Nebraska Senate candidate seems to confirm audio claiming Trump

There's a moment in every campaign when a candidate accidentally tells the truth. Dan Osborn gave us that moment when he seemed to confirm audio of him saying Trump supporters’ lives "suck so f---ing bad." The Independent Nebraska Senate candidate didn’t stumble into a gaffe. He confirmed a worldview. It’s the same disdain that fuels every coastal elite cocktail party, just with the filter off.

He confirmed it, but he didn't own it. That’s the tell. When the audio surfaced, a normal politician would have offered a full-throated apology. Osborn essentially shrugged and said, yeah, that’s how I talk. It takes a special kind of arrogance to look at the voters of Nebraska—the mechanics, the farmers, the factory workers in Omaha—and tell them their lives are so miserable that they must be crazy to vote for Trump. The guy is running as an independent, but this is just run-of-the-mill left-wing condescension wearing a flannel shirt.

What’s almost funny is that he thinks this resonates. In Washington, that kind of talk gets you invited to better dinner parties. In the heartland, it gets you a one-way ticket to irrelevance. The working class can smell a phony from a mile away. They don’t need a lecture on their own happiness from a man who clearly thinks he’s smarter than them. Nebraska has a choice this cycle, and Osborn just made it remarkably easy for them. He looked down at the voters, scoffed, and then wondered why they aren't bowled over by his charm. You can't fake respect, and you can't win a Senate seat while insulting the very people you're asking to represent.