If we learn anything from Harris's loss, it should be that we must stop sacrificing the power of other identities — their values, their hopes, their security — for a chance that will not pan out.
When writing my column for Times Opinion this week, I started from this question: Does it matter how a candidate wins or loses? There have been, and there will continue to be, many post-mortems about the Harris campaign. Even though Kamala Harris was not a perfect candidate, she ran an impressive campaign under difficult circumstances. But whether she had won or lost, the way she ran it was going to be her legacy. In this election, both candidates tested a theory about identity politics. The Harris campaign shied away from talking about why a Black female president would have been a historic first for the nation. In general, Harris minimized her own race and gender and instead prioritized her "law and order" credentials and gun-toting persona. On the other hand, Donald Trump continued to expand his 2020 white-identity coalition to include a more diverse group of supporters: Hispanic men, Black men and young voters. It made for some strange bedfellows this cycle. And whether Trump makes it through an entire term or becomes the Republican Party's kingmaker, the resilience of this coalition will have lasting consequences. Political observers made too much of economic anxiety. The thesis has some empirical truth but it is misused to dismiss real dynamics of race and gender. Trump himself is the one who calls the economic anxiety argument on the carpet. How else could we explain why a diverse coalition would have the same economic anxiety of white working-class voters? There are some answers in understanding how demographic identifiers like "Latino" and "working class" and "educated" are shifting. The challenge for Democrats is to have the political courage to not disavow their own base's identity politics but to instead understand how their base's identities have changed. Trump proved that identity politics can win elections if you understand your voters' most salient identities. What if the future of politics isn't less identity politics but better identity politics? Programming note: Opinion Today will be off on Monday in observance of Veterans Day.
We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Games Here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle and Spelling Bee. If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here. Forward this newsletter to friends to share ideas and perspectives that will help inform their lives. They can sign up here. Do you have feedback? Email us at opiniontoday@nytimes.com. If you have questions about your Times account, delivery problems or other issues, visit our Help Page or contact The Times.
|
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Opinion Today: The way Kamala Harris lost will be her legacy
The Morning: The food that moves us
Good morning. The foods and music and culture that move us most might not be very good, but that doesn't diminish their power to comfort and delight.
Playing favoritesLast month, The Times published a list of New York's 25 best pizza places. Like any good New Yorker, I made sure my favorite pie was on the list, then vowed to find a new favorite. There's pleasure in having one's tastes affirmed by the tastemakers. Then there's the even sweeter satisfaction of liking something no one else has discovered yet — a vanishingly rare experience in the TikTok era, when influencers trumpet their "secret" spots to eager followers and the next thing you know, there's a line around the block at your neighborhood bakery. What makes a food "the best" of its kind, anyway? I loved reading through The Times's list, but it's only of use insofar as it aligns with my own preferences — I'll never love a pizza topped with honey, or chicken, or (controversially, I know) peppers and onions. Sam Sifton's theory of pizza cognition resonates: It posits that a person's primary pizza source, the pizza they grew up eating and loving, is "the pizza that will become that person's inner optimum, the pizza against which all others are judged." Sam allows that tastes can change — he grew up on slices but developed an appreciation for pan pizza — but I'd argue that even if you refine your definition of the "best" pizza, your earliest taste imprint is still the one that provides the most comfort, the most familiar kind of pleasure. I may feel confident asserting that the best pizza has a thin crust, a slightly spicy sauce and a delicately balanced ratio of sauce to cheese, but the most comforting pizza I know is from a long-closed pizzeria in my hometown where the crust was pillowy and chewy, the sauce Chef Boyardee-sweet, the cheese oily and slipping off. Comfort foods are nostalgia bombs. They're taste biases that were inscribed early when there wasn't a lot of other data to complicate things. They can be awakened with a smell or a bite or even the sight of a neon sign that reads "Angelina's," the feel of a cardboard box hot on your legs as you carry dinner — half pepperoni, half meatball — home in the passenger seat. I have always maintained that the most comforting music is whatever you listened to in high school. It's not necessarily the best music by any objective metric, but it's what you listened to when you were formulating key parts of your personality, and that music will always make you feel most essentially yourself. I'd like to figure out other theories of familiarity, ways to reliably induce a sense of deep, cozy satisfaction. Maybe it's all stuff that got to you when you were young and impressionable, the inputs around and on top of which you formulated your more sophisticated opinions. You have your grown-up tastes, built on years of living and experiencing and honing an aesthetic. And then you have the stuff — the chaotic foods you crave, the synth-heavy pop no one else can stand — that, independent of any rational appraisal, feels like home. For more
Donald Trump
Democrats
Other Big Stories
🤠"Yellowstone" (Sunday): The popular Montana-set drama returns for the remaining part of its fifth season this weekend. Join the debate over whether it's prestige TV for red states, a soap opera disguised as a western, a Kelly Reilly showcase or all of the above. One thing to know: Until now, it has starred Kevin Costner, but he won't be back for these episodes.
Chocolate BabkaSometimes the best way to spend the day is deep in an immersive, daylong baking project, especially one involving chocolate. My recipe for chocolate babka may involve 14 steps, but it's calming, meditative work, and well worth every sugarcoated moment.
The Hunt: An Atlanta couple looked for a modest second home in Manhattan to be closer to their daughter. Which did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $490,000: A 1928 brick house in Oshkosh, Wis.; a Craftsman-style bungalow in Salt Lake City; or a duplex apartment in an 1854 mill building in Wake Forest, N.C.
Paddle pros: The Professional Pickleball Association hopes a world championship this weekend will draw attention to the highest level of the sport. The warming generation: These teenagers are coming of age amid a climate crisis. Travel: Spend 36 hours in San Francisco. Home: Read tips from designers on how to declutter your kitchen and maximize space.
A hack to keep towels mildew-freeDespite your best efforts, bathroom towels can develop that unmistakable mildew smell. Luckily there's a straightforward solution that's more cost-effective than tossing out your towels whenever that odor lingers: borax and a hot laundry cycle. Adding just a scoop can boost the power of your detergent and help to break down stubborn stains and odors. — Caroline Mullen
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 9 N.C. State, women's college basketball: South Carolina was perfect last season, compiling a 38-0 record and winning a national title. The team is once again ranked No. 1 to start this year, but it faces an early test: N.C. State, which reached the Final Four last season before falling to — you guessed it — South Carolina. Tomorrow at 3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN
Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were rotunda and turnaround. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week's headlines. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa P.S. The most-clicked story in The Morning this week had nothing to do with the election: Readers really wanted to know what pants are most stylish right now. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.
|
How are government tech leaders harnessing AI, automation and modern frameworks while avoiding risk?
Our new e-book reveals that speed without security is false economy! Expert Edition: From data to dominance: Modernizing Defense logistics...
