"At some point there will have to be a new vocabulary and a restored anthropology, emphasizing love, friendship, faithfulness, solidarity and neighborliness that pushes people toward connection rather than distrust."  This statement by Brooks exposes his blind spot. I think he has good intentions, but he has his problem with conformation bias. He does not realize that all Americans have never had or shared those values for all Americans. His comfortable up scale New York life never exposed him personally to the violence of racism, sexism, religious violence, and general hatred. That goes double if you are not white and male. Americans kill people that preach peace and love. Exhibit 1 is Martin Luther King Jr. Brooks seems to be unaware of the Southern Strategy that the GOP has been using for the last 50 years. That strategy is by definition identity politics. There are reasons why the GOP has become the preferred party of Nazis and white racists. Those folks are in the GOP base today.