Millions of American men aren't working. Donald Trump is the only one speaking for them.

These out-of-work men and the people who know them can't be reassured by saying, "Actually, America is already great. The Fed chair says we have maximum employment."

Feeling ignored by the government? Trump's got your back.
(Image credit: Gary Waters / Alamy Stock Photo)

The view from the top is that America's economy is improving, slowly but surely. The jobless rate is a mere 5 percent. The dollar is strong. The markets are at or near record highs. And "we are coming close to our assigned congressional goal of maximum employment," as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen intoned earlier this year.

You might think this is all good for effective incumbent Hillary Clinton, since economic performance is said to be such a strong indicator of how presidential elections go. If the economy is on the right track, the party in power stays in power. If the economy is foundering, voters throw the bums out.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.