Truest statement of the week II

Typical is the comment last week by Paul Krugman, a longtime defender of the Obama administration. Krugman argues against those anti-Trump Republicans who claim that there is no social basis for the anger among white workers. He points to recent reports documenting the sharp rise of mortality and other signs of distress among middle-aged white Americans. “[T]he Republican elite can’t handle the truth,” Krugman writes. “It’s too committed to an Ayn Rand story line about heroic job creators versus moochers to admit either that trickle-down economics can fail to deliver good jobs, or that sometimes government aid is a crucial lifeline.”
Notably absent in Krugman’s analysis is any mention of the role of the Democratic Party in creating the social catastrophe facing the entire working class, of all races. Regions where Trump has been able to win support are those that have been devastated by decades of deindustrialization, overseen by both Democrats and Republicans, aided and abetted by the trade unions.
Obama, the candidate of “hope and change,” bailed out Wall Street at the expense of American workers, extended the wars and attacks on democratic rights of the Bush administration, and presided over continued deterioration of the conditions of life for the vast majority of working people.

-- Patrick Martin, "Trump and the Democratic Party" (WSWS).