What Just Happened in America, with David Brooks

[@davefran01]

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. Winston Churchill

[@CarolKnoles-c5m]

Really appreciate David’s wisdom and kindness.❤

[@JaniceThorsell]

Thank you David for your insight. I’ve listened to you on PBS news hour and have such respect for you. This conversation has opened my mind to seeing this election in a very different light. It was wonderful to hear your comment about change taking place as we live the example of Jesus.

[@emiliamartucci8291]

I had the opposite reaction. I have lost respect for him because of this interview.

[@billr.2210]

I have remained neutral.

[@TheDmonet]

​@emiliamartucci8291 If the criticism of one man reflexively turns you against anyone who provides the criticism of said man, you need to take a step back and realize that you have become a cult member, not a rational thinking human being. I voted for Trump as the lesser of 2 evils, but make no mistake that he is a narcissist, grifter, pathological bs artist and con man. How this isn't so obvious to everyone, I can't understand.

[@wholeNwon]

When describing Hamilton's political philosophy, remember that he said that he did not favor universal enfranchisement because the average person was "too easily swayed by superficiality." Human nature hasn't changed.

[@jimosborne2]

We praise Jefferson- and ignore Hamilton (until the musical) at our peril

[@billfletcher7602]

Love Brooks. Great line: "Trump is the wrong answer to the right questions"

[@jimosborne2]

Duh. Didn’t we see that by the end of his first term?

[@billfletcher7602]

@@jimosborne2 I guess not....

[@mikeash7428]

Hearing his conclusion about if he was the king of the world what would he ask christians or those who have supported Trump to do would be ... to be grateful and to be more generous of spirit and not feeling left out (I think that was part of it it) seems like maybe Trump was the right answer to the wrong questions and that if they had changed their conception of thei expectation about life and their strength to do something about it they would have chosen somebody else to represent them.

[@jimvugteveen5680]

It is time to wake up because he is what we have.

[@Joekd6.1]

Many of Trump’s policies will make inflation worse

[@nancyberry7926]

Like David brooks and what he says, thank you it helps in these times!

[@roysox2]

Trump isn’t going to do anything to bring back these abandoned towns in rural America.

[@Bigfacts1117]

How would one go about doing that? Serious question

[@davidpowellseattle]

Religious theocracy is not going to "bring back" towns either. We need to find something else. I know Oligarchy will continue to exploit. Hmmm.

[@lproth]

Maybe, but you liberals don’t give a damn about those towns and the people in them! You only pretend to care when theres an election, the same way you treat the black Americans in the inner cities. The Hispanic and working class whites are now awake!

[@tiwi5762]

The point that small towns are doomed is valid in any part of the 🌍 ​@Bigfacts1117

[@shantanatarajan]

i like David Brooks views as I watch PBS Firday, I am very sad that character and ethics lost. We will pay for it.

[@alexandracolmant9983]

Very good interview with David Brooks, who doesn't disappoint. Thank you!

[@nancytankelson5451]

I love David Brooks' intellect, but moreso his humanity.😊

[@SteelyTheVan]

I enjoyed listening to David for his clarity of thought. He’s not always right or has all the answers but his earnestness is real.

[@lydiahill-expertineradicat657]

Thank God for people like David Brooks who knows a thing or two about nuanced thinking.

[@gordonpepper1400]

He does???

[@justanotherguy1794]

Huh? This David Brooks? Egads!

[@Kekuahiwi]

Over decades I've listened to David Brooks as the Republican movement of the late 20th century alienated him and left him behind. As a progressive and secularist, I disagreed with his conservatism and religiosity on views and issues. I was annoyed by him. I felt a fair bit of schadenfreude as I watched him floating on the iceberg as he drifted further and further, alone and nonplussed by the shift in politics and society. I've come to listen to him with a much more accepting ear as I've grown as well as he has. He has become in my mind and respect, one of our exemplary intellectual thinkers on society, morality, and contemporary culture and politics.

[@tonymnQuan]

Thoughtful expression. Well-written.

[@jimvugteveen5680]

That was before Capehart arrived at the scene with his liberal tripe.

[@endabcs4708]

As a fellow progressive and secularist, I think that's pretty well written, but I can't help but think about his own role in creating this beast. He seems to understand why people feel disassociated but continues to blame the same things that are scapegoated by his own creations, like Tucker Carleson. I find it frustrating that he never challenges or critiques his ideologies that continue us down this spiral. My personal schadenfreude was when the weekly standard folded to his own apprentices' Daily Caller. David Brooks, killed by his own creations, and his own beliefs. I guess that is the Burkean hierarchy after all, yes?

[@cepamor]

​​@@jimvugteveen5680so what kind of tripe do you serve? 😮

[@worship-ondemand]

"You can't fix stupid." May history recall just how idiotic America's choice was and rightly condemn those who allowed it to happen.

[@northernbohemianrealist]

I have been disappointed that no democratic leader has been honest. What happened with the election? Americans are STUPID. Just as Liz Cheney will one day be a Republican leader, any Democrat who told this truth would be in charge in a few years.

[@terencequinn2682]

Capitalism and materialism and greed - the things Americans will never see past.

[@stephenthompson5413]

@@terencequinn2682- how’s your trust doing these days..?

[@terencequinn2682]

@@stephenthompson5413 - how’s it going handing America over to criminals, rapists and crony capitalist gangsters? No matter how poor and how uneducated you are thinking crooks are going to make your life better is beyond stupid. Even if their bigotry and racism match up with yours. I spent my life in public service, in education, I worked and served my people.

[@marclapine1305]

So what's the solution David? We need to dumb down the educated so we're on the same level? I was the first generation to attend college in my family and worked my way through school: with $500 BEO Grants, a work/study job at 20hr/week, for 3 years and full-time work with part-time school, extending a 4-1/2 yr program to 7 years to graduate. I worked for 3 years as a temporary, guaranteed 26 weeks of pay, and more work if it was in the budget, for the next 3 years. I was offered my first professional position 10 years after my freshman fall semester in college. Reagan was elected that professional entry job year, and I wondered how Americans could elect a B-rate actor over Jimmy Carter. This year, I found out it could be worse, and I point the finger at the profound ignorance of our gullible electorate. I rue the collapse of our public educational system, which has occurred since I left school, and I believe this is the primary reason people cannot critically think nor employ logic with any regularity. Smartphones play some part as well.

[@jimvugteveen5680]

You should be proud of yourself. I am a Goldstar son. I used my father's GI bill and worked 3 hours a day for my food. With other people's help, I owned an Independent Pharmacy for 35 years.

[@KevinKasp-v9u]

There are two beliefs that virtually guarantee the demise of the American Left as a political power. First, to hold the opinion that those without a college degree are “uneducated.” An electrician and a Navy submarine nuclear reactor operator don’t have college degrees but they both undergo years of training and are generally quite intelligent. There are millions of others like them in jobs such as pipe fitters or running multimillion dollar concrete batch plants that the Left lumps together as “uneducated.” I would bet on nearly any of them against a college graduate with a humanities or sociology degree in any critical thinking skills test whatsoever. Secondly, the Left believes in identity politics as the driving force and motivation for nearly every social interaction. Just as the 16th century Church incorrectly viewed the Earth as the center of the Solar System, with all sorts of complicated mathematical corrections to account for planets’ and stars movements, the Left offers myriad rationalizations to explain last week’s election results - but always from the perspective of identity politics. Just as changing perspective and accepting the Sun is the center of the solar system instantly simplified explaining the pathways of celestial bodies, dropping identity politics as the explanation for people’s motivation for the simple and correct people care about values, merit, and work ethic. They are repulsed by identity politics.

[@karengarrison6733]

This is what I wonder about. Also a similar path to my education. And first in my family

[@cameronmurie]

Noam Chomsky has written volumes on this. "The dumbing-down of America" - I will say I often find Chomsky Radical and extreme in some of his views, but I often think if he is even "Half-Right" it's truly a dreadful picture.

​@@cameronmurieManufacturing Consent is a pivotal work. However, it applies presently to what constitutes the Left moreso than center/center-right. Trump is the reaction to this.

[@ricklarson392]

David Brooks' observations are probably spot on accurate. I wish I could be as magnanimous as he is, but I cannot. All I see is cruelty, hatred, fear, attachment to conspiracy theories, and stupidity. Maybe someday I will be a bigger person but not today.

[@garyyoder8880]

I sure can empathize with that. I have friends who are anywhere from just Trump voters to full on fans. I am just over it with respecting people's views when they don't respect mine. I swing the pendulum between trying to have empathy and just giving up on the friendships

[@twincitieschannel1894]

I'm with you, friend.

[@mstieber79]

To cope with the GOP & Corporate Dem push for globalization & China's WTO entry that gave us 2000s & 2010s de-industrialization, this country needed a new GI Bill to re-skill/educate displaced workers, but that smelled like Big Government to most in Congress. Understandably, people who can't keep up with food, housing, insurance and tuition want a solution, but blaming the White House instead of acknowledging the corporate hand in inflation is simplistic.

[@Sayheybrother8]

The main stream news needs to quit lying and being propaganda for one party. We’re not stupid!

[@squeakeththewheel]

Strive for it.

[@BlueBaron3339]

Yes, David *loves* to reference the past to deliver context. Mine was more from the journalist and author John Gunther whose beat during the early rise of fascism was Austria. He sounds a bit like David too. *"The breakdown of the family, the church, the institutions of government had prepared fertile soil for the rise of the dictators: Hitler, Mussolini, Dolphus. They were all neurotics of course but they had also become father substitutes. People like to be afraid. They tell themselves that they are defiant, that they are independent. They roar in a crowd. The ectoplasm of the dictator envelops them. They believe they are now part of the leadership. Obedience and defiance finally merge, and the leader becomes the new savior.”*

[@dannysullivan3951]

While I understand that Brooks is personally a caring person, I find his conservative writing a mere soft pedaling of what the GOP has become. At no time during this election cycle did I see him stand up firmly to the macabre fiasco of current GOP politics. Instead he cherry picked Dem weakness’s here and there. As a conservative columnist I suppose that is his job, but I do not find him, in his political writings to be some kind of ‘sane’ voice in the middle. He’s the great equivocator.

[@johnanderson3700]

As a clergyman of 60+years thank you for your thoughtful discussion. I am reminded every time I enter the pulpit by a plaque on many pulpits: we would see Jesus. How do I not block Jesus who is trying to speak? In today’s world our challenge as pastors and priests is not to get in the way of the vision of Jesus that transcends all cultural and religious expressions and comes down to striving, despite ourselves, to do as Jesus bids us: Love the Lord our God above all, and neighbor as ourselves; what a challenge in today’s world. In the end it comes down to trusting that it happens through God’s doing, often despite me, and trust that whether I can see it or not God is working in the world and will in the end, despite our getting in the way; bring to fruition the divine vision of our lives together in the world.

[@paulwheeler6609]

Sir Herbert Read wrote in 1958, "The basic emotion in peacetime has become a horror vacui: a fear of being alone, of having nothing to do, a neurosis whose symptoms are restlessness, an unmotivated and undirected rage, sinking at times into vapid listlessness. This universal neurosis has developed with the progress of technology. It is the neurosis of men whose chief expenditure of energy is to pull a lever or push a button, of men who have ceased to make things with their hands. Such a change in the basic modes of human activity must deeply affect mental life and moral behavior. Its most obvious expression would be aimlessly aggressive. Unused energies, deprived of traditional outlets, explode in violence." This reality, combined with media platforms supercharging false narratives and a feminist movement who have abandoned a community source, made this sadly inevitable.

[@americanexpat8792]

I Inflation was - and still is - the problem because, while gas prices went down, nothing else did. I live in Ireland now and our grocery prices never rose like those in the US. Whenever I return, I am utterly amazed at how expensive things are in the States. I honestly feel sorry for people, especially in the bottom half, since their wages have hardly budged in the last 30 years. So, INFLATION, was the problem in last few years and INCOME INEQUALITY has been the problem all this century. All these other high-level analyses overcomplicate and overthink it. Like James Carville says, “It’s the economy, stupid”.

[@endabcs4708]

But every time progressives say, "it's the material needs of the many" or the "we need to provide opportunity", we get shouted down by "moderate democrats" and "Burkean Republicans who believe in limited government", like Brooks that say, "look, 80% of the taxes are paid for by 10% of the country, and we don't want to run them out of business by asking them to do more", without any introspection that 90% of the wealth is earned and owned by that same 10% of the country, that this is Adam Smith's progressive tax rates, and that "when America was great" and when people like David Brooks was growing up in this land of opportunity, our marginal tax rates were anywhere between 80% to 98%, and we weren't cutting opportunities, we were expanding them, investing in environment, roads, infrastructure, universities, healthcare, science, retirement, and education. Today's far left progressives are the Greatest Generations' moderates.

[@jonathandufern7421]

David Brooks is such a beacon of hope for clarity amongst a world of static noise. I have read his books and been listening to him for over a decade on the PBS News Hour on Fridays. We need people like him in politics instead of many we have today.

[@jimvugteveen5680]

I also remember his conservative points of view. But his point of view has turned 180. I no longer watch PBS at all.

[@meryldanziger4870]

Thank you for articulating my thoughts so perfectly.

[@JT-qq2sg]

I am closer to 80 than 70 in an active healthy life and every time I visit a Dr. I am now asked am I depressed or lonely. My reply is how ,when looking in a mirror would I be able to self-diagnose the mental state I am in ,from another person's point of view or observation of me. My answer it is nearly impossible. For you David have you ever looked into the mirror and said with my standard of living, expendable income and friends and acquaintances living like I do ," Am I an elitist". I would bet you without thinking would answer, " No "

[@darrinheaton2614]

This is a sharp and thought-provoking analogy! It highlights a critical blind spot in the U.S. today: no individual, political group, or socio-economic class can fully grasp how others perceive them, as much of that perception is shaped by projections. Just as I project onto others what I cannot accept in myself, so too do they project onto me. The growing fragmentation of American society into competing identity groups exacerbates this issue. Unless we collectively challenge the dominance of individualism in our institutions, the current climate of fear, mistrust, and misunderstanding will only deepen.

[@robkeith390]

I really enjoyed the interview with David Brooks. Like many folks in this country I am still trying to understand what the American citizens were trying to say on election night. I liked the quote from David.. Donald Trump is the wrong answer to the right question.

[@Athenaikos]

Except that Kamala Harris was the wrong answer to the wrong question.

[@CantonBn]

The citizenry was and is saying that If Donald Trump was not the best answer; that Kamala Harris, and in fact the entire Democratic Party policies, are manifestly a worse answer.

[@ginakhoo8423]

The Americans are mostly COMPLAINERS who feel they are entitled to more than the rest of their fellowmen on this planet. And I’m sorry but I have zilch respect for anyone who voted for tRump, especially the women who voted for tRump.

[@ginakhoo8423]

@@CantonBnWRONG! You have the wrong question to start with!

[@jimvugteveen5680]

We midwesterners understand; we are tired of regulations, inflation, and an invasion of illegals.

[@javagirl]

I want to know what the 14 books are that Mr Brooks used to assign to his Yale students! 1. The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day 2,3,4,5…? Thanks

[@roysox2]

Please tell me what year in America a bus driver was admired and respected. There are few Trump supporters among the college educated because they recognize he is a liar and unfit to serve.

[@xaque9732]

maybe when the honeymooners was on tv?

[@williamtaylor5193]

These same college-educated persons believe that gender is a social construct, that any racial disparity in any institution is due to racism, that CO2 is the sole cause of climate change, and that the DNC is a model for democracy. Perhaps a college education is overrated.

[@salinasdoubledutch]

Always wise counsel and perspective.

[@boboakes980]

We got conned by a con man. The rest is interesting but misses the real tragedy of Trump

[@reviewwriter8352]

I believe your comment sums up the real truth.

[@johnbutler6408]

It's cultural decay

[@billr.2210]

If con man means confidence man, I am confident about DJT!

[@jlvandat69]

Very good perspectives. It helps a LOT to compare the MAGA movement to a religious one, as they have so many similarities. In both case, e.g., you will never override their faith using facts and reason. Adherence to "doctrine" takes precedence over democracy, morality, and common decency. This helps explain why the majority ignored the typical metrics used to judge an incumbent party, things like unemployment, inflation, GDP growth. I think one reason DJT succeeded in his delusion perpetuation is because of social media and FOX.....where people were constantly exposed to misinformation and disinformation, and where facts are seldom of value.

[@gordonpepper1400]

respectively disagree - he has not identified the main reasons at all.

[@JohnWetherill-r4l]

I welcomed this kind of discussion. I wonder if those on the right will just see it as more condescension. I think they are enjoying their anger.

[@pamolson2900]

Thoughtful comments on what separates and unites us.

[@JackMenendez]

David, I love your insights, and they are as quotable as always. However, the reason for this election's outcome was very simple. Starting with Reagan, working-class Americans were disenfranchised. Nobody asked for their jobs to be shipped overseas, turning vast parts of America into a rust belt, also known as a battleground state, but that is what one administration after another did. David, you know 1920s European history. Why are you surprised that fascism could get such a firm hold on the minds of America's working class? The Republicans, the ones like you, David, were shattered by the strongman wannabe, Trump, leaving the Democrats holding the bag. There was nothing the Democrats could do.

[@jimvugteveen5680]

I live in a small rural community in the midwest, we still feel over 19% inflation in this hamlet. We also hear a more secular message in the press and on cable news networks. I still hear from David an elitist attitude from the East Coast and I feel, he is speaking from an elevated platform

[@slapnutz1]

You have an inferiority complex you need to solve.

[@tonymnQuan]

19%? Strange. I'm also in a small midwestern town and couldn't put a figure on inflation. Everything is too high except gas, but don't think politicians magically set such things. Rich businesses prey on the poor in general it seems. I'm not a fan of Brooks. He tries to have his cake and eat it, too.

[@jimvugteveen5680]

@@tonymnQuan well the current administration sure made a mess of it.

[@tombrown1898]

Mr. Brooks, were these people you encountered in these churches aggrieved when they entered the church, or were they TOLD that they should feel aggrieved by a spellbinding preacher? I have a sister who is a full-on Trump evangelical, whom I dearly love. She is retired after many years as a manager of the Physical Therapy department of a large metropolitan hospital. I have a brother who is a senior partner of a law firm, and has been there for forty years. Although he has never fallen for Trump, he still insists that Christians are sorely persecuted in America. I suggested he have a talk with a friend of mine who is an Iraqi Christian. Now, he was truly persecuted. We were all raised together as middle-class Presbyterians. All graduated from college. I'm the only Democrat in the family, and the only non-believer. And there's the difference.

[@parkerholden7140]

Brooks has a great understanding of a complex situation One area I think is somewhat less understood is the element of the mental health nurtured by manufacturing jobs. Not everyone is suitable for high tech or professional sports, or interesting white collar work.

[@nickandmikec]

Donald Trump did "extremely well" among less educated Americans, and Harris did well among educated Americans. What does that say about our nation. Stupidity rules?

[@paulwolfe3663]

Or maybe that disdain does not deserve the mantle.

[@Bill-v8r]

He's a salesman and we are consumers

[@GregDenver303]

When you say “less educated” or you referring to those without college degrees? From what I’ve seen in the past few years the explosion of those getting college degrees are in field that certainly do not demonstrate true education. Also, those with “more education” are apparently looking for a free handout from the democrats to pay off their student loans. Now we have the republicans. I guess those with more education are really the less educated, huh?

[@jimvugteveen5680]

As a well educated Pharmacist, she came across as dumb and being a puppet

[@mattmorris2141]

It depends on how you define education, doesn't it?

[@reviewwriter8352]

This still makes no sense to me. People want community, so they choose a racist, traitor, and felon???

[@mikewilliams6025]

Slander gets you nowhere. Maybe your characterizations are wrong because you've been lied to?

[@blakelannon6201]

Very interesting thank you.

[@BrianStinson]

I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.

[@jljones6343]

The responsibility for this belongs, though, on all levels; too many of us have, maybe unconsciously but still there, chips on our shoulders, instinctively prepared to take offense, react and act before our brains click on. And we've all forgotten how to truly debate, which requires listening, thinking about what the other person says, maybe even being able to repeat it, and then try to reply without telling the other person what they are, calling him/her names, instead of sticking to the subject.

[@gordonpepper1400]

I cannot believe that someone this smart (David Brooks) does not identify the changes in technology - with the respect to the 'class' divide and in particular the isolation and loneliness - as the main contributor to these two points. The class divide is 'educational' - based as the college educated versus the non college educated (or if you want to say literate vs non-literate), and the isolation is 100% based on the proliferation of electronic technology especially the cell phone generation. Does Me. Brooks not read McLuhan, Postman, etc? I seriously cannot believe he does not mention these very obvious factors with respect to these two, of his three points.

[@islandtook]

This is the ONLY election postmortem I have run across that touches the heart of America with wisdom. I can only hope more people find it and listen to it.

[@tonymnQuan]

Politics is a poor man's spirituality. Politics won't bring you wisdom.

[@gcummings88]

the average person is not comforted by the fact the inflation is down to 2% when he pays for his groceries.

[@KathrynHaugan]

It's amazing how smart commentators are after the fact.

[@Azzenstudent]

I love reading the comments to any David Brooks column in which the left-wing choir say Brooks was a Republican for years so he has to be wrong now. Talk about epistemic closure.

[@12345patbet]

David has always been consistent in his analysis.

[@dandubreuil9676]

America has become a country of whiners. So sad.

[@RPlavo]

Yes, we’ve been told we don’t have it good enough!

[@savethezombies]

Too true, and now the biggest whiner in the country has been re-elected. I always depended on the GOP to be the party with dignity; that didn't whine...but now I realize that was a long time ago.

[@russt44]

David Brooks is very good at splitting insignificant hairs and always misses the crucial essence of what is rotten in our Denmark. What would he be saying and frankly who would give a s*^t about the political trends in Germany in the thirties?

[@endabcs4708]

It is astounding to me, as someone who has literally wanted to throw my drink at the TV when watching Brooks and Sheilds, and now Capehart, that Brooks has a clear ability to see what the problem is, and the unique inability and self-critique to see that he advocates for the system and policies that contribute to them. This interview only cements my view further. He always seems perplexed at cruelty, or why free market capitalism and Ayn Randian "rational" self-interest or ethical egoism isn't the answer to everything. I don't know if David Brooks invented the phrase "cultural Marxism", but he certainly is the only that put it into the public sphere.

[@michaelandrew964]

I listen to or read David Brooks, quite often. I understand the need for some moderation in life. What I can’t understand is that all of the stars of PBS and network liberals and conservatives never consider for a moment that a complement of worker owned businesses in our country combined with a restrained capitalism may produce the best life for the most people. Then we wouldn’t have to live in the patterns of terror, relaxation, terror, relaxation, forever, and ever. Human nature is frightening, but it can be moderated just as this country was founded, so can we now evolve into something better. We can’t just leave it like it is because look what just happened. And, yes, I understand that those who voted for Trump were aggrieved.

[@reviewwriter8352]

They voted to be more aggrieved

[@ginakhoo8423]

People have been moving to Austin TX because companies meaning jobs are available there. And Austin TX used to be affordable but not anymore. In addition, I’ve been to Texas and the residents there are mostly liberal unlike the rest of Texas.

[@jaybolsega1861]

Pretty good to a point. Saying there are no Trump supporters at various institution and citing non-profits, well why would a person who accepts Trumps lies and fraud work at a non-profit? He sort of buys into the victimization of Trump and his supporters,

[@davetekannon]

David, you are a voice from the heart and soul of your beloved country. I sent this comment to someone else, but I think you would enjoy to read it. We should respect Trump's victory only because he won fairly his presidential election. But the jury is out on if anyone should respect a man who instigated an insurrection, a man accused and found guilty in a civil court for rape, in which he had to pay more than 80,000,000 dollars to the victim and a man who is a convicted felon, and a presidential candidate who openly called out on global media for shooting in the head the American heroine, Liz Cheney, because she disagreed with him and lastly as berating and insulting on the world stage some of America's top generals, military officers whom are highly respected and decorated war veterans. As America's President-elect, a man who never served in the military but is a known draft-dodger, Trump is unfit for the job and everyone knows it. My American friends say they voted for Trump because he promised lower grocery prices. Many are saying they're going to get more than lower food costs.

[@terry3596]

I'm not so sure he won fairly when votes were bought and paid for. We may never know how much.

[@lindsaylivolsi6320]

Calling Liz Cheney a heroine is a disgrace. And Trump didn’t call for her to be executed for gods sake, he plainly said that Liz Cheney loves war, but how would she feel being on the other end of the barrel? It’s pointing out war hawk hypocrisy.

[@toluwole]

This was great. Well said. Thank you.

[@renzo6490]

There might be two political parties in America, but it is possible that neither one represents the form of governance that you favor. I have been what you might call a New Deal Democrat. I want a government that helps people live a richer life...not necessarily a life of wealth and riches, but a life of personal growth and fulfillment . Our Capitalist run society does not value much more than money. The pursuit of money, they say, is the root of all evil. That does not bode well for the quality of life for the vast majority of us in this country. Recently, the political scene here has turned especially ugly and vulgar. I feel that hope is gone for the kind of world I envision. What do I do?

[@tomarmstrong1281]

America just took a wrong turn, choosing inward-looking and self-serving as the preferred options.

[@ashrafalam6075]

Respected, From Pakistan, You speak about spiritual,we take it granted about Religious Spiritual. Basically spirituality exists in every sphere of life. It's the soul/ essence of relationship. Previously many professions like Medicine/ Teaching/ Any Welfare/ Charity etc etc. Still Medicine has the maximum spiritual values. In many professions its declining or finished. Society survives only spiritual values. ( can't be quantify). When spiritual/ human values finished consequently Societies vanished. Similarly when soul comes out human become dead. Spiritual Values are different kinds of electromagnetic forces

[@imagodei0327]

A pleasure. Thank you!

[@jorgejohnson451]

David Brooks has been the king of normalization when it comes to Trump.

[@dh2profit]

Over 50% of the voters need no “normalization”. By definition, they are normal.

[@JohnSmith-vr3xr]

Finding your podcast is God sent. I admire David Brooks a great deal. As a Catholic I was a traditional Democrat until the Dems left me. As a Midwestern I know and love folks on both sides. What has shocked me is when I am with liberal Democrats at parties they love to make fun of Jesus and say "Christian" with such disdain and hate. At First anger and hurt. It certainly changed my view of democrats because they are falling into the same trap all prejudice is, it is just a different flavor of hate. It makes them feel superior. They thought they could win without Christians (large population of Black and Latino and women and men are Christians) silly Democrats. My goal is to make people know we are Christians by our love.

[@nickandmikec]

Dems left you. Catholics voted for Donald Trump in the majority. Shame on you. I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools but won't be returning to church because of this election. Christianity is dead!

[@Knaeben]

This is the problem. Generalizing behavior to all of 'them'.

[@JohnSmith-vr3xr]

@Knaeben Yes! What hurt the most was that these people knew one of the most kind, tolerant, giving Christians and still made jokes. I grew up at I time when joke about stereotypes were rampant. We learned they are not harmless. This is a lost lesson on both sides.

[@tonymnQuan]

This sounds kind of like lumping the great of diversity of liberals into one thing. What you descibe sounds more like the monolithic Conservative view where everything is painted in broad strokes. I think Fundamentalist Christians are more who might get made fun of, not Jesus per se. Jesus's words are way cool. Maybe not always so much his followers.

[@JohnSmith-vr3xr]

@tonymnQuan You are right, it is not all liberals. as a liberal leaning Christian I have been so surprised by this. I heard Trump supporters talk about this I really didn't believe it until I heard it myself. This group is from a very liberal community and making Jesus Joke is so common and like their cocktail talk. Very uncomfortable

[@JSK010]

Couldnt see it coming while a lot of others did, now uniquely positioned to explain what happened after the fact. What a joke.

[@olgaalexander5856]

I can see where Brooks is coming from and even agree up to a point, but when he interviews a guy who laments his loss of status from over thirty years ago I just roll my eyes in disbelief!!! After 30 years everyone''s world view and status is different is this reason enough to disregard evidence, truth and facts and elect a felon, because you lost a job and maybe didn't demand to be retrained etc and now you want respect????

[@darrinheaton2614]

You poor Americans seem so lost. You dig in your heels, choose a side, and spend two straight years tearing down the other. Your so-called left-wing, Democrat-aligned media is just as bad as the GOP counterpart-each projecting their worst qualities onto the other while claiming moral superiority. Watching this election unfold felt like listening to bickering adolescent siblings in the backseat, completely oblivious to the thick fog ahead and the fact that Dad is on a collision course with another driver speeding straight toward him in the same lane.

[@PatriciaPalmer-o3e]

❗Mired in erstwhile academic explanations, Brooks like so many others living in his rarified atmosphere, he's completely out of touch with public sentiment. It's not "class" gender or identity, it's PISSED ! Pissed crosses all socio-economic groups.

[@nickandmikec]

Inflation is down to less than 2%. That is not an existential anxiety. Trump is however.

[@tomlauer9504]

At the end of this podcast I thought of an idea I had read: “The greatest threat to your happiness & wholeness is your unrecognized spiritual needs.”

[@michaelbell5727]

Where did the "Impersonal Citizen" originate? What is the "Impersonal Citizen"? Will you allow a non-mainstream voice to color in the spaces?

[@ruthhamilton8297]

Thanks, Davis, you speak to my heart and my intellect. You have given me talking points for use with my conservative family members. I was not aware of Hamiltonian philosophy and will now further research it. Thanks again from the bottom of my heart!

[@charlesrobinson9881]

Your introduction on music are way too long. I give up.

[@CalvinSMoore]

Agreed!

[@NoraMartinez-vr1hx]

I no longer feel we are the good guys…USA has a rise in meanness and anger. I heard “we are in a spiritual crisis”. It’s true and it’s sad. I still love this country and always will but I am afraid of what is to come.

[@RPlavo]

I’m in my eighties and can’t believe we’ve come to this……seems like our country is made up of WWE fans

[@robincastle7641]

If you believe in a loving and merciful God, then you know the power of love to overcome the love of power. Faith in God will bring us together when we recognize that Truth is one because there is only one God, and all the true religions are from that same Source. People who blame religion for world woes need to investigate the essential verities common to all religion and meditate on Christ’s teaching “You will know them by their fruits”. People that spew hate and break the Golden Rule are evidently the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing”

[@RPlavo]

@@robincastle7641 ok…..faith in God doesn’t seem to be bringing us together, sad to say……

[@karengarrison6733]

But I don't understand how they see trump doing that - saving communities, helping people save their communities because people have moved to Austin etc. He's not that insightful, compassionate or innovative. Or maybe I'm an ostrich Democrat. How does a crude, crass, insulting, person who calls people vermin and garbage - bring people together or ease that kind of issue

[@cepamor]

In Springfield they're eating the dogs... 🐕

[@terencequinn2682]

The rich, corrupt and greedy capitalists maintain power by feeding the bigotry and prejudices of the poor and stupid. This is why Fox News exists and all the others - until you address this truth the future is doomed.

[@Adogslife54]

What I don’t understand is why he can say all those things. Then, when we say he is fascist or his supporters are racist/sexist, etc. we get criticized? In other words, he can lie about everybody. But, if we counter with the truth, we are “out of touch” , “never going to get votes”, etc. How does one compete with that?

[@mikewilliams6025]

You know Biden literally just called people garbage?

[@mikewilliams6025]

​@@terencequinn2682and all innovation and tools in your life are thanks to them. So Commies can leave.

[@levenscott645]

I am surprised that the analysis of the election result I have read (and heard) has had little or nothing to say about 'electorate volatility', a phenomenon that has been around in many countries for some time. I suspect that the majority who voted for Trump and for the Republican Party's other candidates in the House and Senate had mostly made up their minds a year ago, based on two issues: illegal immigration and inflation. Neither was perceived as an out-of-control problem during Trump's first term, and that was enough for voters to switch. The more existential analysis of Brooks and others is interesting, and contains truths, but I feel the 2024 result can be understood in more prosaic terms. The electorate would have been ready to overlook the Dems various flaws (even an over-aged President) if the Biden Administration had go the basics right.

[@heidehekhvanossafa7958]

How many of us are “Politically Homeless”?

[@mikenowland6461]

Living into the radicalism of Faith. Forget feeling aggrieved, try to live as Jesus would have you do.

[@donnagjoka2587]

Thank you

[@Cb489]

I love to know what ten books he believes we should read

[@charlesblau131]

A reaction against the progressive left and a lack of dealing with border aided in the election result. The next two years will be very difficult.

[@doctorberkowitz]

"The Democrats still have that intellectual virtue!!" This guy is hilarious.

[@CroneWisdomSpacemonkey-bg3fm]

America is toast

[@perryarcher6989]

Great but - "Educated versus uneducated" - define "educated."

[@linchudson4990]

There's two kinds of capitalism: exploitative (child labor, union busting, speculation) and educational (GI bill, land grant colleges, apprenticeships). We need a constitution that strikes the right balance between the commonwealth and private wealth AND is self- enforcing.

[@reviewwriter8352]

When they voted in Trump, they voted out the Constitution.

[@spacecoyote6646]

14 books in one term. Remind me not to take David's glass

[@reviewwriter8352]

Love this, but class divide so they vote in billionaires??

[@mikewilliams6025]

Billionaires v. Billionaires. Not really an escapable choice

[@bvkronenberg6786]

Why does this sound like a therapy session?

[@gregfawcett5152]

Not that complicated...it's the economy stupid.

[@jim6798]

You need a disrupter in Washington. Trump has been the only one willing to disrupt. Everyone else from both parties has been willing to get along to go along. The next four years will be great for the country.

[@CaesarRenasci]

Brooks will not understand his own country if you spend a month explaining her to him.

[@joewilder]

What about the death of the American Dream?

[@billr.2210]

Donald Trump is the right man for this time. How lucky we are to have him.

[@CraigSullivan-hz2jx]

Your introduction is long and tedious

[@kathiefleming2830]

I will speak from my own experience. Early 70’s couple highly educated not lower class. We are disturbed by Democrats: defund police, boys in girls bathrooms raping girls as they claim trans issues, books in elementary school teaching sexual acts to children via comic like illustrations why?. As if that isn’t enough, mandatory COVID 19 vax or loose your job. I was a nurse and that’s uniformed consent and scientific debate and discussion was censored and threatened loss of license etc. Freedoms taken from US citizens for demonstrating a faulty extraordinary election, fbi, cia DOJ threatening parent groups as terrorists, ppl who pray outside abortion clinics arrested for even silently praying, Russian Hillary Clinton hoax started where media and previous Intelligence Agency leaders call Pres Trump a traitor. The mainstream media hires those men to lie and lie and try to trap the Trump family in forced lies of obstruction while Bankrupting ppl who worked for Trump President. I’m sickened by this all and there’s more but won’t go further. Mr Brooks, your mind broke during the Obama presidency and haven’t gotten clearer when analysis of this election. Democrats leftist Marxist BLM, CRT, DEI, reparations and attempted destruction of the Constitution and the Military and law fair is why Trump got elected and why the Dems should never never be in control again. Liberals destroyed our universities with Marxist Oppression BS and no one should spend a dime on them or pay for their Obama loans for activist’s training. It’s sickening what you all have done.

[@wayneclark3020]

Did you hear that folks? "Inflation is solved!" Please pay no attention to the fact that inflation was 9 percent for three years and your last three raises were 5 percent a year or less. These prices will never go back down and working class Americans will have to figure out how to recover from a 27 percent rise in the cost of living with a 15 percent pay increase.

[@davidevans8691]

Isn't his brother the echo chamber guy?

[@michaelhermiston]

i don't understand why awe, and vast appreciation for art and the creative impulse, and true compassion for all living creatures, and heartfelt enjoyment of the mysteries of life, of nature, of consciousness, of the human condition is not sufficient...why must folks bring God and faith and religion into the mix....it seems so unnecessary and so much baggage..... i much enjoyed David's musings on the American people behaviours...thanks

[@radawson1018]

God help us🏵️

[@alanmacdonald3763]

Like Tsarist and current Russia, money runs everything.

[@bubblebobble9654]

12:30 name drops intellectually honest democrats. I'll have to check these guys out. I trust David Brooks

[@jim2376]

MAGA: "The price of eggs is too, so I'm going to vote for a felon." Makes me happy to be an ex-pat far from Trumpistan.

[@projoebiochem]

That comment makes the rest of us happy that you’re an ex-pat far from here as well.

[@jim2376]

@projoebiochem Enjoy Trumpistan as orange Dear Leader strips away American freedoms. Maybe the price of eggs will get cheaper too.

[@jim2376]

@projoebiochem Enjoy Trumpistan. Good luck getting cheaper eggs.

[@projoebiochem]

@@jim2376 I'll take cheaper eggs, or I'll take wage increases that offset inflation.

[@jim2376]

@@projoebiochem Such touching MAGA hopefulness. I'm sure the grifter who ran the Trump U scam will help ordinary Americans just like he helped the students at Trump U. Good luck.

[@dalemartin1015]

No diff then what happened 4yrs ago, just diff leaders

[@userngot12362]

America needs shock therapy and Trump promises to provide it.

[@AnwarJarrad]

GOING TO HELL IN A HAND BASKET THANKS TO EVANGELICAL BLINDNESS .