New York Times Magazine Feb. 24, 2025 Link to the full article: https://archive.is/YMo0S By David Leonhardt David Leonhardt, a senior writer at The Times, has spent years studying the history of immigration in the United States and traveled to Denmark to report this article. In an Age of Right-Wing Populism, Why Are Denmark’s Liberals Winning? Around the world, progressive parties have come to see tight immigration restrictions as unnecessary, even cruel. What if they’re actually the only way for progressivism to flourish? Generous support for Ukraine is only one way in which Denmark has become an outlier. Since President Trump won re-election in November, Frederiksen has become a global symbol of opposition to him, thanks to her rebuffing his call for Denmark to turn over control of Greenland. But the main significance of Frederiksen and her party, the Social Democrats, has little to do with aid to Ukraine or a territorial argument in the North Atlantic. Over the past six years, they have been winning elections and notching policy victories that would be the envy of liberals worldwide, and doing so at a moment when the rest of the West is lurching to the right. Much of the Brahmin’s left post-election analysis remains tied to the magical idea that working-class voters are simply wrong about mass migration and can be won over with clever narratives rather than substantive policy changes. These working-class voters implicitly recognize an important truth: A restrained approach to immigration is ultimately progressive because it makes possible the kind of society that progressives want. It fosters a sense of community and neighborliness, while prioritizing the values and interests of vulnerable Americans. Recognizing this connection can help the political left emerge from the wilderness where it now finds itself.
Yeah, I think restricted immigration probably does appeal to working class voters who are no less racist than the rest of us. You can’t accomplish anything in politics without getting elected first.
