It isn't really that hard

[ProfessorPlum]

Americans are getting screwed. They know it. They can feel it. The American middle class way of life is disappearing, and being replaced with an overclass and an underclass.

so, how does one campaign? You could, for example, point out that people are being screwed because of the actions of the bankers, the money men, the forces of international capitalism, the rapacious greed of the MBA class. This was Sanders' message, and it suggested an obvious fix: regulate the hell out of capital and capitalism, and protect people from excess greed and hard times. It also had the benefit of being true, and holding actual policy suggestions that would make life better.

Or, you could offer no scapegoat - just promise to shore up the safety net but not really blame anyone. This was Clinton's message: everything's ok, keep steady on this course. This approach wouldn't necessarily lead to improvement, but offered the same slow decline.

Or, you could offer a make-believe target to explain things. Filthy Mexicans. Terroristic Muslims. Minorities and "illegals" stealing jobs. This was Trump's approach, and because it was a facile and false boogie-man, it allowed people to blame others for their pain, all the while suggesting policies (the wall, "extreme" vetting) that felt like they meant something but wouldn't actually change the real problem. They will, in fact, make things worse, especially since the forces of rapacious capitalism are now unleashed.

When people are hurting, it is important for them to blame someone. Sanders had that, and it was true and useful. Trump had that, and it is false and harmful. And Clinton never had it, because being truthful about who is hurting the middle class suggests policies that the real owners of the country can't abide.

Just my 2 cents. This problem, of the Democratic party not blaming the actual perpetrators, has been endemic since the DLC. And it leads to loss and the horror of the Trump presidency. Because when people aren't being offered the true bad guys, they will latch on to false ones.