Bruni took on the role of opinion writer for the paper in June 2011, but he is stepping down to join Duke University as an endowed professor of journalism. He is not completely saying goodbye to the Times, though, as he will continue writing his newsletter for the outlet as well as contribute occasional opinion columns.
He’s been working at The New York Times since 1995, where he’s enjoyed multiple positions, including an acclaimed stint as a food critic. He’s also the author of three books and a contributor at CNN.
“I owe Ted Cruz an apology,” Bruni wrote in the opening of his Thursday article. “Though, really, it’s readers to whom I should say I’m sorry.”
He then details how he was stuck finding a subject for a column in 2015. Eventually, he “took the easy route of unloading on Cruz,” who was seeking the Republican presidential nomination at the time.
“He was fair game for rebuke, no question there,” Bruni continued. However, the journalist felt he didn’t offer anything fresh or new to the discussion of the Texas Republican by comparing him to the deadly, supernatural force from the horror movie It Follows.
Now, stepping away from regular opinion-writing, Bruni said he’s concerned about “the degree to which I and other journalists—opinion writers, especially—have contributed to the dynamics we decry: the toxic tenor of American discourse, the furious pitch of American politics, the volume and vitriol of it all.”
Like many columnists, Bruni said, he “swam with the snide tide.” He blamed former President Donald Trump, in part, for writers giving into such temptation. He wrote, “Trump’s penchant for mockery gave those of us who covered him a green light to follow suit, and I was among many who seized on that permission.… We sank toward Trump’s level, and he cited that descent as validation of his hostility.”
He also said he missed the “nuance” from journalism’s past, “which has been incinerated by today’s hot takes.” Looking back, he felt that he, like many columnists, leaned too much on generalizations instead of analyzing his subjects deeper.
That includes Ted Cruz, whom Bruni said he returned to criticizing again only a month and a half after his first takedown. Now, he called his approach to such work “knee-jerk” and the material “threadbare.”
Bruni concluded his final regular column by writing, “I wish I’d thought about that as much then as I do now.”
