The Opinions

In a recent interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he expected that the Trump administration would recommend against putting fluoride in drinking water, which was met with public outrage and confusion. The economist Emily Oster argues the public deserves more nuanced analysis and explanation on public health issues like fluoridation to build trust. Public health is complex, she says, but experts need to believe that the public can understand the context in which decisions are made — and explain that context accordingly. “I think that the right way to move forward is with nuance,” Oster explains. “That is how we will get to a greater good overall.”

The biggest divide in America today is not about race or gender, the Times Opinion columnist David Brooks argues. In this episode, he explains how the “diploma divide” can help us understand Donald Trump’s overwhelming support from working-class Americans and what Democrats can do to win them back.

Voters chose Donald Trump, in part, in response to inflation under President Biden. And yet, the columnist Paul Krugman argues, the new president-elect’s economic plan “is the most inflationary program probably that any American president has ever tried to implement.” In this episode, Krugman outlines four reasons Trump’s economic plans will hurt Americans’ wallets.

For those caught off guard, Trump’s victory has been a shock. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the columnist and “Matter of Opinion” co-host Carlos Lozada encourages his fellow Americans to ask a sobering question: If Trump is our preferred leader, what does that mean for who we are as a nation?

The New York Times Opinion columnists Lydia Polgreen and Tressie McMillan Cottom discuss what was revealed about America on Tuesday, why the Democrats failed and what individuals can do about the future.