In his victory speech following the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump proclaimed that the "forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer”.
American political analyst, historian and journalist Thomas Frank has long chronicled the decline of the American middle class and the cries for more meaningful action on income inequality. In his recent book, Listen Liberal, he warned that the Democrats are a class party in the most basic sense of the phrase, and that the socioeconomic group whose interests they represent most enthusiastically – the satisfied and prosperous professional class – simply doesn’t care all that much about income inequality.
During his visit to Australia, Thomas spoke on the Democratic Party’s failures over the last few decades and looked at the rise of the American Right, which has become reinvigorated by the arrival of hard times.
Following his address, he was joined by the Centre's academic director and senior lecturer David Smith for further discussion and an audience Q&A.
