Before Friday’s announcement that he had become the latest person ousted from the tumultuous Trump administration, Stephen K. Bannon, who had been the president’s chief strategist, had a warning Democrats should heed.

“The longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em,” he said. “I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”

As detestable as Bannon's politics may be, his political instincts that President Trump could win the White House by playing to the fears of white working-class America about immigration, dramatic cultural change and terrorism proved correct when others dismissed Trump's viability.

Bannon’s comments about “identity politics” came in a strange interview with Robert Kuttner, co-editor and columnist for The American Prospect, a progressive magazine. Bannon is expected to return to its media opposite, again running the hard-right website Breitbart News.

There is no question that Democrats should be outspoken in their criticism of the president for failing to make a clear moral distinction between the white nationalists, neo-Nazis and KKK members and the counter-protestors that they clashed with in Charlottesville, Va.

Yet Democrats will be entering a trap if they focus on issues of race and tolerance to the exclusion of bread and butter issues. Most voters in congressional swing districts in 2018 will vote in self-interest, not to cast a protest ballot against a candidate’s or party’s failure to stand up for minority rights.

As damaging as Trump’s series of mistakes has been to his popularity, and as little as the Republican-controlled Congress has achieved, the chaos has had the ironic twist of deterring Democrats from the new message they say they want to deliver.

In July the Democrats unveiled their “Better Deal” plan. Its elements could prove popular with America’s frustrated working class. Planks include breaking up monopolies, providing a $15 minimum wage, investing $1 trillion in infrastructure and working to rein in the cost of college, medications and child care.

Recognizing the mismatch between the jobs available and the skills many Americans have, the Democrats propose providing tax credits to employers that provide retraining and apprenticeship programs.

Democrats have had little chance to preach their sermon, however, instead pushing the Russian probe or reacting to the president’s latest affront to immigrants, the environment, or to good taste.

That tit for tat may feed the 24-hour cable news beast. It won’t win elections.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.