Brooks: We’ve ‘Let Each Other Down’ by Not Shutting Down the Way Other Nations Did

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that Americans “failed each other” because “We never shut down the way other countries did, and we certainly are not doing it now.”

Brooks said, “We were failed by our institutions, including the CDC and the FDA, big time. We were — failed each other. I mean, de Tocqueville said, Americans may be individualistic, but they can act as what he called the social body, when, in a crisis, they can come together and really solve a problem. And we more or less failed to do that. We never shut down the way other countries did, and we certainly are not doing it now. And so, we’ve sort of let each other down.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett