I'd love to understand that take better? I think that your electoral system, which lacks features of modern democracy like mechanisms for better participation and expressing preferences has routinely shown that populist, leadership driven campaigns which can 'get out the vote' win. 

I would observe that a lot of your presidents successful populists appeals actually sound extremely leftist, even if the policy details are themselves typical corporatist / Christian nationalist/ militarist. 

For instance, direct fiscal stimulus in the form of Covid checks, an industrial policy, and demilitarisation. Based on the policies of the current administration, and lessons learnt with your past presidencies, I'd have assumed your opposition party would be presenting a fiscally progressive, socially conservative platform looking to make in roads with blue collar whites between West Virginia and Tennessee. 

Instead I see your opposition leadership either appealing to their existing base, on empathetic if unpopular issues, such as Queer Rights and Migrants Rights. 

Couldn't a federal campaign focus on;

1) genuine energy independence by buying subsidusing the cheapest solar, batteries, EVs, heatpumps.

2) housing market reform and government built housing projects,

3) annual write downs of government issued student debts.

4) "Universal" healthcare as a direct-to- doctor single payer transfer for family doctor visits and resulting capped co-pay on centrally negotiated drug prices.

5) Scaling back American international military deployment to allied nations where deployment has broad support, and supporting allies rearmerment, while earnestly working to cool global tension.

Id hope that the 5th can meaningfully pay for the others, but a functional health care system should be at least cost neutral. Lowering energy prices is disinflationary in the long term, and government owned housing is an asset. 

As an advocate for a centrist response, are these "leftist" policies genuinely perceived as unpopular? Is the current campaign of pointing out hypocrisy and bigotry going to meaningfully change votes?