VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,941 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018

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OKLAHOMA CITY — The anxi-ety and seething anger that fol-lowed the disappearance of mid-dle-income jobs in factory townshas helped reshape the Americanpolitical map and topple long-standing policies on tariffs and im-migration.

But globalization and automa-tion aren’t the only forces respon-sible for the loss of those reliablepaychecks. So is the steady ero-sion of the public sector.

For generations of Americans,working for a state or local gov-ernment — as a teacher, fire-fighter, bus driver or nurse — pro-vided a comfortable nook in themiddle class. No less than auto-mobile assembly lines and steelplants, the public sector ensuredthat even workers without a col-lege education could afford ahome, a minivan, movie nightsand a family vacation.

In recent years, though, theranks of state and local employeeshave languished even as the popu-lations they serve have grown.They now account for the smallestshare of the American civilianwork force since 1967.

The 19.5 million workers whoremain are finding themselves fi-nancially downgraded. Teacherswho have been protesting lowwages and sparse resources inOklahoma, West Virginia andKentucky — and those in Arizonawho say they plan to walk out onThursday — are just one thread inthat larger skein.

“I was surprised to realizealong the way I was no longermiddle class,” said Teresa Moore,who has spent 30 years investigat-ing complaints of abused or ne-glected children, veterans andseniors in Oklahoma.

She raised two daughters inAlex, a rural dot southwest of thecapital, on her salary. But whenshe applied for a mortgage nineyears ago, the loan officer casu-ally described her as “low in-come.”

PUBLIC SERVANTSLOSING FOOTHOLD

IN MIDDLE CLASS

CUTBACKS EXACT A TOLL

Lagging Pay and Hiring Erode a Once-Reliable

Path to Prosperity

By PATRICIA COHENand ROBERT GEBELOFF

Continued on Page A12

ABU JAMAL, Sudan — At Su-dan’s eastern border, Lt. SamihOmar led two patrol cars slowlyover the rutted desert, past acow’s carcass, before halting onthe unmarked 2,000-mile routethat thousands of East Africansfollow each year in trying to reachthe Mediterranean, and then on-ward to Europe.

His patrols along this borderwith Eritrea are helping Sudancrack down on one of the busiestpassages on the European migra-tion trail. Yet Lieutenant Omar isno simple border agent. He worksfor Sudan’s feared secret police,whose leaders are accused of warcrimes — and, more recently,whose officers have been accusedof torturing migrants.

Indirectly, he is also working forthe interests of the European Un-ion.

“Sometimes,” Lieutenant Omarsaid, “I feel this is Europe’s south-ern border.”

Three years ago, when a his-toric tide of migrants poured intoEurope, many leaders there re-acted with open arms and high-minded idealism. But with the mi-gration crisis having fueled angrypopulism and political upheavalacross the Continent, the Euro-pean Union is quietly getting itshands dirty, stanching the humanflow, in part, by outsourcing bor-der management to countrieswith dubious human rightsrecords.

In practical terms, the approachis working: The number of mi-grants arriving in Europe hasmore than halved since 2016. Butmany migration advocates saythe moral cost is high.

To shut off the sea route toGreece, the European Union ispaying billions of euros to a Turk-ish government that is disman-tling its democracy. In Libya, Italyis accused of bribing some of thesame militiamen who have longprofited from the European smug-gling trade — many of whom arealso accused of war crimes.

In Sudan, crossed by migrantstrying to reach Libya, the relation-ship is more opaque but rooted inmutual need: The Europeanswant closed borders and the Su-danese want to end years of isola-tion from the West. Europe contin-

Sudan BlocksMigrants’ Path,

Aiding Europe

Relationship May Havea High Moral Cost

By PATRICK KINGSLEY

Continued on Page A9

RAHMAT GUL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A suicide bombing in Kabul killed at least 57 people waiting to register to vote in the long-delayed parliamentary elections. Page A4.Attack on Afghan Voters

PARIS — President EmmanuelMacron was put on the spot thisyear in front of a room full of jour-nalists when one asked, provoca-tively: Which man is more dan-gerous, North Korea’s leader, KimJong-un; or Donald J. Trump?

“You know, I have always re-frained from making sweepingjudgments,” Mr. Macron an-swered slowly, weighing hiswords.

“The American people havechosen their president,” he said.“Our relationship with the UnitedStates is absolutely critical, infact. Fundamental. We need it.”

With that careful answer, theleader of France sought to re-assure a French public hostile tothe American president that purepragmatism governed his rela-tions, while hinting that by givingMr. Trump the benefit of thedoubt, he could get something inreturn.

But has he? Mr. Macron departson Monday for his first official vis-it to Washington at a particularlydifficult moment in his youngpresidency. His popularity is chal-lenged on many fronts. His ambi-tious domestic reform program

has been barraged by strikes. Hisbig plans to overhaul the Euro-pean Union are in tatters.

And the verdict on the Frenchpresident’s subtle calculus towardMr. Trump is distinctly mixed. Al-most alone among Europe’s lead-ers, Mr. Macron has struck an ap-parent rapport with the mercurialAmerican president, who has tak-en pride in testing, even alienat-

ing, some of the United States’ old-est and truest allies.

Mr. Macron has made a gamble,given Mr. Trump’s unpopularity,that he can court him but not betarnished by him — or even thathe can burnish his own reputationas a leader who is so psycholog-ically astute that he can gain theear of an American president who

Cozying Up to Trump, Macron Gets Little RewardBy ALISSA J. RUBIN

and ADAM NOSSITER

President Emmanuel Macron with President Trump last year.STEPHEN CROWLEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A8

BEIJING — As the North Kore-an leader Kim Jong-un preparesfor his meetings with the presi-dents of South Korea and theUnited States, China has found it-self in an unaccustomed place:watching from the sidelines.

Worse, many Chinese analystssay, North Korea could pursue agrand bargain designed not onlyto bring the isolated nation closerto its two former Korean War foes,but also diminish its reliance onChina for trade and security.

Such an outcome — a reversalof 70 years of history — remains along shot, amid doubts aboutwhether the North would agree torelinquish its arsenal of nuclearweapons. Still, China finds itselfremoved from the center of therapidly unfolding diplomacy, andunusually wary about Mr. Kim’sobjectives in reaching out to hisnation’s two bitterest enemies.

Mr. Kim’s meeting with theSouth Korean president, MoonJae-in, is set for Friday, and a

China Left OutAs Kim PlansTo Talk to Foes

By JANE PERLEZ

Continued on Page A8

COLUMBUS, Ind. — When youhave the best known name in yourcongressional district and youryounger brother is a heartbeataway from the presidency, it is dif-ficult to run astealth cam-paign. But GregPence is doing apretty good jobof it.

Mr. Pencehas skippedcandidate de-bates and de-clined to giveinterviews orrelease a publicschedule, instead posting after-the-fact campaign snapshots onTwitter or Facebook, often smil-ing, wearing a red fleece vest withhis name on it. His first televisionad featured President Trump anddid not mention his brother, VicePresident Mike Pence.

His inspiration for running? “Ilooked in the mirror and said, ‘Ifnot me, who?’” he told The Colum-bus Republic in February in theonly extensive interview he hasgranted.

Hardball it is not. Legacy poli-tics it is.

Hardly the first candidate torun on a famous name, Mr. Pence,61, extols two central credentialsin his House bid: his service in theMarines and his success as a busi-ness executive. But an examina-tion of his record in businessshows decidedly mixed results.He was the president of a conven-ience store chain — making keystrategic decisions — that filed forbankruptcy protection and wasassessed penalties of $8.4 millionby the State of Indiana for envi-ronmental damage, caused pri-marily by leaking undergroundstorage tanks.

A local bank, where he alsoserved on the board of directors,was forced to sue him to recover$3.8 million in debts that he hadpersonally guaranteed, only tohave to settle for pennies on thedollar.

But when he needed a secondchance, one seemed to be waitingfor him.

Mr. Pence’s race in a safely Re-

Thorny Business Past May TestA Quiet Run by Pence’s Brother

By MICHAEL TACKETT

Continued on Page A13

Greg Pence

It was, almost without question,the low point of Andrew M. Cuo-mo’s political career.

The year was 2002 and Mr.Cuomo was badly trailing in theDemocratic primary for governorand desperately seeking a grace-ful exit. He needed a loyal lieuten-ant, someone to help him salvagehis future and negotiate the deli-cate terms of political surrender.

Mr. Cuomo turned to a trustedformer colleague: Bill de Blasio.

And so, in a weekend of secretshuttle diplomacy, Mr. de Blasio,then a junior New York City coun-cilman, did just that. Along with acast that included President BillClinton, Mr. de Blasio was an in-dispensable emissary as Mr.Cuomo quit the race and endorsedhis opponent, H. Carl McCall. Itwas the start of a fence-mendingmission that would eventuallyland Mr. Cuomo the governorshipeight years later.

The idea of Mr. de Blasio andMr. Cuomo ever collaborating onanything seems almost unfathom-

able nearly 16 years later. The twoDemocrats are now engaged in afeud so nasty, petty and prolongedthat even in the cutthroat politicsof New York, few can rememberever seeing anything quite like it.

The two men have sparred oversubstance, silliness and every-thing in between: public housingand private workout routines,homelessness and topless womenin Times Square, taxing million-aires and euthanizing a deer, a Le-gionnaires’ disease outbreak andstate troop deployments, schools,snowstorms and the subways —even naps.

“I’m not a napper, really,” Mr.Cuomo volunteered last year afterreports of the mayor’s allegedpenchant for napping. “I neverhave been.”

Both men and their closestaides have dropped any pretenseof cordiality, sniping at each otheron Twitter and in interviews; Mr.de Blasio, in particular, hasadopted an Oprah-like confes-sional tone in his lamentations.

“I never get that call that says,‘How can we help you get the jobdone? What would make your life,

as the city, work better?’” Mr. deBlasio said in a recent televisioninterview that people close to himsaid captured his frustration. “Alot of politics, a lot of posturing, alot of interference, a lot of red tape,that’s what I get.”

The contours of the feud, and itseffects, have been puzzled over foryears: Why would two men,

whose stated goals often run onsimilar tracks, allow their onetimefriendship — “in the deepestsense of the word” as Mr. Cuomoonce put it — to deteriorate intopure detestation?

This portrait of a relationshipfractured is based on interviewswith more than two dozen past

Cuomo vs. de Blasio: One of the Country’s Ugliest Political FeudsBy SHANE GOLDMACHERand J. DAVID GOODMAN

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, often at odds.JEENAH MOON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A16

After days of protests and looting, Presi-dent Daniel Ortega vowed to revoke asocial security overhaul. PAGE A6

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

Popular Uprising in NicaraguaJ.K. Rowling’s ever-popular boy wizardis an adult in an enthralling play, whichjust opened on Broadway. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Harry Potter, All Grown Up

After enduring years of anti-gay slurs, a hockey referee nearly quit his job. He decided he couldn’t. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-6

Scarred by the Sport He LovesThe personal payment platform Zelle isflourishing. But so are fraudsters, whoare exploiting weaknesses in the appli-cation’s security. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-8

Zelle Is Vulnerable to FraudThe police said four people were killedand four others wounded at a WaffleHouse when a naked gunman openedfire with an assault-style rifle. PAGE A10

NATIONAL A10-14

Mass Shooting in Nashville

The married showrunners Lisa Joy andJonathan Nolan discuss the return of thescience-fiction series on HBO. PAGE C1

The Team Behind ‘Westworld’The women and black officials in thefirst administration in 60 years withouta Castro are sending a signal. PAGE A6

Diversity in Cuban Cabinet

The former president will speak ontolerance at a gathering in Johan-nesburg this summer. PAGE A13

Obama Heads to South AfricaTougher trade rules may help Chinesebrokers who send goods around theworld to disguise their origin. PAGE B1

Dodging Tariffs With a Detour

Officials have struggled with how toguide the university through two unre-lated killings in recent weeks. PAGE A15

NEW YORK A15-19

2 Murders at BinghamtonMark Rudd PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

Jimmy Butler has invigorated the Tim-berwolves in their first playoff series in14 years, Marc Stein writes. PAGE D1

Rekindling a Postseason Fire

Harriott Daley, who died in 1957, wasthe first switchboard operator at theCapitol in Washington in 1898. PAGE A20

OBITUARIES A20-21

Overlooked: A Call Connector

Late EditionToday, plenty of sunshine, season-able, high 63. Tonight, clear, low 44.Tomorrow, sunshine followed by in-creasing clouds, cooler, high 58.Weather map appears on Page A18.

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