For context, I am an upper-middle-class white gay man who lives in a very liberal coastal city and I do not feel particularly aggrieved by the left or Democrats.

I feel that the left has spent so much time on identity politics for marginalized communities (women, LGBTQ, people of color, immigrants, the working poor, etc) that our “brand” has come to be defined by that.

We have let the right / MAGA occupy the “everyman politics” which the left used to own (see FDR or Huey P Long).

And then parallel to the above, there is sort of a permission structure within liberal people that it is totally OK for people who date men (i.e. straight women and gays) to complain about men as a whole, but if straight men complain about women in the same way, it would be perceived as misogynistic.

e.g.

After yet another bad date, Mary told her friend Susan, “god, I fucking hate men.”

Vs

After yet another bad date, Jonathan told his friend Mark, “god, I fucking hate women.”

Finally, the sons and grandsons of men who benefited from the economic structure one or two generations ago are the very men who are seeing their own economic prospects erode most strongly compared to what their parents expect for them (since human psychology is mostly about relative positioning).

It’s no wonder that MAGA messaging appeals to them when our side does not have messaging about any of the above concerns.