Among elites across the ideological spectrum, there’s one point of unifying agreement: Americans are bitterly divided. What if that’s wrong? What if elites are the ones who are bitterly divided while most Americans are fairly unified?
History rarely lines up perfectly with the calendar. But politically, the 21st century neatly began in 2000, when the election ended in a tie and the color coding of electoral maps became enshrined as a kind permanent tribal color war of “red vs. blue.”
Elite understanding of politics has been stuck in this framework ever since. Like rival noble families in medieval Europe, elites have been vying for power and dominance on the arrogant assumption that their subjects share their concern for who rules rather than what the rulers can deliver.
In 2018, the group More in Common published a massive report on the “Hidden Tribes” of American politics. The wealthiest and whitest groups were “Devoted Conservatives” (6%) and “Progressive Activists” (8%). These tribes dominate the media, the parties and higher education, and they dictate the competing narratives of red vs. blue, particularly on cable news and social media. Meanwhile the overwhelming majority of Americans resided in, or were adjacent to, the “exhausted majority.”
These people, however, “have no narrative,” as David Brooks wrote at the time.