Regarding Ashli Babbitt - I've gotten a few comments that make the point that Trump, not Biden, was The POTUS when Babbitt was shot. They're often the same people who claim an "insurrection" or a coup or the overthrow of the government - can't be both! The reason I lay this at the feet of Biden is that he has never mentioned her. He did not prosecute the police officer and has never condemned the action. Trump does mention her. Trump would not have wanted her shot - or would understand that it was a tragedy, where Biden does not.
He speaks of the police he believes were killed that day. He could not care about an American citizen being murdered on that day and also call them violent extremists.
The administration was in power -- when Trump was POTUS, during Jan 6, and now. That's the lesson from the last seven years. It didn't matter how we voted. They still decided the outcome.
It's also important to remember that Nancy Pelosi -- AND THE FBI -- knew there would be some kind of violence or breach of the Capitol yet they left the Capital Police to fend for themselves.
Brooks writes with an arrogance of an insider who’s stature is never in doubt. His “wisdom” is nothing more than condescension and elite-splaning, and it flows freely. No introspection whatsoever. If this were the Titanic, he’d be the guy looking for a stray child to nab and call his own so he can gain access to a lifeboat.
“As a card-carrying member of my class, I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice.“ What if a White person said that — substituting “race” for “class”? Every NYT reader would be appalled! They would insist that, BECAUSE one is a member of that race/class, one’s perspective is biased (ref. the entire concept of “White privilege”). Yet Brooks imagines that HE is so morally superior, that bias doesn’t apply to him.
The crucial identifier of today’s “progressives” is their moral relativism. It informs everything they do.
I often wonder how much human capital has been lost over the past three years because of the woke mob…what new books/films/music/ inventions, etc. do we NOT have because the people who would have created them were hounded out of society?
P.S. I find it very amusing that Trump is being accused of NOT actually believing that he won the 2020 election. Have these people been smoking crack(oh wait, that’s a Biden)? Anyone who knows anything about basic psychology could tell you that Trump, given his personality, ALWAYS believes himself to be a winner!
I read this article. David Brooks very much wants the old two party system back where men like him ruled and the peasants were supposed to be happy with the crumbs. He's as anti-populist as they come. But he knows what he thinks people want to hear, and so he says it.
How do you know he's not in earnest?
This paragraph that you quote . . .
Are Trump supporters right that the indictments are just a political witch hunt? Of course not. As a card-carrying member of my class, I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice. Trump is a monster in the way we’ve all been saying for years and deserves to go to prison.
If he was in earnest, and he knew the depths of distrust and actually understood how "bad" his "class" is? He would have left that part out. But he's still trying to maintain his class cred.
So his real message to people like him: These rubes are stupid enough that if we just pretend to care about them a little more, they'll buy it. So just pretend.
“I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice. Trump is a monster in the way we’ve all been saying for years and deserves to go to prison.”
LMAO My goodness. Neutral arbiters if justice? This same group, YOUR card carrying group, ALL called Hunter’s laptop Russian disinformation and used BIG TECH to squash ANY media outlet showing that story. That is but a pebble of sand on the beach of hypocrisy and bias bullshit YOU and your card carrying scumbags purport to say you are for justice?
LMFAO. my goodness. Someone help me off the floor, the bullshit meter is off the charts.
Exceptional article. A vote for Trump is a vote against the ruling class--yes, that’s so true. Trump with his faults is so much better than any of those polished politicians lying and scheming pretending to care. Trump truly cares about our country and that’s why we support him. Biden only cares about bribes/greed/power.
The maniacs and thugs attacking Trump supporters is the fault of the media (and college professors) with their non-stop attacks and calling Trump and his supporters fascists. You never see ‘us’ attacking the people going to Biden’s rallies--well what would be the point since his numbers were embarrassingly low--but we don’t think or react like thugs as the radical left does.
How anyone can vote for a Democrat is beyond me. They have been taken over by radicals and they only care about power as they step on our freedoms and devalue our country.
Mr Brooks questioning if they’re the bad guys is laughable. Of course they are and he knows it. His pretending to care is laughable. He’s part of the anti-Trump establishment and can go f**k himself.
The insufferable David Brooks epitomizes what is wrong with our elites and their adjacent or just-below wannabes in the media and the professional classes, not just their incompetence, corruption, and social uselessness but their helpless thirst for power and fear and hatred of truth and reality. However outstanding it may be for the NYT, his article is at best only a half truth, repeating things that have been said better and more fully by many others (like Michael Lind, Joel Kotkin, Charles Murray, or Christopher Lasch on the revolt of the elites) long before Brooks got around to half-acknowledging the truth of the matter. And it leaves out the most important, because Orwellian, part. Our sinister, dangerous elites are going totalitarian in a desperate attempt to cling to power because they are no longer able to benefit the country as a whole or even in the majority. As he virtually admits, they now serve only themselves and in effect want to enslave everyone else. That is the source of Orwell's theory of "Oligarchic collectivism"--a totalitarian regime made possible by certain features of modernity such as mass media, advertising, and digital technology to control, repress, brain-wash, intimidate, terrorize, and atomize the rest of society through fear and manipulation. That is the elite Mr. Brooks declares himself a proud "card-carrying" member of--though he is not a member of the Inner Party but only of the Outer Party, the educated bien pensants. That, however, is the key to the power of the Inner Party, which would be helpless without its ability to attract and overpower its adjacents and just-belows. Mr. Brooks has had a Winston Smith moment, though just a brief one, before he is psychologically crushed and brought back to the Party his savior.
"You’ve all been treating Trump like an elusive mob boss who engaged in dirty dealings, drug smuggling, prostitution, bribery, and even murder, which justified taking extraordinary measures against him to put him in prison finally." - Nah, that's Biden! Sasha, since when do the perjury charges against Clinton look ridiculous now? The man was guilty of perjury, even is fellow Democrats admitted it, they just didn't want to throw him out of office - and neither did Republicans. Clinton was actually guilty of worse, such as using his power to force INS to naturalize a million immigrants so they could vote for him. He was being investigated for that very thing but then Ken Starr got involved and that investigation was shoved into the background and died.
As for David Brooks, the man is Canadian. As for him being "conservative," he's as conservative as the Radical Republicans of Lincoln and Grant's day. He got that label because of his association with Buckley, but look at many of the Buckley followers today - they're the epitome of anti-Trumpers and instead of being conservative, they're right-wing progressives. (Incidentally, the Republican Party was founded by Progressives.) I pay him not little attention, but no attention at all.
Loved the whole essay and am so thankful for such a powerful and articulate writer speaking truthfully. Especially liked the reference to “Positively 4th Street”; one of the lines from that song that applies to the NYT for me is “Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
David Brooks is a puppet. He was brought onto PBS Friday night weekly news analysis after leftist Mark Shields had worn out William Safire, Paul Gigot and David Gergen. The premise was a conservative foil to Shields to provide a sense of balance. After a few years of watching Brooks repeatedly say 'I agree with Mark' the ploy was obvious. Brooks, a left leaning centrist was declared a true conservative by PBS, and anyone to the right was deemed a right wing extremist. And the leftist elite who were mostly the programs audience, bought it. After all these years it appears Brooks is still not sure know who he is and what he believes.
I agree completely with this column, extremely well written. I’m concerned though about whether the center will hold after this election if Trump wins. To what lengths will these progressive elites go to hold onto power? Buckle up, pray for our country.
SS...l usually prefer to read my substacks but when I see ‘listen now’ below your essay titles, I get giddy and eagerly await your performative content. This ‘Saturday night special’ did not disappoint! Spot on. Thank you.
Regarding Ashli Babbitt - I've gotten a few comments that make the point that Trump, not Biden, was The POTUS when Babbitt was shot. They're often the same people who claim an "insurrection" or a coup or the overthrow of the government - can't be both! The reason I lay this at the feet of Biden is that he has never mentioned her. He did not prosecute the police officer and has never condemned the action. Trump does mention her. Trump would not have wanted her shot - or would understand that it was a tragedy, where Biden does not.
He speaks of the police he believes were killed that day. He could not care about an American citizen being murdered on that day and also call them violent extremists.
The administration was in power -- when Trump was POTUS, during Jan 6, and now. That's the lesson from the last seven years. It didn't matter how we voted. They still decided the outcome.
It's also important to remember that Nancy Pelosi -- AND THE FBI -- knew there would be some kind of violence or breach of the Capitol yet they left the Capital Police to fend for themselves.
Brooks writes with an arrogance of an insider who’s stature is never in doubt. His “wisdom” is nothing more than condescension and elite-splaning, and it flows freely. No introspection whatsoever. If this were the Titanic, he’d be the guy looking for a stray child to nab and call his own so he can gain access to a lifeboat.
“As a card-carrying member of my class, I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice.“ What if a White person said that — substituting “race” for “class”? Every NYT reader would be appalled! They would insist that, BECAUSE one is a member of that race/class, one’s perspective is biased (ref. the entire concept of “White privilege”). Yet Brooks imagines that HE is so morally superior, that bias doesn’t apply to him.
The crucial identifier of today’s “progressives” is their moral relativism. It informs everything they do.
I often wonder how much human capital has been lost over the past three years because of the woke mob…what new books/films/music/ inventions, etc. do we NOT have because the people who would have created them were hounded out of society?
P.S. I find it very amusing that Trump is being accused of NOT actually believing that he won the 2020 election. Have these people been smoking crack(oh wait, that’s a Biden)? Anyone who knows anything about basic psychology could tell you that Trump, given his personality, ALWAYS believes himself to be a winner!
I read this article. David Brooks very much wants the old two party system back where men like him ruled and the peasants were supposed to be happy with the crumbs. He's as anti-populist as they come. But he knows what he thinks people want to hear, and so he says it.
How do you know he's not in earnest?
This paragraph that you quote . . .
Are Trump supporters right that the indictments are just a political witch hunt? Of course not. As a card-carrying member of my class, I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice. Trump is a monster in the way we’ve all been saying for years and deserves to go to prison.
If he was in earnest, and he knew the depths of distrust and actually understood how "bad" his "class" is? He would have left that part out. But he's still trying to maintain his class cred.
So his real message to people like him: These rubes are stupid enough that if we just pretend to care about them a little more, they'll buy it. So just pretend.
“I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice. Trump is a monster in the way we’ve all been saying for years and deserves to go to prison.”
LMAO My goodness. Neutral arbiters if justice? This same group, YOUR card carrying group, ALL called Hunter’s laptop Russian disinformation and used BIG TECH to squash ANY media outlet showing that story. That is but a pebble of sand on the beach of hypocrisy and bias bullshit YOU and your card carrying scumbags purport to say you are for justice?
LMFAO. my goodness. Someone help me off the floor, the bullshit meter is off the charts.
Exceptional article. A vote for Trump is a vote against the ruling class--yes, that’s so true. Trump with his faults is so much better than any of those polished politicians lying and scheming pretending to care. Trump truly cares about our country and that’s why we support him. Biden only cares about bribes/greed/power.
The maniacs and thugs attacking Trump supporters is the fault of the media (and college professors) with their non-stop attacks and calling Trump and his supporters fascists. You never see ‘us’ attacking the people going to Biden’s rallies--well what would be the point since his numbers were embarrassingly low--but we don’t think or react like thugs as the radical left does.
How anyone can vote for a Democrat is beyond me. They have been taken over by radicals and they only care about power as they step on our freedoms and devalue our country.
Mr Brooks questioning if they’re the bad guys is laughable. Of course they are and he knows it. His pretending to care is laughable. He’s part of the anti-Trump establishment and can go f**k himself.
The insufferable David Brooks epitomizes what is wrong with our elites and their adjacent or just-below wannabes in the media and the professional classes, not just their incompetence, corruption, and social uselessness but their helpless thirst for power and fear and hatred of truth and reality. However outstanding it may be for the NYT, his article is at best only a half truth, repeating things that have been said better and more fully by many others (like Michael Lind, Joel Kotkin, Charles Murray, or Christopher Lasch on the revolt of the elites) long before Brooks got around to half-acknowledging the truth of the matter. And it leaves out the most important, because Orwellian, part. Our sinister, dangerous elites are going totalitarian in a desperate attempt to cling to power because they are no longer able to benefit the country as a whole or even in the majority. As he virtually admits, they now serve only themselves and in effect want to enslave everyone else. That is the source of Orwell's theory of "Oligarchic collectivism"--a totalitarian regime made possible by certain features of modernity such as mass media, advertising, and digital technology to control, repress, brain-wash, intimidate, terrorize, and atomize the rest of society through fear and manipulation. That is the elite Mr. Brooks declares himself a proud "card-carrying" member of--though he is not a member of the Inner Party but only of the Outer Party, the educated bien pensants. That, however, is the key to the power of the Inner Party, which would be helpless without its ability to attract and overpower its adjacents and just-belows. Mr. Brooks has had a Winston Smith moment, though just a brief one, before he is psychologically crushed and brought back to the Party his savior.
Lets say 30 million Biden voters (conservative estimate, no pun intended)
Each know at least 10 Trump supporters
See/talk/text them 10 times a day
For 3000 days now.
Which means 9 TRILLION opportunities to ask:
"While I don't like Trump, you seem to, why?"
Total number of times asked?
0
Oh, I have been TOLD the insulting narrative-consistent reasons I voted for him.
I have had political poll surveyors call and ask, "You are not one of those racists who is going to vote for that Nazi Trump, are you?!"
But no one has ever asked. Absolute 0 intellectual curiosity, even from "smart" liberals.
And when I take the opportunity to tell them, it is all they can do to cover their ears and say ""Na na na, I don't want to hear racism"
I am glad you have gotten out of your bubble Sasha, (and brave enough to write about it) but you are quire exceptional.
"You’ve all been treating Trump like an elusive mob boss who engaged in dirty dealings, drug smuggling, prostitution, bribery, and even murder, which justified taking extraordinary measures against him to put him in prison finally." - Nah, that's Biden! Sasha, since when do the perjury charges against Clinton look ridiculous now? The man was guilty of perjury, even is fellow Democrats admitted it, they just didn't want to throw him out of office - and neither did Republicans. Clinton was actually guilty of worse, such as using his power to force INS to naturalize a million immigrants so they could vote for him. He was being investigated for that very thing but then Ken Starr got involved and that investigation was shoved into the background and died.
As for David Brooks, the man is Canadian. As for him being "conservative," he's as conservative as the Radical Republicans of Lincoln and Grant's day. He got that label because of his association with Buckley, but look at many of the Buckley followers today - they're the epitome of anti-Trumpers and instead of being conservative, they're right-wing progressives. (Incidentally, the Republican Party was founded by Progressives.) I pay him not little attention, but no attention at all.
Loved the whole essay and am so thankful for such a powerful and articulate writer speaking truthfully. Especially liked the reference to “Positively 4th Street”; one of the lines from that song that applies to the NYT for me is “Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you”
David Brooks is a puppet. He was brought onto PBS Friday night weekly news analysis after leftist Mark Shields had worn out William Safire, Paul Gigot and David Gergen. The premise was a conservative foil to Shields to provide a sense of balance. After a few years of watching Brooks repeatedly say 'I agree with Mark' the ploy was obvious. Brooks, a left leaning centrist was declared a true conservative by PBS, and anyone to the right was deemed a right wing extremist. And the leftist elite who were mostly the programs audience, bought it. After all these years it appears Brooks is still not sure know who he is and what he believes.
I agree completely with this column, extremely well written. I’m concerned though about whether the center will hold after this election if Trump wins. To what lengths will these progressive elites go to hold onto power? Buckle up, pray for our country.
A potent combo of knock-it-out-of-the-park facts combined with a spooky simpatico simply leaves me reeling. Bravo, Sasha.
Wow! Says exactly what I’ve felt regarding the never ending barrage of anti-Trump mania. Move on a-holes!!!
SS...l usually prefer to read my substacks but when I see ‘listen now’ below your essay titles, I get giddy and eagerly await your performative content. This ‘Saturday night special’ did not disappoint! Spot on. Thank you.
Wow! Kickass, Sasha!