presidential election was a decisive rebuke of the current administration, resulting in Trump leading the Republican party to its largest win in a presidential election since 1988.
Many postmortem conversations have focused on whether Kamala Harris should have run further to the right or the left and focused more attention during her abbreviated campaign on popular social or economic issues. This one-dimensional view of the right-left political spectrum, with traditional conservatism on one end and redistributive socialism on the other, comes up short in describing our current politics. It is only through recognizing the class dimension of political appeal, whereby some candidates tailor their message to the priorities of the educated, cosmopolitan class, and others tailor their message to the concerns of the working class that recent political contests can be better understood.
Consider a recent example from each party. In the 2020 primary for the Democratic nomination, both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren ran far left on the traditional political spectrum, yet they connected with very different voters. A Politico headline didn’t mince words: “Sanders and Warren voters have astonishing little in common,” noting Sander’s appeal to lower income, less educated people and Warren’s appeal to the college educated. In the 2024 Republican primary, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis had fewer discernible policy differences. Yet, studies showed that DeSantis appealed more to suburban, better educated, and higher income voters than Trump, who had more appeal in rural areas and amongst the working class.
Both parties now have politicians who speak to the cosmopolitan and working-class parts of their coalitions. In an era of skyrocketing economic inequality, it is perhaps no surprise that the class dimension is becoming more salient in understanding politics. A more useful way to think about political appeal might be as a scatterplot with right-left and class dimensions rather than a spectrum.
The election saw Harris garner an incredible number of celebrity endorsements and a fundraising operation that far outpaced the former president’s. Final voter demographic data is still being compiled, but it is already clear that her supporters were better educated and had higher incomes, underscoring Trump’s position as the preferred candidate of the working class. While working-class voters are less likely to vote and donate, they do outnumber their more cosmopolitan counterparts and can play kingmaker in elections where they turn out in sufficient numbers.
As the Democrats look to regain congressional power in the 2026 election and hold an open primary in 2028, they would be diligent in considering how their candidates appeal across the class dimension in addition to how far right or left they should run on the issues of the day. As the Republicans look to consolidate their gains and find a candidate for 2028 who can replicate Trump’s electoral success, they should remember how little support establishment Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley garnered and not take their new working-class base for granted. Both parties need to give up thinking exclusively about how much their candidates should run toward the center and give real thought to how they can connect with the full spectrum of Americans they purport to represent.
Daniel Zimny-Schmitt is a researcher at the University of Denver.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.