'Very few people have the luxury of being freely obnoxious. Most people have to watch what they say for fear of offending their bosses and colleagues. Others resist saying anything that might make them unpopular.But, in every society, there are a few rare souls who rise above subservience, insecurity and concern. Each morning they take their own abrasive urges out for parade. They are so impressed by their achievements, so often reminded of their own obvious rightness, that every stray thought and synaptic ripple comes bursting out of their mouth fortified by impregnable certitude. When they have achieved this status they have entered the realm of Upper Blowhardia.These supremely accomplished blowhards offend some but also arouse intense loyalty in others. Their followers enjoy the brassiness of it all. They live vicariously through their hero’s assertiveness. They delight in hearing those obnoxious things that others are only permitted to think.'

It is so hard to resist quoting Mr. Brooks in his tepid scolding of candidate Donald Trump. I've never met an arrogant waiter or waitress. Never met an arrogant receptionist , secretary or bus boy. Poor Mr. Brooks lives in a world where ordinary people can adopt an attitude displeasing to anyone that comes into their orbit. But to paraphrase Scott Fitzgerald, the rich are different.  Mr. Brooks soft-pedals that angle of the story, although he mentions it, in passing. It seems to me that only the rich, who answer to no one but themselves, have the opportunity to indulge themselves in cultivating their inner asshole. Mr. Trump is, of course, needy, pathetic and grasping, just like his political precursors Richard Nixon and Newt Gingrich, whose pathos mirrors the other. But Mr. Trump's pathological neediness is of such an advanced state, that even with all his success, he must make himself the center of a vulgar television entertainment , that  allows him to act out his mastery over insignificant others.And then to celebrate that mastery  over them, while they and others watch as he passes sentence on this weeks loser. Mr. Trump and Mr. Brooks have something in common, a belief in authority and authority figures: who pronounce on the lesser beings who have the misfortune to be subject to the arbitrary exercise of their will.

Almost Marx