Generally when talking about the fake-centrism-fetishist “both sides” pundit claque I pick on David Brooks…

…because, shit, even I like to take the easy route sometimes…

…but Bret Stephens right now is the perfect example of how they don’t have jobs because they’re smart, erudite, literate, or even consistent in their values.

They literally have jobs because they, by nature, reflect the shallowness and self-regard of the wealthy back at them, slightly ornamented with prose. They’re the safe space makers and the participation trophy distributors for mediocre fuckers who dumbed their way into cash and want to believe against all evidence and common sense that their success in a single instance is a measure of overall merit and intellect.

Bret’s sure Everything Is Hitler because it’s happening to him, and the One Rule is that “…it’s never supposed to happen to me.” It’s not Hitler any other time because the corellary of the One Rule is “…most people actually deserve what they get, and definitely do if I’m the one serving it.”

These people literally exist to form a protective coating of soothing babble around anything who gets the faint but distinct sense that maybe they aren’t entitled to deference and exceptionality.