Opinion: Who’s campaigning on identity politics?

Also: Why did conservatives fall for Roseanne anyway? View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, May 30, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist One of the two political parties is running a midterm campaign based largely on identity politics and President Trump — but it’s not the Democratic Party. The two most common themes in television advertisements by Republican candidates so far in the midterm election are Trump and immigration, according to [a fascinating USA Today analysis](. The immigration ads often mimic Trump’s harsh tone, talking about “illegals” who steal American jobs and the need for “a darn wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border. Is it possible to be in favor of a tougher immigration policy without race-baiting? [Absolutely]( But there is no reason to believe that “illegals” are really one of the country’s biggest problems today. A candidate who turns immigrants into a nefarious symbol of America’s ills is using them as a symbol of otherness — much as Trump did, often with blatantly racist overtones, in his presidential campaign. “Republicans have aired more than 14,000 campaign ads touting a tough Trump-style immigration platform this year,” [write USA Today’s Deirdre Shesgreen and Eliza Collins](. They add: “The GOP focus on immigration is particularly striking, given that it was not among the top 10 issues Republicans spent their ad dollars on at this point in the 2014 midterms. In that cycle, GOP contenders attacked President Obama, bashing the Affordable Care Act and promising to rein in government spending.” The most common theme in Democratic ads, by a wide margin, is health care. It’s central to the populist campaign that I described in [my column this week](. All of this relates to [the debate]( over whether racial appeals have been central to Trumpism. Clearly, they have been a big part of it. But just because Republicans are trying to make politics ever more about race doesn’t mean that Democrats should respond in kind. I think Democrats are largely responding in the right way, by talking about pocketbook issues. White working-class voters remain a crucial swing group in many states and congressional districts. Yes, some of these voters are permanently lost to the Democratic Party, precisely because Democrats are the party of multiracial America. Yet many others remain up for grabs. They have voted for Democrats recently — including, in many cases, Barack Obama — and are open to doing so again. They are looking for politicians who are on their side, who seem to understand their anxieties and frustrations and are willing to fight for them. One way to make this case is to send these voters the message that there is a political party for white people and a political party for non-white people. Another way to make the case is to appeal to these voters’ class identity and their desire for affordable health care, [good schools]( a fair tax system and [a government that isn’t corrupt](. As for the importance of that last item on the list of class-identity issues: “There are not many Trump scandals. There is one Trump scandal,” [Adam Serwer wrote in a recent Atlantic piece](. “Singular: the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal accountability.” Roseanne, out. Ron Brownstein of The Atlantic made [an important point]( on Twitter about Roseanne Barr. Here it is, with the Twitter abbreviations removed: “Most lasting impact of the Trump era may not be shifts in partisan balance, or regulation or tax policy, but rather empowering those with racist views to publicly express them, especially since Republicans have usually excused him. Putting that genie back in the bottle may be impossible.” In The Weekly Standard, [Jonathan Last argues]( that conservatives were foolish to fall for Barr. In The Times, [Roxane Gay writes]( that Trump is “a living embodiment of Ms. Barr’s Twitter feed, and many of his most vocal supporters revel in that.” The full Opinion report from The Times follows. Roseanne Is Out Contributing Op-Ed Writer [‘Roseanne’ Is Gone, but the Culture That Gave Her a Show Isn’t]( By ROXANE GAY Roseanne Barr was free to speak her mind, but she was not free from the consequences. In Case You Missed It [The ‘Roseanne’ Reboot Is Funny. I’m Not Going to Keep Watching.]( By ROXANE GAY Nothing will change if we keep consuming problematic pop culture without demanding anything better. Letters [Canceling ‘Roseanne’: A Good Move by ABC]( One reader praises the rapid action by ABC; another says to Roseanne Barr, “Spare us the phony apology.” From Our Columnists Op-Ed Columnist [Sounding Code Red: Electing the Trump Resistance]( By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Vote for a Democrat — any Democrat! Op-Ed Columnist [The Baptist Apocalypse]( By ROSS DOUTHAT God’s will for the Trump era seems to be that everyone’s hidden sins must be revealed. Editorial [If Addiction Is a Disease, Why Is Relapsing a Crime?]( A case before the Massachusetts high court could mark a positive step toward rethinking addiction in the nation’s criminal justice system. [A Better Solution for Starbucks]( By PHILLIP ATIBA GOFF It could make more of a difference by helping cities fund non-police options for people worried about suspicious behaviors. LIKE THIS EMAIL? 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