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Articles by David Schultz
The Democratic Party, the DSA and the Last Hurrah
Photograph Source: Daniel Torok – Public Domain Across New York, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, a familiar fight is playing out inside the Democratic Party. Centrist stalwarts and Democratic Socialists of America-aligned insurgents are squaring off in primary after primary, and the press keeps covering it as though it were a simple ideological dispute, left versus center, socialism versus liberalism. It is that, but it is also something else. It is generational.
Grocery cart divide: How rural, urban America sort themselves
This story also appeared in The Daily Yonder We hear constantly that rural and urban America have grown apart. The 2024 presidential map made the point in the usual way, a sea of red countryside around dense blue cities, with roughly 90% of counties shifting toward Donald Trump. That divide is real, and it is well documented. What gets less attention is how far down into daily life it reaches.
Author Archives: David Schultz/The Daily Yonder
An analysis of consumer behavior and demographics reveals that the rural-urban political divide in America is deeply rooted in lifestyle choices, retail patterns, and education levels.
The Grocery Cart Divide: How Rural and Urban America Sort Themselves
We hear constantly that rural and urban America have grown apart. The 2024 presidential map made the point in the usual way, a sea of red countryside around dense blue cities, with roughly 90% of counties shifting toward Donald Trump. That divide is real, and it is well documented. What gets less attention is how far down into daily life it reaches.
The Same Old Complaints: The Political War on Higher Education Never Ends
As colleges prepare for the fall, yet again they are under political attack. Some say that its standards are eroding. Or a college degree does not prepare one for a career or a job. The Trump administration red-baits universities, professors, and students. Others, such as the Washington Post’s Megan McArdle, rant about the alleged cluelessness of higher education. None of these complaints are new.
What’s Wrong With the Left: The First Rule of Politics
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair I have saved for last the rule the new-new left seems most thoroughly to have forgotten, because every other fault finally runs through it. The first purpose of politics is to assemble a coalition large enough to win elections and take power. Everything else, every program and principle, is inert until that majority exists. This is not cynicism; it is the precondition of doing any good at all.
What’s Wrong With the American Left: The Indifference to Governing
Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden in Mather, California, 2021. Photo by Adam Schultz, White House. There is a fault in contemporary left politics that is easy to miss because it looks like a virtue. The new new left is rich in moral clarity about ends and strangely indifferent to means, treating the winning of office and the announcement of good intentions as the substance of politics while neglecting the unglamorous business of delivery.
What's Wrong With the American Left: Symbols Instead of Substance
Jun 23, 2026 4 min read Once class recedes and the professional class sets the agenda, politics changes character. It becomes a contest over symbols rather than substance, over the words we use and the images we project rather than the distribution of power and resources. By David Schultz / counterpunch.org Image by Duncan Shaffer Once class recedes and the professional class sets the agenda, politics changes character.
What’s Wrong With the American Left: Symbols Instead of Substance
Once class recedes and the professional class sets the agenda, politics changes character. It becomes a contest over symbols rather than substance, over the words we use and the images we project rather than the distribution of power and resources. This is the most visible fault to ordinary people, who can sense when a movement is more exercised about terminology than about whether they can pay for insulin. I want to be careful here, because symbols matter and language has real effects.
What’s Wrong With the American Left: Symbols Instead of Substance
Once class recedes and the professional class sets the agenda, politics changes character. It becomes a contest over symbols rather than substance, over the words we use and the images we project rather than the distribution of power and resources. This is the most visible fault to ordinary people, who can sense when a movement is more exercised about terminology than about whether they can pay for insulin. I want to be careful here, because symbols matter and language has real effects.
What’s Wrong With the American Left: Captured by the Professional Class
Neera Tanden from Center for American Progress at the White House, 2014. Photo Photo Courtesy of: Faye Evans, ATI. Ideas do not float free of the people who hold them, and the abandonment of class has a sociological shape. The center of gravity of American progressive politics has shifted from the working class to the college-educated professional.
What is Wrong with the American Left: the Abandonment of Class
Introduction: A Tradition That Forgot Itself I write these essays not as an enemy of the left but as someone who believes it has lost the thread of its own best tradition. That tradition is the democratic socialism of Eduard Bernstein, who tied the classless society to the ballot rather than the barricade, and of Michael Harrington, whose The Other America forced a prosperous country to look at its own poor. That tradition began with a sharp diagnosis.
What is Wrong with the American Left: the Abandonment of Class
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Introduction: A Tradition That Forgot Itself I write these essays not as an enemy of the left but as someone who believes it has lost the thread of its own best tradition. That tradition is the democratic socialism of Eduard Bernstein, who tied the classless society to the ballot rather than the barricade, and of Michael Harrington, whose The Other America forced a prosperous country to look at its own poor. That tradition began with a sharp diagnosis.
Democrats Are Favored in 2026, but Winning and Winning Big Are Very Different Things.
A multi-scenario forecast that accounts for presidential approval, economic anxiety, the competitiveseat map, and the factor most predictions ignore. An early voting polling site at East Carolina University as North Carolina begins its midterm primary elections, in Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 12, 2026. An early voting polling site at East Carolina University as North Carolina begins its midterm primary elections, in Greenville, N.C., on Feb. 12, 2026.
Texas 'Muslim Only' Waterpark Organizer Runs a Misspelled “Learing Center” for Kids [WATCH]
Only in 2026 America could a taxpayer-funded waterpark become the backdrop for a “Muslim only” event that blew up so spectacularly it ended up scrapped by order of the Texas governor.
Feds Take Back Notorious L.A. Open-Air Drug Market, Humiliating Karen Bass’ Failed Leadership [WATCH]
For years, MacArthur Park has been a glaring symbol of Los Angeles’s decline, an open-air drug market and a haven for crime hiding in plain sight. Despite repeated denials and false assurances from Democrat officials like Mayor Karen Bass, the truth couldn’t be denied any longer. Federal law enforcement finally stepped in and did what the city’s so-called leadership refused to do: take back control and clean up one of the most dangerous public spaces in Los Angeles.
DC Police Scandal Explodes: Violent Criminals Protected, Stats Were Cooked, Top Brass Face Firings [WATCH]
The swamp inside D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department is getting a long-overdue shake-up, and it is not pretty. Multiple high-ranking police officials are now facing termination after investigators confirmed that crime data within the department was allegedly manipulated to make the city look safer than it really is.
Caught on Camera: United Airlines Flight Clips Pole And Truck Before Landing In Newark Scare [WATCH]
A United Airlines flight narrowly avoided disaster Sunday afternoon after clipping a light pole and a tractor trailer during its descent into Newark Liberty International Airport. The aircraft, flying in from Venice, Italy, carried 221 passengers and 10 crew members who, thankfully, emerged unscathed after the tense approach. Authorities said the incident occurred just before 2 p.m. as Flight 169 descended toward the busy New Jersey airport.
Mayhem Erupts as Gunfire Injures at Least 10 During Oklahoma Lake Party [WATCH]
A Sunday evening meant for fun and friendship turned into chaos at Lake Arcadia in Edmond, Oklahoma, when gunfire ripped through a large outdoor party, injuring at least ten people and sending dozens fleeing into the night. What began as a so-called “Sunday Funday” quickly deteriorated into a scene of panic and sirens as law enforcement raced to contain the violence and tend to the wounded.
Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical But Stable Condition as Allies Rally Around ‘America’s Mayor’ [WATCH]
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a man once hailed as “America’s Mayor” for his unflinching leadership after 9/11, has been hospitalized in what his team describes as critical but stable condition. Friends, allies, and even political rivals are rallying around him with prayers and praise for his lifelong dedication to public service and his toughness under fire.
John Roberts: The Chief Justice Who Broke American Democracy
President George W. Bush announces Roberts’s nomination to be Chief Justice (2005) When John Roberts appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2005, he offered one of the most memorable metaphors in confirmation hearing history. “Judges are like umpires,” he told senators. “Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them.” He promised to call balls and strikes, nothing more.
Trump Boasts Massive Crackdown: Nearly 300,000 Illegal Aliens Booted from Social Security Rolls
President Donald Trump is celebrating a major victory for American taxpayers, announcing that almost 300,000 illegal aliens have been stripped from the Social Security rolls, protecting benefits meant for hardworking American seniors. Speaking before a packed crowd at The Villages in Florida, Trump made it clear that his administration’s approach is rooted in saving Social Security from the fraud and waste overlooked by Democrats for decades.
Trump Has Hollowed Out American Power
In February 1941, Henry Luce, editor and publisher of Life magazine, proclaimed that the twentieth century belonged to America, a vision grounded not in military supremacy alone, but in a confluence of economic dynamism, diplomatic creativity, cultural magnetism, and intellectual leadership. Luce urged the United States to forsake isolationism for a missionary’s role, spreading democracy and acting as the world’s Good Samaritan. The American Century that followed was no accident.
Donald Trump Is Hollowing Out American Power
In February 1941, Henry Luce, editor and publisher of Life magazine, proclaimed that the twentieth century belonged to America, a vision grounded not in military supremacy alone, but in a confluence of economic dynamism, diplomatic creativity, cultural magnetism, and intellectual leadership. Luce urged the United States to forsake isolationism for a missionary’s role, spreading democracy and acting as the world’s Good Samaritan. The American Century that followed was no accident.
Thank God for Global Capitalism
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Oil prices are gyrating and global markets are panicking as the two-week war with Iran goes badly. According to Bloomberg and the Financial Times, Donald Trump is already having second thoughts about the conflict. That development invites an unusual reaction. Thank God for global capitalism. If the American political system cannot restrain Trump, apparently oil traders and bond markets can.
Ten Out of Ten Ain't Bad
Photograph Source: United States Post Office Department – Public Domain The Trump administration loves to advertise its trophies. Biggest economy. Strongest borders. Toughest posture anyone has ever seen. But there is another category in which it may well claim a perfect record: alleged violations of all ten amendments in the Bill of Rights. Ten out of ten. A clean sweep. If the Bill of Rights were a bowling lane, this would be a strike in every frame.
When Lebensraum Comes to America
Image Source: Bundesarchiv, R 49 Bild-0705 / Unknown author – CC BY-SA 3.0 de First it was Trump the conquistador, flirting with a half-coup in Venezuela. Then came his revival and expansion of the Monroe Doctrine in his 2025 National Security Strategy. Now it is Greenland, paired with threats of tariffs and economic punishment against states that do not comply. Let us call this what it is: Trump’s Lebensraum. Lebensraum was the political philosophy that guided twentieth-century German expansionism.
Trump and Pump: Another Oil Quagmire
Kleptocracy, crony capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, carbon politics or Kissinger-style politics. Call it what you wish. But the Trump semi coup in Venezuela is another example of the retro politics of the Trump administration, and it is destined to pull the US into yet another quagmire, reminiscent of Iraq, Afghanistan and perhaps even Vietnam. There is an adage that states always prepared to fight the last war.
Venezuela, History, and the Futile Quest for Regime Change
Philosophers from Immanuel Kant to George Santayana warned that history repeats itself because we fail to heed its lessons. So it is with the Trump administration and its plan for regime change in Venezuela. Even if it succeeds in ousting Nicolás Maduro, the result will almost certainly mirror the failures of Afghanistan and Iraq under the Bush and Biden administrations. The road to forced democratization is littered with failed U.S. initiatives.
Why the Democrats Lost the Shutdown Battle
You cannot eat words. Rhetoric does not pay medical bills. Face it—the Democrats didn’t just lose the shutdown fight; they were crushed. And the brutal truth is they were never going to win, because they walked into a political gunfight armed with talking points and wishful thinking. The Democrats shut down the government to claw back the subsidies needed to keep the individual mandate afloat under Obamacare.
The Roberts Court: Twenty Years of Democracy Undermined
October 6 is the first Monday of the month. It is the traditional start of the U.S. Supreme Court term. It is also the twentieth year with John Roberts as Chief Justice. While American democracy faces many challenges—economic inequality, racial divisions, and rampant polarization—another corrosive force too often overlooked sits at the very top of the judicial hierarchy. The Roberts Court may be the most aggressively anti-democratic Supreme Court in U.S. history.
Why Putting Jimmy Kimmel Back on the Air is not a Victory for Free Speech
People are hailing the decision by ABC, Disney, and their corporate mascot Mickey Mouse to put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air as some grand victory for free speech. That is a fantasy. The suspension of Kimmel in the first place, along with CBS’s cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, exposes the real story: the overwhelming grip of corporate, for-profit media on our public life. These conglomerates are not champions of the First Amendment.
The Business of Schools is Business
It’s that time of year when the days get shorter. The air turns crisp. The shadows stretch longer. And school starts. It’s also that time when yet another pompous business CEO or ed-tech executive with zero classroom experience trots out a puerile essay declaring what’s wrong with education and how to fix it. Their miracle cure? Some shiny, overpriced gadget or a market-driven ideology dressed up as innovation.
Cruelty as Policy
Cruelty is the worst of all human vices. The intentional infliction of pain upon others, when done at the individual level, is called murder, manslaughter, or assault and is illegal under domestic law. On a mass scale, when directed against an ethnic group, it is genocide under international law. Both are wrong and illegal. The Trump administration and congressional decisions to cut USAID, as well as many domestic social welfare programs, will result in the injury, suffering, or death of millions.
The Tragedy of Political Violence: It Works
The cold truth is this: political violence works. The assassination and attempted assassination of two Minnesota state legislators remind us again that violence is not just a tragedy—it is a tactic. In democratic societies, people are taught to condemn such actions and to see them as aberrations. Yet the historical record tells us something far more uncomfortable: political violence is effective, and that is why it continues.
Trump's Escalation
Donald Trump’s deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles represents a new and dangerous phase for American democracy. His actions should be taken as a warning sign of the authoritarian streak within the current U.S. president. This development further shows his lack of commitment to democratic norms and criticism, and his desire to use confrontational and highly visible tactics to intimidate.
Trumpism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism?
Trump’s tariffs and war on free trade signal the end of an experiment in globalism that began in the 1990s with NAFTA and the breakup of the Soviet Union. Yet the question is whether this is a new stage for capitalism, or a futile or reactionary effort to turn back the clock on the global economy? Over time, Marxists have preoccupied themselves with the problem of historical stages. When Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848, he envisioned capitalism teetering on the brink of collapse.
Why Trump is Waging War on Academia
There are a multitude of reasons why Donald Trump and his supporters are waging war against colleges and universities. But among the reasons is a simple one–historically conservative reactionary regimes hate intellectuals. Trump and his supporters hate higher education for obvious reasons. Those with college degrees are not his supporters and voted against him in 2024.
Trump to America: Let Them Eat Eggs
As Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the cabal of plutocratic billionaires that the President calls his cabinet pursue their self-interested agenda, they are telling Americans that they need to prepare to sacrifice and feel economic pain for the good of society. Why is it that the least advantaged in our society are always the ones asked to sacrifice for the greater good? Trump’s speech to Congress foretold economic pain for Americans.
Trump is returning the US to isolationism and Yalta-style spheres of influence - opinion
Historically, the best predictor of a new US president’s former policy is to look at what his predecessor did. This is the case both because of the broad overall continuity of American foreign policy since WWII, but also because presidents take office within a context of real-world events that dictate their choices. Yet in the first month of Donald Trump’s second presidency, he is breaking this rule.
The New Plutocracy
The United States is not a democracy. It is a plutocracy. It is not simply a plutocracy because of Donald Trump’s presidency and the likes of Elon Musk and other billionaires who are running the government. The most recent Forbes listing of the richest Americans points to a concentration of wealth never seen in US history. Plutocracy is defined as government by the wealthy. It is not just when the wealthy rule directly, but it is also about who governs.
Trump and Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza
US President Donald Trump’s declaration to remove the Palestinians from Gaza reveals the two truths. First, history repeats itself, but in doing so, it does in farcical ways. Second, whatever shred of rules-based order that was imposed by the United States on international politics is effectively dead. In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte Karl Marx elegantly opens by stating” “Hegel remarked somewhere that all great world historic facts in person just appear, so to speak, twice.
The Democrats Loss of the Working Class was Fifty Years in the Making
One month out after Donald Trump and the Republicans beat Kamala Harris and the Democrats, the reasons for the electoral defeat are still being debated. Yet, while it is possible that Harris could have won, but for several mistakes that she made, it is not clear that any Democrat could have won this election. In fact, the roots of Harris’s and the Democratic losses in 2024 are deep going back at least to three previous Democratic presidents.
Democrats' disconnect with the working class paved GOP's path to victory
Often journalism is described as writing the first draft of history. But political science analysis is the second draft. As we think about Donald Trump's triumph and Kamala Harris's loss in the 2024 United States presidential election, the question is, what happened? And why? There are both longer-term structural reasons explaining the rise of Trump and Trumpism, as well as short-term issues that are altering the composition of the US electorate.
US democracy has always been a fragile experiment. Its biggest test awaits
Regardless of the outcome of the 2024 United States presidential election, the experiment of American democracy is in jeopardy. The challenges go beyond this election or the choice of personalities who may get elected. The US Constitution's first three words are "We the people." They reflected a lot of promise and hope in 1787, when America's constitutional framers first drafted the document. At the time of the drafting, no country in the world was a democracy.
Constitutional Precedent and Partisan Ideology in the Roberts Supreme Court
The first Monday in October commences a new United States Supreme Court term. This term, the court will hear many significant cases. However, the Supreme Court’s own reputation will also be up for judgment. Part of that reputation is tied to the perception of the Court increasingly operating as a political body composed of nine politicians wearing robes. For years, the Supreme Court enjoyed significant legitimacy and public approval, far outstripping that of both Congress and the President.
The Declining Significance of Race in America, Not Quite
According to a recent study on economic mobility in the United States, race appears to be a declining factor in terms of explaining intergenerational mobility. For some the conclusion might be that race matters less in America. But the reality is less that race doesn’t matter and more that class has become even more of a significant variable or factor in American politics. Researchers at the Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights Center tracked intergenerational mobility by race and class.
Biden's Abysmal Debate
As much as partisan Democrats seek to put lipstick on a pig, Biden’s first and probably last presidential debate was a disaster, if not fatal. Not only did it fail to do what it was supposed to do but it also confirmed public perceptions about Biden and trendlines in the presidential race that had largely been frozen for nearly six months. Even before this debate there were growing concerns about Joe Biden’s age and cognitive capacities.
Biden's Abysmal Debate: Denial ain't just a river in Egypt
As much as partisan Democrats seek to put lipstick on a pig, Biden’s first and probably last presidential debate was a disaster, if not fatal. Not only did it fail to do what it was supposed to do but it also confirmed public perceptions about Biden and trendlines in the presidential race that had largely been frozen for nearly six months. Even before this debate there were growing concerns about Joe Biden’s age and cognitive capacities.
Newsflash: Inequality In Neoliberal America
Above photo: Nathaniel St. Clair. If anyone is perplexed or surprised why Americans are so upset about the economy, they should look no further than the Income Distribution and Dynamics in America (IDDA) recent report by the Federal Reserve Board of Minneapolis and its data site that looks at the stagnation of American income and economic mobility in America.
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