Biden’s reluctance to crusade for working-class men is mind-boggling. One suspects it stems from the priorities of a coterie of upper-class Black confidants, like Vice President Kamala Harris, who tend to keep the constituency at arm’s length. In Jan. 2023, Harris acted as Biden’s liaison to a gathering of Black men concerned about the disconnect. She promised to represent their concerns and work to correct things; a year later, there is no evidence of any substantial follow-through.

W. Mondale Robinson, founder of the Black Male Voter Project and mayor of Enfield, North Carolina, was not invited to the session. But if invited, he would not have attended over doubts about the sincerity, he told USA Today, adding, “People come to our communities two, three months before an election, talking about proverbial fried chicken and church fans with nothing else to offer us, nothing to address the issue that’s really plaguing our lives.”