New York Times columnist David Brooks may have officially lost it. On Friday’s PBS News Hour, Brooks reached back over 100 years into the time machine to pull out an analogy that says what President Trump and Texas are doing on redistricting is the equivalent of the German use of mustard gas in World War I.
Moderator Amna Nawaz asked if politics is now nothing more than a power struggle, “David, as you know, the Democratic argument here is, you can't do anything unless you win, right? So, do what you need to do now by any means necessary, so to speak, to win political power, so you can pass through Democratic agendas and Democratic priorities. Is this just where we are now?”
Brooks replied, “I understand the argument. But let's do a little ethical experiment here. You're in World War I. The Germans use mustard gas on civilians, and it helps them. Do you then decide, okay, we're going to use mustard gas on civilians? The — what Trump ordered Abbott to do in Texas is mustard gas on our democracy. Some people would feel, okay, that was terrible. We have to fight that. It's horrible. It's horrible. But we're going to fight back. It's just — that's war.”
Turning to California, Brooks continued lamenting the state of affairs, “Gavin Newsom is leaping into this with both legs. And, to me, there's a moral stain that will accompany anybody who does this, because basically they are destroying our democracy. You don't let politicians pick voters. You let voters pick politicians. And the people who oppose gerrymandering are — they're the ones defending democracy. And so what's going to happen is that we're going to have a race to the bottom we're in the middle of.”
The lamps may have gone out in Europe in 1914, but Brooks was about to show they have also gone out on anything that still resembles common sense at PBS, “And I fully grant you that Trump started it. So I'm not saying it's totally morally equivalent. But there's a moral stain. And what's going to happen is, people are going to say, it's those politicians.”
What Brooks is really objecting to with such a statement is not really gerrymandering, but mid-decade gerrymandering. If it was simply gerrymander per se, he would say that blue states started it because they are already more gerrymandered than Texas.
Brooks wrapped up, “And loss of faith in the system, loss of faith in democracy, and legit — literally less democracy, because, if you are a Texas voter or a California voter, or if New York does it or if Missouri does it, whoever — all the states that are going to do this, you are literally disenfranchising people, because you can pick the district so carefully that the voters don't matter so much.”
The irony is that if Texas and California both have their way, Texas will still end up with twice as many Democrats as California has Republicans despite Texas being the smaller state.
Here is a transcript for the August 15 show:
PBS News Hour
8/15/2025
7:29 PM ET
AMNA NAWAZ: David, as you know, the Democratic argument here is, you can't do anything unless you win, right? So, do what you need to do now by any means necessary, so to speak, to win political power, so you can pass through Democratic agendas and Democratic priorities. Is this just where we are now?
DAVID BROOKS: I understand the argument. But let's do a little ethical experiment here. You're in World War I. The Germans use mustard gas on civilians, and it helps them. Do you then decide, okay, we're going to use mustard gas on civilians? The — what Trump ordered Abbott to do in Texas is mustard gas on our democracy. Some people would feel, okay, that was terrible. We have to fight that. It's horrible. It's horrible. But we're going to fight back. It's just — that's war.
Gavin Newsom is leaping into this with both legs. And, to me, there's a moral stain that will accompany anybody who does this, because basically they are destroying our democracy. You don't let politicians pick voters. You let voters pick politicians. And the people who oppose gerrymandering are — they're the ones defending democracy.
And so what's going to happen is that we're going to have a race to the bottom we're in the middle of. And I fully grant you that Trump started it. So I'm not saying it's totally morally equivalent. But there's a moral stain. And what's going to happen is, people are going to say, it's those politicians.
And loss of faith in the system, loss of faith in democracy, and legit — literally less democracy, because, if you are a Texas voter or a California voter, or if New York does it or if Missouri does it, whoever — all the states that are going to do this, you are literally disenfranchising people, because you can pick the district so carefully that the voters don't matter so much.