Left Behind: Why Democrats Lost the Working Class

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "Left Behind: Why Democrats Lost the Working Class"

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
Host: Jon Stewart
Guest: Sarah Smarsh
Release Date: November 14, 2024

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Left Behind: Why Democrats Lost the Working Class," Jon Stewart engages in a profound conversation with journalist and author Sarah Smarsh. Smarsh, known for her work "Bone of the Bone Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class," delves into the complex relationship between the Democratic Party and the white working-class voters—a demographic often referred to as the "Rosetta Stone" for understanding rural voter behavior.

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The Identity of Class

Jon Stewart opens the discussion by pondering the disconnect between government responsiveness and the needs of the people, particularly focusing on class as a central identity amidst other intersecting identities like race, gender, and religion.

Sarah Smarsh (04:19) emphasizes:

“My message about class and the way that we need to center it and discuss it as an identity unto itself is really critical right now.”

She argues that class has become a fundamental aspect of identity that transcends traditional markers, serving as a unifying factor for various forms of disenfranchisement.

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Economic Disconnect: GDP vs. Real Life

The conversation shifts to the mismatch between economic indicators and the lived experiences of the working class. While GDP growth and other macroeconomic indicators suggest a thriving economy, many working-class Americans feel left out, burdened by debt and insufficient wages.

Sarah Smarsh (08:04) critiques the reliance on GDP:

“Most Americans don't own stocks. For the average underpaid American, it's not even just about prices. It's also about or spending.”

She points out that metrics like GDP do not capture the financial struggles of the working poor, who often rely on credit to make ends meet.

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Neoliberalism and the Devaluation of Labor

Jon Stewart and Sarah Smarsh discuss how neoliberal policies have shifted the focus from labor to capital, devaluing the work of the average American. This shift, which both Democratic and Republican administrations have supported, emphasizes investment over labor, leading to increased economic disparity.

Jon Stewart (11:30) reflects:

“Since Reagan, we have kind of moved into this investment economy, that investment and capital money means more than work.”

Sarah Smarsh (12:19) adds:

“The devaluing of the American worker without a real plan... might have helped.”

She critiques the lack of substantive support for workers amidst globalization and neoliberal reforms, highlighting the failure of political parties to address the real needs of the working class.

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The Role of Unions

The discussion highlights how right-to-work laws and anti-union messaging have weakened the power of labor unions, further marginalizing the working class.

Sarah Smarsh (13:43) explains:

“There was a very successful kind of messaging campaign... to really shift the culture around a worker's relationship to the concept of a union.”

She argues that cultural shifts, alongside legislative changes, have undermined union strength, stripping workers of essential protections and bargaining power.

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Political Representation and Electoral Systems

Jon Stewart raises concerns about the representation of the working class in government, noting that very few lawmakers come from a working-class background. This lack of representation contributes to policies that do not address the needs of the average American.

Sarah Smarsh (21:51) points out:

“If you look at class, very rare is the lawmaker who has a background with direct experience of poverty or the working class.”

She discusses how electoral systems, particularly the winner-take-all approach in red states, exacerbate feelings of disenfranchisement among the working class, regardless of their political affiliation.

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Identity Politics and Class Inclusion

The conversation explores how identity politics often overlooks class as a significant factor. Sarah Smarsh advocates for recognizing class as an essential identity that intersects with race, gender, and other social markers.

Sarah Smarsh (38:17) states:

“If we actually believe in an intersectional mode and march toward justice, then we can't make class secondary.”

She suggests that policies and affirmative action need to incorporate household wealth and class to address the full spectrum of inequality.

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Solutions and Moving Forward

Jon Stewart and Sarah Smarsh discuss potential strategies for the Democratic Party to reconnect with the working class. They emphasize the importance of inclusive policies that validate and address the struggles of all working-class individuals, irrespective of their race or gender.

Jon Stewart (42:45) concludes:

“We have to stop resenting people from pushing for their identities to be a part of this better life... We have to be inclusive means inclusive of as many people as you can fit onto that elevated track.”

Sarah Smarsh reinforces this by advocating for affirmative actions that consider class alongside other identities, aiming to create a more equitable and inclusive society.

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with Jon Stewart expressing gratitude towards Sarah Smarsh for shedding light on the nuanced relationship between Democrats and the working class. The conversation underscores the necessity of recognizing class as a pivotal identity and tailoring political strategies to address the genuine needs and aspirations of the working class to bridge the gap of disenfranchisement.

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Notable Quotes:

• Sarah Smarsh (04:19): “My message about class and the way that we need to center it and discuss it as an identity unto itself is really critical right now.”
• Jon Stewart (11:30): “Since Reagan, we have kind of moved into this investment economy, that investment and capital money means more than work.”
• Sarah Smarsh (21:51): “If you look at class, very rare is the lawmaker who has a background with direct experience of poverty or the working class.”
• Sarah Smarsh (38:17): “If we actually believe in an intersectional mode and march toward justice, then we can't make class secondary.”

This insightful episode highlights the intricate dynamics between economic policies, class identity, and political representation, offering a compelling analysis of why Democrats have struggled to retain the working-class vote.

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Transcript

[Jon Stewart]

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[Sarah Smarsh]

Hey, Coulter, we have a job for you.

[Jon Stewart]

Send me the info.

[Justin Hartley]

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[Sarah Smarsh]

If it were any one of us out there, he wouldn't hesitate.

[Jon Stewart]

I'm gonna do everything I can.

[Justin Hartley]

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[Jon Stewart]

Hello, everybody. Welcome once again to another episode of the Weekly show. My name is Jon Stewart, and we are. How many days in are we? To the new era of America? Do I have to say it now? Always with a question mark. We are now. Oh, God, it's only been a fucking week. That cannot be possible. You know, And I hesitate to say it because it's been a week where, like, the faint taste of like, a shit taco has been in my mouth for, like, a week. And I don't think that that's. By the way, it probably should taste like that. You should feel this discomfort. I just wish the discomfort wasn't always present. I feel like I have tried this week very much to just go about my normal Knicks box score obsessing or those types of things, but there is this faint discomfort that is always in the background of my mind of, like, this moment slipping away from us and the country. I'm hoping that that dull home slightly goes away because I find it very distracting that I'm constantly checking Twitter to be like, oh, my God, he nominated Brian Kilmeade to run commerce. Like, what are we doing here, people? But I don't want to also lose the discomfort because the discomfort is. It is an incentive. It is incentive to think about how to reverse, how to change this, how to improve upon outcomes that I would prefer. If it didn't taste like a shit, it should taste bad. It shouldn't be something that leaves our collective souls immediately that we wear so lightly, like a. Perhaps a windbreaker. I didn't really know where I was going with the metaphor, so I'm going to go with a light jacket because it's fall and because I lack imagination and so I'm unable to come up with metaphors other than literally what I was wearing this morning. That's how sad I am. I'm an old man who no longer has the imagination to get the taste of a shit taco out of his mouth. Folks, action is the antidote to anxiety and action is creating forward momentum, whether it be through discussion or action about what it is you would rather see in this country. And to that end, I think we have a great guest for that today. I'm so excited to speak with her. I'm going to get to that now. So we're going to bring on our guest. Her name is Sarah Smarsh. She's a journalist. She's the author of Bone of the Bone Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class. And I would imagine, Sarah, first of all, thank you so much for joining us. I would imagine in this election in particular, as Democrats struggle to understand the alien creature that is the white working class voter that you are seen as the Rosetta Stone. Do you find right now that people are looking to you for answers in this confusing world of the rural voter?

[Sarah Smarsh]

First, thanks for having me, John. And yes, I do find I'm getting a lot of calls right now that's been true to some extent for some time through the current political era. But this really feels like a moment when may maybe my message about class and the way that we need to center it and discuss it as an identity unto itself is really critical right now. So, yeah, I'm happy to be here to talk about it.

[Jon Stewart]

Well, I'm delighted that you could join us. I have my theories about the election. It's interesting you mentioned just now class as an identity which is, you know, I always view the world as we have, you know, everything is sort of at some level intersecting between class, race, gender and religion. You know, you sort of have these the four Horsemen of the Chitopolis. Yeah. That creates all those things. But at its core, my kind of feeling about the election is there is a broad swath across gender, race, class, religion that believe that government is no longer particularly responsive to the needs of the people. And if your message is this election is about saving this system, but even amongst these wide variety of groups, people feel that the system is not particularly has any efficacy. Does that cut across all of those different identities and how does it impact the class identity maybe even the most strongly?

[Sarah Smarsh]

Well, I think we've been in a burn it down moment for some time. Several election cycles, 2020 might have been somewhat of an anomaly. Biden, of course, won that general. And here we are again with, I will say going back to 2016 I felt it profoundly on the ground, even in places like rural Kansas, that a Democratic socialist from Vermont was sure getting a lot of traction and actually built an incredible coalition, almost got the nomination more than once, in fact. So that sort of anger rage that's just been kind of on broil at ground level across, as you say, all sorts of identity markers, I do believe has a lot to do with class and the way that, as you say, it intersects with race, it intersects with gender. But it is an experience that every one of us has and contains. And if you're on the losing end of that power structure, that continuum, and far more people are on the losing end than not, of course, then to your point, indeed, saying we're now defending these structures that have had you and your family hurting for some generations is maybe a losing messaging strategy.

[Jon Stewart]

So let's talk about that. That's a great place to start because it's this idea that we're defending these structures. So what in these structures isn't delivering what part of these structures what is? You know, let's look at the chasm between need and servicing those needs. What isn't being delivered?

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah. Well, I think a way to kind of look at this in very specific terms would be the gulf between the message that the economy is actually great. Dummy, you must not have seen the statistics.

[Jon Stewart]

Are you saying that doesn't work? All right.

[Sarah Smarsh]

You must not have read the latest report about the gdp. Most Americans don't own stocks. Sure, you can say inflation has slowed down and there have been economic gains in all sorts of ways. But for the average underpaid American, it's not even just about prices. It's also about or spending. That's a measure that economists love to trot out. You might be buying all your groceries and your consumer goods with a credit card. I didn't hear a lot of talk about debt. Most of the working class and working poor Americans I know hold profoundly disturbing amounts of debt, be it credit card, medical. I will say the Biden administration did talk about medical debt a little bit. Maybe they could have led with that. I think that might have helped.

[Jon Stewart]

Rather than gdp. You really don't think GDP was right?

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah. So, yeah, people are hurting. And if you're looking in the face and saying, actually you're not in, whether that's a move to kind of defend your own administration that, of course, the Democratic candidate was part of. And that's a very difficult to thread that needle. You know, the task she was handed to kind of propose how will change, but also still be riding with the last administration.

[Jon Stewart]

You were about to say, you were about to say riding with Biden. I think you were about to go for a rhyme there, Sarah.

[Sarah Smarsh]

But most people are hurting. And here's the thing, because I know that a lot of liberals and Democrats and progressives alike might be saying, but you're saying all that, and the Democrats have the better policies. They address all of those needs better, even if imperfectly. In the end, ain't the Republicans worse? And while I happen to agree with that, here's the trick. The Republicans, meanwhile, are the ones validating the pain. And politics is an emotional business before it's a rational one, and that's why they win.

[Jon Stewart]

That is incredibly interesting to me. You know, it's this side, because I'll agree with you, I have sort of a disconnect and actually not even necessarily, oh, the Democrats are better. Because I do think Democrats have bought into, I guess what they would call neoliberalism to a large extent. And as you were talking, I was thinking this is a much larger conversation about since Reagan, probably we've kind of moved into this investment economy, that investment and capital money means more than work. Labor is devalued and investment is king. And administrations, Republican and Democratic. You know, you mentioned Bernie Sanders. I think he was one of the few that kind of bucked that trend. But it does feel as though since Reagan, we have devalued labor. And both parties, policy or otherwise, seem to agree that this idea of capital and investment being having primacy is a winning one economically. Would that ring true to you?

[Sarah Smarsh]

It does. And you know, just to go back to neoliberalism and the way that it crosses those party lines, nafta, I think, kind of originated with the first Bush administration, but was of course signed into law and celebrated as a major victory for the Clinton administration. And the person who held that pin, by the way, I think has. There's been a bitter taste in a lot of workers mouths around, specifically the Democratic Party, even though both were complicit in nafta. But these moves toward globalization, which, depending on who you are, means very different things. And yeah, the devaluing of the American worker without a real plan other than like, how about this coding program for people in Appalachia?

[Jon Stewart]

That would be, you know, that was my favorite. My favorite thing that they ever said was, you know, yeah, we are going to be pivoting from the coal industry and you're all going to be losing your jobs, but we are going to send you to computer science school.

[Sarah Smarsh]

So come on, man, it's really a wash. Come on. So there were big money and corporate interests involved in all of those shifts. But ultimately part of that perfect storm of really pissing off the working class was that meanwhile you've got the party who used to be on their side, at least seemingly, who now just flat out apparently don't get it right.

[Jon Stewart]

But you talk about it as identity. So I want to tease that out a little bit because to my mind, even with both parties kind of embracing maybe a larger structure of neoliberalism and globalization and capital being king and all those different things, the Democrats really do like Republican states have right to work states. If you're upset about globalization, if you're upset about factories moving to Mexico to avoid having to pay workers a decent wage or doing any of those things, South Carolina is kind of Mexico to maybe some of the northeastern states that have more worker protections. Why doesn't that resonate for workers?

[Sarah Smarsh]

Well, I think there was a very successful kind of messaging campaign some decades ago to not only get those laws through the so called right to work laws that were basically union busting, but also to kind of poison the water, to really shift the culture around a worker's relationship to the concept of a union. As a child in the 80s who a lot of my family worked in the airplane factories in Wichita that used to be a major center of that industry, still is to some extent, and also in wheat fields and the agricultural industry. That would not be a sector that's traditionally so tied up in unions. But I have folks in the trades in my family and communities who didn't want anything to do with unions. And I think it might have been that not just the laws changed, but somehow cleverly, the culture also did. Those are imperfect systems themselves. Of course, labor and union unions have historically also been rife with their own problems and been power structures of sorts.

[Jon Stewart]

Right. But yeah, they have their own corruption as well.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Sure. Yes. And that's fair. And nobody knows that better than a worker. But they remain, to my mind, the greatest perhaps tool that laborers have. And it has been stripped away from people in lost states, as you say.

[Jon Stewart]

You know, that that actually gets, I think, an interesting point, which is whenever we discuss economics with people and they always say like, we've got to strengthen these unions and we've got to get in there. And isn't that in some ways maybe an antiquated way of looking, you know, why is it incumbent always upon workers to just in some respects get better lobbyists if we're Going to be sticking with this idea that investment is a more powerful tool than labor. How do we not plug labor into that investment current? Sometimes they'll be offered stock, portfolio or sharing or things like that, but that's not normal. And so how do we get it to the point where you don't need a union to come in there and go? Because generally unions are still like, hey, stop making them work 60 hours and you have to pay them overtime and you really do need to give them health insurance. It's all those basics. Why don't they participate in the gravy?

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah, I get you.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah.

[Sarah Smarsh]

I think this might go back to culture, actually, and the way that that relates to class as an identity. So here's the thing. Even if you got in on that gravy, that gravy itself is unto a class and a mode of thinking and a relationship to economy that actually threatens your way of life and your place in your community and your skills. And so what I'm getting at here is like the folks who I know who do manual labor or would identify as members of the working class, even in the service industry and all sorts of jobs, they're very proud of their work. They aren't actually trying to get out of work. Some of them like to work. Their identity has to do with that steel or their identity has to do with that wheat field or with that hammer or, you know, even with that relationship they have with customers waiting tables and so on. So it's like trying to say to a bunch of folks that are looking at everything in a macro way here, here on the ground, we're talking about the dignity of our work. We're also defending our rights and we're trying to get more money and we're trying to get you to back off working us into the ground. But that's not the same thing as saying we actually don't like our gig and feel very proud of the skills that we have. And by God, don't you? We could talk about AI all you want, but for the time being, we need people who have those skills and they know it. So while I don't think it's a bad idea what you're talking about, I think it's just two different realities in terms of a relationship to capital, how you build it and how you value yourself. If a worker hands over, you know, just like the inherent value of her ability to fix a sink and. And now she's swimming with the real sharks, trying to get ahead. Swimming in the gravy, if you will. That that's maybe a really precarious way to be because they've already got you beaten every other way. At least they don't know how to fix their sink.

[Jon Stewart]

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[Justin Hartley]

Be prepared.

[Jon Stewart]

Boom.

[Justin Hartley]

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[Sarah Smarsh]

Right on.

[Justin Hartley]

Seeing is believing.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Isaac was kidnapped by a puritan ghost.

[Jon Stewart]

We shall spend eternity here. Who wouldn't enjoy staring at that gorgeous porcelain skin? Tis from the bloodletting neck killed me just like that. We're back.

[Justin Hartley]

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[Jon Stewart]

And we are back. I was almost thinking about it as it's adding another revenue stream for that work. More than redefining that work. It's like almost trying to come up with in the ways that they're very creative about padding their bottom line. And you have this with a lot of corporations. They'll pay a certain, like, wage that's not a living wage. And so you're forcing people who are still having, as you say, that work that they're proud of, that dignity that they're proud of, but it's not bringing them enough that they don't still have to reach out to some government programs to help them even to just get by. I mean, I don't know if people realize how much people who work still rely on programs from the government to benefit that.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Oh, yeah, like a scandalous percentage of, let's say Walmart employees are on food stamps. The scandal, by the way, to be Clear is that Walmart is underpaying its workers, not that anyone needs to seek out assistance. It was my meaning that.

[Jon Stewart]

Exactly. And that's the point. And it's so interesting. You know, you talked about it as this is an identity and what goes along with that identity? It's sort of because you saying cuts it across different lines of class and gender and religion and those different things in that identity. Is it just about the government not recognizing their struggle or is it about a government also not being able to ease it? Which do you think has is bigger?

[Sarah Smarsh]

Well, I think that we can maybe answer the question by just pinpointing or teasing out who is that government? Who's there? It's mostly pretty well off folks, affluent folks. A lot of them went to the same Ivy League schools. There has been, you know, modest but, you know, somewhat heartening and hopeful diversification of Congress and the ranks of government along gender and racial lines. If you look at class, though very rare is the lawmaker who has a background with direct experience of poverty or the working class. Or throw in rural America and you're down to like people you can count on one hand.

[Jon Stewart]

Right. But then you get a guy like John Tester in Montana and they just voted him out. Yeah, I mean that's a dude who literally like lost part of his hand in a threshing accident.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah, I think it was a meat grinder.

[Jon Stewart]

Meat grinder.

[Sarah Smarsh]

But yeah, and God bless him, he had a good run. So what I'm getting at here is I'm not so sure that it's that the structures themselves are, are unresponsive by definition. But rather the folks who are driving who are behind the wheel have enormous class blind spots and often racial blind spots and gender blind spots as well. But across the board there is just a gross inability to truly understand the day to day lives of the average American. And that's true in both parties. Of course. I talked about the little trick that the Republicans pull off meanwhile earlier. But if the Democrats also have that problem and then they're telling you you're wrong, that the economy sucks, recipe for disaster.

[Jon Stewart]

Right? And you look at, I mean JD Vance is supposed to be the avatar for the politician who comes from, you know, Appalachia, comes from a white working class background. But I think you're right. Then you tie it into. But there's a dude who like his story is I worked my ass off and went to Yale and got out of that place. And maybe the thing that you're saying is what if we recognize a Pride of place that not everybody necessarily wants to leave, has great pride in not just the work that they do, but the culture that surrounds them. They don't want a way out. They want a way to live where they live, how they live, with dignity and some economic security.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yes, 100%. So when I moved to New York in my 20s, a question I often got was, how did you get out? And I think the idea was, it was a compliment. And I actually love the place I'm from. I live there again now in rural Kansas, happily, but I had no choice in terms of my career path and my goals and my aspirations professionally and academically. But to leave. I'm kind of a homecomer, if you will, who returned with the on the Odyssey and Journey.

[Jon Stewart]

But that's how I ended up back in Jersey. Same thing.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah, you get it. But yes, home and place, and I believe those things, things often kind of relate to class. But the capitalist and industrialized and globalized and urbanized way of looking at reality often leaves place out of the equation. And place, boy, does that. Is that still a tie that binds. I find when I talk to people about my work, all colors and ethnicities and political stripes, even where I'm from, you say, where are you from? And so your daddy was down at. Oh, you worked at that grain elevator. And there's different versions of that all over this beautiful country, of course. And if all of the policy and the aspiration that you're talking about, something we haven't mentioned yet is how like the Democrats throughout that campaign, John, I don't think I heard him say the word working class once. The term. Maybe I missed it. It wasn't in an important economic policy speech. It wasn't mentioned in 82 pages of a policy book that I read about their economic plan. But the reason I point that out is because it's always about the middle class. We're talking about how do we get you in the middle class? We know you want to be in the middle class. We're jerking off the middle class with every overture we make with our messaging, exalting the notion that. And meanwhile, we're defining, like, the demarcation line as a college degree.

[Jon Stewart]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Sarah Smarsh]

So the notion is. So if we know you want to make it and you want to get into the middle class, I know people that are perfectly happy with their modest lives in a rural landscape, and they're proud to be doing the work of tending and protecting a piece of land, and maybe they're extremely, well, self Educated, read a bunch of books. But if the current pathways are like. And now you've got to leave your home and go take this coding class and now enter this completely different world that you don't even want. I mean, another thing, of course, what's the saying about New York? If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. And what I always say is, where there are people who could make it there, but they just don't want to. And that's like being completely, completely left out of the conversation about what sorts of aspirations or goals someone would have for a good and fulfilling life.

[Jon Stewart]

That, Sarah, I think is. I think you've hit on, I don't want to call it sort of the mother load of the. But what you have just said has struck me in a way that maybe hadn't before, but you're right. As I'm looking at the breakdowns of the electorate, you know, people with a college degree is now the biggest separator between there. But inherent in that is a certain prejudice about what that means. The idea being a college degree is your passport and you cannot go anywhere without the college degree. Oh, and by the way, the ante for a college degree is now at minimum, $75,000, all the way up to $500,000 for four years or some crazy fucking piece of money that's going to put you in debt and you're going to have to climb out of that for the whole thing. And without this idea that there is that sense of place and lifestyle and culture that should be economically and socially viable for people and that they shouldn't have to choose that one path of debt and whatever that passport would cost them. I think that is a really important point that I have not heard spoken very often.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah, I think it's an important one. And I want to point out, by the way, that that choice that someone might make or that kind of rearrangement of traditional capitalist value sets in deciding where to hang their hat and how to live their lives. It's important for all of us, including urban and formally educated folks, that people are. Something I would like to point out, having grown up in a rural space and living in one again now, yes, we are a majority urban population now, but 98% of the land of the United States is rural space. And as someone who sees firsthand what's going on out there in terms of corporations and who's buying that land, what they're doing to it and extracting to it, it's good for all of us if, if we've got a little bit more of a sprinkle going on. Somebody reasonable and sane who has that pride of place that you mentioned, who wants to protect that place that actually affects all of us. If you eat, if you put gas in your car, if you care about the earth and the land that we share, people who are trying to keep kind of a grary lifestyle that is days gone by for a lot of families but is still alive and well. And some it's the fabric of our country. And I'm glad that some people are prioritizing being in those places.

[Jon Stewart]

Right. And by the way, I'm not, you know, I don't want to give the idea that I'm fetishizing that or that idea of like yep, those are the good hard working people. Like working in a city, living in a city, getting through there, surviving there. That's fucking hard too. Like it is. I think the whole idea of it is not viewing things as in such a hierarchy, but viewing them. Now the counter to that might be the rural areas of this country do hold a larger portion of the political power just based on how the Constitution has apportioned how we vote. Does that part of it? You know, look, we talk about the rural parts are much more decidedly red and they do hold within our Senate certainly a much larger portion of the political power in terms of the amount of people they represent. So before we go too far down the rabbit hole of nobody sees these folks, how is that, does that part resonate in rural areas? How do they view that? And I have a follow up to that, but I'm just curious.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah, well what's wild is for all the electoral college privileging those rural states, as you point out, most folks I know in those parts of the country don't feel represented by their governments either. Part of that is due to just not really resonating with either side in this two party system. And again the largely rich people that run both of those parties also, you know, if you look at when you, when you strip an issue away from those labels R and D and have a ballot measure for progressive ideas like legal weed or reproductive rights, defending those Medicaid expansion all down the list they often pass in so called red states. So there's something going on there about the identity, you know, has now become we're the red state and that's our majority politics here. And sometimes that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy in terms of now heightened sense of desire to belong to your place. But that's not necessarily the same thing as Reflecting precisely what you believe and want in the world. And that dissonance between political behavior and what people actually believe, you know, that's for sociologists and psychologists to parse. But I know it firsthand, I've seen it. Another thing about that kind of wobbly way that we get representation and how the rural folks have more that red and blue map and that winner take all politics that it reflects is so toxic, I think, to our understanding of ourselves. Whether you're rural or urban or somewhere in between. In most you've probably seen before when someone takes the 50 states and instead gives them a gradient of purple rather than just showing who actually state in the way that we run our elections, but rather to actually reflect the sizable political minorities that exist in every state. And they're there in red states too. Even a place like my Kansas, I think in most general elections there's about 40% of people vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. And two out of five people ain't nothing but. So here's where again that the electoral college and the way we do our elections is damaging even in those spaces that are disproportionately represented, whether in the Senate or elsewhere. Is that if you are one of those two out of five people in that place, my God, is that demoralizing. And it is so hard to keep hanging. And then meanwhile if you're being sort of lumped in as though there's this stereotype or homogenization of your place in the cultural idea of it and you know, you're like a kid holding a Black Lives Matter sign in small town Kansas. And I've seen it. That's very brave work. That might be braver work than what's going down in Brooklyn, you know what I mean? Because it's like you're against the grain, no question against the grain of the culture. And then meanwhile you keep seeing this red and blue map and then meanwhile, where is your vote going? My God, does it even matter? And that's what I was alluding to about a self fulfilling prophecy. Because then those people might long to leave. And I'm sure that it works vice versa too, with folks in so called blue states choosing to hang their hats somewhere else.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah, there's a sorting.

[Sarah Smarsh]

It's a soft sorting.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah, it makes perfect sense. All right, well, let's take a quick break and we will be right back. Don't miss new episodes of yellowstone Sundays at 8 only on Paramount Network. You destroy me, you destroy yourself. Unlike you, I keep my promises. Yellowstone, new episodes, Sundays at 8 on.

[Justin Hartley]

Paramount Network now streaming on Paramount Plus, I'm Madeline Matlock. Kathy Bates is not the Matlock you're expecting.

[Jon Stewart]

Maddie, I appreciate your honesty. That's me, honest to a fault.

[Justin Hartley]

Matlock. New series streaming on Paramount. All new episodes CBS Thursday, 98 Central.

[Jon Stewart]

And we are back. What is so blowing my mind about this is, and this is the thing that you're talking about, that dissonance between how you feel and maybe what the policy might reflect or what things are in a more practical way, but it is. So if I were to look at this more broadly, this idea of like in the red states, some of this is a rejection of what they would call identity politics. We're so tired of pandering to identity. Black, gay, Jewish, you know, we don't want to pander. We don't want woke policies. On the flip side of that is see our identity value, our identity. It is a sort of bizarro world DEI identity politics. It's yes. That there is a. There is an identity here that isn't being addressed. And yes. And that in some ways what's effective about what you're talking about, about the feeling is it seems to me that the most effective message that the Republicans have is you work hard and you pay money into a system that doesn't deliver for you because it's too busy giving money to undocumented trans athletes who are there to destroy your. Like they've painted this picture of a system that you work to pay into, but undeserving people get all the benefit of it, which is in some ways just a different kind of identity politics. No.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Well, I think it's a manipulation of the way in which we've been handling identity politics. And I don't use that term negatively. It's important that we're talking about racial inequality and gender inequality and the way that those things affect your. Your probable outcomes. But, but if, but if you're doing that, if your di. If your DEI statement isn't also talking about socioeconomic class.

[Jon Stewart]

Right.

[Sarah Smarsh]

If you're. If your definition of diversity is not also acknowledging wealth or, you know, the. I'm a first generation college student, so I often find myself in a college graduate. I often find myself in professional spaces where I'm the only person who has a background remotely like mine, regardless of color and gender. And yet when I was kind of crossing that bridge from one class experience or reality to another, if you will, and I contain both today. But that bridge was on that college campus as that first generation student. There were. They were rightly, race and gender and other aspects of identity were being addressed. But there was something very specific about what I was that made a really hard go of it for me that was not being discussed. And so if we as a culture and a country are not acknowledging that class is also an identity, then in that void, in that vacuum where deep pain, a valid sense of not being seen arises there, there then comes in swooping, comes in writing on a demon horse, Rush Limbaugh. There comes in writing the messages about.

[Jon Stewart]

The immigrants don't make me conjure up images.

[Sarah Smarsh]

And the reason. And the brown people and the, and, and so there is actually in my view of a real. Now, I want to be careful here because when I talk about a grievance, you can simultaneously have white privilege and economic disadvantage. My family would be an example. I grew up on a fifth generation wheat farm and we struggled to get by and we were below the poverty line, as we say. I qualified for a Pell Grant. And it's also true that we owned a little bit of land. That land was stolen from indigenous peoples. People of color probably never could have owned it without being menaced in times gone by. And so in most even poor white families, you can find traces of white privilege. But if you're only acknowledging the privilege of whiteness, and you're not meanwhile discussing the fact that within the 40 million people in this country living in poverty, the largest group of them are actually white, just because we're still a majority white nation, you're more likely to be poor as a person of color due to structural racism. But if you're only talking about the privilege and you're not acknowledging the disadvantage within the white working class, and by.

[Jon Stewart]

The way, also black working class, Latino working class. So when you talk about all those identified, you know, there may be more common ground amongst working class of all races, genders, religions than there is amongst upper class of any color. Right? Yes. This is, I'm telling you, man, this is the hit. Because it's that resentment that treats our game, and you said it earlier about a zero sum election. It's also capitalism can't be a zero sum game where only investment is the thing. It's about recognizing struggle as identity and that being in a capitalist system, there are victims. Anytime you're in a system that is searching for the cheapest labor and the cheapest raw materials to make goods and services, you will have people who suffer at the bottom of that, recognizing that. What's so interesting about this is it's actually a way for Democrats to expand on the way that they view identities and groups to include, not to exclude, but to include even more people and to promote ways of not just making those identities feel seen, but of alleviating struggle. It's got to be about alleviating struggle. Too many people in this country, struggle, struggle. It's too hard. That has to be a part of it.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yeah. You know, this might sound crazy, but affirmative action, such that it still exists, you know, rewrite that law to also include, let's say, household wealth, see what happens. And you know, which by the way.

[Jon Stewart]

Is not to suggest that race or gender or any of those other things are fixed. It's just to suggest that. That you have to include everybody in those ideas.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Yes. Yeah. This is one of the reasons the conversation falls apart often is that the notion is that these ideas are in opposition to one another. But if we actually believe in an intersectional mode and march toward justice, then we can't make class secondary. And as you were alluding to class, right now we're isolating it among discussing the white working class because that's the political moment and that demographic that has vexed so many. But class, as you were alluding to, it's an experience for people regardless of color, regardless of origin, regardless of ethnicity. And often, indeed, as you say, it's a tie that binds. And it might have to do with place or day to day experiences or the job that you hold side by side. But any group that's really interested in change, change, injustice, is leaving a lot on the table if they're not acknowledging that. And not only does it not threaten our progress toward racial and gender justice, it is of a piece with both.

[Jon Stewart]

Of these, no question. Because it's also, if you give people a more secure foundation, gender, race, whatever, it doesn't matter what identity you are. The more that we are able to have people not feel like they are in quicksand, no matter their identity, the healthier we will be. It's. We have created, especially over the last 50 years, a top heavy society that is listing rather than looking at that foundational situation. But I like this very much. The only thing I didn't like, Sarah, and I'm gonna be perfectly frank with you, we become friends.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Now, lay it on me.

[Jon Stewart]

Forcing me to think about Rush Limbaugh riding a horse. I did not care for that image. I don't now. I'm going to have to have that in my head. My guess is I have a very crazy, shitty dream coming up tonight that I will have trouble making sense of that will include hopefully clothed.

[Sarah Smarsh]

I'm so sorry.

[Jon Stewart]

Rush Limbaugh on a horse. Sarah, I can't thank you enough. I think you've helped me clarify certain things about this conversation that is really important, and it's the last thing that I'll leave you with, is we have to stop resenting people from pushing for their identities to be a part of this better life. I don't. There is no reason to resent white working class as they try and get their way into that. We have to be inclusive means inclusive of as many people as you can fit onto that elevated track. And I think framing it that way and thinking about it that way has helped me differentiate because I was looking at it clearly from that side of it that you were talking about, which was that dissonance. Like, how do they not understand that those policies aren't better for them? But, but I think I wasn't clarifying that emotionally or identity wise. And I think that's such an important aspect of it.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Can I add just one layer to what you just said, which is that while I'm with you about, like, let's welcome that identity and it's rightful points about where they've been unfairly on the losing end. And that's not the same thing as giving a pass to xenophobia or racism or sexism, misogyny and so on in the politics. But it's instead going to the foundation, the ground level of that person's experience and saying, I see it, I validate it, and now let's build from there. Because it's in the lack of validation or being seen, that those, you know, nastier permutations of the politics are enabled and manipulated.

[Jon Stewart]

That's my point, is if you give people a more solid foundation, and maybe this is Pollyanna, but my view is those politics of resentment that it's immigrants or trans people or black, that they're the reason why you're not getting it, that that will ease and that we will actually be easing two things at once. That when you bring people up to feel seen, heard, but also solidify the ground that they stand on, make them feel that the working life that they've chose has a future, you will take all the air out of that resentment and xenophobia and all those other ills. Maybe that's Pollyanna, but.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Well, and you might even, you might even start with, you know, speaking to the millions of white working class people who aren't Trumpers, believe it or not, they're out there. My family are among them. And make inroads in those communities and allow that to spread out. You know, I'm not a political strategist, but I know you got to go there and you got to talk to that group of people, and they've got some real concerns.

[Jon Stewart]

Right. Well, Sarah, I really appreciate you being here. We've been talking about Sarah Smarsh. She's a journalist. She's the author of Bone of the Bone Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class. And it's much appreciated, Sarah. Thanks so much for joining us.

[Sarah Smarsh]

Thank you, John.

[Jon Stewart]

That was. Boy, that just. That started cooking when. When I felt like I was in her class, she was the professor, and I had been sitting there for weeks like a dumb fuck. She's sitting there the whole time going, like, I don't get any of this. And then there was one class. I just woke up and went, it's an identity.

[Jillian]

Oh, epiphany.

[Lauren]

You did the reading, Jillian.

[Jon Stewart]

That really sums it up. I should have done the reading.

[Lauren]

We've all been told that.

[Jon Stewart]

And I hadn't had you all. Was that something that seemed obvious to you guys when it clicked for me, or is it something that you also thought, oh, that's different?

[Lauren]

No, it definitely was different.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It definitely differs from what I've been reading in the mainstream press about what happened. There was no reducing this down to a group of people were not even addressed.

[Jon Stewart]

Right.

[Lauren]

Why wouldn't class be what defines you when it defines your entire life?

[Jon Stewart]

It's your entire approach, your entire sense of security. But it's what's so interesting about us. And Lauren, to your point, there's so many things that people are writing about. Oh, you focus too much on identity. And really what the point is that actually you just don't have enough identities, that you haven't considered these other avenues in the same way, with the same fervor that you defend other groupings that you look at as marginalized. Disenfranchisement. And marginalization happens across a much broader swath than perhaps, you know, for instance, why aren't short people talking about.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I was just going to say that.

[Lauren]

And their grievances. We need to be hearing their grievances.

[Jillian]

Feels personal.

[Jon Stewart]

See, Brittany. Brittany can walk away from that, not being a short person.

[Jillian]

Sorry, guys.

[Jon Stewart]

It's okay.

[Jillian]

Hashtag blessed.

[Jon Stewart]

Hashtag. Hashtag something. I was trying to. The only other thing that I thought about is that dissonance. And Jillian, maybe you were, when she was talking about that. The dissonance between policies that actually address that. Because that is the one thing, even with their identity, I am surprised that they align themselves, even identity wise, with the Republican Party, because I don't see. I guess I don't see the policies that would make that.

[Lauren]

Well, her election diagnosis, when she said that the Democrats may have all of these solutions, but the Republicans are the ones that are validating their pain, that really rang true to me. So when people's daily lives are marked by debt, unaffordable housing, unstable healthcare, the message of protecting all of these institutions that have failed you really falls flat. And the promise to disrupt that system resonates with people across all identity lines, these traditional identities, who've lost faith in those institutions. So it doesn't really matter if that force is one of authoritarianism, as long as it's offering to do something.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And it would happen faster through authoritarianism.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah, no, no question.

[Lauren]

Gridlock.

[Jon Stewart]

By the way, Lauren, I think that's a very undervalued point.

[Lauren]

Absolutely.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, I remember it in the aftermath, I think, of 2016, where they were doing surveys of young people and there was this weird shift towards the acceptance of authoritarianism. And the underlying principle was like, at least something would get done.

[Jon Stewart]

I think that's dead on. Right. I think if your message is like, we must defend democracy, and everybody's like, I don't know, democracy seems to be doing a pretty shit job these days. Like, I could see how they would think, like, well, as long as it's an authoritarian, I trust, then we'll all be okay. The problem is, doesn't always work out that way, and you may find yourself on the shit end of that stick, and that's why those protections are so important. But what I really loved about that experience with Sarah on the show is I felt like I had kind of a unifying theory of what I thought. Thought it was. And I thought she, yes. Anded it and improved it and brought it to, I think, a much, a much stronger place. So I really appreciated that. It was fantastic. Brittany. I've really appreciated people's feedback most recently.

[Jillian]

Well, do you want to hear some of their questions?

[Jon Stewart]

Oh, sure, yeah. Do they have. Is there stuff that always. Oh, please. Always.

[Jillian]

Okay. Does the left need a Joe Rogan experience?

[Jon Stewart]

What does that mean?

[Jillian]

Like, does the left need a Joe Rogan type of podcast? Or also, how do they get their message out? You know, there was a whole conversation like, the left needs. Who's the left's Joe Rogan?

[Jon Stewart]

Oh, oh, oh. I mean, I think that's oversimplifying Joe Rogan. I mean, as somebody who does listen to Joe Rogan, like, I don't think, like, I don't know what I would necessarily classify him as. He has some ideas that I think are, are wildly progressive. Other ideas that are probably I would less agree with. But I think what, what's interesting about Joe is talks to anybody. He does it with a kind of a genuine curiosity whether you, you know, I hate this thing we've gotten into of how dare you platform, you know, or do the. Like he's platform. He has a voice. We have a system that is capitalistic, that voices that resonate tend to be amplified. Bernie went on Joe Rogan, which I think was exactly the right thing to do. But it's all these people that have never really, I think, listened to him going, how do we get one of those? And you're like, I don't, I'm not even sure you know what that is.

[Lauren]

Yeah, you don't need your own. You just need to go on.

[Jon Stewart]

Right, right. And also, I think they always, that question is always framed in the negative, like that's a shit thing and we need to counter it with a good thing of equivalent value. And I think that's a mistake as well. I don't, I don't even. I wouldn't even know how to classify the things that he does and says. Because the other thing to remember is in the world that we live in right now, right or left. The only thing I object to about this idea of political correctness is that it only comes from the left. Left in a world of constant comment, everything is attackable and everything will be attacked, whether it's from the left, from the right. Things you agree with, don't agree with. We are now an incessant shit talking society. So my only complaint about it is that people somehow blame the left is like, we're the, we're the ones who complain about shit like, I don't know, man, look at my comment section.

[Lauren]

Yeah, they have their own purity tests on their.

[Jon Stewart]

Thank you, Jillian. That's all.

[Lauren]

We brought you here today to cancel you, John.

[Jon Stewart]

I do feel like this is one of those. It's like an intervention gone wrong where you're like, you need to stop drinking. And I'm like, but whiskey so good. Yeah, that's terrible. Thank you guys. As always. Very, very interesting. Brittany. How can people keep getting in touch with us?

[Jillian]

Yeah, Twitter, we are weekly show pod, Instagram threads and TikTok. We are weekly show podcast and you can like and subscribe our YouTube channel. The weekly show with Jon Stewart.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah, do that. It makes us feel nice. Thanks again. Lead producer Lauren Walker, producer Brittany Momedovic, video editor and engineer Sam Reed, audio editor and engineer Nicole Boyce, researcher and associated associate producer Gillian Speier. And our executive producers Chris McShane and Katie Gray. So join us next week when once again, we will have a delightful conversation with somebody way smarter than me. And I always appreciate that. Thanks a lot. See you next time. The weekly show with Jon Stewart is a Comedy Central podcast. It's produced by Paramount Audio and Busboy productions. Roll out. Transformers 1 is now streaming on Paramount Plus. Awesome keeps the blast from beginning to end. Okay, stop. I'm in. Transformers 1 PGA. Now streaming on par. Paramount Plus. This mountain has its own way of sorting out who is worthy.

[Justin Hartley]

Now streaming on Paramount plus.

[Jon Stewart]

Your challenge is to reach the summit. It's a high altitude game.

[Justin Hartley]

What will it take?

[Sarah Smarsh]

Do you want to get the knife.

[Jillian]

Out of my back?

[Justin Hartley]

To reach the top?

[Jon Stewart]

There is a strategy going.

[Jillian]

We can steal someone's money by voting someone out.

[Jon Stewart]

No one said it's going to be easy.

[Justin Hartley]

The summit new series now stream on Paramount plus all new episodes CBS Wednesday, 9:30 8:30 Central.

[Jon Stewart]

Paramount Podcasts.