People say “economic anxiety,” I say “economic envy.” Trump played to the same feelings that Bernie did, that people are not holding the jobs of yesterday that could feed a family of four and still have enough left over to put away for their child’s college education. That government is to blame for that, because they sold those jobs off in trade deals, or they regulated them to death, or they gave them to “those people.” He sold them a fantasy, about how he was going to undo all of that, bring back those “better days,” and how it was gonna be even better than before.

But he can’t make it happen, he can’t make companies bring those jobs back, he can’t make companies restore jobs that have been eliminated by modernization, and so many of the jobs “those people” have are not the union jobs of yesterday that paid generous wages and great benefits. Trump already made clear he thinks autoworkers are overpaid and that he refuses to negotiate with unions at his own businesses. Time killed the “good ol’ days” and nothing he does is going to bring them back.