David Brooks just does not understand progressives/Democratics. His columns constantly make me wonder whether he is a closet Trumpster. Democrats are patriots first. We would definitely support impeachment of a President of the Democratic party if they violated the oath of office.
46
I’m in California.
Everyday at my public school workplace fellow colleagues are discussing the idiot in the White House.
They know California is liberal and diverse, but really?
They also know there are many items Trump should be impeached on.
He is ruining the foundations of our country.
We all are exhausted, but do not fear, we will use our voice and our purse to see he is defeated.
21
Brooks says that Americans are indifferent and that "it's a lot harder to do impeachment in an age of cynicism" as if cynicism were promulgated by bipartisan masses. He tries to equate Democrats to Republicans by implying that Democrats would equally justify their candidate's illegal actions. Yes, cynicism is real, but let's look at the reason it runs so deep right now: 1) Republican gerrymandering yielding electoral college wins for Bush 2 and Trump while the popular vote went for the Democrat; 2) Republican stacking the Supreme Court by denying a vote on Obama's clearly highly qualified nominee; 3) Republicans thwarting the former Democratic president at every turn for 8 years, causing the public to lose hope that Washington was anything but corrupt; 4) The whole Hillary email/Benghazi Republican rhetoric that fueled the rise of fake news leading up to the 2016 election. The list goes on, but the point is the Republicans, monetarily backed by the likes of the Koch brothers whose wealth originated from literally fueling Hitler's Third Reich, have brought us to this demise of Constitutional primacy. The cure starts now with the upholding of the constitutional imperative to impeach a president who has so blatantly committed high crimes and misdemeanors, which if they had been perpetrated by a Democrat would have long ago resulted in removal from office. Brooks is looking through fake-news-tinted glasses and needs to start speaking truth rather than espousing false equivalents.
36
Sure, Dave, let's move on from impeaching the most ignorant, corrupt and toxic president ever so we can just go back to shaking our heads and talking about the most ignorant, corrupt and toxic president ever.
19
You lost me at 'move on' - the rot permeating this White House and the Republicans is a gangrenous rot at the core of America. This indeed is the decline that the 'non-elites' (and elites with morals) feel is eating this country. You can't move on from a patient with gangrene. You must saw off the limb and fight the infection. STAT!
17
What this article fails to take into consideration is that trump will make it impossible to move on. This isn't the first time that he's publicly asked for help with his campaign from a foreign government. He's going to do it again, then he'll mix insome other horrible, illegal things. Then he's going to do it again, and again and again, until he croaks or is removed from office. How can republicans not see this?
22
Who exactly are the elites you identify as behaving so negligently? I see example after example of highly qualified elites in the State Department and DOJ who are courageously standing against the fecklessness of their political overlords. I see amazingly thoughtful scientists, engineers, researchers and teams working to solve the existential problems that confront us. Billionaire tech CEO's are in it for themselves regardless of the consequences. It has ever been thus in the United States. Elected representatives are whores to their constituencies if they can't gerrymander them into irrelevancy. It has ever been thus in the United States. The real problem is less about the elites and more about the Republican base. They are saturated with "Lost Cause" lore and evangelical theology which together form a pernicious admixture of nihilistic nationalism. They reject science and the core values of the Enlightenment on which the nation was founded. They home school their children to keep them safe from modernity. They cling to a fundamentalist worldview based on Darby's theology of the decline and decay of everything until Jesus comes again to rapture the faithful and destroy the world. They are doing all they can to hasten that day.
18
The headline needs a little editing:
Impeach Trump. Then Move On -- To Indictment.
18
“Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly.”
If there is evidence, YES!! The Democrats are correct in making the hearings public. When the American people see the evidence and the behavior of both parties during the proceedings, they’ll decide.
What many of you pundits (like politicians) don’t get is that not every voter in this country is a know-nothing moron that doesn’t care what’s happening in the government. Many - dare I say most - care and care a lot. I don’t care what party they belong to - a corrupt politician is a corrupt politician and they should be removed from office.
17
David, are you auditioning for Mick Mulvaney's job as Trump's Chief of Staff? I would be hard pressed to choose which disgusts me more, your admonition to "Move on!" and his to "Get over it!"
14
The law applies to me 100% as it should to our elected officials and I can honestly guarantee that if any elected democratic that I personally voted for incited civil unrest, lied 13000 times, said torch carrying Nazis were fine people, lied about his taxes, lied about bribing pornstars in violation of campaign laws, called immigrants murderers and rapists and many, many other atrocities and then tried to extort and blackmail, in effect an ally, to open a closed investigation on a political rival to dig up dirt, would I vote to impeach them?
These are the days where I can see what must have happened in Germany in 1930. Otherwise good Germans who tossed their lot in with devil. Hitler did not start with the final solution and no I am not comparing Trump to Hitler, but guess who was Time's magazine man of the year in 1938?
14
This is troublesome, certainly. The faith in public institutions has long weakened. J Edgar Hoover's name is on the FBI building and the FBI involvement, large or small, is obvious if not damning. I think the populace does believe that everything in the Washington government is political one way or the other. The families of the politicians all seem to be working for some form of government in that city. The public sees Trump for what he is. He was Donald Trump before his election and he remains Donald Trump, unrefined in any way by the office. I think those who support him see him as a denizen of the swamp but he is their denizen. Just how many of them there are is the question along with how negatively they see the leftward shift in the Democratic party.
1
I am a life long Democrat and have been considering becoming an Independent. If a President from any party had done the things Trump has done I would support impeachment. But in my opinion, there is a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans: Republicans fall in line and Democrats will eat each other when necessary. The cult like behavior with Trump is really just a more extreme manifestation of the Republican “discipline” of hanging tough with the Party come hell or high water. It truly is Party before Country.
10
Mr. Brooks editorial sounds, to me, like it is written from a place of despair. It might be my despair being projected onto his words -and I am feeling despairing, not all the time, but it is constant presence in my psyche. I believe the whole country is suffering emotionally as a direct consequence of Mr. Trump’s words and behavior. I made the mistake of watching and listening to a Trump rally.. I realized,after, that what was most painful was what his words did to my own mind. My initial response of disbelief quickly hardened into anger. There is nothing I/we can do about Trump right now and that helplessness fueled my unwillingness to listen to anything his supporters have to say, an unwillingness to hear the emotion, the pain beneath that support. A desire to dehumanize a group of people. His hateful speech increases the divide in my own thinking. His supporters, also are being impacted by his lies. He urges their anger on, pointing out supposed perpetrators. Good leaders don’t do that. Period. I don’t believe at our core, we like being divided and hateful; we are beings that want to be connected in spite of superficial differences. Donald Trump’s viciousness, lying, divisiveness suck the air out of the country. Humans can take just so much of this kind of chaos before they fall into apathy and despair. There was no choice but to pursue impeachment. A candle lit to what is good in all of us..no matter the outcome.
11
All this aside, I would never vote for any human, who is so vile a person as one, who would call his fellow Americans and American Patriots "Human Scum".
9
What cynical piece of writing, David.
It does not become you, but it does show that you finally begrudgingly agree that impeachment is necessary.
Conservatives like you, and others I've read, know that the facts are overwhelmingly there and that the president needs to be impeached to protect our democracy. But it's obvious that can't quite stomach giving it a a hearty thumbs up endorsement either.
As Mulvaney would say, "get over it"! It's happening and you'd be wise to show your integrity and interest in the rule of law by being a bit more enthusiastic in future columns.
9
Here's the difference between Trump and others who might become president, whether Democrat or Republican. He believes himself to be above the law, has disdain for the rule of law and denigrates the intel agencies that protect us because he knows they will hold him accountable. And, yes, we would want any president, regardless of party, held to account for any activity that is in violation of the constitution. Otherwise, there is no law, which would be just fine with Trump, the authoritarian wannabe fascist.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
4
"Answer honestly."
Have you met Al Franken?
5
elitism is not the reason for the state of the nation. the problem is the shift of the gop to the far right that was started by reagan and been made possible by ever more money flowing into right wing think tanks. brookes is a gop stalwart who still cannot say enough is enoughvote democrat. he is right. trump will not be impeached, but it willnot be because good men did nothing, it will be because bad old white men protected trump. let the record show whose side you are on . learn from 1939
10
Why does Brooks get a two day run on this silly column?
What is “elite negligence”? Yours David? The Heritage Society’s? The “elite” strawman is just that - a rhetorical device.
I’m well-educated. Does that make me a member of some undefined elite class? Are you suggesting that all educated persons are ipso facto members of an “elite” group solely responsible for our country’s ills? Aren’t all voters and non-voters responsible? They choose the representatives. They choose the president.
I grew up in a blue collar family. I still view myself that way. Am I therefore “elite” or “not elite?” Are my highly intelligent parents elite? My mother the school teacher? My father, the carpenter?
I worked in construction, poured concrete and worked in a bottling plant to pay for my education. Does that make me elite or not elite?
I’m 67. My core issue is climate change. Why say that’s the realm of my kids? I care about jobs and student debt. Same question.
I and my kids care about moral, cultural and the other issues you cite as exclusively the realm of Trump voters. What does that make us? Immoral?
I’ll say this: I know a hawk from a handsaw. I don’t need your obvious political advice. Don’t profile me, and don’t patronize me.
16
That question for Democrats entirely depends on what you mean by "Trump-style Republicans?"
If you mean that racist white supremacist, sexist, gay-bashing, justice obstructing, norm-shattering, vulgarity- and blasphemy-prone, dishonorable scofflaw in the White House, then no. He's not better than a crooked Biden.
That is what we are working to impeach. Why install another one of those?
But if Biden goes bad, President Stacey Abrams will be just fine.
5
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
Yes, I would. I will admit that at the time of Bill Clinton's impeachment travails, I was (mostly) against impeaching him, but that was an instructive experience for me, getting me to look at the biases that Brooks is attributing to "progressives". What Clinton did--whether one looks on it as naked predation, or being stupid enough to have his head turned by and almost-underage intern--was an abuse of power and horribly bad judgment, and had he been convicted after his impeachment, the country and all of us would have been better off with a president Gore in his place. As much as I think president Pence would be a horrible president, his level of horribleness wouldn't even come close to Trump's complete inadequacy to the job of the presidency.
4
another weak column from Brooks, who has in effect tossed to the wayside, numbers from the most recent polling indicate the opposite. Impeachment is always difficult but since when does one set aside their oath because keeping it is hard? A pointless article.
6
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly." Typical Brooks. Deflection and false equivalence, that is all we EVER get from right wing columnists. It is as if they have nothing to say and have no idea how to say it, so they default to this kind of nonsense. And THEN Brooks has the audacity to channel Mick Mulvaney's "Get over it" comment by writing, "it's time to move on." Pathetic.
9
ALL republicans in office are “elites” by definition. And so IS the Liar in Chief (well over 12,000 lies told in 3 years). Trump, a long time Tax cheat, 6 time bankruptcy, who stiffs legitimate creditors is the most corrupt least competent president in US history. That’s pretty “elite”.
7
The subtitle here is: “Stop distracting from the core issue, elite negligence and national decline.”
These two items are significant, but they are not the core issue. The core issue is the division of Americans implemented by an unsurpassed brainwashing machine run by a few billionaire oligarchs who also already run the GOP, the Senate, the Trump Administration, half the Supreme Court, and 30 State Legislatures.
Defanging this cabal of oligarchs is the core issue. Stop them and stop their throwing sand in the gears of government and propping up an inarticulate dotard as a figurehead President.
6
Just wondering if Trump will be impeached more than once. The gutless Republicans won’t vote to convict. He will be empowered by getting off as he was when the Mueller report failed to result in impeachment. He’s just going to keep pushing further and further until he does shoot someone on Fifth Avenue or perhaps at Mar A Lago since he is now a Floridian. Will the Dems just give up or bring charges again and again?
I despair, no Republican patriotism or ethics in sight.
1
Impeachment is a great ploy. Of the D’S to distract us from their euro social democratic agenda. They will run on how terrible Trump is....which he is .....hiding in plain site their agenda which is to fundamentally transform the US into a euro social democracy. And how do you know Trump has committed impeachable offenses when everything so far has been in secret? He is a terrible person but we elected him and let him govern and beat him at the polls. What really bugs Washington is he not one of you.
2
Send all Republicans back...to Civics class so they can relearn the principles of American democracy and the Constitution.
1
Nothing impeachable whether or not you accept the Dems twisted and distorted interpretation of the facts. End of story.
2
You are right!! Now, it's up to Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff to get to work and get the attention of the American people. This man is dangerous, and whether you have a few extra bucks in your wallet because of him, or you still like his uncouthness, he is destroying our democracy. He needs to go!!
1
@barton
One time I would like to reply repeatedly about how David Brooks spent decades espousing the virtues of the GOP's 'stated' goals and somehow missed their true and only goal of making the rich richer through eternity. Sorry David, where was your finger on the pulse during those decades?
3
The Dems’ impeachment process illustrates a fundamental and deeply troubling problem in this country. Back in November 2016 I thought that Trump voters and Hillary voters disagreed on policy, just as voters on opposite sides always have. Silly me. It has become abundantly clear that the disagreement wasn’t about policy; it was about how this country should be governed. We have a president who said a few months ago that Article II of the Constitution allows him to “do anything I want.” And 63 million Trump voters cheered! On Thursday every GOP representative voted against endorsing the impeachment inquiry. Ninety-plus percent of GOP voters think Trump is hunky-dory. Thousands cheer Trump at his rallies as he demeans the democratic process. Give this ignorant, dishonorable, and immoral man another four years—as millions of Americans want desperately to do—and the foundations of our democracy are going to be tested very seriously.
1
"Fourth, it’s a lot harder to do impeachment in an age of cynicism, exhaustion and distrust."
But is it the "age"? Or is it what has been sown by Trump/Trumpism?
The politicians can’t solve any of the importance issues facing the average American and they know the media will put their face on TV for every attack on Trump so what do they do? I think all of them are worthless, Republicans and Democrats alike. Where did all the serious people go?
You’re out of step with polls. They’re trending more and more for impeachment and removal of trump from office. The senate will convict and remove.
We should forget about the GOP's betrayal of the US?
No way.
1
Brooks asks: "Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
OK, here's my honest answer: Trump has led a lifetime of corruption and crime, which if anything has intensified since he infected the Oval Office. He should be convicted.
Biden, Warren and Sanders have not in any way led such lives. So, your absurd question makes no sense.
2
I assume that any foreign nation with any sense is lining up to demand American aid with absolutely no strings attached. How often do we need to get kicked? Don't you wish that some of the trillions that we spent in Iraq had a few attachments such as, "that military base, it's ours, permanently". And is anyone looking into how many Congressional spouses and children of all parties are using their relationships to cash in with no thought of the interests of the nation? Hunter Biden must be feeling very, very smug.
2
What would the GOP say if they found out that Trump had traded national security secrets in exchange for help in his re-election campaign?
Would it be any different than their response to the FACT that he endangered our national security interests by not giving military funding to a foreign ally?
No, I don't suppose it would be.
In fact, Trump has very likely given Vladimir Putin boatloads of our national security secrets already. And there is no "record" to prove otherwise.
What if Trump shot someone to death on 5th Avenue? No, I suppose that would still be considered "OK" by the treason ridden modern GOP.
1
Several friends of mine who are disgusted by Trump argue that impeachment is useless because he will be exonerated by Senate Republicans. That's a lame excuse for passing on impeachment. House Democrats are duty bound by the Constitution to impeach Trump because it's as clear as day the Ukraine call demonstrated both bribery and extortion.
2
I read this a few times. Did I miss the words "US Constitution"? I don't see it. Check it out, people. It's an interesting document. And all Republican Congressmen (along with the President) swore to uphold it. And "the way they flee reporters seeking comment" ignores that gem of a feller, Don Young, who head-butted the camera of journalists asking him a legitimate question he didn't want to answer. (Again, he should read the Constitution--free press and all.) Yes, we should let these guys call the shots, shouldn't we. P. S. Talk to some Black voters in red states next time you get out there on your expense account. They're not 3/5ths of a person anymore, you know. Neither are women voters. I do realize that maybe they won't want to talk with you, so your sample will be skewed.)
1
Answering honestly, yes sir, indeed I would.
"That’s exactly what I’ve found, too. For most, impeachment is not a priority. It’s a dull background noise — people in Washington and the national media doing the nonsense they always do. A pollster can ask Americans if they support impeachment, and some yes or no answer will be given, but the fundamental reality is that many Americans are indifferent."
They're not indifferent, they are lazy, ignorant, and apparently unable to see that they have responsibilities as citizens. Anyone sitting in front of FOX TV, or Facebooking political news should at some level be challenged too actually educate themselves.
We might gain a more responsible electric — body politic, if the media would raise the bar in its estimation of readers intelligence because we are sinking deeper and darker pits.
The press should be pulling readers (comprehension — understanding) up, not down.
How about the press make it its mission to fully inform the public with real in depth informational journalism? This should include head to head contrasting of the fake news with the Fake Fake News, (you read it first here).
It appears the Times is not factoring in the fact that a large segment of readers are gathering information, analysis, far beyond what we find in the Times. Personally I find it mind boggling what the Times filters. After hitting a few podcast the night before weeding the Times in the morning produces shockingly little by comparison.
David Brooks has become so jaded and numb, it is pathetic.
If Donald Trump (or any Democrat for that matter, according to Brooks) were to shoot someone on 5th Avenue, with witnesses and recordings, Brooks would say, "Do you think the other party is so innocent? He'll never be convicted. Let's stop focusing on this shooting and move on." Is that really how far we have fallen?
2
A bribe is “a sum of money or other inducement used to persuade a person to act in one’s favor, typically illegally or dishonestly.”
Rod Blagojevich, as the Governor of Illinois (and a Democrat), was impeached and removed from office for corruption; he solicited bribes for political appointments, including Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat after Obama was elected president in 2008. Blagojevich was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
Trump used the threat of withholding nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to induce its President into digging up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden. That’s a bribe. His crime is far worse than Blagojevich’s. Impeach, and then move toward criminal prosecution.
3
David Brooks, good luck persuading your Republican cheaters to call out their "winning" strategy.
Lies, victim blaming, character assassination, "god-given" machines for killing, worship of fetuses but not mothers and families, the criminalization of poverty, the list goes on and on.
Hatred and violence fix nothing. We need to work together to solve problems, and blaming victims is evil.
3
re: The last line of the Column - "if that's what you want!"
Trump- at least the train run on time, ...or maybe not so much.
Mr. Brooks , New York Times survey and polls don't accurately reflect the final results as the 2016 election showed us. New York Times polls predicted that Hillary was going to win by a large margin, but last minute the needle swerved towards Trump to everyone's shock and dismay, including Trump himself!
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
Yes.
2
The rules of impeachment may not allow Trump's myriad other crimes and misdemeanors to be "entered into evidence" but everyone knows the quid pro quo is the equivalent of Al Capone's not paying his taxes. Trump is a very bad man who has done bad things and a bad president who has failed to do good things. The jury is tainted with this knowledge, if only a few Republicans can dig down and find their consciences...
1
And move on to continued decline and neglect. That's what we'll get. And we're all guilty, though the ver wealthy that can buy their pols won't have it as bad. Oligarchy run amok.
Whatever reasons commentators and politicos give for not impeaching, they forget the important reason to do so: Mr. Trump is corrupt. This president has broken the law, betrayed--and continues to--his country, sells us out for a great deal from Russia or Turkey or whomever. We cannot allow someone to constantly lie and break the law--it's that simple. I care deeply about our country which this man is ruining. Would I support the investigation of a Democrat? It would depend. Impeaching Clinton for lying about an affair pales next to Trump's constant corruption. If a Democrat did 1/5th of what Trump has, yes, I would expect--no, demand--an investigation.
1
If we can acquit such an obviously worthy president, then what is there to move on to?
As Jill Lepore wrote in this week's New Yorker, as Luther Martin clarified for us in 1805, Trump should be impeached and removed because he is covered in "turpitude and infamy." He is simply incapable of performing the duties of his office with "integrity and honor," simply too "grotesquely unethical" to qualify to hold the office.
13
Mr. Brooks, I don't accept your premise. I don't care if impeachment is popular in Red states, and I don't care how it will play out politically. I care about my children and grandchildren, and I want them to be protected by the United States Constitution, as I have been.
I'm a liberal and of course I'd vote to convict any Dem if there was evidence of guilt - see reasons above. What a ridiculous question.
16
"If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict?"
A thought experiment with a greater basis in reality would be this: What would Republican senators do if they woke up one day to find the members of their party consumed by a longing for an imaginary, halcyon, by gone era, in which patriarchy, misogyny, white supremacy, and an utter indifference to, if not contempt for, objective evidence reigned supreme, without any objection from anyone. Would they run for office under the banner of such a party?
Oh, wait; the question answers itself.
9
“Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly.”
Of course, Mr. Brooks, I would vote to impeach regardless of Party. No one is above the law. Surely that is the basis of our democracy.
Looking at the big picture though, impeachment is a trivial issue. Trump could easily step down voluntarily without admitting guilt, and proceed to trounce Democrats in 2020 because he was noble enough
to step down. What an advantage going into 2020!
But as it is, he’s a Duck and Republicans are corrupt to support him.
1
Voting to convict depends on the nature of the conduct. Sexual liaison with a consenting adult? Probably doesn't warrant removal (or impeachment, for that matter). Bribery, extortion, and withholding military aid already appropriated by Congress to fabricate stories to win re-election? Probably warrants serious consideration to remove.
4
Regardless of how disengaged the citizenry may be, or how jaded or distrustful it has become about politics, the Ukraine affair compels the House to pursue impeachment. This is not a naive error on Trump’s part; inviting foreign powers into our elections was at the crux of the Mueller report.
The Constitution deserves nothing less. Ignoring malfeasance of this order would be a greater hazard to our republic than the divisiveness of impeachment.
Moreover, even if the Senate does not convict the President, which is the likeliest outcome, the Senators up for re-election should be forced to stand before voters and explain themselves.
We have arrived at a dangerous moment for our democracy. Have we reached a stage where tribalism and party trump country? The obvious answer is yes. As a consequence every American should think real hard during this debate because our country will be seriously diminished if Trump is exonerated.
And to your question, David, yes I would vote to impeach a president from my own party if he had done what this president has done.
5
Spot on analysis of how most of the country feels about this, and the reality that removing Trump will never happen. When 90% of your voters are telling you they don't approve of something, you listen to what they say....even if you know it's wrong.
Progressive and liberal activists in my party have succeeded in hijacking the party and steering it towards defeat in 2020. This impeachment process is part of their agenda of doing what they perceive to be the right thing, even if it causes them to lose an election. Today's Democratic activists would rather lose and 'look good' and that's big problem. If Trump wins in 2020, then arguably the Democratic Party should go away and reasonable people should form a new opposition.
2
Mr. Brooks - people who still support and enable Trump, including the base motivated by religion, and loyal Republicans are in serious denial. Instead of writing an article like this why aren’t you and the media in general doing everything to disabuse these people of the factually false rationales they espouse to explain their support for Trump. I hear talk radio hosts saying things all day, every day, that simply aren’t true - from the rules/directives in the Constitution regarding impeachment to precedents, to denying what Trump did and said and ignoring how this administration is dismantling our democracy - which if not stopped now will be irreversible. Let’s not forget that during the 2016 campaign Steve Brannon (Trump’s closest advisor) said outright that they were going to “dismantle” the government. I believe Bannon is an anarchist. And yet the Republicans were/are “all in” because they believe they will be in control - Karl Rove said 40 years ago that Republicans will establish a “permanent Republican majority.” That is not an endorsement of democracy but rather advocating for autocracy. Republicans are just looking to maintain control - by hook or crook - and it’s up to the media to expose them. Then you can go back to the philosophical ivory tower that a democracy affords you.
2
David, who are you calling "elite"? Is it the same scapegoats used by the right when they rail against academia and the NY Times?
The real elites are those who are born with silver spoons in their mouths, buy their way into power and out of trouble, set the agenda, distribute the lion's share of the wealth to themselves, make the rules to protect their privilege and pack the courts to ensure that that privilege remains entrenched. Impeachment is not a "distraction" from "negligent" elites; it's a direct attack on the real elites who are causing our national decline.
4
Is it possible that more than 20 Republican senators will vote to convict Donald Trump of articles of impeachment?
--------
Senators and Congressmen are expected to be thought leaders of the nation, not swayed by public opinion. They are responding to reality of the situation and how it will safeguard our Constitution and keep it safe for generations ahead.
From this perspective Republican effort to raise the bar for impeachment process is a healthy development. 20 plus votes can come only if the matter rises above political grounds and the issue is fundamental to core Constitutional values. It has to be a criterion that shall be sustained for decades and may be even centuries ahead. The case of systemic stability for the "indispensable nation" as a Democratic Secretary of State called it, overrides most of reported transgressions.
President has been invested with plenipotentiary executive powers for a reason, we may need existential level responses within 5-15 minutes. It is a survival need for all of us that can not be clipped. All Presidential foibles can be forgiven.
Question now is whether the issue is one that can be overlooked or has to be made accountable. This leads to two points.
First, does the context in which the military assistance given was made conditional implies that US strategic interest were overridden by political interest of Republican party.
Second, is such overriding of strategic interest crosses the line. I believe yes, but am not sure.
By way of background. I was born during FDR's presidency, but the first election I can now recall was Eisenhower's in 1952. I still have the "I Like Ike" t-shirt my parents bought for me back then. In high school I led the Texas delegation for LBJ in our mock convention, who was beaten by JFK both at our school and in real life.
Then in college I majored in American government, took a constitutional law course, and went on to law school where I also studied constitutional law. My first job out of college was with U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Now, in my twilight years, the only way I can get by with this mess of political America is to stay back, observe the chaos, and think about it from the standpoint of future history. Where are we going? What will we become? Interesting questions, to say the least.
Although I am registered unaffiliated, I'm happy to say I'm a liberal. But I've often asked myself the question Mr. Brooks poses. If a Democratic Party president did the sorts of things The Donald (not to mention Mitch, Barr, etc.) does, where would I stand? My answer, which thank goodness hasn't been been called for yet, is that I'd say we've got to get rid of the guy or gal. The long term survival of our "constitutional" government and the rule of law is far more important than any short term policy objectives, be they liberal or conservative.
2
Mr. Brooks, I wonder if you've seen the most recent polling on this subject, which contradicts your anecdotal evidence. Look here, for instance: https://www.vox.com/2019/11/1/20943460/trump-impeachment-polling
As we know from recent history, public opinion on this subject is hardly fixed. The more evidence that is produced, the more the public supports an impeachment trial. This is true in regions that Trump one as well as in bluer states.
2
After the 2016 election and before the inauguration in 2017 serious concerns started being raised about this president. His lies about the size of the crowd attending, even denying the rain that was falling, then concerns about him being so enamored with Vladimir Putin. Who is really surprised that it has come to this?
This endless analysis by writers of all ideologies is an indication of the mess we are in as a country. No one really knows who will be able to bring him to justice. No one can find assurance in historical similarities. The Democrats, to their credit are trying to follow the Constitution. Let us hope that the majority of Americans get behind them to get to a normalization of procedures. The rule of law is being threatened by the Republicans with their defense of his lawlessness that they attached themselves to to gain control of our system to promote their agenda.
7
Brooks' sense of 'it doesn't really matter" only makes (a bit of) sense because Trump's complete lack of morality has altered our perceptions. Mr. Brooks, please do not minimize the darkness in which we are now immersed. This is the worst possible situation ever to fall upon Western democracy. We are at the bottom, and we cannot afford to shrug it off. Your suggestion that we do so is morally bankrupt.
12
Points made appear correct based on my interactions and reading. I wish Congress would move on and get a grip on some of the real issues; and I'm not talking those espoused by Dem candidates (free college and housing, debt forgiveness, jobs if you want them, medicare for all, and open borders. Really, I don't believe the Dem party is really for all these policies, but one wouldn't know that reading the papers or watching the news - on any channel.
It's never time not to follow the truth. Follow the facts where they lead us. If we do this, I suspect there will be no question what the proper course of action should be.
3
"...just 43 percent want to impeach and remove Trump from office, while 53 percent do not. Pushing impeachment makes Democrats vulnerable in precisely the states they cannot afford to lose in 2020." WHOA there, David - it's early yet, cowboy! 43 percent at the beginning of an inquiry that has yet to hold public hearings is pretty darn good, and in any case it's a big leap to "it makes them vulnerable." Looks more like "off to a good start" to me.
3
Mr. Brooks, I love your question about whether there are 20 Republican Senators willing to convict the president if he's impeached. Your probably right about insufficient republican voter support for impeachment. And I'm sure you would agree that if anyone can surpass these apparent insurmountable obstacles to reaching 20 Republican Senators to convict, it is none other than trump himself. Give him time Mr. Brooks, he just may do something else before this is over to force the hand of 20 that matter. Who knows?
2
There have always been people intensely devoted to extreme ideas that are untenable or even horrifying. Some of these individuals were highly intelligent and charismatic. They could sell their radical notions with extraordinary skill, even to those who should have known better. History is replete with such cases. So why can nonsense gain so such traction today that it poisons the minds of even the most capable leaders?
The internet and social media has dramatically expanded the audience. Cranks used to be confined to parks, street corners and campuses, ranting away and passing out handbills. Most of those passing by were indifferent or even amused. The capacity to find compatriots was limited. Now with a few keystrokes anyone can contact virtually everyone on the world. Extremists can find each other without leaving home and among different groups there will some of those talented gurus who can draw them all together. The combination of zeal and focus can magnify their influence far beyond their numbers.
We can’t turn this back, we have to live with it. Future education efforts for our children will need to include guidelines to teach them to understand what is and isn’t rational and logical. It’s a sad situation when we have to tell kids to keep their imaginations in check when they should be reveling in them.
Trump gave Pelosi no alternative but to impeach if just for precedence alone.
Ideally voting Trump put was the best plan but as we all know the best laid plans with Trump as President are not reliable as like the Joker in Batman Trump rules by a constant environment of chaos. I for one am living with a constant knot in my stomach by the daily affronts to my sense of well-being and The magnification of all of our least desirable character traits.
1
Without any apparent irony Brooks you write that the core issue is "elite negligence" and then proceed to counsel that the best course is to get impeachment over with and move on, as if you are not one of the elite. It would be negligent not to hold Trump accountable, regardless of whether Republicans in the heartland are talking about it over their coffee. Impeachment is not a distraction. Trump invited foreign interference into the 2020 election. Much love from Missouri. Next time you visit I'd be happy to talk.
3
The column describes voter indifference, not elite indifference. Mr. Brooks says Republican lawmakers realize, however reluctantly, the strength of the impeachment argument, but oppose it due to voter sentiment. The latter he describes as unperturbed. On his own premises, Republican voters lag their elite representatives. Even a lame horse beats them to the finish line.
1
As a "Decline to State" party preference - i.e., independent voter in California, I actually consider myself "Never-Republican" these days. It wasn't always thus.
As for supporting impeachment of a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, I would fully support their impeachment if they had committed a fraction of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by our current President. The media is overlooking the conclusions of the Muller Report that indicated Mr. Trump committed obstruction of justice a number of times, and one can only hope that the Democrats obtain the underlying evidence so that it can be included in the articles of impeachment.
If that happens, he may yet be removed from office.
2
Media and the Democrats are so over the top most all the time, day and day out, and have trying to undo the election Clinton won. True. So the reason that Republicans have trouble voting for to impeach or to censure is for all this over the top. Put any Republican alone and he/she will tell you it is not ok to fire your FBI Director (breaking long established norms) or use an office to investigate your political rival.
2
As pointed out by Carl Bernstein and Laurence Tribe the famous letter from the president to Ukraine amounted to bribery and extortion. The call was witnessed by several listeners. Trumps transcription of that call removed the evidence of extortion. This is analogous to Nixon´s erasing the part of the critical tape which established his Watergate
connections. These analogous actions should be handled similarly.
3
Exactly what is the precidence for saying that impeachment only works if there's a bipartisan groundswell?
This one hasn't even started yet.
Clinton's was just a cynical political ploy.
Nixon's was an obvious crime. Forget the politics.
Johnson's almost worked completely.
I'm tired of politicians who operate based upon their claravoiance or mastery over political science. That's the essence of a failed nation.
Do what's right, what's legal, and let the chips fall where they may.
He should be removed regardless of the politics.
Impeachment is not, regardless of what the press says on TV, purely a political process. It requires judgement by congresspeople who are not used to being judges or jury, but it is a criminal proceeding, not a polical one, even though the only possible punishment is removal from office.
If it were purely political, every president with an opposing House would be impeached. That would be the sign of a failed nation if I ever saw it. This is the problem with electing representatives who are lawyers: they think they can make an argument for anything even if it is clearly wrong and against the law.
1
Clinton committed a felony by lying to a grand jury.
Impeachment is the ends to the means. It will not remove Trump from office but it will show that the GOP values party over country. If we can elect a Democrat in 2020 along with a Democratic majority in both houses, we can undo all the harm that has been done to our country for the past 6 years and before. Most done by the GOP when they had a majority in both houses and now the Executive branch and Judicial branch. The focus while there is Impeachment proceedings is to vote the GOP out. We can never do this completely but a majority can fix some of the damage that has occurred.
Senate and House majority is as important as the Executive branch, we will never get the majority back in the Supreme Court until Thomas is out. I believe in the importance of looking at all branches of Government and not just the Executive.
Goal: VOTE GOP out!
3
A senate vote on impeachment in winter 2019-2020 is just the first vote—to be followed in November 2020 by a vote of the American electorate whether to stick with the demoralized Republican Party in the White House, regardless of who their candidate is.
3
I am a progressive Democrat, I would without hesitation demand impeachment against any corrupt president. Tolerance is beyond corrosive.
3
"In red states, it never comes up; ask people in red states if they’ve been talking about it with their friends, they shrug and reply no, not really."
The conservative agenda of dumbing down America is paying off.
5
Brooks ask the question what would Democrats do if the shoe was on the other Foot? We could ask former senator Al Franken that question because what it tells us is that the democrats would act differently. As to the forgotten populations, it seems inconsistent that the very folks who want government out of their lives are feeling left behind .
Brooks wrote this passage:
Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict?
That's a misleading question. What he's implying is that the Democrats in favor of impeaching Trump are morally equivalent to to "Trump-style Republicans". The latter group, Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell etc... have abdicated any moral legitimacy. If the question were:
If John McCain and people of his ilk were trying to impeach a Democratic President, I'd have to give it serious consideration.
And frankly: can anyone imagine Warren, Biden or Sanders seeking aid in their election bid from the government of an Eastern European country? That's just not who they are. But it is who the Republicans have become.
4
Based on what I see and hear from my neighbors, my barber, my cleaning lady, and even from my friends, here in the middle of the country, Democrats don’t stand a chance of ever convincing anyone but a very slim minority that impeachment is warranted.
The alternate reality of Limbaugh, Fox News, et-al is now in the DNA of most, firmly entrenched.
As recently as this morning, our cleaning lady, a nice, polite, hard-working lady with whom we chat a lot, including sometimes about politics, told us in response to our question about her thoughts on this impeachment matter that she saw nothing wrong about the president wanting to investigate corruption wherever it occurs. The details of the president’s conduct were of no interest to her. We switched topic to talking about our dogs.
Impeach and move on? Forget it. It’s hopeless. Just move on would be more productive.
1
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
It depends on what they had done. But if President Sanders was accused of what President Trump is being accused of, and there was evidence that the accusation was credible, then I absolutely would vote to impeach him, even though I believe in every single one of his legislative platforms. Because the right thing to do is the right thing to do
5
For years now I have ignored all articles by David Brooks not because he is Republican and conservative, though that plays into my own prejudices. It is because I detect in him a kind of narrowness of vision (OK, I admit that is subjective) that I find not compatible in someone who has so much journalistic clout.
But then I decided to read his column this time, and once again I am deeply disappointed.
Why? Because he sees the impeachment movement by the House as essentially a waste of time (because Trump will never get convicted) when in fact it goes to the roots of whether or not our democracy will thrive or even survive under Trump.
Now I am pretty sure I will not read David Brooks again.
4
No David, Pelosi needs to proceed with impeachment to appease her base and the Squad.
3
The most chilling sentence in this article, and I feel unfortunately too true, is "this is the kind of corruption that politicians of all stripes have been doing all along". What has become of our country that our President can openly commit crimes and freely admit to them and no one cares??!! He truly could shoot someone on 5th Avenue in New York in broad daylight and no one would care or drop their support.
A very sad state of our Union.
3
I would suggest that progressives would have put country first unlike the GOP who has buried their heads in the sand for the last 2 years.
6
This is just cynicism dressed up as pragmatism. The hyper-partisan climate can make doing the right thing challenging. Sometimes it can even feel futile. But that doesn't justify capitulation to the dangerously divisive and destructive actions of this president and his enablers. Neither does the fact that large numbers of people in this country aren't paying attention to and/or don't care about impeachment. Not only is impeachment not a distraction from the "assumption of decline" that so many Americans feel, it goes to the heart of it. To accept Donald Trump's wrecking ball of lies, racism, corruption, conspiracy peddling, and rampant disregard for baseline norms of civility and respect is to throw in the towel on America's future. As Trump himself might tweet, Sad.
5
This Pandora's box of using impeachment to thwart the election of victorious opposing parties should have never been opened in the first place, but it is fully within the power of our supposedly adult elected representatives to close it now. Either political party can, as Muller suggested in his investigation's final report, choose to "criminalize" virtually anything a sitting president does that some expert claims is treasonous, a crime, or not in the general interest or ..... . And then either party can choose to criminalize and prosecute as "obstruction" whatever a president does in defending against a weekly drum beat of new impeachment accusations like barrage that has been dropped on Trump. So what Trump and republican operatives and connected groups need to do now, is openly start impeachment investigations offer rewards and bounties for negative information about Warren, Biden and any other potential Democratic nominated candidates. Then republicans should publicly announce that if a democrat is elected president that their administration will be as distracted and paralyzed as Trump's has been unless the democrats drop their Soviet show trial like impeachment attacks now. If the democrats refuse, and a democrat is elected the republicans should attack with all out impeachment efforts until finally the exhausted Marxist democratic party sues for peace and promises to stop the impeachment attack on American democracy once and for all.
"This sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline is the core issue right now. " Indeed - who is fixing the problems of the (alleged) Trump base - no jobs, can't get by if they have a job, bankrupting medical bills regardless of insurance, victimized health providers, preyed on by police? Of course they want things disrupted. Censure is better - send the message that stuff that matters to the base matters in government - and move on!
This cynical and grudging article shows David's attempt to be on the right side of things, but also reflects how difficult it is for a conservative like him to honestly admit when their side is so obviously wrong.
As Mulvaney would say "get over it". This impeachment process is going to go forward, as it should, and one can either endorse it with their full support, or strain to find a reason not to.
But if you don't, you know that you will be on the wrong side of history and part of the swamp - and it sounds to me like you don't like being put in that position, David.
4
The call to Zelinsky happened hours after Mueller’s testimony “cleared” the President.
If, as Brooks proposes, the House impeaches by Thanksgiving and the Senate absolves by Christmas, how soon after the new year will President Trump’s re-election campaign resume the dirty tricks? Will “third time’s the charm” convince Brooks that Trump is not worthy of the office? Or will he still put his hopes on the electorate, poisoned by the dirty tricks, snookered by Facebook’s profit driven co-conspiracy?
3
Trump is already worse than Nixon's numbers before the televised hearings start. Nixon resigned. What are we worried about?
1
Mr. Brooks being inconvenienced by the impeachment inquiry is lame. 100% of this circumstance is the fault of President Individual 1 and the voters who put him office. The democrats have nothing to with how this happened, other than suffering the scorned Bernie supporters who took their votes for Hilary and went home. They are reacting to the situation put upon them with the tools they have available. No one likes to admit when they are wrong, but to level no one is taking ownership of how wrong they were about Individual 1 is astonishing. The Constitution is a very annoying document when it prevents elections from being interfered with or opinion writers from covering other topics. Mr. Brooks, you are free to write about whatever topics you want, but providing solution free opinions about your annoyances is boring.
2
Reading Mr. Brooks is quite often like trying to catch and hold smoke: he always seems to be saying something, but I'm never sure what it is.
The main headline of the article is about "elite negligence", but there is only one line about this point at the end of the article -- and no further explanation as to what it is;
the bulk of his arguments are simply cynical swipes at Democrats exercising their constitutional duty to apply the checks that are central to keeping our Republic safe, especially in times such as these when the head of the Executive branch loves being the unchallenged despot.
3
Indeed. Then work to undo all the damage he's done.
2
" If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? "
YES, but there would not be any evidence of guilt, AND THAT'S the difference, not that it matters to Mr. Brooks.
And his glib presumption that "this is the kind of corruption that politicians of all stripes have been doing all along" is ONLY true after Citizens United, which actually ALLOWED CORRUPTION, by "dark money" from ANY source (especially foreign) to pollute and, arguably, DESTROY American trust that our elected representatives would actually carry out the will of their constituents, and not their paying benefactors.
Just look at the legislation that's been passed in the years since CU, and how much of that actually benefits American taxpayers: hardly any. Transnational corporations are robbing us blind, polluting the planet (thus killing us all), with NO pushback from Congress (most notably the Grim Reaper in the Senate). Hard times.
3
Brooks asks how I would vote, were it a President Biden and credible evidence of his guilt. I like to think we progressives would be much more circumspect than current Republicans are. Look what happens to Democrats who are credibly accused of sexual improprieties. Contrast that to Republicans. I’ve never met a Democrat who wasn’t cringing at Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
1
You want to know why impeachment is not discussed? I will tell you. It is a hot button issue like abortion, religion, death penalty. People only discuss these with those who somewhat agree with them. Why you ask? In a country armed to the teeth with all kinds of weapons and a president urging them to violence is it advisable to bring up these sorts of ideas? NO>
1
The key issue is the careless attitude toward democracy cultivated by Republicans like Brooks. When the populace of a democratic state don't care about maintaining democracy, they won't have it very long. And that's what has happened to the United States. First the Republicans dismantled the entire system of campaign finance regulations. Then they produced the highest levels of economic inequality in modern history. Finally, they elected a man who is attempting to establish an autocracy here. Making light of the phenomenon by Republicans is why the decision process doesn't work. And that's how we get notorious election results. I say wipe the slate clean. Get rid of all the NYTImes columnists. They're almost all Republicans.
1
The Democrats have been on a witch-hunt since inauguration and the public has noticed.
The fact that Trump is still standing after Obama and Biden gave Comey his marching orders, McCabe investigated and spied on him, and then Mueller put him under a microscope for two years is absolutely amazing.
To think that a low-level CIA leaker could have better luck while colluding with Schiff is rather preposterous.
1
David, don't forget 2020 is another "Flight 93" election, but this time because it's Trump who's hijacked the plane.
1
Traitors need to be caught and handled even if the general Public cannot seem to spend the time necessary to understand the complex means that the Perp used to commit the malfeasance. Yes, as a Social Liberal and Fiscal Conservative I would vote immediately for impeachment when anyone (yep, Clinton too) breaks their oaths to the U.S.A
2
If our representatives and senators simply voted in accordance with the majority of their constituents, where would we be? Evidently not in today's America.
1
I agree with impeaching and moving on. Getting the political engine back on course to address anything important is at least 20 years out.
To me, impeachment is a necessity because of the intent of Trump’s corrupt behavior: to influence the 2020 election. If he remains, how can one have any confidence that he won’t continue to abuse power to undermine the election? Given his past behavior, could the result ever be considered credible if he wins? In the long run, tolerance of this sort of behavior is a promotes a positive feedback loop that guarantees the end of democracy.
2
God bless America, even in its decline. For more years of Trump and that's it. Only youth can save the country.
1
David-
It's real simple. The evidence is in, the matter is clear that trump has committed the offenses leading to his impeachment.
Regardless of polls and partisan politics, the central question is a) Who will keep their oath of office and defend our constitution and execute their duties to protect our democracy against a lawless autocrat and who will not? b) If not what will the American public do in response?
It's no more difficult than that.
3
This extreme level of partisan division is the main reason Republicans are trying to ram through as many hard right judges as possible. They want judicial cover if political rolls reverse, especially as demographics change the nation. If RBG or Breyer were to become unable to continue before 2020, the GOP would faint in ecstasy over getting another hard right Federalist Society judge to SCOTUS, and if BOTH of them left, it would be game over for many civil rights, environmental protections, worker protections, etc etc etc. The party of corporate/wealth power want their judicial ideologues to keep their preferences dominant, regardless of impeachment outcome.
4
So this grim take on Trump impeachment gets us to the bottom line: Is there any real commitment to an ethical. moral, and legal government in the USA or will we continue to wander in the fog of distrust and disillusion until our government lives up to the WORST we expect it to be?
2
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
I'm not a progressive. nor am I a liberal, nor do I think of myself
as an elite, a term that Mr. Brooks throws around whenever he
is seized by verbal dyspepsia. But, to his question, even so: yes. I don't even like Biden, or Warren, or Sanders, but I will gladly campaign for any of them because they all are good people, not monsters; and if they stepped afoul of the law, throw them in jail. I do hope Mr. Brooks stops with the pushiness..
2
The Democrats are geniuses when it comes to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They proved that in 2016.
If they had any change in their strategy, for the better that is , then they would impeach Trump towards the very end of 2020, just before the elections.
The current Senate will not convict. The next Senate might if it flips. But the impeachment process, with the light shining on Trump's illegal activities, if there are any that is, may change the minds of those voters who are currently inclined to vote for Trump.
I am one of them. As long as I am doing well financially and as long as see no evidence that Trump has violated the law egregiously I will vote for him.
But that can change if the Democrats prove otherwise.
I am not hopeful.
2
"... Progressives, let me ask ... If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a Pres ... Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly. ..."
Not appropriate - and grossly unfair - for the usually estimable Mr Brooks to imply that Progressives need to be chided to answer honestly AND that they would vote to convict.
And that they would answer without being told what is the burden of proof and whether the evidence met that burden.
To not follow through with the impeachment process, is to be complicit, regardless of one's political persuasion. And regardless of the outcome, it's why we're a democracy and why we don't just "move on."
3
There he goes again, putting the blame and burden on Democrats. ' If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict?" First 'Trump-style Republicans' are not anywhere near the same as 'Pelosi-style Democrats'. Which fo those two groups are the radicals with little concern for acts and truth?
Second, impeach for *what*? For Trump-style offenses? Can you imagine Sanders or Warren committing those? If they did, a lot of Democrats *would* be backing impeachment. As for the rest, it's quite cynical for a newly 'spiritual' pundit like yourself to be saying, well, look, you Democrats are doing the right thing but since everyone in Dinerville USA is in denial about Trump's awfulness, you shouldn't make a fuss. Is that what Jesus would do?
3
It appears that a LOT of Americans can be bought, even if it's using over $1 trillion/year of borrowed money.
4
So these Republican legislators "know in their hearts that Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses....they slag the White House off the record." Do they have no obligation to lead, educate their constituents, enforce the Constitution, promote national security, uphold standards of decency and national values? All that and more would be accomplished if they expressed what is in their hearts, not off the record but on the record--in the form of a detailed trial and conviction in the Senate.
7
Do you really have to ask if progressives would do the same if the shoe was on the other foot and a Democratic president were obviously guilty of corruption or subversion of the Constitution? They'd probably be all too quick to do it -- look at what happened to Al Franken, on the basis of only accusation, without any chance at a hearing of his side of the story. Spare me the false equivalences.
I say false equivalance because there is a deal of difference between Trump and the Democrats you mention. Trump has been involved in various forms of corruption and at least borderline illegal behavior for his whole professional life. That's not at all true of the Democrats you mention; it's very difficult for me to imagine any of them strong-arming a foreign ally to dig up dirt on an opposing candidate.
4
DAVID...Perhaps, all of this is collateral damage to Trump. However, the ultimate basic fact is that he is anything but honorable, competent, intelligent, psychologically fit, ethical. nor in any way able to function as the leader of a republic.
I have the greatest respect for you, and your otherwise perceptive opinions. As simplistic as the laudatory phrase goes, you are - unquestionably - my most esteemed columnist, reporter, political "ombudsman." With the major exception being this offering.
mario
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
The answer is unequivocally YES, because that's how our democracy and constitution are meant to work! I absolutely, positively must answer yes to this question, otherwise, everything that the Trump administration has been trying to tear down since day one will be accomplished. This is a terribly cynical paragraph, Brooks.
5
"In red states, it never comes up; ask people in red states if they’ve been talking about it with their friends, they shrug and reply no, not really."
Doesn't that concern you Mr. Brooks?
When you hear that from them, do you remind them of the risks this man poses to our Democracy? Do you ask them what news sources they rely on? My guess is Fox. If they were to watch PBS, NBC CBS or any other mainstream news provider, they might know truth, not the viscous lies and distortions that Fox feeds their watchers.
Or, they are subject to focused and surgically crafted FB news feeds that keep them believing that this is all just a bunch of noise and Dems are just power hungry.
You seem to present the current situation regarding their attitude as something that we just have to accept because well, what are you going to do?
"Just Move On"is unacceptable and irresponsible advice.
DEFEND your Democracy sir instead of telling people to roll over.
Democrats are doing their job for the people. They ware defending the Constitution.
They are making sure that ALL the voters know just how corrupt he and the R's are, and that they are paving the way to authoritarianism. Dem's aren't lying down and letting our Democracy die. They are providing information clearly and truthfully so that is unassailable to lies and distortion. Patriots are stepping up.
DT's complicit defenders can only howl and lie and use Fox and FB to keep people drinking toxic hate.
No sir. I will not "Move On"
9
So, we're supposed to do a sham trial and then just move on because "Everybody's doing it"? Is this seriously your argument? No. The only way to stop this degradation of integrity is to punish those who have none.
4
Mr. Brooks, you are one of the few conservatives I actually give the time of day. You do not wear cynicism very well. Trump won because there was not enough enthusiasm for Hillary. Everyone thought she was going to win anyway because who would be crazy enough to hand the presidency to a reality tv star?! Well now, people know just how crazy their neighbors are and will now stay home. We as a nation can not endure this lunacy for another 4 years. Impeachment is just the icing on the cake.
4
It's so obvious.
They dragged out the bogus Mueller Investigation and were able to win the House.
Now they think Impeachment will get them the White House.
Dear Dave; I hate to break this to you, but you're wrong. This is not elitist neglect. This entire process strikes at the heart of who Americans are. If the rule of law only applies to the least among us, then we as a country are on the fast train to becoming the Soviet Union. Maybe the folks in the middle of the country need to wake up. For as of right now the next time I need to file taxes seems like honesty is no longer needed. If my office receives a subpoena for medical records it seems only fair that I can disregard the request. If lying, cheating and steeling is to become the rule of the land then let it be so. But it will do it without me and my family.
5
I have to agree with Mr. Brooks. For me, after almost three years of hearing one thing or another aimed against Trump only to find out that the facts simply don't support the underlying charges, I have a certain "corruption-fatigue." I'm tired of hearing about it. It's not why I want my Congressman to do right now. This is not the issue that lights a fire under me. And I dare say, purely from anecdotal evidence, that the majority of Americans feel the same way.
3
I read the Bruenig article when it was published. You must remember that many evangelicals follow the old-time religion and live in deep red states for which quality of life indicators rank in the bottom five of all the states. No exactly an inducement for contentment of any kind.
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
That you even ask this question smacks of false equivalency, and making that argument ignores the severity of the problem we currently face. Trump admittedly was trying to steal the next election using the resources of our government, even if he did or did nor steal the last one. To allow this to continue, or minimize the severity of this is to undermine our constitution and our democracy. I do not want our elections to become like those in Russia, or any other authoritarian country. Impeaching Trump (and Pence, Barr, Pompeo, and Perry) is a good start, but we have a long way to go to perfect our union, and restore the integrity of our elections.
5
I don't see how Pelosi could let Trump and his White House continue to stonewall Congress. She had to impeach him or Congress becomes a branch of government future presidents could flout with impunity. Trump left her no choice.
The other aspect of this is that America is undergoing tremendous change as population shifts take place and traditional values are replaced with more open, more accepting views of what is normal. This is hard for the red state crowd to swallow but these changes will continue. Add to that the trend that young people are no longer hewing toward any particular religious affiliation, traditional mainline and evangelical religious influence weakens with each generation. As a consequence every election in the future will soften religious political power.
America is not in a very good place right now. We are in a slow transition to a new society. Trump and his legions want a return to the past, they want an America that is primarily a white male run polity with no room for the rest of the world. That can no longer be. A stubborn resistance to change on the part of Trump and his supporters ignores the reality of the need for compromise and a sharing of power. The future is not with the Republican Party as it is currently constituted and there is no one in the GOP that will accept that. They are on the wrong side of history, swimming against the tide of change.
3
I try to understand why none of the republicans voted for impeachment of Trump for inviting foreign government to influence the coming election. May be in their mind, the republicans think US policy is often meddling other countries internal affairs or even supplanted the democratic elected president and replaced one that was more favorable to US ( like Pinochett in Chile ). So, why President Trump's action is illegal in doing that ?
Just like his acting White House Chief of Staff said, " Just get over it", " They do it all the time ". Or. Timothy Morrison testified yesterday in Congress said that, " I confirm the conversation in the phone call, "I do not see any illegality ".
May be this is the dilemma or hypocrisy that we should be focused on.
1
To defend, in "an age of cynicism, exhaustion, and distrust," the integrity of our "nation's governmental structure and constitutional values,” at great political risk and against great odds, is not to distract from, but to righteously fight against national decline.
And if, by elite negligence, you mean a failure of moral imagination by jaded members of the Fourth Estate who resign themselves to the "fundamental reality" of American indifference in the face of "overwhelming" evidence; who use the power of their pen to urge Democrats against the quixotic hope of restoring institutional "trust and legitimacy" in our democracy, then I would agree.
But as a famed nemesis of moral relativism and author of 'Moral Compass' once wrote:
“A president whose character manifests itself in patterns of reckless personal conduct, deceit, abuse of power, and contempt for the rule of law cannot be a good president.
In a self-governing and law-abiding nation, we must never allow ourselves to be lulled into passive disgust or indifference, the civic equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders. We must never lose our sense of outrage.”
The current partisan warfare is a fight against corruption, not a symptom of it. Conservatives may have replaced "morning in America" and "shining city on a hill" with "American Carnage," but Democrats must keep fighting the good fight.
5
The issue of impeachment is really about our policy towards Ukraine. One side wants to send lethal weapons and poke a finger in Russia's eye, the other side thinks Ukraine is so corrupt that we should not be wasting money trying to stop the country from complete collapse due to the corruption which invades every aspect of life.
I am one who believe Trump did nothing wrong. After all the US constantly asks countries (or rather dictates to countries) what they must do to get American Aid. We know that an aura of sleaze hangs over Biden and his son for actions/deals in Ukraine and China.
So impeachment is really about US Foreign Policy towards Ukraine. Trump wants to change the policy and not help Ukraine, other think not offering lethal weapons breaches US policy ( although I question whether there is any deep thinking about the policy - remember Obama would not send lethal aid).
Obama had the better policy and we should return to it. No one thinks that no matter how much lethal aid is sent, that Ukraine can defeat Russia in a war. As Putin said - if I want to I can be in Kiev in 2 days. No matter what we give Ukraine, Russia can always send better weapons to their supporters.
Knowing this isn't it time to change the policy in Ukraine instead of running impeachment distraction.
Except, President Trump has already sent lethal aid to Ukraine, and was holding up $391 million in congressionally authorized aid until the Ukrainian government did him a favor. That’s criminal behavior on multiple levels, and should result in impeachment. If Republican Senators don’t put loyalty to Country above fealty to Trump, maybe their constituents will vote displeasure in November 2020, and maybe they will be jes’ fine.
2
After multiple Republicans defenses of Trump have been shown to be bunk we're near the end ... "OK, he did all this but these aren't impeachable" (coupled with "he did it in the open, can't be impeachable" and "nothing came of it, no results so not impeachable").
The last "defense" from someone honest would be amusing ... "OK, he did this and it is impeachable but we're in power and we're not kicking him out of office. The voters elected him, let them decide."
Trump's actions are like a Greek tragedy only most Greek tragedies don't feature a character quite as flawed.
Interesting to see Mr. Brooks point-of-view evolving in the past few weeks - from "I don't see it", to "it could happen". That in itself is a sign that enough is enough.
Mr. Brooks, I can't wrap my head around your simplistic reasoning. You portray as if the entire Congress is talking about nothing else and neglecting other bread-and-butter issues that ordinary Americans, as well as the country, are faced with. Sure a few House committees are focusing on the impeachment inquiry and due formal proceedings, as designated by the House. In the meanwhile, in my understanding, the other members of the Congress are working on addressing the core issues and solving critical problems, diligently and quietly. If they are not, they are neglecting their constitutional duty.
1
So "elite negligence in the face of national decline" is THE core issue? While Democrats are not all blameless on this issue, we can clearly place most of the decline on Republican political elites (Trump, the Senate majority, until January 2019 the House majority), Republican intellectual elites (Fox "News", Limbaugh, etc - in the GOP people like Brooks and Will are no longer elite, but fringe) and above all the Republican money elite (eg the Koch family).
To me there are other major issues but Brooks can work on the one he has chosen.
1
What is so frustrating about this turn of events is by now, except for Trump's base, the general public knows Trump did what the transcripts say it did---correction, his base knows the same thing. Trump wears dishonesty on his sleeve. If allowed to walk on these charges, Trump has literally shot someone on main street---the someone is the U.S. constitution---and got away with it. What then is next??? The institutional guardrails we now have are broken, but they are still in place. What will the next year or four years look like without any guardrails, none...
432
@Amanda Jones The guardrail is for the Democrats to find a candidate that is more likable than Trump. That's it. It should be their true focus. If they can do this, impeachment, though warranted, become essentially moot. Can they be trusted to accomplish what appears to be a very simple mission? For the love of God, just find a candidate more likable than the most unlikable President ever.
24
@Spiral Architect I disagree. It must be made clear that this sort of behavior in the White House is wrong and should not be tolerated. If the president breaks the law, he must not be allowed to just walk away. Trump and his enablers must be held responsible.
30
@bustersgirl
I'm sure you're right. I'm sure an endless cycle of payback for eternity, in which the adversaries in the binary American system take turns holding the other responsible for defined misdeeds, is much preferable to actually growing up and breaking that cycle by NOT playing into it.
Unless, of course, you think successfully sanctioning Trump in Congress this time will chasten the Republicans once and for all, and we can relax forevermore?
3
Another brilliant analysis by Mr Brooks. It can't be spelled out any better than this.
And then to see it (and him) vilified in the Comments. So discouraging.
1
Still gotta beat peace and prosperity.
Conviction in the Senate would be more likely if people like David Brooks were brave enough to write articles about why Trump should be removed from office instead of articles that claim efforts to remove him will fail.
3
I would have more respect for Democrats and more likely to believe they REALLY care about the Constitution, however, Democrats (mostly the uber-crazies like Maxine Waters) have been talking about impeaching Trump since he was elected back in 2016! So I, as an Independent, am supposed to believe that they have no agenda here?
Adam Schiff says he derives no pleasure from this process, but he insisted time and time again during the Mueller investigation that he himself had actual proof that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians. He, of course, never offered the American people any proof whatsoever. We were just supposed to accept that he had this proof and move on.
Now, a Whistleblower (without a name except he/she does have a name that has been revealed but is being guarded (sort of). He was not on the call but had details about the call. Where did he get these details? Who leaked it to him? Isn't that a crime? And Schiff (and or his staff) interviewed the "Whistleblower." How is Schiff not compromised by this? So his decision to not even put this in front of Conress for a hearing is certainly understandable but kind of shady.
The Democrats have talked about impeaching Trump before he took office. This by itself makes this whole thing highly suspect.
How about an election Democrats. How about letting the American people vote and decide. What are you afraid of? Show some guts!
1
Q: "Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict?"
The true answer: The question is moot. Progressives would convince themselves there was no evidence of guilt. MSNBC and the Time Op-Ed Page and Vox.com (etc., etc., etc.) would all be saying and writing, 24/7, that there was no evidence of guilt. We saw it with Obama - from Fast & Furious to Benghazi to Obamacare. "Nothing To See Here," they told us. "Move Along Now," they said. That will never not be the case, no matter what the actual evidence.
How convenient...let's move past the messy business of Republican elected officials ever standing up for what is right...we have bigger fish to fry! Sometimes you simply do the right thing, you don't take polls on it, you don't endlessly hand wring about future elections, and you don't make excuses for Presidential criminality. Grab a little political herd immunity and for once act as a bloc vote on principle rather than the usual political self preservation defense of the indefensible.
3
You assume, Mr. Brooks, that the 'core issue' is not corruption at the highest levels. You know, the stuff The Fox/Trump/Limbaugh/A. Jones coalition has been accusing the Clinton's of all these years.
As someone from a political family that prided itself on its public service without corrupt actions, I disagree. Corrupt leaders like Trump undermine every aspect of faith in government. They are the political cancer that brings down one democracy after another. Any deeply corrupt democracy is not a democracy (Russia), or will not be a democracy for long.
4
This tribalism that David Brooks enshrines reminds me of a divorce and how parents begin to parent differently trying to keep the loyalty or even friendship of their children. This often occurs by ignoring bad behavior rather than providing punishment, Or blaming the other parent for being too harsh .
By the way although I usually vote Democrat I absolutely would support impeachment of Any Democratic president involved in such behavior as Trump is. I actually take offense Mr. Brooks at the insinuation of automatically being a hypocrite .
2
False equivalency is the enemy of our democracy. The left and right are not simply flip sides of the same corrupt coin. I am absolutely convinced that most liberals would support the impeachment of a Democrat for the crimes of which Trump is obviously guilty. How much gerrymandering and voter suppression can be ascribed to liberals? How often do liberals resort to blatant falsehoods in political ads? And, perhaps most importantly, how often do liberals resort to racist dog whistles.
What's different about this impeachment is the presence of Fox News and conservative talk radio driving opinion, but distrust for our democratic institutions (sown by the right) is also a factor, as Brooks points out.
3
Are the folks in red states not talking about impeachment for the same reasons Republicans in the Senate aren't -- because they know the president did something wrong?
You're always advocating for American restoration to higher values, yet argue against impeaching a president who has DONE WRONG -- provably -- because his supporters can't be swayed.
That our politicians no longer defend and protect our Constitution, but instead their party, sickens me. It should sicken you too, enough to support impeaching this president AND removing him from office.
5
So, impeachment shouldn't happen because David Brooks says it isn't "interesting" enough.
While we're at it, let's just get rid of the entire Constitution....after all, only the "elites" have ever bothered to read it.
3
David Brooks made a career out of being a cheerleader for the "elite negligence" of the Republican Party, and now pretends to decry it.
Too little, too late, Mr. Brooks.
I'm a conservative who watched you do everthing you could during the Bush II years to usher in the anti-intellectual, fact-free, and donor-class-uber-alles Age of Trump. You don't get to walk away Scot-free now.
3
The only reason any reasonable person would support Trump must be because the real reason is one that can’t be spoken out loud to a pollster: racism. Trump has made it clear that he represents what America was, which is clear from his campaign slogans. His America is one dominated by white people who want to go backwards.
The thing is that there is nothing special about being white–there never was. We’re not smarter or dumber; we’re not faster or slower; we’re not harder working or lazier; we’re not anything other than human. It is only an ignorant perception tied to cultural misunderstandings rooted in a flawed history.
It’s time we stop talking about white privilege, because that suggests there is something special about being white. We deserve no privilege, yet we shouldn’t be discriminated against. It simply shouldn’t matter, and, of course, it shouldn’t matter because of whatever shade anyone’s skin is.
The problem is that millions who voted with Trump fear losing some advantage they don’t truly have. Those fears are warping the coming election, and D’s need to realize none of the current candidate is a sure bet.
It’s time to draft Oprah. She is the only person who has the popular, widespread appeal that would heal our wounds.
Oprah 2020!
1
"Play the impeachment card through November, have the House vote and then move on to other things."
David: Do you mean the other things that the House passed that have been sitting on McConnell's desk just languishing while he plays puppet to strump's daily whims? The democrats HAVE been working on other things. The Republican Senate isn't working on anything else but providing cover for this corrupt president. I really don't know what "everyday" Americans you're talking to, but in this part of Texas we have closely been watching what Nancy Pelosi has been doing. I work primarily with women of color and Hispanics. We're following everything. And we all agree that impeachment is a step forward in the right direction. The Senate republicans will show their true colors soon enough and they'll either be voted out of office or shown to be the unpatriotic despots they've always been!
2
The cynicism of Mr. Brooks is both astounding and appalling. His recommendation that the Congress impeach Trump and just move on sounds eerily like Mick Mulvaney’s recommendation that we just need to “get over it.”
And, yes, Mr. Brooks, I do believe a majority of voters including Dems would support impeachment of Warren, Biden et al if they were seen as guilty of all that Trump is charged with. Criminality and the failure to abide by established norms such as not trading the welfare of our Allies for personal gain (e.g., Ukraine) are not partisan issues.
Republican senators are outright saying they don't support impeachment and will vote to dismiss it outright or vote to acquit.
Before the trial has even started.
This is equivalent to a group of jurors saying before the trial that they will vote to acquit.
What is wrong with this picture?
4
"Fourth, it’s a lot harder to do impeachment in an age of cynicism, exhaustion and distrust. During Watergate, voters trusted federal institutions and granted the impeachment process a measure of legitimacy. Today’s voters do not share that trust and will not regard an intra-Washington process as legitimate."
That is undeniable true.
But it's only true due to the eroding of that trust by relentless GOP attacks on government, which began with Reagan's supremely cynical "government is the problem" cry and Newt Gingrich's modern day scorched earth politics which simultaneously destroys it's host institutions while it bewilders, disgusts and distances it's citizen constituents from believing that they have a viable stake in it.
This isn't about "elite negligence", it's about a now full two generation abdication of responsibility and active sabotage by the GOP of the levers and machinery of our government which has resulted in the looming catastrophe we find ourselves in.
I'm curious if you might consider yourself part of this "elite negligence", although nothing I've ever read in your columns might suggest that you've ascended to that status.
3
Trump wants impeachment, akin to pushing his real estate into bankruptcy to play poker with his lenders. Gives him something to rally his base, and distract the media from more meaningful issues - and he knows Mitch McConnell has his back. Perhaps we are lucky he didn’t do something more radical than play footsie with Ukraine.
@Chuck He has done something more radical than play footsie to Ukraine... he has played patsy to Vladamir.
1
My first vote for president was for Nixon. I stuck with him and defended him through the whole impeachment, right up until the tapes came out. Then I wanted him gone. I was very proud of Goldwater and other Republicans who told him he had to resign. And I thought the Ford pardon was a terrible signal to other politicians that corruption is forgiveable.
So, yes, if I learned President Warren was witholding military aid to Israel until they gave her dirt on her opponent, and I saw or heard the actual conversation where she attempted the extortion, I'd be demanding she be impeached. You either believe in the rule of law, or you don't.
5
Mr. Brooks, you admit that Trump is guilty as charged. Supporting your Republican cronies to keep this President in office demonstrates that you have no moral compass, no conscience, and no spine to insist that our Senators do the right thing to save Americans from themselves.
Just because there are millions of Americans willing to look the other way when a President is clearly guilty of wrongdoing does not mean that our Senators should bow to their will.
We have witnessed Americans supporting and defending slavery, denying women the right to vote, trying to prevent blacks and whites from marrying, denouncing homosexuality, thwarting equal pay for equal work, and on and on it goes.....
Americans have not always been on the right side of history and this is just another example of it. You should implore Republican Senators to listen to their conscience and to do the right thing for the future of our country, and not for their own political survival.
4
Seriously, David? Let me fix your question to progressives.
"If the president, a Democrat, publicly asked a foreign government to hack opposing candidates, regularly billed the government for the use of his properties, ran an election campaign that resulted in criminal indictments for 37 of his associates, and IN ADDITION TO THAT there was something called EVIDENCE OF GUILT, would you vote to convict?"
3
If Joe Biden were Donald Trump and Hunter Biden were Eric Trump the Democrats and media would be all over the Biden/Ukraine corruption scandal just as they were for the Russia collusion hoax. There would be rumors, leaks, lies, speculations and condemnations in advance 24/7 for years. Who can blame Trump for trying bring some attention to an issue the American public has a right to know about but which the media turns a blind eye to for political reasons? And as commander in chief it is Trump's job to look into corruption so he did nothing wrong. The American public can see through these double standards.
If the republicans in the senate don't put trump in a box and soon, then what comes next? Are we going to be OK with trump sending the IRS to investigate his enemies and political rivals? What about sending the FBI to investigate your life because you went to an anti trump rally? What if he uses our tax dollars to fix his hotels and homes? I'm not joking and don't think for a minute he won't push the limits of the law right up to shooting a man of 5th Avenue like he said.
2
An interesting and probably unintended glimpse into your psyche Mr. Brooks.
I absolutely, unequivocally would support impeachment against any Democratic politician that did what Trump did.
Republicans are destroying this country but leaving someone in office that has committed these transgressions against my country would destroy it all the same.
The equivalence you present must be some defensive manifestation of your cognitive dissonance. Your Republican party is actively destroying our country and you recognize that and clearly can't deal with it.
3
David, We must never forget the corruption of this administration, blessed by AG Barr.
NO TRUST. NO HONOR. Republicans have betrayed their Oath, God, and country.
The Republicans shudder in place while Trump COMMITS CRIMES IN PLAIN SIGHT.
They FEAR the loss of Trump's endorsement and money.
VOTE THEM OUT: GONE 4 GOOD
Trump, AG Barr, MoscowMitch, Graham, Pompeo ETC
5
When Republicans talk about erosion of faith in institutions they never give themselves credit. In order to sell the idea of small government, the Republican Party engaged in a concerted effort to destroy American's trust of our government. From Reagan's "Nine most terrifying words..." to Trump's "We're no angels", the Republicans have made Americans believe their government is corrupt and needs serious overhaul to operate cleanly. The nefarious deep-state lie has now permeated law enforcement like the FBI and CIA which has been historically a conservative bastion. And there is one and only one party responsible for this so Brooks and the other conservative columnists should stop pretending otherwise.
4
If Bernie, Biden or warren was accused on the basis of reliable evidence of strong arming a foreign government to investigate a candidate Pence, you bet I would want an impeachment inquiry. On the other hand, I would not want even the despicable Trump impeached for lying about an affair
1
The most endorsed comments here speak of impeachment as if it were a constitutional sacrament, rather than the poorly-developed afterthought it was and is. Recommendation scores top out at less than 4000.
That's roughly the population of the small California town where I had the misfortune to attend and graduate from high school in the late 1960's, before escaping to Stanford.
In that town, the Vietnam War was considered to be a sacred mission, and the two classmates out of 300 who grew their hair long were banned from participation in extracurricular activities.
As sure as the vast majority in that town was that they were right, time and events eventually rendered them deluded and irrelevant. The same will happen to the dominant mindset represented here.
Brooks tries to do a remarkable thing in this column. He has essentially conceded the "progressive" analysis and narrative, but also pointed out how to avoid the pitfalls of willful "progressive" ignorance and obsession so it doesn't end in disaster for Dems in 2020.
Why would he do that? Because, his fundamental philosophical preferences aside, he sees greater danger in a second term for Trump than in a Dem victory.
Instead of welcoming him to the cause, the spit-on-the-chin holier-than-thou crowd that has hijacked this conversation tries to bury him in opprobrium.
Wake up, people! Either look at the big picture, or prepare for another four years of Trump judicial appointments and a 7-2 right wing Supreme Court.
3
Quite the reality check David. How dare you.
Ukraine-gate is but a narrow slice of Trump’s serial transgressions, betrayal, and disdain for both the Constitution and his oath of office. This single episode will not be grist for his impeachment. In effect it is Washington political theatrics in the age of hype-partisanship.
In the end the GOP controlled Senate will nullify the entire effort effectively giving Trump bragging rights about his victory.
Further the Democratic tact on a single rail approach suggests that everything else Trump has inflicted on the nation is now somehow acceptable POTUS behavior.
2
David, your message here is at odds with that of your most recent book, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life.
Would you have have us just "move on" from Trump's immorality simply because "impeachment is a distraction?" Or would you have people take a stand for what they believe in and what they see as a moral imperative? Which is it?
2
I couldn't care less about impeachment.... I still want to see Trump's tax returns, end of nepotism, end of abusing emoluments rules. Everyone I know feels this way. Does media think we've gotten over those issues???
1
You might want to add David, that cynicism, exhaustion & distrust can lead to dictatorships.
2
David, perhaps you should ask Al Franken whether Democrats look the other way regarding bad behavior within the ranks.
3
Impeachment further illustrates the weaknesses in the American system of government.
-Firstly, all representatives of the people are designed by the mega rich, oligarchs, and special interests, not the people in a democratic fashion. The US is the only country that guards as sacred, the right of the rich to purchase an election.
-Secondly, Americans have two choices, one more than a dictatorship. There is no way this does not polarize a people. Getting into power, through mega financial power, becomes more important than the best interests of the people.
-Thirdly, Americans elect a King or a Queen every four years, not a President. If that was ever more proven it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt with Trump, who sees himself above absolutely everything else.
-Fourthly, because of the limitless money available, and the choice of two options, which are essentially the same, the American voter is dumbed down, despondent, and rarely hears anything about the issues and viable methods involved in advancing or retracting programs. Trump screams from his ring under the big top that America is being invaded by millions of rapists from south of the border and his audience applauds. Sanders screams that nobody should pay for anything and his audience applauds. No people of any country in the democratic world are less informed, less interested, or less capable than the American voting public.
1
Progressive here. If there were evidence to convict a progressive president, I would vote to convict. You either have ethics or you don't.
That being said, I agree with Brooks here--I'd like efficiency on impeachment. The House will impeach; the Senate will acquit--no surprises there. Just get it done and get everyone's name on paper. That way we can use relevant information to choose who gets our vote. Other than that, we should focus on the issues. I'll personally feel a crushing weight has been lifted the day Trump leaves office--but the day after that, we'll need a plan to take care of each other and repair our democracy.
1
Trump knows there's a national decline, thus the MAGA slogan. But, he is not the solution. How do we have people realize, the national decline is because of the very people with whom Trump is stocking his swamp.
When Trump says "drain the swamp," he aims to do the opposite.
We need his backers to close their ears to his messaging for a moment, and open their eyes and see.
1
Mr. Brooks: The guiding principal in this situation is loyalty to the U.S. Constitution over loyalty to political party. The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have a duty to defend U.S. Constitution. If the facts support impeachment and removal, then so be it. This is not a pleasant situation for anyone. Do not give up easily in the face adversity.
2
A sense of decline is appropriate when you face up to climate change. Has anyone noticed that the UN says 40 million people in southern Africa are facing water shortages? Now combine that with a bunch of presumably educated, intelligent politicians who get all wide eyed and insist that we can maintain, nay, improve our middle class life style, and accept at the same time tens millions of migrants with no particular skills that we need. I'm at the point of demanding to see the elementary school math grades of all Progressive and liberal candidates; the most reasonable assumption is that they simply don't care about the future of the average American. Perhaps they want to trade in the whole population that doesn't appreciate their marvelous goodness?
Inherent in Mr. Brooks' opinions is always that smithering of protectiveness of things Republican. I find it disturbing that he plays down the significance of a nation giving in wholly to corruption that would occur with the failure to impeach Trump. This would be the end of the rule of law as we know it, unless and until Democrats can seize control and begin its reconstruction. But for Mr. Brooks, just go through this minor and ultimately pointless procedure and move on. This type of intellectualism is not part of the solution. It is part of the problem.
4
Sadly, most of what Brooks says is true, but his conviction that progressives would not say yes to impeachment for offenses as bad as Trump. I would. Of course, it's impossible to believe that anyone as course, unqualified, and generally ignorant would ever have received my support in the first place. Unlike the spiteful Trump's supporters, I would not compromise every shred of Christian, moral, or civiv virtue I possess just to spite those whose political values I do not share.
The really sad thing is you really have to wonder exactly what would it would take for these "average" voters to turn on Trump? Could he really kill someone of the White House lawn? McConnell wouldn't flinch. Could he order immigrants gassed in detention centers? His base would call it Fake News. If a lifelong public servant who witnessed the event said it was true, the spin doctors would claim he was a Never Trumper.
To me, the only real solution is to disband the United States. This is a "union" that no longer promotes or even seeks the common good.
2
It is not only the Ukraine affair that DT is impeachable on it is the betrayal of our country and its laws from the day he soiled the White House with his presence. How could these Republicans forget siding with assassin Putin over all of our intelligence agencies that protect us every minutes of our lives. They vote to declare that Putin operative have and will continue to mess in our political system and our free elections and then not support the impeachment of DT. How could they forget DT welcoming in our Oval Office with the biggest smile assassin Putin Russian Ambassador and his foreign minister with only the RussianTV, the mouthpiece of his master assassin Putin to the exclusion of every American and still don’t vote to convict. Where have the patriots gone? No Mr Brooks it is Not time to impeach and forget, it is time to impeach and convict if we ever want to save our beloved country from DT.
2
You could not be more wrong nor more cynical or looking for an easy solution to save the type of conservatism and politics you favor. Even people within the Trump administration know and have testified about what he did and the malignant impact it has on America and our national security. Because a significant portion of the population cannot yet understand the gravity of Trump's transgressions or doesn't care or have been bludgeoned into total denial as a result of non stop Fox and GOP propaganda is not excuse for inaction. THis man and his sycophants threaten our existence as a nation and a republic. He must be removed by any and all means necessary.
4
Brooks is yet unaware of the asymmetrical corruption in DC, and that his party is the one on the wrong side of the imbalance. He’s also blissfully ignorant, as most conservatives are, of his calling out elites as a white op-ed writer for this paper.
Mediocre minds have no place in this paper, just as felons have no place in our politics. Yet we have both, and the mediocre minds want to move past the unveiling of their party’s corruption, treason, racism, sexism, stupidity, and inhumanity.
This impeachment is more popular than Brooks is aware. This also isn’t new. Brooks’s staggering ignorance of what Americans want is rooted in this own elitist bubble. Recent polls show support for impeachment hovering higher than Trump’s approval rating. The Washington Nationals fans’ heckling of Trump is what the non-Trump supporter (a majority in the country) should show Brooks just how reviled Trump is. When public proceeding begin, and the lies and corruption of this administration and his apologists are broadcast in real-time, this writer hopes David Brooks is never permitted to write another piece for this, or any other, newspaper.
The same goes for Ross Douthat and Bret Stephens. The stain of false equivalencies will haunt The NY Times for decades to come. In its attempt to find balance it has missed the asymmetric destruction of our democracy by one party. And this isn’t new. Any cursory reading of US history since 1965 shows that the party these writers support is vile.
5
If we can't mobilize a country around the idea that the chief executive - an opera buffa real estate hustler who was elected by a minority in a tainted election and who seems to revel in ever more ostentatious displays of contempt for the law, reason, and the real - has committed a crime, then how are we supposed to rally the people around the vague notion of battling "elites" responsible for the gloomy sense of general degringolade that pervades the country?
This strikes me as a version of making the perfect the enemy of the good.
I think we can all admit that busting a single thief won't spell the end of crime - but putting our faith in an ill-defined spiritual/civic that transforms the perishing Republic into a Democracy of Angels seems like an even less likely plan end corruption.
Corruption stops when it is too risky a strategy to follow. To make it so, you must prosecute corruption where you find it.
By all means, let's try to build a better country. But, in the meantime, let's pursue justice where justice is due.
3
You might want to look at the most recent polling out of Pennsylvania.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/president-trump-impeachment-inquiry-pennsylvania-voters-franklin-marshall-college-poll-20191031.html
Brooks says continued investigation and hearings will likely not affect public opinion, but then cites statistics that demonstrate how many people are still unaware of the impeachment allegations. More attention will equal more support to impeach.
3
Whoa! Brooks is pretty spot on today. Caught me by surprise. Impeachment must happen, simply out of duty. But let's get past it, and Pelosi seems to see this. But the Democrats don't need to move to the right to get Brooks to the voting booth, it's fine if he just stays home. Because what he does not see is that the Progressives (Socialists!) are the only ones with any ideas to get us out of our current malaise.
The problem is not elite negligence, the problem is the electorate. In survey after survey public support for Congress keeps dropping, but in election after election around 90% of incumbents are re-elected. If people don't like how things are being governed, they need to elect new people to office. (The assumption being that the electorate is informed - knows enough about how government works, public policy, and how representatives are actually voting to make an informed choice. Unfortunately, there is little evidence of that.)
Mr. Brook's column bothers me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is his statement, "I get that the Democrats feel they have to proceed with impeachment to protect the Constitution and the rule of law". It's as if the Constitution and the rule of law are just "things" that are in the way of more important matters - "elite negligence and national decline".
Secondly, the almost scolding, "Stop distracting from the core issue, elite negligence and national decline" is hard to swallow. Right now, the core issue seems to be asking a foreign government for dirt on a political opponent.
That said, it's disheartening that the more Americans don't seem interested. I read Scott Jennings CNN.com column. I consider Mr. Jennings to be very intelligent and even-tempered, yet even he operates under the premise that the Democrats are abusing the Constitution to "satisfy political passions" - in essence, to try and "nullify the election results".
So, the bar has again been lowered so that we are supposed to accept foreign interference in our elections - solicited by our President. Let's get this pesky Impeachment thing out of the way. It's like a mosquito to David. Swat it and move on.
3
Back during the Clinton impeachment, our Rep was a centrist R. Yes, when they existed.
He held a town hall, because he was really torn. Clinton was obviously guilty. But was this really impeachable conduct? It was a matter of conscience to him.
He held a town hall. Several hundred showed up. It was nationally televised on CNN. Probably 30 different people got their chance in front of the mic. He let them all state their POV. And he responded back, generally exposing his own dilemma - the workings of his reasoning, and why he was on the fence, both ways. No shouting, no boos allowed, either side.
Can anyone imagine their Rep doing such a thing today? As the Republican party defined itself to be the home for racism, sexism and homophobia, my own ticket splits moved to Dems.
He voted to impeach. I disagreed. But I kept voting for Chris Shays, though I disagreed with him on a lot of policies, for 4 more cycles, until he finally was ousted. Why? Because he had proven his conscience. He acted like a thoughtful patriot. I could trust to really use his best judgement to arrive at his votes.
The three most impressive players in all of the Play Of Donald are Jeff Sessions, Richard Burr and Mark Warner. Why? Because they agreed to act like patriots, follow facts, and arrive at conclusions for the good of the country. All three did their jobs. Two I disagree with, hard, on policy. But I trust their patriotism.
It shouldn't be remarkably rare. But it is.
5
The Constitution and the rule of law are not games.
Impeachment is not a card to play in a game.
Impeachment is not a dull noise any more than are Supreme Court nominations.
Impeachment is not a distraction. (The real distractions are coming from Mr. Brooks and the Republicans and the president.
All voters are important, not just the ones in swing states.
The Senate Impeachment trial of a President is not a matter to be quickly disposed of.
An opinion piece from a self-proclaimed moderate that encourages less citizenship, that refuses to engage citizen readers to defend *their*constitution, and that seeks not to educate voters and constituents wherever in the country they live and whatever their political stripe, is not worth reading.
4
There is zero chance that 20 Republican senators will vote to remove this president. Zero. This will be there final line of defense: "I don't really approve of what the president did, but we will have an election in less than a year, and I don't want to take away the voters' right to decide." (Of course that's just a sorry excuse for their real motivation: fear of losing their seat because of a primary challenge if they vote to remove.)
Look at the bright side: the country isn't really that polarized. Democrats and Republicans would agree that a president who took the actions Trump is accused of should be removed from office..................if a Democrat did it.
5
The Ukraine malfeasance is troubling. It came to light because one man took a very risky step, even while many more also knew about it. What is also worrisome is that other foreign affairs shenanigans may not have seen the light of day.
2
"I’ve been traveling pretty constantly since this impeachment thing got going."
It is not unusual to hear on television talk shows "Is that really a thing" and "I didn't know that was a thing" meaning that a topic has risen to a certain level of public attention warranting its being noted and perhaps discussed.
Respectfully, and understanding well that language evolves, Mr Brooks ought not be using the category thing for Mr Trump's potential impeachment.
David, you miss the point about this entire mess. Yes, we want to move on but we want to move on correctly. If we don't keep to our principles than who are we?
Also, you're asking Progressives a question: "let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
Ask Republicans the same question. I have a sense they will answer you honestly with a YES.
2
David, are you one of those people who is so afraid of change he would elect to remain in a burning building unable to cope with a change in venue? Those 20 votes may very well materialize when after hearing what the witnesses that have testified behind closed doors say in public testimony, 65% of the electorate swings in favor of impeachment and removal. That's what happened in 1974 when a smaller portion of the electorate was in favor of impeachment when the process started only to shift and drag the recalcitrant Senate Republicans of the day along for the ride.
4
Love and fear affairs are a dangerous thing in politics. Both lead us astray. We'll always need leadership of some kind but we'll only mature when we see our leaders as human and capable of good and bad judgments just as ourselves.
One can only hope that the left of the spectrum will be matured by our current experience. Let's hope the lesson sticks for more than one generation.
The Democrats are finally being the adults in the room. Adults that this country needs regardless of:
"Many Americans don’t care about impeachment because they take it as a given that this is the kind of corruption that politicians of all stripes have been doing all along. Many don’t care because it looks like the same partisan warfare that’s been going on forever, just with a different name."
Americans need to WAKE UP and be adults now too.
3
If Republican senators vote against removing Trump despite clear evidence of corruption and crimes, doesn’t that confirm the public’s assumption that all politicians are corrupt? If our elected leaders can’t be bothered to stand up for the rule of law, the US is no better than countries that accept corruption as the norm.
7
Yes, "move on" after impeachment to throw out of office all Republicans who refused to stand up to Trump's blatant abuse of the powers of his office. Then we will truly be able to "get things done" without McConnell, the Grim Reaper, standing in the way.
3
Unfortunately, the real problem, which David Brooks won't acknowledge, it that the Republican Party is corrupt from top to bottom, and is living on borrowed time.
7
I don't think Brooks gets it, maybe it is because he spends so much time looking at those BIG pictures.
There is only one hyper partisan political party--Republicans. Republicans are hemoraging adherents--they are fleeing to the growing Independents. 88% of Registered Republicans is not a very large group of people compared to Independents and Democrats.
Republicans are the obstructionists, never willing to work on legislation with any awareness of compromise of solution. For 10 months the Senate has refused to consider legislation passed by the house. There are NO counter proposals. No joint studies to work out. Nada.
So, yeah, it is up to the Democrats, the party of majorities of women, suburbs and college educated to try and rescue the Country and Constitution from DJT AND the Rump Republican party.
There is no both sides here, NONE. Clinton was impeached for lying about sex, by a crowd of serial adulterers who had to work their way through multiple Speakers of the House to get to someone who didn't have philandering in his past. So yeah, I felt pretty angry that the clown car pursued the matter all the way to the Senate.
DJT has committed venal and obvious abuses of power truly worthy of impeachment under every auspice of Constitutional law and interpretation. Have you read Hamilton's commentaries recently.
There is no both sides, there are the good, honest, moral professionals and corrupt, power hungry losers here. Make your choice and live with that history.
3
Trump has powerful allies - McConnell, Graham, the Department of Justice, Facebook, the NRA, Putin, Fox News, the entire Republican Party.
On the other side - Tom Steyer, Rosie O’Donnell, Fake News, Adam Schiff, George Conway.
And the outcome of our next election to be decided by that mass of low-information voters.
I’m not liking the odds that American democracy survives.
David, I can not fathom Biden, Warren, Sanders or ANY of the democratic candidates eviscerating the Constitution as TRUMP has, so your preposterous supposition can't be contemplated.
4
Elite negligence is conservative pundits pretending D is just a reversed R and we'll be fine as long as people are polite.
Would Dems impeach a president who they thought was guilty? There's no reason to assume they wouldn't. They tend to argue in good faith, criticize one another, and vote differently. Republicans do not argue in bad faith, refuse to hold one another accountable (even in the case of Roy Moore's child molestation), and all vote the same.
D is a letter which stands for a political party. The letter R seems to stand for mindlessness.
3
"The evidence against Trump is overwhelming. This Ukraine quid pro quo wasn’t just a single reckless phone call. It was a multiprong several-month campaign to use the levers of American power to destroy a political rival.
Republican legislators are being bludgeoned with this truth in testimony after testimony. They know in their hearts that Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses. It’s evident in the way they stare glumly at their desks during hearings; the way they flee reporters seeking comment; the way they slag the White House off the record. It’ll be hard for them to vote to acquit if they can’t even come up with a non-ludicrous rationale."
So, why isn't the balance of your space dedicated to chastising Republicans for 1) valuing their political power over their oaths to the constitution, and 2) their willingness to allow the basis of this democracy to be degraded and possibly fatally damaged?
6
David Brooks doesn't want to understand that the old "Nothing to see here, move along folks" command is a non-starter.
One. Prioritizing Republican opposition, swing states, future polling, cynicism, and depression OVER THE SUNLIGHT TO SEE --- is running away from the fact that The People have 2 very different versions of what Giuliani-Co has been up to.
Two. These subtler ways to lay-down some smoke also contribute to The Hoax / Witch Hunt Soliloquy.
Three. Congress vetting "the perfect call" dispels the fog now and will continue to cut through the North Korean-style praise of Dear Leader's "genius".
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/10/john-kelly-trump-impeachment-stephanie-grisham/amp
Four. The same Party Patriots who said nothing (when Oathbreaker announced the heist of Scalia's seat HOURS AFTER HIS DEATH) are going to get the attention that The People deserve to see.
Five. The President-Most-Unsuited-To-Lead will have his climbing stalled by a waterfall of OTHER VERSION.
1
Democrats allege Trump violated the Federal Election Campaign Act during a July phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. Trump said, “There's a lot of talk about Biden's son—that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that. So whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great.”
Trump asked Zelensky to reopen a discontinued investigation and share information with the U.S. attorney general. Zelensky readily agreed. “On top of that,” Zelensky said, “I would kindly ask you if you have any additional information that you can provide to μs, it would be very helpful for the investigation." Zelensky has repeatedly say there was no pressure or blackmail. He also says he was unaware at the time of the phone call that Trump had placed a hold on military aid. (Ambassador Taylor testified Ukrainian diplomats first learned about the hold on August 28 when Politico published an article about it. That was more than a month after the phone call.)
Trump, in effect, asked Ukraine to comply with the Treaty With Ukrainian on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, which requires the United States and Ukraine to assist each other in the conduct of criminal investigations. In September, the Justice Department investigated the July phone call and determined there was no FECA violation.
At what point did DOJ initiate a criminal investigation of either Biden for conduct in Ukraine?
Answer? Never. That would would be requisite for cooperation on criminal matters, do you think?
DOJ’s ex post facto criminal investigation of it’s own Russian interference investigation is a political hitjob on career DOJ officials.
Spinning conspiracies is so much more fun than being accountable. That’s why Republicans engage in it.
3
Go for it, @William Case. Trump Puppet Barr can go investigate the connection between the Kushner visit to MBS, the blockade of Qatar, and the cash-upfront 99-year lease on his 666 5th Avenue loan-coming-due albatross.
Or maybe financier-donor Thomas Barrack will give an encore performance on The Trump Family at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
The Don also said "No quid pro quo" or don't you know, @William Case, that strong-arm tactics can be going-on outside your cherry-picked sentences?
From Politico:
(Hotelier-donor) Sondland testified that “neither Ambassador Bolton, Dr. Hill, nor anyone else in the NSC staff ever expressed any concerns to me about our efforts … or any concerns that we were acting improperly,” referring to former national security adviser John Bolton and former NSC senior Russia director Fiona Hill, who gave her own testimony last week.
...
According to Vindman, that is not true. In his opening statement, Vindman wrote that he and Hill confronted Sondland on July 10 after a meeting with Ukraine's top national security official. And, according to Hill and Vindman, Bolton abruptly ended a meeting with Ukraine’s top national security official, Oleksandr Danylyuk, because he was disturbed about Sondland’s comments.
...that seemed to condition a potential White House visit for Zelensky on a promise to open Trump's desired investigations.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/news/2019/10/29/gordon-sondland-perjury-charges-061056
@William Case
Please read the post by SH (above). I think most independent thinkers would agree with it.
Zelensky is the desperate leader of a country invaded by Russia. He needs US support, so he will do whatever Trump "asks".
AG Barr is running interference for DJT. I suspect he will do jail time, if justice is served.
David, what were your thoughts when Clinton was getting impeached? Did you say that because of ennui we should just vote and get it over with and then move on? Clinton's crime was revolting, but it never came close to threatening the Constitution and enabling dictatorship. Now, we have the latter, and we need to buck up, show some spine, and do what we need to do to rectify this abominable situation before we find ourselves living in Amerika where we must all go along with a strongman and let the greedy take what they want.
3
I find it striking that Mr. Brooks seems to shrug the proverbial shoulders along with the rest of the Trump voters in being indifferent to impeaching this dangerously inept figure occupying the Oval Office.
What Brooks fails to say is these red state voters he's talking about are angry, disenfranchised, mostly poor, under-educated white people of whom Trump is their mouthpiece. In fact, I talk to Louisianians (my native state) I went to high school with who voted for this man and what I find is that they're still boiling over with anger every time I talk to them--three years after their victory, mind you. He gave voice to this bitterness and anger and that's what they voted for. So being so enmeshed, how can anyone believe they care about the rule of law or our now fragile Constitution?
What's missing in Brooks is the fact that these people are losers. They're bitter, they feel they're owed and Trump brilliantly tapped into that. Trump makes sure he keeps them close to his side by constantly holding rallies since Day One of his presidency, too. He well knows what he does to keep his voters loyal.
In 'Fire & Fury' the author points out a scene where some years ago,Trump, in a helicopter with one of his crooked, rich eastern European cronies, when asked by the rich guy's girlfriend: "What is 'White Trash'?", bluntly says: "They're people who think like me and there are millions of them. The only difference is they're poor."
2
"...but the fundamental reality is that many Americans are indifferent...impeach and move on..."
While I tend to agree with your thesis; it's still an incredibly pathetic thesis.
Moreover, we're sick and tired of the 'Big Lie' masking as 'False Equivalency' accepted by these indifferent voters.
It's not even close to equal. It's more like: 4:1 ratio.
Republican lies and corruption = 80% to Democrat's 20%.
The indifferent voter is a misnomer anyway, as most are likely indifferent non-voters.
1
What’s surprising is the false equivalence, i.e., they’re all corrupt. How can anyone compare this presidency to Obama’s and think that?
2
David,
I can't believe you actually told house members that they should have ignored DJT's 'in-your-face' attempt to bribe another country to interfere in our elections. the idiot in charge left them no choice. Your lashing out at them does not help. Perhaps he really could shoot someone on 5th ave and get away with it.
No, impeachment will not remove him from office. Everyone knows that going in. On the other hand, it will become very, very clear that he is a con man who absolutely cannot tell the truth ever.
In addition, I know of a handful of folks who voted for him, have had second thoughts for a while. This little act sealed the deal and they will vote for a D.
1
So, the Mic was right. Get over it!
David, I thought you were better than this.
2
David you have written a lot of sophistic stuff over the years, but this one is just plain ignorant.
It is so grossly manipulatied that it fails to be sophistry.
2
In politics and in life there are hard choices. This is not one of them. The Dems have no choice. Literally. To not impeach is to endorse criminal wrongdoing. To not impeach is to become part and party to the crimes.
It was painful to hear the risible nonsense trotted out by the two Dems who made that calculation. One actually said, "Well we don't want to appear too bi-partisan, do we?"
Hmm...so you know and acknowledge that *crimes* have been committed and your answer is...??? To throw your hand in with enablers and criminal to create a false sense of "balance"???? Wow. That's some really funky rationalizing.
And that's where we are. People now get away with saying patently crazy things because the man in the WH took Steve --I Want to Blow The Whole Thing Up-- Bannon's directive to heart. He now has people so screwed up they don't know if they're coming or going. It's our job to show those so dangerously confused the door. They have no place in public service if they really think it's their job to side with the criminals so the numbers look right.
3
"Impeach Trump. Then Move On."
Has David Brooks become just another Republican troll?
2
I take issue with the following, "In the first place, Democrats have not won widespread public support." Barely a month in and 55% are for Impeachment and removal. When the hearings go public, that number will only increase.
2
Republicans have been attacking trust in government since Ronald Reagan said it was the problem! His economic advisor Milton Greenspan famously said “Greed is good” And look where that has taken us. Among Other things it has created the elite that Mr. Brooks disparages as the cause of our disaffected electorate. Ms. Pelosi is an astute politician and resisted impeaching until her devoted patriot side had to deal with the naked attack on the constitution revealed by the whistle blower. As a pragmatist, I feel that the process is better avoided but as a patriot we need to support it with all that we can.
1
A Thanksgiving deadline is not reasonable because there are court cases that may open up records or force testimony. That data is pertinent to the inquiry. Gather all available data before deciding.
2
Your "evidence" is anecdotal at best. Where is the data that demonstrates any significant number of people believe that Trump's level of corruption is no different than what came before?
1
@Harlemboy that's why the public phase has begun.
Very bad things happen and many people either do not know or would not believe so unless revealed by reputable sources. We now have a corrupt person in the White House actively using our country's assets to compel assistance from enemies and allies to help his election chances.
America’s cynicism or ignorance about events does not excuse these actions nor diminish the very real threat to the future of our democracy if Congress shirks their constitutional responsibility to act as a check against such actions and help prevent recurrences.
Some may not recognize the danger of Trump's behavior, but most Senators and House members do. Certainly, the courageous professionals coming forward to testify against orders from the accused, President Trump, absolutely understand. I suspect that you do.
Perhaps if you have any concern, you might show some modicum of courage and use your column to explain the gravity of the many allegations earned by the actions of this President, and how the continued enabling of such malfeasance jeopardizes future election, future national security interests, and the future of our great nation.
In doing so, perhaps you can become part of the solution, spurring your party to act in the best interest of this nation and its future. We may not understand what is at stake, but we assume that you do.
4
“This sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline is the core issue right now. Impeachment is a distraction from that. As quickly as possible, it’s time to move on.”
“Republican legislators are being bludgeoned with this truth in testimony after testimony. They know in their hearts that Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses”
“It’ll be hard for them to vote to acquit if they can’t even come up with a non-ludicrous rationale.”
This letter is full of contradictions! The conclusions of the letter are that because Republicans outside the beltway don’t follow the news about their country and President that nobody should? What a sad comment on leadership in this country. What a sad comment on citizenship. But yet Mr. Brooks starts and ends his letter that “elite negligence “ is the main problem.... well then the elites (I assume Congressmen are elites). Should stop neglecting their job to uphold the integrity and honor of the office of Presidency.
Yes, they should impeach the President , remove him from office and move on. What is wrong with that Mr. Brooks? Why resign to failure , that Republicans will never DO THEIR DUTY ...that “they know in their hearts” is THEIR responsibility .
I do not understand your conclusions. They make NO sense. It’s like you are trying to convince me to just give up on America that there is no hope for sanity to emerge from this dark nightmare of Trumpism.
Well, sorry but we aren’t giving up!
2
David, I am trying to figure out why you and many other Americans are so glib about the essentially corrupt nature of our current president.
You said this: "Many Americans don’t care about impeachment because they take it as a given that this is the kind of corruption that politicians of all stripes have been doing all along. Many don’t care because it looks like the same partisan warfare that’s been going on forever, just with a different name."
I think you are on to something here.
The American psyche has been conditioned to accept corruption as normal; bad deeds go unpunished. We don't really expect justice because the elites are able to avoid being held to account.
Witness Bill Barr getting the Reagan officials behind the Iran-Contra outlaw event get pardons; witness the cover up of the JFK assassination; witness no CEO held to account for the fleecing of the middle class for the 2008 mortgage meltdown; witness the complete abdication by the authorities to get to the bottom of the 9/11 events; and witness Bill Barr standing in front of the camera telling the nation that Bob Mueller 'exonerated' the President of any wrong doing.
This is the real problem with our society. We have lost our moral compass because truth and justice has been warped by misinformation and lies and Americans have lost capacity to discern corruption from law abiding behavior.
3
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
No. I couldn't bring myself to say yes, and I'll tell you why. As a former brainwashed right-wing Faux News-loving fanatic, I can tell you in hindsight that there is no equivalence between the two parties. We're polarized, yes; but it's asymmetrical. The Republican Party IS the far-right. They are uncompromising fanatics. This is because, as you suggested, they believe they're locked in a war for survival (which is why they suppress votes, tell outlandish and downright insulting lies about the Dems, and make things up about voter fraud...and side with foreign hostile states over their own from the opposition party). The far-left, on the other hand, exists on a few liberal arts college campuses and Twitter. With all that in mind, I can't say I could trust the party of Trump, Nunes, and Moscow Mitch to have a scintilla of integrity. As for the Senate trial, let those cowards put their names on it, sealing their fate in the annals of history.
Let's not pretend there's an equivalence between Democrats and Republicans; the Democratic Party has its flaws, but the Republican Party is a fundamentally ANTI-DEMOCRATIC force.
8
David Brooks: To answer your question, yes I would vote to impeach Joe Biden if he had done what Donald Trump has done. We all know it is the tip of the iceberg, but one that can be proven. My father and mother, both die-hard Republicans, supported Nixon's impeachment. I have tried my best to inherit their integrity. It must be the circles your running in, but people are worried about the future is nothing new. Your cynical attitude may be projected onto the people with which you're speaking in your travels. The US is strong and we will address the problems that we face, just as we have always done, at the last minute. We will deal with climate change when there is a critical mass of the populace pushing for action. We will deal with health care costs when there is a critical mass. Both of those points are near, but we take baby steps until the masses say differently. We must protect our elections, and that has hit critical mass. The Russians interfered in the last election, and it should have been treated as what it was, an act of war. But this administration was too worried that it would be viewed as challenging Trump's legitimacy.
Now Trump is using the power of his office and taxpayers funding to defend the Ukraine, as leverage to encourage the Ukraine to interfere in our elections. I already knew Trump was a crook. To me this is about securing our elections and you can't do that when the president is bribing people with taxpayer dollars to interfere!
2
I disagree completely with Brooks. He is not taking into consideration the affects over 35 yrs, of radio presence of people like Limbaugh and more recently Hannity. Their spewing of divisive, political propaganda and brain washing of the American people, can be linked to this partisan ugly divide we are experiencing in this country.
Additionally, this divide has been aided by Mitch McConnell, a self-professed grim reaper, who since Obama was president refuses to pass any legislation brought before them by the democrats.
Even more conspiracy theories and extremist rhetoric exists with Fox News. Add to that the misinformation spread by foreign and domestic interference of bots, trolls, twitter, Facebook and more, it’s surprising that we still have any semblance of our once revered country we love.
6
I grew up on the verges of Appalachia near Cincinnati, about as Trumpian a demographic you can find. Calling these folks low information voters states the matter too kindly. These are people quick to put the blame for their own shortcomings onto someone else. They feel extremely self important and distrust anyone who is well educated and comes from the “outside”. I have little sympathy for them.
4
This is just a suspicion, but I don't hear it said very much. We now know for certain that Trump made a deal with Ukraine to get their help winning an election. So it is established that he is capable of the act.
Even though there are many, many, indications that Trump made a deal in 2015-16 with Russia to influence our election, it has been hard to prove. One of the reasons it has been hard to prove is that it just seems so unlikely. "Ok, he's not the most ethical President, but would he really do that?" Well, we know now that the is "Yes, he would do that."
For many of us, it is "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck" time. It is very, very hard to explain Trump's actions in regard to Putin and Russia without believing he was engaged in some kind of quid-pro-quo, some kind of collusion with them. We still can't prove he did it, but many of us are thinking the same thing: with all the quacking going on, there must be a duck somewhere!
2
@Charlie Calvert
You make a point that for purposes of getting a criminal conviction (even though a sitting president can't be indicted due to OLC opinion), the evidence is not there for criminal conviction. However, I think the evidence is there: check out "Proof of Collusion," by Seth Abramson, he argues there is evidence for criminal conduct and goes through painstaking detail to highlight his argument.
But, to be fair to the House impeachment investigation, they don't need to make a criminal case. If the House simply shows a civil violation of the rules of presidential conduct for all around bad behavior, then under constitutional rules, they have enough to impeach.
But, the GOP Senate is stuck on the argument (when Mueller Report was issued) that a criminal level of conduct needs to be shown; however, the GOP is disingenuous, because even with criminal conduct (shakedown of Ukraine) revealed, they now argue that though unseemly, the President's bad behavior doesn't really rise to the level to merit an impeachment conviction.
I still believe a lot of these people are taking their marching orders from the pulpits of their churches.
Their ministers have taken on the mantra that Trump has done nothing wrong and there the DEMs are making a mountain out of a molehill.
They can find a passage from the Bible in which the devil himself is exonerated for being evil.
And of course, let's not forget about the End Times theory.
There's even a minister in Florida who said if Trump is kicked out, there will be riots in the streets.
Ala, the Book of Revelations?
First, we have to come to terms with who many of these people are listening to.
1
The boat is sinking. Why bother to bale water if you can't plug the hole in the boat?
"Maybe, if you bale enough water, you can get to shore before it sinks."
But that would require a lot of hard work!
Trump had every right to look into possible corruption on the part of the Bidens. It's his job. There is a huge amount of smoke there. Why didn't the media look into it like they did with the false Trump Russia collusion rumors? I don't care that Biden is a candidate. I care about getting to the truth.
And wait for the IG and Barr reports to come out. I predict you will see dirty political tricks coming from Democrats and the "deep state" that will make Trump's actions look like child's play.
This impeachment will backfire in 2020.
@rpe123 You're code words indicate you do not care for the truth. Have a nice day.
1
Mr. Brooks-
As blue as I am, and as left-leaning as I am, if a Democrat that I voted for engaged in the shenanigans that Trump clearly has, I would support impeachment. My allegiance is not to a party, but to what is good and right for my country and my fellow human beings. Any rational individual would feel the same. This shouldn't be boiled down to a tribe versus tribe issue. If my "team" is filled with cheaters, I vote to do the right thing and kick the cheaters to the curb in every case.
4
Most Americans feel that digging up dirt on a political opponent is merely part of the game. Is it wrong: Yes. Is it illegal and impeachable: No. Idealist have a hard time accepting this fact. As David points out most people don't care.
Impeachment is a waste of time and money. Facetime moments for those to show they are in charge. It is probably the reason Trump will be around for four more years. The current Democratic alternates are just wishful thinkers who are good at collecting money. Just ask anyone on the street what they think. Elizabeth who?
@KD Lawrence
Getting dirt from a foreign power is against US election law; holding up appropriated funds to extort an ally invaded by our geopolitical rival is illegal, immoral and a violation of the oath to defend and protect our Constitution against " all enemies, foreign and domestic"; it is a serious threat to national security.
Abuse of power, Emoluments Clause violations and obstruction of justice are all impeachable and illegal.
Support by any American for this current occupant of the White House is reprehensible. I am ashamed of Mr. Brooks and his ilk.
Mr. Brooks, I hope that you will scan through some of the comments posted on this column. It is one of the weakest you've written, and I could scarcely believe what I was reading. It appears that you've wholly succumbed to the very cynicism that you spend most of your efforts pushing against. You're essentially telling your readers that indeed Trump is corrupt, indeed he's guilty of impeachable offenses, indeed he's a cancer on our entire political landscape, but that because there are so many very fundamental issues that need to be dealt with by our political class that we shouldn't waste much time on this. And, besides, so many "ordinary" Americans aren't following carefully what's going on anyway.
Where do we draw the line? How much chipping away at all established norms for presidential behavior, integrity and respect for the rule of law and balance of power enshrined in the Constitution are we to allow? Wouldn't it be far preferable if persons like yourself, firmly entrenched in the centrist ideological camp (on the right side, in your case), were to finally join the rest of us in voicing "enough is enough?" I'm embarrassed for you.
1
"In coastal blue states, impeachment comes up in conversation all the time. In red states, it never comes up; ask people in red states if they’ve been talking about it with their friends, they shrug and reply no, not really."
I am surprised and if true, quite frankly appalled that in red states impeachment "never" comes up in conversation (Really? In red states no one talks about it?) I can only see 2 reasons for this. One, they are less informed that those in the blue states (Hey, if David can generalize then I can too). Or they are too ashamed to admit they supported (and probably continue to support) such a despicable person as Trump.
2
@Gaston Corteau
You are precisely right on both counts.
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
False moral equivalency!
Trump's malfeascance in The Ukraine are a small example of all the violations of his oath of office that the founding fathers unfortunately never envisioned being spawned by a president and not remedied by article 25.
They never realized how a major political party tcould sink into the depths of moral dystopia like the current GOP - Allowing the red state rabble to dictate their coreless values.
3
David Brooks might be right, but does the Congress not have a responsibility to investigate and convict this horrible president? What will history say about them? It has to be done.
2
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
This question reveals all one needs to know about the morals of David Brooks. It tells you where his soul resides along the scale of ethics. If he's confessing that he'd not vote to convict, as it certainly appears he is, then he's not fit for jury duty or life among his peers at the NYT.
4
When you put your hand on your religious text and take oath of allegiance to your country comes first.
Placing political party ahead of country allegiance oath is destructive to country and long term destruction of the political party.
1
Yes, if President Biden or Warren or Sanders were being impeached with this kind of evidence, I would support removal because then we'd have President Brown or Castro, and we could keep moving forward with our policy agenda without all this pointless fulminating.
1
The same individuals attacking Trump for his shenanigans now are the same people who protected Bill Clinton's behavior as an occupant in the White House in the 90's.
1
“Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly.”
David you have it backward. If President Obama did 1/1000th of what Trump has done what would Republicans be screaming? "IMPEACH HIM! LOCK HIM UP!"
David is scared. He wants to get this over with right away because he is worried about the damage that will be inflicted upon his Republican party. David is thinking, "Let's get this over quickly, forget all about it, and move on as if this never happened."
No, not this time. Whether Trump is impeached or not, and if impeached whether he is removed from office or not, we must never forget the Republican’s undying support for a lying, criminal, chaotic, narcissistic, President Trump who thumbs his nose at the Constitution, our democracy, and even our humanity. Republicans deserve to become political pariahs.
3
My comment is going to get lost in the crowd, but I have to send it. I couldn't be more progressive if I tried. I love Noam Chomsky, for God's sake. At the same time, I, in no way, believe that somehow progressives are better people than conservatives. Every comment I've ready seems to imply that we are somehow so noble and morally superior that, if, in this current environment where the health of our citizens, the health of OUR PLANET, etc. are at stake, we would NEVER look the other way if we somehow had a progressive president that was just as corrupt as Trump. You may BELIEVE that this is how you would react (you can't really know), but did you never get defensive about HRC and defend even her (relatively) small shortcomings? News flash: progressives are people and are JUST AS PARTISAN AND BIASED as Republicans. Go read Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind to understand the brain science. Reading the comments section in the NYT is akin to reading a more educated, literate, liberal version of the Fox News comments section. I wish some of the commentators here would leave behind their sense of smugness and step down into reality.
2
People are tired of the game. The Clinton impeachment was a game and this is partially a game. Trump was a fool to do what he did and likely the trump clan is very corrupt but I’m not convinced this is an impeachable offense. (I’m a liberal democrat) By bringing an impeachment, they forced the republicans to defend trump because this becomes an existential crisis to their party. It seems easier to get Republican senators to revolt against trump by calling him out for failing to support the Ukraine government in their fight against Soviet aggression. Some idiotic obsession with Biden is more important to trump than freedom.
Your column provides a perfect example of "elite negligence", Mr. Brooks.
And while you attempt to diminish the significance of holding a corrupt President to account, the Democratic Party is running on a platform based on the very opposite of negligence. Are you so divorced from the concepts of social responsibility and "government for the people" that they've become unrecognizable to you?
2
Clinton was an Eagle scout compared to this guy. Clinton's big "crime" was he had an affair and lied about it. This guy, is amoral. He doesn't even have a moral compass. Think about all the misdeeds he has done against his wives, cheating on his current wife while she she was in the hospital giving birth to baron. Where does it end? He gloated over the outcomes of the Mueller report, then immediately continued with the Ukraine scandal. Pulling the troops out of syria on a whim, or was there a quid pro quo with Erdogan or Putin?
2
This is all about Fox News and how they've been able to manipulate their news feeds. Very simple.
OK Boomer.
We're having a terrible day because of you.
The most pertinent follow up question in those red states might have been, “where do you get your news?” If the answer is Fox, there’s your reason for why a whole swath of the populace doesn’t care about impeachment or Trump’s corruption. Fox is either simply not reporting the most damning testimony or employing hate spinners like Laura Ingraham to smear the witnesses. There’s no Walter Cronkite or Tom Brokaw in our living rooms, bringing journalistic gravitas and integrity. There’s just noise.
2
Terrible piece. Basically, Brooks is attacking Democrats for doing what has to be done with a lawless President and complicit Republicans. And no, I seriously doubt that Progressives would behave the same if it were a Democratic president being impeached for similar crimes. Cheap shot in a cynical argument.
2
Impeachment is a farce. Trump has done nothing worse than what Obama did in his 8 years of office. And when the IG report comes out, I’m sure some of the paths will lead to Obama and the WH and their attempt to interfere with the election of Trump...and what transpired after he won. Trump will have the last laugh when the rot of the “deep state” and their actors are revealed. Mr Horowitz...please hurry. Democracy cannot lie in darkness any more!
2
@Pvbeachbum oh my.
1
The definition of Democracy has become"in the eyes of the beholder".......
NOT
How can I preserve and protect it?.........the Democrat's goal
BUT
How can I profit off it ?- even if it means the eventual destruction of it.....the Republican's goal..........
America - you are at a very important crossroads.......
Choose very carefully.........
2
I've never read a more cynical article from someone who claims to care about the ill effects of cynicism on public discourse. Sad.
4
This form the author of "a quest for a moral life" ???
4
I really was wondering how long it would take David Brooks to shed his camouflage of reasonable opinions and revert to type. Well here we are. Hear no evil, see no evil - just a little bit of tolerable taint that we can live with. Really? Really? This way lies a doomed democracy and opinion writers like you, Mr. Brooks, are like sheep being happily led to slaughter by the tasty grass along the path. Shame on you.
2
I enjoy reading Mr. Brooks op-ed pieces but he often sneaks in false equivalence between the GOP and the Democratic party that's tiresome.
For the record, yes, absolutely I would support impeaching Biden or Warren if they conducted the same behavior as Trump did here. Unlike apparently many GOP Representatives and Senators I paid attention in my civics and history classes. And is a President Pence such a horrible thing for the GOP?
What Trump has done with Ukraine is very dangerous to our future if not held to account. Regardless of the outcome if the Democratic party didn't act on this issue then they would have appeared completely feckless.
364
@Michael Lueke
Mr. Brooks speaks of American decline but then ignores the very symbol of our decline, Trump himself and the party he took over. He is basically The Ugly American - the very worst our country can produce. Get rid of him and we arrest our decline.
10
Does it occur to anyone on the left that with 3.6% unemployment and no hot wars that peace and prosperity is more important to the hoi polloi than esoteric dealings with Ukraine?
40
@Douglas Wait for the days when that tax cut really starts separating rich and poor before declaring "prosperity". Also democrats are the first to eat their own (maybe sometimes too early) but they don't let leaders get away with anything Trumps done, and that's before he started using weapons and aid for favors intended to destroy political opponents.
47
@Douglas
As a person whose family members recently fought for this country. It is about the Constitution and thinking about the Revolutionary war. Why fight for freedom and a president who is suppose to do the right thing when we can just have a king who thinks he can just keep breaking the law. Why have laws at all?
Its wonderful that everyone has to work three jobs to stay afloat and he rich just keep getting richer.
Everyone should be embarrassed when they look at other countries who are fighting for their rights and we are throwing ours away.
103
@Tony Your final sentence is a summary of truth. Thanks for uplifting me.
37
Mr. Brooks, ummm OK BOOMER.
You are right, this sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline IS the core issue right now. But Donald Trump is the poster child of elite negligence and national decline, no matter how often you try to deny it. Keep saying it over and over again. Call impeachment a distraction. Ok Boomer.
Someday we may know the full extent of just how deeply Boomer Republicans have sold out this country. Until then, people like you, Mr. Brooks, will make excuses, obfuscate, distract, and insist Impeachment is NOT the tip of some much larger iceberg that the entire party is involved in.
4
I live in the county adjacent to Youngstown. We call it "the Yo". People in my area talk about impeachment. There are many polarized views.
David Brooks writes "this impeachment thing", "play the impeachment card..." and that progressives "answer honestly". I cannot understand why someone that has written all these years of preserving our republic is using such diminishing words to describe impeachment. Mr. Brooks seems not to take the idea of USA seriously. To discount the fundamentals of our republic, impeachment being prominent in our the constitution, to me it seems he is supporting another form of government. One where the constitution merely sedates the population so the ruling class can do what they want without retribution. Sunshine patriot?
2
@Jack Sunshine Patriot! Fair Weather Patriot! I love it. That describes Mr. Brooks perfectly.
The most important fact in this piece is that the Democrats have not convinced moderates in swing states that Trump should be impeached. Rather than being indifferent to Trump’s transgressions, maybe moderates believe that the Trump’s fate should be determined by the American voter in the general election rather than in the impeachment process. I can sympathize with that. Three impeachment processes in 50 years is not great for the stability of our political system. As such, the Democrats should conduct public hearings so the American public can hear and see the witnesses themselves and then make a more informed choice one year from now.
1
"If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
Yes. I would.
3
Brooks' opinion seems to be that no one is talking about impeachment outside of Washington D.C., therefore Trump will be rescued by the Republican Senate majority.
As I write this. 2550 people have put forth comments, so surely impeachment is being discussed.
I'm from Alabama, and I can evaluate the testimony and see that Trump has abused the powers of the office to further his own interests. Unfortunately, unless Senator Shelby gets floods of messages from people like me, it's doubtful he'd vote his conscience (if he even has one).
However, Senator Doug Jones, a Democrat, has the most vulnerable seat in the Senate--a blue senator in a red state. He's facing a difficult re-election, and impeachment puts him in a difficult spot with Alabamians.
Additionally, you may have also jumped the gun as much of the testimony so far has been behind closed doors, with only opening statements and selective leaks being offered.
I believe Americans must be given the opportunity to experience public hearings.
I think Americans need to be able to compare Trump's behavior with that of Richard Nixon, as there must be a yardstick with which to measure the president's transgressions.
I trust Americans, especially those who have ever taken an oath of office, will understand why the president's actions were wrong.
The question isn't whether people of talking about impeachment. The question is why Americans aren't talking about it.
Maybe Brooks should ask better questions.
1
Well, assuming this is true, I think this says more about us and our overall overall health as a nation than it does anything else. And none of it is good.
2
Red state residents may be indifferent to talk of impeachment at the moment, Mr. Brooks, but I suspect that will change as the public hearings regarding Trump’s abuse of power proceed. Impeachment will become the main topic of discussion, even in red America. Your own informal polls, the polls administered by your college acquaintances and the polls conducted by the professionals will begin to show a shift, a big shift, of public recognition that Trump must be removed from office for the sake of our democracy. That will be the time to see if Republican politicians suddenly get patriotic.
2
David: Just because a minority of voters profess their ignorance does not mean that the accumulated high crimes and misdemeanors of this very corrupt president should be passed by as cavalierly as your article suggests. Please re-examine what you are positing here. There will be no democracy to "move on" to, if this clown-criminal is not removed from office ASAP. That's how high the stakes are. What you are pooh-pooh-ing is the demise of who we are as citizens. No, thanks.
5
Brooks, once again, is hopelessly devoted to the whataboutism that foments institutional distrust.
4
Brook's argument is that settling this impeachment business will enable us to 'move on to other things." That's just plain dumb. A corrupt, petty and startling ignorant tyrant is just that. There are no "other things" to which we may expect this President to move. The domestic and international political wreckage we witness around us is in large measure Mr. Trump's doing --- it is the "other things." Now what?
3
Ding, ding, ding!
I think you've finally come up with a winner.
Great insight. This one has legs.
1
Oh gee, David, you forgot the most important point: What would New York Times columnists have to write about if impeachment is wrapped up quickly?
2
Did you also ask folks anything about Mitch McConnell? Maybe people are uninformed - period. They know nothing. They don't seek information. It's not that they haven't heard or thought about impeachment, they don't keep abreast of many things. Do you tell them you are a writer for the NYTimes? I want to know what sources of information folks are using - if any - and then maybe your "poll" might mean something. Perhaps that college professor might include a current events assignment. Apathy kills democracy.
1
Trump supporters are sick of 1) being expected to support everyone else (including “asylum seekers” and other countries), especially after losing economic ground because of 2) jobs moving overseas and bankers robbing them and not being found guilty, and 3) being told that they are too stupid to make decisions for themselves and their country even while they watch the powers that be allow massive waste and fraud in Medicare, the VA, un-winnable wars; and lose control of the opioid crisis, failing infrastructure, overpriced colleges, pharmaceuticals, and on and on. They don’t want to impeach Trump. They want to fire everyone else in government, on both coasts, and in media.
How is that working for you?
@DB
That's pretty funny about being expected to support everybody else.
Trump's supporters are from red states - states that take more in taxes than they contribute.
So, is it just barely possible that everyone in red states is on the dole in one form or another? Plus the millions of red-staters who are REALLY on the dole with disability, Medicare, farm subsidies, etc.
Red states have habitually chipped away at education for decades, resulting in an ignorant and uneducated population.
Add in the overwhelming presence of Fox News and right-wing radio, and there you have it.
As far as jobs moving overseas, the rich did that. The people that the Republicans idolize and bend over backwards to satisfy.
@Harry Just by the tone of your question it’s clear that your strategy hasn’t worked for you..
Oh, David Brooks is getting more pathetic by the week. He just keeps up with his 'can't Democrats just get along with us?' milquetoast pearl clutching!
Like my grandma, after being finally convinced that she's driving the wrong way on a one way street: "Well FINE then, just go ahead and drive, if you insist! Just get on with your day instead of yelling!"
Mr. Brooks never fails to make sure we know that there are real problems like Democratic meanness to discuss. After all, we all KNOW trump is a lying, coldhearted mental case, so why do we have to keep talking about him?
Republicans, you've lost every bone in your spine if you still support trump, or don't support impeachment.
3
At the end of the day, the man who as a candidate promised to "Drain the swamp" has only made it deeper, murkier and more malodorous as President.
4
Kind of amazing to me that Brooks can write about "elite negligence" with a complete lack of self-reflection.
4
I look in on Brooks’ columns for their comedy value rather than for insight or intelligent analysis, but this is one of those rare instances where, in his eminently “reasonable” fashion, he actually descends to a level of cynical moral depravity one ordinarily associates with Thiessen and Hewitt at the rival WaPo. I do hope that Charles Pierce over at Esquire, who used to roast Brooks fairly regularly, gets wind of this egregious piece.
3
Your assumption that I could not be honest in facing impeachable offenses committed by a POTUS who I had voted for is insulting and I feel a sign of your feeling morally superior to people who you disagree with.
No, it was not "merely" an impeachable offense but legal.
It was a crime: https://buzzflash.com/articles/pentagon-warned-withholding-ukraine-aid-was-illegal-but-trump-did-it-anyway
1
Depressing
David has gone 'round the bend. It isn't right or wrong anymore that gives him comfort in some twisted way. It's the supposed 'national decline' he's discovered. This has been coming on in Davids' commentary for quite a while, but it's still inexcusable.
3
This only shows how ignorant many citizens are. They have no concept that democracy does not work at all, if you do not vote, do not participate in democracy.
This is why the trump got elected.
It is now up to the young folks. Get on their stupid social media, and get them to vote.
You write like a person who claims to understand the common folk, but you simply repeat your own D.C. elite bubble privileged partisan political hack right-wing bias. If Trump was a Democrat, you'd be screaming for him to be impeached and jailed or worse. You're a dour snob who only sees the world through your narrow elite experience.
Sir, you use the word “elites” often. Are you an elite? Who are “elites”? Who are the 8 million people who voted for Obama and switched to Trump. Probably elites.
So, to evangelicals, is this the last, final hell before heaven everlasting?
And to us infidels, the last hell before everlasting hell?
Nothing like Trump to Trump up greater decline, so let's keep him for bringing the end quicker.
Turn on the Fox. Nothing to see here. Move on.
1
For reasons stated by others in the comments, this is the worst column Brooks has ever written. He should be embarrassed by it. You cannot justify a Faustian bargain.
2
David Brooks is a deeply confused man.
2
As a democrat, I'd vote to impeach anybody - democracy, Republican or independent - for behavior such as Trump has displayed. I voted for Nixon. I supported his impeachment and was cheering when he was gone. How we get middle America to give a dam about what Trump is doing to destroy 250 years of an American system that had a lot of problems but basically works is beyond me. I can only think that depression has really set in - that they know Trump hasn't come through for them, that he is crooked and untrustworthy but they can't handle it. Trump and the GOP have convinced them thoroughly that "only they" can save America, but even middle America now knows they've been had, and they are just turning away in denial and depression because now they believe they have no saviors. They won't look to dems when they should because the GOP has thoroughly brainwashed them.
1
It may be true that impeachment interests only "people in Washington and the national media.” But then, it is the people in Washington, especially those in Congress, who decide the fate of the country, even of the world. Look at the war resolutions that Congress passed. The majority in the country was opposed to them.
If people have lost trust in federal institutions, it should be blamed mainly on the cynical use of the social media by politicians. Look at the falsehood some of them, Trump counted first, are spreading through the social media. Look at the way even countries like Russia have been using them to undermine our democratic institutions.
Yes, “Many Republicans know Trump is guilty." But they are opposed to impeaching him, not because they “can’t afford to hand power to Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.” They were opposed to it even before Pelosi became speaker of the House and Warren and Sanders became presidential candidates. Remember the way they railed against the Mueller investigation. Mueller had definitively established that the president had committed obstruction of justice at least 10 times. But for the obscurantism of Republicans, he would have been impeached soon after Mueller submitted his report.
No conscientious citizen, let alone a lawmaker, can overlook the latest crime Trump committed. Democrats who passed the impeachment resolution deserve our applause. Mr. Brooks seems to be lackadaisical in his support for it. Why?
2
Mr. Brooks it all comes down to this:
US Constitution vs Donald J Trump
Pick your side. What all do at this time will be felt and remembered forever. The very Republic is under attack, nothing less.
3
From what behaviors does elite negligence and national decline arise from, Mr. Brooks? From climate denial and crony capitalism, and tax cuts that shift wealth from productive members of society to rentiers, and the relaxation of regulatory actions that recognized impending problems, however incompletely, rather than ignore them and defer to our descendants? Over the last several decades the Democratic party has negligently disregarded the importance of the middle and working classes, instead adopting the priorities and ideology of neoliberal dogma. The Republican party, however, has actively worked to undermine unions as an educational and political counterforce, has initiated Mideast wars on the strength of faith-based intelligence, has accelerated the transfer of wealth to the upper percentile, and has consistently opposed as 'socialist' all measures for the general endowment of a humane civilization. Trump is the distillation of angry frustrations created primarily by the dominance of organized capital over the disorganized general interest. You appear to regard the Constitution's procedures for attempting to restore representative political authority to its rightful supremacy over Capital as an irrelevant irritant. Past time that you become acquainted with the reality-based community.
You know what “moving on” for this country should really look like Mr. Brooks? After impeaching and removing Trump and prosecute his whole sorry family as a criminal enterprise and subject its illegally obtained assets to federal seizure, we should then do an all-out law enforcement and intelligence agency investigation about how Russian interference in 2016 (gleefully supported by the GOP) led to the illegal election of Trump. Once having proven that we should declare null and void all of Trump’s judicial appointments (up to and including the two seats on the SCOTUS), regulatory rollbacks, tax cuts, foreign treaty decisions, and bureaucratic relocations. We should also declare that Russia’s activities were virtually an act of war and subject its Indiana-sized economy to crippling sanctions as long as Putin is in power. That’s the kind of healing political closure we really need, Mr. Brooks, but given the thoroughly compromised nature of our sickly body politic that your views embody only too well, I guess we’re going to have to settle for an impeachment decision that makes Trump’s re-election that much less likely.
6
The bipartisan groundswell will come when the hearings are open to the public and televised. People will not get their information filtered through Fox News, pundits or politicians, they can hear the testimony themselves. Can his base handle the truth?
1
I am growing exceedingly weary of pundits who have already written their conclusions before the proceedings are fully underway.
Let the hearings begin. Have witnesses testify in public hearings on television. Of course there will be spin and soundbites, but at the very least, people will have access to the information they need to make their choices as voters if they are interested. Trump's base isn't going to move, but those folks in the middle might be when they hear testimony, not spin.
Let the process move forward. For this one, there will be no AG Barr filter or the long-awaited and ultimately partisan release party of a document like the Mueller Report. (To be sure, elements of the Mueller Report may come into play during testimony, particularly patterns of behavior by members of the Trump administration.) The closed-door depositions helped ensure the delivery of testimony with a minimum of leaks and spin.
It was the tapes that did Nixon in. Despite all the illegal activity surrounding the Watergate break in, Nixon was immunized against culpability until he wasn't. The turn away from Nixon happened almost overnight. Evidence has a way of making that happen. Stay tuned.
I do agree with Mr. Brooks that we do need to get on with this, though this process is moving remarkably quick, with the 24 hour news cycle, it seems agonizingly slow. Let's all step back, take a breath, and see how this plays out.
2
(1) "Elite negligence" you say? Kind words the ruling class does not deserve. Adam Smith in "The Wealth of Nations" (1776) more honestly talked about "The vile maxim of the masters of mankind: all for us, and noting for the rest."
(2) "National decline" Despite its decline since the end of VWII, the US remained the only country to hope to lead the World toward survival of humanity on earth. Instead, it has made an array of decisions that accelerate the movement toward our demise.
(3) And the "bewildered herd" will continue to vote to continue (1) and (2)?
1
Democrats do, in fact, police their own. Witness the career of Al Franken (who was very much admitted by the "left").
If the presidency is to permanently operate in a Trumpian fashion then pessimism about our national future is warranted. Trump has flagrantly ignored, and thereby destroyed, the protocols of the office. He has established the framework for an American totalitarian regime in which the legislative branch acts as a whimpering lap dog to ever-expanding presidential power. Welcome to the start of a permanent American political kleptocrscy.
There is something deeply disturbing about Americans sufficiently disengaged from their citizenship roles to not care about impeachment. My 23 years in the military now seem like just another job, just one with a meaningless oath of office. If average Americans don't care about the Constitution enough to hold the people they elect to a higher standard than Trump has demonstrated then no military can defend this nation from its demise.
The rot starts at the core, and that core is the American heartland. There must be consideration of the direction Trump has launched the country on. This is about so much more than party politics. Much of the problem rests with Republicans who have suppressed the bile Trump caused in their guts. A few more John McCain or Jeff Flake moments could have put the republican party into position of policing their own. Unfortunately, they took the coward's path and America is now on the brink of failure.
3
We're about to find out whether our democracy is still functional, and whether enough Americans are still thinking critically, and paying attention without cynicism of "all politicians lie," etc. So far, the rule of law and several human guardrails have kept Trump from doing even more damage, although his incompetence is now costing lives in Syria. As a midwestern American who is very much paying attention, I'm holding out hope that Trump will be impeached and convicted. And that if Senators don't convict, they'll be replaced by voters. Fingers crossed...
1
Excellent.
Nancy has got send Articles to the Senate.
"This sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline is the core issue right now."
The environment, the environment the environment.
If we can not get a consensus on this, it will be over.
1
@Tacomaroma THANK YOU!!!! I feel like most commentators here are so angry at Trump that they can't see the biggest problem of our time staring them right in the face. Who cares about Trump? I care about our only home, people's healthcare, transportation- the things that are actually IMPORTANT! Not the latest stupid tweet or our righteous indignation about his corruption.
The relevant question to pose after listing all the reasons for moving on is not the one framed for Progressives, as David has done. Rather, it should be aimed at the current batch of Republican Senators: If this were a Democratic President with similar evidence of guilt and who clearly engaged in abuse of power, bribery and obstruction, would they vote to convict?
5
@Roger Davis IN order to rig an election, no less. When the other way of removing him from office is being abused and corrupted there is no option but to impeach.
1
So, Mr. Brooks, your conclusion is that as long as tribalism prevails as the predominant political imperative of our two-party system, there isn't much sense in bothering with adherence to the Constitution or rule of law?
Is there a stronger argument for the need of a legitimate third party?
4
Generally the United States is about a year or so behind trends in Europe or Asia. The recent rebellions in Egypt, France, Chili, and growing discontent in Russia and Germany and the first whiff of anger in Mexico, and the troubles in the UK, all portend trouble in the US. A second Trump term will feature a mid 70's man in sharp decline, and a polarized congress doing nothing more than exchanging insults. As everyone becomes agitated over high rent, sluggish wages, over priced health care and a slow realization things are not going to get better, public anger will boil over and the country will enter a bitter and possibly violent reform era much like the 1880's or the 1960's. Be certain this 'OK Boomer' joke might well be the beginning of a generational rebellion.
1
I would welcome an influx of young, liberal voters, and I agree that Democrats should try to mobilize them. But anyone expecting millions of teenaged first-time voters to appear out of nowhere and save our democracy is bound to be disappointed.
First, there’s the history. I remember how we thought that lowering the voting age to 18 would change American politics. It didn’t. Democrats proudly nominated the most liberal candidate in modern American history to run against the generally despised Richard Nixon—and got trounced. The “youth vote” never materialized, and it turned out older voters, as much as they disliked Tricky Dick, were wary of what would happen if liberals took over. I could see that pattern repeating if Trump faces someone like Sanders or Warren.
Beyond that, there are the numbers. They don’t pencil out. More than 70% of people over 65 vote, and the percentage of voters 45-64 is only slightly lower. Only about 46% of people 18-29 voted in 2016. That number would have to increase by almost 50% to equal the turnout rate of older voters. Something more doable, like a 20% increase, would barely move the needle.
For better and for worse, the electorate is the electorate.
Trump won in part by recognizing that old white people still dominate the vote, and I’ll think he’ll win again if Demos base their strategy on a huge turnout from teens and twentysomethings.
@Joe M. The kids are already here. It’s the media who is blind and deaf to them. On purpose. David here being one of them elite media punditry.
1
Mr. Brooks - My judgment is that the House should do precisely the opposite. The list of "crimes and misdemeanors" is long and serious: abuse of power, obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress, perjury (in written interrogatives to Mueller), bribery (the withheld/offered Ukraine $$$), emoluments, the list goes on. These should be elucidated in detail, relentlessly disseminated, and each an impeachment article. The Senate GOP should have to defend the entire litany - in the Senate trial and in their subsequent Senate elections. Hurrying and narrowing the process camouflages the President's egregious unfitness.
3
Brooks: "Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
So in the most extreme case yet of both-siderism, David is equating the House Democrats to Trump style Republicans. Sentences earlier he claims to "get it" that impeachment has to proceed because corruption/constitution/rule of law/etc. but then blithely compares Democrat's doing just so to some of the most obsequious, beholden, partisan hacks out there.
Look, he did something wrong - very wrong - and if this is allowed to be unaddressed, or just written off as both sides do it, then we're allowing a very scary precedent to be set for the future. Impeachment hearings are the very least that can be done to at least extract a minimum amount of accountability.
2
Mr. Brooks presents another opinion piece (among several of his recent articles) in which he implies that since 90% of Republicans don't support impeachment, and since a majority of red state voters don't care about it, and since in his mind it's a forgone conclusion that the Senate Republicans will acquit, that impeachment is "bad for the democrats" and enhances the chance of DJT re-election. But Mr. Brooks, please ask yourself, who is responsible for this indifference? And who will be responsible if this disaster of a presidency continues for another 4 years? I would say that if FOX news would present a true and honest picture of the horrible state we are in, then things would be a lot different. In addition, aren't you and your other media compatriots equally at fault for attempting to present "both sides of the story" in a "fair and balanced way"?
4
@maxcommish Indeed, Brooks always plays both sides, and never takes responsibility for his down and out conservatism which has given gist for those 90 % republicans.
4
"Many Americans don’t care about impeachment because they take it as a given that this is the kind of corruption that politicians of all stripes have been doing all along."
A big part of the blame for that rests with pundits like Mr. Brooks and Mr. Stephens, of this very paper, who cannot resist injecting false equivalencies between Republicans and Democrats into just about every single column they write.
— to say nothing of other writers at other outlets who simply invent facts that make Democratic politicians and policies look bad.
7
Mr. Brooks:
Doing my own polling from the comments here I find responsesfrom: Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Minnesota,Texas, North Carolina,Ohio, ... shall I go on? I didn't have to go anywhere tofind fault with the premise of this column.
Your main complaint seems to be that nobility doesn't have any"noblesse oblige" in this country anymore.
1
This hit the nail on the head. Go through the process, get it done by Thanksgiving, an move on. There is nothing to be gained by dragging it on… Except possibly masses of donations for the trump reelection campaign from the "always trumpers"
who will never admit to his wrongdoing in any way.
2
They don’t have to admit it! It’s the Senators “who know in their heart “ he is guilty that have to admit it!!
The electorate is a bigger problem than the politicians. The majority of voters love charismatic charlatans like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Sarah Palin and Bibi Netanyahu with simple appealing solutions to society’s problems - solutions like “build that wall”, “Iran is the enemy” etc. Only an interested minority want solid politicians who analyze society’s problems and provide complicated policies. The real long term problem for democracy is not so much the politicians but the electorate’s gullibility in electing lightweight and dangerous people like Trump.
5
For those college student at Youngstown State. It is your future. Best start thinking about exactly what four more years of Trump and the GOP will mean to that future.
It's amazing to me that you apparently simply do not care.
3
It's amazing how an anti-Trumper like Brooks can look at the facts and simply ignore the key factor here: Biden is guilty of at the very least ignoring a huge conflict of interest, and possibly outright corruption. I would be more prone to set my hair on fire over this if Trump had simply asked Zelensky to find whatever dirt he could on any leading dems because he'd been told there was a chance blah blah. But he didn't. He asked Z to look into what happened with the investigation into Burisma. We know Hunter Biden got a seat on the Burisma board at at least $600k a year for doing essentially nothing. He also got a similar deal in China and favorable treatment in Romania -- all because his name was Biden. We also know that Biden threatened to withhold aid unless Ukraine fired the prosecutor investigating Burisma.
We also know Joe's brother got a 1.5 billion dollar contract to build housing in Iraq. What we don't know is how that happened.
Joe Biden isn't exempt from investigation because he's running for president. Even if he were the nominee, which he isn't, asking Ukraine to help investigate corrupt activities by a U.S. official isn't a crime.
And frankly, I don't care what Trump's motivation was in his conversation with Zelensky. The facts indicate the Bidens need to be investigated. The impeachment inquiry is a purely partisan effort to smear Trump, hurt him in 2020 if possible. It's the dems conducting opposition research on the taxpayer's dime.
2
So Trump is so concerned about Biden why?? How does he even know about Biden’s son or care? That where your argument falls apart. If Biden and his son are corrupt let’s let’s the laws take care of it, there is the FBI , let them investigate. Why on earth is a President asking about a single case of possible corruption in a world full of corruption? Why? Because he is a democratic rival! That is the only reason!! Yes, convict Hunter Biden or Joe or whatever but don’t act like a banana Republic controlled by a dictator trying to put his rivals in jail by bribe and coercion. That is what we’re a talking about. No one is defending Hunter Biden, his actions are pretty bad, but he’s not President.
119
@Ralphie Does the fact that a company linked to Trump's brother Robert just got a 33 million dollar contract from the U.S. Marshals Service bother you at all? Or that Trump's spawn continue to enrich themselves in nations like China by trading on the Trump name? Are you so blind? The Bidens, at this point, are not government employees like the Trumps are.
4
@Ralphie
If it were suspected that Joe or Hunter Biden had committed a crime, the way to investigate it would be to start with the US Justice Department. And even then, it would be problematic for the president to ask them to do that, because there is supposed to be a certain distance kept between the president and investigation of crimes by the Justice Dept. to avoid abuse of executive power.
If the Justice Department decided they needed help from Ukrainian investigators, there is an established protocol for that, and it is not for the US President to set up a shadow foreign policy operation to get around official channels and try in secret to strong-arm a dependent power into doing things to the president's personal political benefit.
Hunter Biden's trading on his father's name is indeed problematic, and there probably should be laws against such things, but there are not, so what he did was not illegal. And to be sure, G.W. Bush traded on his father's name before he got into politics himself. It's how he got to be Managing General Partner of an $89 million baseball team (the Texas Rangers) on an initial investment of only $500,000.
2
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
I can't answer this question "honestly" because I refuse to acknowledge progressives possess the moral rot necessary to elect men like Trump, McConnell, Jordan, McCarthy, etc.
Republicans have possessed such moral rot since about Goldwater, but David Brooks can't acknowledge the malevolent patriarchy, dominionism, and racism at the core of his belief system. He thinks we should just move right along.
No thanks, man.
5
What a tragic and depressing article this is. “Impeachment is a distraction”?!! You might as well state that breaking the law is a nuisance. Something that makes us all go “tut-tut”. Sadly, your read on the public mood may be correct. Americans just can’t be bothered to worry about a boring thing like democracy! There are Instagram posts to read! YouTube videos to watch! Texts to send!
And as with the omnipresence of climate change, oblivious Americans, and most of the rest of the world, will refuse to wake up until it’s too late. Make America Great Again? That ship has sailed.
5
Impeach Trump?
For what? Being wildly successful?
1
@George Orwell when you get things done, you have to do so WITHIN the law. Trump honors no boundaries he has no guard rails. So now he has to own up to how he got things done, outside law.
4
Omg.... do we have to bring up “Apprentice”.
@George Orwell I'm hoping (and assuming) this is satire of the highest order, what with the user name and all. If so, kudos. If not... oh, boy.
Remarkable that Mr. Brooks thinks that the negligence of the elite is the core issue right now. Mr. Brooks is truly a slow learner. A couple of years ago he wrote a column stating that he had finally figured out what motivated the Trump voter and then went on in laborious detail to say nothing. And yet in one sentence in the final paragraph of a piece three years on he has finally, at long last, put his finger on it.
Your haphazard cynicism about "protecting the Constitution" is part of the elite negligence you speak of. You're probably right about all of the politics about this, but it would be nice to at least name what an ideological retreat that all is from where we want to be as a country.
1
What would Dems do if they had a corrupt president like Trump?
Remember what the Dems did to Al Franken.
Conservatives think liberals are as corrupt as they are, as Mr. Brooks demonstrates, and progressives simply are not.
2
With all respect to Mr. Brooks:
Even though I am a lifelong Democrat, I do read your pieces in the Times and watch you on PBS on Friday.
From what you said, I think you are party-less at this point. The Repub. party is not a home for you; neither is the Dem. party.
Others, like George Will and Bill Kristol are in the same bind, it appears, just from reading what they have to say.
Your opinions certainly don't fit in with the Fox news republicans, so you can't work there, but your views, in some cases, also don't fit in with lifelong Democrats.
I wish you luck in finding a party that has your beliefs.
It certainly is not the current Repub. party.
1
Really? This columnist made disparaging remarks about Clinton on his punditry routes. He may have as a talking head helped Trump get elected. Throw the book at him? Indeed. Look at yourself in the mirror mr. Pundit.
4
You say that Democrats should "Stop distracting from the core issue, elite negligence and national decline."
You are correct.
Elite negligence, indeed, caused the alienation of enough working class people to give the election to Trump.
But, the liberal establishment doesn't want to admit that its globalization policies devastated industry, especially in the Midwest, the old heart of the US economy.
So, Blue ideologists have latched on to a couple of misleading, nay plain wrong, papers to denounce Red voters as motivated by white racism.
Here's some news: workers aren't stupid. For them, staying afloat counts for more than bigotry.
It's interesting news that you've discovered that the alienation is spreading to young people. These are probably young white workers who have been significantly injured by the increasing hollowing out of the traditional heart of industry.
Perhaps young people anxious for their first jobs.
Yet the suicidal Liberals blast them as racists who are upset by losing white privilege.
Ignorant Blue arrogance and its devastating globalism continue to swell the ranks of the desperate, who become, in time, alienated. Which is to say, become Red voters.
The alienation will spread. In time, perhaps very soon, it will start to strip away working class non-white people from the Blue camp. Increasing anger at the elite will bring white and non-white working class halves together.
Watch out Blue yuppies.
Class is more important than race.
1
I gather from your tone that elites are only rich liberals? I thought elites were the Republicans in Congress . Funny how we see things differently
1
This is the second article in as many months, by a writer I have long admired, showing Brooks has gone off the rails. Guess this can happen when you realize that the party and worldview you've long identified with is corrupt to its core.
2
Why are Americans poorly informed? Look at the avalanche of articles contradicting each other, the cable news programs that give snippets of biased info opinions without facts, the facebook fake info that crosses our internet every day, the huge numbers of people without government experience who claim to be experts in political topics,the overwhelming barrage of information every day. Truth and facts have been turned upside down and mushed with lies .
David, stop pretending that you care about our democracy when you use buzz words like elite and challenge progressives about their patriotism and not your own party.
Do you not care that Trump et al have sold out our democracy to Putin, the Saudi Prince, etc? That Trump's birthday present to Putin was pulling our troops out of Syria or that he turned to an ally to force them to corrupt our election by getting dirt on one of his opponents?
Never thought I would say this to you, but have you no shame about your party? Where is your patriotism. As an elitist
, you should now better. The definition of an elitist is the best or most skilled members of a group. You have the power to make this a better democracy . Are you doing that or are you clinging to your party?
2
Clearly, you spent too much time in the Red States echo chamber on your recent. travels. They get their truth from Trump, er, Fox News. They don't talk about impeachment for the same reason they don't talk about their uncle, the one who is a Registered Sex Offender: it is too ugly to think about. Public hearings that lay out the facts will present Americans with a choice. Will we defend or abandon the Constitution? My bet is that the independents you seem to have little faith in will rise up and do the right thing. If the Senate fails to act responsibly they, and Trump, will pay a heavy price for treachery in 12 short months.
2
The public has already decided it was wrong but not seriously wrong. It’s nothing approaching Benghazi with the loss of people’s lives due to incompetence and coverups.
Lacking very little public support in the red states and less than half in the purple states it now appears that this is Pelosi’s blunder.
Would I vote to impeach a Democrat in the circumstances? You bet. I supported the impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying under oath to Congress. I thought he should have been removed from office. I think our refusal to do so opened the door for the "all of them are dishonest" cynicism in this country.
Trump is more than a liar and adulterer, he is a tyrant, a crook who has no regard for the rule of law or for the principles of our Republic. Surrendering to him for political gains is, essentially, the end of America as we know it. Things will only get worse.
2
Who cares if it's popular or not. Whatever happened to doing the right thing? If this doesn't meet the standards for impeachment then what does? Let's just deem him a King then...Forget about this whole democracy thing since all that matters is what a bunch of apathetic college kids in Ohio or a old white guys in a diner in Iowa think about politics.
2
The Republican Party has been antidemocratic for years. They have use every underhanded trick to prevent American Citizens from voting. They have gerrymandered voting districts. They have enacted unnecessary onerous voter ID laws. They have tried to suppress the democratic vote by intiminating voters. They have reducted the number of voting places and put them in out of the way places.
They should be reduced to "the malefactors of great wealth" and the yahoos.
3
Yes! As a life long progressive you bet I would want my Senator to vote to impeach an Elizabeth Warren who put her own personal gain ahead of national security or the Constitution. Yes yes yes! Because blatant corruption in the Presidency will destroy our nation which, like currency, holds together as much as a belief system as a system of laws.
Hard to imagine, but if Elizabeth were impeached, then we’d have someone like Pete or Amy to fall back on, and the country would move on, a little bit cleansed, living up to its values.
Your assumption is the problem, David. You’re being transactional rather than a patriot. Or maybe just end stage cynical.
1
When did the United States adopt an Alternative Constitution in which corruption and treason by the President are okay for Republicans to ignore?
5
Oh David, this seldom happens at our house, but we certainly hope you are wrong. (“Hope” is still in the air in California.)
1
The Republican Party has been antidemocratic for years. They have use every underhanded trick to prevent American Citizens from voting. They have gerrymandered voting districts. They have enacted unnecessary onerous voter ID laws. They have tried to suppress the democratic vote by intiminating voters. They have reducted the number of voting places and put them in out of the way places.
They should be reduced to "the malefactors of great wealth" and the yahoos.
3
Well said! Will the Democrats listen to you that is another question. C'est dommage!!
A better question is what if Hillary Clinton had been elected and was acting like Trump? Republican heads would be exploding, and I think the majority of Americans would be done with her.
If that was the scenario, David, I would absolutely vote to impeach and remove her from office.
2
In answer to Mr. Brooks' question about whether I, as a Democrat, would vote to impeach a Democratic president:
The Democrats would never have nominated such a corrupt, vulgar ignoramus, so the question is moot.
4
Just so you know who it is, David, the 'political rival' Trump and his helpers tried to destroy is Joe Biden. You and the other Times' reporters and opinion writers can't seem to bring yourselves to mention his name, except in a derogatory way.
In addition, your article is a barely-disguised argument that the impeachment inquiry is a waste of time. You, like most Republican columnists, fail to mention the Constitution and Trump's violation of its principles.
2
Frustrated middle of America voter here. These red state voters are fools to stick with a party that has no conscience, has said outloud on tv they want to get rid of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. The Republican party has actively worked to get rid of Obamacare which provides healthcare to millions while having no plan themselves after 10 years of screaming about it. The republicans say they don't believe in climate change and have rolled back laws that protect our water and air. Republicans gave tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations saying it would trickle down but of course just like it has been promised for 40 years it didn't.
At what point do people wake up and realize the Republican party is a rotting corpse and the reason their lives stink is because they are supporting a dead party with no ideas and only rotten morals and values to offer?
5
Elite negligence, humbug! What it is all about is lies, consistent and persistent lying by the Republican Party about everything. Then along comes Fox News, itself simply dedicated to lying. And, finally, Trump who has persuaded many that there can't be truth about anything. And, Oh of course, the Russian "Intelligence" services systematically peddling the same thing. If only a few right wing folks like Brooks, and a few Republican leaders would begin to speak out about what is true and what is lies, it might help.
2
Distracting? Who is ‘distracting’?!? Brooks is making it sound like it’s the Democrats’ fault that we have a fundamentally corrupt and criminal administration that is being enabled by a spineless GOP. Distracting? The Democrats are the only ones doing their jobs!
3
Project much, Mr. Brooks? For you have just described yourself, an “elite” endorsing negligence by just wanting to move on. What a disgrace.
2
OK, I'll stop and answer your stupid question: "Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
Ya, still don't get it, David. It's not arrogance. We see our faults. How many Democrats have you not noticed resigning over slight sexual improprieties when Republican are constantly seen on TV lying through their eye teeth.
There, is no contest David, we progressive really are more righteous, objectively speaking. Christian self-righteousness hides from themselves the depth of iniquity they have dug, dealing in Republican fascism. Yes, it is fascism.
You can't deny the fact that Americans are taxed to spend in war more than the rest of the world put together. Nor can you say this is liberal policy. You can't deny that America is the most unequal of advanced countries and that this also is not because of progressives. You can not deny that America put more people in jail than any other country and this is NOT the policy of progressives, but rather the policies of the Christian GOP.
We are more righteous than the Christians who have saddled us with the swamp.
2
OK Boomer.
2
Really, David, your penchant to run from conflict is astounding. Get over it. Face up to it. Even if the Senate does not remove Trump, he should still be impeached for being the worst President in our nation's history. We can't afford 4 more years of him nor of the Republicans. Yet you still keep badgering those who would try to address the problem rather than running from it. Grow up.
2
"I get that Democrats feel they have to proceed with impeachment to protect the Constitution and rule of law."
Really. What about you, Mr. looking for his second mountain and the meaning of life and wanting everyone to be woke and get along? The demand that people observe their oaths of office is not something for just "the Democrats": it's for you, the Republicans, and every citizen of this country, Mr. Brooks.
This piece is beneath you. This isn't "the same partisan warfare that's been going on". 192-0 Republicans just voted against their own rights for an INQUIRY of the president trying to rig the 2020 election and gross misuse of power, not even mentioning the damage to our international security and his blatant obstruction of justice.
Time to wake up, David, before your country is gone.
527
@Shawn You zeroed in on the exact sentence that grated with me -- my thoughts exactly; thanks for articulating them.
31
@Shawn
I feel sorry for Mr Brooks, the conservatism he represents is no longer in the party he wants to be in. Maybe he should give Democrats a second look; we really are a big tent.
30
@Shawn: He DIDN'T say this is "the same partisan warfare that's been going on" - he said this was the attitude of OTHER people - who aren't political junkies, who are disillusioned, who are so sick of politics they tune it out; yes, doing that is self-defeating, but it's the emotional reality of millions of Americas. It doesn't change what we Democrats have to do, but if we refuse to understand middle-of-the-road people outside of our bubble, it's going to be hard to get them to vote for us...
20
"I get that Democrats feel they have to proceed with impeachment to protect the Constitution and the rule of law." Brooks tosses this in as an aside to make a larger point about the politics of it all. There is no larger point. If Trump is not impeached for breaking nearly every rule that holds our democracy together, the impeachment power might as well be tossed out the window and our republic become a monarchy.
2
David states that the Democrats are proceeding with impeachment to protect the constitution and the rule of law? Well isn't that what its all about? Isn't that stated when you take an oath of office. Surprising how Republicans always bring up the constitution when gun ownership is being discussed but when our democracy is being dismantled, that's not a problem.
4
I am a boomer and a progressive. I find myself deeply disturbed by your column this morning. It paints a picture of a bleak moral/political universe and a bleaker America. Maybe in your mind it is a necessary dose of reality, but you present a world I can’t accept. I hope there is still a way to measure and discern right and wrong – a way to measure and discern the moral and political good. You ask the question: would I vote to convict a progressive President in similar circumstances? The answer is a resounding YES. In 1998, I believed in my heart of hearts that Bill Clinton should have been convicted and forced to leave office because he took advantage of a young intern and lied under oath to Congress about it. In point number five, you state that cynicism is one of the reasons why the public and Republican politicians will not be moved to find President Trump guilty. I believe that voices such as that expressed in your column today will only fan the flames of cynicism and make it ok to express an “oh well” attitude. I will find it increasingly difficult to read you and listen to you during these hard times.
1
Greater accountability would be realized if Washington were to delegate most of it's power and influence to the individual states; or regions, should we apply gerrymandering to the remapping of the country.
The nation becomes more diverse by the day. Democrats efforts to represent all are increasingly more futile.
The GOP continues to gather under greed's banner, best representing constituencies from the top down.
Is the decline sensed by voters in both camps and by age cohort really happening? Yes. Elite folks were set free to prioritize making money at all costs by Reagan. Key sectors of human endeavor required for individual, social, and environmental health and stability have been manipulated with the sole concern of enriching the elite regardless of the damage to individuals, society, and the environment. At the same time, the very real divisions between white supremacist thought and practice exemplified by Southern slave society, and the motley immigrant crew of the North, which the Civil War and Reconstruction exacerbated, are tearing us apart. There is an argument to be made that we should have left the South to its own devices after the war, but now their descendants who still subscribe to slaver philosophy and religion, are distributed throughout the nation and they regard anyone not in their coterie as evil. The descendants of the North feel the same way about them. Getting a final divorce is nigh impossible, as is finding a way to live with each other. Mr. Trump is the South's savior. He wants them on top. Scions of the motley crew are a herd of cats who can't find their own tails. Meanwhile, corporate raiders have allowed this country's infrastructure to crumble into the catastrophe in CA that we will see very soon everywhere else, and they have destroyed the financial stability of individuals and the whole country. What are we to do? Yeah. Impeach and move on.
2
Who cares that the president of the United States abused his power. It’s not like it’s going to hurt us if nothing happens. It’s not like the next president is going to use this as precedent to investigate their political rivals based on wild speculation. This will surely not come back to haunt us so let’s just move on.
So much for the conscience of a conservative.
3
@Mike Wilson George W Bush and Cheney abused their power and dragged us into a war that had nothing to do with 9-11 loss of lives on our soil.
When you say "The Senate can quickly dispose of the matter..." Do you mean Republican senators can completely debase themselves by acquitting the president despite overwhelming evidence of guilt?
Wrong, David. Americans venerate the Constitution and know that how Trump has behaved is a trampling of the basic rules (checks and balances) the Founders envisioned. As more venality is revealed and the public outrage over the unlimited swampiness of the Trump cronies becomes apparent, the tide will turn and even Republican Senators will turn on the bully-in-chief.
1
At this point I don't care if GOP Senators have the "audacity of nope" and refuse to convict after the House votes to impeach.
I want all of the president's corruption out in the open -- presented clearly and forcefully in televised hearings. And I want all our Congresspeople to go on record about how they view it.
And, admittedly, I want the president to be humbled, but I know he is incapable of that.
1
@chris
Accountability awash in a sea of greed and corruption. Guess who's in the life boats!
This water is really cold....
A lot of words here just to say, "both sides." Republicans have been attacking the foundations of government through cynicism and corruption for the decades since Watergate. Of course they benefit from outrage fatigue. The hypothetical reverse analogy of Republicans attempting to impeach a President Biden, Warren, or Sanders where there is "evidence of guilt," is a blunt failure to address reality. Mr. Trump is surrounded by corruption and Republicans have not only happily and willingly aided and abetted it, they set the stage for it. There is no realistic analogy here, and it's dishonest to suggest there is.
1
Your suggestion that progressives would not support an impeachment of a Democrat comitting the same crimes as Trump is a baseless insult. Any American who truly cares about this country would vote to impeach any politician whose corruption, ignorance, and racism came within even a fraction of what this man has displayed.
Your point that we simply accept the fact that Trump is not going to be impeached and move on ignores the fundamental reality of where we are as a country--on the precipice of a cliff.
As a journalist, I think your time would be more usefully spent trying to visualize just how bad off we will be if Trumpism is not defeated and how to most effectively explain that to your readers rather than telling us to accept the inevitable and move on. You fail to grasp the enormity of the crisis we are in.
There is no moving on if this continues.
Putting aside the national security risks and the damage to our institutions and long-stated values just think about climate change. Perhaps spending some time in California where homes that are only partially rebuilt are being threatened again by fire (and insurance is becoming impossible to obtain for all but the wealthiest) and where ocean conditions in the northern part of the state, one of the most productive areas in the world, are in crisis, would help you better understand just one aspect of the multi-faceted, time-bound existential threat Trumpism poses to the common good.
2
According to Brooks, outside the Capitol, especially in the red states he’s “visiting,” impeachment is nothing more than “dull background noise.” From this he concludes that we’re all better off getting through it, hoping for as little electoral disruption as possible. I see this sort of logic, long on opportunism and political expediency, sort on concern for the history, health, and flourishing of the body politic, as itself a sign of political corruption.
David said:
"Many Americans don’t care about impeachment because they take it as a given that this is the kind of corruption that politicians of all stripes have been doing all along."
This is what the Republican party has wrought these past 10 years: The destruction of norms and institutions; the denigration of government; the inhabiting of alternate realities; the subversion of democracy through various forms of voter disenfranchisement -- thank you Republicans.
It does not matter that the situation is not symmetrical; that Democrats don't play dirty the way Republicans do; that Democrats value good governance in a way that Republicans just do not.
Republicans have transcended mere shoddy and despicable governance to outright corruption, and not just on Ukraine. It's everywhere you look. (That's the response to David's "answer honestly" request: One cannot even IMAGINE such pervasive corruption in a Democrat.) The corrupt Trump is the culmination of a corrupt and loathsome party.
But David is correct. Voters generally think that's how politics is played, even though the worst is by far on one side, and we've known this for a considerable time. Republicanism has taken down the entire national polity and infected it with fatal, uncaring cynicism. How do we fix that?
3
The “core issue” is intact constitutional government with checks and balances on the power of any one party or individual. Now is the time for a public reckoning of how the Republican Party has sought to undermine this “core issue” so dramatically and disturbingly.
The truth will set us free!
I don't agree that many Americans don't care about impeachment because they take corruption as a given. I think they don't care because they don't care. It doesn't touch them significantly, and they are not engaged. They live their lives sans civic empathy or much knowledge of a larger world. The have the same self-involved obliviousness they have always had. However, I think ALL of us believe our lives will not get better, but worse...qualitatively and quantitatively. We know it in our bones.
David, how do you imagine policies and legislation that help people and the country if they can't get past a despot and his cronies in power in The White House and Administration? The Constitution is what allows the laws that support the disenfranchised and our democracy. Are we just supposed to let it rot and "move on"?
Trump is the gangs hitman, and the Repubs know that they need to protect him to keep power. Yes, they all recognize what a hitman does for the mob, but its a vital function and they see no wrong.The hitman must be protected.
Lowering taxes, removing regs, installing political judges all more important then a few crimes.
The only thing perfectly obvious is that congressional Republicans want to keep their jobs.
It’s shameful they didn’t, and won’t, treat this the way their constituents do when they’re called for jury duty.
1
"If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes.
"Both Sides" as a rhetorical strategy is an utter failure when confronted by one side committing crimes at historical levels. Sure, if everybody as a criminal then we couldn't ethically prosecute crimes. But at this point one side is demonstrably a criminal Enterprise and the other is simply to hapless to make hay out of it.
1
“If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict?”
If he or she had spent 3 years acting like Trump, lying, demeaning, self-promoting, using the office of President for personal gain, and thwarting Democracy, then yes, absolutely. Wouldn’t you, Mr. Brooks?
1
Well, if the House impeaches and the Senate fails to convict then we can pretty much say there is precedent that a future president can shake down another country for political gain.
Put that in your constitution and smoke it.
1
I agree with Mr. Brooks but let's wait until public hearings come out. I can understand being 'meh' about impeachment for your own guy, but I don't understand how people could still be gung-ho about Trump with so much blatant corruption and incompetence just on the surface.
David, you failed to mention that a majority of the population has ZERO trust in main stream media reporting.
Dirty politics in Washington is expected. The media bias is somewhat new and Americans simply don't pay attention any more to the sideshow in Washington D.C.
Let voters decide the fate of President Trump next November!
The right question for "Progressives" is: If the very same Trump were a Democrat, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly.
In the face of walking orange slime, impeachment is the right thing to do for many reasons, even if his conviction is unlikely. Doing the right thing is enough.
1
Who exactly are the "elites" that Mr. Brooks accuses of negligence? The same "elites" Mr. Trump has continually bashed? And about what are they negligent?
Where does David Brooks go when he goes "outside Washington" to determine the public's receptiveness to impeachment?
He must not be going to New York City, or to Boston, or to Denver, Los Angeles, Austin, Minneapolis or Cincinnati.
The saddest part of Mr. Brooks observations is that people don't seem to care that there is a crook in the White House. The testimony, much of it from "insiders" is compelling. It illustrates the many ways the current occupant has operated in a questionable, and most likely, unconstitutional manner. And yet these folks seem to think all politicians are the same. That just shows how the Repubs have emphasized their message that government is rotten. But I guess it is impossible to convince most cultists that they are actually in a cult.
1
Mr. Brooks, in your "equivalency" spot quiz for progressives, absolutely I would vote to oust a Democratic president who so blatantly and egregiously spit in the face of the Constitution and rule of law. Just as I would have accepted Clinton's ouster if it had happened. I'll "move on" when today's Republicans show, and act on, the same respect for the law.
1
"During Watergate, voters trusted federal institutions and granted the impeachment process a measure of legitimacy. Today’s voters do not share that trust ... .
"Many Americans don’t care about impeachment because they take it as a given that this is the kind of corruption that politicians of all stripes have been doing all along. Many don’t care because it looks like the same partisan warfare that’s been going on forever, just with a different name."
And why is this?
Because of the unforgivable cynicism and opportunism of the Republican Party's impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Now THAT was a partisan witch hunt. They saw a Democratic president elected with only a popular plurality, and who had unseated George H. W. Bush, the heir apparent to their hero, Ronald Reagan, at a time when they were flush with the conviction that they had achieved a supply-side revolution and a permanent Republican majority. They were outraged. They went on a fishing expedition and finally found something -- SOMETHING -- to piggy-back on the concept of impeachment that had been brought out of the distant past to deal with the vast corruption of Richard Nixon, and which they couldn't resist using again for themselves now that it had been used once by the other party against them.
It was so transparently shallow and unserious, so blatantly hypocritical, so obviously designed to overturn an election. The shadow of that abuse of power still lies across our politics.
2
Birds of a feather flock together Mr. Brooks and as always your polling is conservatives more than likely in your partners and the questions you ask.
Move on David Brooks and leave the complicit corrupt republican party. Not saying that a good part of the centrist and conservative democrats aren't corrupted by the money your conservative judges have allowed. "the supremes" have had a definitely over the top power to bring the democracy of America down by allowing money as speech to those with the most money. Corrupted Supreme Court. Get the money out of politics and make our congressional elected officials work for we the people not the few elitists like yourself.
Mr. Brooks, you have evolved and lifted your writing with moral perspectives, and some columns read like bracing sermons. Where is that character and bravery here? Regarding impeachment, you choose to be pragmatic, if that is in fact accurate, based on 'ends do not justify the means.' Is that a way to judge action in a constitutional crisis? What happened to moral clarity which is so dear to you and to your readers?
Carrying water for the Republican Party once again. We should impeach the president because it’s the right thing to do. Who cares if he is removed. Who cares if the republicans won’t go along with it. There has to be a punishment for corrupt practices.
2
Whoever said this was going to be easy ?
Impeachment is messy and ugly and is not going to heal the deep divide that Trump exploits and deepens on a daily basis.
However , giving up means giving up on our future and our children's future . Giving the worst President in the history of this country, a get out of jail free card for being a traitor to the Constitution he swore to uphold .... is unacceptable.
The GOP should stand for Give up On the People , because that seems to be their overwhelming message .
Or how about a new GOP moniker?
Invertebrates "Without a backbone. "
1
"Elite dysfunction" is Brooks' new packaging for his standard canard that both sides are equally responsible for the mess we're in.
1
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
One gets the strong sense that Brooks thinks he already knows the answer. In fact, according to precedent, "guilt" can mean anything from a sex scandal to full-blown malfeasance, corruption, and fealty to a foreign power.
If there were the slightest question that my candidate believed they were above the law, or were a traitor to the United States, or had used the presidency to line their own pockets, I cannot imagine *not* wanting to remove them from office as soon as possible.
I cannot imagine that a decent person would feel any different.
1
Keep voting GOP until things get better. Remember all the bills they passed to make your life better. OK, remember the tax cut for the Rich that made David Brooks' life better.
This piece is shameful and disgraceful.
We have a criminal in the Oval Office who is using Brooks' tax dollars and mine to hold hostage a foreign government in ways that destroys our democracy and undermines on national security, and this is what you write?
Has Mr. Brooks lost his mind?
And about "winning over moderate voters", that's no long the point.
Every member of Congress took an oath of office to protect our country from enemies foreign and domestic. The biggest enemy happens to sit in the Oval Office.
The House Democrats are doing their job and honoring their oath to us.
Brooks, meanwhile, could use your NYT perch to point that out. Instead you argue this is somehow politics as usual.
In my view, Mr. Brooks is not only complicit in undermining our republic, he also undermines all his moral musing on these pages over the past so many years.
They all ring very hollow now.
2
So, impeachment by the end of the year followed by acpuital?
The congressional campaigns will bring the evidence and the votes intrusively into the minds of the current disinterested. In addition, the president has a year for his wrecking ball instincts to do its unpredictable but pretty expectable damage. Damage that can even short of conviction is able to put a majority vote in the Senate against him.
The mills of the gods are working. This column makes sense now. But there's a year of grinding ahead.
"to (impeach), or not (impeach)? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous (Republicans), or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them?" With many apologies to William Shakespeare.
Would that we had the support of Republicans who actually cared about treasonous acts against our country and stood with us to oppose a man unfit to serve in the highest office in this land, but that is not the case. The process has begun, and "the moving hand has written" and there is nothing to do but proceed. What follows in terms of political fallout or victory remains to be seen. Even as more and more evidence of corruption has been uncovered, Trump's base is holding firm as are most Republicans. I have trouble understanding this type of paradigm shift in the country regarding our core values. Dishonesty is being honored. Lying is ok. Violating an oath to uphold the Constitution is becoming meaningless, and the rule of law denigrated. Will impeaching Trump just result in a shrug of the shoulders by most? Who are we anymore?
At least the Democrats are standing for this country, and no matter what happens, they are doing the right thing morally. The Republicans have become amoral in their quest for power, and are backing a man who has never had a moral conscience.
Yes, Mr. Brooks, I would absolutely vote to impeach any individual politician regardless of Party if there were evidence of guilt.
2
To corrupt people and organizations, life is one big transaction in which the ends justify the means. In that sense, this corrupt administration and the GOP have already won: Biden's poll numbers have slipped so dramatically that he will most likely be kaput. Meanwhile Warren's numbers have climbed. But she is unelectable, period. This shift would not have occurred were it not for the chase down of Hunter Biden, via "any means." Those who support trump care not one bit for the Constitution or morality or democracy: they want what they want. The republican successor to trump will give them that and they do not care that the democracy we have honored dies in the process-- it's simply collateral damage to the truly corrupt who rule.
132
@karen You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. - Abraham Lincoln
5
@karen
Trump was "unelectable", too.
13
@karen Why is Warren unelectable? Strategist Steve Schmidt deftly laid out in a recent interview how to beat Trump. All one has to do is show why Trumpism isn't working (and it isn't, its all smoke & mirrors favoring an elite). Then, offer a better alternative. Which, if you've been paying attention, she's been doing. I'm not sure I buy the rhetoric she's unelectable. I think Trump is more vulnerable than he or the GOP are willing to admit. That's not to say they should be underestimated but there is nothing stable about this admin. That isn't too difficult to point out and sell. That said, Democrats like Biden have done a poor job of that thus far.
23
Approximately 43% of the electorate do not care, or do not realize, that Trump is destroying the United States, and the many of the rest are are indifferent.
A nation gets the government it deserves.
228
@Cassandra A nation gets the government it deserves - at best! Many nations deserve a better government than they get. Iran and Guatemala are two nations who had an elected government removed by foreign (yes, US) intervention. They deserved to have better government than the tyrannies we forced on them. Eastern bloc countries during the Cold War deserved better governments than those that were forced upon them. The US interfered in Russian elections in the 1990's, and if Russian interference in our 2016 election determined Trump's victory, then we didn't get the president we actually chose. So there are many exceptions to your rule.
15
@Cassandra
A better education happens at many levels.
3
@Cassandra ethical idiots (sociopaths) who have skill making $ have replaced Walter Cronkite/Tom Brokaw with Big Brother and very effective DoubleSpeak for much of the country. Just visit a small town almost anywhere and see the fox channel drumming out its fear and rage. These Murdoch/Mercer/Koch/Adelson/etc. have created a monster we're all trying to fight off before it creates further damage.
16
David, I'm just a little disappointed that your repeated articles keep insisting that the rest of the country doesn't care much. I think you are right. But this phenomenon--an indifferent, cynical, skeptical, and doubting public--is precisely why impeachment is not a plebiscite. We expect our political representatives to care, to know better, and to save us from ourselves. I understand the thrust of your message is, "let's all just move on." But given the sinking trust in government, the high-partisanship, the lack of reasoned dialogue, there must be some process through which we can register our refusal to accept this kind of behavior (reckless, criminal, self-interested, or highly misguided). If there is not, or the Senate chooses to acquit, we will have sanctioned open corruption for our foreseeable future. It's one thing to believe it is happening (like neighborhood crime) and feel powerless to do anything about it. It is entirely another thing to nod in approval.
1
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
YES! When President Clinton was under an impeachment inquiry, I was not phased or angry. If the man was guilty, he should have been held accountable.
I voted for him twice , but the bar fore impeachment set by the republicans back then is really low!
I felt the same way when Mrs Clinton was investigated for her server and for Benghazi. If she was guilty of anything, she should have been held accountable- but she wasn't found guilty of anything. I voted for her too.
3
"This sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline is the core issue right now." David, You are Wrong.
Katharine Hayhoe's article in today's NY Times hits the core issue. The fight between Revelation and Reason+Observation in defining our view of God.
That is the core issue. The So-Called Elites are children of the Enlightenment they believable that God can be believed in from using Reason and Observation. The Anti-Elites believe that God can be known to exist through Revelation and its main product The Bible.
The two world views are not reconcilable. Only compromisable.
That is why the Republican Party is failing in its duty to protect The Constitution of the United States. They are rejecting the founders who wrote it. The founders were smart enough to understand the battle that would some day come between the two world views and hopped to build institutions to withstand it.
By failing to recognize that they made a mistake about Trump and do something about it, Republicans are showing that they are in the Revelation Camp of the New Dark Ages. Reason and Observation to them mean nothing.
That is why I have said and continue to say what you refuse to believe. That your children or grand children will be faced with either the prospect of a Police State to keep one side "down" or there will be all out Civil War.
Either both sides have to compromise or the above is inevitable. A compromise would start with recognizing that Republicans made a mistake.
It is time for Republicans to be disgraced, on the record. They may be made to vote on whether or not it is okay for a Russian funded personal lawyer to the president to undermine US interests overseas by seeking to initiate unscrupulous actors to attack a political rival through another government. To be memorialized as to whether or not they accepted the US Attorney General endangering our alliances in the Five Eyes and other Intel sharing organizations by seeking to elicit that our US Intel resources have been lying to the American public, all of them. To hold accountable the President for using extortion for political gain. And whether all those who abetted are too, accountable.
Either way, it decides 2020.
1
Yes, Mr. Brooks. If I, having evidence that a sitting President had committed an Impeachable offense I would press for Impeachment, regardless of political affiliation. I do not believe that the ignorance of the facts by some supports the rest of us rolling over and doing nothing.
Distrust of the Government is a Construct that is used by those in power to make us believe that we are powerless, but contrary to your assessment, I know that there are enough people who still have faith, and not just the liberal elites on the Coasts ( another Construct) to decide that this man is too corrupt, even by Republican standards.
2
“For most, impeachment is not a priority. It’s a dull background noise — people in Washington and the national media doing the nonsense they always do.” David goes on to say that we should therefore get on with those things that matter to the broad public.
What is totally missing here is David’s failure to consider whether the public’s broad acceptance of Trump’s behavior is acceptable. Has not Trump’s despicable behavior gone far beyond that of any of his predecessors? Are not the basic principles of law and morality important here? David’s willingness to accede to public opinion is reprehensible.
2
Sometimes, we do things because they are the right thing to do. Impeachment is one of those things. Then, some self-examination--by all but particularly by Republicans--to see if they can be a more effective part of a functioning government in the future is needed. If we are to save America and all that she stands for, we need to overcome some of the partisanship and plain hatred that divides us.
If there was evidence that a President Biden, Warren or Sanders had committed an impeachable offense, would I, as a progressive, vote to convict? Yes, if there was such evidence of an impeachable offense, I would surely vote to convict. That is the difference between most Democrats and most Republicans. Democrats believe in the rule of law. Republicans are willing to aid and abet lawbreaking in high places--so long as such lawbreaking is committed by Republican officeholders.
3
Call me naive, but one would hope, like during the Nixon impeachment hearings that when the evidence is presented in public that Country rises above party for Republican Congresspeople and Senators. The experiment that is Mr. Trump was truly doomed to failure eventually, his professional life always has. There is a problem placing a man who has spent his life in total control of a business in an environment where he has to collaborate to get a job done. He was too old when elected to change and Americans who voted for him should have expected this. His actions should come as no surprise. I for one don't have a problem dragging this out for a little while. The reason is as the evidence is made clear, his poll numbers will drop like mercury in February and when his fellow Republicans in Congress see that it will hinder their chances of re-election, a current day Barry Goldwater may push him to resign. After all, Impeachment is a "scarlet letter" which even if not removed will follow him for the rest of his life and stain his legacy even further.
3
This is not Nixon...we are in Clinton territory.
I have the utmost respect for you David. I've read "The Road to Character" more than once and have given the book as a gift (not something I do often) to family and friends.
But I am astounded by your point of view in this article. The House would be derelict in its duty if it was NOT moving forward with an investigation and impeachment proceedings. Yet, your article is the equivalent of "nothing to see here folks, move along" or even, in the words of Acting Chief of Stagg Mick Mulvaney, "get over it."
We cannot get over it.
This years-long nightmare is finally being properly examined in the way that it should be, and hopefully, a dishonest public official (of questionable moral character, according to your own benchmarks from your well-researched book) and those who participated will be rightfully removed from office for the actions that he and they took.
The elite negligence and national decline that you speak of, I am afraid, is largely due to GOP actions and policy. People are losing their homes because they cannot afford a major medical incident, and working two and three jobs just to make ends meet. While corporations and the 1% grow richer and ever more greedy.
7
Sorry, David, but sometimes principles are worth fighting for. It's a battle between those who believe in them versus those who don't. Which side are you on?
5
Mr. Brooks I cannot argue with your pragmatism. I have often said there is no percentage in being right. But, we are either going to follow the Rule of Law and the Constitution or we are not. As it appears to me, Mr. Trump talks like a dictator, walks like a dictator - and to me, appears to be a President who aspires to be a de facto elected dictator - and it now appears that he might even have the Attorney General enlisted to help him. This is really very bad and very dangerous and those who understand that have a duty to try to stop it using the Constitutional means provided.
I am sick and tired of hearing about Impeachment being "a political process". It is a CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS ordained and established by We the People to protect the rule of law and the Constitution. The fact that a demagogic aspiring autocrat has political power derived from a throng of beguiled followers is to be expected and should be totally irrelevant to any Senator considering an impeachment. If a Senator is to address a question of Impeachment as the framers clearly intended, then he or she must put aside political considerations and focus only on the offences being considered and whether or not they are sufficient to show a threat to the rule of law and the Constitution of a nature that cannot be allowed to continue.
6
Now, when Trump is breaking every norm of decency as well as the rule of law which has resulted in an impeachment inquiry, you write that progressives should "move on" ! Your refusal to denounce Republicans' decades of brazen cruelty and wanton destruction of ethics and morality is the perfect example of "elite negligence".
3
There can be no doubt in any reasonable person’s mind that Trump is seriously degrading the presidency and engaged in lawless behavior, such as obstruction of justice, extortion, and violations of emoluments laws. His behavior must be unequivocally repudiated. It is not enough to vote him out of office, thus allowing him to join the ranks of Jimmy Carter and H.W. Bush, who were voted out for political failures. Rather, he needs to join Richard Nixon in a rank of two criminal failures. But since Trump almost certainly will not resign, he must be dragged out of the White House. Thus, he will be placed for history below Nixon, which is where he belongs.
3
":Prof. Paul Sracic of Youngstown State University in Ohio told Ken Stern from Vanity Fair that when he asked his class of 80 students if they’d heard any conversation about impeachment, only two said they had. When he asked if impeachment interested them, all 80 said it did not."
What kind of students do they have at Youngstown State if they have no interest in or don't care about the fact that the president was bribing a foreign country with taxpayer-funded military aid in order to find dirt on one of his political opponents? This corrupt, would-be dictator is a threat to our very democracy. And college students don't care about this?
5
Every day in this country there are literally thousands of prosecutions of crimes ranging from grotesquely violent to complicated white collar crime to traffic violations. All of this goes on without much public notice. Should we then just let these crimes go because no one is paying attention? No. We prosecute these crimes, in part, to inform others that this behavior will not be tolerated.
If we tolerate the wielding of government levers against political opponents, then what is next? Using the IRS or DOJ? What this President has commited is bribery - plain and simple. And it should be call out as such. Then we don't have to debate about whether his conduct is impeachable. It's right in the Constitution.
3
"Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly."
Yes. And I would be ballistic a Democratic POTUS had placed not only themselves, but our party, at such risk -- especially knowing "Trump-style Republicans" are always perched like vultures awaiting such an opportunity. (Come to think of it, that's exactly how I felt during the Clinton impeachment.)
As a never Trump Republican, I can confirm that the cynicism within the GOP is such that with all of Trump's misdeeds, there is still not enough damaging evidence to convince the Trump base (now Trump owns at least 90% of the party) that he should be removed from office. However, the process is just beginning and as new revelations develop and old issues are fleshed out with new evidence, some Republicans may be convinced that they made a horrible mistake in nominating this man for president.
Fortunately, most GOP senators are not part of the MAGA base that supports Trump regardless of his malevolence and other character defects. There is some hope that at least 20 Republican Senators will base their votes for impeachment on the evidence presented and not fear of retaliation by Trump. At some point they will have to put their obligation to the nation ahead of any obligation to their party. I would hope that if the situation were reversed, and a Democratic president was guilty of such misdeeds, that the Democrats would place their judgment above party as well.
2
@JAM
"At some point they will have to put their obligation to the nation ahead of any obligation to their party."
That has never occurred in an issue that is this partisan. It is not going to start now.
2
Trump is not the real issue here. He is a symptom of our dysfunctional politics that surged mainly after Reagan. Impeachment is the start of the process. Then will come defeating Trump/Pence, whoever would be in charge that time. But the main issue is little deeper.
It's so unfortunate that vested corporate interests and their political lobbyists were able to distort the very meaning of democracy and successfully branded it as communism or socialism, deepening on how close one is to the Alt-Right movement or corporate interest. Now anyone fighting for (real) democracy is abused (by these vested corporate cronies and etnno-religious Alt-Right activists) as communist. That transformation mainly started in early 1980s during Reagan era, which resurrected and promoted the concept of crony capitalism in this land of freedom and brave, where democracy took the deepest and the strongest root as a multicultural and the most productive society in the whole world. American foreign policy, domestic policy, influence of race & religion- all changed in this time. As a result Trump came to power.
Hopefully the change to take back our democracy and freedom (from crony capitalism and rule of billionaires) will start after 2020 election and more precisely after 21st Jan 2021. And Republican party as a whole and a large section of Dems (symbolized by Pro-Hillary, pro-Biden lobby) must learn its lesson to keep American a peaceful, prosperous democracy in years to come.
1
@Bonku The reasons you give are reasons should not be reasons to impeach Trump. They are irrelevant issues. If these are the reasons you want him impeached than people who favor his policies have every right to see this as a attack on those policies and on their way of life and not because Trump committed a impeachable offense and to support him even when you can convince them that Trump did the wrong thing and he should be impeached but if the liberals think getting rid of Trump will change the policies he supported then they are wrong and Trump is right and why Brooks is correct to ask what would they do if the shoe was on the other person's foot so to speak. I believe if Obama did something wrong (I don't think he did) and the Republicans used that as a way to defeat the policies he supported than the Democrats would do what the Republicans are doing now. They would defend those policies and they would defend Obama just like the Republicans are defending Trump If you really think Trump should be impeached because of his misuse of the Presidential powers than you have to prove to these people who support him on the issues that those issues are not being attacked You just gave Trump the ammunition he needs to convince his followers that they are being attacked when he is being attacked and therefore they must defend him because in doing so they are also defending themselves. which is the real reason you want him impeached.
David, the core issue is that Donald Trump has
demonstrated that he is unfit to be president,
that he has violated his oath of office, that what he has done is wrong and that he deserves to be impeached. We all know that, but some of us don't care, some of us don't want to admit it, some of us think it's OK, but most of us know and agree that, no matter how it turns out, this is what needs to be done.
3
@Mike I would be more convinced if you just spoke out for how you feel and not think you can for others.
David if you understood his position is for impeachment.
A big part of the public malaise is due to the over-scandalizing of the government by the media. Not so long ago, every week the media would focus on something that turned out to be nothing. And not just our Federal government, state, local, celebrity - everything on CNN is BREAKING NEWS - even when it is not. Then you have the fact that corporations and lobbyists have been buying our politicians right out from under us for so long - and the disaster that is the decision in "Citizens United" (which ironically has divided us even more than every) all this gave rise to someone like Trump. So the question should be - what do we need to do to reverse this?
4
@Kathy M Impeaching Trump is not the way to do it. Defeating him at the ballot box is.
Pelosi said herself when the Dems announced the House would be taking up the impeachment issue that she doesn't expect impeachment will result in the Senate voting to remove Trump from office, and that it "doesn't matter".
Maybe those disaffected OK Boomer T-Shirt wearers and students at Youngstown should take heart that those corruption-as-usual politicians in Washington are finally doing something out of principle even if it may be the wrong strategy for 2020.
3
Sounds like Brooks would just as soon jettison the impeachment because it is not popular with the 5-10 people from the hinterland he has talked to. He might want to consider the president was using extortion against an ally for nefarious political gain and holding up military aid that directly benefited his benefactor Putin. This is an example of Dems doing the *right thing* irregardless of popularity in the hinterland. He may want to use his column space to try to educate these hinterland folks as to the seriousness of the crimes that were committed, a.k.a. pressuring a foreign ally to interfere in upcoming elections or else he withholds vital military aid.
2
@Hair Bear He was not pressurizing them to interfere in the election as investigating Biden by itself isn't doing that. The impeachable offense is what Trump did by trying to withhold military support for the Ukrainian arm forces.
It's his misuse of Presidential POWERS.
As much as I wish some Republican Senators will do their duty as jurors when the time comes, the fact that not one Republican in the House broke ranks with Trump's party machine foretells an acquittal. Make no mistake, the GOP of principle, of American strength abroad, of rule of law, of past generations, is gone. The people in its place and carrying its name are committed only to fear-mongering and cult-of-personality, whereby in less than 18 months, an outsider, an infamous C-list TV celebrity, was able to sweep in, outperform them all, and make it his own.
That means Republican Senators will probably receive facts that overwhelmingly support a case for Removal, and nevertheless vote to Acquit, some out of Soviet-style party loyalty, others invoking one rationality or another. This is the game they now play. This is the reality of today's GOP.
So, yes, House Democrats, duty-bound to impeach a President who has, and is, selling U.S. interests abroad for his own benefit, leveraging U.S. foreign power for his personal gain, bringing America down with all other gutter nations where even the highest office is for sale, must lay out the best case possible for impeachment, hold steadfast and at their best behavior throughout the process, conclude with Articles of Impeachment drafted for the ages (if not for the Senate), and then, move on.
Somehow, Democrats have become the party committed to their sworn duty to the Constitution, because somehow, today, nobody else will.
2
I doubt there was ever a GOP of principle — if there was it wouldn’t have caved to Trump. (Remember “Welfare Queens”, Willie Horton, Swift Boat, Hanging Chads, Merritt Garland?)
It was and is about money and power — getting and keeping it, no matter what it takes. Lying, cheating, hypocrisy and the willful debasement of language (Frank Luntz) has been the strategy since Reagan at least.
It’s really no surprise that TRUMP is their avatar.
He is absurdly perfect.
The American public needs to experience this impeachment in real time. Basic Civics 101 is on full display mode. Many take our Constitution for granted, but now it's time to pay close attention. When I hear many citizens can't name the three branches of government it gives me chills. People the time as come ,our democracy is in jeopardy. Russia's head of state is pulling the strings of an American president. You need to pay close attention.
3
Agreed, there are more important things than impeaching Trump.
It’s also clear that Mr. Brooks empathize with the republicans. Nevertheless thanks for writing this article, I was always wondering how do others see this whole things.
2
"Stop distracting from the core issue, elite negligence and national decline."--D.B.
Is someone going to take Mr. Brooks aside and explain that our crisis is that DJT is inextricably linked to being "elite" and "negligent," that the accelerant to "national decline" sits in the WH?
I'm tired of the canard that we cannot do multiple things at once. There is no separating our multiple crises from the man overseeing them. On every front--from environmental degradation to white-collar crimes (according to the FBI, WCC costs this country three-hundred *billion* dollars a year)--DJT exacerbates existing problems while managing to introduce new ones. That's a very "special" gift.
Tick off any issue and his name appears next to it.
So, sorry, but no. Impeachment is not a "distraction;" it is the first step toward staunching the ethical, legal, moral hemorrhage flowing from the White House. Nothing else comes right until this does.
3
@AhBrightWings
"So, sorry, but no. Impeachment is not a "distraction;" it is the first step toward staunching the ethical, legal, moral hemorrhage flowing from the White House. Nothing else comes right until this does."
This is politics and not some type of debate in an ethics class. The moral high ground is not going to keep Trump from being reelected---and that will certainly be nothing else being right.
1
@glennmr
I would not so glibly dismiss crimes. No one is above the law, even --especially--a president.
This is not some tea party or hijinks. DJT is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Dismiss that and there is no center that can hold.
1
"This sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline is the core issue right now....it's time to move on."
Dead on, David. I am deeply progressive, but I totally agree with you. Maybe being 84 has something to do with it....but much as I despise trump I know there are many, many good patriotic citizens who disagree and believe Washington D.C. contaminates every official who goes there.
4
When I was younger and struggling to understand why there were so many despots in the world, a wise person told me a nation gets the leaders it deserves. I felt pretty smug, but then came the long slide down to our current leaders. They reflect us. To get better ones, we will need to deserve them.
2
I used to think David Brooks was a person of character. But like the GOP, he suggests the lens of expediency is more important than walking America through details of the truth. It appears the slow corrosion of character continues to spread. The decay at the top has brought a stench to all levels that will permeate this country for decades. It is heartbreaking to witness.
And one last note: Mr. Brooks - when it became evident President Clinton lied, I, I radical left-wing deep supporter of President Clinton, felt he should have been impeached. It simply meant we would have had Gore as our President, yet a more tenuous future for our party. Some people do stand on principle. Your suggestion makes it clear you need to look in the mirror.
3
"Many ... voters take it as a matter of course that for the rest of their lives things are going to get worse for them — economically, spiritually, politically and culturally."
This is the underlying problem. The lack of faith in our institutions comes from the sense that the world is stacked against you. Terrorists are bred this way.
Much of the wealthy elite doesn't want democracy. They've destabilized education because poorly-informed citizens can be convinced to vote against their own interests. They've mined data from social media and turned our posts into battlegrounds. Russia knows this and took the manipulation to a new level, but unregulated capitalism created the environment in the first place.
A culture always striving for more creates an overstimulated population with little interest in deeper thought or meaning. By reducing success to sheer numbers, the U.S. has traded short-term achievements for long-term failure.
2
The premise of this article assumes there's no other shoes to drop. Anyone think that's likely to be the case? I do not.
As to whether I'd vote to convict a democratic president if the shoe were on the other foot, I ask, are the other facts the same? Did President Warren tell an allied country that unless they dug up dirt on 2024 adversary that she wouldn't provide millions in aid? Then yes, impeach and let the Veep assume the role. Honestly. That's not a tough call.
3
To answer your question about a democrat being impeached, Mr. Brooks:
Yes on Biden, but I simply cannot give you an answer about Pelosi, Warren or Sanders because there is no aspect of their character, nor behavior that would indicate impeachable offense (so far).
I think Biden is guilty of the soft corruption that is rampant in Washington and I would like him to drop out of the race.
There are Liberals out there who do adhere to ethics and norms. I don't think politics is a football game. I don't simply root for the team.
2
I do not support DT. But I don't support the Democratic policies. Are Republicans supporting DT or supporting conservative policy? Just as one example, I am going to vote against open borders. Policy is bigger than the man.
I really do not see either party for open borders. Trump has failed to make any progress of closing them and I really think the Democrats have a better handle on how to control immigration.
2
This Comment is exactly the problem. No Democrat supports anything called “open borders.” This is a term introduced by the Republicans and it has been repeated enough that many believe it’s some sort of Democrat policy. Trump and his Republican friends are masters at labeling (lying Ted, send them back, Crooked Hillary), and many Americans love the simplicity. The GOP now reflects nothing but criticism and name calling.
1
@Pete I know what you mean. I truly do. But a lot of the platform, i.e. decriminalization, free healthcare and free college, sure gets pretty close.
Welcome to the dictatorship...
2
“Progressives, let me ask you a question: If Trump-style Republicans were trying to impeach a President Biden, Warren or Sanders, and there was evidence of guilt, would you vote to convict? Answer honestly.”
Answer: Yes.
3
I really think progressives are honest if not always candid.
1
"Republican legislators are being bludgeoned with this truth in testimony after testimony"
Well, they are only hearing "testimony" from one side, and so is the public.. Republicans arent allowed to call their own witnesses because of this Kangaroo court set up by Schiff. Furthermore, this "testimony" is the opinion of the phone call. Democrats say the phone call is all they need. Well, that assumes the Bidens did nothing wrong. Reuters did their own investigation, and printed it Oct 18th. They name their Ukranian govt sources. the found that Hunter was making 83k per month, not 50k. He never stepped foot in Ukraine, and only attended 2 board meetings per year - all outside of Ukraine. He was hired specifically as a "ceremonial" figure, to ward off investigations - with good reason. The owner of Burisma, a very corrupt Ukranian, found himself to be under multiple investigations, giving ample motive for Joe Biden to get him fired. So our President is confronted with the fact that the son of our former VP was in a Ukranian state run energy companies back pocket, and on their payroll, being paid 83k per month for a no show job. The President is not allowed to ask about this? Why, because he might be a political opponent? And now you want to remove this President for even asking? The Bidens corruption will come out in these public hearings. Hunter will be called to testify, and Trump will be exonerated. Then youll be left with Warren. Democrats will regret going down this road.
The phone call, unfortunately for Trump, is only a minor part of his downfall.
We promised the Ukrainians we would protect there sovereignty if they gave up their nuclear bombs. Trump’s multiple month campaign to force them to make false or misleading statements would break that pledge. Why would we want to continue helping them if they took sides in our election.
Trump can already broadcast the rumors you note without tainted help for Ukraine.
@SurgicalBiologics
Keep throwing poop up against the wall and see if any of it sticks. The lack of critical thinkings skills is missing in your diatribe. Forget “be better” and instead try “be smarter” and one day you maybe able to sit at the adult’s table during Thanksgiving.
If impeachment is a mere distraction, should we call up the Palace Guard as the ancient Romans did to get rid of Nero and Caligula? We do have a Palace Guard don't we, such as Barry Goldwater and Howard Baker who convinced Nixon that it was time to go. Time to fess up.
The wet blanket coalition that makes up the center right and center left of the Times think they can both mobilize and keep us awake with these inspired columns.
1
Would you really convict a thief if you stood to gain by his acquittal?
What kind of values do you have? Is this truly your argument, 'we protect our own no matter what they do'?
And since when do Republicans care about public sentiment? Where are all the republican when they go home for recess? Certainly not in town halls answering questions!
2
To Brooks:
Trump is to blame! Not elected Democrats, not voters!
Therefor, Trump should be made to take responsibility! Not elected Democrats, not voters!
What don’t you get?
4
Do the right thing ...
1
Move on to what? The end of the American Republic?
3
Impeach Trump. Then Move On? So much easier said than done, David Brooks.
I couldn’t agree with David more about Impeachment. Talk about a “double-edged sword.” Trade Trump for Pence? Really?
Beat Trump by giving the Independent Voter a real choice. Throw out “Medicaid or All!” You now have Mayor Pete & Bernie. Either one of them can put America back on course.
"Play the impeachment card through November..."
Seriously? You think impeachment is really just a "play"?
And which "elites" are guilty of negligence? I think I know your answer to that.
I'm never reading your column again.
4
@Brett Exactly. As a very famous person said: "When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."
My comment to our erstwhile, conservative equivocator, is to echo the title of David Leonhardt's of this same edition: "To Beat Trump, Focus on His Corruption."
3
You are wrong Brooks. Americans want him impeached and removed. We are sick of him.
5
@Cherry picker The states that matter for electoral votes are all that matter. I suggest that Democrats look at polls in States like Wisconsin, Ohio,etc.... Here in Wisconsin, 7 out of 10 voters do not support impeachment. Even worse, as others have suggested, "Keep looking, we will find something...." only makes the "deplorables" angry and more determined to get to the polls to ensure President Trumps re-election.
One of your better columns. Hope you right about the Midwest or wrong about impeachment.
Let's not forget that Trump's plan to destroy Joe Biden, totally criminal, possibly treasonous, has actually WORKED! Just like Nixon's dirty tricks to destroy the ONE rival he feared in 1972, Ed Muskie.
Biden's stock and support among Democrats is falling. He's in 4th place in the Iowa polls, behind Warren, Sanders, and Mayor Pete. Trump REALLY wants to run against any of those 3, and he'll come up with his disgusting, stupid nick-names that the low-info hate-filled red-hats love.
Not just Trump, but the ENTIRE GOP knows they are in serious trouble if they face a fair election so they're doing everything to prevent that, even allowing Russia to hack in again. When GOP Rep is asked if it's OK, he head-butts the camera! (Don Young, Alaska) (but doesn't answer).
It's clear the nation is at a critical inflection point, the most critical since the Civil War. An acquittal followed by Trump's re-election, MoscowMitch holding the Senate, and recapturing the House, WILL mean our Democratic Republic is over, we WILL be living under a corrupt, lawless dictatorship, and we will start seeing Trump's "enemies" arrested on Trumped-up charges (pun intended). We may WELL see a return to executions for "sedition", "treason" (defined as trying to stop or investigate Trump) and the total suppression of a free press.
It's not impossible. It's been done many times, in many nations, just not here. And Republicans are 100% complicit.
1
@Dadof2
Bunk.
You should have seen the 60s. Advancing Black uprising. Cities on fire. Unwinnable unquitable war. Incipient mutiny in the Army. Fragging. Student revolt. Generalized middle class rebellion.
And now. Whacko president. Are Russians taking over? Of course not. Did they affect the election? By spending 100,000 bucks on Facebook? C'mon.
If Trump were to be tried for Russiagate, the claim above, 100,000 bucks to elect a President, when countered by experts (none were used by Mueller), will be laughed out of court.
We've got a thousand fascists in Charlottesville, unacceptable but normal police violence against non-whites, and left hysteria on campus against the occasional right wing speaker.
Right now is worse than 1958. Maybe it's 1961. It ain't 1963. It sure ain't 1965, when the draft notices were piling up in mailboxes. And it really isn't 1968, 1969, and 1970.
And the 60s were nothing, compared with the working class semi-revolution of the 1930s.
Settle down. Get ready. The 60s and 30s are probably out there, getting ready to hit us in a decade or two.
The taxi returns. Write this column again after the tax returns are revealed.
2
David writes, "The evidence against Trump is overwhelming. This Ukraine quid pro quo wasn’t just a single reckless phone call. It was a multiprong several-month campaign to use the levers of American power to destroy a political rival."
What nonsense! This is your third (or fourth) try to overturn the will of the people -- because you all know you can't lick this guy in a fair fight (ie: win the next election if he's on the ballot).
Biden & son are certainly dirty (smell test?). Trump wasn't asking for help because Biden is a putative rival (he's really not viable). Trump is obliged by our Constitution to "Take care" our laws are faithfully followed.
That's why AG Barr is on the job and DJT is asking everyone to cooperate.
That, David, is the long and the short of it.
2
@Norman Rogers
Neither Trump nor Barr would know the Constitution or what it means if they met it in the road.
That friend, is the long and short of it.
The Democrats have been put in a lose/lose situation. Impeach: bad. Don't impeach: much, much worse. And they didn't ask for it. If America "punishes" them in 2020 for being the last barricade against the demolition of the republic - then America will get what it deserves. And they ain't going to like it. Maybe they'll "pay attention" then. But I doubt it.
1
Failure to hold Trump accountable means that these behaviors may well continue in a second Trump term. Is that something we can afford as a country? David, you are suffering from political reportage exhaustion. Please get back into the arena.
"I get that Democrats feel they have to proceed with impeachment to protect the Constitution and the rule of law."
Nonsense. They're trying to win an election, good for them. Mr. Brooks, I understand you have to throw a sop to the loyal readership of the New York Times. Your sole error in an otherwise spot-on column. Voters will decide if Trump deserves a second term on the first Tuesday in November 2020. I absolutely guarantee he will still be serving his first term on that day.
About those rural folks, who don't want to talk about impeachment. That isn't because they barely notice. It's because they can't talk about it after going all in for Trump, and getting played for chumps. What is anyone going to say, "Yeah, I'm an idiot, I voted for the guy?"
It's more or less the same in Washington, with all the Republican Senators going to ground. But with them, it could turn evil, if they refuse to do their duty.
3
Why do American people have such a hard time making up their mind about kicking this lewd, witless, uneducated,inexperienced,unkind coward out of the White House? Obviously many find him appealing and are willing to root for him, what does that say about the people in this country?
3
@Anxious Because, sorry to say, so many Americans of this era are "lewd, witless, uneducated, inexperienced, unkind cowards."
Then, David Brooks, you are obligated to educate them. Instead of writing a column about how stupid the American people are, write one about why they should care. It’s not as if Trump has no impact on their lives.
1
Mr. Brooks if you had only stopped with your first 3 paragraphs.
Either we have laws, or we don’t, either we abide by the Constitution or we don’t. No matter democrat or republican, liberal or conservative, it should not matter, particularly to an educated individual like yourself. I honestly don’t care about the red states that you refer to, it’s not my fault they don’t read, they are surely not reading this column nor the reader feedback. But I’m sure they know the last winner of Dancing with B and C celebrities. Republican’s impeach Clinton for lying about a consensual affair, this is not even close to compare.
Either we have laws, or we don’t.
2
David, the idea is that we impeach him SO THAT we can move on!!
1
All five reasons for the lack of interest in and support of Impeachment are linked to rampant cynicism. No longer our representatives, the elected are self-centered sycophants, nothing more (there are exceptions). if Prof. Sracic asked about ANY policy or project, I suspect he would get the same shrug- "who cares?" Sadly for the future of USA, Washington may as well be on the moon.
1
Instead of talking about impeachment how about we talk about corruption.
1
If he did it ... Yawn! If he did not ... Yawn! The dems are using this as a money pump. Out here in "fly over land, among the "Deplorables" it is just more of the Washington follies.
Some of us remember Wilbur Mills & Danny Fox ... Just more Washington follies.
They are all bums.
Moving on...
Do you have any idea of the number of important legislative bills are currently in the cemetery known as Mitch McConnell’s desk?
1
Republican supporters of trump are “not interested” in talking about impeachment because; A: Fox tells them its all nonsense. B: David Brooks tells them it's “background noise.”
3
So, don't protect the Constitution because red state voters don't care? Nuh-uh.
3
when Clinton was impeached, I agreed with it. If our chief government representative would lie under oath....
So don’t lecture me about morals.
Lecture your own party.
6
The Fed is bailing out Wall Street again but the Times is silent.
690 billion this week.
If we keep letting these thieving Republicans or Corrupt Democrats stay in power we are toast.
1
Brooks exposes who he is -- a person without values willing to accept a criminal, lying, traitor in the White House and a GOP that is so cynical and greedy and rotten that it will "defend" that person in order to keep their seats in Congress. Oh, yes, and Brooks is willing to accept an electorate that is so dumbed down and incapable of rational thought that it voted for a six time financially bankrupt and a lifelong morally bankrupt conman.
2
Totally stuck on “both sidesism”. Utterly pathetic.
2
David Brooks, you should be ashamed of yourself, and frankly, I’m surprised at your lackadaisical analytical approach. Wrongdoing by the executive branch (writ large) has obviously occurred here vis-a-vis the Ukraine and domestic political affairs, regardless of whether the American people have the comprehension and/or attention span at the present moment to fully appreciate that fact. However, the historical and vital role of the press (read YOU), is to educate them and wake them up to the threats (present and future) posed by this conduct (read Washington Post during Watergate). Do your job, sir. The Republic you profess to care so much about depends on it. Miles Cooley, Los Angeles
3
impeach, remove, indict, try and imprison the man already.
We will move on right after Donald the Clown is removed from office.
1
The democrats would never allow a democratic president to get away with this corruption. I am sick of republican, conservative, never Trumper’s dragging democrats into this with their dishonest intellect about what we would do if a Sanders or Warren did this kind of stuff. No way, No how would we ever tolerate it and y’all know it. Just once, David, can you address the problems with republicans without making democrats your foil and just stop! with the whataboutism. This is solely about the republicans and their party, it is incumbent that they must answer for their intransigence in recognizing that they chose and elected a common criminal conman. Quit blaming democrats who appear to be the only adults in this sordid affair. You owe it to us, the readers and yourself, to be honest about who and what is at fault without being so intellectually lazy.
4
There's so much wrong with this. If impeachment doesn't even register a shoulder shrug from most of the country, then what's the problem? Impeach him, and let Pence be President. By D Brooks' reasoning, that would also elicit the same shoulder shrug. We have Vice-Presidents for reason: If a president screws up, not on policy but on conduct, impeach, remove and move on.
This column and the comments make me think it is high time to re-read The Federalist Papers.
https://www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/The+Federalist+Papers
1
Remember that photo of MBS and Putin high-fiving each other? Republicans are joining in that. America is being destroyed, and while Americans are glued to Fox news and reality TV. If I wanted to bring America to its knees, I'd be dancing right now.
2
That David Brooks is the World’s Champion Republican concern troll. If Brooks says the best thing for Democrats is to wrap up impeachment by Thanksgiving and move on, he really thinks dragging this out well into next year would be a disaster for Republicans.
Hey Brooks, have you ever contemplated that all this elite failure pretty much started around 1980 when we started electing more Republicans?
2
D. Brooks: Impeachment is a distraction.... As quickly as possible, it’s time to move on.
I've got a few years left. I'm not moving on. Trump and his base are threats to human progress as afforded by a democracy. We are hell bound for a second coming of the dark ages if they prosper and the rest of us move on.
2
Thought experiment... Remember when this happened?
"Republicans: Some advice. Impeach President Bill Clinton and then move on with the business of the nation..."
Said no conservative or Republican or libertarian pundit even once.
But I am also glad to see Brooks be quite clear that the standards for the parties are worlds apart, and that only the Dems have any interest at all in accountability and responsible governance.
Reading between Brooks' lines, it's hard not to come away from the column thinking it's is really not about impeaching Trump, but entirely about an ethnically and morally bankrupt rump regionalized Republican Party with precious accountability or constructive vision for our future -- nothing useful to say, do or contribute.
2
Yes David, we should "move on" and not worry that the focus of the impeachment inquiries is about the undermining of our elections -- you know, the thing that Russia worked so hard to do in 2016. The thing that Mueller warned us about. The thing that Alexander Hamilton, among other founders, warned us about.
The people who shrug refuse to connect the dots and understand that free and fair elections -- without foreign influence -- are at stake.
And they call it democracy.
2
Interesting, and true. Brooks is correct: the “elite” have pulled the rug of the American Dream from under the foundation of unity,hard work and hope that sustained our Democracy. At the moment we are in the midst of a civil war of uncivility but the sides have been drawn not by opposing interests of the combatants but the elites.
Trump purports to be the general of an army of ordinary, disaffected folks. In reality he is advancing the interests of business and the wealthy at the expense of the future and well being of his faithful. He is unfaithful to the principles of our Democracy and to his constituents.
The Democrats are rightfully challenging Trumpism with the Consitutiinal remedy of impeachment. Constitutional principles must be defended to preserve our Democracy. But make no mistake, Democratic politicians have also been the stalwarts of Wall Street and wealthy donors.
This impeachment battle is really a kabuki dance; a pantomime confrontation. The Democrats are fighting to save the Constitution as Trump cries witch-hunt. The outcome is preordained by composition of the Senate.
The war to preserve the Constitution’s balance of power under attack by a President who believes he is above the law is essential, even if this battle is lost.
However, unless and until Democrats and Republican politicians alike truly serve the greater good instead of the monied elite, our society will continue to crumble. The paper Constitution will be preserved as an historical relic.
I make a habit of looking at FoxNews.com to see what the Republican voting public is seeing. On a day when dire news breaks against Trump, you're more likely to see news about the latest Hillary scandal than about the President's misdeeds. Until the media arm of the Republican Party starts talking about the impeachment proceedings, their voters will never believe it is more than a side show circus being run by the Democrats.
But that can change. If the Democrats start making proceedings that demand to be watched, if they start creating good entertainment, there is a chance that Fox News will have no choice but to start to show it. Then we can see if they can make the case and, if their voters actually see the evidence, the tide may turn.
1
@Rich Yes....Yes ! Have Fox show the proceedings.(It fires up the Republican base) And while we are at it, have NBC, ABC, CBS,NYT, CNN, MSNBC, etc....ALL endlessly show the Barr, Horowitz/Durham reports.
David, it is pretty simple: all we got is the rule of law.
Trump wins, we could lose it all. And be no different from those living in fear of authoritarian regimes. Who is that knocking at my door?
Republicans have put us up against this wall.
2
"A pollster can ask Americans if they support impeachment, and some yes or no answer will be given, but the fundamental reality is that many Americans are indifferent."
That "fundamental reality" is - if true - is an indictment of Americans to take responsibility for their government.
"The evidence against Trump is overwhelming. This Ukraine quid pro quo wasn’t just a single reckless phone call. It was a multiprong several-month campaign to use the levers of American power to destroy a political rival."
If that isn't grounds to pursue impeachment purely on its own merits, regardless of whether or not a majority of Americans are currently on board, then there are no principles that matter, no rule of law.
3
As a liberal, I can honestly say that if a Democratic President was working along with the entire Democratic Party to dismantle our government and an honest and patriotic GOP wanted to stop him, I would most certainly vote with the Republicans to impeach. I would not however support today's GOP in anything that it would promote. And I would not definitely not support the impeachment of any Democratic President knowing the inevitable consequences of GOP rule.
5
The fact that there is little conversation about impeachment among ordinary people is a result of the "self-censorship" I see every day because people don't want to get into big arguments with family, friends and co-workers. The aggressive bullying of the President and his supporters and the use of partisan media (Fox News, MSNBC, social media, etc.) which present alternative realities to Americans means the American people do not share a common set of facts. A common set of facts is the basis for civil debate. I just spent 10 days traveling with hours and hours of conversation with friends and family where not once did we talk about politics. We talked about the most banal subjects to the point of absolute boredom because people were afraid to talk about the "elephant in the room". Inside, I was screaming: "Look! Our House is burning down What should we do about it?"
The enemies of democracy are laughing at what we have become.
6
What is going on may look partisan to some not paying attention but there is something a lot more unseemly and dark going on here when the Truth, what is being uncovered, is being cast as unfair, a witch-hunt, maligning the Truth-tellers, those coming forward bravely. This bad mouthing, "gaslighting" if you will, is believed by those who cannot bring themselves to admit they have hitched themselves to something so wrong and so bad. And so they are deaf and silent, or act irrationally, cornered by their consciences. Anything to protect the Truth from getting out, prevent the Truth from getting in. Something more serious has been going on for three plus years now than mere partisanship. And we can't get this over with and then just go on. It's out of control over the top corruption, leaders working for themselves and not for the people, democracy and the law. This must be realized and then they must go for us to heal as a nation.
2
So, when these Republican Senators vote to acquit, I hope they realize that they are giving not just this administration, but all those going forward, a carte blanc to do the same. Extort our allies, solicit unfettered foreign influence in elections and resist oversight by withholding documents and any testimony of any individual, at every level of the administration, anytime they pleas. So, moving forward, there will be zero accountability. That is what they will be codifying with a vote to acquit.
8
To early to call, this impeachment has only begun. Republican self-interest and preservation should lead to his ouster. That is, if the Republicans were creative and strategic. For instance, Donald Trump should be told he MAGA'ed the country and then he should be convinced that he wants to spend more time with his family. Come on Mitch, muster the Senate.
The conservatives could still run with their four horsemen: religion, abortion, cutting taxes, and guns. They don't need Donnie for that.
1
The core issue, David, is the rampant corruption from the GOP and the massive disparity between the wealthiest citizens and the middle and lower middle class. Not "elite negligence."
3
Democrats should: 1 vote to impeach, 2 participate in the Senate trial, 3 take every opportunity to make it clear to voters why this is important, and that Republicans are failing to take the facts the law and their commitment to participating in governing the country seriously.
I am a "leftist" not a liberal, but here is my proposal: I would vote for any and all Republicans I could in 2020 who faced difficult facts about trump, gathered and talked about facts about trump and his misconduct, and then set about proving they were able and willing to govern the country, not dismantle the government through neglect and starvation.
1
The answer to your question about progressives voting to impeach a progressive president who has violated the law and corruptly used the office for his/her political gain is: "yes". I voted for Bill Clinton twice. I thought, at the time, he should be impeached and removed. Why? Because perjury is obstruction of justice. A high crime. Period. We all need to think less about right vs. left and more about right vs. wrong.
2
Had Bill been accused of something important, such as the undeniable corruption of trump, most democrats would have supported impeachment. We drew the line at sex with an intern, which many of us understood was a family matter, something we too might have lied about. That difference is key to the difference between the parties.
@karen
The credible charge against Clinton of raping Juanita Broaddrick was suppressed. Her blockbuster interview made three weeks before the Senate trial was held back from broadcast by NBC until after Clinton was home free.
The Monica incident was a private matter and should never have been brought up. Consenting adults.
The accusation by Broaddrick should have been pursued to a proper conclusion, one way or the other.
So because a minority of Americans, fed a steady stream of lies and misdirection by Trump and his enablers, on Fox and elsewhere, are disinterested in impeachment means the Dems should rush through the process and end it as quickly as possible? Because it will probably end with the Senate refusing to convict Trump means the process is futile? Talk about missing the point...
Re: polling numbers, support for impeach-and-remove is growing. Recall when Nixon was impeached the country didn't reach 50% in favor of removal until the summer of '74, long after the Judiciary Committee began impeachment hearings. In Clinton's case the polls never reached 50% for impeach-and-remove.
(polling numbers from a CNN article titled "Trump's historic impeachment numbers", published 2019-10-22)
Impeaching Donald Trump is necessary to preserve the dignity (and the utility) of Congress. Anything less than a full and public accounting of this president's moral and criminal exploits is unworthy of and inconsistent with the American values we proclaim to uphold.
5
The fact that so many Americans are not "interested" in impeachment says much about what is wrong with America today and also, how we got here. Civic duty is all about knowledge of and participation in the affairs of the country. When we have a government and leaders who are doing their duty for the good of the people then, perhaps, we can afford to sit back and watch with a minimum of participation (voting). But when we have a situation so disastrous for the country as a whole, with blatant corruption and self-aggrandizement enabled by a major political party it is time for the people to become actively involved and informed. There is no excuse for passing this present situation off as "something all politicians do". It is not. If you call yourself an American it is time for you to stand up and be counted in what is perhaps the greatest threat to our democracy Americans have faced in their lifetime.
5
If impeachment is the battle, the next election is the war. To win this battle, the Dems would have to have enough votes in the senate to oust Trump. Not going to happen.
The GOP propaganda wing will spin this and the actual issue will fade due to the time factor. The Dems could lose the war, which would spell all sorts of trouble across the economy and debt and health care...etc.
"Winning" the battle and claiming some ethical high ground to "prove" that Trump is corrupt will really not do much if he is reelected because too many swing votes did not care about impeachment.
Dems need to focus on this issues...they won't fade.
Upholding principles is a distraction from the very important business of taking care of business? Which one is it Mr. Brooks? Do principles prevail or is it all about practical considerations. I need to see some consistency. Your turning moderation into moral ambiguity.
3
Mr. Brooks says that the single most important issue facing America is "elite negligence in the face of national decline": This is the issue on which Trump ran and won in 2016. Attack the elites. Make America Great Again. Mr. Brooks seems to be asking us to get past impeachment as quickly as possible and return to Mr. Trump's political frame and priorities. I disagree.
The single most important issue facing America is decline of the rule of law and destruction of our democracy. That's what the impeachment inquiry is about.
Move on, he says, to something more important. What's that? "Elite negligence in the face of national decline." Move on, he says, to an issue on which we are more likely to make legislative progress. What's that? "Elite negligence in the face of national decline," he says. I would remind him that the Democratic House spent the last two years passing dozens of bills to arrest national decline. Mr. McConnell has promised that the Senate will never consider any of them. Mr. Brooks has no criticism to make of Mr. McConnell or Senate Republicans. Only of Democrats.
I respectfully suggest that Mr. Brooks go back to his desk and think things through a little more clearly. What bill would he like to see Democrats make their highest priority? How would he like Congress to spend its time? Be concrete. Enough of the verbal mush.
8
@Theodore Seto
"The single most important issue facing America is decline of the rule of law and destruction of our democracy. That's what the impeachment inquiry is about."
Perhaps, but a sure loss doesn't help and impeachment is a sure loser. The GOP is not going to break ranks on this.
I question Brooks on his assessment of the voting public regarding the impeachment issue. The Democrats did not turn 40 seats in 2018 by sheer accident, but rather voter disgust, and much of it against Trump.
His base has not increased and when does 40% win elections in a two person race? He will retain his support in the House since House members run in districts and not statewide. I predict he will retain most of the Senate republican support, but may lose some of those engaged in tough re-election races, but it will not come close to the required 2/3 supermajority. But a majority of the Senate will damage his chances for a second term.
All of this speculation may be premature as more facts will be revealed during the public impeachment hearings.
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This is an incredibly cynical column.
I was reading today in a legal publication that Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch are leading an effort to promote civic education in this country because so many people - regardless of political persuasion -- are not informed enough about how the courts, or even our whole system of government, operates, This is not an "elitist" thing. We require this knowledge for people who take the US citizenship test. ALL Americans have a stake in the outcome of the impeachment proceedings, whether they know it or not, and Mr. Brooks should use his valuable real estate on the Times Op-Ed page to join the effort.
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Very insightful and I agree with most of the points, but I don’t think impeachment is just a distraction. It’s very important; a necessity, to send a message that if you trash the constitution, you’ll pay a price. Congress just has to do its job, whether it is good politically or not. It’s simply the right thing to do and that’s what we all should be electing our representatives in Washington to do; the right thing. The investigations will probably make it very clear that we have a corrupt executive branch and then the voters will, hopefully, punish the party that is allowing it to happen. If there is no retribution at the polls for what Trump has done, and for his behavior, then we have lost our self respect as a nation.
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Yes. However, it is constitutionally incumbent on the House to proceed given the circumstances. And yes Democrats are just as guilty of focusing on trivia as Republicans, the content is different. I would hope that Democrats do this as they should and move on to the substantive issues that got them the House in the first place. It is not surprising that red state Republicans don't see this as an issue - their in love with the criminal in the White House, as we Democrats were with Bill Clinton. Still, you cited that in those red states 43% wanted to impeach. Let's see what it looks like after the dirty linen is exposed publicly in the weeks to come.
I think the overwhelming number of progressives would agree to convict a liberal president if faced with the severity of offense and the sort of evidence that's clearly in place here.
I don't even think this is necessarily high-mindedness; supporters of a Democrat would understand that, far from being a "coup," power would transition to another, presumably less compromised Democrat, the vice-president.
But then, we're a coalition, informed by a range of news sources with a variety of perspectives. The other side is a cult, informed by media with an explicit partisan/ideological project.
Our larger problem, assuming we get through this crisis, is how to deprogram the cultists.
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The journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. It is important to point out that almost to the day 46 years ago, on October 30, 1973 the house judiciary committee voted along party lines to begin the consideration on imeachment. A little more than three months later after the American public had the ability to digest preliminary findings, the House voted 410-4 for impeachment to begin.
What is important is for the truth to become public, and also the Democrats work to have a well publicized "road map" for the proceedings. The major networks must televise the upcoming hearings as well.
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@Samuel
The house vote was not a formal impeachment. It was only a resolution to look into impeachment. Formal hearings on impeachment did not start until months later
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@Samuel I agree. The pathway forward is highly publicized proceedings, sway of public opinion, then shift in Republicans in congress. Brooks' point that they don't discuss/care about impeachment in flyover country now actually makes this point -- rather than that we should rush this through.
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@Samuel - Agreed. But what are we going to do about Fox and Friends et al? What are we going to do about the Senators and Representatives who are lying to their constituents through their teeth? What are we going to do about members of Congress who impeached a former president over undignified sexual behavior, but who will not speak out against a president who is abusing the office through incessant lies to advance his own political power and personal gain?
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David says "Is it possible that more than 20 Republican senators will vote to convict Donald Trump of articles of impeachment? ... "
Yesterday's House vote should have convinced everyone that Republicans are not about to budge.
Democrats need to play this very carefully. Otherwise they will lose and the country will pay.
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Yes, let us all remember that this impeachment process is mostly about the Office of the President and the extent of presidential power. We may adore or abhor the individual but we must address abuse of presidential power; we must address executive actions that undermine democracy and promote authoritarianism. This is about the office, not the individual!
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@Paul Loeffleri
No. It is absolutely about the individual.
And it's not just what he's doing not just to the office, but the United States of America as well.
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It is about both.
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@Paul Loeffleri
And if the individual stays in power because of it...how will that work out. Moral victory followed by disaster.
7
If the president were a Democrat behaving this way Republicans would have had him impeached, tried, and out of office by now. And, Mr. Brooks, I do believe that Democrats would have helped get him out of office if he behaved even one fifth as reprehensibly as this president does on a daily basis. Shame on all of us for standing by while he wrecks, not only our country, but the world. Think of the children at the border, the Kurds in Syria, the list could go on for a mile. Stop acting as if impeachment weren't important. Lives and Democracy are at stake.
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@Ana
Bravo, Ana, bravo.
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@Ana -
David asks if the shoe was in the other foot and and if Progressives had to vote to impeach a Democratic president how would it feel? The question itself feels so partisan and shows David is quite far gone.
"Honestly", if a Democratic president was committing so much wrongdoing as this president is, then I'm quite sure my fellow Progressives would demand that the president be removed.
The fact that David assumes that Progressives would act the same as the Republicans of today are acting shows how people like David, who think they're moderate Republican, are actually standing quite far into the right spectrum.
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@Ana
Agreed.
David needs to turn his "thought exercise" around and speculate on whether Republicans would look the other way if the president who did the things Trump has done were a Democrat.
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When it comes to illegal immigrants who are fleeing devastation and violence, but yet making valuable contributions to the economy like mowing the lawn for the President's resorts, conservatives want to enforce the laws. However, when an elite person (President) breaks the law, Brooks wants to move on. Okay, who is the party of the elites?
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The problem is, the Republicans actually read the transcript of the phone call between Trump and Zelensky and they can't figure out why the Democrats keep lying about this insofar the quid pro quo in question was for Zelensky to investigate Ukrainian owned CrowdStrike in exchange for American financial support. The reason an equal number of Republicans are in favor of the impeachment is because they want a judge to weigh in on the matter, in lieu of getting the information from partisan news sources.
You are vastly misjudging the south, mainly NC. The southern culture does not abide speaking politics publicly, it is impolite. Rest assured, we speak it alone among family and close friends. we speak of impeachment and the professionals among us, support it.
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So the bipartisan approach to forestall national decline is to outlaw abortion and plastic straws?
The following statement by David Brooks in the column above is a blatantly dishonest falsehood: "Many Republicans know Trump is guilty, but they can’t afford to hand power to Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders." Brooks lies that this is the choice facing Republicans. Disgraceful.
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Get over it. We do this all the time.
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If I understand, you are just trying to keep it simple, right? As you state: “Play the impeachment card through November, have the House vote and then move on to other things.” Well, that seems like a tidy, easy to digest solution for such an important and complex issue such as the impeachment of our sitting president.
Call me 'elite' but If we are to be the true democracy that the world looks to and aspires to be, we cannot as a nation look the other way. As lest we forget, it is you Mr. Brooks who has written at length about quality, morality, spirituality and humanity, none of which seem to remotely resonate with Trump.
To add, one might describe your past decade of writing as ‘elitist’ in tone, so thank you for climbing out of your own Republican cave to speak truth to the ills of this man occupying the Oval Office. Now if you could somehow convince fellow Republicans throughout Congress to do likewise, we would all appreciate your efforts.
Lastly you state: “This sense of elite negligence in the face of national decline is the core issue right now.” The ‘national decline’ part is correct with DJT initials written all over it. Via Twitter, Fox News, RushL-radio. Simple sound bites, sadly what many Americans can only digest. Anything more, as you state, “dull background noise.” And ‘that’ is the core issue, the dumbing down of America, one 'perfect' Tweet at a time. Call me ‘elitist’ but critical thinking, basic reading and digesting true facts has divided our country.
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@David
Great comment, thank you.
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