I’m surprised I haven’t seen this topic discussed but Tucker Carlson gave a rant on FOX that sounded like it came from Bernie or AOC and it has created a flurry of discussion on the right. Why should we care what the likes of race baiting Carlson has to say? Because it represents a message opening. Because it is a Republican with a significant audience naming the problem that the left has talked about for many years. Because if they help us frame the problem to their voters our ideas are more likely be considered and win the day, and might even penetrate into some of the “white working class” that some here seem to want to write off. Because if we write them off we will struggle with the senate for decades and not be able to accomplish much. Anyway, Vox has an article summarizing the issue,
https://www.vox.com/2019/1/10/18171912/tucker-carlson-fox-news-populism-conservatism-trump-gop
Some Carlson quotes:
America’s “ruling class,” Carlson says, are the “mercenaries” behind the failures of the middle class — including sinking marriage rates — and “the ugliest parts of our financial system.” He went on: “Any economic system that weakens and destroys families is not worth having. A system like that is the enemy of a healthy society.”
“Republicans have considered it their duty to make the world safe for banking, while simultaneously prosecuting ever more foreign wars.”
“Anyone who thinks the health of a nation can be summed up in GDP is an idiot,” he scoffed at one point, and later elaborated: “Market capitalism is not a religion. Market capitalism is a tool, like a staple gun or a toaster. You’d have to be a fool to worship it.”
“I’m just saying as a matter of fact,” he told me, “a country where a shrinking percentage of the population is taking home an ever-expanding proportion of the money is not a recipe for a stable society. It’s not.”
And from that fountain of empathy Ann Coulter:
Ocasio-Cortez wants a 70-80% income tax on the rich. I agree! Start with the Koch Bros. -- and also make it WEALTH tax.
I’m not sure how to take advantage of this but it is not just a one off. The right wing sites like National Review have had a series of articles both pro and anti. I think more Dems should be talking about this. I’m with Ann on the wealth tax. Framing the economic issues in this ways helps us and we should take all the help we can get.