We Haven’t Hit Peak Populism Yet
Americans have traded their faith in the American dream for pretty much everybody else’s sour, populist mood.
By David Brooks
David Brooks became an Opinion columnist for The New York Times in September 2003. He is a commentator on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He is the author of “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” and “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.” In March 2011 he came out with his third book, “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement,” which was a No. 1 New York Times best seller. He is the author, most recently, of “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.”
Mr. Brooks also teaches at Yale University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Americans have traded their faith in the American dream for pretty much everybody else’s sour, populist mood.
By David Brooks
Liberalism’s nice rules aren’t enough of a sales pitch.
By David Brooks
Angry nostalgia is the mood of the electorate.
By David Brooks
It starts with keeping our humanity and recognizing it in others.
By David Brooks
The excesses of social protest movements can play into the hands of candidates who promise to restore order.
By David Brooks
Don’t bet the house on a rosy future.
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The reasons aren’t rocket science.
By David Brooks
Dr. Hilary Cass’s thoughtful medical review is a model for how we should address difficult issues.
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Amid a wider national atmosphere of division, distrust, bitterness and exhaustion, middle managers are the frontline workers trying to resolve tensions and keep communities working.
By David Brooks
I want my technology to have many capacities, but free will is not among them.
By David Brooks
Liberal democratic capitalism isn’t some set of abstract ideas. It’s a means to a richer, fuller and more dynamic life.
By David Brooks
If the current Israeli military approach is inhumane, is there an alternative?
By David Brooks
A message for President Biden.
By David Brooks and Vishakha Darbha
Voters don’t care about moral affirmation; they want policies to improve their lives.
By David Brooks
Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt offered the confidence in our country that we need right now.
By David Brooks
Donald Trump didn’t remake the Republican Party. He merely restored the pessimistic, isolationist version from decades ago.
By David Brooks
The divide between classes can’t be healed with economic remedies alone.
By David Brooks
We have to get past the idea that political conflicts are fights between good and evil.
By David Brooks
The defeat of the immigration-Ukraine-Israel package marks the end of the party of Eisenhower, Reagan and McCain.
By David Brooks
Consuming culture gives us the emotional knowledge that can make us better people.
By David Brooks
The swelling ranks of administrators in American life are stealing our time, our freedom and our vitality.
By David Brooks
Who will be the best of the rest?
By Charles M. Blow, Gail Collins, Jamelle Bouie and David Brooks
She’s seen as a descendant of the Republican establishment, but she’s actually the kind of bruiser who’s in line with the current G.O.P. vibe.
By David Brooks
A presidential vision for a positive-sum world of innovation and peace.
By David Brooks
Some of the best long-form essays of 2023.
By David Brooks
Now that Sam Altman’s back, will he be able to maintain a balance between safety and the profit motive?
By David Brooks
The ancient wisdom of Athens and Jerusalem can help us survive these cruel and challenging times.
By David Brooks, Shannon Busta and Derek Arthur
Instead of being places where students learn other points of view, American universities have become ideological war zones.
By David Brooks
Despite his bad poll numbers, I see a path to victory for Biden.
By David Brooks
Ancient wisdom can help keep us from becoming calloused over.
By David Brooks
The Israel-Gaza conflict has destroyed certain assumptions about the world order and pushed us closer to nihilism.
By David Brooks
Become such a good listener, you’re “burning calories.”
By David Brooks and Derek Arthur
Human beings long to have another person look at them with love and acceptance.
By David Brooks
It’s hard not to wonder whether today’s suffering could have been avoided if in 2000 Palestinians had taken the offer of a path toward statehood.
By David Brooks
As worried as many of us are about the president’s chances, he is our best shot at beating Trump.
By David Brooks
The entrepreneur seems to see himself as a mythical hero.
By David Brooks
You can’t negotiate with narcissism.
By David Brooks
As China stumbles, Ohio rebounds.
By David Brooks
People are driven by a lot more than self-interest.
By David Brooks
Donors, this is the moment to give her a chance.
By David Brooks