AMNA NAWAZ: For more on America 25 years after the 9/11 attacks and on the GOP Midterm Convention, we turn now to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.

That's "The Atlantic"'s David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW.

It's good to see you both.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Hey, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to put two things together this week and get your take on it.

We saw this week Republicans holding their midterm convention in Texas essentially built around President Trump, who asked people to take a pledge to him while on stage and promised $5,000 for every adult if Republicans win the midterms.

This week also marks one year since Charlie Kirk's assassination.

This is someone who was sort of a bridge to the young conservative movement, hailed as the future of the Republican Party, a party now somewhat fractured on foreign policy and economic pressures, but really united around the president.

David, I want to ask you, if you put those two things together, what does it tell you about the identity of the party today?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I thought the most important and, frankly, impressive speech, surprisingly for me, was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

's speech.

He really tried to describe why so many working-class voters who voted for his uncle and his dad in the '60s, then became Reagan Democrats under -- in the '80s, and then became Trump Republicans in 2016.

And I certainly didn't agree with everything in that speech, but it was -- it was a very persuasive and to my Republican friends a very compelling story.

And that is the foundational strength of the modern Republican Party, that working-class shift.

Now, as for the contemporary party, and Kennedy explicitly thanked -- why am I blanking out Turning Point USA guy?

AMNA NAWAZ: Charlie Kirk.

DAVID BROOKS: Charlie Kirk.

AMNA NAWAZ: Sorry.

DAVID BROOKS: Brain freeze.

For brokering the deal between Trump and him.

And I would say we're seeing in the Republican Party first on the influencer side a crack-up.

And so you got Candace going over to here, Tucker Carlson go over to here, Ben Shapiro trying to play William F. Buckley and police the movement and failing, by the way, though I admire him for trying.

DAVID BROOKS: And so on that level, there's just like -- and that's like show business.

Among the Trump supporters I know, I would say there's exhaustion, disappointment, some sense of betrayal, but they're not turning Democrat.

But they but they are -- they're flatter.

They're emotionally flatter.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

DAVID BROOKS: And then I think the long-term thing is, Donald Trump has -- with the exception of tariffs and immigration, he's undercut the intellectual consistency of the party, because he's all over the place on everything, including these $5,000, which is like super Keynesian pump priming at a time of inflation, which is like the worst thing you want to do.

So it's just intellectually incoherent.

So that's a little complicated to say that the Republican still has a good story to tell.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

DAVID BROOKS: They're cracking up on the ideological level, and then they're sort of adrift intellectually.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, how do you look at this, and also the idea that this is someone, the president, who can boost the turnout, right?

He can boost the base.

He's starting to get more involved, deploying some of his significant PAC funds.

Should Democrats be worried about that as you approach midterms?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: OK, where to begin.

AMNA NAWAZ: OK.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: I will start with the money first.

AMNA NAWAZ: OK.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes, Democrats should be worried when there is a tsunami of cash that's coming in, in the last two months, and ad buys are popping up all over the place.

But I will tell you, Democrats have also been wide-eyed about their prospects.

Even though the momentum seems to be going their way, even though there are incredible candidates in all of these races around the country, they have always known, particularly on the Senate side, that the map is really tough.

And so the fact that the president's actually going to spend his money in these races, good on him, but I think it's going to be tough for Democrats to match the money.

But I would also say to Democrats and to others that money isn't everything.

We have seen that in races around the country.

Angie Nixon had, what, less than a million dollars, and Mr.

Vindman had six -- multiple millions, and she beat him by double digits in that primary race.

So money isn't everything.

Candidate quality can count for something, but money is something that is going to be hard to surmount.

And then, when it comes to the Republican Party, look, if you're holding a midterm convention and it's meant to boost turnout and meant to boost candidates around the country, and the president demands that he be center stage on both nights and pledge allegiance to him, great that Secretary Kennedy gave this great speech, but it would have been better if it had been coming from the president.

But that was never going -- that was never going to happen.

And so this ideological drift that's happening within the Republican Party, I look forward to one day the Republicans going back to where they were under W., where they were under Reagan, because at least then there was consistency.

We knew what they stood for, we knew what the battle lines were, and you could talk and compromise.

But you can't.

And one last point on this, to your point about your friends being sort of emotionally flat.

I have been hearing that from folks who live in some of these states where there used to be Trump signs everywhere, one person in Pennsylvania, another in Virginia, and I can't remember the other state.

But now these Trump signs are nowhere to be seen.

And I think that speaks to a level of maybe disappointment, maybe betrayal that folks among Trump's faithful are feeling.

AMNA NAWAZ: I do, while I have you both, want to spend a little time reflecting on this day.

I know you both have been thinking deeply on it as well, but this moment as we are marking 25 years since those September 11 attacks.

David, how do you look back on your memories of that day and how we as a nation are different today than we were on September 10, 2001?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, well, I was in the air on when it all happened.

I was flying to Sydney, Australia, and when we landed, the pilot said: "We haven't told you something, but this is not a joke.

This really happened."

And they told us what had happened, and they said: "When you get off the jetway, there will be Qantas people with cell phones.

They handed us phones, and they did everything they can to make us feel right.

And what I mostly remember on that day is the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel.

My Australian taxi driver was weeping.

And that was a sign of the world.

Well, it's a sign of why you need allies, why you need friends, because that Australian guy was like one of us on that day.

And there were people like that all around the world.

And when I look back 25 years hence, to me, that was the first day of the 21st century.

And I mean that the al-Qaida did this thing.

They sent the gyroscope oscillating, and then we overreacted in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then Putin is overreacting in Ukraine, and then October 7 happens, and then Israel responds.

So what we have just seen is like this gyroscope spinning wildly out of control.

And it's like before World War -- I don't want to make that comparison too tightly, but it's like things are spinning out of control.

The world feels ever more dangerous.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, it's true.

There was a world before, and there's a world after.

How do you reflect on that?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, on September 11, 25 years ago, today, it was primary day in New York City, and I had taken my first detour away from journalism and was working on Mike Bloomberg's first campaign for mayor.

And I left home, and I remember walking to the voting station, and I looked up at the sky, and it was and remains the most beautiful day I have ever seen.

The sky was so blue.

In my book, I wrote it was like New York City was domed by a sapphire.

And then we all know what happened next.

It was a devastating day, absolutely devastating day for this -- for the people on those planes, for the people who passed away, their families, for the city, for the nation, for the world.

The fact that the world came together -- I mean, Article 5 has only been invoked once, and that was for us, because we had been attacked.

We are a long way away from that world.

I did an event last night at the Paley Center, and it wasn't until like the day before I realized, wait, I'm flying back on September 11.

And a chill went through me, getting on a plane on September 11.

I got to the airport this morning, and I got there just in time for them to be close up on the TSA line because they shut it down.

And I heard someone say, they're shutting it down because they're going to do a moment of silence.

I got there about 8:30.

Honor guard came in.

It was silent.

And I just -- my eyes just welled up with tears just remembering 25 years ago, those - - the people, their families, where we are now.

It is hard.

It's really hard to think back what we were like on September 10, what we were like on September 11 at 8:30 a.m.

in 2001, and where we are now.

I pray we can maybe even get halfway back to that time.

But I'm -- I don't know.

AMNA NAWAZ: We are a long way from where we were, but hope springs eternal.

And I thank you both for always being here to help us see some of that hope.

David Brooks, Jonathan Capehart, thank you so much.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Amna.