The Democrats have finally come up with a mid-term message that they think will resonate with voters. As you might expect, it’s all about Donald Trump. In essence, it comes down to, “look how rich he is and how poor you feel.”
Trump is the great unifier for an opposition that lacks an identity of its own. The congressional elections are barely more than two months away and nobody has a clue what the Democrats stand for or who will be their standard-bearer in 2028.
Do they have a presidential winner in what promises to be a crowded field? The old names look tired, the new ones are green and untested. However, the midterms are a precious chance to behave like an opposition should – and deliver a kicking to those in power.
Even so, a party can’t just run on a call to “throw the bums out”. There has to be at least the semblance of a more purposeful, united front. And politicians from the radical left to the centre-right of the Democratic Party can all agree that Trump’s staggering enrichment during his second term in office – currently estimated at $2.2bn (£1.6bn) – is at odds with the tightened belts experienced by nearly everybody else.
I say “nearly” everybody else, because there has also been an explosion of wealth at the top. The left of the party represented by Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez cottoned on to this early in 2025 with their packed, crowd-pleasing “Fighting Oligarchy Tour”, when most Democrats were still picking themselves off the floor post-defeat.
Trump, with his head-spinning crypto-currency and social media ventures that delivered a fortune to him but little for the saps who bought into them, is at the apex of the new billionaire class. Or perhaps I should say the “Epstein class”, a phrase we’re going to hear plenty of times in the run-up to the midterm elections on 3 November.
The idea that there is an “Epstein class” represented by the President and his billionaire chums was coined by Ro Khanna, the left-wing California congressman who joined forces with renegade Republicans to demand the release of the Epstein files last year. Khanna contrasted the wealthy, unaccountable “Epstein class” – living in a world of private jets and secret vices – with honest-to-goodness “working class” Americans. However, it’s become even more useful as a short-hand phrase for the impunity of a Trumpian elite at a time when the President’s policies, from yo-yo tariffs to the intractable Iran war, have led to an affordability crisis in the US.
Unusually, the Democrats have a six-point advantage over Republicans on the economy heading into the midterms, according to a poll this month. But with no unifying view on how to run the world’s largest economy from candidates ranging from the far-left Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and more traditional, pro-capitalist moderates, a jab at the “Epstein class” is perfect for papering over the cracks.
Jon Ossoff, the centrist Georgia senator who burst on the national scene recently after claiming Trump just wanted to “travel with Natalie” (Harp), the President’s adoring special assistant, has enthusiastically adopted the phrase on the campaign stump.
“This is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It is the wealthiest cabinet ever,” he said at a rally in Atlanta earlier this year. “This is the Epstein class, ruling our country. They are the elites they pretend to hate.” More recently, Ossoff laid into what he called America’s “draft-dodging, crook president.”
Running against Trump’s vast wealth and money-making is an attractive proposition. However, there’s no guarantee it will work, whatever the current state of the polls. For a start, the oligarchs are not going down without a fight. A fascinating article in Friday’s has just spelt out the huge sums “megadonors” are pouring into the midterms on the Republican side, from Elon Musk ($90.5m) to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and crypto-currency billionaires, such as Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz ($115.3m) and the Winklevoss twins ($42.7m).
But let’s say the Democrats do succeed in winning the House of Representatives (the Senate remains a long shot); there remains the problem. What should they do if the dog catches the car? They have no plan.
Trump has claimed, “If we lose the midterms, I am going to be impeached.” There is going to be a huge appetite for retribution but the Democrats are unlikely to impeach Trump, not least because their two previous successful attempts backfired with voters. But Hakeem Jeffries, currently minority Speaker of the House, has vowed to hold “every single member of the Trump cartel accountable”.
Do voters really want a succession of inquiries into Trump? Or would that merely confirm their view that the Washington “swamp” is full of vested interests and petty concerns that have little to do with their own kitchen table issues?
Just as “lawfare” – the repeated attempts to prosecute Trump – powered his comeback, endless Congressional investigations could spoil the Democrats’ odds of winning the next presidential election. Raging against Trump and the Epstein class is only a short-term remedy for a bigger, existential problem for the Democrats. We know who Trump is, but what do they stand for?