America Has a Moral Problem, Not a Political One — with David Brooks

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Episode 393 393 is the country code for Kosovo. 1993, Jurassic Park hit theaters, and Michael Jordan won his third straight NBA title. What do Michael Jordan and First Lady and Melania Trump have in common? They both make a shit ton of money playing with orange balls. Things are getting desperate around here.
Welcome to the 393rd episode of The Prof G Pod. What's happening? Today, we're speaking with David Brooks, a writer now at The Atlantic, formerly The New York Times, and author of several books, including How to Know a Person, The Second Mountain, and The Road to Character. I'm just an enormous fan of David Brooks. I love, I love this old, wide straight dude who starts talking about his emotions, and I find he has such a moral base, a moral compass, and he's not afraid of criticism, and he, I don't know, just love a guy who, I think David would describe himself as a conservative, although he probably excused any real label, but he talks a lot about community and decency. I think he's not afraid. I love Brooks and Capehart on PBS. I admire somebody who has that kind of footprint who's not afraid to talk about emotions and relationships in the context of, I guess, the traditional American values. Anyways, I feel like David Brooks is the moderator, the conservative we need right now. Very much enjoy him and look up to him. So we discussed with David America's moral crisis, the roots of rising resentment, and how social media and AI are reshaping who we become. So with that, here's our conversation with the inimitable David Brooks.
David, where does this podcast find you?

**David Brooks** (3:43)
I am at the University of Michigan. I'm at an office. They stuck me in a few steps away from the president's office. So if you need me to get any student into the University of Michigan, I can just pop over and talk to them.

**Scott Galloway** (3:53)
So I need that in writing as I have a 15-year-old, David, who is good, but I'm not sure he's Michigan material. So I need well-connected people.

**David Brooks** (4:01)
Does he happen to play basketball by any chance?

**Scott Galloway** (4:04)
Have you seen me? Yeah. No, that's a weird thing. I just had a physical. I used to be 6'3. Now I'm 6'2. I'm shrinking, which happens when you get older, which is really exciting. Anyways, let's bust right into it. Earlier this year, you announced your departure from The New York Times after 22 years.
You've kind of, to a certain extent, you kind of identify or mark the times on a lot of levels. You said leaving felt like St. Peter leaving Vatican that you were raised to think working there was the pinnacle and you never contemplated leaving. What finally convinced you to leave and join The Atlantic?

**David Brooks** (4:42)
Well, first of all, I've been there 22 years and I'm 64 I figure I've got about 10 or 11 years of full-time work left in me and I thought I'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't change. I do think changing environments, changing situations is a good way to change your thinking. So even though I was perfectly happy there, I thought I would change.
Second, I think America's problems are less political and more sub-political these days, that we've sort of lost our humanistic core, a sense of purpose, a sense of meaning. People are filled with resentment, spiritual crisis, 58 percent of college students don't have a sense that their life has purpose.
So I thought to really address the issues at the level that I think they really exist at. A, I would like to write longer. So at The Atlantic, I can write 5,000 words, even 10,000 words. And at Yale, at any great university, dealing with reviving the humanistic core is supposed to be what the project is all about. And so I thought I'd put myself more on a college campus where I could begin to think about what makes our soul sing. How do we find things to fall in love with?