The plight of the white working class isn't economic, it's cultural

Although adaptability and mobility are necessary to thrive in a changing economy, globalization isn’t what’s really plaguing the communities where Trump’s nationalist message holds sway. The problem requires more than training for a new career or moving to a new state. Economic recovery is one thing; cultural renewal is another.

The truth is, entire swaths of working- and middle-class white America are now afflicted by something much worse than foreign trade or immigration. Their communities are in the throes of a moral and cultural crisis—a breakdown of the family and social institutions that has given rise to drug addiction, welfare dependency, and simmering resentment. Trump supporters who live in these places are understandably frustrated, but they’re wrong to pin the blame on NAFTA, or George W. Bush, or the Obama administration.

Yes, we could have better trade and immigration policies. But that won’t bring back regions of the country afflicted by heroin and broken homes and idle men who refuse to work or move for a job. Maybe it’s not possible to convince Trump supporters of this. But if conservatives ever want to reclaim the Republican Party and win the White House, they’d better stop scoffing at the people who feel left behind and start figuring out a way to bring them along. They need to persuade Trump supporters that they don’t need a border wall or a disability check to “Make America Great Again.” If they want to do that, they need to start by making their own towns and neighborhoods and families great again.

To the extent that there’s a role for the government in all this, conservatives might consider stealing a line from an old-time Democrat, who had the right idea but the wrong policies: “Our American answer to poverty is not to make the poor more secure in their poverty but to reach down and to help them lift themselves out of the ruts of poverty and move with the large majority along the high road of hope and prosperity.”