Neophyte said:

I was listening to Prof David Cay Johnston, and he was saying that about 65% of Americans are reading and writing at a 5th Grade level. 1 in 3 of those Americans are reading and writing at an 8-year-old level. So, they don’t have the ability to engage in abstract thinking. They are stuck in concrete thinking. They are low information voters who often only read the headlines.

Robert Reich said that 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. They work 2-3 jobs over 6-7 days. Then they pay rent and skip meals so their children can eat. They are one medical emergency away from homelessness. Many often can’t get to vote, they can’t miss a shift.

Both Reich and Johnston discuss in podcasts and articles how both Dems and Reps brought this about by conspiring together to use the neoliberalist “Poverty as a Policy Choice” for the last 50 years. Enough food for all citizens could have prevented the rise of Trumpism. I wonder what historians will write in 100 years.