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“If you look at Ms. McGillicuddy, she’s been pouring coffee at the Denny’s she works at for years, but she believes her daughters can be a doctor. But it’s so expensive, and the debt’s so high,” Ellison recounted in the latest episode of “Cape Up.” “And she barely has any money in retirement because she hasn’t been making no money, because she works for a tip wage. And the tips don’t come in, she don’t get paid too much.”

“And then, she’s like, ‘I’ve been pouring the coffee, serving at this Denny’s for years. Hope the plant doesn’t close down, because then all the workers who come here, they won’t be coming here.’” Ellison continued. “But maybe the plant did close down, and people go from making 22 bucks an hour to making 13. So now they’re not buying the big breakfast no more. They’re just getting a couple of eggs and sausage, you know what I mean? But we don’t know that, because we’re not building relationships.”

Listen to the podcast to find out why Ellison says “this question of white working class versus the rising American electorate is really a false choice.” And hear what the first Muslim American elected to Congress would say to President Trump if he had two minutes with him. Let’s just say when someone starts by saying, “I’m gonna tell you right now,” you know what follows will be unsparing.