'We Are Not Interested in the Good of Others, We Are Interested Solely in Power'
The ethos of the Republican Party has come home roost
David Brooks wrote in The Atlantic, “I should have seen this coming.” Brooks is a Canadian-American author and political commentator who regularly writes for the New York Times opinion page. Over the years, I have read many of his articles and laughed at the naivete. He has, at times, foolishly twisted himself into a pretzel to make sense of the nonsensical.
As the pieces of the great right-wing fascist puzzle were laid out on the table for all to see, Brooks and other so-called intellectuals were making excuses for the extreme right-wing views, justifying the harshness of right-wing policies, and despite the ever-evolving hypocrisy of Republicans always building bridges from the ridiculous back to the sane and sound for those Republican views and policies. David Brooks is one of thousands, and maybe millions, of Republicans who now realize that the party they imagined as being the most American and patriotic has become the greatest threat to the American way — and even an enemy to our nation.
It took him 45 years, a full four years of Trump, the Senate led by Mitch McConnell, and then the Republican House led by MAGA, to finally figure out what millions of us have been screaming for decades: Republicans are not interested in the good of others, they are interested solely in power. These are actually the words of George Orwell from the book 1984.
Until January 20, 2025, I didn’t realize how much of my very identity was built on this faith in my country’s goodness — on the idea that we Americans are partners in a grand and heroic enterprise, that our daily lives are ennobled by service to that cause. Since January 20, as I have watched America behave vilely — toward our friends in Canada and Mexico, toward our friends in Europe, toward the heroes in Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office — I’ve had trouble describing the anguish I’ve experienced. Grief? Shock? Like I’m living through some sort of hallucination? Maybe the best description for what I’m feeling is moral shame: To watch the loss of your nation’s honor is embarrassing and painful (I Should Have Seen This Coming).
Donald Trump takes glee in hurting people. He takes glee in destroying things. Anything worthy enough of being sacred is worthy enough of being destroyed. This is Trump’s life’s motto. It is almost as if he was perplexed by how millions of Americans were enriched by the small things like cheering on teams, celebrating parades, organizing family barbecues, removing hats during the national anthem, or helping their fellow citizens for no other reason than that they could, that he has decided to destroy all of those things. Everything is being tainted and smudged with political overtones. The national zoo was recently deemed too woke — what does that mean? Trump has turned every decision we make in life into a political one, thus guaranteeing the continued battle of “us versus them.”
When millions of us were dreading the thought of Trump 2.0, one of the greatest fears that we all shared was the idea that 24/7, 365, the world would be again be subjected to Trump’s mean, evil, stream-of-consciousness social media posts, which he uses to govern. Where was David Brooks from 2016 to 2021? Did he enjoy the tsunami of hate and ugliness Trump harvested on Twitter?
If there is an underlying philosophy driving Trump, it is this: Morality is for suckers. The strong do what they want and the weak suffer what they must. This is the logic of bullies everywhere. And if there is a consistent strategy, it is this: Day after day, the administration works to create a world where ruthless people can thrive. That means destroying any institution or arrangement that might check the strongman’s power. The rule of law, domestic or international, restrains power, so it must be eviscerated. Inspectors general, judge advocate general officers, oversight mechanisms, and watchdog agencies are a potential restraint on power, so they must be fired or neutered. The truth itself is a restraint on power, so it must be abandoned. Lying becomes the language of the state (I Should Have Seen This Coming).
Brooks writes that despite having worked in the conservative movement since the 1980s, he never saw what has happened today coming. The anti-democracy fascists now making excuses for Trump’s open runs around the Constitution and fascist policies were his friends. Despite all of their proclamations that Democrats were the enemy of America, he just thought they were being hyperbolic. These were people he spent the holidays with; how could they have lost it so fast, he hints.
Brooks mentions that the first signs that the future conservative movement was in trouble was when Darmouth conservatives in 1986, including Dinesh D’Souza and Laura Ingarahm, raided a shanty village set up by progressives to protest South African apartheid. They destroyed it with sledgehammers. Being against apartheid should seem like a good thing, but future conservatives, who now lead the country today, want only to wield power to hurt others.
In 2017, I told my brother-in-law that Republicans were now the American fascist party. Usually calm and not overly politically opinionated, his face turned red and he yelled that I was out of my “effing mind.” I hadn’t expected such a reaction, and I didn’t want to argue with him because he was mainly against Trump. I let it go.
It has been this naivete on both the left and right about just how quickly significant currents in the Republican Party were moving the center of the Party toward fascism. All of the warning signs were there. Today, our democracy is under a full-frontal assault, and the only thing still standing that could serve as some defense is the courts. Will they hold?
And if they fail, will we take back what rightly belongs to us?