The New York Times published a remarkable op-ed on Tuesday by David Brooks, entitled “Let’s Not Get Carried Away”.
The topic of the column is the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, and its apparent purpose is to tell everyone to calm down. As Brooks puts it, “it is striking how little evidence there is that any underlying crime occurred — that there was any actual collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and the Russians.”
Rightly, Brooks is open to the possibility that new evidence could emerge that reveals a true scandal along these lines. The issue is that we should not “assume this link exists”.
Brooks also offers some interesting observations on the differences between the “politics of democracy” and the “politics of scandal”. Then he closes with a nod to Trump himself:
Things are so bad that I’m going to have to give Trump the last word. On June 15 he tweeted, “They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story.” Unless there is some new revelation, that may turn out to be pretty accurate commentary.
The article is far from perfect, but it offers some important and sober points that one does not often encounter in the Times. It’s an argument for skepticism and caution–and an argument against the hysteria that has dominated so much of mainstream reporting on the Trump-Russia issue.
It’s good to see someone in a major publication is pushing back against the rush to judgment on such an important issue. It’s also a good resource to share with friends who may frown on alternative media outlets.
