Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign is tanking. It began with a bungled launch event and subsequently weak showing, and it’s never recovered. Despite Donald Trump’s recent indictments, or perhaps because of them, the former president is crushing all potential rivals in the GOP primary field. DeSantis, with a campaign that has been judged “too online” and overly focused on obscure culture war issues, is struggling to keep up. DeSantis is especially unpopular with working-class voters — a recent poll shows only 13 percent of Republican voters without a college degree supporting him.

Perhaps realizing the need to reorient focus toward bread-and-butter issues, DeSantis recently released his economic policy agenda titled “Declaration of Economic Independence.” The plan is a window into how the contemporary right is thinking about and framing economic issues in its attempt to win over more of the working class.

The platform’s long-winded introduction contains passages that seem to echo left-wing sentiments. “Our policies can no longer be driven by the ruling class,” it boldly proclaims. “We are no longer going to Kow-Tow to Wall Street and big corporations who don’t have your interests front and center.” The document paints a powerful picture of a nation in decline, where elites are trampling ordinary working-class people underfoot.