Vice President Joseph R. Biden told “Hardball” host Chris Matthews on Tuesday that the Democratic Party no longer understands white middle-class voters.
An MSNBC exclusive interview with Mr. Biden this week included a moment where he talked about a disconnect between Democratic politicians and white voters. He said there was a predilection in both parties to assume that obtaining a college degree automatically translated into useful information for sustaining civil society.
“We don’t associate with their difficulty anymore, and it’s almost like somehow they’re in good shape — but they’re not,” Mr. Biden told the “Hardball” host. “The fact of the matter is, those people we’re talking about built this country. They built it, and they are smarter than we give them credit for. There’s almost like what’s happened in both parties is there is sort of a yielding to pedigree. The guy who goes to Penn State or the University of Delaware, and the guy who goes to Yale or Penn — well, the guy who goes to Yale or Penn must know more.”
The vice president’s comments in many ways echo a portion of Michael Moore’s one-man show “Trumpland,” which was performed Oct. 7 at the Murphy Theatre in Wilmington, Ohio.
“Whether [Donald] Trump means [what he says] or not is kind of irrelevant because he’s saying the things to people who are hurting,” Mr. Moore said while in character, the Daily Caller reported Tuesday. “It’s why every beaten down, worthless, forgotten working stiff who used to be part of what was called the middle class loves Trump.”
Mr. Matthews went on to tell his panel that he had never heard Mr. Biden speak so clearly on an American “meritocracy gone bankrupt.”
“Only the people at the top, academically, are given any consideration by the Democrats in terms of policy,” the host said.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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