The single best tell of the stupid that infects Brooks and his team of David Brooks impersonators is the way that aestheticism is substituted for morality, because moral reflections required self-inquiry, while politeness and good conduct are superficial externalities.

Hence the recurring theme of “the liberals were rude, therefore they have no point, therefore they are wrong and immoral,” but also the “Donald Trump is crass, and therefore bad, but we will not reflect on the homologous ideological features between Trump and less gauche conservatives” so common among the never-Trumpers.