I would boil Ben's position down to this: Black Pride has given way to White Privilege as the left's rallying cry.

"Good" civil rights work gives formerly oppressed groups access to the game, perhaps with some remedial preparation. "Bad" civil rights works takes things from the dominant groups, most notably their self-esteem. Instead of telling Black people not to hate themselves for being Black, progressives now tell White people (and men and straights and cis-es, etc.) to hate themselves for being unoppressed.

That dog stopped hunting in 2016. 2020 was an anomaly. By running a White Christian pro-labor man in 2020, the Democrats were able to eke out a win against the worst President ever. Biden spent the next four years reminding the MAGA folk that his party was still about "the first this" and "the first that." So 2024 was hardly a surprise.

I share Kevin's empathy for the ordinary Trump voter. MAGA is really about making it OK to be ordinary. The left has said for too long that it is NOT OK to be ordinary. That's no way to win elections.