Honestly, it’s hard to open the New York Times opinion page without bumping into a lecture from David Brooks. You know the vibe. One day he’s dissecting the latest polling data with a surgeon’s precision, and the next, he’s basically acting as your unpaid life coach, telling you that your soul is shriveling because you don't read enough 18th-century philosophy.
Love him or hate him—and plenty of people do both—david brooks opinion columns have become a weirdly essential fixture of American intellectual life. He’s the guy who tried to explain the "Bobos" to us back in the day, and now he’s the guy trying to "weave" the social fabric back together before it completely frays.
The Great Pivot: From Policy to "Soulcraft"
If you look back at his early stuff, Brooks was a pretty standard-issue conservative. He cut his teeth at The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard. When he joined the Times in 2003, he was the resident "Red State" whisperer for a "Blue State" audience.
But then something shifted.
Somewhere around the mid-2010s—specifically around the time he was writing The Road to Character—the columns started feeling different. They weren't just about tax brackets or the Iraq War (which he famously supported and later admitted was a "clear misjudgment"). They became about... goodness.
He started talking about "résumé virtues" versus "eulogy virtues." Basically, the stuff you put on LinkedIn versus the stuff people say about you at your funeral. It was a gutsy move. In a world of hyper-partisan snark, Brooks decided to start using words like "grace," "sin," and "covenant."
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Why People Get Annoyed
Let's be real: Brooks is a massive target for critics. People like Andrew Sullivan and Jonathan Chait have spent years poking holes in his arguments. Why? Because he can be, well, a bit much.
- The "Sanctimony" Problem: Critics argue he’s "noxiously sanctimonious." He tells everyone else to be humble while writing from a very comfortable, elite perch.
- The Moving Goalposts: Some journalists feel he shifts his "abiding values" to fit whatever the conventional wisdom of the week is.
- The Amateur Sociology: Remember the "salad bar" column? He once wrote about how he took a friend to a gourmet sandwich shop and she felt "marginalized" by the fancy ingredients. People tore that apart.
But here’s the thing. Even when he’s being a bit of a "pompous sermonizer," he’s often the only one in the mainstream media asking the big, uncomfortable questions. Is our society too individualistic? Why are we all so lonely? Have we forgotten how to actually be with each other?
The "Weave" and the Second Mountain
In the last few years, particularly as we’ve moved into 2025 and 2026, his focus has narrowed onto "social repair." He started the Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute.
He’s obsessed with the idea that we’ve "eviscerated" everything we held in common. He blames the 1960s left for social individualism and the 1980s right for economic individualism. In his view, both sides ended up destroying the community "underbrush" that keeps a society healthy.
His more recent work, including his book How to Know a Person, is practically a manual for how to have a conversation. He gives tips that sound simple but are actually kind of hard:
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- Be a loud listener. Make those "mhm" and "yeah" sounds so people know you're actually there.
- Don't be a topper. If someone tells you they’re tired, don't immediately say, "Oh, you think you're tired? I stayed up until 4 AM!"
- Don't fear the pause. Let the silence sit for a second.
David Brooks Opinion Columns in 2026: The New Context
Right now, as we navigate a second Trump term and the weird, hyper-connected "Polycene" era (a term he discussed with Tom Friedman), Brooks is leaning even harder into what he calls "epistemological modesty."
It’s a fancy way of saying we should stop being so certain about everything.
He’s clearly feeling "politically homeless." He still identifies as a "Burkean" or a "Whig," but he doesn't really fit in the modern GOP, and he’s too culturally conservative for the progressive left. This "homelessness" actually makes his columns better. He isn't carrying water for a party anymore; he’s just a guy worried about the national soul.
How to Actually Read Him (Without Throwing Your Phone)
If you want to get the most out of David Brooks, you have to look past the occasional "pompous" tone.
Don't read him for the "what." If you want a play-by-play of the latest bill in Congress, go somewhere else.
Read him for the "why." He’s at his best when he’s connecting a tiny news item to a 2,000-year-old moral dilemma.
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Take his annual "Sydney Awards." Every year, he highlights the best long-form magazine writing. It’s a great example of his "curator" role—he’s trying to point us toward things that are "vibrantly alive" rather than just the outrage-bait of the day.
Actionable Insights for the "Brooks Curious"
If you find yourself nodding along (or even screaming) at his columns, here’s how to put some of that "social repair" into practice:
- Audit your "Eulogy Virtues": Take ten minutes. If you died tomorrow, what would you want people to say about your character? Are you actually doing anything today that builds that character?
- Practice "Aggressive Listening": In your next meeting or dinner, try to ask three questions for every one statement you make. See if the other person feels more "seen."
- Find Your "Second Mountain": Brooks argues that the "first mountain" is about personal success (career, money). The "second mountain" is about commitment to others. Identify one thing you do purely for your community, not your résumé.
At the end of the day, Brooks is a polarizing figure because he’s trying to be a moralist in an age that hates being judged. But maybe, just maybe, we need a little bit of that judgment to remind us that we're more than just consumers or voters. We’re souls. Kinda deep for a Tuesday morning op-ed, right?
To start engaging with his work more deeply, look up his 2015 column "A Moral Bucket List." It’s the quintessential Brooks piece that bridges his political past with his more philosophical present. From there, check out his "Sydney Awards" archives to find writers who are tackling the same "big questions" from different angles.