Opinion | A Presidency That’s Off the Rails. It Took Only Two Weeks.

Bret: Which, as any honest employer will tell you, at least privately, tends to devolve in practice into a de facto system of set-asides based largely on the identity of an employee or contractor. And also, in some cases, a quiet but damaging erosion of standards, like the weakening of the Army’s fitness requirements that I wrote about in my column last week. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be against D.E.I. if the E stood for excellence instead of equity. By all means, let’s be inclusive and diverse, but never at the expense of merit as determined by impartial, consistent, colorblind, gender-blind standards.

Of course, Trump, nepotist extraordinaire, isn’t exactly the world’s best messenger for meritocracy. But this is one of those issues where I think Democrats would be wise to move away from D.E.I. and identity politics in general. It’s hurting them with regular voters who are sick of being divided into every conceivable category except the one that should really count: American. I hope Ken Martin, the newly elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, gets that.

By the way, did you see the news about The Star-Ledger?

Gail: Sigh. As our Tracey Tully wrote in a journalistic obituary, The Star-Ledger was New Jersey’s longtime paper of record, which once fielded the largest State House bureau in the nation. It’s going to shift to an online-only format.

Having spent my early career writing for local print papers, I’ve always been a big fan. Even if the stories about, say, a meeting of the zoning board of appeals aren’t exactly eye-grabbers, they were always so important for making local officials feel somebody was watching what they did besides the special interests.

Think online journalism is going to do the same job?

Bret: The evolution away from print seems only natural in this digital age. What really worries me is that this is just the latest symptom of decay in our industry, particularly when it comes to local or statewide news of the sort at which The Star-Ledger excelled. Part of what ails America is pervasive local misgovernance, abetted by the fact that state capitals like Trenton and Albany are, for many voters, informational black holes.