Hi Davey, So is this news to you that the mean spirited thin skinned bully you supported by your constant degradation of Secretary Clinton is o yeah, a mean spirited thin skinned bully? Geez, that must have been a surprise! The best thing that will happen in the next couple of years is that all of Paul Ryan's onanistic Randian fantasies will be tried and will fail. Then perhaps we can finally stop hearing about them and get on with real solutions to real problems.
152
Mr Brooks should stay far out of the teaching business given his "alternative" grasp of history.
100
Hey, as long as you are waxing eloquent and rhapsodizing about Reagan to our collective youth, lets remind them that Reagan had more scandals in his presidency than any other president. He fired all of the air traffic controllers setting off a crushing of unions that has only continued since. He repealed laws designed to protect us from propaganda. he was oblivious of Iran/Contra, yeah right.....He was a snitch for the FBI against fellow actors in Hollywood. That mean wind you speak of started with your "Saint Reagan" Trump is not the first lying Republican monster puppet, just the most unvarnished.
243
not fair to porcupines!
70
Mr. Brooks, I sincerely hope PBS NewsHour viewers had the opportunity last night to see a White House spokesperson unintimidated by a brow-beating, flustered and angry Judy Woodruff. In an unrelenting charade, Woodruff intentionally fought and insulted Kellyanne Conway, who responded evenly, politely and firmly with facts, with truth and with dignity.
If indeed RR's GOP was more favorable to you than Trump's GOP, so then was PBS before Trump: since his election the NewsHour has done little but attack and malign.
In the past week the rising malevolent tone toward Trump is inexcusable. PBS NewsHour - and largely, your other employer, the NYT - have shed honest, objective journalism in favor of an anarchist press: out of control and looking for boogeymen in every Trump-second of every day.
Get a grip, all of you. The media tirades that insulted Americans who elected Trump may have already sealed his re-election.
If indeed RR's GOP was more favorable to you than Trump's GOP, so then was PBS before Trump: since his election the NewsHour has done little but attack and malign.
In the past week the rising malevolent tone toward Trump is inexcusable. PBS NewsHour - and largely, your other employer, the NYT - have shed honest, objective journalism in favor of an anarchist press: out of control and looking for boogeymen in every Trump-second of every day.
Get a grip, all of you. The media tirades that insulted Americans who elected Trump may have already sealed his re-election.
39
Yesterday we were all harangued in these pages by the millionaire, Harvard educated Goldman Sachs smashmouth Breitbart editor and top advisor to Grumpy Trumpy, Steve Man of the People Bannon. You were told to,shut up and listen and as a member of the press you had suffered a humiliation from which you will never recover. Not sunny at all. But that's the party you republicans created and now we all have to live with it. Thanks.
275
First, I would gladly have another Reagan than DJT, not because I welcome Reagan... Second, to understand DJT's 'policy' of 'America' first, that the rest of the world is taking advantage of us - substitute 'DJT' in place of 'America'. He is applying the same strategy he used his entire life to his presidency. That his strategy took advantage of everyone else and was morally bankrupt does not even appear on his radar. He is soulless, and a pox upon Humanity. That so many see him as the solution should scare all of us.
180
David Brooks is an (R). It is not true that the (R) party, the Party of Reagan, transmogrified into Trumptown in one election cycle. Reagan's scapegoating of "welfare queens with Cadillacs", G.H.W. Bush+ Lee Atwater and the Willie Horton campaign, Karl Rove and the allegations about John McCain's alleged half-black baby. It has been going on for decades, and Mr. Brooks has been a willing participant. He now wishes to put his party at arm's length, to pretend that Dear Leader is not the logical culmination of decades of race-baiting, Sorry, David, but what you see is the ultimate pustule of the body of the (R) party, your party of choice. When the pustule really explodes and sends its infection in every direction, you're gonna need a bigger Hazmat suit. But still, you own it all.
427
Finally, a respite from Mr. Brooks usual 'Why can't we all just get along' columns.
58
"Trump has changed the way the Republican Party sees the world. "
Mr. Brooks, would you please stop promulgating "alternative facts." Trump didn't change the reps. They started changing when Pres Obama was elected, by denying his legitimacy and refusing to cooperate with him in governing the country. All they wanted to do was "make him a one-term president."
What did YOU do during all those years? You and your ilk (e.g. the supposedly moderate and reasonable Reps) sat there at spouted Republican dogma. You and your ilk saw the party devolving, and you didn't speak out as it trudged towards the edge of the cliff of absurdity. And by the time that you and your ilk decided that it was time to speak out, it was too late; the covert hatred and bigotry that your party had tacitly fomented flared up and gave us tRump.
And worse, even the few Republicans in Congress who finally spoke out against the absurdity of tRump during the election have now sold their souls, and have meekly fallen back in line (and into silence) in obedience to their leader.
And you just ignore the complicity of your past silence. You're now on a condescending high horse about how this "isn't" your party.
Yes, it IS your party. It has been your party for many years now; you just refused to admit it. YOUR silence makes you complicit in what gave rise to our current disaster. Your new-found excuses ring hollow; and the con't assuage your guilt.
Mr. Brooks, would you please stop promulgating "alternative facts." Trump didn't change the reps. They started changing when Pres Obama was elected, by denying his legitimacy and refusing to cooperate with him in governing the country. All they wanted to do was "make him a one-term president."
What did YOU do during all those years? You and your ilk (e.g. the supposedly moderate and reasonable Reps) sat there at spouted Republican dogma. You and your ilk saw the party devolving, and you didn't speak out as it trudged towards the edge of the cliff of absurdity. And by the time that you and your ilk decided that it was time to speak out, it was too late; the covert hatred and bigotry that your party had tacitly fomented flared up and gave us tRump.
And worse, even the few Republicans in Congress who finally spoke out against the absurdity of tRump during the election have now sold their souls, and have meekly fallen back in line (and into silence) in obedience to their leader.
And you just ignore the complicity of your past silence. You're now on a condescending high horse about how this "isn't" your party.
Yes, it IS your party. It has been your party for many years now; you just refused to admit it. YOUR silence makes you complicit in what gave rise to our current disaster. Your new-found excuses ring hollow; and the con't assuage your guilt.
660
I find that the Cheka's propaganda wielded by the Bolsheviki to terrorize the Russians fits Bannon's Trumpet like a glove. He's not original in his thinking, that's for sure.
http://spartacus-educational.com/RUScheka.htm
http://spartacus-educational.com/RUScheka.htm
65
Donald Trump's grandfather came to America to avoid criminal prosecution and imprisonment for cowardly, dishonorably and unpatriotically dodging the German military draft. Trump along with his father and his kids have carried on this family tradition.
Thanks to the likes of Charles Bolden, Chelsea Manning, Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Colin L. Powell and Charles Rangel the Trump clan has been able to be very privileged parasites and scavengers. Since 9/11/01 a mere 0.75% of Americans have volunteered to put on an American military uniform
About 54% of Americans did not vote for Trump to occupy the White House. But FBI Director James Comey, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin along with 46% of American voters delivered Trump a thin Electoral College majority. In the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Presidential elections the Republican Party received 57%, 59% and 58% of the white American vote.
Trump is cowardly hiding his income tax returns along with his personal and corporate business holdings and his medical health records and his two foreign wives immigration status from the American people.
Cowardice is an apt nickname for Donald Trump.
Thanks to the likes of Charles Bolden, Chelsea Manning, Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Colin L. Powell and Charles Rangel the Trump clan has been able to be very privileged parasites and scavengers. Since 9/11/01 a mere 0.75% of Americans have volunteered to put on an American military uniform
About 54% of Americans did not vote for Trump to occupy the White House. But FBI Director James Comey, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin along with 46% of American voters delivered Trump a thin Electoral College majority. In the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Presidential elections the Republican Party received 57%, 59% and 58% of the white American vote.
Trump is cowardly hiding his income tax returns along with his personal and corporate business holdings and his medical health records and his two foreign wives immigration status from the American people.
Cowardice is an apt nickname for Donald Trump.
502
Of course Trump personally is a coward. He has no friends for good reason. He says or does anything until someone stands up to him, then backs down. If you have a maladjusted 15 year old son, you may have seen evidence of this in Trump. Since when did anyone think (yes, think) that a bully stands up for anything positive or valued knowledge ?
65
Please with the Reagan mythology. Remember this gem from Attorney General Edwin Meese justifying his opposition to Miranda rights. "Miranda rights for innocent suspects would be understandable except for the contradiction that if you were innocent you wouldn't be a suspect"?
126
You could call him a poltroon, and he'd think it was a compliment.
28
David, please don't address anything to college students about the way things used to be. I am so tired of the apologies and excuses. Why didn't you speak out against Trump and the republicans in power that put him there? You spoke last year at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. This is a place that gave us Betsy DeVos and her ilk. Did you also know that Hope refused to hire a director for an off-campus program because he was a jew? Did they tell you that? Did you look into the practices of the places that you were talking to about the good old days? I am filled with a sense of sadness I can't convey to you and I know you won't ever read this. Please know though, David, that when they come for me they'll be coming for you, too.
179
Lovely commentary, Mr Brooks, but why are none of your fellow Republicans in the Congress expressing similar feelings?
117
David, and which party let this man ascend to power?
Talk about cowards.
Talk about cowards.
196
Sorry, but if you believe in the same narrative, the same story you believe the same thing. The only difference would be your denomination. But what if the story is al wrong, what if the narrative is fiction?
6
Mr. Brooks seems to have a "sunny faith" that his readers have forgotten the thousands of gay men who died due to Reagan's dismissal of the AIDS crisis. Or the many poor children whose school lunches featured ketchup as a vegetable.
158
Anhedonia...I've got my word for the day.
17
Shakespeare was right on! Trump is Richard' III's doppelgänger.
“What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
Richard loves Richard; that is, I and I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am.
Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason why:
Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?
Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no! Alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself.
I am a villain. Yet I lie. I am not.
Fool, of thyself speak well. Fool, do not flatter:
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree;
Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree;
All several sins, all used in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all, “Guilty! guilty!”
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me,
And if I die no soul will pity me.
And wherefore should they, since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself?”
― William Shakespeare, Richard III
“What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
Richard loves Richard; that is, I and I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am.
Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason why:
Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?
Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no! Alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself.
I am a villain. Yet I lie. I am not.
Fool, of thyself speak well. Fool, do not flatter:
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree;
Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree;
All several sins, all used in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all, “Guilty! guilty!”
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me,
And if I die no soul will pity me.
And wherefore should they, since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself?”
― William Shakespeare, Richard III
53
mr brooks, the GOP and supporters like you made mr trump happen. the GOP needs to step up and do something or our country is going down.
85
Whether Trump himself is a coward, it's clear he is willing to exploit a truism that nightly news and cable channel owners long ago discovered: fear sells. Fear sells better than sex, better than human interest, better than scandal. People pay attention to what they're afraid of -- and these days they're afraid of all the wrong things. They fear that some ISIS terrorist will come and sever their heads, when the actual risk to their health and safety is posed by the neighbor's teenager driving down their street while texting his girlfriend.
78
David, You insult both FDR and TR by comparing Reagan to them. Reagan opposed everything these two giants stand for and tried his best to un-do the good works they did. If you are going to give history lessons to young'uns, you have to start with the truth, not with lies.
161
Reagan who? Come on, David. Reagan was just a more pleasant Trump. He did terrible damage to our country and Trump is off and running to do the same thing.
Oh yes, and don't forget Bush.
Oh yes, and don't forget Bush.
81
Still gushing over mythos of Reagan?
27
I am surprised that the NYT makes comparison to the Reagan years because if my memory serves me well the NYT treated Reagan exactly the same biased why they are treating Trump. Give the guy a break, he has been in office a few days.
12
It's not just Trump. David doesn't mention the Republican Party. Trump is a disgusting human being,but all this is right in the Republican playbook. David is lamenting a Republican Party that never was,and for sure not now. Wish America and the rest of us luck!
48
"It’s not a cowering, timid fear; it’s more a dark, resentful porcupine fear.'' porcupines can also be rabid .
10
All things considered, is it too soon to impeach?
34
Well David, don't blame me. Im one of that "huge" minority that voted against him. You can blame the cowards in the Republican party, the party of NO, for running with this Pixar president.
40
I thought he might shift gears and show a more human side once he took the oath but perhaps to no surprise he hasn't - the events of the past week only serve to suggest the harbinger of things to come. I get it that he and his cronies want to dismantle and discredit their predecessor's accomplishments and edicts but hold on Donald he did leave you some pretty decent gifts. Contrary to your incessant rants the country is pretty safe on all accounts - the carnage you cite is exaggerated, the economy is pretty sound, ISIS or, as you prefer, radical Islam is on the wane thanks to your predecessor's patient and calculated actions, and so on. Granted things ain't great and I guess that's why regrettably that's why you are but lighten up man as there's much to be thankful for - open your downcast eyes and look around; look at what you have and what you could give if you could step out of the swamp you apparently like dwelling in. Can you ever smile and laugh in a genuine way like our previous presidents were able to do? Can you ever just kick back and have a good time? One would doubt it - your anger unfortunately is too consuming and your bottomless narcissistic pit requires constant fuel. Yes Mr. Brooks it would be nice to have a bit more of the old actor in Mr. Trump's motif, Reagan's way would be a welcome change from this dour, dark Cheney reincarnate. And to the young you seek to reassure I would guess that fortunately probably most don't hear his words.
16
Interesting photo. Barely a week in office and Trump's hair has gone from yellow to white.
15
Fear yes driven by insecurity...as odd as it may seem, Mr. Trump is tremendously insecure...its what drives his crazy behavior. The crowd will never be big enough for him as he dreams of saving America from itself. As for Ronald Reagan--I remember him saying one thing with a sunny smile on his face and then doing something quite the opposite--star wars, Nicaragua. Yes students--do the research.
33
When you pander to a disconnected and fact-free base, you retreat from the truth and a 'sunny' future. 50 years of strategy and gerrymandering have come to this. A house of cards.
58
Whining and temper tantrums seem to be the MO of this administration.
"Shut up!" (Bannon)
"It's not fair!" (many people, esp. Conway)
"What about [---]? "When they did it ....." (many people, esp. Conway)
They can't respond to challenges because they know their policies as well as the people they've chosen lack integrity and legitimacy (not to mention logic).
I can't decide which is more deplorable-- the GOP doing their corrupt and inhumane business quietly and sneaking stuff through, or the petulant whining of Trump's administration.
"Shut up!" (Bannon)
"It's not fair!" (many people, esp. Conway)
"What about [---]? "When they did it ....." (many people, esp. Conway)
They can't respond to challenges because they know their policies as well as the people they've chosen lack integrity and legitimacy (not to mention logic).
I can't decide which is more deplorable-- the GOP doing their corrupt and inhumane business quietly and sneaking stuff through, or the petulant whining of Trump's administration.
37
Ugh, David. please wipe off the mist from your glasses when you look into the past. Reagan was the foundation that brought us here. Reagan to Gingrich to Delay to Bush to Palin, Romney and *ta da* Trump. Add in any number of foot soldiers along the way such as McConnell, Nordquist, Cheney, Rumsfeld, each in their own way an advocate of alternate truth to defame liberalism. And you, sir, marched quietly in lockstep with them the whole way.
81
Nice fairytale. What is true is this new guy who thinks the room stinks is the one stinking up the room.
21
The column you should be writing to young people, Mr. Brooks, is what the rise of fascism looks like: delegitimizing the press and election results, "big lies," authoritarian threats. That is the entire story.
Through their relentless coverage, the press gave us DJT as a serious contender. (How many times did your DJT stories light up the newsroom scoreboard?) You have a lot to answer for.
Sarah Palin's boundless ignorance and vulgarity made a DJT candidacy, and Presidency, possible. He doesn't have the brains or the attention span to be a fascist dictator--but Putin, Pence, or Ryan, may.
Through their relentless coverage, the press gave us DJT as a serious contender. (How many times did your DJT stories light up the newsroom scoreboard?) You have a lot to answer for.
Sarah Palin's boundless ignorance and vulgarity made a DJT candidacy, and Presidency, possible. He doesn't have the brains or the attention span to be a fascist dictator--but Putin, Pence, or Ryan, may.
66
Trump still has "no clue as to what he is talking about".
13
Interesting column, David, but do you really think high school and/or college students read the New York Times?
12
Reagan was a dim-witted bigot. His speeches were couched in racism. He opposed gun control until he was shot. He opposed embryonic stem-cell research until he became ill. He opposed AIDS research until someone he knew contracted AIDS. The only good thing I can say for him is that Trump's worse.
102
I was never a Reagan fan, I have never been a Republican. I disagree with Mr Brooks on many points he makes in this piece, but there is no doubt that Trump makes Reagan look like FDR by comparison. Trump makes Carter look like Lincoln, makes Harding look like Teddy Roosevelt. He makes George Wallace look like a statesman. He makes "The Rent's Too Damn High" guy look like a viable candidate for mayor.
Most of all He makes decent people all over the world look at us in a way that disgraces every ideal America has stood for from the day our founders signed a document on a hot July day in Philadelphia.
Most of all He makes decent people all over the world look at us in a way that disgraces every ideal America has stood for from the day our founders signed a document on a hot July day in Philadelphia.
40
Pete Seeger wrote a song about this
called Waist Deep In The Big Muddy:
It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.
We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
'Bout a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground."
We were -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie,"
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."
We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
called Waist Deep In The Big Muddy:
It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.
We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
'Bout a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground."
We were -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie,"
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."
We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
11
Ronald Reagan as "heir to the two Roosevelts" David? Stuff and nonsense. I read no further.
26
Republicans have embraced Trump's alternative facts just like they embraced Reagan's alternative universe. And you wonder why we are in this terrible mess.
40
Come on, David. The proposed Muslim policy is a no-brainer. While all 3 major religions of the world have supported at one time or another killing the non-believer, it is Muslims who are actually continuing to do it for the last 20 years. It is easy to blame it on a few extremists, but the problem is that I do not see "mainstream" Muslim leaders coming out in a big way to criticize the extremists. I mean getting on the nightly news and the Sunday TV talk shows and giving interviews the the NYT. To do so would be to criticize the Quaran, and to expose themselves to reprisal. Or maybe the mainstream Muslims are content to let the extremists do their bidding. Either way, it makes no sense to admit Muslims until we have developed a reliable vetting system.
9
WRONG! I was a college student in the Reagan years, and the man was nothing like what this column describes. Reagan may have sounded good on TV to his followers, but the reality is that he was off in la-la-land, wasting billions on useless "Star Wars" technology, catering to the Moral Majority, preventing the EPA from doing its job. His trickle-down economics benefited the usual Republican 1% and he mortgaged the country to a hilt. His response to the AIDS crisis, fueled by homophobia, was to look the other way and cost us thousands of lives. Ronald Reagan was a disgrace and left the country far worse off for having been President.
76
At his thank you rally in Orlando in December, Trump said to his supporters:
"I mean you were going crazy. I mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right?"
President Trump seems to be taking these words to heart. He appears to be going a little nuts over crowd size and voter fraud. He definitely wants to 'win' whatever negotiation or policy is before him. And in the case of Mexico he is rolling out the nasty, mean ugly American bent upon getting his way.
Yes in President Trump's world there is anger, hate and fear.
We must not forget that it is President Trump who also said "I Alone" can fix it.
Here we have a very devious coward.
"I mean you were going crazy. I mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right?"
President Trump seems to be taking these words to heart. He appears to be going a little nuts over crowd size and voter fraud. He definitely wants to 'win' whatever negotiation or policy is before him. And in the case of Mexico he is rolling out the nasty, mean ugly American bent upon getting his way.
Yes in President Trump's world there is anger, hate and fear.
We must not forget that it is President Trump who also said "I Alone" can fix it.
Here we have a very devious coward.
24
Selective memory, Mr. Brooks. You forgot to mention Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and set all this in motion.
39
Get ready for the era of right wing big government. The thought is kind of terrifying.
16
David doesn't even touch on the fact that the Republican Party has become a hate machine since the birth of Limbaugh/hate talk radio. Or will that be an entire future column?
50
If people in this ignorant country knew more about politics and economics and less about sports and trucks we would not have this Neanderthal in the Whire House.
45
Mr. Trump is a swaggering bully.
Bullies are cowards.
This coward spins and churns out his own baseless fears from whole cloth.
Bullies are cowards.
This coward spins and churns out his own baseless fears from whole cloth.
16
Kind of scary times, David. We have a head case in the WH, accompanied by cowardly politicians who pretend to care for our country, but actually care very little for it. Scary times.
28
I think that most Americans are going to come out of these next four years with the realization that the Republican Party is Pure Evil.
Do you think I'm being dramatic? Just wait.
Do you think I'm being dramatic? Just wait.
56
Trump is a symptom, not the disease. America has become Dorian Gray, and Trump his picture.
16
You see fear, I see a negotiation where we are no longer wimps and willing to stand up for ourselves. Your article is like calling an abused wife a coward for not staying and being optimistic.
I know what you would like. Let's volunteer to be the global loser again and maybe Trump can get the Nobel Prize.
I know what you would like. Let's volunteer to be the global loser again and maybe Trump can get the Nobel Prize.
8
This is a bit sunny and not at all representative of Reagan's denials of reality, such as in the AIDS crisis, which killed so many. The Reagan Republicans were the party of repression. Brooks himself began by playing racist football with the repulsive William Bennett, and his denialism grew from there to sully the editorial pages an give us an uneducated spiteful white population of Repugnantkin hypocristians. Students, get your revisionist history lessons elsewhere.
41
Great piece David. Trump an unhinged bully.
10
Mr. Brooks, your point is well-taken. The only thing missing is an apology for the role you've played over the years in bringing us to this point.
35
In Denial. Real. Paranoiac. Megalomaniac. Manic. Raging insecurities. Secure. Insomniac. Misogynistic. Depends on women. Grandiloquent. Bombastic. Fraternal. Male Bonder. Bleach Blond. Exhausted. Puffy eyed. Canny. Hunch plunger. Uninformed. Reflexively motivated. Instinctively inclined to help those in need. Insecure around genius. Desperate for approval. Shatters when criticized. Susceptible to women. Kind to women. Respects loyalty. Lives for his son. Loves his wife. Awkward. Humorous. Growing. Experimenting. Uses hyperbole. Amusing. Funny. Risk taker. Will play it out. May succeed. Far better than Hillary. Builds relationships. Lives for Mattis, Thank God. Son is solid. Gossip all wet. Journalism is very sick. Acting out all over. Nation and world looking at multiple tipping points. Kershner is smart. Christie and Giuliani are kaput. Ivanka. Melania. Kellyanne. Jared. More to come, someday.
7
The primary purpose of the border wall is not to stop Mexican criminals, but to stop illegal immigration.
Trump perceives Muslim terrorists as a threat because they have killed more than 3,000 Americans and injured thousands more. Most Americans don't view regarding Muslim terrorists as a threat as an aberration.
Trump perceives Muslim terrorists as a threat because they have killed more than 3,000 Americans and injured thousands more. Most Americans don't view regarding Muslim terrorists as a threat as an aberration.
10
Your sunny Reagan was a beast, Mr. Brooks. His overtly racist "states' rights" beginning to his presidential campaign were the first of his overt dog whistles.
His crushing of the air traffic controller's union another.
He gave us the beginnings of a level of income inequality that have left us with an unrecognizable America.
The anger that his policies began to create in part brought us Trump.
Your whimsical remembrance of Ronald Reagan is a farce.
It does you a disservice.
You should know better.
His crushing of the air traffic controller's union another.
He gave us the beginnings of a level of income inequality that have left us with an unrecognizable America.
The anger that his policies began to create in part brought us Trump.
Your whimsical remembrance of Ronald Reagan is a farce.
It does you a disservice.
You should know better.
96
You are not talking to Trump supporters. They haven't changed their opinions and it's doubtful they will until the sky starts falling.
12
While I agree with the basic point of the piece, that Reagan was mostly sunny (except on Russia -- remember the bear ad?) and Trump in mostly dark (except on Russia -- our new best friend?), I take issue with calling Trump a coward. I wish Trump were a coward and ran away from a fight! While he might have some insecurity somewhere, he's not acting like a coward. He's acting like a fearless bully -- and I think there is a demographic that likes that don't-take-shtt-from-anyone attitude. When you call people names -- and "coward" is a name -- you lower yourself and you immediately alienate people. The way forward is to win the hearts and minds of those who supported Trump in the election, not by calling Trump or his supporters names, but with reason. He's unnecessarily divisive; he's functioning in, as Ms. Conway menitoned an "alternate" reality that is not based in science or fact; he didn't "drain the swamp," he filled his cabinet with swamp creatures, etc. Name calling just puts people on the defensive and is unproductive.
5
Brooks has too rosy a picture of Reagan, as most Republicans do, but he also does not recognize that his youthful optimism about Reagan is exactly mirrored among Trump's younger acolytes. He would do well to consult a teenage supporter of Trump (there are enough of them) for a better understanding of how the future David Brookses of the world are shaping up, how joyful indeed is their experience of Trump and Trumpism.
13
Sorry, Mr. Brooks, Trump has simply magnified that which has always been most disgusting about the Republican party: its xenophobia, its bigotry and its all-encompassing fear of anyone who didn't look, think and act like them. Reagan lied, too; anyone paying attention at the time knew that. It was just that his lies were more "sunny" than Trump's, I guess, catering to the "fears" of the time. Witness the whopper about the Chicago welfare queen who supposedly drove around collecting welfare checks in a limo. No one could find her. Shrug...
20
Maybe the problem all along has been the Republican Party. With all it's flaws, democrats would have immediately rejected a nasty clown. Trump's mean spirit and his followers found the path of least resistance.
15
What makes you think Trump actually feels the fear his words stir up? You've glossed over the dark side of Reagan's presidency--the cynical, "dog-whistle" racism in his rhetoric, the attacks on women's rights, the "trickle-down" economics that never trickled down, among many other disturbing trends he introduced. I'm afraid you're also glossing over what may be the darkest aspect of Trump's rhetoric--the way he's using fear to manipulate his audience and keep them believing in him as the one, the only one, who can keep them safe and bring back the greatness he's managed to convince them is no longer present in America.
14
Mr. Brooks writes "Consider the tenor of Trump’s first week in office. It’s all about threat perception. He has made moves to build a wall against the Mexican threat, to build barriers against the Muslim threat, to end a trade deal with Asia to fight the foreign economic threat..."
Well Sir, is it perception rather than fact, that the majority of drugs that took 50,000 American lives last year, flood across the Mexican Border? The tenure of your argument , on this point, is simply to not address it. Maybe liberals believe that exporting drugs and ruining lives is a good thing and we should take no steps to stop or slow it.
Is it perceprtion, rather than fact, that thousands of illegal immirgrants from as far away as Central America, without permission or color of law, pour over our non-existant borders to the detriment of legal immigrants and American citizens?
Is it perception, rather than fact, that we have a massive trade deficit with Mexico and have lost thousands of jobs since dear old NAFTA?
If the trade deal with Asia was such a good thing, Mr. Brooks, please explain why your beloved Hillary was against the deal.
Please expain why a temporary ban on immigration from countries wracked by terrorists who pose a grave risk to America is a bad thing. Is it merely the fact that muslims are effected? I don't believe you would object if the ban was on the Irish, the Italians, the Swedes, etc.
Well Sir, is it perception rather than fact, that the majority of drugs that took 50,000 American lives last year, flood across the Mexican Border? The tenure of your argument , on this point, is simply to not address it. Maybe liberals believe that exporting drugs and ruining lives is a good thing and we should take no steps to stop or slow it.
Is it perceprtion, rather than fact, that thousands of illegal immirgrants from as far away as Central America, without permission or color of law, pour over our non-existant borders to the detriment of legal immigrants and American citizens?
Is it perception, rather than fact, that we have a massive trade deficit with Mexico and have lost thousands of jobs since dear old NAFTA?
If the trade deal with Asia was such a good thing, Mr. Brooks, please explain why your beloved Hillary was against the deal.
Please expain why a temporary ban on immigration from countries wracked by terrorists who pose a grave risk to America is a bad thing. Is it merely the fact that muslims are effected? I don't believe you would object if the ban was on the Irish, the Italians, the Swedes, etc.
6
I wish you all would stop fawning over Reagan.
He was a second rate actor, who had no idea as to what he was ever talking about.
Trump may be a certifiable nut case.
He was a second rate actor, who had no idea as to what he was ever talking about.
Trump may be a certifiable nut case.
26
Reagan and his cohort planted the seeds of the biter harvest that we are suffering today.
16
I have one question, Mr. Brooks, where have you and where have the Republican party been? None of this is a surprise with Donald Trump. How he would govern (as a petulant child) was on display during the long, nasty campaign. He came down the escalator and called most Mexicans coming to this country "rapists", he threatened his opponent Mrs. Clinton with everything, including death if necessary at the hands of the "2nd Amendment Folks". He won under the most ugly and dishonest campaign that this country has ever seen, and now each day we have to live in fear of his next dangerous move to alienate most of the world and most Americans. He sits on Fox News (a so-called news organization that he apparently considers state run television) and talks about the man who shot up the Orlando night club and suggest that we should use waterboarding against individuals. And, of course, no on the fake Fox responds and says first, that's illegal and second the gentleman who shot up the nightclub was an American citizen. He's an outrageous liar who seems hell bent on destroying this country and shame on the Republicans (and I'm sorry to say many of your columns Mr. Brooks) for giving this man an inch and ignoring the will of most Americans who did not vote for him. But even those who did vote for him don't deserve the treatment they are now getting from this man and Mr. Bannon who would like the main stream media (which is the voice of the people) to "shut up". Not going to happen!
16
I am tired of RR being presented as soooo different than today's GOP when in fact he lied about the environment-- trees cause pollution; lied about 'welfare queens ' living on $150k from welfare programs; lied about catsup as a vegetable for poor children; lied about Iran-Contra... and made popular the idea that government was the problem.
RR is the god father of the tea party so trump and his lies and racism were inevitable.
RR is the god father of the tea party so trump and his lies and racism were inevitable.
26
Reagan had Alzheimer disease, perhaps throughput his two terms. His policies and attitudes are most likely what engendered the disaster we are enduring now with his trickle down economics and Just say no to drugs attitude, among other gems.
Please stop lying to yourself and to young people.
Please stop lying to yourself and to young people.
13
His view of the world, dark and dangerous and completely a mess, is an illusion of a paranoid man, getting darker every day. And it's wrong, dead wrong, in every way.
7
Trump is not merely a coward, he is a lying coward. The evidence goes all the way back to the late '60's when he lied (or, more precisely paid a physician to lie for him) to go from a prep school jock to 4F to evade any possibility he might have to set foot in a hot, uncomfortable and hostile place.
Compare Trump to another man who in his college years was a bit of a hot-headed, risk taking braggart: John McCain.
McCain probably would not have been among the best presidents, had he been elected in 2004. But he would not set about systematically destroying the Constitution and the nation in one temper tantrum after another.
Compare Trump to another man who in his college years was a bit of a hot-headed, risk taking braggart: John McCain.
McCain probably would not have been among the best presidents, had he been elected in 2004. But he would not set about systematically destroying the Constitution and the nation in one temper tantrum after another.
14
Anhedonia is but one of the many psychopathic aspects of Trump's personality.
9
I used to respect your opinions and arguments.
I do not anymore.
Yes we know.
You were raised as a " democrat"
Saw the " light" in college and morphed into a " moderate republican" like many " college boys" in The 80's who became " yuppies"
Reagan was a political train wreak No intelligence and dishonest. He was the beginning of the end.
And after him the democrats didn't help much.
Which again begs the point ... why aren't we all just signing petitions. To run Independants' and seeking out wuderkinds to run against the establishment?
Please come round David. We need you in the battle to take back our country.
College educated professionals making more than $100 thousand dollars but less than $ 200 thousand dollars need you. We are propping up the poor and the rich and helping our elderly parents and our kids and volunteering in our communities and loving our immigrants and poor and we are sick of this. We are thoughtful and informed and the parties forced us to pick between undesirables. And now the power brokers are scapegoating us as diversion and the neediest are being trained to hate us. Big government isn't going away David. It is seeping into every crevice of decency and killing us all.
I do not anymore.
Yes we know.
You were raised as a " democrat"
Saw the " light" in college and morphed into a " moderate republican" like many " college boys" in The 80's who became " yuppies"
Reagan was a political train wreak No intelligence and dishonest. He was the beginning of the end.
And after him the democrats didn't help much.
Which again begs the point ... why aren't we all just signing petitions. To run Independants' and seeking out wuderkinds to run against the establishment?
Please come round David. We need you in the battle to take back our country.
College educated professionals making more than $100 thousand dollars but less than $ 200 thousand dollars need you. We are propping up the poor and the rich and helping our elderly parents and our kids and volunteering in our communities and loving our immigrants and poor and we are sick of this. We are thoughtful and informed and the parties forced us to pick between undesirables. And now the power brokers are scapegoating us as diversion and the neediest are being trained to hate us. Big government isn't going away David. It is seeping into every crevice of decency and killing us all.
4
Even cowrds can bring about the end of the nation and possibly the world.
5
I truly marvel at David Brooks' ability to sanitize and whitewash the truth about his ostensibly "sunny optimist" hero, Ronald Reagan. David, have you forgotten about Reagan's odious and manufactured depictions of "Welfare Queens driving Cadillacs?'' The racial dog whistles were unmistakable. Have you forgotten that your "sunny optimist" launched his Presidential bid in Philadelphia, MS, literally on the graves of civil rights workers who were murdered and buried there? To what high minded, sunny optimists was Reagan dog whistling there? I will give you this much: Ronald Reagan dug a deficit hole which took decades to fill, and that is a hallmark of your party, in which piously preaches fiscal prudence, but spends like drunken idiots in order to shower even more tax cuts upon the plutocrats and corporations. That is among your party's biggest lies: that they can better guide the economy, when historically, all of the facts are with the Democratic stewardship, rather than theirs. I don't question that the current crop of extremist maniacs, xenophobes, racists, misogynists, science deniers, and religious extremists do not resemble your erstwhile Republican Party - but Reagan was no hero or role model. For the record, your party has spent nearly 60 years assiduously stoking the racial animus, bigotry, and hateful extremist base, and your party's current POTUS is the inevitable result. You reap what you sow - and you've reaped the most bitter of all harvests in this man.
22
Ah, yes, St. Ronnie! He of the run-up-the-debt-while-cutting-taxes-for-the-wealthy fame. The guy who disparaged government in all it's forms, yet let it grow even larger during his tenure. The man who let the AIDS epidemic run amok and kill thousands. The man who tucked tail after the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, but who conquered the dark forces arrayed against us in Grenada (all hundred or so of them). The racist who cemented the GOP's "Southern Strategy" as GOP gospel with his naked demonization of African-Americans. David Brooks trying to sell the GOP to high school and college students based on the man, the myth, the legend that was St. Ronnie is nothing short of ridiculous. Reagan began the GOP's descent into madness -- and the fact that it's culminated in the ascendency of Trump should not have surprised him. A pox upon Brooks and the shambles that the "Party of Lincoln" has become -- his cheerleading helped them down their path to ignorance.
17
Fortunately for those who appreciate historical accuracy, Paul Krugman has a column today that recalls the real Reagan who Brooks writes romantic fantasy about. Reagan started the slide toward hate and fear that became the modern
Republican party - the "sunny optimism" was very narrowly focused, and mostly a cover.
Republican party - the "sunny optimism" was very narrowly focused, and mostly a cover.
14
What this article proves is that the Republican party base has no principles. They just believe they are Republicans.
4
Every sane American citizen asks, Why Trump won?
1st answer is , It is really multifactorial. From Russia to Comey to forgotten man.
I think I passed that moment any more Why he won.
But in the process I discover one thing which has already been known for a long time.
There are parts of American society max 20% of our population, it is worse than Trump. Hillary described them "deplorables" rightly.
Yes We are watching Trump everyday , he unleashed fear and he supposed that America will be shaped around that fears.
But he is wrong. As Brooks described we have TR, FDR which he famously postulate to go forward with a word freedom from fear. Reagan who is a sunny and optimism champion.
When Trump era reaches its conclusion days , American history one more time will have been witnessed , deplorables of this nation is always there waiting their moment.
I am seriously claiming that even Donald Trump himself is not as deplorable as that 20%. 80% of America is just appalled and simply stumped by this.
Deplorables malignity can be seen everywhere, social media, TV news, Streets, our neighborhoods, schools etc.
1st answer is , It is really multifactorial. From Russia to Comey to forgotten man.
I think I passed that moment any more Why he won.
But in the process I discover one thing which has already been known for a long time.
There are parts of American society max 20% of our population, it is worse than Trump. Hillary described them "deplorables" rightly.
Yes We are watching Trump everyday , he unleashed fear and he supposed that America will be shaped around that fears.
But he is wrong. As Brooks described we have TR, FDR which he famously postulate to go forward with a word freedom from fear. Reagan who is a sunny and optimism champion.
When Trump era reaches its conclusion days , American history one more time will have been witnessed , deplorables of this nation is always there waiting their moment.
I am seriously claiming that even Donald Trump himself is not as deplorable as that 20%. 80% of America is just appalled and simply stumped by this.
Deplorables malignity can be seen everywhere, social media, TV news, Streets, our neighborhoods, schools etc.
Where does it come from? Personally, I blame conservative media, a constant ever blowing turbine of fear. What do we do about it? Glenn beck repented, and is a lighter person for it. Maybe therein lays the answer.
8
"It’s not a cowering, timid fear; it’s more a dark, resentful porcupine fear." Please leave the porcupines out of this. Any one of them is far more appealing than Trump
6
Mr. Brooks, your beloved GOP party has become a reprehensible machine of lies, deception, subterfuge, and incompetence. It's a monster of anger and paranoia that uses fear, intimidation, and gaslighting to achieve its objectives.
And now it's been hijacked by an illegitimate "President" who may well destroy the world within the next year, if not sooner.
You might want to write columns that criticize your fellow Republicans Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for foisting this global menace upon planet Earth. The responsibility rests on them and fellow Republican Reince Priebus, and I sure hope they all pay the ultimate political price, sooner than later.
The clock is ticking....
And now it's been hijacked by an illegitimate "President" who may well destroy the world within the next year, if not sooner.
You might want to write columns that criticize your fellow Republicans Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for foisting this global menace upon planet Earth. The responsibility rests on them and fellow Republican Reince Priebus, and I sure hope they all pay the ultimate political price, sooner than later.
The clock is ticking....
21
Is it just Donald Trump who is the coward? The Republican Party is full of cowards. The party has not taken a stand against some of the most corrosive and dangerous rhetoric we've seen in my lifetime. The Republicans are in darkness. Donald Trump is their natural leader. History will look with shame on this period and on the cowardice of an entire party. Mr. Brooks, you should encourage your party to get out in the streets like the rest of us, or else the only finger-pointing you'll be doing is at yourself. When the entire world asks, "How could this have happened to the United States?" the name Trump will be prominent, as it is in your column. However, there are millions of cowards with small voices and large. But it is the ones with the largest voices who should be ashamed of their spineless, mild-mannered, protestations and their ghoulishly opportunistic appeasements.
13
Reagan, like Trump, was a con-man. GOP policies really have not changed, just the messenger. Deficit-exploding tax cuts, archaic social stands, racism, sexism, and behind-the-scenes puppet master are eternal. Support your guy, Dave. The years you spent demonizing Democrats who are actually interested in responsible government paved the way.
17
Every tyrant needs a bogey man or a dragon to slay. Otherwise, why do you need the tyrant? How can the tyrant look heroic if everything is....sort of okay for the most part, which it actually is right now.
Trump has simply done what lots of marketing people do - he's creating a need. Turn on the news every night. If I don't get a shingles shot I'm going to have a big ugly painful rash across my entire mid section, right? The guy in the commercial does. That could be me.
Trump's inauguration speech had to be negative. Otherwise, why do we need him? How can he justify turning everything upside down unless he can convince us that it is terrible and needs fixing? If he doesn't say everything is terrible, how else can they justify criticizing Obama, who made it so terrible?
Hitler had the Jews, Trump has the Mexicans. Every tyrant needs a dragon so they can be the one to slay it. It's just another day, another alternative fact.
I don't know if this is cowardice, bullying, or what the difference is. What I hear is just bad marketing that works on unsophisticated people.
Trump has simply done what lots of marketing people do - he's creating a need. Turn on the news every night. If I don't get a shingles shot I'm going to have a big ugly painful rash across my entire mid section, right? The guy in the commercial does. That could be me.
Trump's inauguration speech had to be negative. Otherwise, why do we need him? How can he justify turning everything upside down unless he can convince us that it is terrible and needs fixing? If he doesn't say everything is terrible, how else can they justify criticizing Obama, who made it so terrible?
Hitler had the Jews, Trump has the Mexicans. Every tyrant needs a dragon so they can be the one to slay it. It's just another day, another alternative fact.
I don't know if this is cowardice, bullying, or what the difference is. What I hear is just bad marketing that works on unsophisticated people.
11
A mean wind had been blowing months before the election. It closed out the extraordinary excitement generated by Benrnie Sanders, it looked for only the negatives in Hillary Clinton, it craved excessive attention to the buffoonery of Donald Trump. The irony is that the mean wind was fanned so enthusiastically by The New York Times. You reap what you sow.
3
Excellent column, Mr. Brooks. Thank you. Trump is just the leader of an equally cowardly party, who are leading American into a very dark place. The image that sums it up best for me was one of Marco Rubio being confronted by his constituents. One of them held up a spine for Rubio so he could see what one looks like.
4
Trump mirrors the fears of his supporters who also fear anybody who is different, who goes against their rigid religious beliefs and who know little about the world outside their own neighborhoods. But these supporters also feel left behind and poorly treated to the point of being disenfranchised. They love being able to flex their political muscles, for a change, and sticking it to those who are better off than they are. I just hope they don't shoot themselves in the foot by following an authoritarian, ignorant pied piper over a cliff.
1
Mr. Brooks, it is unfortunate that your epiphany with an eminent apocalyptic disaster of Trump's presidency requires a mirror for self-reflection. Your early columns during the Republican 2016 campaign and earlier aided and abetted allowing the Frankenstein monster who now inhabits the White House to occupy the people's house. Times readers deserve a frank, no lipstick on it admission of journalistic misfeasance by you. Cowardice cuts both ways, sir. Your early and long editorial support for Trump's candidacy was an act of treason to democracy and America's precious decency.
14
You have restricted the term "cowardice" to Trump only, comparing him to Reagan. What you omit is the cowardice of the leaders of the Republican party, who believe that by cowering before Trump's dark and authoritarian ignorance they can exercise power as though they were the actual rulers. It's not only cowardice, it's craven--and repugnant. It's inconceivable to me that anyone who honestly held the opinion of Reagan that you present here could still, or ever, call himself a Republican without shame.
4
Thank you, David Brooks, for this column. More conservatives and Republicans need to call spades spades, and point out the negatives in which this emperor is clothed. Those Republicans who lament that DJT has "changed the way the Republican Party sees the world" toward fear of "openness and competition," but do not speak against the administration's cowardice and meanness, need to look in the mirror and ask whether they are not themselves afraid of a man whose reputation for vindictiveness precedes him.
Remember the phrase "America first"? It's never been more urgent to put country before party, and it worries me that rational Republicans are for the most part, now, slow to do so openly.
Remember the phrase "America first"? It's never been more urgent to put country before party, and it worries me that rational Republicans are for the most part, now, slow to do so openly.
Can you show me a single Republican congressperson that is fighting against the Trump narrative? It takes more than a single person to change an entire political party - Trump just brought out the underlying beliefs that had been there all along.
8
The politics of cowardice can succeed only when those who know better fail to stand up to it. The failure of Republicans who know better -- born of their own political cowardice -- to stand up to Trump and to their own small-minded, angry constituents is what has led us to this disgraceful place.
6
College students are not stupid. Saint Reagan peddled fear. He was a Republican after he was a union democrat, too. He told lies based on movies he had seen. He acted in movies with a monkey. He was intellectually void. Trump stole his lame ideas from the gipper. 600 ship navy, Star Wars "defenses", etc., etc. More supply side nonsense less the laugher curve. Oh those deficits be damned.
8
One observation: People who are dominated by fear are indeed cowards. Those who dominate others through fear are called dictators.
3
The supreme irony is Trump lost the popular vote by over 3 million. He has no mandate to do what he is proposing and doing. Time for a Recall.
3
So what's new? LGBT Americans have felt that "mean wind" from the Republican Party for decades. Reagan stoked it. I agree that Trump has taken fear to higher levels, to the detriment of his party. But for all the sunny optimism you remember from Republicans in ages past, I remember the ugly prejudice. That, too, has only gotten worse.
8
This is not new, only a rapid escalation of fear as a successful formula in politics, journalism and popular culture. All these Trump voters aren't paragons of courage and optimism, either.
I don't accept Mr. Brooks' suggestion that Donald Trump is the cause of this dark turn. Mr. Trump merely provides the conduit for the dark message. He constantly seeks out "popular" positions from the Republican base and makes them his own. He himself is devoid of any original ideas. It is the American people in general and the Republican voters in particular who are responsible for Mr. Trump. We get the leaders we deserve.
5
Put Trump in a room with Obama and he is a lamb. Put him at a podium with the president of Mexico and he's docile and congenial. Then, when he's on his turf, he turns on them in a heartbeat. That is the very definition of a coward.
4
Ok, so this is quite a gloss of Reagan, but I'll at least admit that he looks pretty good next to the monstrosity who just entered the White House. Actually, Trump is much worse than merely a coward. I've known a few cowards in my life, and none were odious the way Trump is. None were monstrosities. David, please, please connect the dots. Your party led us here. Tell that to the high school and college students. And while you're at it, tell them what role you played in bringing us to this pass.
3
"Trump has changed the way the Republican Party sees the world." I respectfully disagree. The Republican Party has always been about winning. And they will sell their souls to do it. The hypocrisy of their support now for budget deficits to built some ineffective wall is breathtaking. The list goes on and on. Republicans want to win. Period. Always have. They don't care who's at the top of the ticket. Governing, helping people, forward thinking, new ideas . . . no. Power to line their pockets and inflate their egos, that's what Republicans are all about. 2018. Vote them out. Make America Whole Again.
8
One of Reagan's first official acts was to destroy the air traffic controllers union.
4
The Republican Party's darkly dangerous pessimism did not start with the appearance of Donald Trump at the head of its dyspeptic body. The dyspepsia has been brewing for a rather long time, providing a noxious petri dish for demagoguery to hatch and grow.
The sudden reversal of Pew polling results on the relative benefits of free and open trade among Republicans has more to do with Barack Obama than with the ascendancy of Donald Trump. Under the "leadership" of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, Obama's embrace of the TPP suddenly became GOP-toxic. Trump merely boarded this train before hijacking it.
This is the poisoned result of opposition for its own sake alone, principle be damned.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
The sudden reversal of Pew polling results on the relative benefits of free and open trade among Republicans has more to do with Barack Obama than with the ascendancy of Donald Trump. Under the "leadership" of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, Obama's embrace of the TPP suddenly became GOP-toxic. Trump merely boarded this train before hijacking it.
This is the poisoned result of opposition for its own sake alone, principle be damned.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
5
Mr Brooks,
You are typically remarkably insightful, enlightening, but this time I think you've missed the mark. It is not that Trump is filled with fear, but instead he is using the fear of others as tools. He is a master manipulator. Trump has realized that by magnifying people's fears and nurturing the seeds of hatred he can accumulate almost limitless power. He also understands what Goebbels famously realized: a lie told repeatedly becomes the truth in most people's minds. I fear what his ultimate goal might be.
You are typically remarkably insightful, enlightening, but this time I think you've missed the mark. It is not that Trump is filled with fear, but instead he is using the fear of others as tools. He is a master manipulator. Trump has realized that by magnifying people's fears and nurturing the seeds of hatred he can accumulate almost limitless power. He also understands what Goebbels famously realized: a lie told repeatedly becomes the truth in most people's minds. I fear what his ultimate goal might be.
4
Let's just forget about past presidents for a minute and try to imagine if there would be a United States of America if Trump like people tried to create a
country in 1776.
country in 1776.
2
I agree with you about everything but trade deals. No the deals haven't changed, but the people know what's in them, and it's not good for them. It is not free trade but corporate protectionism. The senate recently voted down a REAL free trade agreement to import drugs from Canada, because of 13 Democrats, including so-called progressives.
Trump accidentally got one thing right here.
Trump accidentally got one thing right here.
1
Ronald Reagan was a cardboard cutout with a broad smile and jaunty wave which concealed an army of devious ideologues who carefully laid the way for both Bush/Cheney and now his grotesque twin, Donald Trump. He, Bush and now Trump play two major roles: be the frontmen and cheerleaders for the oligarchs and sign the legislation prepared by the devious ideologues while cardboard mechanical arms wave the American flag. You certainly can fool enough of the people all of the time.
8
Mr. Brooks,
Please consider the Republicans exclusionary behaviors to be a result of their limitless greed, their self-view as being better, i.e. Ultra- human, than anyone else, and their ultra meanness. Their is corruption on both sides of the aisle, but the Republicans have won the contest with the election of Donald Trump, a true gangster and his pack of thieves
Please consider the Republicans exclusionary behaviors to be a result of their limitless greed, their self-view as being better, i.e. Ultra- human, than anyone else, and their ultra meanness. Their is corruption on both sides of the aisle, but the Republicans have won the contest with the election of Donald Trump, a true gangster and his pack of thieves
2
This helps me understand why my father, always a republican began to drift away as the became the party of liars and cowards.
That transformation is complete.
That transformation is complete.
4
Lets face a fact. DT is an unmitigated ego maniac. He must be "king of the hill." He'll exercise his power to emphasize that fact. He is still harping on his inaugural crowd as if that has any meaning. The only rationality he knows is "I'm the best" and damn anyone who thinks differently. Unless congress can rain him in, this country and its international allies are in for a dangerous ride. So far congress has shown an unwillingness. Based on his current actions, DT will be remembered as the worst President this country has ever had. But DT may have the last laugh. By flouting all ethics rule, his personal fortune will soar as he destroys this country.
1
Trumps greatest fear is of being small. It is reflected in everything the says and does. So he obsesses about having big hands (and other members). Big crowds. A big fortune. The biggest most beautiful wall.
At the end of the day he shrinks
At the end of the day he shrinks
2
We have sown, and now we must reap. America can only remain the shining beacon atop the hill if, by our actions, we DESERVE to. We most certainly do not deserve to at the moment. Having promoted a divided society for the past decade or more, we now find it all but impossible to reach a consensus on even the most trivial issues. So much for "e pluribus unum," I fear. Rosetta Stone should start mass producing their Russian and Chinese language packages. We're probably going to need them.
1
My own dear 86-year old mom grew up with FDR, a hero to her. Even as a Democrat, a hopeful woman who could see the good in anyone, she appreciated Regan (may not so much Nixon.) She was so excited that she might come to the end of her days with a woman in the white house. I am so sad for what I see when I usually feel joy about life and the people on this planet. I am sad for her to think her country has grown to be so angry, bitter, small and greedy. She cannot talk about Trump at all it is so very upsetting to her. This is not the feeling a beautiful 86-year old citizen should have about her country.
3
It's all just a reaction to the disastrous Obama administration. The pendulum always swings back. Now it's time for the leftists to get a taste of what we went through for eight years. Enjoy!
2
Don't think so Mr. Brooks. Good try though to reclaim the Dunderhead Reagan. This holy republican war begins with Goldwater to Nixon to Reagan to the Bushes. This is what passes for conservatism, obedience to the Donor class, less taxes, no health care, go fight the wars kids of the poor. The United States of Central North America is and has always been through genocide and dark sites all hat and no cattle. Trade deals that function only for the oligarchy. A country in constant civil war. No Mr. Brooks you are living in a distopian nightmare.
2
Reagan faced an entirely different wold than today. Our most significant invasion was Grenada, officially called "Operation Urgent Fury" but also termed, "A lovely little war" China wasn't the economic power power it is today and it wasn't harassing our ships or establishing military bases in the South China Sea. North Korea didn't have the bomb. No planes had brought down the Twin Towers, or crashed into the Pentagon and there was no such thing as ISIS. The Boston Marathon, San Bernardino, and Orlando were not in our recent memory. To compare the two times is absurd. We live in a dangerous time. It is pollyanna to claim as Obama did about ISIS, "our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them." Twenty four hours later, Paris and a couple of weeks later, San Bernardino. Most of us recognize the dangers. That doesn't make us cowards. What has happened with Trump is acknowledgement of the dangers and a stated intention to reduce those dangers.
I was 9 when Reagan took office. My parents, both democrats, were against his policies, which they felt hurt the middle and lower income classes. But you are totally right - the rhetoric from the white house at that time was never so angry, so selfish. He was an optimist, for sure, who made many people proud to be American.
Instead of having a grown man in the White House, as we did with Reagan, we have someone who acts like a 5-year-old child. A child who cries out, "Mine," as soon as he sees another child approach his toys. A child who refuses to share. How pitiful. How sad. How shameful.
Instead of having a grown man in the White House, as we did with Reagan, we have someone who acts like a 5-year-old child. A child who cries out, "Mine," as soon as he sees another child approach his toys. A child who refuses to share. How pitiful. How sad. How shameful.
In my humble opinion, Reagan was the start of what we are suffering through today and I am really shocked to see you protray him through such rose-colored glasses. He was a disaster for the underserved, for those with AIDS, and trickle-down was mostly trickle-up, not to mention the Iran-Contra mess. I could go on with a multitude of other horrific aspects of his presidency, but I am busy spending my days calling senators, planning on which rallies to attend, and trying not to totally breakdown everytime I open the daily New York Times or read the latest executive order our new "not my president" has signed. Reagan and his supporters laid the groundwork for what we are facing today. No doubt about it.
5
If you hadn't noticed Mr. Brooks, Trump reflects his supporters. They enjoy being angry. They're furious with those of us who protest against their man in the White House. They don't like hearing Spanish being spoken in the grocery store. They don't like women marching and call them fat, ugly and unemployed. Try to understand what their grievances are and it comes down to jobs. Good paying jobs that many apparently don't want to get educations for and/or won't relocate to. If Trump has the solution to his supporters' anger it's hoped he brings it on right away. I am not holding my breath until that happens.
3
Definitely not the party of Reagan, who's become an overhyped demigod for the right. He started us on many wrong tracks, most notably the 'government is evil' ethos that has given us trump. Trump is the logical extension of Reagan -if logical is the term to use. David Brooks has always struck me as a good man of real intellect and compassion, which raises the question, why have you been an apologist for what, since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, has become the most toxic and destructive political party in American History?
11
"a trade deal that would have boosted annual real incomes in the United States by $131 billion."
Whoa, Mr. Brooks. How about some sourcing here, with a breakdown of how much of that boost would go to the upper 1% versus the lower 99%.
Whoa, Mr. Brooks. How about some sourcing here, with a breakdown of how much of that boost would go to the upper 1% versus the lower 99%.
2
The last line is absolutely true. A mean wind is blowing.
The only issue I have is Brooks' suggestion that Trump ran a courageous campaign. I don't see that -- his entire candidacy was based on fear. Fear of women (yuck-- Hillary pees), blacks, Mexicans, Muslims....
Trump ran on fear, like the fascists before him. Sadly, the Republicans have embraced that message, with only a few exceptions. let's hope those exceptions are enough to keep the worst laws from passing.
sigh.
The only issue I have is Brooks' suggestion that Trump ran a courageous campaign. I don't see that -- his entire candidacy was based on fear. Fear of women (yuck-- Hillary pees), blacks, Mexicans, Muslims....
Trump ran on fear, like the fascists before him. Sadly, the Republicans have embraced that message, with only a few exceptions. let's hope those exceptions are enough to keep the worst laws from passing.
sigh.
1
I am a Freshman college student, and, despite Brooks' best efforts, I will not accept that this is some kind of new Republican party brought on by Donald Trump. This is the Republican party the voters have asked for; in fact, it is the logical extension of the presidencies of Reagan and Bush.
Does anyone really believe that Trump's "fear" is new for the Republican party? This is the party that went to war in Iraq based on fear! Trump's divisiveness is not new--he takes after Reagan who labelled people "liberals" with vitriol. I am a college student, and because of this I have grown up in a fantasy world in which Democrats are less patriotic than Republicans because of the attitudes of those two men.
This is not a new Republican party. This is the Republican party which has finally gotten that candidate it truly deserves.
Does anyone really believe that Trump's "fear" is new for the Republican party? This is the party that went to war in Iraq based on fear! Trump's divisiveness is not new--he takes after Reagan who labelled people "liberals" with vitriol. I am a college student, and because of this I have grown up in a fantasy world in which Democrats are less patriotic than Republicans because of the attitudes of those two men.
This is not a new Republican party. This is the Republican party which has finally gotten that candidate it truly deserves.
16
Your party has been fearful for a long time. Fearful of talking to Democrats, fearful of Obama, fearful of changes in the country and your fear has elected a fearful terrifying man. Take responsibility for ita and stop complaining. Become a Democrat.
9
The word for someone who is fearful to the extreme isn't coward, it's paranoid,. Paranoia may accompany very extreme narcissism and is a mental illness. I say, "Impeach now!" While Mr. Pence's extremist views are abhorrent to me, he appears to be mentally stable.
23
Mr. Brooks, I have to ask: Have you spent any time around high school and college students? Around any of the young Republican students who support Trump? If you have, how could you have missed that they don't merely support Trump, they support him with enthusiasm?
I'm a college professor (yes, sigh, an avowed liberal, but the good news is that I keep my politics out of my classroom). From what I hear from Republican students speaking in the hallways, or speaking at college public events, or writing in the student newspapers--students who, contrary to reports from the media, are not the least bit shy about their politics--they are not interested in nostalgic ruminations on the Ronald Reagan.
Keep in mind, they are not embarrassed to be Trump lovers--even when floating in a sea of liberals. They get off on "being different," in fact. The last thing they are interested in doing is comparing Trump's version of Republicanism to Reagan Republicanism. As far as they're concerned (in a world of "alternative facts," none of this matters.
What matters to young Trump supporters is that a charismatic outsider who "tells the truth" will sweep away the nanny-state policy of the Obama years and replace it with individual responsibility and small government.
To borrow a phrase from another century, look out you don't put your spoke into a wheel where it doesn't fit.
I'm a college professor (yes, sigh, an avowed liberal, but the good news is that I keep my politics out of my classroom). From what I hear from Republican students speaking in the hallways, or speaking at college public events, or writing in the student newspapers--students who, contrary to reports from the media, are not the least bit shy about their politics--they are not interested in nostalgic ruminations on the Ronald Reagan.
Keep in mind, they are not embarrassed to be Trump lovers--even when floating in a sea of liberals. They get off on "being different," in fact. The last thing they are interested in doing is comparing Trump's version of Republicanism to Reagan Republicanism. As far as they're concerned (in a world of "alternative facts," none of this matters.
What matters to young Trump supporters is that a charismatic outsider who "tells the truth" will sweep away the nanny-state policy of the Obama years and replace it with individual responsibility and small government.
To borrow a phrase from another century, look out you don't put your spoke into a wheel where it doesn't fit.
47
"He had a sunny faith in America’s destiny and in America’s ability to bend global history toward freedom. He had a sunny faith in the free market to deliver prosperity to all. He had a sunny faith in the power of technology to deliver bounty and even protect us from nuclear missiles."
This is the wishful thinking hagiography about Reagan unmoored to objective reality.
His "bend toward freedom" was belied by the secret deal William Casey pulled with the Iranian mullahs that kept our hostages in Iranian hands for an extra three months merely so they could be tools in a seditionist plot and have to wait until Reagan's inaugural to taste freedom.
His "sunny optimism" about the free markets was belied by his fabulist claims about "welfare queens driving Cadillacs" and "young bucks using foid stams to buy steaks."
I helieve we are still waiting for his faith in technology to protect us from nuclear missiles to be vindicated.
Everything that Reagan delivered with a smiling dog whistle, Trump delivers right out loud with a scowl.
His proposed ban of Muslims happens to have no prohibition on immigration from the country of the immigrant San Bernadino shooter, nor would it have fore losed on the appearance of ANY of the 9/11 terrorists, not a single one.
He repeatedly insisted, & started chants at a plethora of Nuremburg rallies, that Mexico would pay for the wall. Now it turns out that he confused the Mexican government with any AMERICAN who buys a Mexican product. Fabulists both...
This is the wishful thinking hagiography about Reagan unmoored to objective reality.
His "bend toward freedom" was belied by the secret deal William Casey pulled with the Iranian mullahs that kept our hostages in Iranian hands for an extra three months merely so they could be tools in a seditionist plot and have to wait until Reagan's inaugural to taste freedom.
His "sunny optimism" about the free markets was belied by his fabulist claims about "welfare queens driving Cadillacs" and "young bucks using foid stams to buy steaks."
I helieve we are still waiting for his faith in technology to protect us from nuclear missiles to be vindicated.
Everything that Reagan delivered with a smiling dog whistle, Trump delivers right out loud with a scowl.
His proposed ban of Muslims happens to have no prohibition on immigration from the country of the immigrant San Bernadino shooter, nor would it have fore losed on the appearance of ANY of the 9/11 terrorists, not a single one.
He repeatedly insisted, & started chants at a plethora of Nuremburg rallies, that Mexico would pay for the wall. Now it turns out that he confused the Mexican government with any AMERICAN who buys a Mexican product. Fabulists both...
15
"I’m going to try to convey to you how astoundingly different the Republican Party felt when I was your age."
It's not a matter of "felt," Mr. Brooks. The Republican Party today IS a completely different organism than the one that existed while Reagan was president. Indeed, by today's political standards, Reagan would not only be considered a Democrat, but a left-of-center Democrat.
Can't resist adding that Borrow-And-Spend Saint Ronnie "Iran-Contra" Reagan did the United States no favors. The Right's hagiography of him is inexplicable, except, I suppose, that he's the best of the worst Republican presidents since Eisenhower.
It's not a matter of "felt," Mr. Brooks. The Republican Party today IS a completely different organism than the one that existed while Reagan was president. Indeed, by today's political standards, Reagan would not only be considered a Democrat, but a left-of-center Democrat.
Can't resist adding that Borrow-And-Spend Saint Ronnie "Iran-Contra" Reagan did the United States no favors. The Right's hagiography of him is inexplicable, except, I suppose, that he's the best of the worst Republican presidents since Eisenhower.
14
Fear and bigotry cut deeper than any sword.
3
The real cowards are those in the republican party who recognize Trump's ignorant recklessness yet follow along out of fear. As Trump tramples down one American institution after another, they surely must know America is the loser when we undermine the press, create false scapegoats and demonize all who disagree.
11
The youthful idealism of Mr. Brooks would be touching were it not so sad to behold. I get it: given the choices among recent Republican presidents, Reagan looks like the pick of the litter. Still, as others have noted, Reagan’s many flaws are endemic.
There’s a picture in the Reagan Library’s archive, C27275-33, that depicts “President Reagan talking with Donald Trump and Ivana Trump at a state dinner for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in the Blue room. 2/11/85.” In another picture, C43456-15, we see “President Reagan shaking hands with Donald Trump at a Reception for members of the "Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies" Foundation in the Blue room. 11/3/87.” David Brooks argues that there’s a complete disconnect between the party of Reagan and the party of Trump. However, it is hard to imagine today’s Trump without the Reagan-era fixation on glitz, glamor and the cavalier display of wealth.
As the Times reported this week, Trump has decided to “suspend any immigration for at least 30 days from a number of predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.” Notably absent from that list: Saudi Arabia. Thirty years ago, Donald and Ivana and Ronald and Nancy had a fabulous time with King Fahd. Doubtless, it would be rude to disinvite the Saudis at this stage of the game.
There’s a picture in the Reagan Library’s archive, C27275-33, that depicts “President Reagan talking with Donald Trump and Ivana Trump at a state dinner for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in the Blue room. 2/11/85.” In another picture, C43456-15, we see “President Reagan shaking hands with Donald Trump at a Reception for members of the "Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies" Foundation in the Blue room. 11/3/87.” David Brooks argues that there’s a complete disconnect between the party of Reagan and the party of Trump. However, it is hard to imagine today’s Trump without the Reagan-era fixation on glitz, glamor and the cavalier display of wealth.
As the Times reported this week, Trump has decided to “suspend any immigration for at least 30 days from a number of predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.” Notably absent from that list: Saudi Arabia. Thirty years ago, Donald and Ivana and Ronald and Nancy had a fabulous time with King Fahd. Doubtless, it would be rude to disinvite the Saudis at this stage of the game.
10
Who is delusional?? Who was voted to represent Republicans in a Republican primary? Who was voted President by Republicans. Long-term Republicans in the Senate are voting for his unvetted Cabinet picks. This Republican administration is demoting well qualified career diplomats in order to install yes men. Our former friends are refusing to meet with us. We are not so secretly negotiating with our new Putin's Russian 'friends'.
This nightmare is strictly a modern day Republican one and it is going to get worse when we refuse to extend the debt limit, take away health care, throw more Americans in private prisons and privatize Medicare and Social Security. No David, this is not the old TR Republican Party, this is your Republican Party. You broke, you own it.
This nightmare is strictly a modern day Republican one and it is going to get worse when we refuse to extend the debt limit, take away health care, throw more Americans in private prisons and privatize Medicare and Social Security. No David, this is not the old TR Republican Party, this is your Republican Party. You broke, you own it.
17
A part of the Republican Party came to the conclusion a long time ago that America is a failed experiment. The models they admire aren't Reagan but Russia, or religion based ethnic states, or.....well, I would just note that when battling alQaeda, Cheney's impulse was to imitate its top down, secretive, military and inhuman system to fight it. What we call American ideals seem to be a losing proposition to them.
5
It may not be the party you joined, David, but it is absolutely the party you helped create, David, with your very misguided columns. It is time to take responsibility. The day of reckoning has come.
14
"He ... had the audacity to appear at televised national debates with no clue what he was talking about."
This is not courage. It's the Dunning-Kruger effect.
This is not courage. It's the Dunning-Kruger effect.
7
Well, I'm glad to see David Brooks moving more and more from the dark side into the light. But it's hard to forget all those years he's been an apologist for the GOP moving further and further to reactionism, and away from the party that helped Lyndon Johnson pass the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. THAT Republican Party would be unrecognizable today.
Make no mistake about it: Donald Trump is NOT a Republican anomaly. He is the culmination of many, many years of teaching cognitive dissonance through the echo chambers that have been building since Jerry Falwell started the "Moral Majority" in 1979. Reaganism, with its lies about "Welfare Queens", its winking at racism (kicking off his campaign in 1980 in Philadelphia, MS where 3 civil rights workers were murdered), its phony "balance budget" pushes and destructive tax cuts, hidden by Paul Volcker's work at the Fed, was the start. The Tea Party didn't just spontaneously emerge, it was seeded and fertilized by far right billionaires, but the ground was there.
We've had almost 40 years of Murdoch newspapers pushing false, twisted stories at British, Australian and American readers. And then there came the News Corp, Murdoch's triumph at undermining confidence in the Press and media. Led by the sexual predatory master propagandist, Ailes, it became the #1 "news" net and the lowest common denominator.
And all along, Mr. Brooks, instead of standing up, YOU defended them. I think there's more than one coward here.
Make no mistake about it: Donald Trump is NOT a Republican anomaly. He is the culmination of many, many years of teaching cognitive dissonance through the echo chambers that have been building since Jerry Falwell started the "Moral Majority" in 1979. Reaganism, with its lies about "Welfare Queens", its winking at racism (kicking off his campaign in 1980 in Philadelphia, MS where 3 civil rights workers were murdered), its phony "balance budget" pushes and destructive tax cuts, hidden by Paul Volcker's work at the Fed, was the start. The Tea Party didn't just spontaneously emerge, it was seeded and fertilized by far right billionaires, but the ground was there.
We've had almost 40 years of Murdoch newspapers pushing false, twisted stories at British, Australian and American readers. And then there came the News Corp, Murdoch's triumph at undermining confidence in the Press and media. Led by the sexual predatory master propagandist, Ailes, it became the #1 "news" net and the lowest common denominator.
And all along, Mr. Brooks, instead of standing up, YOU defended them. I think there's more than one coward here.
21
If we want to recall Republican Presidents who were courageous, optimistic about America, and, oh yeah, realistic about the dangers of the military-industrial complex, let's go back to Dwight Eisenhower. You know, the guy who presided over an America in which corporations and the very wealthy payed the bulk of federal taxes and yet managed to lead the world in production, and also managed to pay their employees well enough not just to live, but to prosper and build wealth. Reagan just played a President, Ike did the damn job.
22
"Students, the party didn’t used to be this way."
Yes it was, it just used different sales tactics to peddle the same swill.
That mean wind blew then just as it does now, remember Ketchup as a vegetable? It sounds silly, but it represents the very same disdain and "low empathy" that the GOP always maintains for the less fortunate.
And BTW, thanks for that new word, "Anhedonia". It sounds like a fictional country from a Marx Brothers movie, doesn't it?
Leave it to Mr. Brooks to worry about Trumps inability to enjoy himself.
Yes it was, it just used different sales tactics to peddle the same swill.
That mean wind blew then just as it does now, remember Ketchup as a vegetable? It sounds silly, but it represents the very same disdain and "low empathy" that the GOP always maintains for the less fortunate.
And BTW, thanks for that new word, "Anhedonia". It sounds like a fictional country from a Marx Brothers movie, doesn't it?
Leave it to Mr. Brooks to worry about Trumps inability to enjoy himself.
19
He is a coward and always has been.
4
Whoa, Brooks. Trump will send Putin's radioactive iodine to be slipped into your dunken donuts coffee.
3
He also said, "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
He's one of the fathers of the current Republican Party and the political birth of Trump.
He's one of the fathers of the current Republican Party and the political birth of Trump.
11
We will fight the dictator Donald Trump. He was not given a mandate to rule over us.
5
Mr. Brooks, if you had had more courage to call out your fellow Republicans in their support of Trump during the past six months, and if you had had the courage to cross lines and support Hilary, I would respect what you have to say about courage or cowardice. But your remarks about Regan and the Republicans are an attempt to rewrite history and this column is an attempt to resuscitate your reputation.
7
He *could* be fearful . . . or he could be taking his matching orders from someone else.
1
The Republican party and their fear mongering propaganda made Donald Trump. They are just as bad. As for Reagon, he started the down turn if the middle class. Trickle down economics and laissez faire capitalism. Yes kids Reagan and now Trump are why your future looks bleak.
8
Mr. Brooks is actually paid by the NYT to offer up a perspective that differs from most of its columnists. The disdain shown by most of the commenters for him is really interesting. Many of you accuse Republicans of being narrow minded and only open to one viewpoint. Maybe you should look in a mirror.
3
Given that the president-apparent has no motivation other than self-aggrandizement, one might ask "who is the real president?" This maybe be the first step to learning how to stop this kamikaze krazy kar.
1
Reagan had a "sunny faith in the power of technology to deliver bounty..." -- well, that must have been why he took Jimmy Carter's solar panels off the roof of the White House.
34
Mr. Brooks, your Reagan must have existed in some parallel universe, because the Reagan you describe did not exist in ours.
7
Mr. Brooks, opinion pieces like this will get you on the bad side of Mr. Ban on. Please continue to write what you believe. We need the press more than ever with this mess.
2
"When he erred" it was by providing support for Saddam Hussein. It was by providing support for drug-trafficking terrorists in Afghanistan (later al-Qaeda). it was by providing support for cocaine smuggling terrorists in Nicaragua. We took a giant step backward in the adoption of alternative energy sources. The national debt began its sharp ascent. He was lucky, though. He had Gorbachev.
3
This is not the first time Mr. Brooks have written anything critical about the Republican Party. But I would always skim through those columns, looking for the false equivalences and snarky comments about liberals.
No snark today.
It's terrifying. It means that Mr. Trump may be even more disastrous a President than Democrats are making him out to be.
No snark today.
It's terrifying. It means that Mr. Trump may be even more disastrous a President than Democrats are making him out to be.
5
He is nothing but projection. What he fears are his own reflections. He doesn't see the good things that Reagan saw because he only recognizes those things that are familiar to him as he gazes at himself in the mirror. He sees voter fraud because that's how he won. He sees companies leaving the US to find cheap labor, because that's how he operates. He thinks everybody is out to screw him, because he is out to screw everybody. All of the things he criticizes are actually things that he embodies. He is a profoundly sick man.
But I must stick up for porcupines. I'm not even sure what a "a dark, resentful porcupine fear" is??? Porcupines get the job done and protect themselves from true predators. They don't aggressively attack their own shadows.
But I must stick up for porcupines. I'm not even sure what a "a dark, resentful porcupine fear" is??? Porcupines get the job done and protect themselves from true predators. They don't aggressively attack their own shadows.
4
Cowardice may be a good way to describe our new President and the Republicans on Capitol Hill, but they are afraid of different things.
Donald Trump, perhaps realizing how much he never bothered to learn, is afraid of failure.
He feels secure only when he is striking out at people who are weak (like Mexicans, or so he thinks) and hated by everyone (like Muslims, or so he thinks).
The establishment Republicans in Congress don’t mind President Trump’s striking out at anyone he wishes because – more than anything else – they are afraid of him.
Of course, maybe we’re looking at this all wrong. Maybe Donald Trump didn’t actually win the presidential election or, at least, the presidency he sought.
More and more, it looks like the real winner was Ted Cruz.
Cruz seems to be getting everything he ever wanted. Donald Trump might be terrified of taking any step without being told to do so by former Cruz ally, Kellyanne Conway, and new Cruz supporter, Stephen K. Bannon.
Donald Trump, perhaps realizing how much he never bothered to learn, is afraid of failure.
He feels secure only when he is striking out at people who are weak (like Mexicans, or so he thinks) and hated by everyone (like Muslims, or so he thinks).
The establishment Republicans in Congress don’t mind President Trump’s striking out at anyone he wishes because – more than anything else – they are afraid of him.
Of course, maybe we’re looking at this all wrong. Maybe Donald Trump didn’t actually win the presidential election or, at least, the presidency he sought.
More and more, it looks like the real winner was Ted Cruz.
Cruz seems to be getting everything he ever wanted. Donald Trump might be terrified of taking any step without being told to do so by former Cruz ally, Kellyanne Conway, and new Cruz supporter, Stephen K. Bannon.
3
Yep. What is even scarier is that Trump is an "enabled coward". Right now he is in the command chair pushing button after button with no forethought except that fear. He has no genuine feel for ramifications. Eventually some acts will be irreversible which, I fear, will make his actions hyperbolically horrific.
Putin will play him like a chump this Saturday. Oh to have the transcript...
Putin will play him like a chump this Saturday. Oh to have the transcript...
3
David Brook's sure has blinkered vision with regard to the rich, white, cynical men Reagan had gathered around him, and of course, the lasting effects of Reagonomics. Great Recession? Homeless folks? Dying/dead small-town America? Meet your maker: Mr. Reagan. However, Mr. Brooks is absolutely correct in addressing young people, and in giving them a lesson about the importance of thinking openly and optimistically, and to look for mutually beneficial ways to solve problems--in our personal lives, as a nation, and globally. And if they are the children of conservatives and/or Trump voters, there is a much greater chance they'll listen to this message from a respected conservative like Mr. Brooks, than to anyone else. Of course, that's provided they read the New York Times...
3
It is unfair and biased to compare Reagan's reaction and policies to the then existing refuge crisis from Cuba, Vietnam and Cambodia with the present situation in Syria and other ISIS dominated or infiltrated nations. Cuba, Vietnam and Cambodia were not then conducting an international terrorist campaign against the US and Western values, but even the NY Times and its writers must begrudgingly recognize and admit that we and the West are in a state of war with ISIS and radical Islam - thus mandating completely different reactions and polices to refugees seeking to come into this country.
1
Brooks has been the enabler of Republican domination - the acceptable face. By deriding the other party's tenets and tendencies, Brooks - for years - prepared the ground for this. Let none of us forget.
9
Trump is a coward, sure, fine. But aren't the real cowards all of the Republicans in Congress and in the media who are falling in line behind him rather than standing up to him? One word for them - craven.
15
We're going through some kind of bizarre "the king has not clothes!" moment where a man with severe and obvious mental illness has been put in charge and nobody, including tens of thousands of physicians and trained specialists, are willing to say that out loud, let alone analyze for the public and the authorities what the nature of his problem is and what signs on non-functionality we should be looking for in the event he needs to be removed from office for incapacity. THAT is the public debate we now need to be having, and quickly, because his condition is deteriorating fast and the danger for us is increasing incrementally day by day...
8
Ronald Reagan was not a president that exhibited the best in America. He turned his back on the poor, the HIV crisis, and did not have the decency to withdraw when he was no longer capable of governing. So course, all of our presidents have been imperfect. For the past 30 years we have had a republican party that is interested in winning the benefit of the few. Since Lee Atwater, the republicans are masterful at lying to the public and convincing people to vote against their own interests. In this ADD social media fake news environment , their faux populism has flourished.
10
45 is a bully.
All bullies are cowards.
All bullies are cowards.
2
This is a very nice, uplifting column that totally misses the point.
You and other pointy-headed (old term), elite (new term) intellectuals pontificate about trade deals; about real incomes in the U.S. being boosted by 'x' billion or one whole half of one percent of GDP.
Working people in this country haven't had a pay raise in over 30 years. All of that extra money goes to bankers and hedge fund managers and owners first; "titans" of industry next, and then some trickles down to columnists. None of it goes to ordinary working Americans... in fact, counting for inflation, it has come out of their pockets and gone into the pockets of tha already obscenely wealthy.
Will Trump and Republican policies fix this? Of course not. Is outsourcing of jobs the main problem? Of course not. Will you write about what work could look like in the future? Of course not.
Dan Kravitz
You and other pointy-headed (old term), elite (new term) intellectuals pontificate about trade deals; about real incomes in the U.S. being boosted by 'x' billion or one whole half of one percent of GDP.
Working people in this country haven't had a pay raise in over 30 years. All of that extra money goes to bankers and hedge fund managers and owners first; "titans" of industry next, and then some trickles down to columnists. None of it goes to ordinary working Americans... in fact, counting for inflation, it has come out of their pockets and gone into the pockets of tha already obscenely wealthy.
Will Trump and Republican policies fix this? Of course not. Is outsourcing of jobs the main problem? Of course not. Will you write about what work could look like in the future? Of course not.
Dan Kravitz
3
Ha ha. Good one. Like today's college students care about the direction of the country. Most of them didn't even bother to vote. Paraphrasing a quote I read yesterday, but the young woman claimed she didn't need to march last weekend because she had all the rights she needed. God forbid the millennials be bothered with the challenges of others.
2
Tom,
Think Trump doesn't know he's lying? 10 year olds know they're lying but they still do for all kinds of reasons
Think Trump doesn't know he's lying? 10 year olds know they're lying but they still do for all kinds of reasons
2
It appears that Kelly Ann was the fact checker for your reinvention of Reagan.
11
Mr. Brooks, Though erudite as usual you fail to acknowledge that the intended checks and balances of government have fallen short in the present instance. The Republican Party should never have permitted DJT to run on their ticket...his disreputable history was well known. If the Republican majority had any spine, grace, dignity, or sense of patriotism, it would have already reigned-in this President. It is the Republican Party that has shown cowardice in their quest for power. The Party of Lincoln has become a disgrace.
30
My only comment on this column is to correct Mr. Brooks on one point: DJT's fear and cowardice were there throughout the campaign, not suddenly after the inauguration. Americans knew exactly what they were voting for or against; and it appears that many of our citizens share Trump's fearful, angry and, yes, cowardly view of the world. This is not new for him -- or, sadly, for global history. To reprise the sixties: "Somethin' happenin' out there . . ." A mean wind indeed.
24
David Brooks and Michael Gerson apparently will be the voices of humanity balanced reason in the Trump era.
7
Trump vs Reagan: essential opposites. Trump: We will build a big beautiful wall. Reagan: Mr Gorbachev, tear down the wall. Trump is no Reagan. Mexico in no Russia. Yet America is building walls. The Republican Party has left Reagan far behind, no matter what they think. Right leaning Americans have left Reagan far behind, despite their devotion to him. American voters who gave Trump his victory are seeking and embracing authoritarianism, disillusioned as they are with their political parties, American and democracy. There is an ugly wall existentially arising in America and Mr Trump is its architect.
8
I am not fond of David Brooks. Better stated, I do not care for his columns. They are typically overwritten and over-intellectualized. He never fails to use one or more unfamiliar mega-syllabic words that add nothing but annoyance at the need to use a dictionary to walk through his writing. Today, however, he hit a homerun in his last sentence. There is, surely, a mean wind blowing.
7
Mr. Brooks. The Party that you are so nostalgic for (along with the apologist like you that enabled the rise of this monster) began to manifest with Mcarthy that morphed to Nixon and then Reagan and his embrace and empowerment of the Religious Right.
Trumps rise is not an overnight phenomena. Witness that he has no opposition from the party that he has taken over. McCain, Graham, Ryan, Rubio all have fallen into lockstep. The Republican's are what they are and what they have been since post WWII. Your revisionism in the word or our new President. Sad.
Trumps rise is not an overnight phenomena. Witness that he has no opposition from the party that he has taken over. McCain, Graham, Ryan, Rubio all have fallen into lockstep. The Republican's are what they are and what they have been since post WWII. Your revisionism in the word or our new President. Sad.
9
You are right, David. This is not your, or your father's, GOP. While continuing to canonize him, the policies and vision of the Reagan administration would be rejected by today's GOP. But you're only half right about the bully in chief as the cause or just the symptom of fear and darkness. The fact is, the GOP has been leading it's voters down a very dark, angry and strident path ever since the Reagan administration ended. Credit goes to the likes of Gingrich, hastert and their entitled, hypocritical acolytes for filling this nation with hate. That's the legacy of your GOP, David. I say "your" GOP because this coincides with a period when you could have made a difference in your party. You could have tried to steer it in a more sunny direction. Instead, like many others in your party, you blindly supported it's dark turn. Like Gingrich and hastert, you chose the opportunity this dark road provided for the GOP and chose the opportunity over the promise of what we can be as a country, together. So I don't blame just the liar in chief, though he's certainly hastened the descent of your partyinto paranoid, hateful, loathsome rage. I blame you and your GOP brethren. At besr, you have been complicit in leading us to this dark place. Be careful what you wish for.
12
We have a word for people who are dominated by fear. They are called conservatives.
20
When Trump finally becomes widely seen as a failure, Brooks will say, "See, I told you so! I said we needed a Reagan. So let's try a Reagan now." Sorry, Mr. Brooks, but it won't work. Trump owns the Republicans now, and the Republicans own every lie and foolish policy that they let him get away with.
14
Mr. Brooks, this IS your Republican Party, which has benefited from support from the Klan and, since Nixon, racists and segregationists. Nixon turned toward his "Southern strategy" to win the election of 1968 and those chickens have now come home to roost. You and your few moderate Republicans would be happier in the Democratic Party. Trump is the face and voice of the Republican Party, to its everlasting shame.
16
David Brooks wrote an entire column on "The Politics of Cowardice" and never mentioned the Congressional Republicans who refuse to reign in Trump. Cowardice, indeed.
24
if this piece is meant for high school and college students, you must be depending on their parents to forward it to them.
4
Mr. Brooks: Keep writing, keep talking...Your voice is the loudest because it is the most thoughtful. As a lifelong Democrat, there are many things I do not agree with in your philosophy. But, your voice of pure, sensible reason makes me circle around every issue as carefully as you do. I appreciate that.
With all the media bashing, currently so very popular, your column should be required reading for us all. You are correct about the devolution of the GOP. It is tragic and pathetic. They have embraced a victory that is NOT a mandate. Perhaps it should be noted that both the White House and Speaker Ryan have shut down their phone service to voters. America will pay a price for their refusal to engage with us. To be a voice they do not want to hear is a lonely and dangerous place for this voter.
Again, I thank you for your insightful columns. Even when I disagree, you require me to think long and hard about each issue. America has forgotten how to do that.
With all the media bashing, currently so very popular, your column should be required reading for us all. You are correct about the devolution of the GOP. It is tragic and pathetic. They have embraced a victory that is NOT a mandate. Perhaps it should be noted that both the White House and Speaker Ryan have shut down their phone service to voters. America will pay a price for their refusal to engage with us. To be a voice they do not want to hear is a lonely and dangerous place for this voter.
Again, I thank you for your insightful columns. Even when I disagree, you require me to think long and hard about each issue. America has forgotten how to do that.
6
Republicans hate of Hillary Clinton seems to be stronger then love of this country and what it had always stood for.
I just don't understand how this could have happened.
I just don't understand how this could have happened.
9
Face it David, we haven't had decent Republican President since Eisenhower.
22
Mr Brooks, as a student of history I'm astonished that you can see any similarities between St Reagan and the Roosevelts. The former was a B movie star who, among other things, ratcheted up the national debt and championed trickle-down economics, which has never worked; the latter took on the robber barons, introduced antitrust legislation, turned the US into a world power and was in the vanguard in defeating nazism.
As for your comment on Trump's cowardice, you knew all about this petulant demagogue well before the election but didn't unburden yourself in your column, but sniped at him from the sidelines; in other words, you willed to wound but feared to strike.
As for your comment on Trump's cowardice, you knew all about this petulant demagogue well before the election but didn't unburden yourself in your column, but sniped at him from the sidelines; in other words, you willed to wound but feared to strike.
12
There are times for the poetic phrase and the gentle rumination, the glow of nostalgic remembrance and journalistic restraint, but for once I'd like David Brooks to just panic.
5
* Values of a republic.
* Values of this era's Republican Party.
Mutually exclusive.
* Values of this era's Republican Party.
Mutually exclusive.
3
Okay, David, enough of this silliness. You've been operating under false pretenses for a few years now, masquerading as a Conservative Republican token columnist for the N. Y. Times. But now the masquerade is finished, you can come out of the closet, and simply joint the Times Editorial Board when the next opening arises. Who says job opportunity is dead in America?
3
Gosh, an entire column on political cowardice with no mention of Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell or any of the other Trump-puppies who apparently have forsaken every principle they claimed to hold dear while Obama was president, just to keep Trump from being mean to them? Nice Work!
17
More than a mean wind. America's 45th President is a sociopath. In Trump world only Trump exists. In Trump world everyone else is worthy of anger and contempt. No notms of decency apply. The British Prime Minister is a fool to think she can rely on the words of such a man. Sociopath fits. You can look it up.
8
Richard Nixon was also a jowly, gloomy, scowling man. Joseph McCarthy saw doomsday and mayhem behind every bush. Reagan, yes, had a sunny personality but he was never the brightest bulb in the bunch. Certainly Trump is at the farthest end of an awful scale, but he's still a Republican.
On another note, I love the phrase "porcupine fear."
On another note, I love the phrase "porcupine fear."
6
David, your memories of the GOP are meaningless to the students of today unless the are majoring in history. The old GOP is dead. Just look at how congressional Republicans are falling in line with Trump.
We are in for a wild ride. I hope that GOP Trump supporters soon recognize that our new president governs by whim and that instead of bettering their lives, he is creating unnecessary turmoil. Wishful thinking, I know.
We are in for a wild ride. I hope that GOP Trump supporters soon recognize that our new president governs by whim and that instead of bettering their lives, he is creating unnecessary turmoil. Wishful thinking, I know.
6
David forgets the 2 silliest words uttered in awe by the genial dolt named Reagan: "Laffer Curve".
Written/scribbled on a napkin or envelope at dinner, this fantasy curve purportedly "proved" that as tax rates fall, tax revenue grows.
Economists roared. Even King Arthur knew better than that..
And the universally-discredited "curve" became silly dogma for the Gospel of Greed GOP from Ronnie to Dubya and Donnie, saving big bucks for Big Pockets by cutting revenue from plutocrats - and drowning government help for the poor - and now the middle class.
Them was the daze, eh, Davie? Nay, Davie.
Written/scribbled on a napkin or envelope at dinner, this fantasy curve purportedly "proved" that as tax rates fall, tax revenue grows.
Economists roared. Even King Arthur knew better than that..
And the universally-discredited "curve" became silly dogma for the Gospel of Greed GOP from Ronnie to Dubya and Donnie, saving big bucks for Big Pockets by cutting revenue from plutocrats - and drowning government help for the poor - and now the middle class.
Them was the daze, eh, Davie? Nay, Davie.
16
David Brooks, Thank you!
1
Scaring people is something the GOP does very well. It got us into war in Iraq and in Vietnam.
It works because Americans are easily frightened - then they spend trillions to keep bad things from coming "over here."
But we don't seem to mind that over 30,000 of us die by gunshot wounds every year; we don't mind that more than 30,000 die by auto accidents. But let 30 or 40 die by a self-proclaimed terrorist and we hide under our beds, open our wallets, and vote for an empty suit blowhard who promises to make us "safe."
This isn't a brave or a smart country; it certainly isn't a grown up country.
It works because Americans are easily frightened - then they spend trillions to keep bad things from coming "over here."
But we don't seem to mind that over 30,000 of us die by gunshot wounds every year; we don't mind that more than 30,000 die by auto accidents. But let 30 or 40 die by a self-proclaimed terrorist and we hide under our beds, open our wallets, and vote for an empty suit blowhard who promises to make us "safe."
This isn't a brave or a smart country; it certainly isn't a grown up country.
11
David Brooks is absolutely wrong, dear students.
The Republican party since RWR has been as mean spirited as a snake. Both Trump and Reagan are ignorant of the world and close to deranged. The vacuous Reagan had Alzheimer's as we all knew and Trump, well he is deranged.
What we have witnessed over the last 40 years is the triumph of the "D" students, those who sit in the back of your classes and make jokes and ignore any attempt at learning anything. They ALREADY know it all; ask them how stupid their teachers are. In the "good old days" before RWR these people knew they were ignorant and kept quiet about it while the elites governed.
The notion of making America great again would require a confluence of events that none of us wants to see. The reason America was so great in the 1950s is because we were the ONLY major country that had not been devastated by WWII. Our cities were not in ruins; our people were not starving; our economy was bursting at the seams from being the arsenal of democracy. We weren't just great; we were all there was. The notion we can return to that, or that we would even want to, is absolute nonsense. It will NEVER happen unless somehow we could come out unscathed in WWIII.
Mr. Brooks is being to kind in his treatment of the Republicans. They should be ashamed of themselves for a generation of selfishness, racism, and tax cuts for plutocrats.
The Republican party since RWR has been as mean spirited as a snake. Both Trump and Reagan are ignorant of the world and close to deranged. The vacuous Reagan had Alzheimer's as we all knew and Trump, well he is deranged.
What we have witnessed over the last 40 years is the triumph of the "D" students, those who sit in the back of your classes and make jokes and ignore any attempt at learning anything. They ALREADY know it all; ask them how stupid their teachers are. In the "good old days" before RWR these people knew they were ignorant and kept quiet about it while the elites governed.
The notion of making America great again would require a confluence of events that none of us wants to see. The reason America was so great in the 1950s is because we were the ONLY major country that had not been devastated by WWII. Our cities were not in ruins; our people were not starving; our economy was bursting at the seams from being the arsenal of democracy. We weren't just great; we were all there was. The notion we can return to that, or that we would even want to, is absolute nonsense. It will NEVER happen unless somehow we could come out unscathed in WWIII.
Mr. Brooks is being to kind in his treatment of the Republicans. They should be ashamed of themselves for a generation of selfishness, racism, and tax cuts for plutocrats.
14
After one week of anger, confusion, shoot-from-the-hip policy, stifle the press, demagougery rather than diplomacy, villianizing our Mexican neighbors and starting a series of idiotic trade wars, it not only will get worse, but it shows that there are enough really sad people in America who admire bellicosity, sabre rattling and brinksmanship.
8
Thank you David, for what has been obvious to your reading public since the Donald declared his run for president. It was so-o-o obvious that he was a bully to anyone who watched the first debate or listened to his first speech to the public in Iowa. And we know that bullies are cowards, pretty much like we watched the cowards of ISIS or the cowards of Al-Kaida, or Boko Haram or any terrorist group or person. Kids learn early in life that the schoolyard bully is at heart a coward and cowards live in fear. Lesson learned.
5
All bullies are cowards whether playing in the schoolyard or walking on the world stage. The real cowards in this immorality play that the Republican Party has become are all of those "Principled Conservatives" in the GOP who are abandoning any principles they may have had to fall in line behind the man who apparently doesn't know that he isn't acting on the schoolyard anymore.
The historic parallels to a different place and time are frightening to me. My advice to the GOP is to take Nancy Reagan's advice and "JUST SAY NO!"
The historic parallels to a different place and time are frightening to me. My advice to the GOP is to take Nancy Reagan's advice and "JUST SAY NO!"
7
"Terrified of Muslim terrorists, he embraces the torture policies guaranteed to mobilize terrorists."
Anyone who ever lived, or served, in the Middle East knows the above statement is a bunch of nonsense.
Islamic fascist terrorists could care less how you treat them, they are on a mission to die for Allah, to be a shahid and enter paradise. Current Muslim culture, in many areas of the Muslim world but especially in Arab communities, celebrate the shahid. There may not have been people celebrating on rooftops in Jersey City when the Trade Center went down, but they sure were handing out sweets in Arab areas in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The same people to whom an exiting Obama tried to give another 200 million of US taxpayer money.
But who really cares?
Whether terrorists are 'tortured," or treated to beer and snacks, may determine how useful the intel, but to the audience of Muslim fascists ready to die for 99 virgins, it matters not what the "infidel" does.
However, it does matter for our own self-image. So If David Brooks wishes to argue that point, then he states something substantive. But own that position and don't try to orient our policy decisions on what "terrorists think of us, and how we are treating them."
At the end of the day, Muslim support for Islamic fascism depends not on what we do, but how goes the current war within Islam between secularism and traditionalists, Sunni vs. Shia, etc.
You would think we would have learned this after Benghazi.
Anyone who ever lived, or served, in the Middle East knows the above statement is a bunch of nonsense.
Islamic fascist terrorists could care less how you treat them, they are on a mission to die for Allah, to be a shahid and enter paradise. Current Muslim culture, in many areas of the Muslim world but especially in Arab communities, celebrate the shahid. There may not have been people celebrating on rooftops in Jersey City when the Trade Center went down, but they sure were handing out sweets in Arab areas in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The same people to whom an exiting Obama tried to give another 200 million of US taxpayer money.
But who really cares?
Whether terrorists are 'tortured," or treated to beer and snacks, may determine how useful the intel, but to the audience of Muslim fascists ready to die for 99 virgins, it matters not what the "infidel" does.
However, it does matter for our own self-image. So If David Brooks wishes to argue that point, then he states something substantive. But own that position and don't try to orient our policy decisions on what "terrorists think of us, and how we are treating them."
At the end of the day, Muslim support for Islamic fascism depends not on what we do, but how goes the current war within Islam between secularism and traditionalists, Sunni vs. Shia, etc.
You would think we would have learned this after Benghazi.
4
Trump is like a glacial anomalie. A large white rock... odd, but a useful mark in the fog.
Dropped off Mark Island just off the south end, in the bay off Rockport, Maine.
Used by all, understood by none.
Been there. God knows why.
Real. Strange. All looking.
Dropped off Mark Island just off the south end, in the bay off Rockport, Maine.
Used by all, understood by none.
Been there. God knows why.
Real. Strange. All looking.
1
I don't see the words "Republicans" and "enablers" in the same sentence in this piece. Oherwise, not bad.
7
The difference in Brooks’ version of Reagan and that of mine is similar to the contrast in the characters of Atticus Finch in the acclaimed “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the republished first draft, “Go Set a Watchman”. Like most of us, he prefers the former, while the latter reveals the ugly truth.
5
J.R.R. Tolkien also wrote “For if joyful is the fountain that rises in the sun, its springs are in the wells of sorrow unfathomable at the foundations of the Earth.”
One would be wise to consider Tolkien's wisdom in entirety before praising Ronald Reagan too highly.
One would be wise to consider Tolkien's wisdom in entirety before praising Ronald Reagan too highly.
3
It's hard to believe that you wrote this column today David. Reagan is responsible for the erosion of the American prosperous middle class when he started his reverse Robin Hood policies and "the government is the problem" pronouncements.
He is also responsible for what happened to your party. He was the one who opened the door and welcomed the "deplorables" until they took over. Now moderates like you have become the real deplorables in your party.
PS: Do you really believe T. R. and Reagan viewed the government the same way?
He is also responsible for what happened to your party. He was the one who opened the door and welcomed the "deplorables" until they took over. Now moderates like you have become the real deplorables in your party.
PS: Do you really believe T. R. and Reagan viewed the government the same way?
10
David, I think you've tried to write a neatly-balanced column by putting Trump and Reagan into clear categories, but you've distorted their personalities to achieve this. As others have noted, your description of Reagan glosses over many of his faults and weaknesses. Yes he was an optimist and a great communicator, but you don't mention Iran-Contra or Ron and Nancy checking out propitious dates with an astrologer.
And to say Trump is driven by fear is surprising to hear. He is driven by megalomania. Of course there is a part of him--a part of every decision maker---that does not want to be wrong, but Trump's grandstanding plays in this first week of office are not driven by fear. He wants to be remembered as the President who shook up things and made his mark. Unfortunately, he may succeed with that.
And to say Trump is driven by fear is surprising to hear. He is driven by megalomania. Of course there is a part of him--a part of every decision maker---that does not want to be wrong, but Trump's grandstanding plays in this first week of office are not driven by fear. He wants to be remembered as the President who shook up things and made his mark. Unfortunately, he may succeed with that.
7
In the last half century we, all of us, as a society, have created a really ugly reality for ourselves. Brutality as entertainment, sociopathic levels of anger openly expressed, the acceptance of Social Darwinism as gospel, the rejection of all those little courtesies that helped to smooth out the bumps.
I don't know why we did this to ourselves or where it all leads to, but Mr. Trump is just a reflection of the rest of us.
If you ask me I think we should just ignore him.
I don't know why we did this to ourselves or where it all leads to, but Mr. Trump is just a reflection of the rest of us.
If you ask me I think we should just ignore him.
1
Dear Young People: Ronald Reagan was no such thing as David Brooks is trying to sell you. He was a typical Republican politician: mean, nasty, racist, and anti-intellectual. He loved greed, he hated government regulations, he believed in trickle-down economics, he made decisions based on recommendations by an astrologer whom his wife had hired. By all indications, Reagan was involved in the Iran-Contra deal, and he did many other things that damaged the foundations of our democratic system. Do not believe David Brooks; he is either deluded or being dishonest.
10
Keep dreaming, David. This is just what Republicans accuse Democrats of doing.
2
Until Republicans denounce this man and the cohort around him things will only get darker. I don't know if our nation has ever faced a more uncertain time, save at its founding and during the Civil War. This is far more frightening than Pearl Harbor or 9-11.
56
I only got to the third paragraph and I realized how wrong Brooks once again. This current state of politics, this current republican party is indeed the party of reagan. It is the logical conclusion of the seed he sowed.
The anti- government mantra " government is the problem" that echoed in the halls of the republican party , on the AM talk ( shout) radio, on faux news!
Government is evil and useless - except of course when republicans wield the power ( notice their embrace of deficits now for trump)
Reagan was out first entertainer , cheerleader president. who said sunny things - which defied reality ( Iran -Contra, Daivd Hasselhoff trafiicing in cocaine for our government, interfering in the iran hostage crisis prior to the election, and on and on). He paved the way for our current reality star in chief. Along the way the republican party tried to sell us sarah palin, when she faltered , they went to the next worst thing, trump
THIS IS YOUR PARTY david. this is always who they were, selfish, insular, and mean.
They are and always were the party of exclusion in the guise of self determination when they actually meant privatization.
They now have their levers on all seats of power, and people like you, who now cower from whats to come, helped propel them there.
Yes this is the party reagan created,
The anti- government mantra " government is the problem" that echoed in the halls of the republican party , on the AM talk ( shout) radio, on faux news!
Government is evil and useless - except of course when republicans wield the power ( notice their embrace of deficits now for trump)
Reagan was out first entertainer , cheerleader president. who said sunny things - which defied reality ( Iran -Contra, Daivd Hasselhoff trafiicing in cocaine for our government, interfering in the iran hostage crisis prior to the election, and on and on). He paved the way for our current reality star in chief. Along the way the republican party tried to sell us sarah palin, when she faltered , they went to the next worst thing, trump
THIS IS YOUR PARTY david. this is always who they were, selfish, insular, and mean.
They are and always were the party of exclusion in the guise of self determination when they actually meant privatization.
They now have their levers on all seats of power, and people like you, who now cower from whats to come, helped propel them there.
Yes this is the party reagan created,
7
Reagan? The California Governor who sharply upped the homeless population by closing mental institutions? The President who sold arms to Iran to finance death squads in Nicaragua? He who preached Manifest Destiny? Reagan was Trump with a smile.
7
It is true that Trump is much worse than Reagan. But Reagan began the slide to right wing craziness and no nothing ism. Trump is just the ultimate result of ignorance and lack of concern for the environmental health of the planet.
5
reagan was as much cow dung a tRumpft, just with a smile on its face as it read its cue cards.
7
I'm happy to see Brooks writing about politics again. However, I, too, remember the Reagan years and although some of what Brooks said about Reagan was true, some was just left out and Reagan's refusal to face the AIDS epidemic until it was almost the size of a California wild fire will never make Reagan into a great president in my view.
I honestly don't know what can be said about Trump that hasn't been said over thousands of times in almost similar ways. He isn't qualified to be president. He knows and cares less about history than any other president that America has had since Washington.
He ignored his intelligence agency calling them equal to Nazis, and then goes to stand in from of the wall of dead heroes and tell them he has their back and believes that they adore him.
This country is coming to a crossroads. Will they take the path that is dark and filled with fearful things, or will they decide they can't live in the dark world as Trump describes it and demand the path that is wide and clear.
I honestly don't know what can be said about Trump that hasn't been said over thousands of times in almost similar ways. He isn't qualified to be president. He knows and cares less about history than any other president that America has had since Washington.
He ignored his intelligence agency calling them equal to Nazis, and then goes to stand in from of the wall of dead heroes and tell them he has their back and believes that they adore him.
This country is coming to a crossroads. Will they take the path that is dark and filled with fearful things, or will they decide they can't live in the dark world as Trump describes it and demand the path that is wide and clear.
7
I look forward to a day when the news reports that Mr Trump was removed from the White House/ public sphere in handcuffs or a straight jacket.
9
Mr. Brooks always stops short of condemnation being content to identify the defects only of his Republican brethren . Guess who the real coward is here .
6
Remember People's Park?? Reagan defended the police for shooting protesters over a parking lot. give me a break. Trump is exactly what the republicans have always been about. he just doesn't whisper his hate in polite company he says it out loud. why do you think so many enjoyed his "honesty"? why? because it is their honesty too.
8
Unfortunately, Mr Bannon is more in control of the news than Mr Brooks.
Mr Brooks starts out qualifying who's he's writing to. Mr Bannon speaks to a lot of Tolkien fans directly with a lot of understanding of how to influence those who do not win in the technology game. Regardless of who president or what wall is built, that audience will still lose. It's a hard landing. Both speakers have a platform and, in my opinion, should not. There are other opinions which deserve a chance.
Mr Brooks starts out qualifying who's he's writing to. Mr Bannon speaks to a lot of Tolkien fans directly with a lot of understanding of how to influence those who do not win in the technology game. Regardless of who president or what wall is built, that audience will still lose. It's a hard landing. Both speakers have a platform and, in my opinion, should not. There are other opinions which deserve a chance.
5
Yes David, Trump is bad for our economy - and everything else. You knew all of this long ago, and yet you continued to insist that a Clinton presidency would be oh so worse. Buyer's remorse?
8
Reagan myths notwithstanding, Mr. Brooks may be working his way back to the core of intellectually sound conservatism. The contrast between the messsge of this column and the opportunistic sycophancy of GOP congressmen and senators is staggering. They are cheerleaders for ugliness and authoritarianism.
3
We have nothing to fear, but fear itself
2
For too many years David Brooks peered through his rose-colored lenses and refused to call his party out for the craven self-servers they are. He was silent, or worse, gave a gentle spin to the hatred and alternative reality that Fox News was spewing to poison low-information American minds. Now this typically "alternative fact" essay on Reagan! Give it up Mr. Brooks! You were instrumental in giving us Trump. Start telling the truth about your party, beginning with St. Ronnie.
5
Ah, yes. Brooks is playing the ol' "Reagan was a living saint" game. Same game as describing the GOP as "the party of Lincoln" we heard so much about during the campaign, just the GOP clumsily trying to conceal their racism. This is Brooks desperately trying to confer a shred of respectability upon the GOP, the party which has brought us to this plunge into darkness. Or is it Brooks trying to evade blame for supporting them for all these years as they headed inexorably towards the cliff? Listen - Reagan was driving that train too. But here is the difference between Reagan and Trump. Here is why Reagan is remembered as a kindly, benevolent uncle. Reagan was an ACTOR! He'd spent his whole career putting on whatever face was wanted and paid for. Trump is not an actor. He is just a faker, a liar, and a sociopath who might have gotten away with what he's doing if he'd only taken some acting lessons. He might still have Brooks in his cheering section but instead he lets it all hang out, all his fear, hatred, delusions not skillfully concealed. He has been played skillfully by the GOP who now straight-faced rally behind the sanctity of election results - which their own mad puppet declares to be rigged and corrupted by imaginary fraud. Reagan was an actor, no more than that. Trump is a maniac, no less than that.
8
I was never a Reagan fan, I have never been a Republican. I disagree with Mr Brooks on many points he makes in this piece, but there is no doubt that Trump makes Reagan look like FDR by comparison. Trump makes Carter look like Lincoln, makes Harding look like Teddy Roosevelt. He makes George Wallace look like a statesman. He makes "The Rent's Too Damn High" guy look like a viable candidate for mayor.
Most of all He makes decent people all over the world look at us in a way that disgraces every ideal America has stood for from the day our founders signed a document on a hot July day in Philadelphia.
Most of all He makes decent people all over the world look at us in a way that disgraces every ideal America has stood for from the day our founders signed a document on a hot July day in Philadelphia.
4
The horror, , , the horror. . . It's here.
Well, cheer up, C.Morris.
David, a close inspection of who proposed, backed, and signed all the NAFTA's and free trade bills might be informative. This was originally a proposal from RR, backed by all subsequent GOP bodies, and then signed by Clinton. The Chamber of Commerce and every other conservative trade group supported it. Some Dems also.
Well, cheer up, C.Morris.
David, a close inspection of who proposed, backed, and signed all the NAFTA's and free trade bills might be informative. This was originally a proposal from RR, backed by all subsequent GOP bodies, and then signed by Clinton. The Chamber of Commerce and every other conservative trade group supported it. Some Dems also.
5
Even calling this president a coward is giving him too much credit. He has no care for the people of this country; he isn't afraid of terrorist attacks or joblessness or bad trade deals. He's a thief! He cares only for his own image, his wealth and his power. He will not serve this country; he will dismantle it for the parts and sell them to the highest bidder. The only thing stopping him from doing it is his desperate need to be fawned over.
5
David, I voted Republican in my youth. For Reagan. That was a while back. Like a lot of young people, I looked for some simpler system that would makes sense out of the complications of the world. The world is a complex place, and I grew up and out of my simple-mindedness.
Honestly, while both parties have failings, I think Republican moderates should join the Democrats. You might join us. The water's fine. The same goes for some Senators and Congressmen. Switching parties for a time, if they no longer reflect values that make sense in the world, is a patriotic thing to do. We need a head of the Democratic Party back, and that I think, is President Obama. I hope he gets back from vacation soon.
In the meantime, who would you rather stand with: decent people like Chris Murphy, or Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, McConnell, and Paul Ryan?
Honestly, while both parties have failings, I think Republican moderates should join the Democrats. You might join us. The water's fine. The same goes for some Senators and Congressmen. Switching parties for a time, if they no longer reflect values that make sense in the world, is a patriotic thing to do. We need a head of the Democratic Party back, and that I think, is President Obama. I hope he gets back from vacation soon.
In the meantime, who would you rather stand with: decent people like Chris Murphy, or Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, McConnell, and Paul Ryan?
7
The legacies of Reagan or the Roosevelts can be discussed later. Democrats and Republicans need to come up with a solution to deal with Trump and Congressman Ryan and Senator McConnell need to stand up to tyranny. We can then talk about how we got here and the best way forward. Our very Republic is at stake!
5
Mr. Brooks, I appreciate your comparison and you draw some very stark contrasts. That being said, let's not memorialize Reagan to much into the direction of sainthood. It was president Reagan who vetoed the anti-apratheid bill that would have imposed sanction on the white-led South Africa. It was President Reagan who vetoed a farm credit bill in 1985 that would have provided $1.8 billion dollars in loan guarantees. It was President Reagan who bowed to the self-proclaimed "Moral Majority" by ignoring the burgeoning AIDS crisis.
While Donald Trump so far seems to be detrimental to the spirit of this country, Ronald Reagan was no pillar of American spirit.
While Donald Trump so far seems to be detrimental to the spirit of this country, Ronald Reagan was no pillar of American spirit.
4
Mr. Brooks blames it all on Trump. He writes, "It’s not that the deals had changed, or reality. It was that Donald Trump became the Republican nominee and his dark fearfulness became the party’s dark fearfulness." But these changes in the Republican party happened long before Trump. They go back over 25 years, to when the Republican party decidedd to ride the coattails of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and all the rest of the haters, demagogues and fake scandal mongerers.
And where were you, Mr. Brooks, when all that was going on? You weren't writing about it, because like many Republicans, you believed the party benefited at the ballot box from the hate and fear that these demagogues stirred up. So you looked the other way. And now you and all of us are reaping the whirlwind.
I'm only making the points here that many others have made repeatedly in these comments over the last year. When are you going to have the guts to respond?
And where were you, Mr. Brooks, when all that was going on? You weren't writing about it, because like many Republicans, you believed the party benefited at the ballot box from the hate and fear that these demagogues stirred up. So you looked the other way. And now you and all of us are reaping the whirlwind.
I'm only making the points here that many others have made repeatedly in these comments over the last year. When are you going to have the guts to respond?
4
The short version: Reagan - happy ignorance, Trump - angry ignorance.
8
Rean? Trump? One in the same, to wit, a B movie actor versus a television reality star, and oh how ironic "reality" is here.
Mr. Gorbachev was already tearing down that wall when Reagan commanded from on high - as though from a B movie casted with Charlton Heston - "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." It remains perhaps the most brilliant "reality TV" performance ever and was a wonderful gift to the GOP propaganda machine.
Where Trump cabinet picks are all rich, white, corporate, looney men, Reagan's were rich, white, corporate men who appeared to at least be emotionally and politically stable. And they both paraded military men around them to keep up the appearance of some kind of 1950s macho leadership.
They are the same, both of them - pretty poster boys for the Republican Party.
Mr. Gorbachev was already tearing down that wall when Reagan commanded from on high - as though from a B movie casted with Charlton Heston - "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." It remains perhaps the most brilliant "reality TV" performance ever and was a wonderful gift to the GOP propaganda machine.
Where Trump cabinet picks are all rich, white, corporate, looney men, Reagan's were rich, white, corporate men who appeared to at least be emotionally and politically stable. And they both paraded military men around them to keep up the appearance of some kind of 1950s macho leadership.
They are the same, both of them - pretty poster boys for the Republican Party.
5
We in the LGBTQ community do not recall the sunny mood of Reagan when young gay men were dying of a plague and Reagan refused to say the word "AIDS" and criminally would not direct research dollars to it nor allow the federal government to communicate about how to protect against infection. Sunny days for whom, Mr. Brooks?
6
A delusional psychotic and those that follow have brought a coup to America.
Proof?
We did not vote for him. We do not want him. We did not elect him.
And.....The White House has changed into
The "House of Lies"
Proof?
We did not vote for him. We do not want him. We did not elect him.
And.....The White House has changed into
The "House of Lies"
5
Politics of cowardice? Where were you and all the gop leaders and big thinkers when trump and most of your party were saying Obama was not a US citizen? Or climate change? When men who should have known better wore little bandaids with purple hearts drawn on them to diminish John Kerry's service? The gop and conservative pundits created and fostered the WWF atmosphere of the party. It's only logical it would turn out the know nothings that are now in the white house. Quit your whining!
8
Trump, perhaps, has just enough self-perception to know he is not capable of this job, wishes he hadn't won, and in his annoyance has become a porcupine. Well, pal, too bad. Do us all a favor and quit.
Another way he has built a wall is to cut off the people's ability to send comments to the White House. He doesn't want to hear them. The team who worked for Bernie has created a work around if you want to leave a comment for Trump. Try: White House Inc. Since he is still in contact with his businesses you will get connected to one of them and can leave a message. Honest. It is kind of fun, too
Another way he has built a wall is to cut off the people's ability to send comments to the White House. He doesn't want to hear them. The team who worked for Bernie has created a work around if you want to leave a comment for Trump. Try: White House Inc. Since he is still in contact with his businesses you will get connected to one of them and can leave a message. Honest. It is kind of fun, too
4
Trump is simply fulfilling his election promises. You know, the ones that got him elected. This is bold, not cowardly.
2
Personally, I am looking to the extinction of the gop. It is a mob that has attacked every effort to include all Americans in the first and premier aspect of democracy; the VOTE. I upset people with my next comment, particularly my confessor who had no business JOINING and preaching the Trump agenda. Here it goes: If Christ were to return to Earth and run for dog catcher as a republican I would not vote for him!
And neither would anyone with a smidgen of courage which would be beyond that owned by the current potus.
And neither would anyone with a smidgen of courage which would be beyond that owned by the current potus.
4
This is the republican world. Regan had Alzheimer's in office. Trump was not brave in his business dealings, he had the back-up of a rich family and of course when he failed he stiffed the people he was in business with. His gotcha moment with Mitt Romney was classic Trump. That's who he is, petty and arrogant. Let's see the taxes. He certainly lowered his own taxes by not paying any. The taxes is what you should be calling for or maybe as Bannion suggests, all of the compliant media should shut up.
6
Is it cowardice, a sane but unadmirable trait? Or is it paranoia, an irrational fear that, when extreme, can border on insanity?
I know, I know, columnists and their readers aren't qualified to diagnose mental conditions. But watching video clips of Trump's CIA remarks about crowd size, how God held back the rain until his speech was finished, etc., it seemed to me the man was verging on a total meltdown. His face looked like a baby's, just before it bursts into tears.
People, our country is in trouble with this unstable man at its helm!
I know, I know, columnists and their readers aren't qualified to diagnose mental conditions. But watching video clips of Trump's CIA remarks about crowd size, how God held back the rain until his speech was finished, etc., it seemed to me the man was verging on a total meltdown. His face looked like a baby's, just before it bursts into tears.
People, our country is in trouble with this unstable man at its helm!
6
As Al Franken pointed out, Trump never seems to laugh. Perhaps he is too afraid, or even scarier, has alsolutely no sense of humor.
5
David Brook's air-brushed portrait of Ronald Reagan in today's column shows how delusional any ideologue--of either the Democratic or Republican persuasion-- can be. Ronald Reagan was a terrible president. So was Bill Clinton. But the true believers now hold up both of them as paragons of the presidency.
3
But, David, why aren't you taking the Republican party to task? They are accepting and facilitating this terrible turn towards cowardice. They are caving to the most vile proposals for the sake of keeping the democrats down. Why won't you condemn them and the people who voted for Trump?
7
Trump may have a different facade than Reagan, but they're very, very similar, particularly their equal lack of intelligence. Trump will have to work very hard to do more damage to this country than Reagan.
5
While Reagan tended towards senility, and Trump tends towards narcissism; their goals were/are the same: to transfer wealth from the middle class to the wealthy.
3
Mr. Brooks conveniently forgets that Reagan won his election by trading weapons for American hostages with Iran. This fact did not come out until after the election. Sounds rather familiar, doesn't it, i.e, what facts about the Trump election have yet to come out?
I do give credit to Mr. Brooks for acknowledging that President Trump's first week in office has not gone well.
I do give credit to Mr. Brooks for acknowledging that President Trump's first week in office has not gone well.
2
David Brooks for President! Let's develop 2020 Vision! We need to see clearly four years from now.
Mr. Brooks you are amplifying the myths of Ronald Reagan’s greatness. His legacy is mixed, at best. The good part comes mainly from the contributions of Peggy Noonan and his other great speech writers. The bad comes mostly from the man himself. His 1981 tax cut was not the driver of the economic recovery of the 1980s; dropping oil prices and the Fed’s tight fiscal policies were the reasons. His military buildup did not "win the Cold War”; the collapse of Soviet Union’s economy was the cause. He tripled the national debt, setting records for budget deficits. His financial policies caused the Savings and Loan Industry to collapse. Reagan armed Saddam Hussein's Iraq, ignoring his atrocities. He supplied arms unlawfully to both sides of the Iran-Iraq War. He was weak on terrorism, caving in to the demands of terrorists in Lebanon. He illegally supplied weapons to Nicaraguan rebels, labeling them “Freedom Fighters”, supporting the violent overthrow of a democratically-elected government. Reagan helped create Al Qaeda, arming Mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan like Osama bin Laden. He supported the racist apartheid government in South Africa, the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and the brutal regime in El Salvador. He largely ignored the AIDS epidemic. 138 Reagan administration officials, including several cabinet members, were investigated, indicted, or convicted for crimes.
3
Ronald Reagan, nor the electorate who voted for him , were brainwashed by Fox news. the longer I look at the problems , the more I find the uneducation by fox news to be at the heart of all this darkness.
4
Oh, Mr. Brooks, nice try. I have always liked your columns as they reflect the decent human being you are. Your Buber column last fall made my heart leap. BUT please don't try to sell us a Ronald Reagan divorced from the reality of union busting, racism and homophobia. When Reagan was elected in 1980, my father who was a white collar Postal employee, not super political, WWII veteran and big city second generation, said--you watch, in 30 years there will be two classes of people--people with lots of wealth and everybody else serfs. Gee, what did he know that the Republican Party would like us to forget? I feel for all those small town rust belt believers who elected Trump.
4
More appropriately "Shameless Cowardice" masked by vulgar rhetoric.
1
The voice of reason. Who knew? Thank you.
Doesn't this mean that these students should not be Republicans? What you have described is horrible about the current administration. You should be telling people to leave the party and create a vision for themselves outside of Republicanism. And you also forgot to mention the self serving leaders of Congress that are going along like sheep.
1
Then why are you still a Republican? Do you have some crazy idea that the GOP will return to the "good old days" of Reagan (I'll disagree with you that they are good, but they were better than the current GOP)? That will not be happening. Beginning with Gingrich and his "contract on America," the GOP really turned ugly. You should have seen where it was going. It won't be going back.
1
You keep falling off a cliff and clinging to branches that stick out to break your fall. Try gliding down until you get to Lincoln. Then I will believe you finally get it.
1
Bravo, David Brooks.Keep this up and Steve Bannon is going to tell you to shut up and get out of his way.
The worst cowards are in the Senate and Congress, don't forget them.
The worst cowards are in the Senate and Congress, don't forget them.
1
Mr. Brooks, as often times you speak my heart with your comment. As a European employee of IBM I started my US assignment during the first Reagan campaign in 1980. And the mood in your country was exactly as you describe it. Since then I thoroughly enjoyed my life in the US. For that I will be grateful to my many American friends and to your country, which has always inspired me. However, unfortunately this has changed - exactly in the way as you describe it.
Heinz P. Platz, MA (returning to Europe soon)
Heinz P. Platz, MA (returning to Europe soon)
All bullies are cowards. But not all cowards are bullies. Donald Trump:Multitasker.
1
Oh, please. Raegan was nothing more than an empty suit front man for an increasingly mean-spirited back room cabal determined to amass resources for the few while peddling the lie that government was the problem for the many. Trump? Son of Raegan, David.
4
For all supporters of Trump, the mindset is that he is a man of action, and that from day one, he got on to the task of making good on his campaign promises. Great! For all these people, I have a suggestion – try the following experiment. Pick a fight with every neighbor or yours, call names to all your friends, talk obsessively and incessantly about your image and your accomplishments to your friends and family, and make a point to give your grand opinion on anything and everything that comes your way. After you have tried this experiment for a week (or may be a month!), see how many friends you have left and how many people in your family wish to invite you for holiday parties and get-togethers. You will get a true feeling of what the rest of the world is feeling about Trump right now. And one more thing – try sitting in a room all by yourself with all the doors and windows tightly shut for hours at a time, not letting in or out any person or thing. If that works wonders for you, you would have truly expressed your loyalty to your President! Good Luck!
1
In essence though, the same old GOP, purged of any vestiges of its deviationist liberalism. Now we have the cream of McCarthyism and Nazism, no foreign substances. Congrats to the South on finally winning the war!
2
Hang in there David. Even bad things eventually come to an end. There is a bit of a solution. Stop saying his name. Lawrence Fishbone refers to to him as "45." I think that may be somewhat of a saving grace for you. Just call him 45. As for the rest of your party, it's good that you've awakened to its weaknesses, but I'm afraid you must do a mea culpa about its failures over the years; failures you were reluctant to point out. Good Luck!!!!
David. For years I have been inspired by your columns. I've waded through your protestations of being a Republican with squinted, half-closed eyes and then devoured with a warm heart your sort of communitarian, Leo Strauss neoconservatism.
In other words, you're a moderate Democrat! Why don't you join up? (With Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell lining up behind Donald Trump, it can't be lost on you that the Republican Party might be morally defunct for good.) This Democrat, for one, would love to have you!
In other words, you're a moderate Democrat! Why don't you join up? (With Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell lining up behind Donald Trump, it can't be lost on you that the Republican Party might be morally defunct for good.) This Democrat, for one, would love to have you!
2
The greatest tragedy of all, Trump is so ignorant he's incapable of realizing his limitations. Ignorance is not a virtue.
2
While I am certainly a liberal, Mr. Brooks, you are a conservative I read with interest regularity. We even live in the same neighborhood. I cannot, however, disagree with you more about Reagan. Rather than being Mr. Sunshine, as you describe him, I believe he is the genesis of all this reactionary mess we find ourselves in today. He was the guy that called the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, in so many words and deeds, the enemy of the people. Reagan is how we got here.
2
David Brooks, then why do you still support Republicans if they are supporting this egotistical maniac? "Republicans" like you voted for Trump and could not bring yourselves to vote for Democrats. Because of your idiocy, we got Trump. Republicans are now the enemy of America, Freedom and Democracy.
3
And where was Mr. Brooks three months ago? Conservative pundits were equivocating like a bobble headed doll on the back window shelf of a global warming gas guzzler with a par-3 front hood. (Maybe the GOP! in Trompe will emerge?) Fat chance then. Fat chance now.
1
We are supposed to have checks and balances in our system. Unfortunately, the Republicans are all falling inline behind their emperor. Without the Democrats to stop him we are all in big trouble.
2
The GOP has been the party of fear for a long time. At least since we attempted to conquer Iraq in response to the 9/11 attack and then elected an African American President. It is good that Mr. Brooks is finally realizing that fear is the currency of the GOP.
Excellent article, David. You nailed it.
2
Why Trump? Why now? Media malfeasance, FBI shenanigans and other wildly disfunctional aspects of the recent election aside, there's a one sentence answer. Decades of anti-government, irrational and dishonest right-wing propaganda.
2
Lol. Sunny St. Ronnie, who blamed all our problems on the government and welfare queens, and showed corporate America that gutting a union and firing all its workers was a lark.
3
To Senator McCain and Representative Ryan:
I am...or was...a Republican. I used to respect both of you.
What happened? Why aren't you standing up to this reprehensible tyrant? Are you worried about your political careers? Feeling loyal to the tattered remnants of the party? Afraid of being attacked on Twitter? (If so, take note of the title of this column.)
Now is when we need you. Put country...put Democracy...above your own career and certainly above the mortally bankrupt detritus of your party. Do the right thing. You *might* earn back my respect.
I used to think "Ryan '20" was an idea I could stand behind. As things stand now even if that comes to pass I'll be voting for the Democrat.
I am...or was...a Republican. I used to respect both of you.
What happened? Why aren't you standing up to this reprehensible tyrant? Are you worried about your political careers? Feeling loyal to the tattered remnants of the party? Afraid of being attacked on Twitter? (If so, take note of the title of this column.)
Now is when we need you. Put country...put Democracy...above your own career and certainly above the mortally bankrupt detritus of your party. Do the right thing. You *might* earn back my respect.
I used to think "Ryan '20" was an idea I could stand behind. As things stand now even if that comes to pass I'll be voting for the Democrat.
42
The dysfunction of the Republican Party has been long in the making. Trump just blow the foam off the beer - authoritarian, white, racist, fundamentalist, nationalism. We can now see the rotten beer below that much more easily.
Get out of the fantasy world. You are living in a mental construct that has never existed. Reagan and reaganomics were a disaster. George Bush, anti-intellectual, "I'm dumb just like you", that George Bush, was another of your disasters. When John McCain picks Sarah Palin as the pinnacle of republican ideals, it is a natural and easy step to Donald Trump. Trump is your Republican Party, David, 60 million of your buddies voted enthusiastically for him. Putin and Comey helped a lot also. Proud day in America. Wake up from your mystic dream of what you "think" your Republican Party is.
Get out of the fantasy world. You are living in a mental construct that has never existed. Reagan and reaganomics were a disaster. George Bush, anti-intellectual, "I'm dumb just like you", that George Bush, was another of your disasters. When John McCain picks Sarah Palin as the pinnacle of republican ideals, it is a natural and easy step to Donald Trump. Trump is your Republican Party, David, 60 million of your buddies voted enthusiastically for him. Putin and Comey helped a lot also. Proud day in America. Wake up from your mystic dream of what you "think" your Republican Party is.
6
David, you close by stating that Trump faces a refugee crisis from Syria. I do not understand. Countries like Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan have been facing and dealing with a Syrian refugee crisis for years and on a scale no one can grasp who has not spent time in a refugee camp there. (I have just heard that Vermont Public Radio is sending reporters there who will be reporting back.)
Countries like Sweden and Germany are at the next level of facing the Syrian refugee crisis and Sweden, which has taken the greatest in proportion to its population size - 10,000,000 - is beginning to have difficulty providing housing and adequate support.
But Trump? Last year I believe the US took in about 3000 Syrians so they become haystack needles among 323,000,000 Americans. And I read today at vpr.net Newsletter that Rutland VT has taken in 2 families so even in little Rutland they will become haystack needles.
Trump will mostly face crises of his own making. So if his ban on Muslims creates first growing ill will and then makes him a leading recruiter for Islamist extremists, he will have only himself to blame.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen - US SE
Countries like Sweden and Germany are at the next level of facing the Syrian refugee crisis and Sweden, which has taken the greatest in proportion to its population size - 10,000,000 - is beginning to have difficulty providing housing and adequate support.
But Trump? Last year I believe the US took in about 3000 Syrians so they become haystack needles among 323,000,000 Americans. And I read today at vpr.net Newsletter that Rutland VT has taken in 2 families so even in little Rutland they will become haystack needles.
Trump will mostly face crises of his own making. So if his ban on Muslims creates first growing ill will and then makes him a leading recruiter for Islamist extremists, he will have only himself to blame.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen - US SE
3
It's your party and you can cry if you want to.
8
This column itself, by its very existence, today, in the NYT, sums up all that was most wrong with Reagan: He unwittingly inspired a cult of personality that persists among his most loyal, most avid followers to this day, and the central tenet of that cult is that wishing hard enough could make wishes come true.
4
All I can say is: how dare you equate anything about Reagan and what he did to our economy and how he acted toward the people on the lower end of the economic scale to FDR. Being sunny and optimistic while you actively work to enrich the wealthy and crush the middle class and poor is exactly what's wrong with Reagan's right-wing outlook and with the party he infected with it. If you weren't smart enough to realize that when you were a college kid, then you deserve Trump.
5
Our new President has set about making an enemy of the country with whom we share a 2,000 mile border.
A high school student would be the first to tell you that response is not "fear".
It's pure stupidity.
A high school student would be the first to tell you that response is not "fear".
It's pure stupidity.
4
David, that mean wind blowing has been blowing for 8 years so I don't know why anyone is surprised by how this man ascended to his throne. This is the man the Republican created.
Maybe the Republican party has changed but it started to change under Bush certainly not recently.
Maybe the Republican party has changed but it started to change under Bush certainly not recently.
3
While I agree with your article, I have to wonder why you didn't see this sooner. My husband was a lifelong Republican, but finally changed his registration to Independent several years ago. Many of our friends did the same. He said it was no longer the party with which he grew up. He saw it in the 90s, but held out hope that it was a bump in the road. No, Mr. Brooks, this dark view of America has been around for quite some time. This dismantling of democracy has been at work since Gingrich. Donald Trump is a RESULT of the GOP's dark view of America, not the catalyst for it. They made him, they own him, but we will all suffer for it.
2
My father saw Reagan as evil. I saw Reagan as simply banal. It is a shame that Hannah Arendt captured so little of the full meaning of banal that we cannot use in everyday language for people who simple function the way society tells them to function.Reagan was as human as Bonzo. I love my dogs , I like cats and all the other animals but we need people capable of empathy , compassion and understanding.
Mr Brooks, American conservatism has given us too many Golem. Sadly when Arendt used banal to describe Eichmann and the atrocities committed by the most ordinary of human beings she deprived us of the word needed to give us Reagan, Thatcher, McConnell, and all those others who never have to make moral choices because they are so good at doing what they are told to do.
To paraphrase Hillel if we do not look after each other who will look after us all?
Mr Brooks, American conservatism has given us too many Golem. Sadly when Arendt used banal to describe Eichmann and the atrocities committed by the most ordinary of human beings she deprived us of the word needed to give us Reagan, Thatcher, McConnell, and all those others who never have to make moral choices because they are so good at doing what they are told to do.
To paraphrase Hillel if we do not look after each other who will look after us all?
4
You bought it and nurtured it. You own it. Don't be a coward! And by the way: the Reagan-H. W. Bush 12 years terrified a very large number of people, as did the W. Bush administration, and what is happening now is just the more horrible extension of them. Your halcyon-days look back at Ronnie is somewhat tainted.
3
Yes Ronald Reagan the sainted one. Trump and today's Republican Party are the direct descendants of Reagan. Tax cuts for the wealthy that NEVER trickle down. Military spending that along with the tax cuts creates huge deficits that only matter to Republicans when a Democrat is in office. And Reagan began years and years of anti-government, the government is evil rhetoric that has led too many Americans to fear OUR government. Recessions and the Bush depression were the result of Reaganomics. Supposidly Reagan won the cold war, but Trump's bromance with Putin shows that it was just put on hold.
3
That is the best opinion I have seen from you, Mr. Brooks, as a Republican. I wonder if you can keep your objectivity alive for the coming four years. I hope you are able and do.
I have a college student who is studying social relations and policy at Michigan State. He is a big fan of Teddy Roosevelt and would love that the Bull Moose Party be reincarnated. If I sent him this alt-history of Ronald Reagan as you would suggest, he would think that his dear old father had a touch of the Alzheimer's.
To equate Reagan with any Roosevelt is patently dishonest. I hope that any college student that happened to read this would know better.
Your dear old Republican party, no matter how you choose to paint it's past, is no more. The Republican party of Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell resembles more the Harding administration than any other. Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln are spinning faster in their graves than Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway can spin the truth.
To equate Reagan with any Roosevelt is patently dishonest. I hope that any college student that happened to read this would know better.
Your dear old Republican party, no matter how you choose to paint it's past, is no more. The Republican party of Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell resembles more the Harding administration than any other. Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln are spinning faster in their graves than Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway can spin the truth.
6
David, your column is airtight but incomplete. What about the conservative mantra of personal responsibility? Virtually all elected Republicans are spineless yesmen & women to the dark, clueless narcissist that is Trump. They are truly RINOs (Reptiles in name only).
3
Column serves a "double emploi,"as a piece for the Times as well as a stint on lecture circuit. Analogies r misleading, but comparison to RR's optimism is especially misguided. RR was c-in-c when there were still millions of jobs in the "rust belt," before offshoring and proliferation of H-1B visas were at record levels. RR was in office before West began to pay the piper in terms of blowbacks from our imperialistic policies in the ME, before carnages in France, Belgium, GB and San Bernardino and before nascence of ISIS and Al Queda. BROOKS, a fine writer when he sticks to his "violon d'ingres,"affairs of the heart,appears lost when commenting on political history. Leave politics to the James Macgregor Burnses and Theodore Whites of this world, Mr. BROOKS. Unfortunately,we r living in a time of terror. I do not want to see Hispanic and Muslim friends, many of whom work for local businesses and who live in the shadows, be threatened. Despite Trump's gasconade, do not think they will be. Policies based on fear is not cowardice, but adjustment to a new reality.No reason that Americans should be made to feel "Foreigners in their own Land,"to quote the title of the famous book. Tea Partiers and leftist elites can reach a modus vivendi."il y de la place pour tout le monde,","wrote the late writer and journalist, Muriel Reed.But author's analogy to Reagan era is wholly off course, and hunch is that some of his listeners would agree.
2
OMG, David, Reagan wasn't operating with a full deck,but he projected likability. His economic and foreign policies were pure voodoo. However, rather than exclude immigrants,he gave them amnesty. So people forget the marine barracks, Iran Contra and trickle down economics because Ronnie smiled a lot while Donnie is mean.
2
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall." v. "Build that wall."
6
Great column. Please follow up with part 2, re: the shameless cowards who lead the House and Senate, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Neither seems to have the guts or moral character to confront the Child in Chief.
3
I wonder, Mr. Brooks, if the tens and tens and tens of thousands of AIDS victims and their families/friends would endorse you ringing, sunny description of the Reagan years.
He did NOTHING as the disease coursed through the American landscape and so many people needlessly suffered and died due to the inaction of his administration.
He did NOTHING as the disease coursed through the American landscape and so many people needlessly suffered and died due to the inaction of his administration.
3
David - I applaud your courage. You forgot to mention the darkest of all fears that Trump has raised - fear of the free press. Reagan would never have stood for that. I am glad that you still have the courage (and personal freedom) to speak up against cowardice.
3
Yes, Mr. Brooks. Indeed, a mean wind is blowing. The question is what will we do about it? And my I offer my own quote to those young men and womem. To quote The Clash: "We will teach our twisted speech, to make them belivers."
2
No matter what your opinion of Ronald Reagan, if you chart the not-so-gradual evolution of the Republican party and their presidents, from Nixon to Ford to Reagan to HW Bush and to GW Bush, you see that ending up with DJ Trump, or someone like him was inevitable. That's the direction the line (line segment) was pointing both in philosophical ideas and the small-minded humans who were ready to carry them out.
Congratulations, Republicans! You've arrived at your ultimate presidential office holder!
Congratulations, Republicans! You've arrived at your ultimate presidential office holder!
2
The political parties are dead. Bring on true class warfare of the most bloody and vile kind. This is the new America!
Excellent column on all of Trump's terrifying weaknesses. On Reagan, though, you left out his total inability to adjust his policies when reality did not conform to his ideology. Remember his budget director saying Supply Side economics doesn't work (and still doesn't).
16
Well so do we allow illegals to break into our country? How about if someone breaks into your house would you feel that we should treat them the same as we treat illegals in this country? What is wrong wit vetting people that come into this country, I bet you vet the people that come into your house, I bet some get a little more vetting. 160 Countries have a tax on imported goods, I think America should charge the same tax on their exported good into America.
My recollection of Saint Ronald is that he was every bit as x-phobic as anybody in the GOP today. He simply was able to hide it under a Babbitt smile. If you could know what is it in Donald's head, you would probably discover that he is a good deal less fearful, personally, but he has discovered that what the people, enough of them, want now, what suits their mood, is a president who wears a what-you-talkin-bout-willis scowl.
2
Another key difference between then and now is that with Reagan, whether you liked his policies or not, there was no question that he was a patriotic American.
With Trump, who the heck knows who his loyalties lie with. The country? His business interests? His bottomless ego? The Russians?
With Trump, who the heck knows who his loyalties lie with. The country? His business interests? His bottomless ego? The Russians?
2
I disagreed with most of Reagan's agenda, but he seemed to have a goodness about him; he was happy man with a loving spouse and true friends. Trump is a miserably unhappy, delusional, mean-spirited man with no true friends; he is surrounded by self-serving users (looking for personal gains - financial , political, fame, power). The GOP leaders do their party and our nation great harm in enabling Trump.
2
Ronald Reagen? Please. I saw a reference just the other day to Reagan-Thatcher and Trump-May. Please, we have been down that road and we got lost, very lost. We are still driving around in the dark, refusing to ask for help.
2
There is definitely, as readers have said, some serious air-brushing of Reagan here, and just a quick read of Paul Krugman today will give you a better idea of the problems created by "voodoo economics", among other flaws. But while St. Ron is viewed thru the gauze usually reserved for aging actresses, it is certainly fair to say that it is a long dark descent from 1980 to 2016, even if the groundwork for Trumpism was unwittingly begun 36 years ago. Or 50, if you count from the Civil Rights Act, which guaranteed the electoral votes of the Confederacy to the Republicans, seemingly in perpetuity, until Texas and Florida become majority minority. But I would say if you allow Coulter and Limbaugh to be your pundits of choice, and give them and their ilk Fox News and Hate Radio as their megaphones, then you cannot be surprised that the endgame is a hate and fear mongering ignoramus. This may not be the GOP of your youth, Mr. Brooks, but the seeds were sewn a long time ago....
2
Let's not forget that Trump is mentally ill and Reagan was not.
4
All the seeds of Trump have long been present. Your party has deliberately spent 30 years nurturing and growing them, through its media apparatus and the fecklessness of politicians who promoted it for their short-term political advantage. Your party is packed with people who are afraid of the world, afraid of their neighbors, afraid of the future, afraid of everything. How do you imagine Trump got nominated in the first place? He didn't invent your party's fear, cowardice, and fury: he simply discovered and harnessed it. As for your Saint Reagan, he may have possessed a sunny disposition, and appealed to a few entrepreneurial optimists, but he captured a lot more votes from people who wanted to go backwards than forwards.
1
Reagan's belief that he and Gorbachev could eliminate nuclear weapons is Mr. Brooks' fantasy. When Gorbachev offered to do it, Reagan's hard-line controllers nixed the idea.
2
David, for almost 20 years, a totally coward Trump was thinking of becoming our president.
He did a silly effort in 2012 to challenge Obama and then gave it up in the last moment.
In the mean time by listening to people of American heartland, he figured out that half of America was neglected for a long time.
But if he was a good man inside, he'd have approached the same problem with the brain of a real American who doesn't cry and whine.
A real American goes out and solves the problem without blaming anyone.
But I don't know whether Trump knew his would be followers were ready to hate other people for their misery or he manufactured, this hatred of everybody who doesn't look like him and his followers, from his kitchen in Trump Tower or it was already brewing among the certain section of the population who because of their educational handicaps or for living in towns and cities that didn't see much growth in 20 years or so like the rust belt, were bitter with everyone who had a job in America.
Mexicans and other foreign born people who started moving into their towns and cities were working like crazy as if there's no tomorrow whereas Trump's supporters were mostly idling or engaged in sex ,alcohol and drugs.
So we can clearly see how Trump being a Fordham and University of Pennsylvania graduate, saw right away an opportunity to take millions of these people for a spin by being a real coward.
And spin he did by manipulating the minds of millions through hatred for others.
He did a silly effort in 2012 to challenge Obama and then gave it up in the last moment.
In the mean time by listening to people of American heartland, he figured out that half of America was neglected for a long time.
But if he was a good man inside, he'd have approached the same problem with the brain of a real American who doesn't cry and whine.
A real American goes out and solves the problem without blaming anyone.
But I don't know whether Trump knew his would be followers were ready to hate other people for their misery or he manufactured, this hatred of everybody who doesn't look like him and his followers, from his kitchen in Trump Tower or it was already brewing among the certain section of the population who because of their educational handicaps or for living in towns and cities that didn't see much growth in 20 years or so like the rust belt, were bitter with everyone who had a job in America.
Mexicans and other foreign born people who started moving into their towns and cities were working like crazy as if there's no tomorrow whereas Trump's supporters were mostly idling or engaged in sex ,alcohol and drugs.
So we can clearly see how Trump being a Fordham and University of Pennsylvania graduate, saw right away an opportunity to take millions of these people for a spin by being a real coward.
And spin he did by manipulating the minds of millions through hatred for others.
I don't know about your historical account but the Republicans, as a party, through their words and actions and their televised propaganda organ have now been selling fear of all sorts for decades. Trump just put his name on it, the fearful had already been persuaded.
4
Why do Conservatives and Republicans reference this President constantly. He accomplished little, was cynical in his actions, and clearly had dementia in the later stages of his presidency. Yes he was sunny and happy but beneath he was ignorant and incurious. Best thing about him is that he was far better than Trump.
4
WHile I totally agree with the premise of this piece, Mr. Brooks is giving the Republican party a bit of a pass here. The cowardice didn't start with Trump, it started with the response to 9/11 where a group of leaders who had themselves avoided military service launched a silly war based on irrational fear. A tough guy (or a tough nation) doesn't throw the first punch because he is afraid of a bully. We now are living, unfortunately, with the logical result of over 15 years of republican leaders whipping up fear and using it for their political ends. You reap what you sow
4
Mr.Brooks, I have great respect for you and I love your op Ed and read religiously. But today I am upset that you have tried to compare President Reagan with Trump. Mr.Reagan is turning in the grave that his Republican Party has become a pro Moscow party. His party took help from KGB leader Putin secretly to win the election. The Republican Party wants to build wall all around America to live in isolation. His party do not believe in free economy or trade pact. His party dismantle TPP to give the leadership to China. If President come back alive miracally , he will not be a Republican..'America is the greatest country ' and optimism was the core beliefs of Reagan and today's Republican Party is totally opposite.
12
And the Reagan Rs happily have gone along.
2
Well, I've been keeping a scrapbook of headlines from the NYT since the process of choosing a new president began.............it includes significant articles from you, Mr. Brooks, and one or two of your colleagues, particular Mr. Krugman.
I decided yesterday that enough was enough...............but I wasn't too sure how to conclude my third scrapbook. Your article today does the job for me!
Thank you, thank you.........and thank you for writing for my fav newspaper.....I ALWAYS look forward to your contribution, knowing that whatever your topic, it will be something that will make my brain tingle!
I decided yesterday that enough was enough...............but I wasn't too sure how to conclude my third scrapbook. Your article today does the job for me!
Thank you, thank you.........and thank you for writing for my fav newspaper.....I ALWAYS look forward to your contribution, knowing that whatever your topic, it will be something that will make my brain tingle!
1
I also thought that Bush Jr was a coward and look where that got us.
26
Brooks says Trump has changed the way the Republican Party sees the world. Bull. Trump has learned well at the GOP's knee & other low joints. He has embraced and amplified the party's chronic anti-intellectualism, its longtime embrace of "alternate facts" and its inbred racism and misogyny. .. The night before Reagan won the election in 1980 I was on the subway. On the floor of the car was a copy of the New York Post with a front-page headline predicting Reagan's victory. Everyone's eyes were riveted on it & soon we began talking: Good god, he's going to win -- this B-movie fraud is going to be president. .. Of course compared to Trump Reagan (like George W. Bush) looks like Churchill, but let's not get all gooey. The GOP's trademark combination of cynicism, cruelty, greed and ignorance is nothing new; it's just reached its apotheosis in Trump. Let's hope, anyway.
3
Thank you, Mr. Brooks.
7
Many of the commenters focus exclusively on Mr. Brooks' overly rosy view of the Reagan years. Putting that aside, I take great solice in hearing Mr. Brooks call the President out for what he is, and what he is doing to our country. The truth here (not the alternate truth, but the truth) is that there are painfully few Republicans or conservatives who are willing to step out and speak directly to what is happening. For that I give Mr. Brooks great credit - he is leading on this issue in comparison to others who share his belief system.
4
Mr. Brooks might be accurate in his psychoanalysis of Trump and the party, but right now Republicans don't care about what's happening to them or to the country. They are so close to the things they so badly want - repeal of Obamacare, a thoroughly conservative supreme court, the outlawing of abortion, the permanent death of gun control. And Trump is the man who'll deliver them. After he's outlived his usefulness they'll clean up as best as they can.
23
People who live in constant fear are called "paranoid" Mr. Brooks. Mr. Trump isn't just paranoid but also delusional in his belief that if he just believes what he says that it is just true. This is no way to run a government sir. This is no way to run a country. Our country is full of immigrants that came here seeking a better life and god forbid we take in refugees from countries we have been destroying with bombs for the past 15 years. This is not good for anyone and it may tear the republic apart in the process but then again, that's what Bannon and crew want isn't it?
3
Why does the horror show we're seeing played out in the White House and Congress require a forced march down the yellow brick road of the Reagan years? There are real Constitutional issues at risk out there, without our having to gloss Reagan. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. Enough with the Hollywood backlot.
5
Mr Brooks, I can't say I feel your pain because I've never shared your illusions about Republicans being anything other than a country club of privileged white men but nonetheless your distress is palpable. Only those incapable of self-restraint and who are mean to small, helpless animals would allow themselves to giggle.
But let me say this: I know Ronald Reagan. He was Governor when I was at UC Berkeley. His signature is on my diploma. Mr. Brooks, your Ronald Reagan, sir, is no Ronald Reagan. In fact, he was Trump-lite, a Nixon without a five o'clock shadow or sweat beads across his brow, a dubya-clone who also liked to read children's books upside down. But he wasn't Ronald Reagan, certainly not the one you would tell high school and college students.
But that's ok too, Mr. Brooks, because -- and I hate to be the one to break this to you -- there are no high school or college students who read your column for you to convey your nostalgia about a GOP that was never Grand, just old and less a party than a cash bar and a poker game in the back room.
It's not cowardice. Just petty tyranny now writ large.
But let me say this: I know Ronald Reagan. He was Governor when I was at UC Berkeley. His signature is on my diploma. Mr. Brooks, your Ronald Reagan, sir, is no Ronald Reagan. In fact, he was Trump-lite, a Nixon without a five o'clock shadow or sweat beads across his brow, a dubya-clone who also liked to read children's books upside down. But he wasn't Ronald Reagan, certainly not the one you would tell high school and college students.
But that's ok too, Mr. Brooks, because -- and I hate to be the one to break this to you -- there are no high school or college students who read your column for you to convey your nostalgia about a GOP that was never Grand, just old and less a party than a cash bar and a poker game in the back room.
It's not cowardice. Just petty tyranny now writ large.
9
"This is a column directed at high school and college students."
I suggest that high school and college student read Brooks' colleague's, Professor Krugman's, column in today paper.
In contrast to Brooks' apotheosis of Reagan, Paul Krugman calls Reagan years "a dress rehearsal to what's coming." The rest of the his "lecture" convincingly substantiates that statement.
It is worthwhile to note that pronouncement about Reagan need to be substantiated by facts, and it is Paul Krugman who offers them while David Brooks creates them.
I suggest that high school and college student read Brooks' colleague's, Professor Krugman's, column in today paper.
In contrast to Brooks' apotheosis of Reagan, Paul Krugman calls Reagan years "a dress rehearsal to what's coming." The rest of the his "lecture" convincingly substantiates that statement.
It is worthwhile to note that pronouncement about Reagan need to be substantiated by facts, and it is Paul Krugman who offers them while David Brooks creates them.
5
David Brooks is spot on to borrow the best traits of the Roosevelts to describe the best traits of President Reagan and to remind us all that our loyal opponents are not bad people. As a dyed in the wool Liberal I rejected just about every policy decision of the Reagan era with few exceptions, yet as he departed and President Clinton took office, I had a moment of nostalgia, even a little sadness. For the life of me I couldn't figure out where that came from until this morning.
Good work Mr Brooks, you reminded me that in my house growing up all were welcome. Passionate arguments sometimes very loud, across the political spectrum were the norm as many of my parent's best friends were decidedly right wing. Ronald Reagan, now that I think of it, reminded me of them, a neighbor whose politics could incite passionate rejection but whose sense of humor could make you laugh or whose genuine good will could warm your soul. He was the neighbor you could argue with over the fence and still know he had your back, as he knew you had his.
We have lost that over four decades of scorched earth political marketing and now the very institutions Liberals and Conservatives hold most deeply and will defend to the death are threatened beyond anything my parents and their good conservatives friends might ever have imagined. Hopefully David you continue to write about how we might restore friendship and disagreement. I ask as a friend on the other side of the fence that you do.
Good work Mr Brooks, you reminded me that in my house growing up all were welcome. Passionate arguments sometimes very loud, across the political spectrum were the norm as many of my parent's best friends were decidedly right wing. Ronald Reagan, now that I think of it, reminded me of them, a neighbor whose politics could incite passionate rejection but whose sense of humor could make you laugh or whose genuine good will could warm your soul. He was the neighbor you could argue with over the fence and still know he had your back, as he knew you had his.
We have lost that over four decades of scorched earth political marketing and now the very institutions Liberals and Conservatives hold most deeply and will defend to the death are threatened beyond anything my parents and their good conservatives friends might ever have imagined. Hopefully David you continue to write about how we might restore friendship and disagreement. I ask as a friend on the other side of the fence that you do.
89
What does it say about Trump that the book, "1984", is now the best seller on Amazon?
3
While I don't agree with all Mr Brooks said about Reagan (he was a terrible president, his administration filled with scandal), he is hitting the mark on the current Republican party. But one has to ask, why did it take the disaster called Trump for Mr. Brooks to finally wake up to the destructive nature of the modern Republican party? Oh, and as many of us know, things are even worse than what he describes here.
2
Me. Brooks, What you are really saying is that today's Republican Party really has no principles whatsoever beyond their overweening desire for personal,political power. Trump is an opportunity sir, not an ideological Republican. He'll walk away from his teem of office even richer than he was before thanks to totally ignoring all ethical standards and laws of the office, and the Republicans in office are refusing to call foul n anything he does because they don't want to disturb their positions of power.
I'm not sure what we call this system of government. I'll leave that to so-called smart guys like you. What I am sure of is that 99% of the American public will be screwed.
I'm not sure what we call this system of government. I'll leave that to so-called smart guys like you. What I am sure of is that 99% of the American public will be screwed.
2
Gee whiz, Mr. Brooks -
Thanks for davesplaining. I understand it all now.
and these kids today... It's a good thing they read your column every morning before going to school.
Thanks for davesplaining. I understand it all now.
and these kids today... It's a good thing they read your column every morning before going to school.
2
Republicans will be thought of as a bunch of greedy, cruel, selfish, losers.
No matter what they ever stood for in David Brooks' opinion.
And their "leader" in the White House is only exaggerating how history will reflect. Young people don't give a rip about Ronald Reagan, the Bushes, Teddy Roosevelt or even Abraham Lincoln (the Republican Donald Trump is now comparing himself to). Trump shares walls with Lincoln, but certainly not ideology - of any sort.
Young people care about LGBT issues, racial issues, health issues, education issues, equality issues, peace issues.
You want to find out what young people care about? Hit the streets next to them in a protest. It won't take long to figure out where they're at.
They're brave and will be happy to tell you what they're about....
No matter what they ever stood for in David Brooks' opinion.
And their "leader" in the White House is only exaggerating how history will reflect. Young people don't give a rip about Ronald Reagan, the Bushes, Teddy Roosevelt or even Abraham Lincoln (the Republican Donald Trump is now comparing himself to). Trump shares walls with Lincoln, but certainly not ideology - of any sort.
Young people care about LGBT issues, racial issues, health issues, education issues, equality issues, peace issues.
You want to find out what young people care about? Hit the streets next to them in a protest. It won't take long to figure out where they're at.
They're brave and will be happy to tell you what they're about....
4
Since Lincoln and T. Roosevelt the Republican Party has not ever been for the people. Business is the god they bow to, even when their hand is on the Bible.
5
While I have always taken umbrage to the deification of Reagan, and dislike nostalgia. Jello Biafra and Michael Stipe had my ear more politically in the eighties than the President did. I agree that we are currently ( and I mean since Jan. 20th,) living in the worst possible scenario one could conjure. The party of Reagan is watching a crazy man rise to power, and will only reset the chess board to justify his stupidity in the name of consolidating their own power. His BASE, of which I am tired of hearing about, is not America, nor are the Kochs or FOX or the Tea party. They are part of it, but not the whole. They will feel that resentment in future elections, if he doesn't torch the world before that.
3
Stop whining, you did it to yourselves. You shouldn’t have let Fox News run rampant with fake news and outright lies; you shouldn’t have promoted the Tea Party. Your party did this deliberately because it helped you win elections. Nothing gets people mobilized faster than fear and hatred. Nice job. You now have exactly what you deserve. Unfortunately, I’m stuck with it too.
Best message you could send? Admonish your young Republicans not to make the same mistakes you did.
Best message you could send? Admonish your young Republicans not to make the same mistakes you did.
6
Actually, Trump is a direct descendent of Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn, Richard Nixon and the white supremacist, crony capitalists of the Reagan administration. Ahistorical and misty-eyed as usual.
5
Will David warm up to the president if he hires an astrologer and allows Melania to make lots of decisions about our Democracy?
Are there no other Republican leaders from the last 30 years that party members can look to as an inspiring example? Sad, if not!
1
I'm not buying into this fiction at all. (alt-reality really)
Reagan was the father of all this mess we are experiencing today.
He did it with a smile;Trump does it with a frown.
Remember Iran Contra, trickle down economics, among other wonderful things ? How about his horrid anti-woman's right stances?
Here was a man who wanted to do away with everything
F.D.R. stood for.
Trump and the current day Republicans are Reagan's direct descendants.
Period.
See James Landi below: spot on!
Reagan was the father of all this mess we are experiencing today.
He did it with a smile;Trump does it with a frown.
Remember Iran Contra, trickle down economics, among other wonderful things ? How about his horrid anti-woman's right stances?
Here was a man who wanted to do away with everything
F.D.R. stood for.
Trump and the current day Republicans are Reagan's direct descendants.
Period.
See James Landi below: spot on!
5
Brooks's criticism of Trump is spot-on. That said, has "conservative" David Brooks written anything critical of Democrats in years?
Brooks knows that the only kind of "conservative" the NYT will tolerate is one who exclusively criticizes Republicans and never criticizes Democrats. One might call this the "Punditry of Cowardice". Brooks's obvious attempts to stay in the good graces of his liberal overlords is no profile in courage.
Brooks knows that the only kind of "conservative" the NYT will tolerate is one who exclusively criticizes Republicans and never criticizes Democrats. One might call this the "Punditry of Cowardice". Brooks's obvious attempts to stay in the good graces of his liberal overlords is no profile in courage.
1
Well, now, Brooks I understand why you are a Republican. You were just kid when you first became aware of politics. You saw smiling Ronnie who looked like a nice grandpa, and you couldn't really evaluate what he was doing or saying because you were too inexperienced. It was a clear example of the blindness of First Love.
The party is over, friend. Give it up. Our country has been captured by the very worse elements of the corporate class. This is a hostile take-over. If I were younger, I would leave the country because it has left the public good.
The party is over, friend. Give it up. Our country has been captured by the very worse elements of the corporate class. This is a hostile take-over. If I were younger, I would leave the country because it has left the public good.
2
Dear High School and College Students, Mr Brooks has just provide you with an excellent example of his unique experience of 1980s America, and he white washed a key legacy of President Reagan.
New Yorkers remember an unknown disease that spread silently at first in our city while the New York Times remained silent.
We remember our government turning its back on this growing health crisis.
We remember President Reagan doing nothing, saying nothing despite losing friends to this growing crisis.
We remember President Reagan preventing his Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, from speaking out about the AIDS epidemic.
Mr. Brooks we remember Reagan's differently than you.
New Yorkers remember an unknown disease that spread silently at first in our city while the New York Times remained silent.
We remember our government turning its back on this growing health crisis.
We remember President Reagan doing nothing, saying nothing despite losing friends to this growing crisis.
We remember President Reagan preventing his Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, from speaking out about the AIDS epidemic.
Mr. Brooks we remember Reagan's differently than you.
8
One can write all the op-eds and opinions one wants. Trump, powered and geared up by Bannon, will, with unbridled fierceness, dip his feet in uncharted waters, before gauging the depth, as he only can. Nonetheless, the press and the authors will have to operate constantly, so their voices and writings are paid heed to.
Of course, the 4th estate will turn deaf ears to Steve Bannon's exhortations for keeping quiet. That does not, should not, and will not happen in America. This is not an autocracy. Press will come up with a cavalcade of questions, and the WH staff WILL answer them. They'd better.
The pens, and the mouths are the ''force majeur'' to stymie any unwanted threats to free press. If Trump and Steve can not confront them, they can run and hide, but will be found and dealt an appropriate measure of sternness. They had better believe it.
Of course, the 4th estate will turn deaf ears to Steve Bannon's exhortations for keeping quiet. That does not, should not, and will not happen in America. This is not an autocracy. Press will come up with a cavalcade of questions, and the WH staff WILL answer them. They'd better.
The pens, and the mouths are the ''force majeur'' to stymie any unwanted threats to free press. If Trump and Steve can not confront them, they can run and hide, but will be found and dealt an appropriate measure of sternness. They had better believe it.
2
Sorry Mr Brooks, but it is the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan and all the rest of them that have always resorted to fear-mongering to stampede people into voting for tax cuts for the wealthy and de-regulation and government cutting for the rest of us. If Reagan was such a sunny guy why don't we have universal access to health care? Why did public universities get so expensive? (It is no secret that Governor Reagan did everything he could to diminish that sector). Why did he cut taxes for the top income brackets? You sir are a liar and a hypocrite and you make me sick. I wouldn't mind so much, but people die because of the policies you support. Lives are ruined. Have you no shame?
3
Well David, now that you've abandoned your role as one of two token conservatives, who is Mr. Douthat supposed to hang with?
Yes, Reagan was sunny. So was Bush Senior (not re-elected), Dole (not elected), Bush Junior (mercilessly slandered), McCain (not elected), and Romney (not elected). These good men was tarred as racist, women-hating, poor bashing neanderthals. And people who didn't know better believed such leftist propaganda.
I am not a Trump supporter. But I understand why he is our president. The turn the other cheek sunniness you so fondly remember is a losing strategy. Whatever you or I think of Trump, he is light years beyond the disaster Hillary Clinton would have been.
In the end, Trump won't succeed or fail because of his personality traits. He will do so through his results. And frankly, so far, so good.
Yes, Reagan was sunny. So was Bush Senior (not re-elected), Dole (not elected), Bush Junior (mercilessly slandered), McCain (not elected), and Romney (not elected). These good men was tarred as racist, women-hating, poor bashing neanderthals. And people who didn't know better believed such leftist propaganda.
I am not a Trump supporter. But I understand why he is our president. The turn the other cheek sunniness you so fondly remember is a losing strategy. Whatever you or I think of Trump, he is light years beyond the disaster Hillary Clinton would have been.
In the end, Trump won't succeed or fail because of his personality traits. He will do so through his results. And frankly, so far, so good.
Mr. Brooks has it partly right when he says that Republicans are the party of fear, but Trump did not "change the way the Republican party sees the world." Rather, Trump is the culmination of decades of fear-mongering. One man does not arrive one day and change everything about a political party single-handedly. It took a long period of nasty propaganda to condition their voter base to follow blindly and rage after their boogeyman du jour. Only then are conditions right for a mentally unstable demagogue to step in and take over.
There is no avoiding culpability in this national nightmare Mr. Brooks. Whether you realize it or not, it's what you have been working towards for a long time now.
There is no avoiding culpability in this national nightmare Mr. Brooks. Whether you realize it or not, it's what you have been working towards for a long time now.
347
I agreed with Mr. Brooks when I was a younger. But my father, an African American from the South, had a more prescient view of the man. He felt he was a Trojan horse for the entrance of Southern disenfranchisement of minorities and the poor. In an interview with Alexander P. Lamis (8 July 1981), Lee Atwater, Reagan advisor during the 40th Presidency, admitted as much, saying "You start out in 1954 by saying, 'N**, n**, n**.' By 1968 you can't say 'n**' — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'N**, n**'." Reagan was simply better than average at practicing the dark arts of the new Southern Strategy. And I, as an African American child that didn't want to believe my fathers vision of the man or the world he was trying to usher in refused to see it, refused because I was a child that want to see the light because I was afraid of the darkness.
6
Reagan started his campaign in Philadelphia MS. He scapegoated welfare mothers. Remember trickle own? It did. He didn't take responsibility when the MarineBarracks blew up in Lebanon. Oliver North. Need I go on?
2
Gold?
I am thinking Gold is good.
I am thinking Gold is good.
Yes, that sunny Ronald Reagan. Trading arms for hostages. His minions in the White House basement shredding documents.
2
Sorry, the Republican party's position on voting rights alone, tarnishes anything positive Mr. Brooks wants to say about the Republican party of the past. Reagan's Iran=Contra scandal and his absolutely venal war in Grenada to secure the look of strength also must give pause to anyone evaluating that era with a sunny outlook. Of course Trump is worse, a frightening threat to democratic institutions, but criminality, corruption, distortion, disregard for anyone outside their inner circle, have been Republican trademarks since Nixon.
1
Many of the commenters here have pointed out correctly that the line from Reagan's "welfare queens" and "strapping bucks" leads in a pretty direct line to the racist appeal of Donald Trump. But Mr. Brooks' even more serious blind spot stems from his celebration of Reagan's "sunny faith in the free market to deliver prosperity to all." It is precisely the naive belief that somehow, someway free markets will generate an endless supply of new and better jobs to replace those lost in the process of creative destruction that created the far less sunny reality that Trump has been able to exploit.
Rewrite history much, David?
Doubleplusungood
Doubleplusungood
That wind is just starting, we are only on the edges of the hurricane.
Soon, after Trump throws as many bones to Congressional Republicans as he can to garner support, he will stop feinting and show his true plan, which is to support Putin and Netanyahu.
The second needs to weak UN so he can continue being an apartheid leader, and the first needs sections lifted so he has the money to invade and occupy Ukraine, and that needs a week and divided UN.
So, does the American people love Putin or the hope of the UN? Does the American People understand that support of Ukraine is essential for world peace and for our own security?
Reagan did what he could to destroy the will of the poor and the powerless by cutting off housing and other essential programs. If Brooks wasn't such a far right suck up, he might be willing to acknowledge that Reagan was the first step that led to George W. Bush and Shock and Awe, and now Putin's stooge, Trump. Reagan taught the American people to hate government and that was a sin.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
Soon, after Trump throws as many bones to Congressional Republicans as he can to garner support, he will stop feinting and show his true plan, which is to support Putin and Netanyahu.
The second needs to weak UN so he can continue being an apartheid leader, and the first needs sections lifted so he has the money to invade and occupy Ukraine, and that needs a week and divided UN.
So, does the American people love Putin or the hope of the UN? Does the American People understand that support of Ukraine is essential for world peace and for our own security?
Reagan did what he could to destroy the will of the poor and the powerless by cutting off housing and other essential programs. If Brooks wasn't such a far right suck up, he might be willing to acknowledge that Reagan was the first step that led to George W. Bush and Shock and Awe, and now Putin's stooge, Trump. Reagan taught the American people to hate government and that was a sin.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
It's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard rain a gonna fall.
Well, it's a little before your time, David, but it's time has come again.
Well, it's a little before your time, David, but it's time has come again.
"We have a word for people who are dominated by fear."
We call them Paranoids.
We also have a word for people who cannot look at things and call them what they are.
We call them Paranoids.
We also have a word for people who cannot look at things and call them what they are.
2
For the first time, I fully agree with your column. By the same token, I wish you had had the courage of publicly espousing the policies that you are now defending when Obama promoted them, and of vigorously opposing Trump and supporting Clinton during the electoral campaign, but you also put party above country. The choice was between Clinton and Trump. By not clearly espousing Clinton's choice, you also contributed to the election of Mr. Trump.
2
Mr Brooks you are letting the Republicans off too easily - they seem to be giving up all their principles - I don't get it - are they so craven, so wishing for power at any cost that they are willing to give up everything. That's an even bigger message for me. I can respect Republicans and conservatives who have different ideas and philosophies from me - but this is not only baffling but I can have no respect for the leaders and the Republican Party.
1
Reagan's "sunny faith": the "alternative facts" of the eighties. The Republican Party has been horrible and corrupt ever since Nixon. That's an actual fact.
3
Don't blame it all on Trump. Trump can't do anything without McConnell, Ryan, the other republicans, and even the capitulaing democrats we will soon see. He's a dynamic personality but one person.
1
Hello high school and college students. Better read some different versions in the history books...from scholars not from politicians or pundits.
Not the Reagan I knew.
Don't forget, Reagan was a "movie star" first.
Trickle down economics. Take care of the rich, screw everyone else.
Reagan: Government is the cause of all problems.
Blame the individual.
Repubs and Trump to use the same approaches. It's always the government's fault. The fawning over Reagan is a reflection of not owning up that Repubs that you can't use capitalist, individualistic approaches to address human challenges. And BTW, they work for the government. So maybe they can see how many issues are their fault.
Policies that cut regulations, cut taxes, and privatize everything hurt real people. But who cares, you have a problem it's your fault!
Cut funds from education: it's the teacher's fault.
Born poor: it's your fault.
Can't get a good job due to unequal access to a meaningful education: it's your fault.
Cut taxes for the wealthy, they'll use the money to "create jobs." Even though taxes for the wealthy were higher when RR was prez, but the idea was promoted and continues.
Cut welfare: it's their fault.
Deregulate. By gosh and by golly--don't regulate corporations who get "corporate welfare" look this up if you still know how to use critical thinking.
Do something illegal as Presidebt with the Iran contra deal and get away with it.
Trump doesn't look that different to me.
Not the Reagan I knew.
Don't forget, Reagan was a "movie star" first.
Trickle down economics. Take care of the rich, screw everyone else.
Reagan: Government is the cause of all problems.
Blame the individual.
Repubs and Trump to use the same approaches. It's always the government's fault. The fawning over Reagan is a reflection of not owning up that Repubs that you can't use capitalist, individualistic approaches to address human challenges. And BTW, they work for the government. So maybe they can see how many issues are their fault.
Policies that cut regulations, cut taxes, and privatize everything hurt real people. But who cares, you have a problem it's your fault!
Cut funds from education: it's the teacher's fault.
Born poor: it's your fault.
Can't get a good job due to unequal access to a meaningful education: it's your fault.
Cut taxes for the wealthy, they'll use the money to "create jobs." Even though taxes for the wealthy were higher when RR was prez, but the idea was promoted and continues.
Cut welfare: it's their fault.
Deregulate. By gosh and by golly--don't regulate corporations who get "corporate welfare" look this up if you still know how to use critical thinking.
Do something illegal as Presidebt with the Iran contra deal and get away with it.
Trump doesn't look that different to me.
3
Mr. Brooks, what a fairy tale you spin. Trump and Reagan are more alike than we know. Remember Iran-Contra when Reagan got into bed with our sworn enemy, Iran, and secretly sold them weapons? Now we have Trump who has jumped into bed with Putin, and perhaps others in Russia for reasons we know not yet. Reagan was a charmer, yes, and Trump is a fractious narcissist, but both can be accurately described as dangerous liars who should have never gotten close to the Oval Office and our nuclear codes.
3
Thank you, Mr. Brooks. I hope and pray that one of those people around the President would consider reading your article. But, I am afraid that these people read (if at all) only their own delusional stuff.
3
Yes, my favorite quote from Thomas More's UTOPIA, is where he says tax cuts pay for themselves. One area where Reagan and Trump are similar is that neither saw a need for 'facts' to support their beliefs. Of course they are different in that Trump actually believes in nothing but Donald Trump. So in this regard, Reagan to his credit has much more 'humanity'. However, Mr. Brooks, you paint a picture of Ronald Reagan that leaves out the many, many failures of his administration.
2
NOBODY but you one-note johnnies, struggling for a hero, any hero, compares the Roosevelts to Reagan. Reagan's sunny faith disguised his low IQ, and lifelong inculcation in self service. What a stupid statement. YOU are the reason I never watch PBS news on Fridays. Trump "savoring the moment" amounted to lies about his low popularity, comments on the great LUXURY of the White House, and attacks on a free press. We also noticed that he viciously attacked his wife, verbally, during the inauguration. Almost every word that comes out of your mouth, or fingers, is narrow and self-serving. The electoral college will be abolished, eventually. Progress will resume, eventually. The people will decide, eventually. Hear the drums.
3
An admirer of yours, I want to thank you Mr. Brooks for sounding the alarm for months now during this transition, which some Americans might sense is the dawning of a New Republic.
When a wedding takes place between Capitalism and Communism, how does it affect the People in this ritual? What is the biggest obstacle this Match has to address? The Freedom of the Press has been corroded, corrupted or cornered. How long before it vanishes, this freedom of speech in the midst of distractions and diversions, but above all, confusion that rattles and makes the ground unsound and wobbly.
Go to The Independent, Mr. Brooks, you will find a moderate voice like yours in the U.K. The topic of at home and global economics, under the rule of Trump and Fear, is being offered for free thinkers.
Who better to choose than Trump, a name recognized world-wide, to lead America into this era of darkness where the fittest will survive? 'He makes good on his promises' from one of his gloomy supporters. An American, a Republican, hard-working, now retired and parked in front of the T.V. 'China has a Wall', he continues, while I offer him another crumpet.
'We are from the Working-Class', I remind him 'Neither you nor I are politicians. We may have differences over the construction of a bird-house but let us cease this compulsion to convert each other'.
Mr. Brooks, could we have some of your essays soon on the Human Condition? Many thanks.
When a wedding takes place between Capitalism and Communism, how does it affect the People in this ritual? What is the biggest obstacle this Match has to address? The Freedom of the Press has been corroded, corrupted or cornered. How long before it vanishes, this freedom of speech in the midst of distractions and diversions, but above all, confusion that rattles and makes the ground unsound and wobbly.
Go to The Independent, Mr. Brooks, you will find a moderate voice like yours in the U.K. The topic of at home and global economics, under the rule of Trump and Fear, is being offered for free thinkers.
Who better to choose than Trump, a name recognized world-wide, to lead America into this era of darkness where the fittest will survive? 'He makes good on his promises' from one of his gloomy supporters. An American, a Republican, hard-working, now retired and parked in front of the T.V. 'China has a Wall', he continues, while I offer him another crumpet.
'We are from the Working-Class', I remind him 'Neither you nor I are politicians. We may have differences over the construction of a bird-house but let us cease this compulsion to convert each other'.
Mr. Brooks, could we have some of your essays soon on the Human Condition? Many thanks.
Nice try Mr. Brooks, BUT Trump is a manifestation of all the years of GOP propaganda starting with Reagan. Trumps genius is he took traditionally Democratic Party staple issues and borrowed some from the GOP. Couple this with his steady attack on the media to plant the seed of doubt bypassing the traditional outlets and going straight to the low information voters.....voila here we are: a clown as our president. A man with no character, no class, and no substance.
4
"We have a word for people who are dominated by fear. We call them..."
Republicans.
Mr Brooks, your party has played to, preyed on and Trumped up fear ever since MY high school days, which were dominated by crooked Richard Nixon, not your beloved St. Ronnie. Then it was fear of communists. In the '80s you replaced commies with drugs, and we had the War on Drugs. Now we've got Muslim and the War on Terror. What, did we win the war on drugs? No, your GOP just found a better fear. And by "better" I mean one that keeps your faithful from looking under the bed and continuing to vote into power the real monsters that live there.
Trumps campaign, nomination acceptance speech and inaugural address have been all fear, all the time. Cowards.
Republicans.
Mr Brooks, your party has played to, preyed on and Trumped up fear ever since MY high school days, which were dominated by crooked Richard Nixon, not your beloved St. Ronnie. Then it was fear of communists. In the '80s you replaced commies with drugs, and we had the War on Drugs. Now we've got Muslim and the War on Terror. What, did we win the war on drugs? No, your GOP just found a better fear. And by "better" I mean one that keeps your faithful from looking under the bed and continuing to vote into power the real monsters that live there.
Trumps campaign, nomination acceptance speech and inaugural address have been all fear, all the time. Cowards.
5
The ultimate cowards are the rest of the Republican congress, just blithely going along with Trump because he will inable them to reach nirvana. Shredding the safety net and turning the country over to the wealthy to pillage. Eventually he and Bannon are going to step way over the line. The problem for the Republican traitors are they are riding a tiger. They have forgotten that when you get off, the tiger eats you. He'll eat them alive with tweets,along with Fox News and Bretbart fake news. His delusional followers will threaten and stalk them and their families. I will have no sympathy.
1
Trump is just Reagan on steroids.
2
Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Brooks. You're supposed to keep your moth shut.
1
Among many good points Mr. Brooks' piece, he produced the best image available for Mr. Trump: he is a porcupine. "Mr. Trump the porcupine" is a phrase that fits with his apperance and pattern of responses. Great taxonomic, poetic and behavioral image!!!
2
Pres. Reagan was many things to many people. I recall that he tended to rebell against the fluff-over-substance shallowness of YUPPIE culture.... of which `The Donald' was the greatest example.
1
Brooks reminds us that "no Syrian-American has ever commited an act of terrorism on American soil [but] Trump's response is ... Shut them out." True enough; but fifteen of the twenty 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, and Trump has no interest in restricting immigration from there. If there is logic in that, it escapes me.
3
Regan was intrinsically an evil man whose philosophies started the decline of civility in our politics and the growth of our massive income equality. He just said it with honey rather than bitter vinegar. Iran Contra, remember that glorious episode Mr Brooks?
2
Reagan, wanted to make this nation Christian, male and white. There's a direct line from Mr. Reagan to Trump.
3
During Trump's career and campaign, he was a bully,which is cowardice in its aggressive form.
Reagan stated the campaign that government is the problem and that Republicans could not criticize each other..
The decent Republicans voted for Trump because he was the lesser of 2 evils, and they are responsible fr all his evils.
Reagan stated the campaign that government is the problem and that Republicans could not criticize each other..
The decent Republicans voted for Trump because he was the lesser of 2 evils, and they are responsible fr all his evils.
Well, there's always the 25th amendment as a remedy for Donald Trump.
2
Amazing revisionist view of Reagan. This is why Trump won. Republicans are anti-fact. The difference is that Reagan slapped a happy face sticker on everything and Trump uses a mad emoji.
7
The enablers of Trump's erratic, bullying behavior are easy to identify: the Republican members of Congress. They are afraid of him, afraid of his tweets, afraid of his supporters out in the hinterlands, afraid of their own shadows.
Right now, before it is too late, the toadies and denizens who make up today's Republican Party need to get their act together and stop the megalomaniac in the White House before he crashes the economy, encourages an entirely new cadre of terrorists, reverses environmental progress and destroys America's leading and mostly beneficial role in the world.
Oops, I forgot. These ARE the GOP's plans. Cowards and miscreants in lockstep to make America great again.
Right now, before it is too late, the toadies and denizens who make up today's Republican Party need to get their act together and stop the megalomaniac in the White House before he crashes the economy, encourages an entirely new cadre of terrorists, reverses environmental progress and destroys America's leading and mostly beneficial role in the world.
Oops, I forgot. These ARE the GOP's plans. Cowards and miscreants in lockstep to make America great again.
4
Mr. Brooks, what can I say. For once I truly agree with you. Trump is the Republican President and the party that is enabling him is his Republican Party.
Trump's Republican Party is not the Republican Party that attracted your support and your talent. Trump does not share Reagan's optimism just as Paul Ryan does not share Charles Halleck's optimism and Mitch McConnell does not share Everett Dirksen's optimism.
Chalk it up as progress, Republican style.
Trump's Republican Party is not the Republican Party that attracted your support and your talent. Trump does not share Reagan's optimism just as Paul Ryan does not share Charles Halleck's optimism and Mitch McConnell does not share Everett Dirksen's optimism.
Chalk it up as progress, Republican style.
1
David, this stuff he spouts isn't his, it's Bannon's. He's the guy you need to keep your eye on. Bannon makes Haldeman and Erlichman look like choirboys. The real power in the country today is being wielded by Bannon and Putin.
291
Trump exhibits all classic bullying behaviors. Many bullies are cowards. Just an observation.
4
Dear David, Remember AIDS? Remember how Reagan did nothing? Now tell me again about that shining city on the hill, except for LGBTQ people?
9
No. The Republican Party has been practicing the politics of falsehood and ignorance since the Reagan administration, and the politics of anger, fear, and resistance since Obama was first inaugurated. Trump is no more than the logical result.
7
Let's leave aside things like temperament, faith, mood and tenor for the moment and focus on what really matters: policy. And Donald Trump's economic policies are exactly the same as Mitch McConnell's, Paul Ryan's--and Ronald Reagan's: massive, debt-financed tax cuts for the rich and deregulation for corporations.
9
Dear Mr. Brooks, obviously we are in the end times as the Trumpocalypse proceeds as this is the first time in my memory that I have agreed with your point of view. May I add that as well as your description of Trump's cowardice he also is a misanthropic, malignant narcissist who is emotionally stunted and who lives in a big beautiful seventh level of hell of constant fear of his own construction. Trump needs to provide a long form psychiatric evaluation to prove he is indeed legitimately worthy to reside in the White House. Best regards.
5
Yup. Reagan was a cheery ray of sunshine, and trimp is a cold cloud of raw sewage.
But to whatever extent Ronnie was aware of it, Reagan's optimism was a cheesecloth cover for a determined effort to redistribute wealth and hope from the many to the few. And, as beastly stupid as we are, a smiling face and a treacly voice cannot long distract us (any more than they could a defenseless dog) from the heavy club.
But to whatever extent Ronnie was aware of it, Reagan's optimism was a cheesecloth cover for a determined effort to redistribute wealth and hope from the many to the few. And, as beastly stupid as we are, a smiling face and a treacly voice cannot long distract us (any more than they could a defenseless dog) from the heavy club.
8
This analysis seems accurate on the surface. On the other hand the republican congress wants the Trump signature on their agenda bills. They believe they can manage Trump to limit collateral damage.
Crazy is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. The Republicans better wake up before they realize that they have much more in common with the Democrats than with Trump.
Crazy is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. The Republicans better wake up before they realize that they have much more in common with the Democrats than with Trump.
5
No doubt, Trump is a disaster but he had popular TV show which qualified him to be President. Reagan was also a disaster, unfortunately an idolized one. He is Iran-Contra and the originator of everlasting quips: "The government isn't the solution to problems, it is the problem." "You can spend your money better than the government can." True but when was the last time you brought a bridge, a highway, an airport, or a sewer system? I guess the Reagan solution to our problems is more i-phones less infra-structure. He mixed the cool-aid that Republicans, and their off-shoot the Tea Party, have been drinking ever since.
4
Both Trump and Sanders are responsible for the unreasonable hysteria about trade. Congress backed the TPP until these two took to the campaign trail. Trump has generated nothing but ill will, dissension, and mistrust in his first week in office. I do not trust a single word he says. His hag orders on government agencies, his lies, his paranoia, and his obvious infatuation with the White House are disturbing. We will soon be asking "lock him up".
4
Mr. Trump will be surprised when the evil wind changes course, swiftly and unexpectedly, and blows him out of office and, most likely, into prison. I only hope the voting, engaged public remembers how the republican party enabled Trump, cheered him on, ingratiated themselves to him, so that they too can be reckoned with.
8
As far as what Mr. Brooks says about Trump and how he views the world, this column is fine.
However, Mr. Brooks is mistaken when he says Trump has changed the Republican Party. The Republican Party has been this way approximately since Bill Clinton won the White House and took office back in January of 1993. Since then it has abandoned any pretense of being the "loyal opposition", and has merely become nihilistic and obstructionist.
Trump didn't create this version of the Republican Party - this version of the Republican Party created the circumstances that made Trump possible. Now they are doomed, because all they can do is campaign against government. Just wait for the first natural disaster, a la Katrina. Has Trump even filled the position of the head of FEMA? And when he does, will it be another clueless billionaire whose wealth is inherited?
I'll have a lot more respect for Mr. Brooks when he writes a column explaining the evolution (If that is the word.) of this current bunch of renegades that is the modern GOP.
However, Mr. Brooks is mistaken when he says Trump has changed the Republican Party. The Republican Party has been this way approximately since Bill Clinton won the White House and took office back in January of 1993. Since then it has abandoned any pretense of being the "loyal opposition", and has merely become nihilistic and obstructionist.
Trump didn't create this version of the Republican Party - this version of the Republican Party created the circumstances that made Trump possible. Now they are doomed, because all they can do is campaign against government. Just wait for the first natural disaster, a la Katrina. Has Trump even filled the position of the head of FEMA? And when he does, will it be another clueless billionaire whose wealth is inherited?
I'll have a lot more respect for Mr. Brooks when he writes a column explaining the evolution (If that is the word.) of this current bunch of renegades that is the modern GOP.
14
I read Mr Brooks article as a plea to help other Republicans understand what is going on and to please wake up. A person who gets to high political office has a duty to ask what is the best thing for the country not what is best for me; it seems that those in power at the moment are unable to understand this basic premise.
7
NO, David! It's not "cowardice:" It's a personality disorder--narcissism. Yes, Trump needs and craves adulation and lashes out at those like you in "the dishonest media" who rightly refuse. as part of their job, to give it. He's not a coward, but a bully who bludgeons all opposition to either silence or submission. He's a very troubled man who hides from the darkness in his gilded tower. And yes. his is a dark, disturbed personality who's inaugural address, in contrast to Reagan's, was all about "Midnight in America." But, despite all that, they share the same destructive tax-cuts for the wealthy economic policy and indifference to the sick--Trump for health insurance; Reagan for AIDS. The major difference was that one was life-affirming and willing to compromise, and the other is too troubled to embrace differences.
12
David Brooks has called the new president a coward in his latest and most disparaging column about the man and about the pall of fear he has cast over our great land.
Will Trump see Brooks as a threat, one more reason to be fearful, to lash out in self-defense? What lengths will Trump go to protect himself from his growing list of enemies? It surely looks like Trump's enemies include more and more of the very people he promises to protect.
At this point, seven days into his presidency, I conclude Trump is protecting only one thing - his self image. The mirroring of intelligent people like Mr. Brooks reflects an ugliness that causes Trump great dissonance. His anger and erratic irrationality are childish attempts to deal with the inner tensions.
Something shattering is bound to happen.
Will Trump see Brooks as a threat, one more reason to be fearful, to lash out in self-defense? What lengths will Trump go to protect himself from his growing list of enemies? It surely looks like Trump's enemies include more and more of the very people he promises to protect.
At this point, seven days into his presidency, I conclude Trump is protecting only one thing - his self image. The mirroring of intelligent people like Mr. Brooks reflects an ugliness that causes Trump great dissonance. His anger and erratic irrationality are childish attempts to deal with the inner tensions.
Something shattering is bound to happen.
10
Silver lining: If we can somehow endure the burgeoning madness of the next four years (or an earlier impeachment), the Left should have a perfect opportunity to overthrow these Republican enemies of the American people - and get Healthcare and Tax Policy right once and for all.
12
Assuming that there are parallels between the Party of Trump and the Party of Reagan assumes that both parties are the GOP. Much as the Times editorially would like to force the GOP to automatically accept responsibility for the problems Trump may stir, in fact Trump owes the GOP nothing and it owes him nothing. Both are free to act on their own. Expect them to do so.
1
Trump has always been about fear and cowardice. Yes, he takes on debt...in the name of other people. From germs to street peddlers, to dark skinned foreigners Trump means fear. Most debilitating of all is fear of being ignored. The entire campaign was about fear and vindictive responses to those who make you fearful.
As for the abandonment of Republican principles, please. This only proves they never had any. If abortion could get them tax cuts for plutocrats they would be paying people to have them. GOP 101 is splitting the vote of the non-plutocrats. Before it was abortion and a bit of racism. Now it is trade and a lot of racism. This is how the GOP responds to a shrinking voter base.
As for the abandonment of Republican principles, please. This only proves they never had any. If abortion could get them tax cuts for plutocrats they would be paying people to have them. GOP 101 is splitting the vote of the non-plutocrats. Before it was abortion and a bit of racism. Now it is trade and a lot of racism. This is how the GOP responds to a shrinking voter base.
13
There is a mean wind indeed. My father was a life-long Democrat and a Veteran. I am not sure he ever voted for Regan; but he also would find good things to say about him. He was the 'Great Communicator' and as my dad would say, "Good for the military" (Remember this was just after Vietnam and the military was hurting). I will say he was also a human being. As we all are. And he was NOT perfect. Others have stated it here more eloquently. But I would add to the list: his administrations non-response to AIDS.
But - he was an optimist. Unlike where we are now. Each speech or executive order seems to be a plot point from a dystopian novel. I hope your letter finds some folks willing to listen.
But - he was an optimist. Unlike where we are now. Each speech or executive order seems to be a plot point from a dystopian novel. I hope your letter finds some folks willing to listen.
9
I don't share Brooks' rose-colored view of Ronbo Reagan, but I do with the general premise of this column. The GOP of Richard Nixon - for all his personal faults - had both a national and a world-view that spoke of a future.
The current white house clown sees no nation or union. Instead the world is nothing but a sucker to be exploited or a villain out to bruise his ego.
The clown needs to grow up and stop acting like such an insecure baby.
The current white house clown sees no nation or union. Instead the world is nothing but a sucker to be exploited or a villain out to bruise his ego.
The clown needs to grow up and stop acting like such an insecure baby.
16
People DO NOT understand how government, foreign policy, etc. work. They think it works like a small business, or that the President controls most of it, that we can randomly just make other countries do what we want them to do. The electorate does not understand the consequences of their actions. Every year, people are fed up with the direction the country is taking. This is nothing new. What's new(er) is the Republican Party completely abandoning any semblance of bipartisan governing, which is what democracy is based on, in favor of a one party dictatorship. And even newer, an incompetent demagogue leading it.
40
Trump made many boastful promises while campaigning and now he "fears" not following thru (or appearing to follow thru.) He is always at the center.
The most troubling is his boast of having a plan to defeat ISIS. Our President knows less about the significance of that than he does about who pays Import Taxes. If he orders up a 30-day plan to "eradicate" Radical Islamist Terrorist, he could start a chain of events even his apologists can't spin back.
The reaction from Mexico after threats and bullying should easily have been expected. And the reaction from the Islamic world from invasion, slaughter, and plundering (take the oil this time) is obvious. Trump not only cannot identify all/only Radical Islamic Terrorist he cannot kill them, torture, them, or secure hem away in black sites.
The anger and fear of this impulsive creature cannot be allowed to prevail.
Our President has clearly demonstrated in his first week in office his ability to unleash a worldwide fury to sate his ego and salve his minuscule self-esteem. Mr. Brooks your observation that "a mean wind is blowing" is too too tepid to stop him.
The most troubling is his boast of having a plan to defeat ISIS. Our President knows less about the significance of that than he does about who pays Import Taxes. If he orders up a 30-day plan to "eradicate" Radical Islamist Terrorist, he could start a chain of events even his apologists can't spin back.
The reaction from Mexico after threats and bullying should easily have been expected. And the reaction from the Islamic world from invasion, slaughter, and plundering (take the oil this time) is obvious. Trump not only cannot identify all/only Radical Islamic Terrorist he cannot kill them, torture, them, or secure hem away in black sites.
The anger and fear of this impulsive creature cannot be allowed to prevail.
Our President has clearly demonstrated in his first week in office his ability to unleash a worldwide fury to sate his ego and salve his minuscule self-esteem. Mr. Brooks your observation that "a mean wind is blowing" is too too tepid to stop him.
20
Hmmm. And here I though "Morning in America" was about capitalizing on white anger directed at the civil rights revolution, the Republicans' Southern Strategy and all. Didn't see much "sunny optimism" in his constant derision of all those welfare queens driving around in Cadillacs.
In my view his most significant contribution was convincing a lot of Americans that government is the cause of most of our problems, thus taxation supports the trouble makers. And if a reduction in taxes led to (massively) increased deficits, it was because the Democrats forced him to spend too much. To this day we have a disconnect between taxes and government services in many peoples mind - insisting on more and better services, but abhorring any tax increase to pay for them.
In my view his most significant contribution was convincing a lot of Americans that government is the cause of most of our problems, thus taxation supports the trouble makers. And if a reduction in taxes led to (massively) increased deficits, it was because the Democrats forced him to spend too much. To this day we have a disconnect between taxes and government services in many peoples mind - insisting on more and better services, but abhorring any tax increase to pay for them.
5
Oh well, Reagan was always sunny and confident. Yet he ran up a 4 trillion debt on the credit card, invaded Grenada to flex some muscles, cavorted with Saddam to kill more mean, evil Iranians in his eyes, and who can forget Iran-Contra. Didn´t like the Sandinistas either, a rag-tag group with no idea of democracy. How could they have since the U.S. was perfectly happy with the Somoza dictatorship. You look objectively at the U.S. and you don´t always see a beacon of freedom. You see killing democratically elected presidents as in Allende. You see an invasion of Iraq, a war crime, and nobody called to task. Trump is a one-off. He is a foul ball in high weeds, except instead of being lost alone, he is taking all of us down the worm hole. His psychosis is abetted by gross ignorance and arrested development. He can not be objective overwhelmed by his neediness to always be adored and coddled.
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, Into the madness wherein now he raves and all we mourn for. Hamlet.
Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension, Into the madness wherein now he raves and all we mourn for. Hamlet.
4
The GOP has become something like La Cosa Nostra, with Trump as the boss, Bannon as the Consigliere, McConnell and Ryan as the underbosses and so on. Their "business" is the US government. They don't like anyone muscling in on their territory.
The major difference is they don't conduct their business in secret. The boss openly threatens torture for the captured "enemies" and the underbosses only protest mildly. The boss issues "Execution" Orders with complete support from the underbosses and the rest of the gang.
The former "gangbusters" who became part of the gang, Christie and Giuliani, have been sidelined, with Christie emasculated. And so it goes.
The major difference is they don't conduct their business in secret. The boss openly threatens torture for the captured "enemies" and the underbosses only protest mildly. The boss issues "Execution" Orders with complete support from the underbosses and the rest of the gang.
The former "gangbusters" who became part of the gang, Christie and Giuliani, have been sidelined, with Christie emasculated. And so it goes.
"Trump has changed the way the Republican Party sees the world. Republicans used to have a basic faith in the dynamism and openness of the free market. Now the party fears openness and competition."
I'm going to disagree with you on this one point.
I agree that Republicans used to embrace these principals but they abandoned this outlook at least 6 years prior to Trump.
The Republican Party has morphed into a collection of people who are misinformed, power hungry, and disrespectful.
I'm going to disagree with you on this one point.
I agree that Republicans used to embrace these principals but they abandoned this outlook at least 6 years prior to Trump.
The Republican Party has morphed into a collection of people who are misinformed, power hungry, and disrespectful.
1
The fear isn't coming from Trump. The fear is coming from the Republican Party. They have spent the last 8 years scaring the American people - Obama was creating 'death panels', Obama was coming for your guns, Obamacare was a disaster, Obama made America weak, Obama wasn't legimate. It was an alternative universe where good economic news was bad, good employment figures were horrible. It's not surprising that we are now in the time of the 'alternative-right' where 'alternative facts' rule.
Absolutely, Trump is a mess but he is the product of the Republican's fevered brain.
Absolutely, Trump is a mess but he is the product of the Republican's fevered brain.
2
It pains me to say this - only cowards would elect this coward. There is much bellicose posturing in the United States but toughness, resilience and courage regarding uncertainty or "foreignness" seem to be in limited supply.
5
I cannot let David's paean to Reagan go entirely unchallenged; understanding what is wrong about it is important to understanding the truth: American conservatism has been in denial of reality for long time, and Trump is the whirlwind of crazy that has resulted.
It's true that Ronnie projected a sunny mien -- he was a handsome man and a well-trained actor and some of it may indeed have been his nature. But conservatives cannot be allowed to get-away with gauzy hagiography of Ronnie that completely ignores reality -- anymore than liberals can do that for JFK.
I use the comparison intentionally -- the public memories of both men are colored by the bullets they took; Reagan lived and JFK died .. but strip away the great drama and just look at either presidency coldly -- a lot of hot air and good press and a lot of reckless mistakes and stupidity ... if not worse.
What Reagan achieved as president is completely at variance with what Republicans claim he and they stood for. And psst ... Republicans -- you cannot forget Iran Contra, or the HUD scandals. 138 administration officials where indicted and convicted: Ronnie ran the most corrupt and criminal administration in American history.
Reagan and JFK demonstrate one thing though: grace does matter, even when it is somewhat contrived, and what is behind the curtain isn't so pretty.
Trump is the most graceless man to have the American Presidency. He's a revenge president -- it's not a bug, it's a feature.
It's true that Ronnie projected a sunny mien -- he was a handsome man and a well-trained actor and some of it may indeed have been his nature. But conservatives cannot be allowed to get-away with gauzy hagiography of Ronnie that completely ignores reality -- anymore than liberals can do that for JFK.
I use the comparison intentionally -- the public memories of both men are colored by the bullets they took; Reagan lived and JFK died .. but strip away the great drama and just look at either presidency coldly -- a lot of hot air and good press and a lot of reckless mistakes and stupidity ... if not worse.
What Reagan achieved as president is completely at variance with what Republicans claim he and they stood for. And psst ... Republicans -- you cannot forget Iran Contra, or the HUD scandals. 138 administration officials where indicted and convicted: Ronnie ran the most corrupt and criminal administration in American history.
Reagan and JFK demonstrate one thing though: grace does matter, even when it is somewhat contrived, and what is behind the curtain isn't so pretty.
Trump is the most graceless man to have the American Presidency. He's a revenge president -- it's not a bug, it's a feature.
2
Conservatism is just a mess of an ideology. Trump proves the point as well as Reagan and Bush who both wrecked havoc on the world as Americans are still paying for their wars and phobia.
There's need to rid of that ideology once and for all and this will be only accomplished by the new generation as the old one has its last breath.
There's need to rid of that ideology once and for all and this will be only accomplished by the new generation as the old one has its last breath.
3
Sorry, too late. The vast majority of high school and college student aren't stupid. The number showed that their age voted overwhelmingly Democratic in all 50 states except 3. They're a proud new generation.
I can't wait for the final demise of conservatism.
I can't wait for the final demise of conservatism.
3
Yes, Ronald Reagan had sunny optimism while he was declaring ketchup a vegetable and cutting the school lunch program. He could have started the real movement to address moving the country to cleaner, healthier energy. And he never, not once, mentioned the word Aids or did a single thing to help while young men in the prime of their lives suffered unimaginably. Reagan was just as mean as Trump - Trump just shows it more.
4
Why Trump ? Under the Clinton Administration we learned that what sex was and what it was not. The Bush administration told us of WMD, that didn't exist. The Obama administration slapped a health care plan that benefited the insurance companies and has become mired in red tape. Why is the country in such a mood, maybe we should check the recent past.
1
The GOP shift from dynamic to Trumps dark-side...is because they truly do not believe in anything important. They shift to adopt what wins, as long as its spiteful, and leans towards dismantling the core principles of the Republic. They'd never shift towards a Bernie Sanders side of things, because that's more open and expansive, offers hope, gives people options.
The Republicans truly dont believe that people know how to take care of themselves, make moral decisions for themselves, decide who to love, etc. So they believe, which was often the case in more repressive times in human history, that The System must decide for The People and make personal freedom harder, more dangerous to think.
I cant figure out where this loathing originates. They appear to hate government, but they work in it, make a life out of it. They obsess over ways of both shrinking it (yet never do) while seeking to use it as a tool to intrude into everyone's lives.
This sickening symbiotic relationship between Trump and the rest of the GOP is obviously not healthy for the country, certainly not for many individuals and groups - but at the same time it could very well be their undoing, as the symbiosis is also parasitical. How far will the GOP go as Trump devolves and truly steers the nation off the edge of the bridge.
Can they keep control when everything they actually do, is destructive instead of improving the nation...?
The Republicans truly dont believe that people know how to take care of themselves, make moral decisions for themselves, decide who to love, etc. So they believe, which was often the case in more repressive times in human history, that The System must decide for The People and make personal freedom harder, more dangerous to think.
I cant figure out where this loathing originates. They appear to hate government, but they work in it, make a life out of it. They obsess over ways of both shrinking it (yet never do) while seeking to use it as a tool to intrude into everyone's lives.
This sickening symbiotic relationship between Trump and the rest of the GOP is obviously not healthy for the country, certainly not for many individuals and groups - but at the same time it could very well be their undoing, as the symbiosis is also parasitical. How far will the GOP go as Trump devolves and truly steers the nation off the edge of the bridge.
Can they keep control when everything they actually do, is destructive instead of improving the nation...?
2
Though now a Democrat, I began my political life as a Reagan Republican. Trump may have stolen Reagan's "Make America Great Again" slogan, but, as Brooks points out, he is a polar opposite of the Gipper. Not to mention, Reagan was not a prevaricating, mentally unhinged sexual predator. As Obama said, Reagan would roll over in his grave to see what has become of the presidency and his party.
1
There is an obvious difference between Trump and Reagan. How the party elite defined the party was different then than now.
The GOP voters are the same then as now. It is now just more obvious what truly motivates them.
The GOP voters are the same then as now. It is now just more obvious what truly motivates them.
A wonderful brief essay by a conservative whose elegant thinking and writing has moved towards the center over the last 15 years. I would opine, however, that fear as a "tool" has been used by the GOP for some time. I think the Republican message for the past several decades can be summarized in 6 words: God, guns, gays, abortion, the flag, and FEAR. It is these 6 words that underlies Trump's election victory, and perhaps fear is the most important.
3
I don't know if Trump actually experiences these fears personally. But he has used the expression of them to build political power, in the manner of the classic demagogue.
1
"Trump has changed the way the Republican Party sees the world." No, David, that change came in 2000 when Antonin Scalia installed George W Bush as our "elected" president. When questioned by the press concerning that flawed decision he replied, "Get used to it." And that has been the contemptible attitude of Republicans ever since.
As for Reagan's "sunny faith" in American ideals, I give you his sunny opening to his second election campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi where three truly sunny, optimistic young men were sadistically tortured, bludgeoned, and buried in a swamp. I give you his mocking of stereotypical black women "in their Cadillacs."
The Republicans have felt entitled ever since that Supreme Court ruling to their sadly narrow view of the world as one in which money and privilege are the dominant good to the detriment of women, the poor, education, and health for all classes.
As for Reagan's "sunny faith" in American ideals, I give you his sunny opening to his second election campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi where three truly sunny, optimistic young men were sadistically tortured, bludgeoned, and buried in a swamp. I give you his mocking of stereotypical black women "in their Cadillacs."
The Republicans have felt entitled ever since that Supreme Court ruling to their sadly narrow view of the world as one in which money and privilege are the dominant good to the detriment of women, the poor, education, and health for all classes.
6
Thank you for this thoughtful lesson. My question is why are so many Americans willing to believe and agree with the fear response policy? My guess is the increase in prescription drug addition has reached into even the smallest rural towns. People see neighbors spiral down. It becomes easy to think the entire country is on the bring of failure with crime, poverty and drug use. The ACA may have helped, but now we will likely never know.
When I was a kid, I was a Republican. My parents were Republican. My grandparents on both sides were Republican. I grew up in a nice middle-of-the-road, middle-classed, conservative, Eisenhower-Era Republican town. I didn't think about things too deeply because, where I lived, there were no Jim Crow laws to rebel against, most people had health insurance through their employers, almost all of the men were employed or had retired with comfortable pensions, houses were affordable, and nobody went hungry. Most of us were probably in favor of civil rights because it was the right thing to do. Most of us were probably in favor of women's rights, even though bra-burning was silly. Most of us were probably in favor of the War in Vietnam because we bought into the whole Domino Theory. I knew hard-working people of Hispanic descent, gays who were out of the closet, and our trusted and beloved "Uncle Walter" Cronkite brought us the evening news. Life wasn't perfect by any stretch, but it was usually good enough.
Then the GOP changed around the time that Reagan got in. It became more hateful, more fearful, more discriminatory, more controlling, more ideologically exclusive, more hurtful, and in the years since, it has only gotten worse. There are still thinking middle-of-the-road Republicans but the patients have taken over the asylum and now we have Trump who used to be a Democrat until he realized that he could exploit the hate and fear already sown by the Reagan Republicans.
Then the GOP changed around the time that Reagan got in. It became more hateful, more fearful, more discriminatory, more controlling, more ideologically exclusive, more hurtful, and in the years since, it has only gotten worse. There are still thinking middle-of-the-road Republicans but the patients have taken over the asylum and now we have Trump who used to be a Democrat until he realized that he could exploit the hate and fear already sown by the Reagan Republicans.
15
But in the interim, David, the Republican Party became the Party most proficient in the skills of propaganda, demagogic tactics, and manipulation. The Republican Party became ever more blinkered by ideology and immune to factual evidence. It became the Party dedicated to fulfilling the will of its donor-masters, regardless of the consequences. It became the Party that would first ineffectively oppose, then tolerate, then actively support Donald Trump.
So now, each day, we wake up to another episode of "Disgrace and Humiliate the Nation."
So now, each day, we wake up to another episode of "Disgrace and Humiliate the Nation."
5
Mr. Brooks, please now write an article about "quislings". In Congress, that is, especially concerning conservative Republicans. It's a better word than "cowards", because it accurately points the spotlight at formerly honorable politicians who have gone into hiding about Trump.
You are right that Trump is a coward, but he is going strong in good measure because of the moral retreat of his party in Congress. If he has learned anything from the ugly chaos of his first week it is that leaders of the GOP and many Democrats are scared stiff of him. Just as many leaders were in Europe in the 1930s.
Quislings are always complicit in the collapse of liberty, wreckage of economies and the commencement of wars.
You are right that Trump is a coward, but he is going strong in good measure because of the moral retreat of his party in Congress. If he has learned anything from the ugly chaos of his first week it is that leaders of the GOP and many Democrats are scared stiff of him. Just as many leaders were in Europe in the 1930s.
Quislings are always complicit in the collapse of liberty, wreckage of economies and the commencement of wars.
387
I think what Trump is most fearful of is our seeing his tax returns, though I suspect before we do, he will be busy building more walls, first along the Mexican border, then around our country's sanctuary cities.
Reagan was a criminal for selling missiles to Iran to pay for a criminal off the books war in Nicaragua. Reagan still holds the record for the most cabinet members to be conflicted,investigated or indicted while serving office at 138. Can you imagine that 138? Trump paid 25 million to cover up his Trump University fraud investigation.
The criminality of this weak minded party does not surprise me. The Democrats losing over and over to these crooks makes me think they are not worth keeping together as a party. Progressives must break off from these cowards, losers and crooks from both corporate controlled parties.
The criminality of this weak minded party does not surprise me. The Democrats losing over and over to these crooks makes me think they are not worth keeping together as a party. Progressives must break off from these cowards, losers and crooks from both corporate controlled parties.
My thought is that an extremely slim electorate combined in only 4 states to elect Trump, and while one could criticize the Clinton campaign for its lack of successful outreach in those particular states, one really should ask whether those "swing" voters really understood for whom they were voting.
The sad aspect is that I think, yes, they did! They knew and wanted a carnival barker, a celebrity, and a person whose thinly veiled remarks against Muslims, Mexicans, women, the disabled, and "the other" matched their own. Sad!
The sad aspect is that I think, yes, they did! They knew and wanted a carnival barker, a celebrity, and a person whose thinly veiled remarks against Muslims, Mexicans, women, the disabled, and "the other" matched their own. Sad!
1
"It’s not that the deals had changed, or reality. It was that Donald Trump became the Republican nominee and his dark fearfulness became the party’s dark fearfulness."
Let's fix this by inserting this sentence between the two above:
"It's that workers finally realized that the trade deals were benefiting workers in every country but our own. Thus ..."
Let's fix this by inserting this sentence between the two above:
"It's that workers finally realized that the trade deals were benefiting workers in every country but our own. Thus ..."
I think that in an odd way Trump predicts his and our fate as he speaks. When he speaks of American carnage that doesn't actually exist, he is signaling that he will bring it about. And in less than a week he has set about doing that. He is a vindictive angry man set on the destruction of his country. To understand why we don't need his tax returns, we need a psychiatric evaluation. He is sick and needs help, desperately.
2
The Republican Party's love of fear goes way back. In the modern era, Richard Nixon's 'Southern Strategy' could be marked as the jumping off point. And Reagan's "Welfare Queen" was hardly a lonely example of stoking racial fear.
And let's not stop there. 'Soft on Crime' was used to smear political opponents, part of a list of reasons to fear the Democrats. He or she wants to give the streets over to the criminals, take our guns, kill unborn babies, allow Sharia law.
Party conservatives have been preaching Social Security would be gone before you retired since I was in college in the sixties. They've done the same with Medicare.
No, stoking of fear is nothing new for the GOP. It just used to be done with more restraint.
And, though Mr. Brooks suggests otherwise, Donald Trump has always been a coward. Six bankruptcies and 4000 lawsuits are not the hallmarks of a brave. shrewd businessman but of a gutless thug who hid behind lawyers and CPA's.
Donald Trump has not changed. Neither has the GOP. Trump simply exposed how much it has come to depend on its worst ways.
What we have yet to discover? How many Republicans are finally ready to put the good of the nation over the power they have accrued for themselves and their party? How many are ready to stand up for our government and its Constitution?
For good or ill, the future of these United States depends on them.
And let's not stop there. 'Soft on Crime' was used to smear political opponents, part of a list of reasons to fear the Democrats. He or she wants to give the streets over to the criminals, take our guns, kill unborn babies, allow Sharia law.
Party conservatives have been preaching Social Security would be gone before you retired since I was in college in the sixties. They've done the same with Medicare.
No, stoking of fear is nothing new for the GOP. It just used to be done with more restraint.
And, though Mr. Brooks suggests otherwise, Donald Trump has always been a coward. Six bankruptcies and 4000 lawsuits are not the hallmarks of a brave. shrewd businessman but of a gutless thug who hid behind lawyers and CPA's.
Donald Trump has not changed. Neither has the GOP. Trump simply exposed how much it has come to depend on its worst ways.
What we have yet to discover? How many Republicans are finally ready to put the good of the nation over the power they have accrued for themselves and their party? How many are ready to stand up for our government and its Constitution?
For good or ill, the future of these United States depends on them.
3
The Republican Party is made up not so much by cowards but by opportunists. Their party was taken over by the voter fed nationalism of an idiot savant simpleton, and now they're going along for the ride. Power forgives sins and misgivings. But as this ride gets bumpier and bumpier and the Republicans in Congress feel the squirming of their constituents at home, that is when we will see the politics of another sort. The politics of survival.
Trump is using fear very effectively, which was/is the bedrock of his act. His pathological narcissism forces him to engage in actions and words that subvert him. He craves attention. And yes, he is a coward, and he is willing to run a con or whatever else it takes to "win". This, contrary to the opinion
of those who voted for him, does not bode well for our future. Hopefully, he and his cabal of predatory capitalist profiteers will strengthen rather than destroy this country in their highly toxic passing.
of those who voted for him, does not bode well for our future. Hopefully, he and his cabal of predatory capitalist profiteers will strengthen rather than destroy this country in their highly toxic passing.
1
Reagan was nicer than Trump, but the decline in America began in his years when he thought rich people needed more money and poor people were driving Cadillacs to get their groceries paid for with food stamps. I dont think hate started rearing its ugly head until Clinton had the audacity to beat a Bush. Thanks to fine folks like Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert, they pitted party against party so that moderates became a thing of the past. Hate seems to grow in republican cycles.
5
"A mean wind is blowing."
If so, the origins of that wind can easily be traced to Ronald Reagan. Students should take caution with regard to whose narrative of history they give credence to. The saintly aura in which conservatives like Mr. Brooks swathe their heros is nothing less than crass mendacity. If you want to see how Reagan treated students, there is ample film history on his treatment of student protesters while he was governor of California. If you want a true picture of the man, study a few phenomena that David Brooks omits from his narrative such as the breaking of the Air Traffic Controllers union, (initiating a broad general attack on unions), or the Iran-Contra scandal in which constitutional safeguards old and new (initiated after Vietnam) were totally disregarded. Had he not played the Alzheimer defense, he and his vice-president, George Bush, (formerly of the CIA) would have been impeached. And there is far more, but as students, I am sure you will have occasion to familiarize yourselves with the full story: Nixon is impeached, the supposed restoration president Jimmy Carter, then Reagan and Bush, Sr. (who both should have been impeached), then Bill Clinton (who was impeached), then Bush, Jr. (who certainly should have been impeached), then another restoration president in the form of Barack Obama...and so it goes. Amazingly, all of the staff writers for the Times are now scratching their heads with trembling hands over the election of Donald Trump.
If so, the origins of that wind can easily be traced to Ronald Reagan. Students should take caution with regard to whose narrative of history they give credence to. The saintly aura in which conservatives like Mr. Brooks swathe their heros is nothing less than crass mendacity. If you want to see how Reagan treated students, there is ample film history on his treatment of student protesters while he was governor of California. If you want a true picture of the man, study a few phenomena that David Brooks omits from his narrative such as the breaking of the Air Traffic Controllers union, (initiating a broad general attack on unions), or the Iran-Contra scandal in which constitutional safeguards old and new (initiated after Vietnam) were totally disregarded. Had he not played the Alzheimer defense, he and his vice-president, George Bush, (formerly of the CIA) would have been impeached. And there is far more, but as students, I am sure you will have occasion to familiarize yourselves with the full story: Nixon is impeached, the supposed restoration president Jimmy Carter, then Reagan and Bush, Sr. (who both should have been impeached), then Bill Clinton (who was impeached), then Bush, Jr. (who certainly should have been impeached), then another restoration president in the form of Barack Obama...and so it goes. Amazingly, all of the staff writers for the Times are now scratching their heads with trembling hands over the election of Donald Trump.
2
The GOP only cares about tax cuts. Everything else they do, the damage they do and continue to do to the environment, civil rights, financial regulation, individual choice, is all in service of their economic agenda. It's a mistake to think of them as anything but greedy hypocrites.
3
I feel a need I feel a need to state that porcupines are perfectly lovely animals, and not at all representative of the way Mr. Trump reacts to the world. Also, trump didn't make the Repiblicans dark and nasty, he only saw and amplified it for his own gain. There was plenty of dark and nasty in the eighties. Just more of the Reagan myth. Ms. Conway would be proud, Mr. Brooks.
2
"anhedonia" - the inability to experience happiness. Thanks for sharing that word -something so evident Melania (and his children) has been experiencing for quite some time. Now we all understand how miserable and emotionally destructive it is to have him in our daily life.
3
Re your incisive comment that Trump seems unable to "experience happiness", Senator Al Franken when asked in a recent interview about his observations of him stated that he does not laugh. He does not laugh! Now this truly is a SAD state of one's psychic makeup. How can one go on, particularly when faced with great stress, without the relief and comfort of laughter's warm embrace, without human happiness? Let us not forget the galvanizing words of F.D.R., uttered after the most dire national experience of the 20th century, that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". I have great confidence in Americans's collective capacity to experience happiness, even joy, and laugh despite the intrusive pathology of Trump.
3
I think that a major difference between Reagan and Trump is that Reagan was a patriotic American. In my opinion, Trump is using a show of patriotism to feed his need for power and acquisition. I don't think Trump is patriotic in any way, and doesn't have concern for what is best for our country.
4
We need to have a new center right party that traditional Republicans and blue dog Democrats can embrace. I'm for the revival of the Bull Moose Party with a platform of progressive social values and support of a market based economy.
"A mean wind is blowing"
And that mean wind is authoritarianism. Fear is the crutch of the dictator. Fear of the "other". This is Trump up and down. We stand on the brink of the collapse of the Great American Experiment and the Republican Party leaders in Congress and playing a dangerous game that involves teetering on that precipice in an attempt to balance Trump's "movement" (which is authoritarian) with the power to pass their long treasured political agenda. If they get it wrong, democracy in the United States will likely never recover.
Those who see the threat Trump represents must work together to fight that decline into dictatorship. Policy differences dont matter right now. What matters is stopping Trump and using the power of the electorate to punish Republican leaders who have our country dangling over a cliff.
And that mean wind is authoritarianism. Fear is the crutch of the dictator. Fear of the "other". This is Trump up and down. We stand on the brink of the collapse of the Great American Experiment and the Republican Party leaders in Congress and playing a dangerous game that involves teetering on that precipice in an attempt to balance Trump's "movement" (which is authoritarian) with the power to pass their long treasured political agenda. If they get it wrong, democracy in the United States will likely never recover.
Those who see the threat Trump represents must work together to fight that decline into dictatorship. Policy differences dont matter right now. What matters is stopping Trump and using the power of the electorate to punish Republican leaders who have our country dangling over a cliff.
4
I would dispute Mr Brook's comments that Trump was not a coward in the business world. In fact, Trump was brash and stupid in the business world. Because he was brash and stupid, his business world collapsed around him and he was bankrupt, in fact. His creditors decided to let him bail out the mess thinking that he could recover more but they owned him and he knew it. During that same time Trump showed remarkable dishonesty in his dealings with those to whom he owed money.
After that Trump was excluded by the New York and US capital markets. They saw him as an untrustworthy, none-to-bright in the investments he had made and a brash guy. So Trump went off and did deals to raise capital with murky Russian and Chinese funders. (One can only hope that these will someday be revealed.)
Trump also began to change his business MO. Instead of making his own bets, Trump switched to a "brand." He got others to put up the money, build and fund most of the projects and then he lent his "Trump" name and brand to the projects. Because he was famous from TV, there was a market for that brand / name in high end development projects.
All of this reflected a business cowardice. Trump couldn't trust his own judgment, couldn't raise his own capital from US sources and redirected his energy from funding projects to making thoughtless, incorrect and inaccurate pronouncements about how he would run the world. We will soon see how well that turns out.
After that Trump was excluded by the New York and US capital markets. They saw him as an untrustworthy, none-to-bright in the investments he had made and a brash guy. So Trump went off and did deals to raise capital with murky Russian and Chinese funders. (One can only hope that these will someday be revealed.)
Trump also began to change his business MO. Instead of making his own bets, Trump switched to a "brand." He got others to put up the money, build and fund most of the projects and then he lent his "Trump" name and brand to the projects. Because he was famous from TV, there was a market for that brand / name in high end development projects.
All of this reflected a business cowardice. Trump couldn't trust his own judgment, couldn't raise his own capital from US sources and redirected his energy from funding projects to making thoughtless, incorrect and inaccurate pronouncements about how he would run the world. We will soon see how well that turns out.
4
Trump is not a coward; Trump is a demagogue and huckster. He is stirring up and exploiting the fears of average American workers - white workers - to obtain and retain power. He believes in nothing: no ideology, no politics, no values - a shell of a man, needy, angry and retaliatory. Not to mention ignorant, and not very bright.
Just as Trump exploits his pathetic (but dangerously uninformed and unwise) supporters, the GOP exploits Trump. They'll throw him a wall - or a bridge or two - to obtain the passage of their right wing agenda, including the undermining of women's rights, Medicare and Social Security. His neediness and stupidity have given the GOP an opportunity to run over the executive branch to achieve goals that will put the middle class and working class into a hole from which we may never crawl out. I don't think Trump will even see it coming.
In the meantime, the United States of America, the most powerful nation in the world, is in the hands of an infantile maniac who has no idea what he's doing or what consequences his actions may bring. About this, the GOP does nothing. They make a good pair – the infantile exploiter, and the ideologically driven opportunists willing to tolerate his antics, at the nation' peril, to achieve their goals.
Just as Trump exploits his pathetic (but dangerously uninformed and unwise) supporters, the GOP exploits Trump. They'll throw him a wall - or a bridge or two - to obtain the passage of their right wing agenda, including the undermining of women's rights, Medicare and Social Security. His neediness and stupidity have given the GOP an opportunity to run over the executive branch to achieve goals that will put the middle class and working class into a hole from which we may never crawl out. I don't think Trump will even see it coming.
In the meantime, the United States of America, the most powerful nation in the world, is in the hands of an infantile maniac who has no idea what he's doing or what consequences his actions may bring. About this, the GOP does nothing. They make a good pair – the infantile exploiter, and the ideologically driven opportunists willing to tolerate his antics, at the nation' peril, to achieve their goals.
3
In 2005, I was privileged to attend a week long course at Oxford University, taught by a British scholar on Abraham Lincoln. It was then that I truly learned that the Republican party that Lincoln represented led from 1861- 1865, is not the Republican party that claims him in modern times. Any beliefs to the contrary are as delusional as the ones espoused by the current administration.
Yes, it was a different time, but the values that guided Lincoln's governance, actions, and sacrifices, are eternal.
Yes, it was a different time, but the values that guided Lincoln's governance, actions, and sacrifices, are eternal.
Trump is a continuation of Reagan. Reagan is the principle author of delegitimizing the government and providing large tax cuts to richest of rich. The difference, in my opinion, is that Trump is a delusional liar and a narcissist who should have been the keys to the White House.
1
I doubt, contra Brooks' assertion, Trump is "terrified" that American business can't compete with Asian business. General Motors is doing quite well selling Buicks to China. The problem is wages and environmental costs. American labor cannot compete with Asian (or Mexican) labor. And the air is much nicer in the U.S. than it is in China. Now we could (and will, If Trump and his fossil fuel gang succeed) just get rid of clean air and water standards and regulations, and we could just tell workers, you get $8/hour, that's the going rate. Fear that.
1
Trump is a child. Unfortunately, he has all of the negatives of being childish without any of the charm of being childlike. He is a grown man that thinks and behaves constantly like a two year old in a fit of the terrible twos, but rarely shows any of the charm, curiosity and wonderment that a two year old also displays. The only time he smiles is when he is putting someone down, or taking joy at the real or someday possibility of someone else's pain. This is what America traded Obama in for. Good Grief!
2
You have laid out all the premises but haven't stated the obvious conclusion. Vast majority of current congressional Republicans, and especially Ryan and McConnell, have no principles. There only concern is doing whatever it takes to stay on power. If Trump woke up tomorrow and decided that adopting 100% of Hillary's positions would "Make America Great Again", they would flip flop in a heartbeat and deny they were being hypocritical.
3
I don't know about the GOP rank and file and their sentiments, but the Republican leaders and political elite, in Congress and state houses across the country, are throwing in with Trump even on things they disagree with, such as protectionism, because they believe that he will help them realize a dream that is so ingrained in Republican genes that they may not all be conscious of it: the dream of repealing the New Deal and its descendants, including Medicare, Medicaid, and of course the Affordable Care Act. This is the true Holy Grail of Republicans, even more so than making abortion a crime against the state and slashing taxes for the rich.
3
Where, David, does a "free market" exist? All I see is the Republican mantra of a "free market" which means that corporate overlords can do whatever they like, including cheating their customers and their employees. The Republican anti-union mentality means, in reality, that workers are not free to jointly bargain for their wages or their working conditions. There is no "free market" for them other than to be free to quit and go somewhere else, which, again, in reality, is not remotely free.
Then there is the anti-tax Republican mantra, where no Republican objects to any tax cut, except, of course, for those working people. That a civilized society needs revenues (ie, taxes) to pay for things like roads, bridges, courts, judges, and to enforce regulations that attempt to keep the air we breathe and the water we drink fit for those purposes, is something that no Republican will admit. Of course, they will do everything to eliminate the Federal estate tax, which will ONLY benefit the children of the super wealthy and NO ONE else, and may have devastating consequences to many charities. The Republicans of today are only marginally worse than in Reagan's era.....but they were almost all evil.
Then there is the anti-tax Republican mantra, where no Republican objects to any tax cut, except, of course, for those working people. That a civilized society needs revenues (ie, taxes) to pay for things like roads, bridges, courts, judges, and to enforce regulations that attempt to keep the air we breathe and the water we drink fit for those purposes, is something that no Republican will admit. Of course, they will do everything to eliminate the Federal estate tax, which will ONLY benefit the children of the super wealthy and NO ONE else, and may have devastating consequences to many charities. The Republicans of today are only marginally worse than in Reagan's era.....but they were almost all evil.
4
For at least eight years during the Obama presidency, the conservative media echoed the republican predictions of imminent national disaster. The national discourse became poisoned by disinformation, distortions and smears perpetuated by the GOP for its own political reasons, and the new GOP base lapped it up. Now they believe in Trump more than their own party establishment. The most disgraceful thing is that much of the establishment, most notably Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, hoping that Trump will help them push through their usual, toxic agenda, only smile. They are the real cowards. Trump is just a victim of his own personality disorders.
4
Reagan relied on the Southern Strategy like every other Republican has since 1964, David. When is this truth going to take hold among conservative thinkers like yourself? This is not Reagan's 90% white America anymore. At least one-third of your fellow citizens are black or brown today and the whitewashed narrative of yesteryear does not hold water any longer.
Your rosy nostalgia for a more optimistic Republican Party is the product of the racial bubble in which you choose to reside. The Southern, white-supremacy, racial-resentment vote went fiercely for Reagan in 1980, even though his opponent was a Southern man. You know that this isn't a coincidence, right? Reagan had to earn that vote. And earn it he did. Reagan's America is one that struggled with understanding why supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa was such a big deal. Today, we have a President who promises to build a monument to white supremacy along the US-Mexico border. Is that so different? Trump today is simply Reagan's less eloquent cousin. There's nothing strange about this progression of the party at all. It is a natural evolution.
Your rosy nostalgia for a more optimistic Republican Party is the product of the racial bubble in which you choose to reside. The Southern, white-supremacy, racial-resentment vote went fiercely for Reagan in 1980, even though his opponent was a Southern man. You know that this isn't a coincidence, right? Reagan had to earn that vote. And earn it he did. Reagan's America is one that struggled with understanding why supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa was such a big deal. Today, we have a President who promises to build a monument to white supremacy along the US-Mexico border. Is that so different? Trump today is simply Reagan's less eloquent cousin. There's nothing strange about this progression of the party at all. It is a natural evolution.
Gamel Abdel Nasser tried to shut out the world from Egypt during the 50's and 60's, promoting a brand of socialism that eschewed foreign products, culture, and even forbid most exports. Egypt sank into despair and hopelessness. Is that what we have to look forward to?
1
The first image that comes to mind for me with the Reagan administration is this: Broken up asphalt on the National Seashore at Assateague. Under James Watts' Dept of the Interior, folks thought it would be a grand idea to expand public recreation access and put in large, paved parking lots on a shifting barrier island. They added lots of boardwalks and bathhouses. A McDonald's (the first chain establishment on Chincoteague Island) was built just across the sound, as a sort of marker to the entrance. Needless to say, what they built did not last long. Christians will recognize this image from Jesus: "They will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” In 2017 one still sees chunks of Reagan-era asphalt on the beaches. What Trump is building is so much worse, and great will be the fall of it.
There is an existential need for other sane conservative voices to speak up.
Trump is the pied piper that will lead the GOP over the cliff, following blindly with the singular focus of advancing its social, fiscal and economic agenda, no matter the collateral costs, until such time when Trump, with no political capital left is an ejectable lightening rod to carry blame.
Trump is the pied piper that will lead the GOP over the cliff, following blindly with the singular focus of advancing its social, fiscal and economic agenda, no matter the collateral costs, until such time when Trump, with no political capital left is an ejectable lightening rod to carry blame.
As a black American Reagan was terrifying in his racism and appeals to racism, not to mention his contempt for the poor. Brooks as an apologist for the segregationist Buckley is indifferent to that. That is how we get to trump. Burke: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Of course brooks has done far more for the triumph of evil than nothing-- he has furthered its course.
1
I believe that President Trump in the culmination of President Reagan's Trickle Down attitude toward the middle and lower classes in America. The only way to get people to vote against their economic interests has been to dangle various boogie men before them. Now we have a full-out assault on the 99% paid for by cowardice. Substitute "Americans" for "Mexicans" and you have a more accurate picture of how "The Wall" is going to be built and paid for. The GOP definitely delivered this state to the American people. The Republicans own this new, strange world of fear.
1
Russia brilliant! Destroy the USA from within.
Trump and company are turning our back on our allies and embraces a nation that poses one of the greatest threats.
Bannon's own agenda endorses a Neo nazi approach of suppression of factual news and fear of anyone who does not mirror a white image. His background and quotes from the past are literally terrifying. He really advocated destroying the USA as we know it in news articles within the last decade.
Trump lies, has lied and will always lie, but may honestly believe his own lies.
He sees things short term with no insight into consequences.
His trade policies will leave us with no one to sell our products to. His plans will raise the deficit.
His stepping back from the world stage will give all power and influence to Russia and China.
His energy policies are misdirected and the negative consequences will be felt for generations to come financially and environmentally. He thinks short term...if it feels good now, do it.
As to why he came to power...the media had an outrageous clown and gave him all the attention. The public, alienated in a time of rapid change and yearning for the good old days,which really weren't, saw a savior. He voiced hidden prejudices.
Few followed the last few years when the Republican Congress road blocked every attempt to share the tremendous wealth of the top.
Now they are in charge! Good luck and hope I am wrong about the future under Bannon and Trump.
Trump and company are turning our back on our allies and embraces a nation that poses one of the greatest threats.
Bannon's own agenda endorses a Neo nazi approach of suppression of factual news and fear of anyone who does not mirror a white image. His background and quotes from the past are literally terrifying. He really advocated destroying the USA as we know it in news articles within the last decade.
Trump lies, has lied and will always lie, but may honestly believe his own lies.
He sees things short term with no insight into consequences.
His trade policies will leave us with no one to sell our products to. His plans will raise the deficit.
His stepping back from the world stage will give all power and influence to Russia and China.
His energy policies are misdirected and the negative consequences will be felt for generations to come financially and environmentally. He thinks short term...if it feels good now, do it.
As to why he came to power...the media had an outrageous clown and gave him all the attention. The public, alienated in a time of rapid change and yearning for the good old days,which really weren't, saw a savior. He voiced hidden prejudices.
Few followed the last few years when the Republican Congress road blocked every attempt to share the tremendous wealth of the top.
Now they are in charge! Good luck and hope I am wrong about the future under Bannon and Trump.
Wow -- "alternative fact" Reagan lies in this column. You forget the dog whistle Reagan, the welfare queen Reagan, the "I'll ignore the AIDS crisis Reagan, the Marines murdered in Beirut Reagan, Iran-Contra Reagan, trickle down economics Reagan, etc. Reagan wasn't so much optimistic as hearing impaired and in the grip of Alzheimer's Reagan in which Nancy was calling the shots and hiding the facts of his mental incapacity to be president.
It's insulting to pretend Reagan bore any resemblance to either TR or FDR -- both of whose progressivism he'd abandoned before he ever ran for president.
Your description of Trump as suffering from "an angry form of anhedonia, the inability to experience happiness" is perhaps correct -- his money and his trophy wives haven't made him "happy" nor has being elected to the most important position in the world -- hence the perpetual scowl which in photos translates as a deeply mentally impaired person and then is demonstrated in his rash twitter posts, inability to accept criticism, insecurity about everything about himself and his incessant need for praise and stroking.
Trump is not only a coward (literally) for having dodged military service during the Vietnam War -- he is a bullying racist, misogynist, xenophobe and he IS the epitome of the Republican Party -- the one that Limbaugh created on hate radio and was assisted by Murdoch on hate television and that Pence, McConnell, and Ryan are perpetuating with proposals to harm the public.
It's insulting to pretend Reagan bore any resemblance to either TR or FDR -- both of whose progressivism he'd abandoned before he ever ran for president.
Your description of Trump as suffering from "an angry form of anhedonia, the inability to experience happiness" is perhaps correct -- his money and his trophy wives haven't made him "happy" nor has being elected to the most important position in the world -- hence the perpetual scowl which in photos translates as a deeply mentally impaired person and then is demonstrated in his rash twitter posts, inability to accept criticism, insecurity about everything about himself and his incessant need for praise and stroking.
Trump is not only a coward (literally) for having dodged military service during the Vietnam War -- he is a bullying racist, misogynist, xenophobe and he IS the epitome of the Republican Party -- the one that Limbaugh created on hate radio and was assisted by Murdoch on hate television and that Pence, McConnell, and Ryan are perpetuating with proposals to harm the public.
5
According to Steve Schmidt on The Last Word yesterday 80% of people born when FDR was president believe in the importance of democracy. Among those born since Reagan was President the percentage is 25%. Reagans war against the federal government has born fruit.
2
Not so fast David, Reagan was the author of "government is the problem." Although his policies often did not match his rhetoric, he did embed in Republican orthodoxy a deep disdain for the kinds of economic and social tools Trumps followers so desperately need. I should add, behind that Reagan smile, was also the Republican disdain for those who because of race or poverty or health, lived desperate lives.
2
All bullies are cowards at heart. They bully because they are afraid to relate normally. They are not open to true exchange of ideas because that threatens their deep seated fear of inadequacy in life. They fear everything because everything is threatening to them. That is who our president is.
1
The republican party has found that stoking fear gets them votes, so they have been stoking fear for years. It is not a good long term strategy, and it is no wonder that in the environment that they have created, the ultimate fear-stoker would eventually emerge? FDR, who famously said that "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" must be quaking in his grave. He understood that to succumb to fear would be the undoing of our democracy and our country. There appear to be no leaders of his calibre left in the Republican party - a party riding a wave of self-created fear that is sure to crash us all disastrously onto a rocky shore.
2
There are some good points here. But another thing that has changed in the Republican Party is that they have no ideas or principles anymore. They are a party of cynics who want power and nothing else. The GOP of Reagan, for all its faults, would have resisted Trump's more lunatic notions, such as that stupid, unnecessary wall.
Thank you, Mr. Brooks. This is a very insightful column. The Trump era is ushering in a period of existential doubt for thinking conservatives. Taking the coward point one step further, what of all the Republican lawmakers who are going along with Trump's ghastly vision? After only a single week in office it has become abundantly clear that Trump, despite their desperate, fervent hopes, can only be Trump. Either they are keeping their powder dry until the right moment presents itself, or they have shrugged and been drawn into Trump feverish nightmare.
Mr. Brooks, I agree with your characterization of 45, and even with your contrast with Reagan. However, the Republicans and their media have been sowing fear for years, and 45 is simply their current harvest. Trying to isolate this to 45 is a naked effort to save a generation of voters from never trusting Republicans again. After Republicans and 45 destroy health care, the economy, and our standing in the world, it will not matter.
1
True. Good summary. But what is the solution once Republicans come to terms with the change? My personal solution was to leave the party during the Bush years. I felt like I was pushed out. Fellow Republicans let me know that moderates, pragmatists, were not welcome.
I don't believe Trump is afraid; I believe he is creating fear so that he can be the hero, the avenger. He is telling a story that feeds the fears because that keeps him important in the eyes of his supporters and distracts the focus of his opponents.
Research has shown that humans believe that when someone criticizes a situation, that person is more intelligent than someone who praises the same situation. Trump effectively uses this psychology to lead the masses to believe that he really 'knows' more than others and that he can fix unforeseen problems.
Trump is a consummate sower of doubt, and while he may also believe that the sky is falling, he is not flying from his fear, he is putting on his magic (imaginary) cape and rushing toward the crisis that he has created.
Research has shown that humans believe that when someone criticizes a situation, that person is more intelligent than someone who praises the same situation. Trump effectively uses this psychology to lead the masses to believe that he really 'knows' more than others and that he can fix unforeseen problems.
Trump is a consummate sower of doubt, and while he may also believe that the sky is falling, he is not flying from his fear, he is putting on his magic (imaginary) cape and rushing toward the crisis that he has created.
Two thoughts here David. First, although many - including you in this article - are now fondly reminiscent of Reagan, it was he who unleashed the "Government is bad" virus that has now fully developed into a Democracy resistant strain under Trump and the Republican Congress. Combine that with the attack on public education, the EPA, Health, etc. that were initiated during his presidency and we end up with today's cabinet full of appointees who have the goal of dismantling the departments that they are in charge of.
Second point: I love your reference to Tolkien inasmuch as I believe that Kelly-Ann Conway is Wormtongue incarnate.
Second point: I love your reference to Tolkien inasmuch as I believe that Kelly-Ann Conway is Wormtongue incarnate.
No matter Mr. Brooks take on St. Ronald it doesn't negate the fact that Reagan plowed the ground for Trump Inc. & the current crop of "small government conservatives". He was the one defining government as the problem and unrestricted free market capitalism as the answer. He started us on the road to diminished labor & civil rights and worked to undermine the environmental protections of the clean air & water laws. To look at Reagan with rose colored glasses is to engage in an act of self-deception. Just as to many of us fell for the simplistic morning in America nonsense so now many of the same people have been sucked in by Trump's make a America great again line. Neither saying actually means anything other than what the person hearing it brings with them. So Reagan's "optimism" & Trump's fear mongering are two sides of the same coin, both meant to mislead and confuse while hiding an unspoken agenda, one presented with a smile & the other with a scowl, both with the same intent.
3
Donald Trump is not a politician.
During his run for the Presidency, he fought long and hard not to become one.
He is still fighting now not to become one.
However, the longer he stays in office, surrounded by mostly professional pols, the more he is likely to morph into just another Washington politician.
Then, he will actually start to sound "presidential" and all will be well with the frightened sheep.
Only in America.
During his run for the Presidency, he fought long and hard not to become one.
He is still fighting now not to become one.
However, the longer he stays in office, surrounded by mostly professional pols, the more he is likely to morph into just another Washington politician.
Then, he will actually start to sound "presidential" and all will be well with the frightened sheep.
Only in America.
In order to get elected, you need a catchy slogan. Like Make America Great Again. Which couldn't work if things were fine hunky dory now. And in many respects they are not hunky dory, with the glory days of guzzling American cars a thing of the past and technology, automation and offshore manufacturing a thing of the present. The way things are, even after Trump pushes his agenda, such a slogan, in different forms, can be used in future election years. Because things will never be like the good old days, no matter what Trump does.
Another nonsense column about Saint Ronnie who had the colossal good fortune to be in the right place at the right time when the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight of unsupportable economic policies.
Everybody's slightly daft (until the Alzheimer's kicked in) grandpappy.
Listen to me kiddies, the Republican Party is no more awful and dastardly now than it was under Saint Ronnie.
Well, OK, maybe with the Trumpster flying the Republican flag it is worse.
But don't let anybody suggest that they could be better because they won't be until they abandon their racist, misogynistic, xenophobic policies and stop enshrining the 1% at the expense of the 99%.
Uh, sorry, am I ranting? It's so hard not to when faced with nonsense like this column.
Everybody's slightly daft (until the Alzheimer's kicked in) grandpappy.
Listen to me kiddies, the Republican Party is no more awful and dastardly now than it was under Saint Ronnie.
Well, OK, maybe with the Trumpster flying the Republican flag it is worse.
But don't let anybody suggest that they could be better because they won't be until they abandon their racist, misogynistic, xenophobic policies and stop enshrining the 1% at the expense of the 99%.
Uh, sorry, am I ranting? It's so hard not to when faced with nonsense like this column.
2
For four decades David Brooks has been an unabashed apologist for the worst tendencies in right wing republican ideology, which has directly produced the neo-facist monster he now disavows. The week before the inauguration, after several of Trump's cabinet choices had already been revealed, Brooks was still in the, "hey, let's give this guy a chance mode". I don't understand why any high school or college student would take advice from the self-important musings of Brooks who has proven time and again to be utterly morally and politically confused.
4
Actually, I thought this was one of David's best columns and sensible and understandable from start to finish. These are dark days for our country and the Republican and Democratic parties. This fear that has grasped our country appears uncontrollable. We sink into a deeper and deeper morass with little hope insight. We have seen a mention of "alternative facts" and what appears to be a destruction of data driven decision making within our government. I had thought originally the comparisons to Berlussconi, and Hitler were appropriate but now it just seems the figure of the child Kim Jong-un and the darkness of North Korea is becoming more and more appropriate.
Thank you David.
Thank you David.
I feel your pain, Mr. Brooks, but perhaps for different reasons. I mourn the loss of a Republican party led by men and women of good character who had a deep seated respect for the core values of a republican form of government in a freedom loving democracy. To a lesser extent, the Democratic party suffers from the same disease. One of Reagan's greatest accomplishments was to make the presidency relevant and powerful again by showing that the person who held that office could inspire hope, a positive outlook and have the respect of the world. Sadly, the dark side of his administration, pointed out by others here, remains a troubling part of his history. Perhaps you miss the idea of Reagan the way many Democrats miss the idea of Kennedy.
1
"But he seems to suffer from an angry form of anhedonia, the inability to experience happiness." Have you ever seen video of Trump laughing? I haven't. Oh, he makes snarky jokes, always with a no-so-veiled put-down of someone or some group, but he never laughs.
This along with his breathtaking narcissism, his pathological lying, his complete lack of any moral standards (notice that the words "right" and "wrong" are simply not in his vocabulary, ever) and his history of repeatedly cheating his workers, contractors, and investors — all this makes it plain that he is not just unhappy, he is a seriously damaged human being, someone who is incapable of engaging with other people honestly and with respect.
People tend to vote largely on the extent to which they can identify with the candidate, how much they feel that this guy is the one to put in charge because he (so far it's always been he) is "my kind of person." Somehow enough people ignored the warning signs about what kind of person he actually is, and he got elected. I understand how completely desperate many people are in this country, but I don't understand why they thought this defective man would help them. Why they thought that this man would be *able* to help them.
This along with his breathtaking narcissism, his pathological lying, his complete lack of any moral standards (notice that the words "right" and "wrong" are simply not in his vocabulary, ever) and his history of repeatedly cheating his workers, contractors, and investors — all this makes it plain that he is not just unhappy, he is a seriously damaged human being, someone who is incapable of engaging with other people honestly and with respect.
People tend to vote largely on the extent to which they can identify with the candidate, how much they feel that this guy is the one to put in charge because he (so far it's always been he) is "my kind of person." Somehow enough people ignored the warning signs about what kind of person he actually is, and he got elected. I understand how completely desperate many people are in this country, but I don't understand why they thought this defective man would help them. Why they thought that this man would be *able* to help them.
3
Ronald Reagan established the modern day Republican economic policy / trickle-down Reaganomics.
1) Cut taxes for "the job creators."
2) Increase military spending.
3) Complain about the deficit when the Democrats come in.
They put the debt clock in Manhattan because of Ronald Reagan.
And Dick Cheney infamously said that Reagan proved deficits don't matter. Cheney was referring to that giving the Republican voters the culture wars just like Reagan did was enough to get votes.
In the meantime, after 35 years we can see the rising tide of trickle down economics has mostly lifted the yachts of Wall St.
And we will see the same thing with the Ryan / McConnell / Trump budget.
When it was Obama, the Tea Party shut down the government in protest of raising the debt ceiling, But now Republicans voted on January 9 to raise the debt ceiling by $10 Trillion over the next ten years. Worse, they are projecting the deficit will increase from $500 Billion to $950 Billion.
This is what college age people need to know. They will be paying for it for years to come.
1) Cut taxes for "the job creators."
2) Increase military spending.
3) Complain about the deficit when the Democrats come in.
They put the debt clock in Manhattan because of Ronald Reagan.
And Dick Cheney infamously said that Reagan proved deficits don't matter. Cheney was referring to that giving the Republican voters the culture wars just like Reagan did was enough to get votes.
In the meantime, after 35 years we can see the rising tide of trickle down economics has mostly lifted the yachts of Wall St.
And we will see the same thing with the Ryan / McConnell / Trump budget.
When it was Obama, the Tea Party shut down the government in protest of raising the debt ceiling, But now Republicans voted on January 9 to raise the debt ceiling by $10 Trillion over the next ten years. Worse, they are projecting the deficit will increase from $500 Billion to $950 Billion.
This is what college age people need to know. They will be paying for it for years to come.
4
Trump the current GOP are a natural extension of a trend that began long ago. In a sop to bankers, GWB and his party pushed through changes in the bankruptcy code that clearly would have hurt most those caught in desperate circumstances beyond their making -- illness, job loss, etc. -- all in the name of punishing profligate spenders and deadbeat debtors. I recall thinking, "How did we get so mean?" Or kept the country distracted with color-coded fears of terrorist threats, as they opened the back door to corporate friends to raid our Treasury. Or attacking the poor and unemployed as lazy, as if these conditions were character flaws, all the while dragging their voters along in this mean, pinched view of their fellow citizens and human beings with fears of the weak living off their dime. No, Trump and the GOP didn't invent fear -- they are just manifest destiny of a political strategy as old as mankind that now threatens a new civil war in this country.
2
Looking at Reagan with rose colored glasses and longing for a "morning in America" time again is time not well spent. But there is a vast difference between the Reagan administration and Trump's. Trump, Steve Brannon and Kellyanne Conway are very angry people with mental health issues. Do these three look healthy and happy? They are the equivalent of Dorian Grey's picture and they wear their mental illness on their faces day after day. Which one is going to implode first is hard to say but my bet is on Kellyanne Conway because she currently looks the worse.
6
I agree. I voted for Reagan and Obama based on their optimism that a great America could become even greater because of the talent and energy of its people. Did I agree with all of their policies - no but I believed they had the best interests of the country at heart.
Not so with the current president. Sad.
Not so with the current president. Sad.
1
I agree with Mr. Brooks that Donald Trump's presidential style is that of a paranoid tyrant. I also would not dispute that, in the business world, Trump was a bold optimist, as he embarked on project after project despite an enormous flow of red ink. But where I part company with Mr. Brooks is his assessment that Trump was not a coward on the campaign trail. Trump's gloom-and-doom Inaugural Address mirrored his speech at the Republican National Convention. Throughout the campaign, he played on voters' fears of immigrants, terrorism, and an inability to adapt to a changing economy. The only thing optimistic about the campaign was his shallow slogan, which was more about returning to the past than embracing the future.
1
The wall thing. The problem with the economy is not the mexicans or immigrants, it is the redistribution of wealth created by the impact of technology and decisions to attempt to create appropriate and effective regulations for world trade. World trade is good. Appropriate regulation is essential. He threw out TPP. Hilary and Bernie were wrong not to openly support it. Thousands of hours and discussions and negotiations went into its fomulation. Rescinding the TPP was stupid and wasteful.
As in all enterprises we need to regulate and we need to regulate immigration, but it is wrong to use immigrants as a scapegoat for skewed income distribution. And that is the core of any sense that our culture is failing.
Trump is wrong. We are not doing as well as we can. Starting a border war with Mexico is not a solution. His view is stupid.
Trump is wrong. His supporters are wrong. For a truly vibrant economy that secures our place as world class the income generated by world trade must be shared with everybody. If you don't agree with this you are a greedy capitalist pig.
Capitalism is a terrible system but it is the best that exists. We can't deny capitalism a place in our culture, but it is counterproductive for it to have it all.
Security is an enormous issue. Maybe the only important one. When someone with nothing, with hungry children, with no home, sees someone with a gold spoon in there mouth, there will always be animosity. wha wha wha. I don't have a gold spoon.
As in all enterprises we need to regulate and we need to regulate immigration, but it is wrong to use immigrants as a scapegoat for skewed income distribution. And that is the core of any sense that our culture is failing.
Trump is wrong. We are not doing as well as we can. Starting a border war with Mexico is not a solution. His view is stupid.
Trump is wrong. His supporters are wrong. For a truly vibrant economy that secures our place as world class the income generated by world trade must be shared with everybody. If you don't agree with this you are a greedy capitalist pig.
Capitalism is a terrible system but it is the best that exists. We can't deny capitalism a place in our culture, but it is counterproductive for it to have it all.
Security is an enormous issue. Maybe the only important one. When someone with nothing, with hungry children, with no home, sees someone with a gold spoon in there mouth, there will always be animosity. wha wha wha. I don't have a gold spoon.
2
"We have a word for people who are dominated by fear. We call them cowards"
David, recall the fear driven cowardice of the GOP obstructionism led by Mitch McConnell, claiming that "Obama will be a one term president" and then led the nation into a state of a despairing and frustrating vacuum to be filled by a narcissistic demagogue making false accusations and promises. Succumbing to this fear, many voted into office a man that will in good time disappoint them and give them something to really fear.
All the while, Mitch and his colleagues pretty much remain mum, content to have gained a majority in both chambers, while donald slowly widens and deepens the swamp he once claimed to drain. Two years will give many time to reconsider what they had wrought and decide who will then represent them in their government.
David, recall the fear driven cowardice of the GOP obstructionism led by Mitch McConnell, claiming that "Obama will be a one term president" and then led the nation into a state of a despairing and frustrating vacuum to be filled by a narcissistic demagogue making false accusations and promises. Succumbing to this fear, many voted into office a man that will in good time disappoint them and give them something to really fear.
All the while, Mitch and his colleagues pretty much remain mum, content to have gained a majority in both chambers, while donald slowly widens and deepens the swamp he once claimed to drain. Two years will give many time to reconsider what they had wrought and decide who will then represent them in their government.
4
And now we have the ultimate coward Donald Trump wallowing in illegitimacy for failing to make a bold move to supplant the Electoral College with a direct popular election.
You blew it, you pathetic "Gotcha!" con-artist. You are a loser.
You blew it, you pathetic "Gotcha!" con-artist. You are a loser.
Really good. Though it doesn't change the woes we now have to face, insight brings a sense of relief by means of its own light. Framing our current politics in terms of fear gets to the heart of the matter. However, I think it must also be said that the electorate that put him where he is must also be ridden with fear. Indeed that explains how so many are so willing to deceive themselves so as not to see the outright deceit of their man. Those with eyes closed and fingers stuck in their ears cannot see or hear. Reason has left them. What we shall we do next? The New Testament says that perfect love casts out fear. Where shall we find the companions of love?
1
Mr. Brooks, I watch you on the PBS News Hour and read your columns regularly, so I have a respect for your intellect and insight. However, here you are writing about Trumps "threat perception" which is certainly nothing new in the Republican party. As long as I can remember, and I am now 81 years old, the Republican party has always relied on fear tactics to rouse people into a a threat perception.
And certainly Ronald Reagan was no exception to that rule and neither was Eisenhower. Commiephobic rhetoric over a non existing missile gap and propaganda that Russian communism was going to take over the world is was not a lot different than what we have had ever since. With Republicans there is always an enemy right over the hill waiting to pounce on an unprotected United States, even though we have had the largest, deadliest, most expensive military industrial complex in the world time 10.
Ruling by fear is what dictators do. Not democracies or republics. Donald Trump has shown to be no different than previous republicans. He has only shifted the fear from Russia to Mexico. Read the column today about the Haitians in Mexico. The wolds number one problem today is over population of the planet. But of course no politician in the USA will ever touch that with a ten foot pole.
And certainly Ronald Reagan was no exception to that rule and neither was Eisenhower. Commiephobic rhetoric over a non existing missile gap and propaganda that Russian communism was going to take over the world is was not a lot different than what we have had ever since. With Republicans there is always an enemy right over the hill waiting to pounce on an unprotected United States, even though we have had the largest, deadliest, most expensive military industrial complex in the world time 10.
Ruling by fear is what dictators do. Not democracies or republics. Donald Trump has shown to be no different than previous republicans. He has only shifted the fear from Russia to Mexico. Read the column today about the Haitians in Mexico. The wolds number one problem today is over population of the planet. But of course no politician in the USA will ever touch that with a ten foot pole.
1
Ok, good enough. Trump is wildly more problematical even than Reagan. Temperament matters, and Reagan's was clearly preferable. But I think David Brooks should read Paul Krugman today on the difference between the Reagan legend and the Reagan reality. And he doesn't even mention Reagan's blatant use of racial code words (recall the supposed welfare queens in Cadillacs) and xenophobia (recall the tone of his campaign against returning the Panama Canal to Panama). We don't need more rose-colored thinking about the past.
2
Saint Reagan's "sunny faith" exploded the deficit, help destroy both American manufacturing and collective bargaining (remember the air traffic controllers?). Trump is Reagan 2.0 and the stooges in Congress will help him destroy Medicare, Social Security and the environment while passing enormous wealth up the ladder to their real bosses. It wasn't Mexico that hollowed out the middle class- it was Republican policies shifting wealth to the already wealthy. Take your "Saint Reagan" and stuff it.
5
FDR's warning to the nation..."the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"...would seem an exhortation that our leaders would now remind of us. Yet we are actually encouraged to feel the opposite...we have everything to fear, as Mr Brooks has discussed.
However, I think the warning could be looked at by the citizenry as a means to understand how some leaders "use" fear to generate anxiety, fearfulness, and suspicion, with the effect of an increased willingness on the part of a citizenry that, under less "fearful" circumstances, would be unlikely to support whatever programs/spending their leaders are now proposing to safeguard the nation
Trump is obviously fearful of looking weak, small, cowardly, or of ever being bested. However I'm not sure he actually believes the threats he plans to protect us from are as big as he's making it sound. What he, and to be sure Reagan (he of the Cadillac-driving welfare queen), are good at is generating enough of an increase in fear/anxiety in at least a part of the citizenry to make it easier to do whatever it is they want to do...whether for better or worse...and certainly in this case worse, as the point where rubber meets road seems to be a series of actions/laws that will likely and substantially benefit an ever increasingly small segment of the citizenry...those at the very top to the fiscal/political food chain. To the rest of us...let them eat fear.
However, I think the warning could be looked at by the citizenry as a means to understand how some leaders "use" fear to generate anxiety, fearfulness, and suspicion, with the effect of an increased willingness on the part of a citizenry that, under less "fearful" circumstances, would be unlikely to support whatever programs/spending their leaders are now proposing to safeguard the nation
Trump is obviously fearful of looking weak, small, cowardly, or of ever being bested. However I'm not sure he actually believes the threats he plans to protect us from are as big as he's making it sound. What he, and to be sure Reagan (he of the Cadillac-driving welfare queen), are good at is generating enough of an increase in fear/anxiety in at least a part of the citizenry to make it easier to do whatever it is they want to do...whether for better or worse...and certainly in this case worse, as the point where rubber meets road seems to be a series of actions/laws that will likely and substantially benefit an ever increasingly small segment of the citizenry...those at the very top to the fiscal/political food chain. To the rest of us...let them eat fear.
1
In basing your premise on cowardice you've ignored the true nature and character of Trump. Cowardice is not what drives him, and it is not what differentiates him from Reagan or any other politician. You say he wasn't a coward when he took on massive debt or entered a debate totally uninformed on issues - but those actions, or any of his action since then, have nothing to do with whether he is a coward - and they certainly don't exhibit bravery, which most would consider the opposite of cowardice. His actions are totally and always ruled by his hubris and narcissism. He thinks he is the smartest, greatest, most perfect person, so he doesn't need to consider facts, data, or the opinion of others. Thus - fear, even warranted and good fear, never enters his mind. He's worse and more dangerous than cowardly. He's a loose cannon at the mercy of and ruled by his ego - cowardice is not part of the equation.
1
So right. Stupidity, ego, and naïveté are not the equivalent of courage.
Amen. If my father were alive he'd be apoplectic with the new Republican party and their unfit, unprepared and paranoid leader. I am certain he would have plugged his nose and voted Hillary, and that would have been a first Dem vote for him ever. Why are those Republicans in office that must agree with your sentiments so silent? They are trading short-term gain (acceptance by the party; their careers) for long-term shame (supporting Trump in any matter will not be forgotten if this continues to go south).
4
Whenever any suggests Reagan as the brighter side of American politics, I wonder how they overlook the entire Iran Contra scandal. He did not believe that Nicaragua had the right to decide its own path; he did not hesitate to demean the Constitution by creating a secret government that allowed him to deliberately disobey the will of Congress. Let's never, ever go back to a president with so little regard for domestic or international law. And, let us not forget that it was Reagan who cemented the notion of the government as the enemy. He made Trump possible.
4
It is obvious that the endless vitriol directed against Donald Trump by the New York Times and other liberal media are not going to let up. Now we have neo-con popagandist David Brooks telling us that Trump is full of fear for trying to save American jobs by rejecting unfair trade agreements and possibly saving American lives by tightening border security and immigration. Sorry Mr. Brooks it won't wash. Every poll for decade has shown Americans of all races, creeds, and political persuasions want illegal immigration ended, illegal aliens deported/repatriated, legal immigration sharply reduced, and our borders secured. All Polls also show that overwhelming majorities opposed NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, and now the mis named TPFTP. The fact that all these sell outs of American workers passed except the last just shows how out of touch Congress really is and how they are bought and sold by big business and the super rich as political prostitutes. Ditto for their refusal to reduce immigration and secure our borders. Now Trump is forcing these issues as not only his voters, but millions of other Americans have long wanted. All his actions and proposals may not be right or effective but at least he is trying. The New York Times and most other mis named mainstream media are determined to pursue a seemingly endless vendetta against Trump. Nothing he says or does is going to be right in their eyes and they will oppose him on any and every issue. It is going to be a very long four years.
3
Brooks column is profound and insightful, not said as well by anyone else, yet.
I would add that it's not just Trump that is beset by fear but since he ran on fear, those who voted for him should also consider of what they are afraid. America is great and it really has done a lot better than any other country since the crash of 2008, and it's not suffered the kinds of terrific terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001 that Europe and Asia have. Furthermore, it has not had to deprive it's citizens of their rights the way those others have tried. We live in a safer world that at any time in history, yet Trump wins an election and proceeds to govern as if we are facing the collapse of civilization.
I would add that it's not just Trump that is beset by fear but since he ran on fear, those who voted for him should also consider of what they are afraid. America is great and it really has done a lot better than any other country since the crash of 2008, and it's not suffered the kinds of terrific terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001 that Europe and Asia have. Furthermore, it has not had to deprive it's citizens of their rights the way those others have tried. We live in a safer world that at any time in history, yet Trump wins an election and proceeds to govern as if we are facing the collapse of civilization.
3
The man never buttons his jacket and we always see a tie waving. Trump does this to present an image of being busy and down to work. He has established it as a trademark. But it's a convention for executives to button their jackets as do say all men and women in military uniforms. This suggests that they are at work and believe in an established image of propriety.
But Donald Trump shows off this image in a form of arrogance or contempt for convention which is another trait. He seeks to show he is independent and a tough man. Well he is. But beneath it all he Is a bully and is trying to show he is still a bully this first week in office.
His antics regarding the now famous crowd size pictures, the directives not to support aspects of the Affordable Care Act, his insistence to build the wall before his Sectary of State has weighed in and discussed it with Mexico's chief, and now his allegiance to the GOP agenda at the GOP retreat once again without having the advice and counsel of his cabinet officials in place is the work of an amateur bully.
But Donald Trump shows off this image in a form of arrogance or contempt for convention which is another trait. He seeks to show he is independent and a tough man. Well he is. But beneath it all he Is a bully and is trying to show he is still a bully this first week in office.
His antics regarding the now famous crowd size pictures, the directives not to support aspects of the Affordable Care Act, his insistence to build the wall before his Sectary of State has weighed in and discussed it with Mexico's chief, and now his allegiance to the GOP agenda at the GOP retreat once again without having the advice and counsel of his cabinet officials in place is the work of an amateur bully.
2
I don't think that Trump is "terrified" of any of the things David listed for the simple reason that none of those things form a threat to him personally. No, Trump is only afraid of the criticism of others. The man is a pathological narcissist who is completely lacking in the capacity for empathy or rational thought. His only concern in life is of how others perceive him and that he has to be seen as "winning" all the time. He is a coward because he uses his position to bully those who are less powerful (that will be the theme of his presidency, as it was his business life) and surrounds himself with people who do all the dirty work for him so he can hide behind his Twitter feed. He is a pathetic and dangerous individual.
1
I'll never forget him.
I'll never forgive him.
He tag-teamed up with Jerry Falwell, Phyliss Schafly, the "Moral" Majority, and the hard-right evangelicals to get rid of the Equal Rights Amendment that had been ratified by Congress.
To do so, they joined forces and put a time-limit on the ERA. The ERA was 72 years old, they said: Pass it now or forever be unequal within the Constitution.
Together they slammed the full weight of the United States Government and God and stopped it dead in its tracks.
We won! they chortled.
And, then, just in case you missed the inside joke, Congress quietly ratified and passed a proposed Amendment that had been hanging around for 204 YEARS and put THAT in our Constitution. It dealt with how Congress is paid.
Ha, ha, they chortled.
Fast forward.
One of the foulest men to ever run for any public office, won by once again tag-teaming up with the hard-right evangelicals. I will remove ALL laws against you, he swore to them. Just vote for me.
They did.
They had to.
In the years since Reagan, the numbers of "believers" has crashed.
The "Nones" have skyrocketed.
To the young, religion has become creepy, the Church of the Anatomy: Gay-bashing, Planned Parenthood is evil, women are all men-hating Lesbians.
This past week-end proved Reagan had lost.
Trump was left with a small crowd - and the next day millions of women worldwide joined together.
Trump is the legacy: But Reagan created the unHoly Alliance.
PASS THE ERA NOW