'Civic uprising': Conservative sees Trump regime as break-glass emergency
Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks is widely seen as a measured figure who frequently calls out anything radical or removed from the center — but that's decidedly not the tone he struck in his latest article, calling for a "civic uprising" to defend American values against the assault of the Trump administration.
"Over the centuries, people built the sinews of civilization: Constitutions to restrain power, international alliances to promote peace, legal systems to peacefully settle disputes, scientific institutions to cure disease, news outlets to advance public understanding, charitable organizations to ease suffering, businesses to build wealth and spread prosperity, and universities to preserve, transmit and advance the glories of our way of life," wrote Brooks. "These institutions make our lives sweet, loving and creative, rather than nasty, brutish and short."
The Trump agenda, he continued, stands in opposition to all of that — pursuing only "power for its own sake" as it seeks to "make the earth a playground for ruthless men," tearing down any institution or cultural values that get in the way of that. This is the mindset with which Trump has forced universities, law firms, and media companies to bend to his will.
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Because of the unprecedented scale of this threat, Brooks wrote, the American people must rise up with a similarly unprecedented dissent to stop it.
"So far, the only real hint of something larger — a mass countermovement — has been the rallies led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But this ... is an ineffective way to respond to Trump; those partisan rallies make this fight seem like a normal contest between Democrats and Republicans," wrote Brooks. "What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican."
Specifically, what's needed is a type of collective nonviolent civil disobedience, wrote Brooks, of the type that drove British colonists out of India or forced passage of the Civil Rights Act.
"These movements used many different tools at their disposal — lawsuits, mass rallies, strikes, work slowdowns, boycotts and other forms of noncooperation and resistance," he wrote. "These movements began small and built up. They developed clear messages that appealed to a variety of groups. They shifted the narrative so the authoritarians were no longer on permanent offense. Sometimes they used nonviolent means to provoke the regime into taking violent action, which shocks the nation, undercuts the regime’s authority and further strengthens the movement."
"I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist," Brooks concluded. "But this is what America needs right now. Trump is shackling the greatest institutions in American life. We have nothing to lose but our chains."