Hell has frozen over.
David Brooks is not equivocating. This in itself is a minor miracle. But he’s a long time small-government conservative so for him to endorse Warren, albeit he’s a never Trumper, is a big deal. It shows, too, how bad our situation really is.
In today’s column in the New York Times, Brooks explains all the reasons it would be preferable for the Democrats to nominate Biden, Buttigieg, Booker, Klobuchar, etc. He feels not only are they more moderate and likely to forge a lasting American coalition but Senator Warren is polarizing.
That’s predictable. He’s a Conservative after all and they love to tell Democrats we’re too far left, which he does in the column. He complains about the Left in general, also predictable.
BUT. He also says that in this moment,
And yet, if it comes to Trump vs. Warren in a general election, the only plausible choice is to support Warren. Over the past month Donald Trump has given us fresh reminders of the unique and exceptional ways he corrupts American life. You’re either part of removing that corruption or you are not. When your nation’s political system is in danger, staying home and not voting is not a responsible option.
Politics is downstream from morality and culture. Warren represents a policy wrong turn, in my view, but policies can be argued about and reversed. Trump represents a much more important and fundamental threat — to the norms, values, standards and soul of this country.
Last week, Trump all but greenlighted the ethnic cleansing of Kurds without an ounce of remorse. He normalizes dishonesty and valorizes cruelty. His letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminds us yet again that we have a president whose professional competence is at kindergarten level. Once a nation has lost its heart, mind and soul, it is very hard to get these things back.
Furthermore, Trump is an unprecedented threat to democratic institutions. Over the past few years, I’ve thought the progressive fears of incipient American fascism were vastly overblown. But, especially over the past month, Trump has worked overtime to validate those fears and to raise the horrifying specter of what he’ll be like if he is given a second term and is vindicated, unhinged and unwell.
www.nytimes.com/…
To which I say, bravo, and thank you David Brooks. I hope every right thinking American listens to you.
This is all beyond partisan politics now. It’s good vs evil in the starkest imaginable terms.