Much truth in Brooks' description.
A colleague - in the Brooks mold, always looking to detoxify - was on vacation & off the grid after Kavanaugh's first round. "I was OK with Kavanaugh on the SCOTUS. Follow the Constitution"... until he saw Kavanaugh's second testimony.
"That guy shouldn't be a judge at *any* level. He undermines credibility in the SCOTUS, and maybe more broadly in other courts, certainly adds a shadow of doubt to Trump appointees. We're in serious trouble as a nation."
(Vacation Zen evaporated immediately.)
Maybe Kavanaugh had to "fight fire with fire", or whatever... but the tribalism has unquestionably been amplified.