United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts Jr. believes the Democratic Party’s recent election loss could be a wake-up call for the party to connect with the next generation. Roberts was featured in a Vanity Fair article discussing the aftermath of the 2024 election, in which President Donald Trump won the popular vote and swept all seven swing states.
Roberts warned that the Democratic Party’s ability to present itself as the party of the working class may be over, as union members voted for Vice President Kamala Harris but working people did not. He emphasized the need for the party to reach the next generation, saying, “What about the next generation and the next generation?”
Roberts also criticized wealthy individuals who dismiss manufacturing workers, saying, “When you hear some rich person, some CEO, some chairman of the board, talk about the patriotism of their company, or the patriotism of their board, understand something: Forgive me for what I’m about to say, but that’s pure bullsh–. That’s what that is.”
The article’s author, James Pogue, described seeing clips of Roberts attacking the rich for dismissing manufacturing workers, a sentiment he’d begun feeling among Democrats. Pogue wrote that many senior Democrats consider Roberts and others like him as people who “cling” to “a lost world,” and have trouble listening to the working class because they don’t interact enough.
Roberts believes that Democrats have stopped listening to the working class and need a wake-up call. He said, “Democrats have needed a wake-up call now for some time, and if there’s anything good that came out of this, I hope that they listen. At one time, everybody listened to me.”
Pogue agreed with this idea, writing that the Democratic Party has become defenders of the status quo and has lost touch with regular Americans. He noted that 60 percent of Americans believe the democracy needs major changes, and the party’s coalition looks like a well-off and well-educated establishment interested in preserving the status quo.
Roberts concluded that Democrats have morphed into what looks like America’s establishment, and need to start listening to the working class again.
