WEBVTT 00:01.433 --> 00:02.933 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: It has been quite a week in Washington 00:02.933 --> 00:05.800 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And here to analyze it all are Shields and Brooks. 00:05.800 --> 00:10.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks. 00:10.666 --> 00:11.800 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Gentlemen, welcome. 00:11.800 --> 00:13.800 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% It has been quite a week. 00:13.800 --> 00:18.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% We saw this unusual coalition of opposition to the president's policy on the border, the 00:21.433 --> 00:25.733 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% president digging in, defending it, and then changing course. 00:25.733 --> 00:27.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% David, what have we learned this week? 00:27.533 --> 00:28.533 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (LAUGHTER) 00:28.533 --> 00:29.533 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: Chaos. 00:29.533 --> 00:30.533 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (LAUGHTER) 00:30.533 --> 00:32.633 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% DAVID BROOKS: Chaos reigns. 00:32.633 --> 00:33.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% If you have an administration -- usually, when you go into a White House, you say, well, 00:33.600 --> 00:34.900 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% why didn't you guys do this? 00:34.900 --> 00:36.200 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And they say, well, how exactly would that work? 00:36.200 --> 00:38.000 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And they try to walk you through the details. 00:38.000 --> 00:39.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It seems nobody is asking that question. 00:39.533 --> 00:43.066 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And so how we do take kids away from parents? 00:43.066 --> 00:44.366 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% How do we reunify? 00:44.366 --> 00:46.366 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% No one is asking the practical questions. 00:46.366 --> 00:48.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's just -- this is what you have when you have government by tweet. 00:48.933 --> 00:52.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% What is infuriating about it is, the Republican Party exists for a few reasons. 00:52.833 --> 00:57.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% One of them is to understand that government is at its most abhorrent when it can't see 00:59.800 --> 01:04.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% human beings as human beings, and when it treats them as mere data points or as something 01:04.166 --> 01:06.333 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% in a bureaucratic game. 01:06.333 --> 01:09.233 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And that's what we have seen this whole policy. 01:09.233 --> 01:12.033 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% It's not treating the people as the human beings. 01:12.033 --> 01:17.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's treating them as just sort of pawns in some sort of larger protest movement. 01:17.000 --> 01:18.500 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% And that's what happens. 01:18.500 --> 01:20.666 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% When government does that, you get horrific pain and suffering. 01:20.666 --> 01:21.666 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% And that's what we're seeing. 01:21.666 --> 01:24.033 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% JOHN YANG: Mark? 01:24.033 --> 01:27.666 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% MARK SHIELDS: Every administration is inevitably a mirror reflection of the man at the top. 01:29.600 --> 01:33.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Sadly, in this case, the Republican Party has become a reflection of the man at the 01:33.033 --> 01:34.266 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% top. 01:34.266 --> 01:37.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It is a combination of malice and incompetence. 01:37.333 --> 01:42.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It is shameful beyond description. 01:44.300 --> 01:47.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The idea of separating children, anybody who's been a parent or a child or a sibling and 01:50.200 --> 01:55.166 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% knows the pain, the inconsolable pain of homesickness when a child is separated from the mother, 01:58.366 --> 02:03.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% even sometimes for a brief period, to do this as a matter of policy is unthinkable. 02:06.533 --> 02:11.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The one bright light to me, quite honestly, in a dark, dark picture has been organized 02:13.533 --> 02:16.866 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% religion speaking up and speaking out, with the exception of some of the president's most 02:18.033 --> 02:21.666 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% ardent followers in the evangelical community. 02:21.666 --> 02:26.666 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Give credit to the Southern Baptists, the Protestant denominations, to Catholic Bishops, 02:27.400 --> 02:29.100 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% across the board. 02:29.100 --> 02:33.100 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Cardinal Cupich of Chicago put it so well. 02:33.100 --> 02:38.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He said, this is not moral, this is not American, this is cruel, and it is a shame on all of 02:41.033 --> 02:43.000 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% us that it is done in our name. 02:43.000 --> 02:45.400 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And I just think that's where it is. 02:45.400 --> 02:50.100 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Beyond the political, which I think is a disaster for the Republicans, for the reasons, many 02:50.100 --> 02:55.066 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% of which David has spoken of, is just immeasurable. 02:57.066 --> 03:01.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: But, David, the president seems to want the make this the center point of 03:04.000 --> 03:05.800 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% the midterm election campaign. 03:05.800 --> 03:07.733 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% DAVID BROOKS: Yes, the Republicans are having a debate. 03:07.733 --> 03:09.833 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Normally, you go with your strength. 03:09.833 --> 03:11.733 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And the Republicans have a clear advantage. 03:11.733 --> 03:14.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% The country trusts the Republicans on the economy. 03:14.433 --> 03:17.500 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And so, on the normal thing, you would play up the economy. 03:17.500 --> 03:20.266 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Trump says, no, immigration is going to be our issue. 03:20.266 --> 03:24.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And the data point that backs him up -- I doubt he's seen this data point -- is that 03:24.166 --> 03:28.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% if you ask voters what issue is top most on your mind, right now, it's immigration first 03:28.333 --> 03:29.866 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% and health care second. 03:29.866 --> 03:32.466 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And so he can say, listen, the people care about immigration. 03:32.466 --> 03:37.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I think it's what his people care about or what he thinks his people care about. 03:37.466 --> 03:41.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But the broader trend here is worth pointing out, that over the last two years and over 03:41.600 --> 03:46.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% the past 10 years, support for immigration in principle has been rising, not falling. 03:48.666 --> 03:49.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The number of people who say immigrants are good for the country, we should have more 03:49.500 --> 03:51.500 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% immigrants been rising. 03:51.500 --> 03:54.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The number of people say we have fewer immigrants, that's been falling. 03:54.133 --> 03:56.966 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And so this is not the rise of nativism. 03:56.966 --> 04:00.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's the rise of Donald Trump mobilizing a certain portion of the electorate. 04:00.733 --> 04:05.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: And yet you say the support for immigration is rising, but Congress can't 04:06.433 --> 04:07.966 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% figure out what to do. 04:07.966 --> 04:12.233 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% They have punted again this -- a vote on a bill in the House. 04:12.233 --> 04:15.600 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% MARK SHIELDS: No, it's actually -- David's right. 04:15.600 --> 04:17.733 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It's 17 years it's been improving. 04:17.733 --> 04:22.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% In fact, there's a 6 percent drop just from last year in the Americans who think that 04:23.033 --> 04:24.166 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% we ought to cut immigration. 04:24.166 --> 04:27.666 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It's down to 29 percent, which is a low. 04:27.666 --> 04:32.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So, Americans really are, if anything, more welcoming, more enlightened, more acknowledging 04:34.100 --> 04:37.666 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% of the value and importance of immigrants to our country. 04:37.666 --> 04:40.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% But, in Congress, it's been a political failure. 04:40.133 --> 04:45.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% There's been no public common consensus established on this issue. 04:45.866 --> 04:47.400 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% It's been a failure. 04:47.400 --> 04:48.400 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% President Bush tried. 04:48.400 --> 04:49.700 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% President George W. Bush tried. 04:49.700 --> 04:50.800 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% President Obama tried. 04:50.800 --> 04:52.700 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% They failed. 04:52.700 --> 04:57.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And President Trump has been like an arsonist in a gasoline station on this issue. 05:02.200 --> 05:07.200 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% The only people who really want action right now, heading in November, are suburban Republicans, 05:09.800 --> 05:14.800 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% who are in districts where their constituents are more enlightened, more welcoming, more 05:16.233 --> 05:20.200 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% humane on immigration, and oppose the Republican Party. 05:20.200 --> 05:24.400 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And they want to see some action to be able to go back. 05:24.400 --> 05:26.433 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% But there isn't. 05:26.433 --> 05:29.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I mean, Democrats have been excluded from the process, and they're not playing. 05:29.400 --> 05:32.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And the mainstream Republicans really don't give a damn. 05:32.133 --> 05:33.133 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: Yes. 05:33.133 --> 05:34.300 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% But it's interesting. 05:34.300 --> 05:36.266 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It's been a failure on three ways. 05:36.266 --> 05:39.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And there's been sort of the ultra-hawkish side on the Republican side who wants to cut 05:39.500 --> 05:44.000 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% legal and illegal immigration and build a wall and all the rest. 05:44.000 --> 05:47.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% There's another part, we will call them moderate Republicans, though that may be stretching 05:47.233 --> 05:52.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% the term, who mostly care about just enforcing the laws and want to give dreamers a path. 05:54.233 --> 05:56.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And the realities of the people that are here, they want to give them a path to citizenship. 05:56.233 --> 05:59.766 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% And those two can't get along, so you can't get a Republican policy. 05:59.766 --> 06:04.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And then there is the Democrats, who say, we aren't going to play at any of these games, 06:06.666 --> 06:10.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% because we can't be getting rid of families, we can't be building a wall. 06:10.100 --> 06:13.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And so we have -- we have -- we're going to be -- in three weeks, we're going to be exactly 06:13.900 --> 06:16.133 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% where we were today. 06:16.133 --> 06:20.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And so Andrew Sullivan in "New York Magazine" wrote a piece which I have some sympathy for. 06:20.166 --> 06:22.000 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% It said, give the guy his wall. 06:22.000 --> 06:23.300 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Pay him off. 06:23.300 --> 06:25.333 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Build the damn wall. 06:25.333 --> 06:28.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It will do nothing, but build the wall, and then get a normal policy given the wall. 06:28.700 --> 06:33.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And somehow there has to be some solution, or else this problem will be exactly the same 06:33.300 --> 06:35.000 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% in two weeks as it was two weeks ago. 06:35.000 --> 06:36.000 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (CROSSTALK) 06:36.000 --> 06:37.000 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% JOHN YANG: Go ahead. 06:37.000 --> 06:38.233 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% MARK SHIELDS: It will be, John. 06:38.233 --> 06:40.000 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% But I think you have to confront the reality. 06:40.000 --> 06:41.566 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% This man is a racialist. 06:41.566 --> 06:43.666 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% He really is. 06:43.666 --> 06:47.833 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% The language he uses, Donald Trump, three years ago this week, he announced his candidacy. 06:48.700 --> 06:50.366 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% And you recall what he said. 06:50.366 --> 06:51.800 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Mexico doesn't send us their best. 06:51.800 --> 06:52.966 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% They're not our friend. 06:52.966 --> 06:53.966 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% They send rapists. 06:53.966 --> 06:56.933 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% They send drug carriers. 06:56.933 --> 06:59.333 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% I mean, it's always been. 06:59.333 --> 07:02.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% The Nigerians don't want to go back to their huts. 07:02.300 --> 07:04.600 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% They come from the S-hole countries. 07:04.600 --> 07:06.166 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It's always had a racial component. 07:06.166 --> 07:08.666 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% He doesn't talk that way about Canada. 07:08.666 --> 07:10.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% He doesn't talk way about France. 07:10.866 --> 07:15.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He talks about way about people from the Southern Hemisphere of a different pigmentation. 07:15.666 --> 07:20.666 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% And I don't think you can look at any of his statements, whether it's infecting the country, 07:21.800 --> 07:23.633 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% like we're talking about lice and vermin. 07:23.633 --> 07:25.066 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: Infesting, infesting, yes. 07:25.066 --> 07:26.733 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% MARK SHIELDS: Yes, infecting the country. 07:26.733 --> 07:29.666 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% And so I just -- I think -- I think this is the breaking point. 07:29.666 --> 07:31.766 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% I think this is Katrina. 07:31.766 --> 07:36.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I think this is a defining moment for this presidency and the American people. 07:38.033 --> 07:41.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I mean, if you could continue to support Donald Trump on these terms, you're accepting the 07:41.033 --> 07:42.533 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% fact that he is what he is. 07:42.533 --> 07:44.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I don't agree. 07:44.533 --> 07:49.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Just analytically, I agree with the moral objection, but I suspect there's a lot of 07:49.066 --> 07:53.233 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% people who are not anti-immigrant, not nativist, they do want to enforce the border. 07:53.233 --> 07:55.233 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And they think too many people are coming here for asylum. 07:55.233 --> 07:57.533 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And then they think they can get in if they bring kids. 07:57.533 --> 08:02.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And so, analytically, frankly, I would be surprised if his approval rating went down 08:02.333 --> 08:05.866 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% more than 3 or 4 percentage points over this, if at all. 08:05.866 --> 08:06.866 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% We will see. 08:06.866 --> 08:08.066 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% MARK SHIELDS: We will see. 08:08.066 --> 08:08.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: We will see in a week. 08:08.866 --> 08:10.100 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% MARK SHIELDS: OK. 08:10.100 --> 08:12.200 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% JOHN YANG: Mark mentioned Katrina. 08:12.200 --> 08:15.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And I think that that -- the reason why I think that was so startling for George W. 08:15.766 --> 08:20.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Bush was because the Republicans were seen as the competence, the people of competence, 08:20.566 --> 08:23.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% the people who could run things and make things work. 08:23.833 --> 08:28.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And now we have this, as Yamiche Alcindor was describing earlier, total chaos in the 08:28.266 --> 08:32.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% government, as they try to figure out how to execute the executive order and how to 08:32.500 --> 08:34.566 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% reunite the families. 08:34.566 --> 08:38.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It seems like there wasn't any thought, from which she is reporting, when they separated 08:38.000 --> 08:39.666 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% the families, of how to reunite them. 08:39.666 --> 08:43.033 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% What does that say about the Republican Party and where they are now? 08:43.033 --> 08:45.366 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% DAVID BROOKS: Well, you get this weird phenomenon. 08:45.366 --> 08:50.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Every time the government messes up in some major way, Donald Trump will say, see, I'm 08:51.100 --> 08:52.600 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% draining the swamp. 08:52.600 --> 08:54.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% You have got to get rid of this government thing. 08:54.133 --> 08:56.166 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And so, the more he screws up, the more it helps him. 08:56.166 --> 08:59.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And he has been testing that proposition quite strongly for the last year-and-a-half. 08:59.033 --> 09:04.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: I do want to take some time to note the passing this week of a colleague 09:04.900 --> 09:06.366 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% of ours. 09:06.366 --> 09:08.400 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% I think all of us -- each of us worked with him. 09:08.400 --> 09:12.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% I worked with him at "TIME" magazine in the 1980s, Charles Krauthammer, a very thoughtful, 09:14.100 --> 09:18.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% thought-provoking, and I think supremely, to my view, elegant, eloquent writer. 09:20.533 --> 09:22.966 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Mark, you worked with him on "Inside Washington." 09:22.966 --> 09:23.966 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% MARK SHIELDS: I did. 09:23.966 --> 09:25.966 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% I did. 09:25.966 --> 09:29.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Charles and I occupied different philosophical chairs, far more polarized than David and 09:30.566 --> 09:32.666 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% I are. 09:32.666 --> 09:37.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But Charles, as probably most viewers do and readers knew, suffered a terribly disabling 09:38.533 --> 09:39.900 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% injury. 09:39.900 --> 09:42.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It left him a paraplegic as a young man. 09:42.533 --> 09:45.733 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And in spite of that, a great tribute to the human spirit. 09:45.733 --> 09:50.233 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% Charles is all that you said he was, but he had a wicked sense of humor. 09:50.233 --> 09:52.233 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% He really did. 09:52.233 --> 09:54.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% As Gordon Peterson, the longtime Washington anchor, wrote a beautiful piece that I believe 09:54.966 --> 09:59.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% is our PBS Web site about Charles, was emcee of that show, host of that show, noted, that 10:02.266 --> 10:07.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Charles just had a marvelously devilish sense of humor, and oftentimes at the expense of 10:09.300 --> 10:13.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% those very conservative icons that he was defending their policies, while acknowledging 10:15.200 --> 10:18.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% their infirmities of character and personality. 10:18.300 --> 10:23.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But he was -- he was really, I think, sui generis, it's fair the say. 10:24.466 --> 10:26.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: A, super intelligent. 10:26.533 --> 10:29.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% There's a test where you have to recite -- people read you off a number, a bunch of numbers, 10:29.200 --> 10:31.666 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% and you have to recite them backwards. 10:31.666 --> 10:33.666 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% The average person can do five. 10:33.666 --> 10:36.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Charles could do 12 while driving down the highway at 70 miles an hour. 10:36.400 --> 10:37.666 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (LAUGHTER) 10:37.666 --> 10:39.833 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: So, that's intelligence. 10:39.833 --> 10:43.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Second, just he could be dry and acerbic, but if you went to a ball game with him, he 10:44.266 --> 10:44.966 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% was like a 7-year-old boy. 10:44.966 --> 10:46.800 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% He was joyful. 10:46.800 --> 10:49.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And the right word for him, even despite his intimidating persona, is sweet. 10:49.766 --> 10:53.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He was a sweet man, especially at a ballpark, around Jewish issues. 10:53.966 --> 10:56.133 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% He just radiated that sweetness. 10:56.133 --> 10:59.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And then the final thing, just professionally, he's a man who did the reading. 10:59.400 --> 11:00.433 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% He read through Kant. 11:00.433 --> 11:01.900 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% He read through Maimonides. 11:01.900 --> 11:04.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% He read through John Stuart Mill and Isaiah Berlin. 11:04.333 --> 11:09.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And he knew his philosophical grounding, and everything could then grow out of that. 11:10.500 --> 11:12.600 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And so he had an anti-romanticism. 11:12.600 --> 11:16.033 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% He didn't get swept up in sentimental passions, but it gave him a depth to his work that was 11:18.200 --> 11:20.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% extraordinary for a mere newspaper columnist. 11:20.333 --> 11:24.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: And I should note, David, he once - - I saw him once, I think, on FOX. 11:24.566 --> 11:27.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% There was a reference to you as a conservative columnist. 11:27.766 --> 11:30.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And Charles said, oh, no, no, no, I have to correct you. 11:30.333 --> 11:32.400 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% David is no conservative. 11:32.400 --> 11:33.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% DAVID BROOKS: Well, I think he was asked, who is was your favorite liberal columnist? 11:33.066 --> 11:33.933 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% And he said me. 11:33.933 --> 11:34.933 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (LAUGHTER) 11:34.933 --> 11:35.933 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% DAVID BROOKS: So, that was... 11:35.933 --> 11:37.166 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (CROSSTALK) 11:37.166 --> 11:38.366 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% DAVID BROOKS: That was his sense of humor. 11:38.366 --> 11:39.733 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% JEFFREY BROWN: That was his sense of humor. 11:39.733 --> 11:39.866 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% David Brooks, Mark Shields, thank you so much.