Speaking for myself, I find the accusation that progressives practice a divisive form of "identity politics" excruciatingly obtuse. Conservatism in the United States has become nothing else. It is white Christian nationalism, and attaches to no other consistent ideology.
It has long been the project of the progressives and liberals to build an inclusive national identity, based on shared aspirations for democratic politics and the common welfare. This requires seeing and naming racism, acknowledging privilege, and advocating for equality. We are accused of "playing the race card" and trying to privilege some groups over others. Of course we play the race card because racial inequality is real. But the problem of privilege is that white men don't want to surrender it, and right now a substantial proportion of them don't seem to care about, or even understand, anything else about politics or public policy.
Sadly, and maddeningly, the Democrats in Congress are responding tepidly and fecklessly. Serwer discusses this abdication at length. I'll pull one quote from Serwer -- his conclusion -- to get you interested in reading him. Also, I would not ordinarily mention this but in this case it will probably seem relevant to some potential critics. His father is Jewish and his mother is African-American. (She is actually the curator of the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History.) He practices Judaism.
Omar must be defended, but not because of her views on Israel, gay rights, or progressive taxation. You needn’t agree with her on any of those things; in fact, you needn’t like her at all. But she must be defended, because the nature of the president’s attack on her is a threat to all Americans—black or white, Jew or Gentile—whose citizenship, whose belonging, might similarly be questioned. This is not about Omar anymore, or the other women of color who have been told by this president to “go back” to their supposed countries of origin. It is about defending the idea that America should be a country for all its people. If multiracial democracy cannot be defended in America, it will not be defended elsewhere. What Americans do now, in the face of this, will define us forever.
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We as a country are being pushed, as Serwer points out, into previously uncharted territory. No matter how brutal the twisted, pernicious beliefs of some politicians and citizens have been to this point in our history, they've never been held by a majority of people. And they still aren't; but without real leadership from Democrats or some other more progressive group, NOW could be the turning point that carries us to fascism and endangers the whole world because of the abdication of our governing principles (if not our practices).
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