Donald Trump is this whirling dervish of chaos. He picked a fight with Mexico. Germany is not far behind. He will pick a fight with them. He will pick a fight with China, which would be truly cataclysmic. David Brooks More Quotes by David Brooks More Quotes From David Brooks The legitimacy of a war is not established by how it is organized but by what it achieves. David Brooks legitimacy achieve war If Donald Trump is just tweeting about a union guy, then he's just being the bully we have seen. But if he uses the power of the presidency to back up some of those tweets and he's really, really coming down with a hammer on people he doesn't like using the power of the presidency, then we're seeing something very new and very different. David Brooks bully guy people Emotion is the foundation of reason. David Brooks foundation emotion reason ... trash talk ... Washington floats on a river of aspersion. David Brooks aspersion trash-talk rivers The more people doubt their own beliefs the more, paradoxically, they are inclined to proselytize in favor of them. David Brooks favors doubt people On the larger issue of the travel ban, our friend Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post I think put it pretty well. I'm not sure it's illegal, but it's extremely stupid. David Brooks issues stupid thinking Live life as a series of revelations David Brooks series revelations live-life People want reality that tells them how right they are all the time. David Brooks want reality people Memo to young journalists: Democratic victories are always ascribed to hope; Republican ones to rage. David Brooks republican victory rage On the [Andrew] Puzder point, I do agree there has been a double standard. David Brooks andrew double-standard standards We are a democratic, egalitarian people who spend our days desperately trying to climb over each other. David Brooks democratic trying people Pain now is better than pain deferred. David Brooks pain Civility is the natural state for people who know how limited their own individual powers are and know, too, that they need the conversation. David Brooks individual-power people needs There are plenty of team players in government who do whatever the leader says. There are too few difficult members, who have complicated minds, unusual perspectives, the toughness to withstand the party-line barrages and a practical interest in producing results. David Brooks party team player Institutions do all the things that are supposed to be bad. They impede personal exploration. They enforce conformity. But they often save us from our weaknesses and give meaning to life. David Brooks conformity weakness giving When you cover politics, you realize that knowing how to talk about character matters more and more. The way we hold ideas is more important than the ideas. David Brooks knowing character ideas What family you were born into matters so much more than it did before in a perverse way. David Brooks born matter way The rich don't exploit the poor, they just out-compete them. David Brooks rich competition poor As for multimillionaires [in Donald Trump's Administration], a lot of us hope to be a multimillionaire some day. Again, spotty records, but it seems to be not without the range. David Brooks range records administration It’s not that Egypt doesn’t have a recipe for a democratic transition. It seems to lack even the basic mental ingredients. David Brooks egypt transition recipes