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☆ Social Class Is Not About Only Race
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The same is true at some other public universities, including Auburn, Georgia Tech and William & Mary. It is also true at a larger group of elite private colleges, including Bates, Brown, Georgetown, Oberlin, Tulane and Wake Forest. Nearly every college with an affluent enrollment has historically used race-based admissions policies. Those policies often succeeded at producing racial diversity without producing as much economic diversity. And whether they figure out how to do so is important (as I’ve previously covered).

Persons: Mary, Bates, Brown Organizations: University of Virginia, UVA, Grants, Georgia Tech, Oberlin, Tulane, Wake Locations: Auburn, Georgetown

☆ Democracy and Reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

India is both the world’s most populous country and the only country among the top 10 economies that has not clearly chosen a side in what President Biden calls the struggle between democracy and autocracy. On the one hand, India is skeptical of a Western-led world and has helped to finance Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine by continuing to buy Russian oil. At a White House news conference with Biden yesterday, Modi brushed aside reporters’ questions about these issues. Were the Biden administration to choose its international friends based only on their commitment to freedom and democracy, Modi’s India would be a strange nation to celebrate with White House pomp. But the reality is that the U.S. can’t have everything that it wants in foreign policy.

Persons: Biden, Vladimir Putin’s, Narendra Modi, Modi’s, Putin, Modi Organizations: White House Locations: India, Ukraine, Washington

☆ The Politics of Class
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The class inversion in American politics — Republicans’ struggles with college graduates and Democrats’ struggles with the working class — is a running theme of this newsletter. To help make sense of it, I asked four Times Opinion writers to join me in an exchange this morning. And in the past five years, the party has lost ground with working-class voters of color. Dems need to relearn how to talk to working-class voters — to sound less condescending and scoldy. Too many Democrats radiate an aura of, If only voters understood what was good for them, they would back us.

Persons: Republicans ’, ’, Michelle Cottle, Carlos Lozada, Lydia Polgreen, Ross Douthat, they’re, ” David, Don’t Organizations: Republicans

☆ Waiting for the Justices
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Sometime in the next 10 days, the Supreme Court is expected to tightly restrict or ban race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The ruling could come as soon as tomorrow or as late as Friday, June 30, before the justices leave for their summer break. The justices faced a fundamental decision: Should they overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to outlaw abortion? Once a majority of justices decided to do so, the written opinions that they released were less meaningful. “The decision in Dobbs was essentially binary,” Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, told me.

Persons: Dobbs, Roe, Wade, Adam Liptak, ” Organizations: Jackson, Health Organization, The Times

☆ Republicans Against Inequality
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Vance, the Ohio Republican, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts progressive, have collaborated on a bill to claw back executive pay at failed banks. The two worked through the details through in-person conversations, weekend phone calls and late-night texts. Rubio this month published a book, “Decades of Decadence,” that criticizes the past 30 years of globalization. Tomorrow afternoon, these four Republican senators — Cotton, Rubio, Vance and Young — will speak at an event on Capitol Hill that’s meant to highlight the emergence of a populist conservative movement in economics. Cass is right about that: Income growth for most families has been sluggish for decades, trailing well behind economic growth.

Persons: J.D, Vance, Elizabeth Warren, Marco Rubio, Rubio, Todd Young, Tom Cotton of, Biden, — Cotton, Young —, ”, Oren Cass, Mitt Romney, Cass, ” Cass Organizations: Ohio Republican, Todd Young of Indiana, Capitol, Conservative, American Locations: Massachusetts, Marco Rubio of Florida, Tom Cotton of Arkansas

☆ The Racial Wage Gap Is Shrinking
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the early 2000s, the wage gap between Black and white workers in the U.S. was as large as it had been in 1950. That is a shocking statistic and a sign of the country’s deep racial inequality. Over the past five years, however, the story has changed somewhat: The wage gap, though still enormous, has shrunk. In today’s newsletter — on Juneteenth — I’ll try to explain why the gap has narrowed and what would have to happen for it to narrow more. After all, even with the recent progress, the median Black worker makes 21 percent less than the median white worker.

Persons: ” Elise Gould, — I’ll Organizations: Economic Policy Institute Locations: U.S

☆ Donald Trump Has a Polling Problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

To be clear, Trump’s enduring support among Republicans is an important story. A couple of subtler patterns in the data are more worrisome for Trump. Problematic subjects for the Republican Party, on the other hand, include health care access, the minimum wage, same-sex marriage and, especially, abortion bans. Republicans who think he should have been charged with a crime outnumber Democrats who think he should not have been. “Trump splits the party,” says Jonathan Bernstein, a political scientist who writes for Bloomberg Opinion.

Persons: Trump, “ Trump, ”, Jonathan Bernstein Organizations: Republican, Trump Republican, Trump, Democratic Party, Times, Republican Party, Bloomberg Locations: U.S, California

☆ How Democrats Can Win Workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Today, I’ll be writing about what Democrats might do about the problem, focusing on a new YouGov poll, conducted as part of the Center for Working-Class Politics study. A key point is that even modest shifts in the working-class vote can decide elections. If President Biden wins 50 percent of the non-college vote next year, he will almost certainly be re-elected. But candidate messages that explicitly mentioned race were unpopular. Democrats who have won difficult recent elections, including both progressives and moderates, have often presented a blue-collar image.

Persons: I’ll, Biden, ”, Bhaskar Sunkara, Matthew Yglesias, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Marcy Kaptur, Jared Abbott, Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt Organizations: Center, Democratic, Jacobin, Voters, Ohio, Progress, Swing Locations: Chicago , Los Angeles , New York, Philadelphia

☆ Trump’s Indictment Is Unavoidably Political
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the United States of America v. Donald J. Trump is obviously not a typical case. Perhaps its most unusual aspect is the reality that the defendant could become the president of the United States before the case has finished. For that reason, this case is both legal and unavoidably political. It is also the American public, who will decide whether Trump ultimately has the power to overrule a verdict. “But making a public case is part of what’s going on here.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump, ” Noah Bookbinder, ” Organizations: Justice Department, American, Citizens Locations: United States, America, Washington, what’s

☆ Wildfire Smoke Envelops the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Residents of the western U.S. and Canada have become grimly accustomed to smoke-clogged air from wildfires during the summer months. This week, the problem has spread to the Midwest and the East Coast. New York City was filled with reddish haze yesterday, with its worst air quality on record. A Broadway matinee was interrupted when its star had difficulty breathing, and some nighttime shows were canceled. The immediate cause is a series of wildfires in Quebec and Ontario, which began burning weeks ago.

Organizations: Midwest, Pro, ” Locations: U.S, Canada, East Coast . New York City, New York, Philadelphia, Binghamton, N.Y, Toronto, Quebec, Ontario, West

☆ A Stunning Merger Angers Athletes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After the Saudi government created an upstart professional golf tour in 2021 to compete with the PGA — the world’s most prestigious tour, based in the U.S. — top PGA executives set out to destroy the new venture. They banned golfers who signed up with the Saudi tour, known as LIV Golf, from PGA events and put intense pressure on other golfers not to join LIV. PGA executives also complained to members of Congress about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?” Monahan asked on national television. It was all part of a campaign to undermine LIV, even if doing so required damaging the reputations of leading golfers.

Persons: LIV, Jay Monahan, ” Monahan Organizations: PGA, Saudi Locations: Saudi, U.S

☆ A Religious School That’s Also a Public School
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

State officials in Oklahoma approved the local Roman Catholic archdiocese’s request to operate a public charter school. It will be the first explicitly religious public school in the U.S. in modern times, experts say. Charter schools are public schools, financed by taxpayer dollars, but given the freedom to operate more flexibly than traditional schools. Nationwide, 8 percent of public schools are charter schools. Advocates of religious charter schools argue that church groups should have the same right to manage schools as other organizations.

Organizations: Roman Catholic, Supreme, Nationwide Locations: Oklahoma, U.S

☆ Millennials Just Keep Voting
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the 2018 elections — the midterms of Donald Trump’s presidency — turnout among younger voters surged. Almost twice as many people in their late 20s and early 30s voted that year as had done so in the midterms four years earlier. At the time, it was not clear whether the newfound political engagement of younger adults would last beyond Trump’s presidency. A central theme of the latest report, covering the 2022 midterms, was that “Gen Z and millennial voters had exceptional levels of turnout,” as Catalist’s experts wrote. In the 14 states with heavily contested elections last year, turnout among younger voters rose even higher than it was in 2018.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump’s, Z Organizations: Democratic, Democratic Party

☆ The House Passed the Bill. Who Won?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It is a short-term bill that lacks any attempt to solve the country’s long-term fiscal challenges through tax increases or changes to Medicare and Social Security. The House bill not only protects all the clean energy subsidies passed last year, but also includes a bipartisan priority known as permitting reform that has the potential to remove some of the bureaucratic obstacles to major clean-energy projects. “This is the thing the Climate Left keeps not acknowledging,” Matthew Yglesias wrote in his Substack newsletter this week. Instead, they led to a classic political deal that left untouched the major accomplishes of Biden’s first term. It is a reminder that he is the most successful bipartisan negotiator to occupy the White House in decades.

Persons: Biden, ” Matthew Yglesias Organizations: Social Security, Republicans, Republican Party, House Locations: Appalachian

☆ A Big Day for the Debt Ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Can House Republicans behave as the members of a well-functioning political party would? For much of the past several weeks, House Republicans have looked decidedly functional. In April, they passed a bill to raise the debt ceiling that included deep spending cuts and was akin to an initial offer in a negotiation. The compromise bill looked to be on course to pass — even as conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats criticized aspects of it. “Not one Republican should vote for this bill,” Representative Chip Roy of Texas, an influential ultraconservative, said yesterday afternoon.

Persons: don’t, Biden, Chip Roy Organizations: Republicans, Republican Locations: Texas

☆ Supreme Court Criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Many Republicans view the recent criticism as unhinged and damaging to American democracy. According to this view, the liberals criticizing the court are sore losers trying to subvert legitimate court decisions with which they disagree. Republicans and the judges they appointed have decided to use hardball tactics to shape the law, including the stonewalling of Obama’s last court nominee and the aggressive rulings of the current court. Roosevelt failed to pass his so-called court packing bill, but his criticism of the court — and his popularity — nonetheless seemed to influence the justices: They reversed course in his second term and stopped overruling major New Deal programs. But the harsh recent criticism is intended to be an early step in a long campaign to constrain the court.

☆ The Plan to Build a New Capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Today, 40 percent of Jakarta lies below sea level, and flooding is increasingly common. To deal with that threat, Indonesia’s popular president — Joko Widodo, in his ninth year in office — has devised an audacious solution: He is moving the country’s capital. The new capital, now under construction, is called Nusantara. It is being built from the ground up, about 800 miles from the current capital. Joko promises that the city will be a model of environmental stewardship, carbon neutral within a few decades.

☆ A Nascent ‘YIMBY’ Movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“My living room is bigger than any apartment in New York I ever had,” said Eduardo Lerro, 45, a former public-school teacher who now lives in Minneapolis and works as a consultant. In many ways, the trend is a healthy one. Americans are responding rationally to financial incentives and building lives for themselves in new places. It helps that more cities have added amenities once associated with the Northeast and the West Coast. “There’s good Indian and Thai food to be found in more places.

☆ The Case for Journalistic Independence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The occasion is a new essay in the Columbia Journalism Review by A.G. Sulzberger, our publisher, in which he explains why The Times’s guiding principle is independence. Sulzberger writes:Independence is the increasingly contested journalistic commitment to following facts wherever they lead. Those may sound like blandly agreeable clichés of Journalism 101, but in this hyperpolarized era, independent journalism and the sometimes counterintuitive values that animate it have become a radical pursuit. Independence calls for plainly stating the facts, even if they appear to favor one side of a dispute. The idea of journalistic independence has many critics, he notes.

☆ The New Surge at the Border
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The surge of migrants gathering at the U.S.-Mexico border underscores a point that Democratic Party politicians often try to play down: U.S. border policy has a big effect on how many people try to enter the country illegally. Title 42 expires on Thursday, as part of the end of the official Covid health emergency. In recent weeks, word has spread in Latin America that entering the U.S. is about to become easier. Smugglers have told potential migrants that the coming period will be a good time to attempt a border crossing, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico said last week. “It’s a real crisis,” Father Rafael Garcia of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown El Paso told The Times.

☆ The Debt Ceiling and False Equivalence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The hardest political stories for reporters to cover and pundits to analyze can be those that are neither 100 percent stories nor 50 percent stories. A 100 percent story is one in which reality is clear (even if partisans sometimes deny it): Joe Biden won the 2020 election. These disputes are more about values and priorities than underlying reality. These stories tend to involve disputed facts, and each side can point to some evidence for its argument — but not equal amounts of evidence. In this third category, one side makes claims that are much more grounded in truth although neither side has a monopoly on it.

☆ The Hard Question of Affirmative Action and Slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the exchange highlighted a tension that’s likely to be central to the debate over affirmative action after the Supreme Court rules. Put simply, getting rid of race-based admissions policies may turn out to be harder than it sounds. Today’s newsletter is the first in what will be an occasional series on the future of affirmative action. Grit and characterThe court is expected to rule on affirmative action in June, and observers expect tight restrictions on race-based considerations in college admissions. Consider two teenagers: One grew up with working-class parents, attended a high-poverty high school and scored 1390 on the SAT.

☆ The Long Shadow of Covid School Closures
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

During the early months of the Covid pandemic, Randi Weingarten and the teachers’ union she leads faced a vexing question: When should schools reopen? For years, advocates of public education like Weingarten had argued that schools played an irreplaceable role. Without public schools, their defenders argued, society would come apart. Teachers and parents feared that reopening schools before vaccines were available would spark Covid outbreaks, illness and death. Instead, Covid became an opportunity for her union, the American Federation of Teachers, to push for broader policy changes that it had long favored.

☆ Biden’s Quiet Re-election Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The biggest reason that many Democratic officials are nervous about President Biden’s age is not his ability to do the job in a second term. Four decades later, the government managed its relationship with a teetering Soviet Union while Ronald Reagan’s mental capacities slipped. In each case, White House aides, Cabinet secretaries and military leaders performed well despite the lack of a fully engaged leader. The issue that makes many Democrats even more anxious than Biden’s second-term capabilities is whether his age will prevent him from winning a second term. Today, I will look at the biggest question about Biden’s re-election campaign — which he formally announced yesterday — and how he might address that question.

☆ How Strong Is the Economy?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Conservatives sometimes respond to this data by trying to separate the economy from the rest of society. But I think it’s a mistake to imagine that the economy is somehow distinct from living standards. To over-generalize only somewhat, blue America believes in NIMBYism (“not in my backyard”), while red America is more comfortable with YIMBYism. That combination helps explain why our economy looks so good by some measures and so bad by others. Liberals have been hobbling government and the economy, Nicholas Bagley of the University of Michigan explained on Ezra Klein’s podcast.

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