Every now and then, Mr. David Brooks of The New York Times cuts loose with an op-ed turd that splashes so hard, even the non-professional-Brooksologist online public sits up and takes notice. And the reaction is always the same.
"Holy shit, how the hell does this mope still have an opinion-having job at The New York Times?"
This is an excellent question. And having asked it myself, on average once a week for the past 18.5 years, I can say without fear of contradiction, it is also a question which the Sulzberger family will never, ever answer.
Well, today was one of those David Brooks Big Turd Days.
And so, as one of the founding fathers of the profession of Brooksology, I feel no shame in cracking a beer, sitting back and watching as others encounter the raw, stultifying, privileged, clueless mediocrity that is David Fucking Brooks.
Here is a sampling.
You won’t find many clearer examples of the very elitism Brooks, at his most numbingly banal & subtly arrogant, displays here. Such an ugly case of blue bubbleism, center-right variety, so unaware that it Möbius strips its way to accommodating fascism. pic.twitter.com/h3kw6fy2wg
— THE UNDERTOW, by Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) August 3, 2023
There's a lot in the column, but I want to focus on the claim that “people in less-educated classes" feel under cultural “assault” from elites and see Trump as "their warrior against the educated class.”
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 3, 2023
This formulation erases the non-white working class from the equation. 2/ pic.twitter.com/vqw0O9IWYZ
This David Brooks thing is dumb in many ways, but his revival of this ancient rightwing BS - about how liberal hippies made poor people stop getting married in the 60s, then craftily kept getting married themselves to trick them - takes the fucking cake. https://t.co/2iFvD8RxFI pic.twitter.com/gQaIrGGCFV
— Roy Edroso (@edroso) August 3, 2023
DAVID BROOKS TODAY: I’m always speaking out for the marginalized
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) August 3, 2023
DAVID BROOKS 2012: Us elites just work harder than you lazy poors. pic.twitter.com/ArFGSD25M1
I don't want to get into the Brooks column but I will say that one of the more bizarre features of the Trump phenomenon from the very beginning is that establishment pundits work much harder to dream up coherent, sympathetic justifications for Trumpies' behavior than they do.
— David Roberts (@drvolts) August 3, 2023
It's unsurprising but also a little sad to see some of the most influential people in the country respond to this thoughtful @nytdavidbrooks column by saying, "F-ck the handwringing. Those racists/bigots can go to hell." I fear we may be doomed. https://t.co/Il3O6SfFn8
— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) August 3, 2023
that David Brooks column in which a handwringing pretend-liberal blames liberal "elites" like himself for the racism, misogyny, anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-education bigotry of T***p followers like a mugging victim blaming himself for being mugged. https://t.co/HtapVHjKEG
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) August 3, 2023
Also, as @NGrossman81 points out, income breakdowns of the voting also tell a very different story than the one Brooks is telling. 5/https://t.co/nVuF6hh56g
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 3, 2023
This from Tom Nichols -- who steadfastly refuses to hold Conservatism responsible for what 40 years of Conservative policies, politics and media has wrought -- gave me a chuckle.Gotta be careful with David Brooks navel gazing….sorry, but seeking and getting an education doesn’t make me an “elite” that is responsible for MAGA voters that “feel” disenfranchised…. https://t.co/TQm9avXOe9
— Alejandro Villegas #🟦 (@thecorpmex) August 3, 2023
And finally:That Brooks piece today is catnip for well-off, educated elites who have somehow internalized the Trumpism accusation that they created Trumpism merely by virtue of being well-off and educated. It's the same treadmill of circular explanations from 2016, and still wrong.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 3, 2023
"They're simply assholes" is way too easy an explanation for the David Brooks of the world, no matter how accurate. https://t.co/j6PJh2XXkq
— Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) August 3, 2023
7 comments:
Forgive me for not being able to resist.
Where Brooks' asks, "What if we are really the bad guys".
Referring to Trump loving the uneducated and the highly educated feeding the numbers of the Never Trumpers.
Invites me to ask Brooks, What if you aren't considered one of the highly educated?
For some time it has ben the GOP's donor class requirement for a republican president to,
" Have five working digits on their hand , that can hold a writing utensil and be able to sign his name to the legislation a GOP congress puts in front of him.
GW Bush was like this. But Trump he is highly capable of using a sharpie to sign his name.
Next the GOP donors quill demand one of their computers programmed by them and has built in AI cab abilities, for MAGA to vote for president.
Ya DFB, it's my fault the MAGAs are upset. I apologize.
Congratulations! Damon Linker. saus you are among the most influential people in the country. Joyce Carol ate is pretty well known, but I can't believe that she is as well.
Congratulations! Damon Linker. saus you are among the most influential people in the country. Joyce Carol ate is pretty well known, but I can't believe that she is as well..
Congratulations! Damon Linker. saus you are among the most influential people in the country. Joyce Carol ate is pretty well known, but I can't believe that she is as well.
Hey DG,
If Calif. Governor can debate Florida Puddin Fingers.
Why is it Brooks won't debate you?
Many people I know want to swatch such debate.
Everybody says they want the debate to happen.
BG can be the debate moderator on your podcast.
Sure, Brooks would rather debate straw men in his columns and tell us how a cab driver agrees with him and that represents everyone he knows.
It can be a pay per view with proceeds going to charity of the winners choice.
This will put extra pressure on you to be victorious in the debate because I am sure Brooks 's selected charity would be the Trump legal defensed fund.
You know Brooks. Just like Pence will vote for Trump if he is there nominee of the GOP no matter what.
They all already say if, "they are elected, they would pardon Trump from all. To bring the country together.
When they say bring the country together, they only mean specific people and I am not one of them.
"What if we are really the bad guys?"
Your first problem here, DFB, is identifying the "we".
You are most certainly one of the bad guys, for reasons your continued access to money and privilege will never let you understand.
That said, I won't read your column. I just know that as a poor, under educated white guy, all I would get is an elevation of my blood pressure.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
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