Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes.

the application of extreme force by the state against even the mildest demonstration against its fascist violence, and the long history of political assassinations, are also a bit of a damper on revolutionary organizing, in a place without at an industrial proletariat

Me and the mateys on our way to force the rapid reindustrialization of the imperial core by disrupting the trade routes it uses to plunder booty from the periphery, arrrr

I think that might be going too far. In every place I've lived in the US there's been a lot of industrial/manufacturing/education/trades/factory/medical jobs that are classically proletarian in character or even unionized. And I'd add Amazon and Walmart and many retail jobs to that.

As far as I understand it, what makes the proletarian a potentially revolutionary class is that they work in contact with other workers; they learn the skills to manage industry and organize each other; can't live off of investment; and they don't own significant enough property to expect a profit from it. The percentage of the US that has those traits is not 0%.

I'm not well read enough to have a strong opinion yet, but I'd only endorse a "soft" version of labor aristocracy. I don't think the imperial core lacks a proletariat, but superprofits bleed off enough to prevent serious organization. If, say, 20% of workers escape into owning a small business or becoming a professional, and everyone else sees that as a real possibility, that becomes a more productive arena than politics.

There's a lot of things to unpack though. Jobs that are basically proletarian but isolate workers (gig work). Jobs that are social but too pointless to build useful skills (bullshit jobs). Jobs that promise a built in ownership opportunity (some skilled trades). Home ownership and suburbanization. And of course the function of racism and migrant labor. Migrants are a large and very proletarianized group, but they probably can't organize as a class until deportation (or worse) isn't such a looming threat.

But I do think the percentage of the US that could be proletarian is much higher than people think. I think people underestimate it because they aren't as aware of it. If I go on Indeed right now most of what I'll get is manufacturing or unskilled trades jobs. But that could just be my bubble.

Edit: some dumb guy wikipedia research says that the US is still the world's #2 manufacturing power. And this list of employment by sector is actually really enlightening for me. Maybe just because I'm ignorant of basic facts.