The Left puts a heavy burden on David Brooks

It's not easy being the "conservative" opinion writer at the New York Times. A few days ago, the very model of genteel elitism wrote this:

Mike at Chicago Boyz has written a great piece which puts Brooks' call to revolt in context - The BoBo Manifesto:

“I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But this is what America needs right now. Trump is shackling the greatest institutions in American life. We have nothing to lose but our chains.” – David Brooks

RIP David Brooks. He is not dead, but after that quote his career sure is.

Before there were “Never Trumpers” there was David Brooks.

If you listen closely, you can decipher that a major part of the media’s discourse is about why the Republicans cannot be more like David. He’s their type of guy.

Brooks has been playing this game for 25 years, from his book “Bobos in Paradise” to being Safire’s replacement as the house conservative on the NY Times Op-Ed page, to his shtick of being the ideological counterweight to E.J. Dionne on PBS. If Thomas Friedman can claim to know the Arab Street by talking with his taxi driver, then for those who follow the NY Times and PBS Brooks is the guy driving the conservative taxi. Clean, articulate, and reasonable as evidenced by willingness to go with the flow even when it is a riptide carrying oneself out to sea

What did Brooks' friends on the Left do to the cornerstones of Western Civilization when they had all the power?

He wants an uprising? Sounds like insurrection to me. Then again, if you think law firms, nonprofits, and civil servants are the cornerstones of Western civilization you have bigger problems than Donald Trump.

A final quote:

"So far, the only real hint of something larger - - a mass countermovement - - has been the rallies led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But this, too, is an ineffective way to respond to Trump; those partisan rallies make this fight seem like a normal contest between Democrats and Republicans. What is happening now is not normal politics. We're seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to - - Democrat, independent or Republican."

Leave aside that he is favorably citing two socialists, adherents to the most evil force of the 20th Century and antithetical to any part of the American founding. Leave aside that he invokes Marxist symbols. Instead focus on the fact that he neatly summarizes, as only David Brooks can, the current position of the Left: that one swears loyalty to "institutions" and not the Constitution.

Thanks for playing, David. Goodbye.

The whole piece has some memorable details from Brooks' career that add to the feeling that now it is over. I recommend it. Ace also posted an interesting Peek at the NY Times Elite Writers (9/15/23) that includes some great Fisking. It should have helped kill a career or two.

BUT WAIT:

My fire-breathing lefty contact on social media just posted a short excerpt from the very latest piece by Brooks, providing hope that the Left will continue to support him as they try to convince Republicans to be like him:

Trump’s behavior has aroused great moral indignation. It has aroused in people’s hearts a sense that something sacred is being trampled here — democracy, rule of law, intellectual freedom, compassion, pluralism and global exchange. These things are worth fighting for. Trump’s opponents have still not produced the kind of one-sentence mission statement that he produces — that the elites have betrayed us, so we must destroy them. But I think more people are realizing that we are the beneficiaries of a precious inheritance. Our ancestors bequeathed to us a judicial system, great universities, compassionate aid organizations, great companies and scientific genius. My mission statement would be: America is great, and we will fight for what has made America great.

- David Brooks, Trump's Single Stroke of Brilliance, NYT, 4/24/2025

I see some "conservative" and even "MAGA" words in there, along with an unhealthy obsession with "elites".

Somehow I am not inspired by the guy who has been saying that all Republicans are irredeemable to follow Brooks into the arms of AOC and Bernie Sanders. Do you think that the NYT will find Brooks' argument persuasive to "the other side"?

WEEKEND

Quotes

Wretchard T. Cat (Richard Fernandez)

Ambiguity is the subversive's friend. You can be for an invasion of the US by foreigners or the death of Jews and get away with it for so long as you don't openly say so. But sometimes militants in the heat of action forget where their interests lie.

"In irae veritas".

"In irae veritas" is true of both sides of politics. When people get all worked up they are prone to let their true colors show. The mask drops and we often see something altogether frightening.

Compare to David Foster: Will America Drown in Anger?

The Week In Pictures: FD&C Red No. 40 Edition

The example below is from the Babylon Bee.

The Bee has a killer opening page right now:

God Introduces New Hydrating, Zero Sugar Beverage With No Artificial Dyes

'Christianity Today' Announces It Has Converted To Islam

Music

Think David Brooks could ignite the spirit of revolt into these kids?

Incredible rendition of "Take Me Home, Country Roads." pic.twitter.com/Upu2oOD3Ky

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) February 24, 2025

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, April 19, A little history of self-assuredness in mass media

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 11:06 AM

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