While Mike might have used an extreme example in his metaphor it was a simile, NOT an accusation. He was pointing out the supreme hypocrisy of someone who appears all milquetoast and decent on the outside, but who can harbour some pretty repulsive views they never come right out and say. That is, IMO, an accurate description of the large number of Republicans who have remained silent in all this. Being silent ends up being an endorsement of something that really does go against what they stand for, at least publicly. There is no middle ground in where we are now. One the one hand you have a political party embracing fascism and authoritarianism vs democracy. There's no in-between here. OF COURSE, Brooks isn't in the KKK, but Republicans clamming up and not defending what this country stands for IS tantamount to the KKK's long-held practice of covering up their identities in order to say one thing but then endorse something else (or nothing, in this case) with their public persona. Mike used an extreme example, but I see his point.

[I want to add a bit of a retraction: the title of Brooks' OpEd piece was "This is Not the Time For a Third Presidential Candidate". Upon reading it further, something I should have done before commenting, Brooks is very adamant that running a 3rd party candidate could very easily put You-Know-Who back into the presidency, and he says clearly that we simply have to beat Donald Trump. He supported the No Labels Party in the past, but says it should not run in the '24 election. Maybe in another election it would be possible, but not this one where so much is at stake.]