Elites have lost the trust and confidence of Americans


The Cambridge Dictionary defines the liberal elite as “a group of people with education, money, and other advantages, often living in cities, who have liberal political views and are seen as not understanding the problems and views of ordinary people.” Former President Donald Trump’s war on elites was central to his 2016 campaign and could be weaponized again should he run in 2024. Straight Arrow News contributor Robert Doar argues that liberal elites are out of touch with the American people on issues like gender, abortion and others:

As the president of a Washington-based think tank, I get invited to a lot of gatherings of academics and journalists and leaders from the corporate and political world. At these gatherings, held in lovely American settings that showcase some of our nation’s best attributes, we talk a lot about what’s wrong with America. At one such gathering recently, I heard a writer for a prominent East Coast magazine say that we Americans are reluctant to face up to our nation’s racist past, that we bury the truth about slavery or Jim Crow or persistent poverty among Black Americans.

And I thought to myself, “that’s not true.” It’s more of the opposite — in Hollywood and the press, from our political leaders in our schools, everywhere we turn, we are told the heartbreaking stories of slavery, of the violent Ku Klux Klan, and economic exploitation. Over and over again, it’s almost as if our speech and scriptwriters, our news and movie producers know no other story, but the one about America’s past misdeeds.

It’s no wonder then that our young people, especially the most highly educated, who spend the longest time absorbing this narrative, are so convinced that those problems persist, and that the heart of America and the people who live there are irredeemably racist.

Well, if you live in most places in America, you get pretty tired of being told over and over again that you are a racist, especially when you’re not. Especially when you live and work alongside people of other races, send your children to diverse schools, are accustomed to celebrating your neighbors cultural heritage, and you even helped elect a black man to the presidency of the United States. It turns out, people who are not racist, don’t like being called racist.