OUT ON A LIMB: Sir, you are not a conservative. “Fast forward to 2021 and David Brooks may have finally figured out what principled conservatives knew along. David Brooks is not a conservative. In reality, he never was a conservative. His writing is often brilliant, his media presence is smooth as silk, and he is routinely identified as a conservative columnist for the New York Times. But that identification is only half true. He is indeed a columnist at the New York Times. But conservative? Not even close.”