The surprise admission of an influential anti-Trump New York Times columnist is making waves across the political spectrum and raising new questions about the “educated class’s” grip on American institutions.
David Brooke, a prominent anti-Trump New York Times columnist shocked political commentators this week when he admitted that members of the elites have used self-serving tactics to maintain power and a sense of moral superiority over the Trump supporters they detest.
In an op-ed Wednesday, Brooks, a fierce opponent of Trump, wrote how liberal elites “take over whole professions and locked everybody else out” and used buzzwords to alienate those less educated.
“Highly educated parents go to elite schools, marry each other, work at high-paying professional jobs and pour enormous resources into our children, who get into the same elite schools, marry each other and pass their exclusive class privileges down from generation to generation,” Brooks wrote.
He added that it’s no surprise that working-class Americans would flock to a candidate who’s waged war on the establishment that’s only out for itself, despite Trump being a “monster.”
“When I began my journalism career in Chicago in the 1980s, there were still some old crusty working-class guys around the newsroom. Now we’re not only a college-dominated profession, we’re an elite-college-dominated profession,” he wrote.
This admission has become a topic of debate among journalists and political commentators.
Economic Progress senior fellow Russ Greene lambasted Brooks’ analysis of elite control of American institutions, saying, “Surveying modern America. One does not get the impression of elite institutions ruthlessly focused on competence and bottom-line outcomes.”
Longtime radio journalist Celeste Headlee said she gave Brooks a “lot of credit here” for his apparent honesty.
“He’s so close,” Headlee wrote, referring to Brooks’ acknowledgment that policies created by the “educated class” have led to a separation and exclusion of others based on the “quality that we possess most: academic achievement.”
Others were more critical of Brooks’ piece. National Pulse Junior Editor Will Upton called it a “barn-burner” and Fox News contributor Ben Domenech told his followers to “read this, my anti-Trump friends,” in reference to Brooks’ claim that Trump understood that there was great demand for a leader “who would stick his thumb in” the eyes of the liberal elite.
The admission of a prominent anti-Trump media figure is sure to reignite the debate surrounding the “educated class’s” grip on power. As for Brooks, his mea culpa has yet to be accepted by many on Twitter.
I give David Brooks a lot of credit here. There is self-awareness here, and a willingness to admit that perhaps his position in life wasn’t entirely due to his talent and intellect. He’s so close.https://t.co/bOhiGTV5PA
— Celeste Headlee (@CelesteHeadlee) August 3, 2023
