Ms. Martin conflates hostile complaints about identity politics — defenses of the status quo — with friendly advice about how to get enough power to do something about it.

One of the ways in which democracy is the worst of all political systems is that there are periods of history in which identity politics works against minorities. The 1930’s in Germany was all about identity politics. So is America in the 2010’s. But the minorities lost then and they are losing now. Therefore the best strategy for practicing identity politics today is to appear not to be practicing it until you are in office.

Identity politics cost Hillary the election in part by not campaigning in the rust belt on “kitchen table issues.” When Never-Trumpers counsel Democrats to eschew overt identity politics, the advice is tactical, not ideological. It’s not that we don’t care about the issues; it’s that we have seen how it loses elections.