Tuesday Edition: McKinsey Is Shady

McKinsey & Company, a highly influential consulting firm, has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a Department of Justice investigation into the company’s role in the opioid crisis — but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to McKinsey controversies. (NYT)

Opioids: McKinsey is accused of advising opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, on strategies to boost sales of addictive painkillers despite knowing the drugs were harmful and highly addictive.

• In a statement last week, the company said it was “deeply sorry,” and that it “should have appreciated the harm opioids were causing in our society” and “not have undertaken sales and marketing work for Purdue Pharma.”

DEI: A 2015 McKinsey study, which found companies with diverse leadership teams were more likely to produce profits, was debunked earlier this year.

• McKinsey’s research was widely used to promote the supposed financial benefits of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, but academics have since called the study’s methodology and failure to replicate into question.

National security: Republican lawmakers have accused McKinsey of helping China develop its military and economy through consulting services while failing to disclose these ties when securing $480 million in U.S. defense contracts.

Looking ahead: While McKinsey did some contract work for the first Trump administration, some Republicans are urging the president-elect to keep the company out of government this time around.

These great charts from a new Survey Center on American Life analysis really capture where the Democratic Party is right now. (Survey Center on American Life)

Progressive influence: The party is perceived to have veered far left of the average American (this is also reflected in polls showing voters viewed Kamala Harris as more radical than Donald Trump).

No longer blue collar: The share of Americans who say Democrats represent the poor and middle class has declined sharply since 1990.

• On the other hand, the GOP’s biggest decline has been in the percentage of Americans who view Republicans as the party of the rich.

• Meanwhile, Democrats have overtaken the GOP as the party of the college-educated.

Feminized: With unmarried women as their strongest demographic and young women increasingly voting Democrat, the party’s future is becoming more female-driven.

Bubba’s Two Cents

This hasn’t been Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party for a long time. And it might not be Barack Obama’s anymore, either.

Fox Sports pundit Colin Cowherd said last week the NBA’s declining ratings, down 48% since 2012, are a result of the league losing touch with average Americans.

Cowherd: