The Laken Riley Act is really what populism looks like

Obviously, everyone here has heard of the Laken Riley Act and how it seems to be cruising through Congress with massive support from Democrats. In the House, 48 Democrats joined Republicans to vote for the bill, and in the Senate, 33 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to advance the bill.

A lot of people on the left have, for obvious reasons, been pretty upset at how fast this bill is going through Congress, and how Democrats like John Fetterman and Ruben Gallego have not only voted for but also sponsored the bill in the Senate. I feel like there's a huge tension between their opposition to this bill, and their ostensible advocacy for populism and calling on Democrats to reconnect with the working class. Because this is really what populism and reconnecting with the working class looks like.

If you want to represent the working class, you have to represent their cultural values, as well, there's no way around this. A lot of left wing people make the correct argument that Democrats have lost touch with the working class, but ignore that the real cause of this is that Democrats have consistently moved left wing on cultural and social values which they don't like. There's a reason why Bill Clinton who signed bills like the Crime Bill, AEDPA, PLRA, IIRAIRA also did very well with working class voters. Bills like the Laken Riley Act, HR2, the Crime Bill are really popular with a lot of working class people and Democrats not being in favour of such bills anymore is why they are hemorrhaging support with them. There's an obvious tension between wanting to reconnect with the working class and opposing their cultural values, tooth and nail.