As Twitchy reported over the weekend, New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks came in for a lot of criticism for a column which was an entirely imaginary conversation with a fictional Trump supporter, known only as “Flyover Man,” and someone more in line with Brooks’ way of thinking, known as “Urban Man.” Urban Man kept up with the news, while Flyover Man just wanted the big picture and didn’t want to be bothered with details.

Brooks took a lot of heat on social media for not bothering to speak to an actual, real-life Trump supporter — but for that, he would have had to have left the New York Times building, and the air conditioning was probably very comfortable that day.

Brooks must have read some of the feedback and defended his column, saying that he has lots of contact with Trump voters, and if his columns suck, that’s not the reason.

I checked Twitter today and saw the last column got some criticism. For the record I visit 4 states a week. In the last two it’s been Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, and Georgia. If my columns stink it’s not from lack of contact with Trump voters. — David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) October 5, 2019

It’s your terrible opinions. — A.R. Moxon (Julius Goat) (@JuliusGoat) October 5, 2019

Evergreen ? — Lisa Glass (@LMplusG) October 6, 2019

Its your lack of talent and moral compass — homosexual rat fanta (@girlfoog) October 5, 2019

wait you actually WORK to make content this bad Jesus Christ man — Patrick Blanchfield (@PatBlanchfield) October 5, 2019

Maybe people have a hard time believing you because you make things up every other week and make many basic errors of interpretation on things we have all witnessed. — LiterallyAnscombe, Banquo of Your Online History (@LitAnscombe) October 5, 2019

That's a lot of traveling to still be extremely terrible at writing dude — Original Recipe Scrub (@ScrubOriginal) October 5, 2019

States aren't people. Land is not a person. — Randbrick (@HitherToFore) October 5, 2019

Dude, changing planes in Atlanta isn't visiting Georgia. — Nick (@getyrtrouserson) October 5, 2019

Have you tried speaking to the Trump voters in Manhattan? Go to one of the buildings with his name on it. Or a bank. — Meghan McCain, Viewish American Princess (@norm_dagaire) October 5, 2019

David I can assure you no one thinks that’s why your columns stink. — Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) October 5, 2019

it's true, that's not why your columns stink — i bless the rains down in castamere (@Chinchillazllla) October 5, 2019

it's possible they stink because he's a bad writer — satanic panic! at the disco (@bendyhud) October 5, 2019

So instead of writing about the people you meet, you make up stories about us hicks in "Flyover" country. — Komrad Kowboy of the Iron Range (@Komrad_Iron) October 5, 2019

So why didn't you actually quote them? — Jon, but spooooooky (@JonIsAwesomest) October 5, 2019

His responses are so funny – like he's not willing to lie or directly engage with any critics, so he has to keep gently writing around the fact that he didn't interview any voters who said Flyover Man stuff. — Aaron Huertas (@aaronhuertas) October 5, 2019

Your last column was an argument between two strawmen that posits people of color don’t exist in “flyover states” and if they do, that their opinions matter less than whites. Resign your post and let someone with talent take it. — Premium Steve (@Premium_Steve) October 5, 2019

It was a parody of a terrible Brooks column. — Grudge of Whales (@grudging1) October 5, 2019

I would have enjoyed the column more if you'd sat a ventriloquist dummy on your knee and acted out both parts. Or if you had a bunch of different dummies to represent Texas guy, Massachusetts guy, etc. Lot of accent work but you could take a class. — Bob Powers (@bobpowers1) October 5, 2019

Please stop. — Michael A. Brodeur (@MBrodeur) October 5, 2019

Dude you are the legit worst — Avery Wendell (@awendell98) October 5, 2019

Keep digging, David. Curious to see how deep that hole can get — Matthew Hermann (@MatthewHermann) October 5, 2019

Have you considered visiting either 3 or 5 states a week, perhaps that would provide you with the perfect balance of states for future columns — Andrew Rose Gregory (@arosegregory) October 5, 2019

how much can you learn about a state in 1.5 days? — Rebecca Schoenkopf, Wonkette Editrix, King Of You (@commiegirl1) October 7, 2019

Zero. He said he has *contact*, Rebecca, not that he listens, absorbs, or understands any of what he hears during his contact. If his column stinks, it's because every word of it was inapt, including "and" & "the". It was a David Brooks column after all. — Eliot Kieval (@kievaliant) October 7, 2019

That's not it, chief. — David Wiebe (@dwiebe99) October 5, 2019

Surprised your recent spiritual awakening did not lead you to develop a less offensive name than Flyover Man for your dialogue partner. So insulting to so many — Mary Lee Brock (@MaryLee_Brock) October 5, 2019

You're right, there's plenty of other reasons they stink — A Frightening Amount of Mayo (@Dollop_of_Mayo) October 5, 2019

Is it because you're just making things up? — Null_Nomenclature (@null_convention) October 5, 2019

You can admit it stunk. Everybody's saying it. join in. — Malcolm Willoughby (@MalcWilloughby) October 5, 2019

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