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The politics of the class

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The class inversion in American politics The struggle of the Republicans with graduates and the struggle of the Democrats with the working class is a common thread in this newsletter. To help understand, I’ve asked four Times Opinion writers to join me in the conversation this morning. They are Michelle Cottle, Carlos Lozada, Lydia Polgreen and Ross Douthat, and they are also the hosts of a new podcast, “Matter of Opinion”.

david: Democrats have been nearly locked out of office in nearly 20 states, largely because of their weakness with working-class voters. And in the past five years, the party has lost ground with working-class voters of color. How can Democrats do better?

Michelle: There are concrete issues on which some Democrats have stumbled too far to the left, crime is remarkable. But I don’t think the main problem is the party’s policies, but the overall atmosphere. Dems need to relearn how to talk to working-class voters — to sound less condescending and swearing. Too many Democrats exude an aura of, if only voters understood what was good for them, they would support us.

Carlos: Dispensing political strategy isn’t my comfort zone so all I want to say is it seems a little myopic when politicians talk to Latino voters like all they care about is immigration and the border or if they address black voters like it all that animates them is police reform or racial discrimination. Don’t try to fool large and varied voting groups with a narrow appeal. It’s admitting, it’s obvious, and it’s dismissive.

Lydia: As Michelle hinted, the Democrats have become the party of unofficial technocracy, making so many things they propose sound, well, ridiculous. A classic for me was Kamala Harris’ student loan forgiveness plan from the 2020 race: You had to be a Pell Grant recipient, start a business in an underprivileged community, and keep that business going for three years. That’s not “Make America Great Again.” They should be talking about big, bold, and simple ways you can improve people’s lives.

Michelle: “Official Technocracy” is my new favorite term, Lydia! I officially – and unofficially – own it.

Carlos: The irony of the Democrats’ unofficial technocracy is that in some cases it misrepresented how science works. Encouraging people tofollow the scienceabout Covid can be counterproductive when recommendations should change as new data comes in. Science is a research method, not a set of ready-made solutions.

Ross: Talking about the material interests of working people in language that doesn’t sound like it’s taken from a glossary of progressive-activist terminology is the right thing to do for Democrats. Right now, though, I think they have a lot to gain by treating the Covid-era and George Floyd-era law and order breakdown as their biggest political problem — treating homicide rates, drug abuse, school discipline, and border security as core issues where they need to separate themselves from their own activist class, which tend to pretend that living with disorder is an essential part of leftist tolerance.

Do you remember Kamala Harris, the prosecutor, ever scorned by the left? The Democrats could use a leader like that.

David: What about the other side of the class inversion? Republicans used to win white-collar professionals. Not anymore.

Ross: The GOP has multiplied the reasons for college graduates to turn on them: the Trumpist-style madness and chaos cost them one group; the fact that they can now legislate against abortion will cost them another.

I think you can look inside the success of Brian Kemp in Georgia a model for how to advance pro-life legislation without suffering dramatic losses. But the Kemp model requires rigorous reasonableness, a studied hand to suburbs, a moderate and competent sense, which a Trump candidacy in 2024 is unlikely to provide, and the attempt to defeat Donald Trump may be Ron DeSantis of the Kempian sweet push mockery as well.

Lydia: I think it is courageous to take a stand of principle on such a defining moral issue as abortion, electoral consequences be damned! Just ask the Democrats what embracing civil rights has cost them. Perhaps the GOP can learn from Bill Clinton, who worked his way into the Oval Office by undermining criticism of liberal overreach.

Michelle: It goes beyond the Trumpian madman. Republicans have been hounding their voters for some time now by portraying any issue as an existential crisis, so that compromise, triangulation and moderation are an abomination. College-grad-moderate-swing-voter-types in the suburbs find it disturbing.

Carlos: Perhaps the thing to remember is that “rigorous reasonableness,” as Ross invokes, is relative, and the GOP could benefit from the soft bigotry of low expectations. It may not take much for college graduates rejected by Trumpism but still wary of the activist left considering a Republican who combines populist policy pushes with a more down-to-earth style of government. In his bookDeSantis brags that his Florida administration was “substantially consistent.”

Michelle: I like your optimism, Carlos. But I’d bet DeSantis’ nerdy approach is a big reason why he’s getting his booty stomped in polls by the MAGA king. Not juicy enough and sometimes way too crazy/jargon.

Listen to the latest episode of “Matter of opinion— on America’s place in the world and the significance of this week’s visit to the US by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India.

  • President Biden does welcoming Narendra ModiIndia’s prime minister today hopes to court the country at a time of conflict with Russia and rising tensions with China.

  • By remaining neutral in the war in Ukraine, India has benefited: It has become a primary buyer of Russian crude oil, which it refines and exports.

While Modi visits the US, President Biden should promote shared democratic values an increasingly autocratic ally, The editors of The Times writes.

the ethicist: My wife lives in a nursing home. Can I take a lover?”

lives lived: Haim Roet survived the Holocaust by going into hiding in a Dutch village. At a 1989 protest, he read out the names of people killed by the Nazis, beginning a practice that has become a part of memorial ceremonies around the world. He died at the age of 90.

NBA blockbuster: Kristaps Porzingis goes to Boston and Marcus Smart to Memphis in one substitution of three teams.

child prodigy: Meet Ness Mugrabi, the NFL’s youngest agent.

Strict supervision: Leaders from the PGA Tour, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and the LIV Tour were invited to give evidence for a congressional committee.

Role playing: The Final Fantasy video game series has been around for over three decades. When the creators recently worked on the next entry, Final Fantasy XVI, they were confronted by what Brian X. Chen of The Times calls it “Star Wars” problem: Can a long-running franchise reinvent itself to win over new audiences without losing old fans who crave nostalgia?

Final Fantasy XVI is out today, and Corey Plante writes on Kotaku that it successfully threads the needle: “It may be the best series in over 20 years.”

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