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How David Brooks and His Ilk Created Trump

LowDown

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Glenn Harlan Reynolds in USA Today:

Brooks is, of course, horrified at Trump and his supporters, whom he finds childish, thuggish and contemptuous of the things that David Brooks likes about today’s America. It’s clear that he’d like a social/political revolution that was more refined, better-mannered, more focused on the Constitution and, well, more bourgeois as opposed to in-your-face and working class.

The thing is, we had that movement. It was the Tea Party movement. Unlike Brooks, I actually ventured out to “intermingle” with Tea Partiers at various events that I covered for PJTV.com, contributing commentary to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Examiner. As I reported from one event in Nashville, “Pundits claim the tea partiers are angry — and they are — but the most striking thing about the atmosphere in Nashville was how cheerful everyone seemed to be. . . .

Yet the tea party movement was smeared as racist, denounced as fascist, harassed with impunity by the IRS and generally treated with contempt by the political establishment — and by pundits like Brooks, who declared “I’m not a fan of this movement.” After handing the GOP big legislative victories in 2010 and 2014, it was largely betrayed by the Republicans in Congress, who broke their promises to shrink government and block Obama’s initiatives.

So now we have Trump instead, who tells people to punch counterprotesters instead of picking up their trash.

When politeness and orderliness are met with contempt and betrayal, do not be surprised if the response is something less polite, and less orderly. Brooks closes his Trump column with Psalm 73, but a more appropriate verse is Hosea 8:7 “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” Trump’s ascendance is a symptom of a colossal failure among America’s political leaders, of which Brooks’ mean-spirited insularity is only a tiny part. God help us all.

We have the worst people in public office and in the media that this nation has ever had, and the result is that our culture has become degenerate. If this makes these people uncomfortable then they can just stew in their own juices.
 
Glenn Harlan Reynolds in USA Today:



We have the worst people in public office and in the media that this nation has ever had, and the result is that our culture has become degenerate. If this makes these people uncomfortable then they can just stew in their own juices.

Brooks lives in his own NYT elite world.
He writes for that crowd.
He's happy if he can get them to say "David's conservative but he's one of the good ones."
He's neither.
 
Brooks lives in his own NYT elite world.
He writes for that crowd.
He's happy if he can get them to say "David's conservative but he's one of the good ones."
He's neither.

Hedging bets is one thing. Hedging principles is something else entirely. Brooks is familiar with the latter.
 
You seem a little confused. Here is how Trump was made: Getting pregnant: How babies are made | BabyCenter

Question: why do conservatives always blame others for their actions?

In this case conservatives are pointing the finger at a conservative. But, in general, conservatives always blame themselves, and liberals are happy to agree with them. If I had counted on my fingers how many times liberals have shifted blame for the effects of their bad policies to others I'd have had to get a truck load of new fingers. Government regulation causes consumers in many areas like medicine and finance no end of expense and headaches, and the government blames medical insurance, the banks, etc. for all the heartache and sorrow. And that's just standard operating procedure, tip of the iceberg.
 
In this case conservatives are pointing the finger at a conservative. But, in general, conservatives always blame themselves, and liberals are happy to agree with them. If I had counted on my fingers how many times liberals have shifted blame for the effects of their bad policies to others I'd have had to get a truck load of new fingers. Government regulation causes consumers in many areas like medicine and finance no end of expense and headaches, and the government blames medical insurance, the banks, etc. for all the heartache and sorrow. And that's just standard operating procedure, tip of the iceberg.

:lamo
 
In this case conservatives are pointing the finger at a conservative.

Which has nothing to do with what I said.

But, in general, conservatives always blame themselves, and liberals are happy to agree with them. If I had counted on my fingers how many times liberals have shifted blame for the effects of their bad policies to others I'd have had to get a truck load of new fingers. Government regulation causes consumers in many areas like medicine and finance no end of expense and headaches, and the government blames medical insurance, the banks, etc. for all the heartache and sorrow. And that's just standard operating procedure, tip of the iceberg.

LoLz.
 
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