[E. Pluribus Unum]

This progressive/conservative disconnect — which is also, frequently, an elite/non-elite disconnect — is a problem across the West. For reasons I don’t fully understand, educated elites are more socially progressive than non-elites.

What the [Expletive Deleted] is Mr. Pant Crease Fetishist talking about?

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

I noticed David Broo..... I stopped reading there.

[Texas Eagle]

In 2018, I happened to watch the Super Bowl at a sports bar in West Virginia.

Sure you did, David Brooks. Surrrrrre you did.

[Salman]

Oh yes, the "Christian Nationalist" strawman + a whole lot of projection.

It's propaganda to their own side to help them to cope. They are not even trying to win anyone over.

[Salvavida]

The is the rise of Belt to @$$ movement. David doesn’t know it gets much worse after the Mid-Terms.

[dowcaet]

The only reason we have a so called political divide today is because conservatives are no longer silent and they’re not buckling to the usual lefty bullying in the media. When conservatives speak out this is considered divisiveness by Democrats and their token media Repukes like David Brooks. Oh, how they long for the “good old” days when libs totally dominated the media narrative and wimpy, establishment Repukes like Brooks, Paul Gigot and George Will spoke on our behalf!

[Yardstick]

I guess when you’re the token conservative you have to play along with leftspeak like “Christian nationalist”.

[frank ballenger]

Hillary called us Deplorables. Biden called us garbage.
Then we were existential threats to democracy.
Followed by fans of oligarchs.

Nihilist sounds sort of exotic and classy, in a way.

Definition:
A nihilist is someone who believes that life is inherently meaningless and that traditional values, beliefs, and institutions are baseless. They often reject concepts like truth, morality, and purpose, viewing them as unfounded or nonexistent. Nihilism can manifest in various forms, including metaphysical, moral, and existential nihilism, each with its own specific focus on meaninglessness.

[x]

If you are a subscriber, you might be able to give us access to this. I don’t know for sure, but I think subscribers can do that. Otherwise, we’re going to be talking about “Christian nationalism” which isn’t what the point of the article is.

[Lurker]

“For reasons I don’t fully understand…”

That’s because you’re an arrogant, elitist asshole. And so are your friends.

L

[ROCKLOBSTER]

What would you do in such circumstances? Well, at least at first, you’d probably grit your teeth and take it while silently seething.

No, they'd soil themselves and run screaming into the night.

[xp38]

We get inundated with the left viewpoint even here on FR but here we also push back big time and get lots wisdom from each other. The progressive left is wrong close to 100% of the time. Sometimes it’s horrifying and sometimes amusing how wrong they are. Very often I’m reminded how grateful one should be we are not them. If one comes across a leftist in the wild one should be polite and begin to distance and avoid them. As has been said countless times they are mentally ill.

[NFHale]

“… Imagine you woke up one morning and all your media sources were produced by Christian nationalists…”

Chuckle… you’d see mass suicides amongst them.

Not that theres anything wrong with that…

[Eli Kopter]

Drop dead Brooks. How’s that for nihilism?

[Rural_Michigan]

No Donny these men are nihilists.

[philman_36]

The next year I helped organize a conference of people building local communities. We made sure that at least 30 percent of the participants were from red states. But during our discussions, the progressives in the room seemed to assume that everybody there thought like them. They dominated the conversation and left almost no space for other opinions. I watched the red-state folks just hunch over. For three days they barely spoke. He's acting like he doesn't know what the Delphi Technique is? What a crock of Brock.

[dfwgator]

[aquila48]

What a waste of electrons!

[alexander_busek]

But during our discussions, the progressives in the room seemed to assume that everybody there thought like them.

True! Never bumped into a stranger who almost immediately began assuming that I was a fellow conservative, opposed to the Dem Party. But have had numerous encounters with strangers (taxi drivers, random pedestrians, shoppers, etc.) who, at the drop of a hat, immediately launched into invective directed at President Trump, smugly assuming that I shared their feelings.

Even my Fidelity investment broker sent an e-mail to us (and presumably to her entire clientele) last November explaining what a "troubling time" it was, and that she would understand if we needed "space" to "process our trauma." She didn't explicitly reference Trump, but it was obvious what she meant.

Regards,

[FLT-bird]

I want to smash the Establishment not because I'm a nihilist and think nothing will arise to replace rotten/corrupted institutions, but because I think a basic common sense conservatism/respect for history and tradition will rise from the bottom up to replace the socialist orthodoxy that has descended on the institutions. What we had before say, the 1960s was normal and natural. What we've seen since then is not. Much like when Buckley said he would rather trust the first 400 people randomly chosen from the phone book than the faculty of Harvard to run the government, I think we'd do better nuking the Establishment from orbit and starting all over than we would if we let the Establishment go on as it is.

What do I mean in practical terms? Abolish much of Academia, government bureaucracies, the intel agencies, everybody in the military O5 on up, Big Pharma, Big Food, the Fed, Hollywood, Big Tech, international organizations. Gut what remains. Cut it back to the bone.

[zeestephen]

Is David Brooks still pretending that he is a Republican centrist?

My thanks to the New York Times for allowing me to read his entire essay with no pay wall.

Unfortunately, after reading the entire essay, I still have no idea what Right-Wing Nihilism is.