New York Times columnist David Brooks, who is about as close to a conservative as that liberal newspaper publishes, wrote something last week that gets to the heart of why Democrats, especially, but also some Republicans, fear a second Trump administration.
After extolling what he believes to be the personal virtues of some Republicans (he mentions Mitt Romney, whose personal virtues are undeniable, but who lost to Barack Obama in 2012), Brooks worries about what he regards as Donald Trump’s lack of virtues and the president-elect’s “department of government efficiency” and its declared goal of reforming, even eliminating, many programs and agencies.
Here’s the problem. Government agencies and programs are not called institutions and synonyms such as “the deep state” and “the establishment” for nothing. They continue to exist, regardless of…
