Author and New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks is the featured speaker for Wednesday's events at the Writer's Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Brooks joined Midday Edition to talk about the rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia, which President Joe Biden referred to as, "the beginning of an invasion" in a speech Tuesday. Though Brooks applauds the level of unity in American politics responding to Russia's actions, he also noted there are limits to that unity.
In an interview released Tuesday, former President Donald Trump called Putin’s latest moves “genius” and “very savvy.”
Brooks said sentiments like those will undermine the U.S.’s diplomatic efforts.
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"On the right, there's a significant number of people like Donald Trump — like Tucker Carlson — who look at Vladimir Putin and they see a fellow conservative nationalist. They see a strong manly man, they see a guy who at least pretends to defend religion, they see a guy who pretends to defend national sovereignty against the globalists," Brooks said. "There are some polls that have shown in the Republican party that Vladimir Putin is more popular than Joe Biden. And so that is a sign of weakness that we will have to keep an eye on."
The Writer's Symposium continues through the week, and will also feature professor and philosopher Dr. Cornel West for an event on Friday, Feb. 25.
Tickets for the symposium can be found here.
