Writer David Brooks (like me) spent most of his life as a “conservative.” A label whose meaning now is totally twisted. But a notable recent column marks Brooks’s radicalization — calling for an uprising.
America’s original revolution seems to have swerved into a ditch. Is it time for another? I myself have fantasized a reverse January 6, folks with torches and pitchforks descending upon Washington, meting out the Mussolini/Ceausescu treatment. However, a large segment of America would object — and they have more guns.
Such a civil war is not what Brooks seeks. But nor does he think the answer to Trumpism lies with normal politics. His words merit reading; here I’ve condensed them:
“Under empires of old, the strong did what they willed and the weak suffered. But over centuries, people built civilization: Constitutions to restrain power, international alliances to promote peace, legal systems, scientific institutions, news outlets to advance public understanding, charitable organizations, universities to advance the glories of our way of life.
“Trumpism is threatening all that. It is primarily about acquisition of power — power for its own sake. So any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit.
“So far, we have treated his administration as a series of different attacks. They are going after law firms, they savaged U.S.A.I.D., they’re attacking universities, undermining NATO, upending global trade. These are not separate battles. This is a single effort to undo the civilizational order. And it will take a concerted response to beat it back.
“So far, each sector Trump has assaulted has responded independently. This ensures that Trump will trample on one victim after another.
“The only real hint of something larger — a mass countermovement — has been rallies led by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez. But [that makes] this seem like a normal contest between Democrats and Republicans. What is happening now is not normal politics [but] an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life.
“It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. One coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.
“Peoples throughout history have done exactly this when confronted by an authoritarian assault. They developed clear messages that appealed to a variety of groups. Sometimes they used nonviolent means to provoke the regime into violent action, which shocks the nation, undercuts the regime’s authority and further strengthens the movement. (Think of Selma.) Trumpism is dividing civil society; the civic uprising can divide the forces of Trumpism.
“This takes coordination. One backbone organization, that does the work of coalition building.
“[But] we live in a country with catastrophically low levels of institutional trust. University presidents, big law firms, media organizations and corporate executives face a wall of skepticism and cynicism. They have to show they understand the establishment sins that gave rise to Trump in the first place; that they are democratically seeking to reform.
My wife & I protesting, Albany Airport, January 2017
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“Take universities. Crown jewels of American life. But like all institutions, they have their flaws. Many shrouded in a stifling “progressivism” [my quote marks!] that tells half the country: Your voices don’t matter. Admissions policies favor rich kids. No one should be surprised if the losers flip over the table.
“A civic uprising has to have a short-term and a long-term vision. Short term: Stop Trump. Turn some of his followers against him. Second is a long-term vision of a fairer society.
“I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies. But this is what America needs right now.”
* * *
(My comments): For all the hand-wringing over what Democrats stand for, what Republicans stand for is horrible. Yet they go from triumph to triumph. We do need to mobilize, and join forces against them. But Brooks doesn’t offer much of a blueprint. A “vision of a fairer society” has been an intellectual obsession since forever. The trouble with much such anti-Trump bloviating is woolly imprecision of means and how they connect with ends.
I think violence could be morally justified, but it can’t prevail against MAGA. And while Brooks is right that we’re not in normal politics — I’ve been screaming national crisis for a decade — still the only true means to defeat Trumpism is not marching but voting, strip its secular power, to save the civilizational institutions Brooks so eloquently vaunts.
Voting is the most powerful weapon. That’s why democracy is so important. But America’s biggest political bloc is non-voters, outnumbering the 30% backingTrump in 2024.
I have no silver bullet.