The irony is that the article states that progressives don’t understand conservatives / rural “non-elites”, then the author goes on to misunderstand and mischar

The irony is that the article states that progressives don’t understand conservatives / rural “non-elites”, then the author goes on to misunderstand and mischaracterize conservatives / rural “non-elites”. You and the author see it as empathy, maybe others see it differently. I view myself as an empathetic person (truly what person doesn’t see themselves as empathetic) but I think such restrictions are fine. There’s many similar tells in the article (I say “tell” because I get the sense you and the author would consider me to be unempathetic to others’ suffering and you and the author would view yourself as “very empathetic”). The article is introduced as the author being the one to bridge the gap with his “first class intelligence” being able to maintain his left / progressive values while also being a conservative / non-elite whisperer, when really he misses the mark and fails to understand.