Editing David Brooks (commentator) (section)

==Political ideology==
[[File:Shields and Brooks on Trump’s primary sweep, Clinton’s ‘woman’s card’.webm|thumb|Brooks on ''[[PBS Newshour]]'' on 29 April 2016 discussing the leading candidates for the 2016 US presidential election.]]
Ideologically, Brooks has been described as a moderate,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/06/20/nyt-brooks-im-worried-about-the-lack-of-evidence-on-russian-collusion-are-we-jumping-the-gun-n2342880|title=NYT Brooks: I'm Worried We're Getting Ahead Of Ourselves With This Russian Collusion Stuff|first=Matt|last=Vespa|website=[[Townhall.com]]|date=June 20, 2017}}</ref> a centrist,<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Clio|last=Chang|url=https://newrepublic.com/minutes/139044/center-american-politics-will-always-david-brooks|title=The center of American politics will always have David Brooks.|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|date=November 29, 2016}}</ref> a conservative,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2016/02/29/sorry_david_brooks_but_we_cant_blame_trumps_ascendance_on_anti_politics_its_class_politics/ | title=Sorry, David Brooks, but we can't blame Trump's ascendance on "anti-politics" — it's ... |date=February 29, 2016|website=[[Salon.com]]|publisher=[[Salon Media Group]]|location=San Francisco, California}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/new-york-times-columnist-david-brooks-admits-hes-not-socially-intermingled-with-trump-supporters/article/2586224|title=NYT columnist David Brooks admits he's 'not socially intermingled' with Trump supporters|first=Eddie|last=Scarry|newspaper=[[Washington Examiner]]|publisher=[[MediaDC]]|location=Washington, D.C.|date=March 18, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theweek.com/articles/505387/rise-collectivist-conservatives|title=The rise of collectivist conservatives|date=May 19, 2009|magazine=[[The Week]]|publisher=[[Dennis Publishing]]|location=New York City}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/143450/anti-anti-trumpism-glue-holding-together-republican-party|title=Anti-Anti-Trumpism Is the Glue Holding Together the Republican Party|magazine=The New Republic|date=June 21, 2017|last1=Heer|first1=Jeet}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Kate|last=Bennett|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/david-brooks-muse-117033|title=David Brooks' Muse?|website=[[Politico]]|publisher=[[Capitol News Company]]|location=Arlington, Virginia|date=April 16, 2015}}</ref> and a moderate conservative.<ref>{{cite web|first=Eric|last=Black|url=https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2017/05/chaos-president-indeed-and-david-brooks-has-some-ideas-about-why|title=Chaos president indeed — and David Brooks has some ideas about why|website=[[MinnPost]]|date=May 17, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Jeff|last=Gauger|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/life/people/2017/08/05/new-york-columnist-riffs-middle-age-shreveport/542374001/|title=New York columnist riffs on middle age from Shreveport|newspaper=[[Shreveport Times]]|publisher=[[Gannett]]|location=Shreveport, Louisiana|date=August 5, 2017}}</ref> Brooks has described himself as "a [[Edmund Burke|Burkean]]... [which] is to be a moderate", saying that such was "what I think I’ve become.<ref name=NewStatesman201710>{{cite magazine| author = Cowley, Jason | date = 26 October 2017 | title=A Hesitant Radical in the Age of Trump: David Brooks and the Search for Moderation | magazine = [[New Statesman]] | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/10/hesitant-radical-age-trump-david-brooks-and-search-moderation| access-date = 6 November 2024 | quote = I believe in incremental change but constant change. To be a Burkean, in America these days, is to be a moderate, which is what I think I’ve become. It’s not to be a populist right-winger, or a Reaganite-Thatcherite type.}}</ref> and said in a 2017 interview that "[one] of [his] callings is to represent a certain moderate [[Republican Party (U.S.)|Republican]] [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] political philosophy."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Marc|last=Fisher|url=http://www.momentmag.com/the-evolution-of-david-brooks/|title=The Evolution of David Brooks|date=January 7, 2016|magazine=[[Moment Magazine]]}}</ref> In December 2021, he wrote that he placed himself "on the rightward edge of the leftward tendency—in the more promising soil of the moderate wing of the Democratic Party."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brooks |first=David |date=2021-12-08 |title=What Happened to American Conservatism? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/brooks-true-conservatism-dead-fox-news-voter-suppression/620853/ |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref> ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'' conservative commentator David Warren has identified Brooks as a "sophisticated pundit"; one of "those Republicans who want to 'engage with' the liberal agenda".<ref>{{cite web|first=David|last=Warren|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/17/a_war_between_two_world_views.html|title=A War Between Two World Views|website=[[Real Clear Politics]]|date=July 17, 2009}}</ref> When asked what he thinks of charges that he's "not a real conservative" or "squishy", Brooks has said that "if you define [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] by support for the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidate or the belief that tax cuts are the correct answer to all problems, I guess I don't fit that agenda. But I do think that I'm part of a long-standing conservative tradition that has to do with [[Edmund Burke]] ... and [[Alexander Hamilton]]."<ref name="daily beast">{{cite web|first=Howard|last=Kurtz|author-link=Howard Kurtz|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/30/david-brooks-riling-up-the-right.html|title=David Brooks, Riling Up the Right|website=[[The Daily Beast]]|publisher=[[IAC (company)|IAC]]|location=New York City|date=September 30, 2012}}</ref> In fact, Brooks read Burke's work while he was an undergraduate at the [[University of Chicago]] and "completely despised it", but "gradually over the next five to seven years ... came to agree with him". Brooks claims that "my visceral hatred was because he touched something I didn't like or know about myself."<ref name="chicago maroon">{{cite news|last1=Weiland|first1=Noah|title=Uncommon Interview: David Brooks (A.B. '83)|url=http://chicagomaroon.com/2013/10/04/uncommon-interview-david-brooks-a-b-83/|access-date=February 13, 2016|newspaper=[[The Chicago Maroon]]|date=October 4, 2013}}</ref> In September 2012, Brooks talked about being criticized from the conservative side, saying, "If it's from a loon, I don't mind it. I get a kick out of it. If it's [[Michelle Malkin]] attacking, I don't mind it." With respect to whether he was "the liberals' favorite conservative" Brooks said he "didn't care", stating: "I don't mind liberals praising me, but when it's the really partisan liberals, you get an avalanche of love, it's like uhhh, I gotta rethink this."<ref name="daily beast"/>

Brooks describes himself as beginning as a [[Modern American liberalism|liberal]] before, as he put it, "coming to my senses." He recounts that a turning point in his thinking came while he was still an undergraduate when he was selected to present the socialist point of view during a televised debate with [[List of Nobel laureates|Nobel laureate]] free-market economist [[Milton Friedman]].<ref name="chicagomag_interview" /> As Brooks describes it, "[It] was essentially me making a point, and he making a two-sentence rebuttal which totally devastated my point. ... That didn't immediately turn me into a conservative, but{{nbsp}}..."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yoe |first=Mary Ruth |date=February 2004 |title=Everybody's a critic |journal=University of Chicago Magazine |volume=96 |issue=3 |url=http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0402/features/index-brooks.shtml |access-date=September 11, 2009}}</ref> On August 10, 2006, Brooks wrote a column for ''The New York Times'' titled "Party No. 3". The column imagined a moderate [[John McCain|McCain]]-[[Joe Lieberman|Lieberman]] Party in opposition to both [[Two-party system|major parties]], which he perceived as both [[Polarization (politics)|polarized]] and beholden to [[special interests]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Brooks |first=David |date=August 10, 2006 |title=Party No. 3 |page=A23 |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/opinion/10brooks.html |access-date=October 13, 2017}}</ref>

In a March 2007 article published in ''The New York Times'' titled "No U-Turns",<ref>{{cite news |last=Brooks |first=David |date=March 3, 2007 |title=No U-Turns |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/opinion/29brooks.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin |access-date=September 13, 2008}}</ref> Brooks explained that the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] must distance itself from the minimal-government conservative principles that had arisen during the [[Barry Goldwater]] and [[Ronald Reagan]] eras. He claims that these core concepts had served their purposes and should no longer be embraced by Republicans in order to win elections. [[Alex Pareene]] commented that Brooks "has been trying for so long to imagine a sensible Republican Party into existence that he can't still think it's going to happen soon."<ref name="Blow up the Times Op-Ed page, and start again!">{{cite web |last1=Pareene |first1=Alex |date=April 22, 2014 |title=Blow up the Times Op-Ed page, and start again! |url=http://www.salon.com/2014/04/22/blow_up_the_times_op_ed_page_and_start_again_why_friedman_brooks_and_dowd_must_go/ |access-date=August 15, 2015 |website=[[Salon.com|Salon]] |publisher=[[Salon Media Group]] |location=San Francisco, California}}</ref>

=== Iraq war ===
Before the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], Brooks argued for American military intervention, echoing the belief of commentators and political figures that American and British forces would be welcomed as liberators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/344hkcxs.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030408054132/https://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/344hkcxs.asp|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 8, 2003|title=The Certainty Crisis|last=Brooks|first=David|work=[[The Weekly Standard]]|publisher=[[Clarity Media Group]]|location=Washington, D.C.|date=March 9, 2003|access-date=February 17, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/565jgibg.asp?page=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106065210/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/565jgibg.asp?page=2|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 6, 2012|title=The Collapse of the Dream Palaces|last=Brooks|first=David|magazine=[[The Weekly Standard]]|publisher=[[Clarity Media Group]]|location=Washington, D.C.|date=April 28, 2003|access-date=February 17, 2015}}</ref> In 2005, Brooks wrote what columnist [[Jonathan Chait]] described as "a witheringly condescending" column portraying Senator [[Harry Reid]] as an "unhinged conspiracy theorist because he accused the [[George W. Bush administration|[George W. Bush] administration]] of falsifying its [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|Iraq intelligence]]."<ref>{{cite news|first=David|last=Brooks|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E5D8163EF930A35752C1A9639C8B63|title=The Harry da Reid Code|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York City|date=November 3, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jonathan|last=Chait|author-link=Jonathan Chait|url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/was-the-iraq-war-a-crime-or-a-mistake-yes.html|title=Was the Iraq War a Crime or a Mistake? Yes.|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|publisher=[[New York Media]]|location=New York City|date=May 18, 2008}}</ref> By 2008, five years into the war, Brooks maintained that the decision to go to war was correct, but that Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]] had botched U.S. war efforts.<ref>{{cite web|first=Greg|last=Mitchell|author-link=Greg Mitchell|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/david-brooks-no-apologies_b_93265.html|title=David Brooks: No Apologies 5 Years Later|website=[[The Huffington Post]]|date=March 25, 2008}}</ref>

In 2015, Brooks wrote that "[f]rom the current vantage point, the decision to go to war was a clear misjudgment" made in 2003 by President [[George W. Bush]] and the majority of Americans who supported the war, including Brooks himself.<ref name="LearningFromMistakes">{{cite news|first=David|last=Brooks|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/opinion/david-brooks-learning-from-mistakes.html|title=Learning From Mistakes|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 19, 2015}}</ref> Brooks wrote "many of us thought that, by taking down [[Saddam Hussein]], we could end another evil empire, and gradually open up human development in Iraq and the Arab world. Has that happened? In 2004, I would have said yes. In 2006, I would have said no. In 2015, I say yes and no, but mostly no."<ref name="LearningFromMistakes"/> Citing the [[Iraq Intelligence Commission|Robb-Silberman report]], Brooks rejected as a "fable" the idea that "intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was all cooked by political pressure, that there was a big political conspiracy to lie us into war."<ref name="LearningFromMistakes"/> Instead, Brooks viewed the war as a product of faulty intelligence, writing that "[t]he Iraq war error reminds us of the need for epistemological modesty."<ref name="LearningFromMistakes"/>

=== Presidents elections and candidates ===
Brooks was long a supporter of [[John McCain]]; however, he disliked McCain's [[John McCain 2008 presidential campaign|2008 running mate]], [[Sarah Palin]], calling her a "cancer" on the Republican Party, and citing her as the reason he voted for Obama in the [[2008 US presidential election|2008 presidential election]].<ref name="palin">{{cite news |last=Shea |first=Danny |date=October 8, 2008 |title=David Brooks: Sarah Palin "Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party" |website=[[The Huffington Post]] |publisher=[[Huffington Post Media Group]] |location=New York City |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/david-brooks-sarah-palin_n_133001.html |access-date=February 16, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Bret |last2=Brooks |first2=David |date=2023-01-11 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Party's Over for Us. Where Do We Go Now? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/opinion/republican-party-future.html |access-date=2023-02-17 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He has referred to Palin as a "joke," unlikely ever to win the Republican nomination.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_62kczoj3f8 David Brooks: Sarah Palin Is A 'Joke'], ''[[TPMTv]]'' on [[YouTube]], November 15, 2009</ref> But he later admitted during a C-SPAN interview that he had gone too far in his previous "cancer" comments about Palin, which he regretted, and simply stated he was not a fan of her values.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 4, 2011 |title=''In Depth'' with David Brooks |url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?302718-1/depth-david-brooks |access-date=April 25, 2015 |website=[[C-SPAN]] |quote=Host: Does David regret his comment about Sarah Palin and her cancer on the Republican party? Brooks: Yeah, I do. I think it was some lunch affair for some magazine, and I was just mouthing off, and so I – I'm not a fan of hers, but that's a little strong.}}</ref>

Brooks has frequently expressed admiration for President [[Barack Obama]]. In an August 2009 profile of Brooks, ''[[The New Republic]]'' describes his first encounter with Obama in the spring of 2005: "Usually when I talk to senators, while they may know a policy area better than me, they generally don't know political philosophy better than me. I got the sense he knew ''both'' better than me...I remember distinctly an image of – we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at his pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, (a) he's going to be president and (b) he'll be a very good president."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sherman |first=Gabriel |title=The Courtship: The story behind the Obama-Brooks bromance |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-courtship |date=August 31, 2009 |access-date=September 11, 2009}}</ref> Brooks appreciates that Obama thinks "like a writer," explaining, "He's a very writerly personality, a little aloof, exasperated. He's calm. He's not addicted to people."<ref name="chicago maroon" /> Two days after Obama's second autobiography, ''[[The Audacity of Hope]]'', hit bookstores, Brooks published a column in ''The New York Times'', titled "Run, Barack, Run," urging the Chicago politician to run for president.<ref>{{cite news |first=David |last=Brooks |title=Run, Barack, Run |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/opinion/19brooks.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City|date=October 19, 2006 |access-date=September 11, 2009}}</ref> However, in December 2011, during a C-SPAN interview, Brooks expressed a more tempered opinion of Obama's presidency, giving Obama only a "B−" and saying that Obama's chances of re-election would be less than 50–50 if elections were held at that time.<ref>{{cite web|title=''In Depth'' with David Brooks|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?302718-1/depth-david-brooks|website=[[C-SPAN]]|access-date=April 25, 2015|date=December 4, 2011|quote=Host: So how is the president doing? Brooks: You know, I think I'm a little disappointed that he didn't do [[National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform|Simpson-Bowles]]. I was a little disappointed in the way the [[National debt of the United States|debt]] has run up, and I don't blame him for running up the debt in the [[Recession of 2008|recession]], but I think we needed an exit strategy to get out of it. I think he could have done a little more to promote [[Economic growth|growth]], though I think given all the bad things it was going to be tough no matter who was president, no matter who did anything, it was going to be tough to promote growth. So I don't particularly blame him for that. I think he's conducted himself in pretty much an honest way. He's had very little [[Corruption in the United States|corruption]]. I still have great personal admiration for him. I'm more to his [[Conservatism in the United States|right]], but I give him no worse than a B−. I think he's made some mistakes, but I wouldn't say he's been a bad president.}}</ref> He stated, "I don't think he's integrated himself with people in Washington as much as he should have."<ref name="chicago maroon" /> However, in a February 2016 ''New York Times'' op-ed, Brooks admitted that he missed Obama during the 2016 primary season, admiring the president's "integrity" and "humanity," among other characteristics.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/i-miss-barack-obama.html|first=David|last=Brooks|title=I Miss Barack Obama|date=February 9, 2016|work=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York City}}</ref>

Regarding the 2016 election, Brooks spoke in support of [[Hillary Clinton]], applauding her ability to be "competent" and "normal" in comparison to her Republican counterpart, [[Donald Trump]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Ian |date=June 11, 2016 |title=David Brooks: People Will Be Sick Of Trump And Vote For Hillary, "She Will be Competent And Normal" |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/06/11/david_brooks_people_will_be_sick_of_trump_and_vote_for_hillary_she_will_be_competent_and_normal.html |access-date=September 20, 2016 |work=[[Real Clear Politics]]}}</ref><ref name=":1">[[PBS NewsHour]]. "Shields and Brooks on 'anticlimactic' Clinton victory, Trump's 'moral chasm'." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, June 10, 2016. Web. September 20, 2016.</ref> In addition, Brooks noted that he believed Clinton would eventually be victorious in the election, as he foresaw that the general American public would become "sick of" Trump.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

When discussing the political emergence of Trump, Brooks strongly critiqued the candidate, most notably by authoring a ''New York Times'' op-ed he titled "No, Not Trump, Not Ever." In this piece, Brooks attacked Trump by arguing he is "epically unprepared to be president" and pointing out Trump's "steady obliviousness to accuracy."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brooks |first=David |date=March 18, 2016 |title=No, Not Trump, Not Ever |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/opinion/no-not-trump-not-ever.html |access-date=September 20, 2016}}</ref>

On the August 9, 2019, episode of the ''[[PBS NewsHour]]'', Brooks suggested Trump may be a [[sociopath]].<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=August 9, 2019 |title=David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart on Trump's mass shooting response (Read the Full Transcript) |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/david-brooks-and-jonathan-capehart-on-trumps-mass-shooting-response |access-date=August 10, 2019 |website=pbs.org |quote=And I look at that photo, I think, well, he's a sociopath. He's incapable of experiencing or showing empathy.}}</ref>

=== Israel ===
Brooks has expressed admiration for [[Israel]] and has visited almost every year since 1991. He supported Israel during the [[2014 Gaza War]].<ref name="Haaretz interview">{{Cite news |title=David Brooks: Gaza War Proved My Son Was Right to Serve in IDF |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/life/books/2014-10-18/ty-article/.premium/gaza-war-showed-my-son-was-right-to-join-idf/0000017f-ea59-dea7-adff-fbfb20d90000 |access-date=2023-06-02}}</ref>

In writing for ''The New York Times'' in January 2010, Brooks described Israel as "an astonishing success story".<ref name="tel">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/opinion/12brooks.html | work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City|title=The Tel Aviv Cluster | first=David | last=Brooks | date=January 12, 2010}}</ref> He wrote that "Jews are a famously accomplished group," who, because they were "forced to give up farming in the [[Middle Ages]] ... have been living off their wits ever since".<ref name="tel" /> In Brooks' view, "Israel's technological success is the fruition of the [[Zionist]] dream. The country was not founded so stray [[Israeli settlements|settlers]] could sit among thousands of angry Palestinians in [[Hebron]]. It was founded so Jews would have a safe place to come together and create things for the world."<ref name="tel" /><ref name="David Brooks Was Right: Anti-Semitism Is a Different Evil">{{cite magazine|last1=Maltz Bovy|first1=Phoebe|title=David Brooks Was Right: Anti-Semitism Is a Different Evil|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/121372/david-brooks-nyt-column-anti-semitism-wasnt-entirely-wrong|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|access-date=August 15, 2015}}</ref>