Conservative writer David Brooks: Trump fan 'unleashed a 10-minute profanity-strewn tirade at my wife and son'

David Brooks, a conservative writer for The New York Times, revealed this week that his family had been verbally attacked by a fan of President Donald Trump.

In his column on Monday, Brooks said that he was at a Washington Nationals baseball game when the "tirade" occurred.

"I was at a Washington Nationals game when a Trump supporter in the row in front of me unleashed a 10-minute profanity-strewn tirade at me, my wife and son," he wrote.

Brooks, who has spent decades underpinning the Republican Party with his columns, observed that "everybody on earth" is grappling with how to deal with fanatics in the wake of Trump's election and other political events in the world.

While Brooks said that his instinct was to "exile" zealots from society, he argued the "only way to confront fanaticism is with love."

"Now I confess I didn’t respond to the Trump guy at the ballgame with all the noble sentiments I’ve put in this column," the columnist concluded. "But I’m sure I’ll have a chance to do better soon. Doing the right thing in these bitter times is hard, but the answer isn’t that complicated."