Jewish cuckservative David Brooks starts his “How Trump Kills the G.O.P.” column with this:
It’s ironic that race was the issue that created the Republican Party and that race could very well be the issue that destroys it.
He is lamenting the inexorable racialization of politics in America.
It’s become more of a white party in recent years, of course, and adopted some wrongheaded positions on civil rights enforcement, but it was still possible to be a Republican without feeling like you were violating basic decency on matters of race. Most of the Republican establishment, from the Bushes to McCain and Romney, fought bigotry, and racism was not a common feature in the conservative moment…
But the Republican Party has changed since 2005. It has become the vehicle for white identity politics. In 2005 only six percent of Republicans felt that whites faced “a great deal” of discrimination, the same number of Democrats who felt this. By 2016, the percentage of Republicans who felt this had tripled.
Recent surveys suggest that roughly 47 percent of Republicans are what you might call conservative universalists and maybe 40 percent are what you might call conservative white identitarians. White universalists believe in conservative principles and think they apply to all people and their white identity is not particularly salient to them. White identitarians are conservative, but their white identity is quite important to them, sometimes even more important than their conservatism.
Ah, but Brooks is Smarter Than You and sees nuance:
I’d love to see more research on the relationship between white identity politics and simple racism. There’s clear overlap, but I suspect they’re not quite the same thing. Racism is about feeling others are inferior. White identitarianism is about feeling downtrodden and aggrieved yourself.
White identitarianism is not equal to racism. Now, that’s nuance!
From his seat on high, Brooks divines three – three, I tell yee – truths:
But three things are clear: First, identity politics on the right is at least as corrosive as identity politics on the left, probably more so…
Second, it is wrong to try to make a parallel between Black Lives Matter and White Lives Matter. To pretend that these tendencies are somehow comparable is to ignore American history and current realities.
Third, white identity politics as it plays out in the political arena is completely noxious. Donald Trump is the maestro here. He established his political identity through birtherism, he won the Republican nomination on the Muslim ban, he campaigned on the Mexican wall, he governed by being neutral on Charlottesville and pardoning the racialist Joe Arpaio.
Yes, Brooks is a genius, and it’s why he has a coveted NYT ‘conservative’ columnist position and you don’t. He’s ‘on the pulse’ of what is happening in the burgeoning Dissident Right.
So, what does the future portend, Mr. Brooks?
Each individual Republican is now compelled to embrace this garbage or not. The choice is unavoidable, and white resentment is bound to define Republicanism more and more in the months ahead. It’s what Trump cares about. The identity warriors on the left will deface statues or whatever and set up mutually beneficial confrontations with the identity warriors on the right. Things will get uglier.
And this is where the dissolution of the G.O.P. comes in. Conservative universalists are coming to realize their party has become a vehicle for white identity and racial conflict. This faction is prior to and deeper than Trump…
Friendships are now ending across the right. People who supported Trump for partisan reasons now feel locked in to support him on race, and they are making themselves repellent…
Like GOP, Inc, the genius David Brooks believes the logic of white identity politics will someone end once Trump leaves office. His type refuse to acknowledge any deeper, more profoundly existential, underlying dynamic which might pre-exist Trump, one that goes beyond Trump. That is why his type will rush to enact DACA legislation and perpetually delay progress on The Wall. After all, once that profane outlier fluke that is Donald Trump leaves office, we can get back to sensible comprehensive immigration reform.
With respect to the growing racialization of politics in America, each ounce of Jewish angst Brooks experiences on the subject is another ounce of joy which I then experience.