Left Behind

I found a lot to agree with in fellow historian Matthew Karp’s column exploring the reasons for Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election [“Expect More Bulldozings,” Easy Chair, February]. As Karp suggests, the economic disaffection of working-class voters certainly had a lot to do with it, although I wouldn’t discount the role of Trump’s exploitation of nativism, racism, and misogyny in determining the outcome.

As a founding (and former) member of the Democratic Socialists of America, I was particularly interested in Karp’s comments on the marginal involvement of the organized left in the election.…