October 5, 2019

David Brooks has "An imagined conversation with Flyover Man."



Should I read that or is everything funny about it already there in that screen grab? I'll be back in a few minutes — very few, I hope — to let you know.

ADDED: From the column (which is much better than the first-impression teaser made me think):
Flyover Man: ... There’s always some fight between Trump and the East Coast media. I guess I just try to stay focused on the big picture. The big picture is this: We knew this guy was a snake...
Wait! That's a poetry-reading cue. Pause and listen:



Back to Brooks's imaginary Flyover Man:
... when we signed up. But he was the only one who saw us. He was the only one who saw that the America we love is being transformed in front of our eyes. Good jobs for hard-working people were gone. Our communities in tatters. Our kids in trouble. I had one shot at change, so I made a deal with the devil, and you’d have made it, too. Nothing in this impeachment mess makes me rethink this bargain.... He said some stupid crap on a phone call. But are you going to undo my vote for that?... I would be open to impeachment if you cared about my problems.... I’d be open if there was a moderate Democratic Party that I thought deserved a shot. But I only see Democrats who’d make everything worse: Open the border! Socialism! More power to Washington! You could have paid attention to the forces driving Trumpism, but you ignored us... I used to think Trump was a jerk. Now, after three years of battle, I see him as my captain....

111 comments:

RNB said...

Sounds like he's interviewing a strange and extinct species of hominid: Piltdown Man. Cro-Magnon Man. Flyover Man...

Michael The Magnificent said...

Hmm, I'll read it in a moment, but isn't brooks the "Flyover Man?"

And aren't we here in the midwest the "Flown-over Man?"

Michael The Magnificent said...

U.G.: The big picture? The big picture is the U.S. Constitution. It’s no man is above the law.

Except for Hillary, Bill, Biden, illegal aliens, sanctuary cities... They are all above the law, according to Democrats.

Furthermore, Trump didn't ask anyone to dig up dirt, only to restart an investigation into corruption that Biden managed to squash in a quid-pro-quo arrangement he bragged about on teevee.

whitney said...

It's because we hate you David Brooks and all your colleagues. That's why we stick with Trump

Stephen Taylor said...

Because heaven forfend he should actually leave Gotham and have to locate an actual Trump supporter.

Unknown said...

Actually not a bad column for David Will-You-Look-At-The-Crease-In-That-Guy's-Pants Brooks...

What's fascinating is reading the hysterical comments from the readers, saying he's got it all wrong, the deplorable are just that... deplorable!

Kelly said...

Guess it too hard to find an actual flyover person to have a real conversation with.

The Godfather said...

Well, he’s right about the Democrat Party, and that’s really all it takes.

tcrosse said...

Brooks had to put these sentiments into the mouth of a fictional character. It wouldn't do to express them as his own.

Phil 314 said...

Mr. Brooks should move to Grand Island NE or Artesia NM for a couple of months, listen a lot and THEN write this column.

And stop using the word flyover.

Amexpat said...

Brooks' point is correct, though made in a clumsy way. The Dems need to understand why they lost if they want to regain POTUS.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Why they stick with him?

The corrupt left won't let the 2016 Hillary loss go.

Wince said...

Question is why do the Schiffs and Brooks of DC have to rely increasingly on fabulist narratives to argue their points?

How do you rebut made-up conversations like that?

Do you fact check "Urban Guy" or the capitulations of "Fly-over Man"?

Brooks is simply trying to divorce Trump supporters from Trump based on newly minted ethical niceties -- not high crimes and misdemeanors -- the establishment trampled on for years.

sykes.1 said...

Growing up in Boston, I learned to appreciate the Trump style; it's just Big City Trash Talk. But beyond the style is real substance and integrity. He means what he says. He tells us what he is actually thinking. Moreover, he is a patriot. None of his opponents tell the truth about anything. None of them have any loyalty to America or the American people. The great majority of Trump's enemies are also my blood enemies. They are utterly corrupt in every possible way, including pedophilia and murder. Every owner, editor, and writer for the NYT and the Washington Post and the LA Times is a criminal.

Compared to the Magic Negro Obama (to quote the LAT, in case you forgot), Trump is an angel.

He is also the most gifted, off-the-cuff, unscripted public speaker I have ever heard, and I am old enough to remember Eisenhower. Only Bill Clinton came anywhere near Trump's ability to connect with an audience. Obama was such a bumbling fool that his handlers (not staff) finally stopped letting him speak ex tempore.

Trump is the best President since Washington. And don't give me any guff about Lincoln, Wilson, or FDR, each of whom helped wreck this country.

Yancey Ward said...

I am sorry- Brooks goes right off the rails with this:

(Flyover Guy speaking)"I haven’t really had time to look into it. There’s always some fight between Trump and the East Coast media."

Brooks just doesn't get it either- we did look into it, we are looking into it, and we don't just don't agree that this is impeachable. And here is why- the exact same thing was done to Donald Trump, and the perpretrators have not admitted it nor apologized for it, so our answer is going to be, "GFY".

We are finished with double standards. Same rules for everyone.

Yancey Ward said...

And note how important that little assumption is to Brooks' piece- it is very important that he portray Trump's supporters as uninformed- we aren't uninformed, we just aren't willing be fooled by the media any longer. This is our unforgivable sin.

rehajm said...

It was done last week with that cuss with the coffee.

dbp said...

“The thing is, we had that movement. It was the Tea Party movement.… When politeness and orderliness are met with contempt and betrayal, do not be surprised if the response is something less polite, and less orderly.” — Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds

Deb said...

I find this very condescending.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

A more realistic imagined conversation between David Brooks and Flyover Guy:

DB: [On cellphone]....Yes!...Yes, and I'm outraged! A layover! And in Atlanta of all places! I'm just praying I can get out of here with having to eat a Chik-fil-a! Wait, wait! One of the natives is approching me.....

FG: Hey, aren't you David Brooks?

DB: [Assumes ludicrously inadequate "defensive" posture] Stay back! Stay back! I'm warning you! I took 'Krav Maga for Dummies' down at the J! I know how to defend myself!!!

FG: Whoa! Whoa! I just wanted to ask you a question....

DB: Have you got a gun?!!! I bet you've got a gun!!! [Emphasizes ludicrously inadequate "defensive" posture]

FG: Hun?! Well, yeah, I got an AR back at home...and a couple .22's for when the grandkids visit. You should see my little granddaughter! She can nail that 10 ring...

DB: [With rising alarm] Krav Maga! Krav Maga! Help! Help! OpEd Columnist in distress!!!

narciso said...

indeed, brooksie, called another standard bearer, 'a cancer on the party' eleven years ago, she's the one who warned about an disruption like abquaiq, and a way to ameliorate it,

Kevin said...

This is the Brooks version of Adam Schiff telling us about Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian President.

I give it four Pinocchios.

Pettifogger said...

Amexpat said...
"Brooks' point is correct, though made in a clumsy way. The Dems need to understand why they lost if they want to regain POTUS."

I certainly hope it works out that way. But if it does, the Democratic Party will be on the outs for quite a while. They willfully refuse to face why they lost, why someone such as I who thought (and still thinks) Trump an &*$%# nevertheless voted for him and will do so again.

Kevin said...

The Dems need to understand why they lost if they want to regain POTUS.

If they had any interest they’d have done it by now.

The closest they can get is a Warren speech in Iowa.

dbp said...

I think the mistake a lot of readers are making (at least I hope it is a mistake) is thinking that "Urban Guy" is Brooks.

I think Brooks is making fun of Urban Guy and pretty faithfully transmitting the views of non-coastal types. But I could be wrong, maybe Urban Guy is saying what Brooks really thinks, instead of a parody. It is hard to tell satire from reality these days. It could even be a 3rd thing, maybe Brooks wants his coastal leftist readers to see Urban Guy as sensible and middle conservatives to see Urban Guy as a parody.

Fernandinande said...

This is impeachable[NYT link]. I don’t see how you can deny the facts in front of your face.

I like the way the NYT references itself as an authority on how its opinions are actually facts.

The fat man-boobs were a nice touch.

Yancey Ward said...

NorthOfTheOneOhOne,

LOL! Well done!

gilbar said...

The FACT of the matter is: The Democrats (ALL of them,) are Fantastic!
Definition of fantastic
1a : based on fantasy : not real
b : conceived or seemingly conceived by unrestrained fancy
c : so extreme as to challenge belief : unbelievable


Liz Warren is an Indian! That's Fantastic!
Cory Booker has thug friends, and Isn't Gay! That's Fantastic!
Jo Biden was a Life Guard, at a segregated pool That's Fantastic!
Brooks talked to Fly Over Man! That's Fantastic!
Robert O'Rourke's parents called him Beto! That's Fantastic!
Kamela Harris DIDN'T Suck her way to the top! That's Fantastic!

Greg Hlatky said...

Brooks to research assistant: "Go to Pennsyltucky or South Montana or whatever they're called. Talk to some natives. Give them some trinkets. And get your shots before you go."

Yancey Ward said...

dbp,

I considered all of that as I was reading it, but he insists on making FG an ignoramus- in short, "We support Trump through this because we haven't looked into the charges" is FG, while UG is the one who has looked into it by reading the Eastern media.

Of course, I have read a lot of David Brooks in the past, so there is also that going into my judgment of what he is doing here.

PJ said...

MM — Inside the Beltway there is probably no meaning of “investigate” apart from “dig up dirt.” So it may well be that when Trump says the former Schiff honestly hears the latter. Flownover Man knows that Schiff is the one who is behaving as though he’s certain that the Bidens are dirty.

SayAahh said...

The bi-coastal elites vs everyone else.
There will be blood.

Sam L. said...

Ah, Brooksie! What a waste of time it would be for me to read what he got printed!

rightguy said...

Interesting : DB makes FM sound informed, rational, and persuasive, while UG sounds like a rote partisan 'OrangeMan bad' guy, who starts with the assumption that DJT is a lying racist, misogynistic, & ignorant xenophobe. If I didn't know better, I would think that Brooks is planting a subtle endorsement of Trump in the Times.

Michael K said...

Brooks the anthropologist, didn't that guy with the Yanomono just die ?

Maybe Brooks could mate with a flyover.

William said...

I enjoyed Trump's recital of "The Snake". I never thought of it before as a metaphor for immigration. I thought it was about something completely different. Well, great poetry has many levels.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Brooks is the weakest RINO in the herd. That’s why they love him at NPR and PBS.

cubanbob said...

Ronald Reagan said he didn't leave the Democrat Party, the party left him. Trump is largely a mid-sixties moderate to conservative Democrat. That is his appeal. The Democrats can't fight him simply because they keep thinking they are going to squash a Romney Republican but instead Trump fights them as a Democrat. Brooks fancies himself a dazzling urbanite who thinks he understand the deplorables ( ever so condescending) but he just isn't capable of getting it. Flyover country knows what a threat the Green New Deal Democrat-Party is. Trump is looking out for them. Considering 3,000 out 3,200 counties vote Red in 2016, maybe Brooks should try travelling and getting a real sense of what the real USA thinks and not his imaginary figment.

daskol said...

Yancey nails what grates about this Brooks column. Superficially he’s showing empathy and even respect for Trump supporters, but he can’t really do that, so he has to slip in the fact that Flyover Man’s mistrust of media leaves him ill-informed. I’m sure Brooks really believes that. But that’s why he’s not much of an armchair sociologist.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

maybe Brooks should watch this classic Michael Moore clip

"Why Trump Will Win"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMm5HfxNXY4

Ken B said...

I agree with Yancey. I gave up reading it when his straw man conceded the high ground in his first sentence. No sir, trump supporters do not think you are right but. They do not think you are morally superior but. They do not think you know better but.

bagoh20 said...

You might as well ask an Inuit to explain the thinking of the average southern Black. Why do people pay him to write about things he knows nothing about? He clearly has made zero effort to learn about this subject. Maybe next he can tell us what it feels like to be pregnant.

Greg the class traitor said...

Thank you Ken B.

That's all I needed to know about the article

BamaBadgOR said...

Speaking of pompous asses...

Darrell said...

The educated Democrats are telling AOC that he world is ending in weeks and we have to start eating babies. And AOC responds in a sympathetic affirmative way.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Three years later, and there is little analysis from Trump haters of the 2016 result. We have a lot more to go on than random remarks or tweets. Trump said something should be done about the border, and he is doing something. Remarkably, the Dems running for Pres almost all favour open borders. Trump wanted a better trade balance with China: progress has been made. Trump wants at least some re-consideration of security arrangements and endless wars. There has been some re-consideration. For some reason Trump promised conservative judges, and he is sticking to that. As many Republicans would have done, he has cut taxes and regulation. This goes way beyond unemployed steel workers who are ignorant and angry about "the loss of their country."

bagoh20 said...

What are the Democrats doing to try and get even a single 2016 Trump voter to switch sides this time. How do they expect to win without doing that? Maybe this is their attempt; try and make Trump voters feel stupid. That's not going to work coming from someone like Brooks who to them sounds like an arrogant idiot.

rcocean said...

Oh God, elite Manhattanite David Brooks doing the Vulcan mind-meld with a Trump voter. I kept waiting for something about not knowing the right Italian salami but it never came.

Look, I don't know a single person who thinks Trump voters just wanted to send a big "fuck you" to the establishment. They think Trump got votes because we wanted the immigration laws enforced. We wanted America First foreign policy. We wanted a make America Great Again trade deals. And we wanted all the standard things that R's always stand for. The only R Primary candidate who stood for that was Trump (and maybe Cruz). Everyone else made it clear they were going to be Bush-II only dumber and even more liberal.

Brooks of course can't accept that. That would be showing that those positions are legitimate. No - anyone who opposes the Establishment has to be full of resentment and pain, "sending a message" because they're clinging to their Guns, God, and religion.

rcocean said...

The really sad thing about the 2016 election is the reaction of the Establishment of which is Brooks is a member. Like the UK establishment and Brexit they simply refuse to accept the result. The D's REFUSE to compromise, refuse to work with Trump, refuse to give him the respect accorded a POTUS. They don't give a damn about the people who voted for him, or about the country. Its the D's in power or bust, and anyone who disagrees can go to Hell.

Titus said...

I saw flyovers when I recently visited Wisconsin. So many obese people. The gyms are dead. I went to 4 different gyms. The gyms in coastie land are packed. Coasties are much thinner.

YoungHegelian said...

I live in deep blue Montgomery County, MD, a suburb of DC. The assumed moral superiority of the Blue Team is just a fact of life around here. Team Blue thinks that they have the number of Team Red, and that number is racism. For them, racism drives Team Red as surely as God's Providence drives the world for a Calvinist. Brooks is, in his mind, being kind to The Deplorables by not immediately writing them off to racism.

When I want to piss off my liberal friends, I tell them that they're always so sure of the existence of systemic evil, but they shouldn't be so sure that it isn't their side who is that systemic evil.

Roy Lofquist said...

“I observed on one of the drums belonging to the Marines being raised that there was painted a rattlesnake, with this modest motto under it, “Don’t tread on me.” It occurred to me that the rattlesnake, being found in no other quarter of the world besides America, might therefore be chose to represent her. Having frequently seen the rattlesnake, I ran over in my mind every property by which she was distinguished.

I recollect that her eye excelled in brightness, that of any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, not, when once engaged, ever surrenders; she is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.

As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal, and even when those weapons are shown and extended for their defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds hover small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her."

Benjamin Franklin

https://constitutionalclayton.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/ben-franklin-on-the-rattlesnake-and-the-origins-of-the-slogan-dont-tread-on-me/



narciso said...

we see the pattern, here in the uk, with that emma Thompson hysterical screed 'days and days' and in Israel, the campaign against Netanyahu,

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

daskol said...

Yancey nails what grates about this Brooks column. Superficially he’s showing empathy and even respect for Trump supporters,

I don't even get superficial empathy from that. The whole thing reads like a lesson to soy boys in how to humor flyover types to get what you want.

daskol said...

North, in NYC humoring the deplorables, even acknowledging that something other than evil racism animates them, represents a courageous display of independent-mindedness and compassion.

gilbar said...

rcocean said...
The really sad thing about the 2016 election is the reaction of the Establishment of which is Brooks is a member. Like the UK establishment and Brexit they simply refuse to accept the result.


Well, remember the motto of the Democrat Party? The games not over, until WE win

hombre said...

Brooks may be making progress. He sees at least some of “flyover man’s” shallower concerns. The tone and the questions still have the smell of the pseudo-intellectual, progressive elitism in which he is immersed.

When will he, as a conservative (lol) or even as the man of high moral character he claims (in his books) to be, take a stand against the sedition being practiced by the DNC/leftmedia and their army of anonymous accusers who violate federal security laws and regulations with impunity for political and financial gain?

Trump is the final bulwark against the takeover by lawless, tyrannical lunatics bent on destroying his Presidency, our Constitution and the country.

Matt Sablan said...

The fact he imagines the conversation instead of going out and having it is the problem.

Anonymous said...

One of the comments in the NY Times is, why don't flyover people come interview New Yorkers to understand us?

New Yorkers elected Hillary as senator. My flyover judgement is that New Yorkers are crazy and/or evil. In 1996 this book, "Hillary Clinton: A Legacy of Lies" was published, 20 years before she ran for president:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30332790-hillary-clinton

Flyover case closed. In an argument one of my college friends said to the other, "Take a course in LOGIC!" Some today could use that advice.

tim in vermont said...

Except for the part about “saying stupid things on a phone call” which is bullshit, I think the excerpt isn’t that far off. He is my fucking captain. It’s going to take a lot more than another four flushing case from the Dems against him to change that. Just once, come up with all five cards in your flush, and you might make me think about it, until then, fuggedabowdit.

Scott Patton said...

"...one shot at change..."
Using the word "change" in a sentence without qualifiers says it all about Brooks' mindset and his bullshit pretend conversation.
My second grade teacher often did that in the early '70s and it pissed me off back then, though I didn't understand why. It wasn't until many years later that I realized she was just a lefty lunatic spouting dishonest lefty rhetoric to her unsuspecting day prisoners.

tim in vermont said...

I spend summers in deepest blue Vermont, although, like every other state, it’s got it’s red zones, most notably along the Canadian border, but it’s blue, and winters in red Florida, often driving by Air Force One parked at the WPB airport, which gives me little feeling of pride each time I pass it.

It is amazing the difference in culture.

320Busdriver said...

Their level of intellectual dishonesty is truly frightening.

Uncle Joes corruption in China and Ukraine, "nothing to see here" they say.

VP telling the Ukraine(on camera) you better fire that prosecutor or you don't get this aid money. "No problemo"

Trump says "Hey,look into the Biden's cushy deal with Burismo, would ya" NOT ACCEPTABLE, A THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY.

Hell even I can say that disgraced NY Congresscritter Chris Collins who resigned this week after being caught red handed in insider trading fraud should be hung by his balls. Whats so hard about that?

FullMoon said...

What are the Democrats doing to try and get even a single 2016 Trump voter to switch sides this time.

Lies and propaganda.

Interesting to me is the insults aimed at anybody who voted for Trump, simply because they voted for Trump.

People who voted against Hillary, or non seriously for Trump, never expecting him to win, may become defensive at being labeled racist, sexist, moronic, etc. by genuinely anti-american, educated but stupid people. Just look at comments here from the left. All educated but dumb as can be. Grasp at any straw to defend their discomfort about being wrong about Trump.

Unemployment lowest ever. No getting around it, that is what Trump has done.





Sebastian said...

Of course, it is comforting to know that the NYT crowd gets its flyover wisdom and insight into Trump from David Pantcrease Brooks, and it would be strategically better to let them wallow in their self-satisfied illusions, but --

"We knew this guy was a snake."

Getting off on the wrong track right there.

Has Brooks ever talked to a flyover person?

Anyway, Althouse and Meade could do better: sampling the best Trump commentary by deplorables on this blog would give the NYTers a better sense of what we think.

Not that they can absorb it, or care to, as illustrated by the lefties other than Cook over here: we are just there to be fought and defeated. Their contempt is our strength.

320Busdriver said...

The first 2 minutes of last nights Tucker Carlson show, where a clip of an anguished Chuck Todd clutches his pearls.

"I don't say this lightly, and lets be frank, a national nightmare is upon us...BLAHHHHHHH"

Comedy Gold

Michael K said...

Interesting to me is the insults aimed at anybody who voted for Trump, simply because they voted for Trump.

I enjoy being told I am uneducated on Facebook.

tcrosse said...

At least Brooks resisted the temptation to write the Flyover Man in dialect, with bad grammar and an unfashionable regional accent.

Kevin said...

"I don't say this lightly, and lets be frank, a national nightmare is upon us...BLAHHHHHHH"

Don't these idiots know there are people out there assembling the next YouTube montage?

tim in vermont said...

The nightmare for these people is that unemployment is so low, their servants are getting uppity.

tim in vermont said...

"What are the Democrats doing to try and get even a single 2016 Trump voter to switch sides this time.”

End fracking so the price of gas will go up, and deplorables will once again see their kids trundled off to foreign wars when our oil supply is disrupted, threatening our economy and the re-election of whoever is in power at the time? instead of the price of gas holding steady when Saudi production was cut in half by a drone attack? The fact that the oil price didn’t move did more to harm Iran that a missile attack, any day. Democrats want to bring that to a halt and take us back to days when we were sending uncounted billions to despots.

They are going to go easy on China so that the traders in Chicago and NYC can go back to the good times while our workers get laid off.

Lots of things. Flood the country with illegals to end the upward pressure on wages...

I could go on and on.

Leland said...

Sad that Brooks writes a column suggesting Democrats should listen to flyover man to gain their vote, despite the fact that Brooks has to make up the conversation from polls, because he has no respect for flyover country either. I don't think Brooks made the connection he wanted to make.

JAORE said...

I'd be more likely to read Brooks if I thought he had a sharp crease (of folds of any kind) in his brain.

JAORE said...

I think Brooks conversation was actually a parody of such a conversation via Schiff.

Ofcourse they think that makes it true.

Big Mike said...

As least Brooks is open about inventing people and making it up. Would it kill the poncey bastard to actually get west of Newark and actually meet some of these people he writes about?

Joanne Jacobs said...

I think people hate hypocrites more than anything. Everyone knew Trump was crass, egotistical, a braggart, an unfaithful husband, etc. I don't think his voters would say he was a "snake," which implies deceit. He's not two faced. He's got one face that some people hate -- or hate now that he's president. He's even kept support from evangelicals. I guess they see him as a sinner -- but not a hypocrite.

Other than that, I think Brooks got a lot right. I think Trump supporters -- and many us non-supporters -- see the media as biased. And boring.

Ralph L said...

It says something about the NYT and its readership that he decided to insulate himself by using a conversation, fake or not.

doctrev said...

If you don't use phrase like "the masks are falling," "surrender caucus," or "cuckservative," then neither Brooks nor Althouse has any idea what makes the vast majority of Trump voters think. And no, you can't trick me into giving the NYT clicks. The excerpt that is supposedly better than the title is awful, and the worthless GOPe lawyer/ consultant class AGAIN shows it is completely inadequate to the challenge ahead of it.

rhhardin said...

He didn't say stupid stuff on a phone call.

rehajm said...

The gyms in coastie land are packed. Coasties are much thinner.

Don’t let him kid you. Cambridge is full of fat slobs...

Clyde said...

I wouldn't have used the term "snake," which is pejorative, to describe President Trump. My preferred term is "flawed vessel." Other than that, though, the imagined flyover man isn't far off. It was a binary choice both in 2016 and 2020, and the Democrat options were, and more importantly remain, far worse than Trump at his very worst could ever be. We weren't electing a pope, we were electing a president, which has a different job description. We wanted someone who wouldn't complete the job of destroying this country that was begun under the prior administration. Hillary would have been a wrecking ball to complete the process while enriching herself and her cronies. All of the Democrat candidates for 2020 would return to Obama's terrible policies like a dog to its vomit. For me, it's no problem to vote for Trump again in 2020.

Danno said...

David Brooks looked down, in search of a pants crease and saw a man in shorts! And not only that, he had a Trump tattoo on his uncovered leg. Time to panic.

MBunge said...

Brooks didn't write that column for Althouse or most of the folks around here. He wrote it for the Trump-hating readers of the NYT to try and stop them from getting so crazy. That's why Flyover Man's responses are all phrased "You're right about Trump, but..."

The problem is they're NOT right about Trump and they won't listen to anything after the "but."

Brooks is a guy who has been feeding a fire for three years and suddenly realized it's getting out of control and could burn everyone alive.

Mike

Titus said...

Coastie areas are multicultural and international. Whitey deplorables hate that.

tim in vermont said...

Biden supposedly was demanding that the prosecutor be fired on account of rampant corruption in the UK. Which is basically the same reason Volker said that the aid was withheld for a while, so they could see if it appeared that things had changed, talking to Zelensky. Also Trump only talked about the issue of election interference in 2016. The Democrats are sure acting guilty on that score, aren’t they? Automatically assuming that any investigation would point to Democrats.

You would think that Democrats would say “Go Ahead! It’s just going to turn up more collusion from you!” Weird that instead they are all acting guilty.

daskol said...

Lol Titus, the coasties I know work pretty hard to protect their kids from some of the excesses of urban multiculturalism such as racially integrated schools. They feel guilty about it, but they prefer their multiculturalism in weekend outings to New restaurants that pop up early in the gentrification cycle.

daskol said...

In my neighborhood they're happy to have their kids go to school with French expatriates at public school with the France-funded French language program, but try like he'll to ensure their.kids don't end up in the school that takes all the kids from the massive housing project. I guess you could say they're embracing the international side of things.

Michael K said...

Titus said...
Coastie areas are multicultural and international. Whitey deplorables hate that.


Titus is referring to the color of assholes. He doesn't see much else.

Jupiter said...

I will admit, I did not vote for Donald Trump. I voted against Hillary Clinton. I would have voted for Adolph Hitler if the alternative was Hillary Clinton. Hell, I'd have donated to his campaign. I am fairly certain David Brooks has no conception of the visceral hatred that honest, patriotic Americans feel for a traitorous, self-dealing totalitarian witch like Hillary Clinton. I'll bet the stupid bastard voted for her. What a fucking Harvard-educated twat he is.

tcrosse said...

Titus: Aesthetic judgements from a guy who fancies mens' "ass"holes.

Seeing Red said...

Coastie areas are multicultural and international. Whitey deplorables hate that.

You really need to get out more, Titus.

Some coastie areas are also filled with trash, poop, and syringes.

Why can’t coastie dems clean up their cities?

Why did 200 conservatives manage in 9!!! Hours to CLEAN up 50 tons of homeless trash a coup,e of weeks ago and the city of LA I think it was couldn’t manage it?

Seeing Red said...

Get out of the gym, Titus. Help your fellow man. You’ll get a better workout.

Danno said...

A320guy said"The first 2 minutes of last nights Tucker Carlson show, where a clip of an anguished Chuck Todd clutches his pearls." Todd - "I don't say this lightly, and lets be frank, a national nightmare is upon us...BLAHHHHHHH"

And yet he is given a Sunday news show that purports to tell the truth about the past week's news cycle.

I hope his TDS overwhelms him and he takes himself out.

Danno said...

In going back and reading Brooks' article, I can't believe how fixated his Urban Guy is on the things Trump has done but doesn't even connect that Biden did the same things while VP. He is looking at it as a 2020 campaign issue rather than a law enforcement issue. I think this is a tell on Brooks' own thought process.

Drago said...

Titus: "Coastie areas are multicultural and international. Whitey deplorables hate that."

Gated communities and segregated schools are how the coastal elites avoid encountering "those" people.

Look at Samantha Bee. Her husband led the fight to keep her kids school as lily white as possible.

What an absolutely perfect urban white progressive.

Absolutely perfect.

Temujin said...

What they don't understand

Greg Hlatky said...

Coastie areas are what they are, but HR people are lowlifes no decent person has anything to do with.

h said...

Here's the logical inconsistency that Trump is exploiting:

A. Policy making elites have been in charge of the policy making apparatus for decades (centuries?).
B. There are a lot of unresolved problems: war, trade, manufacturing sector, immigration, race, ...
C. Here's our (policy making elite) solution: Give us more time and more power to make everything right.

Trump says (and people respond): A and B show that you are failures. I promise a radically different approach. I will be rude, I will reject the recommendations of the policy making elite, I will speak off the top of my head without considering the "long term impacts of my statements."

2020 in a nutshell: Will people buy the radically different approach? Or will people say "I think the policy making elites were right all along and Trump's radically different approach must be rejected."

Original Mike said...

Didn't read. What did Urban Guy have to say about being sold a bill of goods for the last three years?

Original Mike said...

"Coastie areas are multicultural and international. Whitey deplorables hate that."

We don't think about you at all, Titus.

Swede said...

I have the same internet that David Brooks has.

That guy can go fuck himself.

Gunner said...

Did Urban Man divorce his wife of thirty years for Flyover Man's non-Jewish daughter?

Unknown said...

Here's the deal. I'm a carpenter. I probably shouldn't be on a Law Professor's blog, but I've been reading for about seven years. I come to the comments to hear what Dr K and Buwaya have to say. I'm a lurker. I live in a small community (an actual community, like a neighborhood) of working men, their wives, and their children. We have an electrician, a plumber, an HVAC guy, (who charges too much...I don't think he will see this), a farm a couple of miles down the road. The effete, like David Brooks could not survive 2 weeks without us. We don't need them. We have no use for them. We don't look to them to solve our 'problems'. We are self sufficient. We can weather the storm. Effetes will call us when the storm hits. Let them call Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Nancy Pelosi.
BTW, Dr K...why Tucson and not way up north Scottsdale?

Unknown said...

Here's the deal. I'm a carpenter. I probably shouldn't be on a Law Professor's blog, but I've been reading for about seven years. I come to the comments to hear what Dr K and Buwaya have to say. I'm a lurker. I live in a small community (an actual community, like a neighborhood) of working men, their wives, and their children. We have an electrician, a plumber, an HVAC guy, (who charges too much...I don't think he will see this), a farm a couple of miles down the road. The effete, like David Brooks could not survive 2 weeks without us. We don't need them. We have no use for them. We don't look to them to solve our 'problems'. We are self sufficient. We can weather the storm. Effetes will call us when the storm hits. Let them call Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Nancy Pelosi.
BTW, Dr K...why Tucson and not way up north Scottsdale?

James Sarver said...

Flyover Man is a pure fabrication, just like the ICIG/Schiff staff "whistleblower".

At least Brooks admits it.

Doesn't matter though. His intended readers can pat themselves on the back for being so vicariously understanding and swim back to the center of their bubble, having successfully faced a reflection from the inside surface of that bubble and judged it as something real.

stlcdr said...

Blogger Kelly said...
Guess it too hard to find an actual flyover person to have a real conversation with.

10/5/19, 11:03 AM

Good point. Probably the same reason people who lean right, are libertarian, or conservative don’t answer polls. Also that media editorialists are generally hostile to those on the right. (Of course my assumption is that ‘flyover people’ lean to the right; I think that’s a fair assumption).

Also, an interview with an actual person would be so unbelievably fake [to the target audience].

Big Mike said...

@Hercules, not that one, I retired to a neighborhood such as you describe. I like these people, even the Democrat who lives across the street. They’re problem solvers, not problem creators.

Michael K said...

BTW, Dr K...why Tucson and not way up north Scottsdale?

I don't like Phoenix. Too hot and crowded. Tucson has the same opera company, cooler (a little), more interesting stuff like Tombstone and Tubac, both of which we visit, usually with visitors. I've had a place in Tucson for 20 years. Finally here full time in 2017. Our house here would be twice the cost if in Scottsdale. People I know live in Phoenix to work and would rather live in Tucson.

NEO-FIDO said...

"Coastie areas are multicultural and international. Whitey deplorables hate that."

They are also high crime, low trust societies who have huge homeless populations and a continually more impoverished lower class. They offer shoddy services and are corrupt and have feces filled streets.

They are increasingly totalitarian and flout any laws, norms or customs that they want, which is not how 'law' works and why they are increasingly untrustworthy.

But besides that, they are marvelous.

Skippy Tisdale said...

For years I used to read David Brooks's columns and watch him on the PBS NewsHour. He imagines a ton of shit

Unknown said...

Dr K. Thanks for your thoughts on Arizona. I lived in Phoenix for 7 years. When I moved there 1994, the pop. was 1.5 mil. (Phoenix and surrounding areas). When I left in 2001, the pop. was 3 mil. It is hot. 6 months of summer, and 6 months of hell! I appreciate your response. I live in God Bless Northern Idaho for 16 yrs, but my bones want warmth now, and winter's coming. I got old. It kind of snuck up on me. Was thinking about Carefree, but haven't been there in almost 20 years. Anyway, I enjoy your commentary. I read you sometimes on ChicagoBoyz. You always have something interesting to say.