Brooks Slams Graham as ‘Moral Degenerate’ After Own Affair Scandal

David Brooks, an Atlantic writer and former columnist for The New York Times, sparked a social media firestorm following his appearance on PBS NewsHour Friday, where he delivered a scathing assessment of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, according to New York Post.

During the program’s roundtable discussion, Brooks was asked to weigh in on allegations surrounding Platner, including reports that he sent sexually explicit messages to women while married and claims from former romantic partners alleging he became physically aggressive during arguments. Platner has categorically denied any allegations of violence.

Brooks did not mince words in his response. The guy is a moral degenerate, the commentator declared on air.

He went further, citing what he described as a pattern of troubling behavior. Brooks referenced the abuse allegations, sexting reports, a Nazi tattoo, and posts Platner made on Reddit, characterizing the candidate as someone who postures in ways he found repulsive.

The columnist argued that Democrats were willing to abandon fundamental standards of character for the sake of winning a Senate seat. He questioned why, in a nation of 330 million Americans with only 100 senators, the party could not field a decent human being for such a role.

Personal History Resurfaces

Brooks’ moral critique quickly became the subject of intense pushback on social media, with users flooding X to highlight what they characterized as hypocrisy given his own personal history.

Journalist Zaid Jilani posted a widely circulated message pointing out that Brooks left his wife for a younger assistant, questioning his standing to lecture others on character, as New York Post reports.

The backlash revived longstanding public discussion about Brooks’ personal life, which entered the spotlight around the 2019 publication of his book “The Second Mountain.” Brooks was married to his first wife, Sarah Brooks, for 27 years before their divorce became public in 2013.

He subsequently married Anne Snyder, a writer who had previously worked with him and is more than twenty years his junior. Both Brooks and Snyder have publicly denied that their relationship began as an affair prior to the dissolution of his first marriage.

Defenders Push Back on “Whataboutism”

Not all social media reaction sided with Brooks’ critics. Some users defended the commentator, noting that his divorce from his first wife occurred years before his second marriage and arguing that attempts to discredit his criticism of Platner through personal attacks amounted to cheap-shot whataboutism.

The controversy unfolds as Platner faces intensifying scrutiny in advance of Maine’s Democratic primary. The candidate has publicly acknowledged past struggles with alcohol and PTSD while maintaining that allegations of physical abuse are false and politically motivated.

Representatives for both Brooks and Platner have been contacted for comment.

With information from New York Post