Democratic socialists are on the rise — are the pitchforks finally coming out?

In 2014, venture capitalist Nick Hanauer warned that unless the U.S. addressed economic inequality, society would revolt. “Beware, fellow plutocrats,” he warned in a TED Talk, “If we do not do something to fix the glaring economic inequities in our society, the pitchforks will come for us.”

In 2016, Donald Trump sensed the mood. He won the presidency by promising to “break up the rigged system in Washington and empower every American to succeed.” Social scientists attributed his victory to the “revenge of a downwardly mobile white working class that feels ignored by progressive elites.”

Trump won again in 2024 by promising to “end inflation and make America affordable again.” He didn’t mention the persistent concentration of wealth among the country’s economic elite; instead, he blamed Joe Biden, globalization and high taxes. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of the few self-described democratic socialists in Congress, offered a different explanation. “Today, we have more income and wealth inequality than at any time since 1928,” he said in 2017. He attributed it to a “rigged” economy in which billionaires elect politicians who pass policies that favor the upper class. 

“The needs, the concerns, the ideas, the dreams of ordinary people are simply an impediment to what they, the oligarchs, are entitled to,” Sanders said. “That is what they really believe.” 

That explanation may seem cynical, but many Americans and Democrats apparently agree with it today. As one analyst put it, “Democrats........

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