And Now Even David Brooks Says It’s Time to Hit the Streets
Well, dang. Okay.
I cannot tell you how significant David Brooks’ opinion piece in the New York Times last week personally felt to me. I have heard and seen Brooks on NPR and PBS for years and have read his essays in The Atlantic. He’s Ivy League-educated, an erudite and disciplined thinker. He’s also respectful, the type of person who accepts that in a democracy, opinions will differ. He began his public life as a Reagan Republican, and during the 2010s, he was frequently NPR’s go-to conservative news analyst. If you’ve never seen or heard him talk, imagine a bespeckled, mild-mannered guy who speaks with a nasal voice and a shy smile.
And this is the guy who wrote the following last week:
“It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. … I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But that is what America needs right now.”
These statements are such a big deal, coming from David Brooks. It’s as if Mr. Rogers were to say, “you know friends, sometimes you can and should yell at grown-ups with all your might. And this might be one of those times.”
Why are we at this moment? Why, to paraphrase Ezra Klein, is the emergency here? The answer is simple and clear: President Trump is acting outside the bounds of the law.
The Garcia case is the most heinous example. Here’s an instance of a man being deported by accident to a place where an American court said he ought not to go— and the President of the United States doesn’t care. Once you’re gone, Trump is in effect saying, that’s it, you’re out of reach. To Trump the issue is not “did we deport someone unjustly?”, no, the issue is “will my administration’s ability to deport whomever it sees fit remain unquestioned no matter what?” Trump, with the help of El Salvador, is claiming the power to disappear people.
Here’s the deal: either the law is in charge of the executive branch’s doings or it’s not. If the executive is not beholden to the law, we have tyranny: the President’s whims determining the fate of many. It’s April of Trump 2.0’s first year and the times have already gotten this dire. It’s enough to make even someone as sensible and conservative as David Brooks to get in the streets.
Until next time—
Sources: Brooks: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/opinion/trump-harvard-law-firms.html. Klein: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-asha-rangappa.html