David Brooks, Then and Now

In November of 2014.  Mr. Brooks of The New York Times used all of his elite, privileged, insider Republican powers to peer deeply into the soul of the Party of Lincoln and reassured the nation that the GOP was definitely doing just great!

The big Republican accomplishment is that they have detoxified their brand. Four years ago they seemed scary and extreme to a lot of people. They no longer seem that way. The wins in purple states like North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado are clear indications that the party can at least gain a hearing among swing voters. And if the G.O.P. presents a reasonable candidate (and this year’s crop was very good), then Republicans can win anywhere. I think we’ve left the Sarah Palin phase and entered the Tom Cotton phase.

-- David Brooks, November 5, 2014.

Less than five years later Mr. Brooks once again using all of his elite, privileged, insider Republican powers to peers into the soul of exactly the same political party and discovers a collection of broken, mindless, abused house pets. 

Also credit to Judy Woodruff for not letting him get away with blaming "Congress".

Judy Woodruff:  So, David, do the Democrats have a real shot at blocking what the president wants to do?

David Brooks:  No, no, because they would have to get a veto-proof majority. Even if they get it out of the Congress, Donald Trump will veto it.

I think it may also pass the Senate. I forget. There were six or seven who — at least when he declared the emergency, six or seven Republicans said, I don't really think it's a good idea. And I think they may wind up voting against it.

If you're going to vote against Donald Trump about anything, this is the easiest, because you can say, well, it's not really about ideology. It's not about the wall. It's just about Congress. And it's about the way we — it's about the Constitution.

They all took an oath to swear allegiance to the Constitution. And the Constitution says that Congress originates, has the power of the purse. And if the president can just spend money on what he wants, that's really not our constitutional system.

Why don't more do it? If it was an anonymous vote, it would get 90 votes. They all think that. But there's a weird — you know, you bug them about this, there's a level of supine passivity, like a learned helplessness, where they don't even — it doesn't even cross the mental barrier that, well, maybe I should buck the president on this one.

I don't know.


Judy Woodruff:  You're talking about the Republicans.

David Brooks: Yes. You would have to do studies on maltreated pets or something, like, why don't they get up and do something?

But it's not even in their brain register. It's just, I'm used to — I go along right now. I just go along. And it's not even a conscious choice anymore...

Mr. Brooks goes on to explain that he is sure "voters of Ohio or wherever else" wouldn't punish Republican congresscritters if they occasionally voted against Trump.

"It doesn't doom your career," says Mr. David Brooks who has never run for anything in his life, who has amassed a staggering, decades-long record of cartoonishly wrong public predictions and pronouncements, and who manages to keep his job thanks entirely to the bottomless largess of the wealthy family which owns The New York Times.

Behold, a Tip Jar!