Opinion <https://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html>
Weve All Just Made Fools of Ourselves Again The awful corruption of scandal politics. <https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-brooks> By <https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-brooks> David Brooks Opinion Columnist Representative Adam Schiff speaking in 2017 about the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into possible ties between the Trump administration and Russia.CreditCreditGabriella Demczuk for The New York Times You have a president who, in my opinion, beyond a shadow of a doubt, sought to, however ham-handedly, collude with the Russian government, a foreign power, to undermine and influence our elections. Beto ORourke, presidential candidate I think theres plenty of evidence of collusion and conspiracy in plain sight. Adam Schiff, chairman of House Intelligence Committee I called [Trumps] behavior treasonous, which is to betray ones trust and aid and abet the enemy, and I stand very much by that claim. John Brennan, former C.I.A. director The biggest scandal in U.S. history is coming into focus. On Friday Rachel Maddow made it clear. Donald Trump conspired with the enemy. Rob Reiner, film director Maybe its time to declare a national sabbath. Maybe its time to step back from the scandalmongering and assess who we are right now. Democrats might approach this moment with an attitude of humility and honest self-examination. Its clear that many Democrats made grievous accusations against the president that are not supported by the evidence. Its clear that people like Beto ORourke and John Brennan owe Donald Trump a public apology. If you call someone a traitor and it turns out you lacked the evidence for that charge, then the only decent thing to do is apologize. Republicans and the Sean Hannity-style Trumpians might also approach this moment with an attitude of humility and honest self-examination. For two years theyve been calling the Mueller investigation a witch hunt. For two years theyve been spreading the libel that there are no honest brokers in Washington. Its all a deep-state conspiracy, a swamp. They should apologize for peddling the sort of deep cynicism that undermines our countrys institutions. And what about the rest of us? What about all the hours we spent speculating about the Mueller report, fantasizing about the Trump ruin or watching and reading speculation about these things? What about the superstructure of scandal politics we have built and live in today? The sad fact is that Watergate introduced a poison into the American body politic. Richard Nixons downfall was just and important, but it opened up the mouthwatering possibility that you dont need to do the hard work of persuading people to join your side. Instead, you can destroy your foes all at once through scandal. Politics since Watergate has been defined by a long string of scandals and pseudo-scandals Iran-contra, Whitewater, Valerie Plame, Benghazi, Solyndra, swift-boating. Politico last year <https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/01/46-political-scandals-th at-were-worse-than-watergate-216923> compiled a list of 46 scandals that were at one time or another deemed worse than Watergate. The nations underlying divides are still ideological, but we rarely fight them honestly as philosophical differences. We just accuse the other side of corruption. Politics is no longer a debate; its an attempt to destroy lives through accusation. The political media, especially on TV, now has a template it can apply whenever a scandal looms into view, to hook viewers into the speculative story line. According to the <http://tyndallreport.com/> Tyndall Report, the three main broadcast networks made the Russia collusion investigation the second-most-covered news event of 2018, trailing only the Kavanaugh hearings, another scandal. All the players slip into their assigned roles. Straight reporters are doing good, hard work. But the flow of information is not fast enough to keep up with 24/7 programming, so you get this toxic deluge of raw speculation. The accuseds political opponents assume maximum guilt. Imaginative pundits take a few dots of information and connect them to vast if speculative constellations of guilt. I hear the indictments are coming down next week, they whisper to one another. Members of the accuseds party attack the investigators themselves. They get to enjoy their own sense of spiritual superiority when it turns out the scandal is much smaller than it appeared, which is almost always the case. Its all a wonderful game. You dont have to know anything about a boring policy subject like economics, poverty or foreign affairs. You can have a long career in politics and media by simply treating public life as an arena of life-or-death gossip. Since Watergate launched this Age of Investigation, government has become much more transparent. As a result, public trust in institutions has plummeted. The scandal culture hasnt ultimately helped one party over the other. Its just spread a corrosive cynicism that has disabled government altogether. The ray of hope is that out on the campaign trail voters rarely ask about the scandals du jour, which obsess the cognoscenti. Most of the Democratic presidential candidates spent the last few months trying not to talk about Russian collusion. They have found a vein of voters who would rather focus on the substance of our historical moment: What motivated so many Americans to vote for a presidential candidate they knew was untrustworthy? How do you provide affordable health security? Is China a mortal foe? The Democrats won the 2018 midterms by focusing on the issues, not collusion. For most voters, politics is about their lives, not a self-righteous TV show. The Times is committed to publishing <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/opinion/letters/letters-to-editor-new-yo rk-times-women.html> a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some <https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014925288-How-to-submit-a-let ter-to-the-editor> tips. And heres our email: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on <https://www.facebook.com/nytopinion> Facebook, <http://twitter.com/NYTOpinion> Twitter (@NYTopinion) and <https://www.instagram.com/nytopinion/> Instagram. David Brooks has been a columnist with The Times since 2003. He is the author of The Road to Character and the forthcoming book, The Second Mountain. <https://twitter.com/nytdavidbrooks> @nytdavidbrooks EM -> { Trump for 2020 } On the 49th Parallel Thé Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy" Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi "Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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