Thomas Frank (the author of books like What the Matter With Kansas and his latest The Creativity Con: How Innovation Became America's Biggest Racket) explains that his new book traces how “creativity” and “innovation” became powerful buzzwords used to justify class hierarchy, elite power, and the Democratic Party’s shift away from working-class politics. He argues that Barack Obama embodied this ideology by celebrating innovation, Google, and STEM education in a way that sounded progressive while also aligning with corporate and Silicon Valley interests and making politicians seem powerless. Frank connects this to the broader decline of the middle class, the rise of a “creative class” narrative that privileges white-collar work over blue-collar labor, and the long political realignment in places like Kansas, where suburban voters have drifted toward Democrats even as many Republicans have remained dominant elsewhere. Subscribe to Fast Politics and listen 4x a week for interviews just like this on your favorite podcast app: https://episodes.fm/1645614328