David Brooks has not figured out what to do about Trump. He, and many of his Republican friends are frustrated by Trump. They don't like him but he, and other Trump bashers, are like puppets on strings controlled by Trump. He argues that Trumpism is celebrity consuming governance. Commentators like Brooks have tried to refute Trump by pointing out discrepancies between Trump's claims and the facts. That has not worked because Trump is a marketer who is skilled at creating images. It is hard to refute images with facts. Many choose to believe in his images. Consequently, Trump wins the game because he monopolizes attention. If one of the goals of fascism is to monopolize attention, Brooks and others are playing a losing game in which refutation by illustrating Trumpian fallacies does not work.
Brooks is probably right about how Trumpism works. He seems to have given up. Perhaps he should focus more attention on Trump's enablers in his favorite political party. The best way to end Trumpism is to encourage his friends in Congress to do their jobs. They believe that they can win elections and retain their jobs by supporting Trump. They don't seem to understand that they are turning themselves into puppets in the process. Trump will humiliate them with tweets whenever they attempt to do what they are supposed to do. Some of them might decide to do what they were elected to do if Brooks and others help them to resist being turned into Trump enablers. There is no middle ground in that war. The only answer is to focus on his enablers in Congress and in the alt-right media. Turkey has enabled an autocrat. Turkey is now facing an economic crisis and it will find it very difficult to correct its course. Good governance is primarily important during a crisis. We are not Turkey, but weak governance in the US may lead to a crises that requires good governance.
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