Know Your Enemy: What’s Wrong With J.D. Vance?
Matt and Sam revisit J.D. Vance’s 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy to try to understand the Republican vice-presidential nominee.
Winter 2026
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Backlash Forever
It’s time to abandon the assumption that workers have a “natural” home on the center-left. But we should also reject the idea that social conservatism always lies latent within working-class culture, ready for right-wing politicians to activate.
Poverty Doesn’t Make You Racist
According to a recent study, white voters who support anti-racist policies generally have less income than their more racist peers.
Roseanne in Trumpland
At its best moments, Roseanne offered something Roseanne Barr’s tweets did not: empathy, nuance, and a portrait of white working-class life rarely seen on television.
Why Obamacare Repeal Won’t Die
The zombie-like resilience of GOP efforts to repeal-and-replace Obamacare would be the stuff of a Hollywood epic—were it not so devastating to millions of Americans.
Belabored Podcast #126: Voices from the Rust Belt, with Chuck Jones
Trump’s promises notwithstanding, many factory workers in the Rust Belt are just as frustrated after the election as they were before. Sarah Jaffe speaks to three labor organizers in Indiana to understand why.
It Takes a Lot of Money to Look This Cheap
From Dolly Parton to J.D. Vance, rags-to-riches stories obscure as much as they inspire, reinforcing the notion that poverty can be solved by dreams and gumption.
Trumpism: The Fight Ahead
The political task for the left is not just to defeat Trump, but to overcome the conditions that have led millions to support him.
Donald Trump, Pirate King
Unlike his chief rival Ted Cruz, Donald Trump dismisses the high-church liturgy of American politics in favor of blunt tribalism. In Trump’s America, no one is looking out for you.
