David Brooks is not a Trump fan by any means, but he no longer worries about him. Trump is really not presidential material but Brooks has decided that he is not dangerous. In a sense he is too incompetent to be dangerous. He also has no real ideas. He moves from one idea to another because he is willing to do almost anything just to make a deal that will put him in the spotlight for a TV moment. His economic policies are nothing more than conventional Republican ideas warmed up from their 1984 origin in the Reagan administration.
I think that Brooks was most worried about Steve Bannon's influence which seems to have disappeared. Brooks is no longer concerned about Trump's revolutionary potential. Trump will not provide American leadership to the right wing populists who are a threat in Europe. That went away with Bannon.
Since we no longer have to worry about a Trump inspired revolution we can rest more easily. We just have to live with a shallow president for the next few years. Brooks is now willing to live with a TV personality in the White House who us unlikely to do any real damage, or anything good during his occupation. I wish I were more certain about that outcome. There are too many things that can go wrong in an unsettled world to rest easily with Trump in the White House and with a Republican congress that hopes to take advantage of the presidency. When the blind are leading the blind we are not well prepared to deal with many of the domestic and international problems that are likely to arise.
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