Brooks: Real Immigration Issue Shouldn’t Be Reduced to Just Trump’s Horrid Comments

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that while 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump’s comments about immigration were wrong, “there’s an actual issue here.” And “we shouldn’t reduce the whole issue to those abhorrent comments, those Nazi-like comments, that there actually is a core problem here that people are really resonating with.”

Brooks said, “I thought the comments were abhorrent and horrible. And Donald Trump has a talent for tapping into some of the darker underground rivers of American history, America first, nativism, Know Nothing-ism, and this is an example. But we shouldn’t ignore the fact — the statistic…which is that his support among immigrants themselves is surging. And so, there’s an actual issue here. And so, in my view, anytime he talks about immigrants, he’s probably going to get — you’re going to get that 42% number. And then you’ve got to remember, 42%, at least, of Iowan Republican caucus-goers are Trump supporters. So, they’re going to be pro-Trump, no matter what when a reporter comes up. So, A. I think it’s abhorrent. But we shouldn’t reduce the whole issue to those abhorrent comments, those Nazi-like comments, that there actually is a core problem here that people are really resonating with.”

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