Friday, during his weekly appearance on PBS’s “NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks argued the decline in viewership of political news was a positive.
Brooks told host Lisa Desjardins the country was “over-politicized.” He said that while many claimed the word for 2024 was “exhausted” because of the political cycle, he believed it should be “chastened,” citing Trump’s win on November 5, the failures of European socialism and Israel’s triumphs.
“I have to say, I’m thrilled by the decline in viewership for political news,” Brooks said. “We’re over-politicized in this country. People go to politics for a sense of belonging, for a sense of righteousness. You should go to your friends for those things. You’re asking more of politics than politics can bear.”
“My word for the year is chastened. For those of us who oppose Donald Trump, we should be chastened because of the plurality of the American people thought we were wrong. If you’re a worshiper of the European social welfare model, you should be chastened, because that’s falling apart. If you hated Bibi Netanyahu, you should be a little chastened, because he took down Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad. So there’s a lot of reason for humility at the end of this year.”
(h/t RCP Video)
Follow Jeff Poor on X @jeff_poor