“Men like Brooks know, literally, nothing.”

A timely reminder:

Tony Judt recalls debating David Brooks in the run-up to the Iraq invasion—a catastrophic action still wrecking countries—& realizing Brooks knew nothing & was quite serene about that. And was typical. pic.twitter.com/VLtXXONpZM

— Jedediah Purdy (@JedediahSPurdy) August 12, 2018

The run-up to the Iraq War is an absolutely critical moment in understanding where we are now, and provides particularly strong parallels for the ludicrously botched coverage of the 2016 elections. Remember that this guy is the nation’s most prominent and well-compensated foreign policy analyst:

Also note that fellow overcompensated elite (and, in addition, serial sexual harasser) Charlie Rose sets up Friedman for his insanely dumb (and, yet, probably largely accurate approximation of what the war’s architects and its countless media apologists were thinking) monologue by assuming the war was “over.” In May 2003. Believing that America is a meritocracy is like believing in the Easter Bunny.