It’s true that these parents often struggle to define Critical Race Theory. They’re not in a law-school seminar; they’re not fluent in academic jargon. But they’re not imagining things. They have noticed something very real: a new ideological orthodoxy pervading public schools, including an obsession with race, and the disparagement of anyone who questions the new dogma.

And here’s the crucial point: The “Critical Race Theory isn’t real” meme is not about race. It’s not about politics. It’s not even a culture war, really. It’s about class. It’s about one class—a highly-educated chattering class—using highly specialized language to tell normal parents that they lack sufficient intellectual capacity and are imagining things because they’ve been brainwashed. A highly-educated progressive media has used its educational advantage—92 percent of American journalists have a college degree—to gaslight working-class parents of all races. Under the guise of fighting racism.

It’s no wonder Youngkin did better with working-class voters of all races. And not just better than McAuliffe, but better than Trump. And he did well elsewhere, too; 14 percent of black women—double Trump’s showing in Virginia—backed the Republican candidate.

Nor is this phenomenon limited to Virginia.