There are two things that are poisoning American politics above all others - big money steering the government ship and propaganda masquerading as news.
This where the two converge.
So. Somebody explain to me why the dems are not loud and boisterous supporters of the unions and have sat on their hands as the unions have slowly but surely been deprived of relevance.
Paul,
Let’s find a way to translate your message and the medium so the MAGA folks can hear it.
3
With more and more people working for themselves thanks to advances in technology, unions are quickly becoming dinosaurs. They have too often long outlived their usefulness and only serve to help Democrats win elections.
1
@Michael S
The overwhelming majority of people still work for someone else. Unions, at this point, are about the only thing that gives workers any rights at all. Without a union, your employer is free to do just about anything they want to you. Maybe not technically true, but true in practice. Good luck bringing a suit and winning, even if you can afford to. The deck is stacked against workers in court too.
You uninformed post is typical of the Republican lack of empathy and ignorance of the way other people live. Unions support Democrats because Republicans are dead set on destroying them, because their wealthy benefactors don't like anything that gets in the way of their complete control of America. Who would you side with? I should say Who would you side with if you were capable of placing yourself in someone else's shoes?
There is an easy solution - the Democrats need to run a candidate in 2020 that can beat Mr Trump in the GENERAL election (using electoral college rules)
1
I wonder when the Republican voter realizes that the Trump administration wants to return the United States to medieval feudalism where the rich have absolute control of their laboring peasants. Removing all the protections for the workers in our economy pits the individual against the rich and business interests. That would mean my middle class salary versus the Koch brothers. Only ability to organize as a group, can the individual get a fair shake in the society. Kavanaugh judicial opinions show that he has no sympathy for the average citizen but would pander to corporate and wealthy interests.
6
" [W]age stagnation in America... isn’t being driven by impersonal forces like technological change; ,,, it’s the result of ... weakened workers’ bargaining power. "
It follows that if the Democratic Party wants to regain political strength, it must return to its blue collar base.
2
Trump Treason 2018
Russian-Republicans 2018
Grand Old Putinistas 2018
Reject every Republican traitor on November 6 2018
8
Democrats are all about being in power and all about making Democrats great with power. Trump is all about giving the power back to American citizens & making America great. Now, what do you want, Democrats with great power or empowered Americans making America great? Pretty simple question, no?
@Dee Cee- those Americans Trump is "giving" power back to are his super wealthy friends. There is a reason this era is being compared to the Gilded Age.
11
@Dee Cee
Pretty simple question indeed.
Based on proven false premisses, however.
Could you please explain just what it is that Trump did and that gives power to ordinary citizens? And what is it that Obama did that achieved the opposite?
In the meanwhile, I'll give one example myself: all studies analyzing Obamacare have proven that this fully market-based system insures 20 million more Americans, which means saving an additional and whopping 40,000 American lives a year, all while curbing cost increases.
Trump didn't repeal nor replace it, but his Tax Reform law destroys the healthcare of 13 million Americans, all while adding a 30% premium increase on top of normal, expected increases for the others.
Now what do you prefer, a HC law that already saved almost half a million American lives, or one that literally kills ordinary American citizens ... ?
That's not only a "simply question", contrary to yours it's also 100% fact-based ...
10
Gee Dee Cee: Declaring something to be true doesn’t make it so. Did you read Krugman’s essay? How is union busting and empowering corporations to abuse and misuse its’ employees “giving power back to the people”? The only thing that Trump has done for “the people” is declare himself to be a savior. He ingratiates himself to the 0.1% and does their bidding. He rides the Obama recovery and declares it his. Stop allowing yourself to be taken for a sucker!
By virtue of his actions we have all witnessed over the last two years, it is glaringly apparent to me and probably many others that Trump is a wild instinctive animal free of self discipline or conscience. His actions are that of a cold blooded killing machine. It's obvious he views people as sheep or cattle to be herded and I truly and honestly fear impending genocide if we don't keep up the pressure. Thank God there is still just enough freedom to demonstrate dissent to keep him in check. He is an animal in search of prey. Just as he prowled on the debate stage as Clinton spoke, he is ready to pounce and only we, the public and the pressure we exert are stopping him from realizing his predatory lust for blood, first expressed against Muslims, and when they did not appear, he moved on to Hispanics who are now impending prey. The first hint of the danger he poses was his treatment of immigrant Hispanics and his sinister attempts at instigating a lynch mob against them. The man is a genocidal dictator that only we are keeping from realizing his blood lust dreams. Keep up the pressure. It saves lives. He's a Beast.
He calls us weak and himself strong. I call us civilized and he a monster.
13
Based on how Kavanaugh would vote It appears this must scare the heck out of Ginsburg and reinforces her reason for not retiring.....hoping Trump will not be reelected in 2020.
6
Duh Krugman,
I voted Third Party in 2016, so I don't have an ax to grind for or against President Trump. However, all you ever write is negative things about him.
I swear if he stated the Sun rises in the East, you'd cry, swear, and gnash your teeth that it was his fault the Sun didn't rise in the West!
Dennis
1
As Tony Schwartz (who penned "The Art of the Deal" for Trump) noted in a New Yorker article in July 2016:
----- quote -----
"People are dispensable and disposable in Trump’s world.” If Trump is elected President, he warned, “the millions of people who voted for him and believe that he represents their interests will learn what anyone who deals closely with him already knows—that he couldn’t care less about them.”
------ end quote ------
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-t...
7
Whatever Paul.
Pauli, we’re glad you changed subjects and got off the impossible task of growing quarterly GDP +4% and sustain 3%. Maybe you and Chuck Blow can co-author a piece on how inaccurate the two of you have been on #45. #5-4 b/c of y’all
@MTM
People who work for hourly wages, which includes a lot of Trump voters, don't care about stock market or GDP numbers. The only number that means anything to most people is the one written on their paycheck.
Maybe you can enlighten us as to how that GDP increase has meant a solid increase in wages and benefits across the board. Oh, you can't. Because it hasn't.
Why does every worker's panel, employment focus group, media interviews of middle-class workers across the nation offer unconditional, enthusiastic support for the administration's policies and its stunning economic achievements overall?
The humiliation and utter chagrin of the media researchers conducting worker interviews and focus groups are extraordinary.
Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed easily and will propel liberty and justice for ALL.
1
The tax cut benefitted all working-class Americans increasing their take home pay. Working-class Americans are well aware of the disaster that is Obamacare and want it replaced with a sensible alternative. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is likely unconstitutionally structured regardless of any good it may do for working-class Americans and must change. The Supreme Court rejected all mandatory union fees on public sector employees giving working class Americans the right to choose representation. Trump is not racist.
Paul Krugman wrote on the election of Donald Trump, “...So we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight...” Paul Krugman fails predictions even within his field of expertise as the American economy just recording +4% growth in the latest quarter.
1
Haiku
Extrapolating:
Give republicans a break--
They do not mean harm.
Feudal works for them--
Their main concern is "Just-us."
How can that be bad?
Give them what they want--
All the money in the world;
Peasants don't need much.
Stealing, pillaging--
It's what man is all about;
Ask Putin and Trump.
Since we're gonna die,
Why do we all want health care?
Let the rich have it.
One less bill to pay--
More cash for the lottery,
Priority One.
What do rich folk eat?
No matter, I'm living large--
Mice are everywhere.
4
The Supreme Court has become just one more group of political hacks, most of whom tell blatant lies during their confirmation hearings, and whose votes can be predicted by a Sixth Grader based on their politics. What will happen when the new majority on the Court "interprets" the Constitution in a way that a majority of the American people believe is wrong?...cynicism, and disrespect for the Court...and the law.
5
It is well known among those who come into his orbit through business or personal relations that Trump has been a long-time cheat and swindler.
Ask his business partners and those that he still owes money to after his multiple business dealings - not to mention his family relations and his multiple wives and mistresses.
His duplicity is his trademark because, 'that makes be smart.'
5
Absolutely. The economy is growing but not for those who need it. Haven’t we learned by now, 30+ years after Reagan, that trickle down is voodoo economics and only foments greed, not compassionate conservatism nor generosity, among wealthy industrialists??
9
More hysteria. There are good and bad things about Trump. But, he is neither lawless nor has an authoritarian streak. When the judges stayed his "travel ban," when the plaintiffs even admitted that they would consider the same order by Obama legal, Trump's admin. obeyed until it was, of course, overturned. When Obama simply wanted to change the immigration law, he did so, even after saying he didn't have the power to do it. When Obama decided the political winds favored his changing his position on same-sex marriage, he stopped enforcing DOMA, though at that time, it had not been found unconstitutional. I happen to think both of his moves were better policies (had they been legal) and Trump's not so good. But, the difference in obeying the law - it's not even close. Nor can Trump's approach to authoritarian leaders from other countries be said to show he is authoritarian. Obama not only tried to reset with Putin, but "secretly" told Medvedev that he would be more flexible when the elections were over. He also made secret deals with Iran, and coddled Assad over the redline, supported Morsi and did too little to fight ISIS.
I found Obama easier to personally like of the two. But, objectively, Obama was more authoritarian and did a poorer job overall. Neither was really qualified for the office. But, for all his faults, Trump is far superior to the "resistance," which uses intimidation and violence to get its way. If one of them succeeds him, we will see authoritarianism.
2
@David H. Eisenberg, Trump's whole act is bluster, intimidation, and frivolous litigation. His every rally is an incitement to riot, and his negotiating style is sadomasochism. Rich people who support nihilism think they're fireproof, but are often the first to be burned out.
11
I asked a neighbor and Trump supporter what he thought of Scott Pruitt's numerous ethical violations. He had no idea who Scott Pruitt was. In a conversation at a drug store I asked a Trump supporter what she thought of the Trump Tax bill and she told me it was great because it helps people like her. She's a clerk at the store. In an e-mail exchange with an old friend and Trump supporter what he thought of the Helsinki summit and Trump's embarrassing support for Putin and not his own country's intelligence community. He said he thought we should be friends with Russia and didn't "buy" the conclusion that Russia interfered with the election. So this is where are with Trump supporters and the entire Republican party. There is no time to educate these people before the November election and most don't want to know about it. They voted on November 08, 2016 and never thought about or follow the ramifications of their votes that we are now seeing play out in every area of governance. We have fewer and fewer press conferences. Nine in May, five in June and only three in July. We have a president that claims a free press is the enemy of the people.
Trump supporters haven't noticed or don't care. If Democrats don't take the House of Representatives in November we will lose our Democracy. Putin will have won without having fired a shot. We will live in tyranny under Trump.
Get off the couch in November or pay the ultimate price of complacency. Authoritarianism.
23
We're all paying the price for OPI, other people's ignorance. I have good people around me who are living their lives without paying any attention to political news, the president's overseas trips, etc. They're not reading the NYT or WaPo or the New Yorker and they don't care too much about what happens in D.C. A few are ignorant and most are just oblivious. It makes it a bit lonely sometimes but that's why I love to read comments here or call my brother in Honolulu for a good dose of sanity.
10
Look at that picture ... so many decent, ordinary citizens, hoping that things will get better for them ... and looking up to a reality TV star who became president mainly by copy-pasting Fox News lines, which gave them the impression that "he gets it" ...
The saddest thing about demagogues is how horribly they betray their own supporters indeed.
Trump told them that he had a "great" healthcare plan, that people would "love", and that would cover even more Americans than Obamacare, at even lower costs.
We now know that he never even THOUGHT about such a plan, let alone have one.
As soon as he came into office, he started to support Ryancare, even though that plan does the exact opposite.
Fortunately, he's so bad at negotiating and hiring people (reason why he quit business and went to tv instead, and why even on The Apprentice it wasn't him but the ... the producer who decided who would get fired and who wouldn't) that he couldn't even get his own party behind the plan that he all of a sudden flip-flopped to himself (even not after throwing a big, completely premature party in the Rose Garden after it passed in the House).
It would have destroyed the HC of 30 million Americans.
Instead, he signed a tax cutting bill into law that destroys it for 13 million Americans and adds a 30% increase to the normal increase of premiums this year alone already.
And of course businesses aren't increasing wages after their huge tax cut. Why would they? CEOs work for stockholders..
9
Most working class people have been voting against their own self interest since the Sixties. Voting for Trump is just the ultimate in their self-betrayal. As someone who was in the working class for decades, I noticed long ago that my fellow workers rarely read non-fiction books and even avoided educational articles in newspapers. Therein lies their downfall. And under Trump it could be a long fall.
9
During Trump's swearing in he should have modified the oath. The oath should have read "to protect and defend my adoring base." And he has even failed miserably at that.
3
Today I saw a video of Trump's supporters harassing members of the press at his last rally. They were yelling obscenities and making vulgar hand gestures behind a divider that separated them from the press pool. Given the level of enhanced group violence on display at that rally it would take very little provocation to ignite these people into a violent mob that would be beyond law enforcement's ability to handle.
Isn't it past time that the Dept of Justice weigh in and send a serious cease and desist message to these violent individuals who are attending Trump's rallies? If they are harassing the press they should be arrested.
During the Clinton administration, anti abortion protesters turned to violence and murder. The same thing can happen with Trump's supporters in their treatment of members of the press.
I believe that a specific law is required to protect members of the press from violence. The law could be fashioned after the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE, in 1994.
We must not stand idly by and allow the press to continue to be harassed, intimidated, and threatened by Trump and his followers. It must be stopped by the DOJ Civil Rights section.
14
We're all human. Presidents are human. Supreme court Justices are human.
Ever watched the movie, "The Pelican Brief"?
Stuff is going to happen. Some of it bad, some of it good. I don't want to see people die because of this debacle, so all I can say is that we're all human and our lives are limited.
I just make a comment here and there, and it seems to affect things. I amazed. Fear is the greatest motivator.
Don't be afraid to use fear against bad people. It is totally legal to use fear as long as it isn't an immediate, specific threat.
People, take back the country! Use fear if you have to. Family men tend to avoid fearful situations.
1
And his base will adore him even more when their rights, and ultimately their jobs, are taken away. They’ll just blame the Democrats. It is beyond comprehension.
21
DEAR MR KRUGMAN:
Re: How Trump Could Be like Reagan
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/opinion/trump-reagan-trade-tariffs-ch...
I would dearly love to read your response to this article on trump's idea to eliminate all trade tariffs, and what effects on our trade barriers such a scenario might have.
Thanks
4
@Chris Manjaro Sorry, I meant to say what would be the effects on our trade DEFICITS, not our trade barriers.
@Chris Manjaro
The good professor won’t take you up on that proposition because it doesn’t comport with his agenda.
@Tim I think it's possible Mr Krugnan' s agenda will be well comported because in the fair trade world trump envisions, our trade deficits could get much worse, not better.
I can't help but think that if the parties of the all the players were reversed, Mitch McConnell would figure out how to torpedo the Supreme Court nominee. Schumer needs to think like McConnell and fight like our daughters' lives depend on it - because they just might.
12
In Fox-Trump World there's a giant box that includes people with dark skin, liberals, intellectuals, non-heterosexuals, and people who believe that the government can be an instrument for helping ordinary people instead of just corporations. Helping white ordinary people is desirable, but not if it also benefits the other people in that giant box. In the end, it's the desire to distance themselves from other people in that giant box that prevents Trump supporters from voting for candidates who actually have their backs, instead of those who pretend to have their backs. The guys in power don't care about you. They never will. But they're only too glad to use you for their own financial benefit. You are collateral damage.
18
A killer whale attacks a professional trainer and its Sea Worlds fault? Is it also the fault of the National Park Service when a Darwin award candidate tries to pose with a buffalo and gets gored instead?
I'm still waiting for the recession guaranteed by Mr Krugman to happen if Trump was elected. Instead the market is up 20 percent, the jobless rate is at an 18 year low while wages and compensation for the middle class are going up.
Mueller had better hurry.
4
@Christopher George
The recession will happen, Krugman told us, once Trump signs his economic ideas into law.
As Trump is golfing most of the time, he didn't yet, remember?
He only recently started his trade war, so now farmers and steel workers are losing billions of dollars, but that's about it, for the moment.
In the meanwhile, the Obama economy quietly hums along.
And no, there's no evidence whatsoever that wages are going up.
As to Sea World: as any company, it is responsible for the safety of its employees, whereas employees are responsible for following the safety guidelines.
The person killed DID follow the safety guidelines, but Sea World didn't. In that case, why would you NOT apply the law and punish the company ... ? Any concrete arguments?
4
@Christophet George: It is the superficial reasoning and unabashed greed evident in that comment that gave us Trump.
Following the business cycle and judicious economic policies the economy trends upward for multiple quarters yet you attribute the improvement to Trump?
Killer whales did not evolve over millennium to be have their social unit smashed, be imprisoned in a tank, and do tricks a couple times a day for screaming Homo sapiens. Try watching Blackfish
So the computerized roulette wheel known as Wall Street is an indicator of economies long term health? Forget the deficit has predictably exploded to $1 T and rising; the planet is burning up even faster than scientists expected; environmental assets—like tar sands pipeline and foreign mine gouged-out of pristine Alaska wilderness—are being cashed-out faster than oligarchs like the Koch’s can buy elections; your 401K is up so economic policies must be sound?
What really gets me is the implication of your last sentence—who cares if the president’s a traitor, my brokerage account is bigger. How Larry Kudlow of you.
3
@Ana Luisa -- Unfortunately for your prevarications there is this technology called the internet that makes it easy to verify what Dr Krugman wrote on November 9, 2016, remember?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/opinion/election-night-2...
No caveats, no weasel words, no 'once Trump signs something into law' just we're doomed and the world is coming to an end. "It really does now look like President Donald J. Trump, and markets are plunging. When might we expect them to recover? ... a first-pass answer is never." Citing an "irresponsible, ignorant man who takes his advice from all the wrong people" he recklessly predicted a "global recession, with no end in sight."
Over the next year the DJIA achieved a 28 percent increase, the biggest post-election day gain in 70 years. Just 18 months later correspondents in these same pages claimed they were running out of superlatives to describe an economy with an unemployment rate at a new 18 year low, remember?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/upshot/we-ran-out-of-words-to-describ...
Just as surely as sunshine follows rain a tight labor market bids up wages and benefits, search for 'Worker pay and benefits climbing at fastest pace in 10 years.'
Kavanaugh is all of those things, isn't he? He is a zealot who won't protect workers from death on the job. A radical who won't protect Americans from predatory corrupt banks and companies. A fanatic who believes the president is a king for who is above the law. (When a Democrat was president, he wrote that one lie was sufficient for impeachment.)
Americans don't want an extremist on the Supreme Court. Trump has broken every working class promise not based on magical thinking. Kavanaugh is a smooth white picture of how the Trump Republicans are sticking it to the little guy.
15
The Republican base was duped by psychological experts and diabolical word play propaganda by the Republican party which won monopoly power with their ill gotten loyalty and votes. The Republican voters were blindsided and kept off balance by the use of cultivated hatred and anger, instinctive emotions that render normal decent people, reflexive spontaneous unthinking people controlled by their basic animal instincts. Trump was a diabolical expert at seducing the base with his own reflexive spontaneous unthinking ways. The voters just ran to the polls to vote for those who turned them into animals. The voters actually voted against their own lives and well being. They voted to stop their own health care, to pollute the air they breath and the water they drink. They voted to start wars their children would die in. They voted to be animals that die young through their own ignorant rage. They voted to go back in time when things were simple and hard, people died young without health care, the air was purple and the water burned. They voted to empower the wealthy to leech off their money they worked hard for and they voted to get Conservative Judges that side with those who benefit from the the fruits of their labor. The voters were deeply brainwashed with simple anger and hatred inducing techniques to keep them from thinking for themselves. They complain about taxes that keep them comfortable, safe and alive. If the voters ever recover, they should vote for the caring Democrats.
14
Hate to tell you Mr. Krugman, but that thought never crossed Trump's mind. The Federalist Society told him who to pick, and he did.
10
Spot on assessment. Unfortunately, it requires a bit more time to influence a consensus when we are considering 250 million citizens. I figure it will require 18-20 years to clean up this mess.
12
With you Paul since the early W days, but you seem rhetorically clueless that all those workers, downtrodden, etc., etc. just don't care, they do luvs their Trump---all the way to the grave. Stop making sense!
6
There is no cure for stupid.
If you get all your news from FOX and you don't read and you don't go outside your small town, if you go to church and they tell you that God wants you to be against anything that isn't what they say, if you don't ever see anyone who isn't like you, and if you are barely staying alive due to drugs, lack of a job, lack of medical coverage, or any other cause you are a ripe candidate for propaganda. The Koch Brothers strongly believe the wealthy are better in every way and that anything which makes the rich richer is good. They believe that the poor, the weak, and the disenfranchised deserve to be miserable. They hate the government and are against everything socially oriented. Put that with the likes of the rest of the administration: DeVos, Mnuchin, Miller, Bolton, etc. and you have the workings of a disaster. It is hard to fathom while the very people who should be against the GOP support them. They are proudly dumb. Anti-worker sentiment in those who are working class is beyond self-destructive. Go figure.
There is no cure for stupid.
21
"He ran as a populist; he’s governed as an orthodox Republican"
Nonsense
On trade policy, Trump is turning GOP orthodoxy on its head
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/on-trade-policy-trump-is-turning-g...
Today's NY TImes
Koch’s Frustrations With Trump Could Affect Midterms
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/us/politics/trump-koch-brothers.html
Mr. Krugman endorsed Mr. Trump during the primaries and disparaged Mr. Sanders
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/opinion/paul-krugman-trump-is-right-o...
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/opinion/paul-krugman-trump-is-right-o...
2
@Woof
What if you would try to reformulate all these links (which nobody will click on) in your own words?
If you believe that Krugman would have preferred that Trump became president rather than Bernie Sanders, what would your arguments be to back up such a claim, concretely?
1
Of course workers loss of bargaining leverage is the problem. There has been a 50 year war on unions - and not just from the Right. Yes, I am looking at you Bill for nafta and you too Barrack for doing nothing for Labor.
6
@Lefthalfbach
If unions are such a boon to workers, why is it necessary to force workers to join rather than allow choice such as in right to work states where unions must compete to sign workers?
3
Once again Mr Krugman is wrong. Wages have increased at record levels from January 2018 to June 2018. Maybe I should take back the raises my company has given to our hard working deserving employees, that they received after the the tax reform. Business in America is back.
President Trump is the real deal for American workers and small business. Mr Krugman and those posting can complain all they want. President Trump is making America stronger, safer, and economical great again. Deal with it
7
@Gary
Any link to back up the claim that "wages have increased at record levels" since Jan. 2018?
I suppose you don't have any, and are just blindly believe your own boss when he tells you he'll raise your wage a little bit and that you should thank Trump for it ... ?
In the meanwhile, ALL economical graphs show a perfect continuation of the evolution under Obama. So this IS the Obama economy.
And Trump didn't sign any major piece of legislation on the economy into law yet, nor did he obtain any trade deal yet.
So how can you call this "business in America is back" now, rather than acknowledging that it is back for many years already ... ??
4
Its not the job of judges, especially appeals court and Supreme Court judges, to "betray" or not "betray" people,
or to be pro-worker or anti-worker. Its their job to enforce the laws and Constitution, as written.
Its the job of the Congress to pass laws that the President can sign, and to, if desired to make new "rights" (as opposed to legislated privileges) to propose amendments to the Constitution.
And Trump has clearly stated that he knows this.
And Krugman clearly shows that he does not. Thus, his arguments are meaningless and moot.
Its that simple.
4
"The most spectacular example is his opinion that Sea World owed no liability for a killer whale attack that killed one of its workers, because she should have known the risks."
Awww, looks like the trial lawyers missed another payout because of an act of God that no one imagined could have occurred and never had occurred previously.
People die in accidents. The idea that all accidents, and especially those previously viewed as near impossible, can be foreseen by employers and others who are often mistakenly deemed liable, is utterly fatuous.
How much do trial lawyers contribute to the Democrat Party? How much to the Republican Party? You want to talk about greed?
5
Trump supporters often cite his nomination of conservatives to the Supreme Court as a promise kept that vindicates their vote for him, even if they have to preface their remarks with "At least".
It seems the word "conservative" just has a magical ring for them. They don't consider what different things it means to different people. As long as Kavanaugh is called a conservative, they'll think of him as an agent of the visceral, expressionist politics that matter to them. By now they may not even remember that the words "conservative" and "Republican" have long meant "pro-business, pro-wealthy, anti-worker, anti-middle-class".
Political commentators have noted that when it comes to Trump's lists of potential Supreme Court nominees, he's allowing himself to be guided by the agenda of establishment conservatism. At the same time, his cultist-conservative supporters are allowing themselves to be guided by their assumptions.
3
Trump is the best President of my lifetime, and may be greater than any except Lincoln - as evidenced in part by Krudman's hatred for him.
Trump's enemies on the left are the racists. Kavanaugh wiill be one of the best Supremes ever, as long as he sticks to the Constitution and helps to dismantle totalitarian socialism & Krudmanomics.
5
Please define “totalitarian socialism,” and demonstrate the ways in which it is operative and needs “dismantling” in the US. Also, if your evidence for a president’s greatness is someone else’s dislike of that president, you need much, much higher standards...though I suppose that’s already clear.
3
Lol, Krugman, who can barely make a coherent analysis about economics without straw man arguments, false information, or, just hoping you're really dumb is now opining about law. I guess quantum physics is next as his newfound expertise...
3
Paul is Trump Derangement Syndrome patient 0
5
All this should be nothing new. Trump's personality is a scam. He is a "me-only me-man". This was known before. That poor people fall prey to his showmanship is also nothing new, we all have seen this on TV before.
Demagogues are nothing surprising in history. Since the United States are still a democracy, there is the chance to get rid of Trump by simply voting. Exercise your right! Go voting at the 6th of November. And don't forget 2020. Same procedure.
7
I am starting to think that DT's choices might be chipping away at his support. He has run the governments business like he runs his own. His lies are not making any sense, he has screwed anyone he made a commitment to and has taken his power too far. These people are seeing less and less of what they thought they were going to get and his "schtick" is not so much fun anymore, especially when you start to see that you're getting screwed. He will always have racists in his corner but the bulk of people are seeing him exposed with undeniable and indefensible treasonous behavior. His rich fiiends are getting richer and the entitlements that many of his voters value are disappearing along with their salaries to higher interest rates and higher expenses thanks to his protectionist tariffs. And it really has not hit yet. I dare say soe have started to be embarrassed and are running out of anything to say in his defense that makes any sense, even to them. "Make America Great Again" rings hollow with the daily reports of our country being seen as an enemy to our long time allies and our real enemies, now being positioned as our allies. The daily barrage of truth I think, is starting to sink in. November is looking better and better for the Democrats coming back into positions of authority over the "Know Nothings" who have sold them down the river for blatant greed and power. The chickens are coming home to roost and we need to be ready to bring them back into the fold so we can heal.
4
Keep crying wolf until you run out of breath. When a wolf does appears, you will be asleep because of drained energy.
In recent years, it's been divisive social issues used to hide issues of economic inequality. Now, it's inequality issues that must be used to expose blatant lies and deception about workers' rights.
3
This is, in truth, another episode in the mendacious career of a monopoly capitalist, would be plutocrat, aspiring oligarch. The minute he takes a stage, faces a camera, touches a tweet, it should be obvious that his gambit is to inveigle, to sham, and to overwhelm with the gap between his largess and the lack which others, particularly working people unfortunately have.
5
What else would one expect from Dubious Donald?
1
At some point, the workers affected need to take ownership over not voting against their interests. I'm tired of being outraged on their behalf at the consequences of their own sins.
4
What people outside the United States struggle to understand is that the incentives, the tax cuts seem to benefit the upper income groups, not the low and middle income earners. So, this begs the question; are these groups in the middle better off under Trump? Are there more job opportunities, better incomes and benefits, more affordable healthcare, smaller payments, bigger bank accounts, any of the these, none of these? If the answer is yes, then Trump has delivered his promises to the “forgotten man”. But, if the answer is no, then the low and middle income supporters believe his racist, misogynistic, lying rhetoric over their own situations in life and this is why the world worries.
3
@Holly
How can tax cuts benefit low and middle income earners when the top 10 percent of earners already pay 70 percent of all income taxes? If the US has taught the world anything it's that low taxes and light regulation and the rule of law produce dynamic economies. Yes, the stock market is up 20 percent since Trump took office, unemployment is at an historic low and middle class wages are on the rise. In fact, these conditions are the polar opposite of what is required for fascists or despotism to thrive.
@Christopher George Trump cannot take credit for the stock market or the unemployment level. He inherited those from a real president who worked - WORKED - for eight years to achieve them. Trump does not work; he golfs. If middle class wages are on the rise it's by a tiny fraction of the exploded rates by which CEOs' wages have risen. The top 10% of "earners" - a cute way to define people who are laying back watching their millions gain millions - are paying taxes not on their salaries but on everything else they own. Real people with real jobs know we are being robbed.
2
Don’t blame Trump.
Don’t blame Republicans.
Blame Democrats who sacrificed the working folks and a reasonable tax and economic structure in order to push for special treatment for transgendered, gays, illegal aliens, and corporations.
Thank you Democrats for giving us Hillary Clinton - the only candidate in the world who could lose to Donald Trump.
8
@Loaned Madison
How about those candidates in the Republican primary? All 10--12 of them. They lost to Trump first. Thank you Republicans for lying to your base for decades until they got fed up and went for the candidate the Republicans always promised.
3
We may as well stop complaining about Kavanaugh. He is going to be confirmed. The Democrats blew it two years ago by letting the GOP block Merrick's appointment. When the Democrats quit being political wimps and start taking a more assertive approach to Government, perhaps then they could be a force for the GOP to reckon with.
5
Keep on shoveling that hyperbole, Doc! If there is one, best elixir for preventing any kind of blue wave this November it's the hyperventilating, sky-is-falling, end-of-the-world-isms that continuously spew from the keyboards of the Krugmans of the world.
Trump has certainly not done the GOP brand that many favors with his presidency thus far. How gracious of you of the rabid, 'progressive' left to continue to show that Democrats are even less worthy of voters' support.
2
Trump has betrayed ever person in the USA. The only difference is that some know he has harmed them....and many millions do not realize this truth. And thus, our democracy is in grave peril.
5
Geez, Paul...I thought you are an economist.
For an economist, Krugman's claim that the tax cuts are useless for ordinary workers is absolutely false and unconscionable. For families filing jointly with $300,000 income, the tax rate has gone from 28% to 24%. That's a 14% reduction. For an individual making $160,000, his tax rate went from 25% to 22%. That's a 12% reduction. It's the upper middle class like Krugman who have not received much of a break or are paying more, and now he's bellyaching about it!
3
@Dr. Reality "Workers" earning $ 300,000 a year?
Boy, who would have thought Walmart paid so well.
8
@Dr. Reality - The US median income is ~$59,000. What do you think their tax break is?
4
@Dr. Reality Families making $300,000 /yr may not be be rich if they're living SF or NY, but they are not "ordinary workers." Do some research.
2
Elections have consequences. The election of Donald Trump means the court will shift to the right. There is no surprise there.
Liberals like Paul Krugman bemoan the fact that Trump is betraying the "white working class workers" who voted for him.
But the same could be said of the Democrats who have sanctimoniously proclaimed that they are pushing for the ordinary worker, while systematically destroying his or her quality of life.
There are several reasons for this betrayal. One is illegal immigration. The US passed an Immigration and Reform Act i 1986 which was supposed to end illegal immigration.
My parents were poor whites, the very people which the NY Times holds up for constant ridicule in essay after essay by Krugman, by Friedman and others.
My parents had NO MONEY, yet I got a PhD from a major university. How did that happen? Tuition was zero and there were scholarships available for living expenses.
That is no longer possible. The poor whites have NO CHANCE of going to a major university.
How did that happen? Illegal immigration. The population growth driven by illegal immigration has shifted funding from universities to K12. This has had other results, including education of fewer doctors which leads to higher health care costs due to supply and demand.
LIberal policies have created the ghettos in our cities. The US has the highest per capita incarceration rate among all large nations. Except for maybe North Korea.
Liberals abandon the poor.
4
Where’s the evidence for your claim that “poor whites” can no longer attend college for low or no-cost because of illegal immigrants?
Or that Krugman, Friedman, etc are “ridiculing” people like your parents? How so? Everything I’ve read from Times Opinion writers on the subject of economic inequality and wage stagnation comes down on the side of the people doing the work. I’ve yet to read any ridicule.
8
With regard to the Consumer Protection Bureau, Kavanaugh has raised some legitimate Constitutional concerns having to do with separation of powers. Despite any merits the Bureau may have, if it violates the Constitution as it is constructed, it cannot stand. (Kavanaugh is not the only judge to draw that conclusion.) Of course, Krugman cites that as a negative decision without giving a single reason that it was wrong. It's a stereotypical liberal response--I don't like the outcome, so it must be wrong.
3
This is what you get when you dumb down the educational system. Stupid voters. The dawn of the new serfdom. Will November 2018 change our downhill course? Hope springs eternal but reality will probably prevail.
1
We can talk, write, jump around till we're blue in the face.
Look at the picture at the top of your article. Nuff said.
Vote.
3
Trump is the cult leader; his acolytes are people want a new secular religion and a new messiah.
There is still hope that Muller will unearth enough to disgust the whole population, but failing that, we have to get to the polls in November and make a difference.
Krugman the NYT, CNN and perhaps the Post are all doing the right thing, but we the people must work our bunions off and get the right people to the congress
4
The real betrayal of working people has been on the part of Democratic, Republican and Establishment elites - the likes of Paul Krugman, the Clintons, Bush, Obama and so many others who have continuously sold working people and the middle class down the river with trade deals, outsourcing deals, H1 visa deals and on and on and blah, blah, blah.
Krugman promised us all that free trade as per the deals we had was going to lift all boats. They did not.... and now you have an electorate that sees the emperor(s) has/have no clothes.
I remain unimpressed with Krugman's opinions regarding Trump, as were it not for the Krugman's of our nation providing the phony arguments in favor of the rigged/corrupt/idiotic policies that so decimated the working class of this country, Donald Trump would never have run for office.
5
@Arthur Taylor 100% Spot ON!@!
2
Every time I look at the title of this article I feel the anger rising.
Trump treats other human beings like roaches.
Why do they take it?
2
Hey, Republicans and dictator trump and fascist pence, you all think you're significant, but guess what, you're not! You and yours are no more significant than a grain of sand on the beach or a drop of water in the ocean. No such thing as a self made man.
2
One of the examples you cite is the case of the Sea World worker killer by the whale. You seem to think people are idiots who need to have someone to blame, and sue, for any misfortune that occurs. Yes, the death was tragic, but it is also abundantly clear that swimming with and interacting with wild animals carries risks that the worker should have recognized. Did someone make her go to work with whales against her will? No, she took the risk upon herself.
2
"Kavanaugh is, to put it bluntly, an anti-worker radical", opposed to every effort to protect working families from fraud and mistreatment.
To 'put it bluntly'? Wow, what courage the conscience of a liberal shows us, to actually criticize a S. Court pick for being an anti worker radical opposed to protecting 'working families'. And in a 21st C democracy. Yeah, PK, be blunt!
Wow. Oh, I said that.
The socialists always talk about wage stagnation but they never want to talk about its connection to increased government spending. There is an almost perfect match between increased government spending / GDP and decrease in private wages / GDP.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=kI2x
The socialists need to address the fact that big government is sucking $6,700,000,000,000 out of working class paychecks each year or $54,000 per private worker.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=kI31
3
You mean... someone actually LISTENS to Paul Krugman anymore? He was one of the major reasons I cancelled my NY Times subscription of over 30 years duration.
When Trump is re-elected in 2020, Krugman will be come even more irrelevant
5
Yet here you are, reading Paul Krugman's column in the New York Times, and taking the time to comment.
9
@SPPhil The article came to me on a news feed and I thought I would read to see if my opinion of Krugman had changed... not to my surprise, it had not... when was the last time the guy was right about much of anything?
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/07/27/blockbuster-gdp-growth-deliver...
Political Changes Have Weakened Workers' Power for 50 Plus Years: Both Parties But Mostly Repubs Have Made It So.
Income inequality works to weaken democracy which neither party but especially Repubs have made it so.
Moreover, President Russia's and Paul Manifold's gushing lies have spread to include most Repub pols these past 18 months and more.
Repubs are helping usher in, along with everything else herein mentioned, Authoritarian Oligarchy - nothing less, a hard fact. Once Democracy is Lost Its Very Hard to Recapture - That's a Very Fact!
And Trump claims that Mueller has a “very nasty” conflict of interest? I guess it’s only nasty if you disagree with him. Which is not the case for the dissent by Kavanaugh in the NLRB case against one of his now-bankrupt Atlantic City casinos. Textbook conflict of interest. Domestic emolument?
This is why I resent Trump voters - they deserve someone like Kavanaugh because consequences are the only way to teach them. The problem is collateral damage - all the people who voted rightly in 2016 by doing their homework to see which candidate stands for what, and reflecting on facts, rather than being pulled by emotions or racism.
4
Most people don't know what they are voting for when they vote for president. No, it is not that they are ignorant or uninformed (some are), it is just that people vote for an idea, a concept and go along with how their neighbors and families are voting. It is so much more difficult to actually think for yourself.
One of the states that put Trump over the top with the Electoral College was Pennsylvania. Here's the deal: Pa., the state of my birth and where I went to high school, almost always votes for the candidate whom the voters believe is likely to bring more jobs. It is largely a working class state outside of the banking and law offices of Philadelphia and the old industrial base in Pittsburgh. As the founders of the nation feared, people vote their wallets, not necessarily their convictions about what is best for the nation.
The vote for Trump was one of resentment. Yes, racial resentment played an important role, but resentment by feeling that whole sections of the country have been left behind by economic progress was probably more important. Scranton, Pa.: Left behind. The same for many other towns across Pa., Michigan and Wisconsin that went for Trump.
Mark Twain said democracy is the theory that the voters know what they want...and they deserve to get it, real hard. That's what they are getting from Trump: they might cheer his insults and verbal assaults, but they are getting a dish of dirt served up. Sooner or later, they will taste it.
2
Mr. Trump, it is now clear, is simply the cherry on the melting ice cream sundae of revanchist American conservatism created by Goldwater in response to the civil rights movement and Conservatisim’s reaction to the Left’s loathing of the Viet Nam war.
What the Republican party and its “dark money” supporters seek is nothing less than a return to Republican party hegemony, American white supremacy and the legal emasculation of American labor that characterized the gilded age of robber baron monopolists between 1870 and 1933.
America’s problem today is not Trump. It is a Republican party, disguised as “populist”, that seeks to eliminate the success of an ascendent democratic liberalism begun by president Theodore Roosevelt, and consolidated from FDR until the disgrace of President Nixon ( 1900-1974). Trump exists only because of the patent complicity of the Republican Party that now risks a political rejection in 2020 comparable to their loss of legitimacy in the national election of 1932 and 1964.
5
I hope with you.
As real as the betrayal is, one segment of the white trump supporter demographic may not feel or admit to its effects for quite a long time, if ever. That segment consists of the white evangelicals. Many are middle to upper middle class and will be able to withstand some financial loss without a lot of pain, perhaps even willingly, as long as trump and his lackeys continue to implement the evangelical culture war agenda. They are already touting the Kavanaugh pick as a victory for religious liberty.
4
I don't recall Krugman ever writing a column on how Obama had betrayed the middle class and blue collar worker he received votes from. Yet if you take a look at the numbers of the Obama economy it is ugly, very ugly. The reality is Obama's economic policies gave us Donald Trump. He can run off and hang with JayZ now and pretend he did great but the numbers do not lie.
2
@Jerry Correct Jerry. Eight years of an articulate Community Organizer's "Hope & Change" liner set this country back to 1990. One of the biggest fraudulent marketing tactics in American history and guys like Krudman just keep spinning the wheel.
1
How often do Paul Krugman and David Brooks get together? They should start a think tank together and try to come up with reasonable solutions.
1
Yes, Paul - and he won't even be as imaginative as Scalia or as polite and smiley-faced as Kennedy.
Another 40 years of him?
Are you kidding? I'm already sick and tired of him!
You're dead right on Republicans not wanting to bring up the "Tax Cut" because it really has nothing to do with trump supporters, it's all just for the Elite Ones who already have billions, and that's how Kavanaugh is going to go down, too: Never to be spoken of because everything he will rule on will have nothing to do with the "average, the common-grade Republican voter". He's going to vote them down every ruling - just as Scalia did, too, and Thomas, and Alito and... and.... and....
Over time, the only change for the good in this country will be the eventual silencing of the trumpbots when they realize they've been had..... again.
2
@rosa I've got 19% more in my pocket...thank you Donny-Boy
1
@rosa...sorry, but the loudmouthed, amoral minority tribe of Trump voters will always and forever blame Democrats for Republican malfeasance. As a wise guy once said, you can’t reason with unreasonable people who are convicted by their convictions.
1
So tiresome the way the partisan left trots out the hyberbolic and hysterical language to express their outrage at everything Trump does. By the way, Kavanaugh was appointed to teach at Harvard Law School in 2008 by none other than Justice Elena Kagan. He coaches CYO sports and volunteers at soup kitchens. His mother taught at inner city schools in D.C. for 20 years. Not a monster.
2
We are watching and listening to the racist dog- whistles and distractions that emanate from the mouth of our bigot in chief. Authoritarian and would-be totalitarian, our MAGA leader is a nationalist as fraudulent as those America Firsters who opposed the European and Asian horrors of last century.
The Republicans are holding democracy hostage. We, who clearly see the threat of a judge who protects and defends the American elite, are hoping that Brett Kavanaugh will be borked during his confirmation grillings. Our Executive Branch has been ashcanned since Trump won the 2016 election. Donald Trump's loyalists -- blinded by their idol's fools-gold buffet -- still revere the master demagogue. Propaganda is king.
All the working class voters who revere Trump are up a creek with no paddle. Two parties have caused the trainwreck we're seeing in our country today. The Republicans deride everything green (even the Earth itself). America needs a labor party. Intelligent working class voters need a champion of democratic values and a fair deal. Not a megalomaniacal would-be tyrant who is betraying democracy.
5
Those people in the picture?
To them Donald is their 'bright and shinning lie'.
His brightness is so dazzling they cannot see the malevolence in the shadows just behind him, getting ready to emerge.
2
Mr. Kavanaugh has demonstrated over and over again. Women and their health do not matter. Typical GOP rhetoric to be sure, but I have a feeling that Trump admires his ideas that a sitting president cannot be indicted – or even investigated – for any crime while in office. Music to Trump's ears. You know, if you are guilty, women, unions, worker protection mean nothing....you only have to sweat investigations. And I believe Mr. Trump is sweating buckets.
1
They elected him for the benefits he promised. With the benefits having evaporated, they'll keep him anyway, for his empowerment of open racism.
"...he’s governed as an orthodox Republican, with the only difference being the way he replaced racial dog-whistles with raw, upfront racism." Functionally true in contemporary terms, Paul, but not quite historical in ways that are worth mentioning. He has governed as a *post-Reagan orthodox Republican*. I grew up in New York State, where Governor Nelson Rockefeller, one of the great progressive American politicians of all time, who built the state university system, among other things, was a Republican. Granted, Rockefeller was on the progressive wing of the Republican party of his day, but it *had* progressive wing. Unhappily, that party has turned into a fascist, racist party where the likes of George W. Bush is considered a suspicious lefty.
2
Trump is a Con Man. He promised everyone exactly what they wanted to hear. People who have been conned never want to believe they have been duped until the evidence is overwhelming.
7
@Ronny "If you like your insurance you will keep it...""
2
@Purple
"We'll replace Obamacare with a great new health plan that will cover everyone at a lower cost and we'll have it done right away."
1
@dlb
"We will start by reducing premiums by as much as $2,500 per family."
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_o65vMUk5so
It's even worse, like you said, the stock market has collapsed and millions are out of jobs.
Oh, wait, never mind.
3
Some campaign ideas, turning trump's words/images against him:
DNC ads could...
...replay trump's campaign trail call-and-response for a wall with photos of families' being separated in the background--children held behind chain-link walls;
...in response to his "who's going to pay for it," show average Americans silently suffering from tariffs or his racism/images from all the protests;
...with his heinous mockery of a disabled reporter, replay all of his "stable genius" claims;
...show quick clips of his teeing off with all of the dates he's been "on vacation" x-ed out on a calendar;
...show North Korean and Russian misles being launched or paraded with trump screaming "You're fired!";
...as he claims to have the "best people," show Manafort in prison guard and Flynn's and others' indictments;
...show melania's "I don't care" coat alongside images from Puerto Rico's disaster scenes.
3
Trump has governed as an orthodox Republican?
Tariffs ... $1.5T planned deficit ... cozying up to Russia ...
I've been Republican for 45 years ... none of that is orthodox ...
5
Brett Kavanaugh is unfit to sit on the Supreme Court, or any court, for that matter. He has an obvious disdain for most of the American people. With him on the Court we will see what civil rights we have left disappear. His views would make Ayn Rand swoon.
1
It's always sad to see a once-great mind go into its dotage, but that's how the world works.
Actual economists looked forward to the next Reagan while
Paul's political mind knew his task was to teach hatred, rage, jealousy, and outright treason against the USA.
So Paul made the greatest mistake of any economist's career, actually forecasting - not just asking to see, but shelving his economic reputation on predicting - that the markets would crash with President Trump at the helm.
This is like an auto designer about to begin work creating a Ford Mustang and ending up with a Yugo made out of compressed rust. But somebody HAD to do it, and Paul proved his political loyalties even as he 86'd his credibility with numbers.
1
Actual economists? You mean like Larry Kudlow? The guy with a BA in history?
2
Reading the various comments on the NYT I am utterly astounded by the social situation of the American without any security net like social benefits, health care insurance, and access to a workers'union. The work of the GOP since Reagan produced a society without empathy and collective care close to what we see is many countries in Africa and South-America. When you are facing a choice like Clinton or Trump as President you should know that something isn't right in your democracy. Here are the MINIMUM achievements you should get from the next Congress: a) reversal of United Citizens and the implantation of an enforceable cap on donations to politicians; b) a social security net which shall provide for affordable access to education up to collegial grade 1, a universal right to health care and some form of minimum revenue to elders. Those are what you will find in most of the modern countries in the world; it is not chimeric, it is the "standard" available in Europe, UK, and Canada! Do not settle for less from the Democratic party and eradicate the GOP in the next 2 years. Best
4
@yves rochette
This coming from a freeloading Quebec-er; count this Canadian as not surprised.
The answer is simple: unlike Quebec, the rest of North America cannot sponge-off of Western Canadians.
For the record, I have forever left the socialist utopia of Canada for the great USA... and have not a single regret.
Canadians can keep the albatross called Canadian Healthcare and perish, holding their collective noses in the air, while waiting for care.
Cheers
@indiana homez Just for the record I am a lawyer practicing in merger/acquisition since more than 40 years and having the opportunity to be involved in some deals in the USA (mainly in New England) and in what you call "Right to work States" like Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana.
I remember when Krugman said the economy would collapse because Trump got elected.
He sounds like a shrill partisan.
3
Some Machiavellian thoughts: The ruler may appear devoted to various ideals in order to create an excellent public image but often he must act contrary to those ideas; consequently he needs above all to develop a hypocritical, vacillating personality. Only a few perceptive individuals will discover his true character and they will not dare protest or move against the vulgar tide adhering to the mighty Prince.
Shades of House and Senate Republicans.
2
Obama and the "progressives" like Krugman protect workers from jobs (just ask coal miners). Trump protects workers jobs. Workers much prefer the latter.
1
No surprise that a dean of Yale Law School, who has actually read Judge Kavanaugh's opinions, has a different view of in a published op-ed piece in the NYT ("A Liberal's Case for Judge Kavanaugh," July 9, 2018). I'd be curious if Prof. Krugman would be able to satisfy what Dean Amar proposed in his article:
"So I propose that the Democrats offer the following compromise: Each Senate Democrat will pledge either to vote yes for Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation — or, if voting no, to first publicly name at least two clearly better candidates whom a Republican president might realistically have nominated instead (not an easy task). In exchange for this act of good will, Democrats will insist that Judge Kavanaugh answer all fair questions at his confirmation hearing."
I think I know the answer.
1
The loss in 2016 is a catastrophe for Liberal Progressives with respect to SCOTUS (see below):
It is almost certain that Clarence Thomas will retire prior to Trump leaving office(there's 1 more); RBG may retire within the next 6 years(there's potentially 2 more); Stephen Breyer who is 79 could also retire(potentially 3 more). Most important is the ideological affiliation of the latter two mentioned. Either of those would move the court balance quite a bit further to the Right.
Furthermore, the GOP will almost certainly increase their numbers in the Senate(while losing seats in the House) in the Mid Terms; all but cementing future nominations = Catastrophe!
2
Perhaps by coincidence today's NYT includes an article about a potential move by Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to give $100 Billion in tax breaks to the wealthy. So the beat described by Professor Krugman goes on and on and one is forced to ask, "what populism"?
The populace in "populism" is being led to Social Security and Medicare "slaughter" as the nation's budget deficits skyrocket under an administration and congress led by Republicans; these traditional budget hawks have somehow been freed from any thoughts of fiscal responsibility and regular folks are being taken to the cleaners as never before.
4
Krugman's opinion on this topic is most likely as wrong as his predictions in 2016 on the Trump proposed policies impact on the economy. Krugman predictions and opinions fly in the face of actual results so I read him to get an idea of what will not happen rather than what will.
3
How and why do we let Trump, his Republican Party or anyone else get away with this populist lie? Trump and the GOP are populist in the manner of John D. Rockefeller, George Herbert Walker Bush and Pierre DuPont.
3
Republicans have been anti-labor because labor forces businesses to give up some of their earnings in favor of the working class. I am not the economist, but it seems that assault has coincided with the growth of inequality and greed. This support of capital has long been part of the Federalist Society goal in grooming judges who are anti-government and pro-business radicals, not "originalists."
3
Thank goodness for your piece. Filling the vacancies in the Supreme Court and district courts with conservative jurists at break neck speed is a big win for Donald and its allies. It is almost under the radar until the nomination of Kavanaugh. It will affect unfavorably the lives of working people and women's as well as LGBTQ's rights for at least a generation. Vigilance is imperative.
6
I have to take issue with your allegation that the Trump "Tax Reform" was useless to ordinary workers. As one who fits squarely into that 'ordinary worker' class, I can proudly say that I got an extra $10 a paycheck. Let me tell you that extra $5 a week has really, really made a big difference in one lunch a week. So Trump, while he dedicated 80% of the benefit of Trump "Tax Reform" to the 1%, was not totally useless to us ordinary workers. If nothing else (which is a good solid description of what Trump has done for us) Trump has focused us "liberals" on just what is at stake. Vote in November.
11
The field where these opposing forces will eventually clash is a literal field. It's the land that has been poisoned knowingly and irreparably by fossil fuel extraction.
Trump's side is lined up to do what they've always done: wreck a place and leave. This time, though, they're prepared to make it more thorough and widespread then ever, with preemptive indemnification against lawsuits brought by people whose property is worthless thanks to creeping aquifer pollution from fracking. People who believed that they owned their land, that they were entitled to its blessings and protections, that they were miles from drilling sites and were therefore safe are going to learn the hard way that underground water doesn't respect property lines, and that their wells and ponds are now cancer-causing and their property worthless. The companies that do this damage have the game rigged already.
Gay marriage and "religious freedom" are vaudeville issues next to this. Social conservatives in rural communities are in the path of the whirlwind. Thanks to this McConnell-trump judiciary, the people in those places aren't the voting population. The real voters there are corporations.
3
Paul, the myth you are being confused by is that American workers have any sense of class solidarity. Sadly, ain't so.
4
Wow. I guess what I've heard is true. There really is a Trump Derangement Syndrome. He seems to be guilty of a lot of things but like it or not he seems to me to have worked very hard to keep his campaign promises. Not sure what this article is about. Every Republican I see is running on the economy and the benefits of the Tax Reform Act. Every Republican I see is also touting the benefits to the working class of America. I wish we could all use the same facts. If we could, I believe that 80% of America could agree on what the problems are at the very least and hopefully some compromise solutions on at least some of them. The way we have been taught to hate anyone on the other "team" is deeply troubling to someone like me who doesn't identify with either one.
1
@Don The false causality of the GOP instructs voters that the entire economy resets on Inauguration Day. Trump himself has lied continually about the state of what he inherited. Nothing personal but I sincerely doubt you can prove an empirical case that the Tax Reform Act or anything else Trump has 'achieved" underlies the strength of the economy right now.
3
Would someone tell me one policy Donald Trump has implemented that favor the working stiffs who got him elected? New York's best con man has bamboozled his supporters.
8
I would like it if Krugman would stick to economics--to help us all understand how economic and monetary policies actually work (i.e., affect the lives of most of us). Krugman is in a position to effect greater economic literacy--and doing that will do more to bring about good policies than just about anything else he might do as a columnist. Apparently, either he or his employers have determined that a column specifically for the purpose of educating readers, as opposed to fomenting against right-wing policies, won't interest readers. But attacking Trump and/or the Grand Old, Old Party (GOOP) is getting to be so old hat! (And I find Trump loathsome.)
2
Trump did not run nor win on a platform of American Worker. He ran on business, the economy and border security. He also ran on support for the military and law enforcement officers. The concept was that in helping large or big business it would also help with unemployment - which is has. Paulie is incorrect as usual in his assessment of reality but he's right on in his assessment of politics according to Krugman.
1
"the Trump tax cut, which is so useless to ordinary workers"
Tax Reform made it possible for corporations to make more investments and hire more people. I would not call being able to get a job "useless".
This is just one of numerous examples:
"The Farmington parent of Pratt & Whitney, Carrier, Otis Elevator and United Technologies Aerospace Systems says recent federal tax reform will unleash enough of its capital to hire 35,000 workers — including 9,000 more in Connecticut — and to invest more than $15 billion in the U.S. in the next five years."
If the Democrats want to defeat Trump (as do I) then I suggest do not criticize tax reform.
3
@BobC https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/04/13/how-companies-spend-tax-...
and
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/corporate-tax-cuts-boost-stock-buybacks-not...
The information that you quoted showed up on the Ways & Means website in May. I found no information about Pratt & Whitney hiring since then. But I did find a Sept 2016 article in the Hartford Courant stating that P&W intended to hire 8,000 more CT workers and 25,000 more overall: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-middletown-leduc-pratt-and-wh...
In other words...I'll believe it (the Tax Reform helps workers) when I see it.
4
@BobC Have a surprise for you. Unless the demand for their products increases they will not hire any new workers. The results of Trumps imposition of tariffs and their consequences is still unknown therefore those figure you quote are not at all realistic.
For most Americans news and information comes in the form of entertainment. Entertainment is all about emotion. Factor in the social network echo chamber and you have a political world that is devoid of thought and reason and even real self interest. It’s all emotion, felt and spewed, shared and received. Talking about Trump’s betrayal seems, well it seems funny.
1
I wonder if the professor is right to claim that the president has betrayed his base in every instance to the conservatives. I know that "conservative" is a very broad term but other than the paleo-conservatives, there is little love lost for the president's tariffs. That they are a disastrous policy with bad outcomes for the base is another matter. But to their eyes, he delivers.
I also have a hard time to follow Paul on his connection of labor unions and populist causes. However much sense it would make, I may be wrong but my impression was and is that the relationhip in the US has been tenuous at best, if for their different origins (farmers vs. workers) or for too close a relationship with the Democratic party establishment, I couldn't say. From my first foray into matters US, as a European I was quite taken aback by a rather generalized hostility to the labor movement even in the late sixties. Obviously, on the left in part it was colored by the unions' majoritarian support of the Viet Nam war.
I cannot stress enough that it is my very personal impression, yet a very precursory internet search hasn't produced any illuminating evidence.
1
"There’s growing evidence that wage stagnation in America – the very stagnation that angers Trump voters — isn’t being driven by impersonal forces like technological change; to an important extent it’s the result of political changes that have weakened workers’ bargaining power."
I dont believe anyone bought this lame position. Diminishing labor is nothing less what it has always been in capitalist societies: an instrument of class warfare. The idea of a perfect union did not contemplated eqalitarian equity, but a more perfectly ordered/ divided stratification of the citizenry.
One problem with the story. Most of the lawsuits dealing with unions have been brought by the workers not the companies. So it would seem to me that the help on the court that would be friendly to the workers who bring suit would be to their advantage not their disadvantage.
1
@J,
I believe that you're talking about workers who object to having to pay union dues or to joining a union.
Those are a relatively small number, but their success weakens the union movement and thus weakens protections for workers everywhere.
5
Dr Krugman and others should use the term Conservative Elites more often. At the moment Trump and co are framing the debate as elites vs working class and winning. They are referring to liberal elites of course, but conflating all together. Of course, liberal elites and Dems are pro-working class in comparison to Reps and Conservative Elites.
5
Kavanagh's anti-worker stance would have provided a wonderful opportunity for the Democratic Party I grew up with. You know, the Democratic Party that used to support workers in general and labor unions in specific.
I really miss that Democratic Party, and apparently so did a lot of forgotten working people who ended up voting for Trump.
Are you paying attention, Democrats? I hope so.
7
Unions have been strategically warred against by the Republicans as far back as the 1960' if not long before.
Heads of subsidiaries of multi- billion dollar corporations quashed and busted up the Unions. Once the Democrats were out huge contributions from Labor Unions they lost tremendous power to promote Working Man's interests.
1
Without the CFPB, the massive fraud at Wells Fargo would never been uncovered. Of Course Kavanaugh and Trump supporters don't talk about that.
7
Thank you, Mr. Krugman for standing up for the white working class. As you have done for so many years.
2
Just another example of Trump's base voting against their own interest.
4
A self-proclaimed populist isn’t really a populist if he doesn’t pay his contractors, too.
2
Kavanaugh is a clear threat to Roe, LGBT, workers rights, and the future of American democracy. It is imperative that all citizens contact Collins & Murkowski's office and covey your grave concerns about this destructive nominee.
4
The shareholder class is having the biggest money bath of their lives under Trump. Everyone else is still not making enough to get by, working multiple part-time jobs (with no benefits) in the "gig economy." In the future, I foresee 50% of the population being Uber drivers who use their cell phones to gamble their earnings on baseball games, between giving rides. There's simply aren't very many good paying, full-time jobs anymore. What's worse is Trump's base and conservatives everywhere are utterly blind to this sad reality.
4
@Vexations They aren't blind to the current job reality. They created it and approve of it.
The idea that a worker assumes the risk of the job is one of the so called cardinal defenses that were displaced by the worker compensation laws of the Twenty Century.
To bring such an idea back and use it against a worker or their family is criminal.
4
You think Kavanaugh is anti-worker? Ha! He can scarcely hold a candle to Neil Gorsuch, who was the only one of six or seven judges who voted to uphold the firing of a trucker who abandoned his rig rather than freeze to death and who returned to his rig as soon as it was safe to do so. Gorsuch in effect ruled that the trucker's cargo was more important than the life of the trucker.
Kinda hard to beat that for anti-worker.
13
Given Trump's obvious lack of any concern for his base, other than his cynical use of them as a stable source of votes, it is bewildering to see his hold on them persist in the face of mounting evidence that he has been playing them for suckers.
I don't believe that Trump has the ability to continue to hoodwink his base for too much longer.
They will at some point wake up to the reality that they have been had.
Like other buffoonish strong men (Silvio Berlusconi comes to mind) Trump soon will find himself the target of his enraged base...although Berlusconi was the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy... and he was famous for his "Bunga-Bunga" parties...
2
@interested party,
I wish I could agree with you.
But one thing people hate more than being hoodwinked is facing the fact that they were wrong in allowing themselves to be so.
Trump's base will just deny that they were fooled and continue living in the alternate reality in which they insist that they are better off even as their lives become more difficult.
5
@Jerry Engelbach
You may be right, I hope they surprise us.
Here's what an angry populace can do when its "representatives" don't offer resistance to tyranny: NATIONAL STRIKE. Every European citizen knows how to use this (non-violent) form of resistance; of course, they are not glued to Fox news 24/7.
7
Kavanaugh is a long time Republican legal careerist. He has supported any and every position in the Republican firmament in order to advance his career, even if he was inconsistent with previous rulings. As the Republican agenda changed, he changed in order to advance his career. As such, he has made himself the perfect pick for the Republican establishment: anti-labor, anti-women, anti-voting rights, anti-consumer, pro states rights and pro-strong, unfettered executive branch. He is the perfect judge for McConnell and his ilk. As for Trump, he only cares that Kavanaugh won't allow him to be indicted. In a few months we the people will know Trump is illegitimate, and that will make all his judges and nominations illegitimate.
5
What I'd like to see Krugman do instead of simply attacking the positions of the ultra conservative Kavanaugh, is to expose the philosophy behind him and the "Federalist Society" which has created a pipeline that prevents all but the most ultra-conservative judges from ever being considered for the bench whenever a Republican president is elected.
Conservatives and Republican voters could care less whether a judge "lacks empathy" for working people. What will make them have to sit up and take notice is to attack ultra-conservativism and originalist interpretations of the Constitution for the frauds that they are. Instead of a bunch of warnings about how conservative nominees will "set back the cause" of this and that (which are all things conservatives bitterly oppose anyway), attack the philosophy! Show the American people that the new (yes new) ultra-conservative philosophy of virtually ALL Republican judicial nominees is out of step with the history of American jurisprudence!
Who cares if its "wonkish"? Sometimes the most important information is!
4
Dr. Krugman is, of course, right in what he says. However, the headline expression "Supreme Betrayal" seems premature. As bad as DT's betrayals have been so far, it's not difficult to think of even worse ones that it wouldn't really be surprising if he were to attempt.
Who is right? Paul Krugman or today's WSJ?
U.S. Workers Get Biggest Pay Increase in Nearly a Decade
American workers received their biggest pay raises in a nearly decade in the year to June, a sign the strong labor market and low unemployment is boosting wages as employers compete for scarcer workers.
3
@Ian Maitland,
Read the rest of the article.
That pay raise does not cut across all industries.
And it is only 0.6% ahead of inflation.
"Low unemployment" also coincides with the lowest labor participation rate in two decades.
That means that people who are working are supporting more people who are not working, because the latter were driven out of work and were unable to re-enter the labor market.
I'll stick with PK over the WSJ. The former is a friend of working people. The latter is the mouthpiece of big business and — surprise — Wall Street.
6
I wonder if Paul Krugman is taking in to account the idea that opposing (or supporting) a social policy is not the same thing as deciding that the task of implementing, or even deciding on that policy, should not be a judicial function but a legislative one. Is the proper role of the judiciary in our democracy to do what legislators don't have the political courage to do, or should we live with cowardly legislators and the results until we decide to vote for more courageous representatives? Our judiciary is, all in all, magnificent, but exactly how far should their responsibilities go?
@DanP Stated as generally as you did, there might be some truth to it. Kavanaugh's opposition to Commissions that have executive duties but are removed from the "unitary executive's" chain of command might have some constitutional appeal.
However I suggest you consult the opinion on the Sea World trainer's death. I started by reading Kavanaugh's dissent. It looked like a coherent argument. Only then did I read the majority opinion (incidentally, Merrick Garland sided with that opinion). Suddenly, Kavanaugh's argument didn't strike as so convincing anymore. Could be my lack of legal expertise, my pro-Union bias, what have you. If you like to check for yourself: https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/5AF8A4C12F19AE218525...$file/12-1375-1487925.pdf )
Krugman says: "There’s growing evidence that wage stagnation in America – the very stagnation that angers Trump voters — isn’t being driven by impersonal forces like technological change; to an important extent it’s the result of political changes that have weakened workers’ bargaining power. "
What evidence? How about a citation, or better yet a link, or two?
1
See the blue letters? Those are called, wossname, ah yes, "links."
3
@OjaiCentrist,
The demise of the unions.
It's hardly news that the power of the working class has shrunk with the decline in union power.
1
Industrial Unions were destroyed by outsourcing - when companies started to respond to request for wage increases by moving the factory to Mexico.
The greatest promoter of outsourcing was Paul Krugman. Excerpt below.
No economist has done more damage to American workers
Paul Krugman : In Praise of Cheap Labor
" I should have expected that this (pro globalization) comment would generate letters along the lines of, "Well, if you lose your comfortable position as an American professor you can always find another job--as long as you are 12 years old and willing to work for 40 cents an hour."
Such moral outrage is common among the opponents of globalization--of the transfer of technology and capital from high-wage to low-wage countries and the resulting growth of labor-intensive Third World exports. "
Note
1. Opposition to outsourcing is morally outrageous
2. Zero empathy for those who lost their jobs in the US
4
@Woof,
Krugman has had no direct influence on what has happened to American workers.
He wrote what he did when the US economy was humming along.
Mr. Trump's success going forward depends upon the continuation of two things: (1) The loyalty of his base, and (2)The support of the Republican Party.
There have been many stories about why the base remains loyal: Their deep distrust of American institutions, most notably the free press; their affinity to Mr. Trump's hatreds and prejudices; their tolerance of his continual lying; their manipulation by social media, trolls, rumors and biased reporting; their belief that the private sector, once freed from governmental regulations and other legal constraints, will provide a plethora of good-paying jobs; their hope that authority will restore order to society and respect to their tribal values.
As for the Republican Party, why would it not stand by Mr. Trump when he is advancing their political agenda? Why would it not cheer him on when 80-90% of their voters think that he is doing a great job as President?
No matter that Mr. Krugman's analysis is spot-on. Mr. Trump is betraying us all and getting away with it.
6
"I'll be there." Tom Joad
3
A long long time ago In a place far far away called "America", people cared about each other, neighbors looked out for all the kids, large companies paid the CEO's 20 times the average worker's pay and there was a sense of bright futures with opportunities for all (as long as you were a white male). The movements of the 60s/70s happened (environment, women, civil rights) and we began to awaken to a new consciousness of fairness, equality for ALL people (women, "minorities").
Some wealthy elites with vast fortunes were frightened and called on Louis Powell (Powell Doctrine) to tell them what to do. He came down from the mountain top and said, "pour huge amounts of your money into media (Fox Fakers, rush limbaugh, glen beck, etc ) to rant their rabid nonsense and lies, create and fund right-wing "think" tanks (American Enterprise Inst., Heritage Found., Club for Growth (for neanderthals), U.S. Chamber flourished) to push their hateful and completely dishonest propaganda into the main stream and big money took control over our politics and policy makers, Repubs especially. They followed a long term strategy to take over America and take all the wealth and power. Over decades they succeeded brilliantly while most of us slept. CEO's now make 400 times the average worker, inequality is rampant, policy making is now controlled by these corrupt interests, "dark money" rules, trump is their moron and those who now smile with him have taken far too much LSD for far too many years.
7
@EWH Lewis Powell issued the memo August 23, 1971, 2 months before nomination to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon.
Writings matter. Choices have consequences.
4
Did anyone think Trump's selection for the SCOTUS was for anyone's benefit but himself? To think Trump is going to one day act within the defined capacity of his office (for the people) is magical thinking at this point. Brett Kavanaugh has already divulged he would not indict a sitting president, and Trump alone (with the exception of Robert Mueller building his case) knows what's coming. That "justice" Kavanaugh is anti worker and anti populist; contrary to what Trump feigned during the campaign, only verifies this assertion. I have never felt so disgusted as I do toward those who voted for Trump. I want them to feel his betrayal of them daily, or as long as it takes for them to awaken. Guess I may be dreaming. Stupid is as stupid does.
8
Don the Con has never been other than an "ACTING" president........his promises,policies ,and agenda have no more substance or integrity than his scripted performances on his tv show "the apprentice".
Trumps narcissistic role playing,compulsive public lying,and use of executive power through bullying and fear..........does not represent the dignity of a POTUS or the people of the United States..........and his SUPREME betrayal ,with, now, overwhelming circumstancial evidence............of conspiring with a foreign power to defraud Americans ....of a free and fair election .............makes discussing the legitimacy of ANY or ALL his policy pronouncements and decisions .....MOOT !!! decisions.......
2
Trump’s election proves there is a sucker born every minute. His continued support proves it is far easier for a sucker to continue being conned than it is for a sucker to realize he/she has been conned.
3
So you think you are one of Trump's people? Go try to get into Mar-a-Lago. Please report back.
4
LBJ said it best: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Trump and the GOP play that game every election in every state. We saw with Trump's down escalator ride to enter the 2016 race where his opening salvo was against Mexican immigrants. He used the Lee Atwater method to gain the lead and never lost it to sane GOP prospects.
I see it today here in AZ politics with GOPer McSally running hard on building the wall. She mails flyers of ugly scowling tattoo covered MS-13 gangsters who are bringing a blizzard of dope, sexual slavery and violence to YOUR community. It will work, too. The low info white voters fall for it every time, every election. She'll be in the Senate next year, replacing Sen Flake who hasn't the guts to fight Trump.
Foreign trolls play racist memes all day on the internet to divide and conquer us. It's working.
Racism is killing the USA. Will we ever learn?
14
Wasn't Adolph Hitler considered a "populist" before he became the dictator "Fuhrer" of a previously democratic German Republic?
2
@RLW
To understand how the so-called "democratic" Weimar Republic could give way to the ascension of Adolf Hitler, you'd have to know a bit more about German history.
Every time I see a photo of all the dimwit women supporting djt I could just be sick.
8
Hence the fundamental disconnect with Trump nation, they proclaim how they have been screwed over by the elites, how they have been ignored, left to rot, how 'money' buys corrupt politicians....yet they cheer a decision like Citizen United granting corporations the rights of individuals (and unlimited campaign spending), and they vote for Donny Dimwit and GOP politicians who continue to give huge tax breaks to the rich, who support policies that hurt working people, that outright insult working people (trying to index capital gains for inflation, that will help the top .5% tremendously, while most working people have seen their wages decline based on inflation).
But they believe, they believe that Trump is "one of them", that the GOP sees them as 'one of them' and will make them rich, someday.....and ignore the reality.
4
@bill d Fuming is fine but informing is better. How are peoples' eyes and minds opened?
Unfortunately the GOP implemented its superior communications and political strategy while the Dems were sleeping. How many towns have conservative v. liberal-controlled media? How many state governorships and legislatures are controlled by the GOP as opposed to Democrats?
There's lots of catching up to do.
I hate to say it but since a very large percentage of the so-called working class supported Trump, they sort of deserve to have Kavanaugh's anti-worker bias. Next time they may learn(I doubt it) to vote their interests not their prejudice.
The supreme betrayal for Democrats has been the Democratic 'machine'. A decade of losses capped by a loss so big that it is probably only exceeded by Dewey - Truman, where again the media was so inbred that they missed calling it correctly. It started with Hillary winning the primary with help from the DNC, and even before the primary I had warned that the Clintons at the time were the most hated political family in politics.
But Democrats still believe in their 'machine', seemingly no matter how big or long the losses.
I think what Trump would do for the working people of the land was only a superficial excuse for them to support him. What they like is what those of us on the other side hate-- his brashness, how he sticks it to enemies, his blatant theatrical swagger, his rude cries to arms, like "Lock her up!" Not to mention his unapologetic racism. In other words he is an alter-ego who loudly voices their unacceptable thoughts and desires, a male show of power even if they are female. They love that we hate him. I know Trump supporters and in their non fantasy lives which Trump represents, they can be good, nice, helpful, but never well educated on policy matters. And some, young men, told me they would have voted for Bernie! Something is happening here that rational people don't understand.
3
NYT please don't quash reports of how deep the hacks into our election systems by Russia were in 2016 and the ever mounting probability they'll be far, far, more successful in November 2018. If the NYT and the rest of the MSM under plays this real threat to our American democracy how can we possibly keep from going down the tubes. Please don't repeat the mistake made in 2016 by Obama to NOT warn Americans much more emphatically. We are not CHILDREN. WE need to face these dangers head on in order to block Russia's efforts.
5
Trump voters get what they deserve. Karma. Wish I didn't also have to get what they deserve.
9
Donald Trump has been a liar and con man, a scam artist all his life. He stayed consistent to his pathological and predatory personality on his campaign and as president. Trump's personal corruption dovetailed with the collapse of the Republican Party to being a full-scale conspiracy of billionaires and their political agents against the poor and middle-class, against science and facts, against the environment and the world, and against minorities and immigrants. Trump and Republicans benefited from and actively participated in or enabled Russia's massive attack on America's democracy and political system.
5
Doesn’t matter...he’s anti-abortion and that “trumps” everything for Trump’s base.
5
You can throw in the abortion conundrum when you list the rights of "working class" citizens. Kavanagh will no doubt vote against the Roe ruling but you can rest assured that the elites will have their abortions but not in clinics that serve the ordinary Jane Doe.
Kavanaugh is merely the next step in the long trek away from the myth of the Supreme Court as the last respectable institution in the federal triad. From the bizarre electoral intervention in 2000, to the absurd misreading of the 2nd amendment, to the equation of money with speech, to the destruction of the Voting Rights Act, the Court has shown itself to be the direct instrument of right-wing policy so extreme it's hard to square with anything in the American self-image.
Kavanagh's view of executive power is so conservative that he rejects the revolution itself, seeing the President as essentially George III on a timer. This is, of course, particularly striking in the present circumstances, when the reasons for the founders' distaste for monarchs could not be more apparent. Rough times ahead.
7
Well he's a ideological zealot like Goresuch. This is the real story of the 2016 debacle.
4
It is a mistake to use the word "regulations." We should call them "protections" because that's primarily what they are. Consumer protections. Worker protections. Environmental protections. Public health and safety protections. Gutting protections is exactly what the Trump administration is up to.
11
If anyone needs more convincing of Trump's betrayal to his working class base, just ask the cabinet maker from Philadelphia, a dishwasher in Florida, a glass company in New Jersey, a plumber. painters and almost 50 restaurant waiters who filed suits against Trump or his companies for money he never paid them.
As the picture in this article suggests, ignorance is bliss, I guess.
4
The liberals are in a twit over President Trump's Supreme Court justice nomination, Brett Kavanaugh. You know that he is a good choice when they are so vehemently against him. The Democrats will never like any of Mr. Trump's selections as they are not progressive enough for them. They only want left-wing justices who will continue with their progressive agenda. Those days will not occur as long as the Republicans are in power. This is why Mr. Trump was elected. He is carrying out his agenda as was precisely promised and it is so encouraging.
Mr. Kavanaugh will no doubt be confirmed with or without the support of Democrats. Chuck Schumer promised he would not vote for any of President Trump's choices but it really does not matter. He needs to look at the future of the Democrat party and it is dismal. He has lost the support of the American people and he should be very concerned.
Kavanaugh will stick his hand into your wif' s car just like Trump. Supporting Trump because one believes in Christ proves one knows nothing of either man.
1
@wcdevins
Supposed to be "wife's cat" - darn auto-correct!
Who would have thought that the US, and the rest of the nations were being run by a boy's club?
2
Well I think we know actual economic and labor issues never really was the motivation behind 'the volk' pictured there with Trump.
Further, it's not even about the nation's security or patriotism.
(See Putin/Russia popularity with them)
It's about using the power of the state to promote their race and religion regardless of the costs.
Period.
1
I’m pretty sure one of my long time hero’s said it best.
“ I’m not a member of any organized political party, I’m a democrat.” Mark Twain
Let’s just face the music. For the past forty years the goal of the GOP was to control the Supreme Court. They won.
The rest of us lose. Say bye bye to majority backed laws. Get used to the next say sixty years of right wing courts will be 100% in the hands of republica driven court gu
Don’t believe me? Just look at the two guys trump has put on the court. Like it or not, but if you lean in the directions of government of the people, for the people, and by the people is now in the dustbin thanks to the gop.
Long memory deep pockets, willing but ignorant congress and we all get a whole new world. Best look for a reasonable county to immigrate too. Your future here is past.
Sadly, Denny Birk, Seattle
4
In 100 years either Trump or the United States will be a footnote in the history books. Our next election might determine which.
A question to pose to Kavanaugh:
If a police department decides to save money by removing the budget for bullet-proof vests and subsequently a police officer is shot and, due to the lack of a bullet-proof vest, dies from the gunshot, should the police department be held liable for the police officer's death? If he answers that the department should be held liable, ask him to reconcile that with his opinion in the SeaWorld case.
3
There are varies sources of the funds for individual officers personal equipment, many of them outside the department and many still where the officer is responsible for purchase and maintenance of that equipment. The department likely sets standards for the items and may even provide a list of acceptable manufacturers and models but public funding of personal police equipment (firearms, vests, batons, etc.) is not as universal as you might think.
1
No, the Republican state legislature who cut taxes, services, and funding so their donors could pocket more of our tax money, should be sued. Instead of being re-elected by conservative voters paying no attention to the damage their votes are doing to themselves. When it turns out the dead cop voted GOP all his life the legislature will get off Scott free.
1
I define Conservatism as incurious and backwards thinking, cowardly, desiring a simpler less mentally challenging past. Republicans essentially want to live in a cave just like their Congressional representatives in their echo chamber. Their picks for the courts reflect this. They fear the future of diversity and difference, complexity and technology. They will fade away through attrition over centuries. In the meantime, we have to endure the gun toting horseback riding corallers gathering us up in their nets. The current Republican monopoly government now appointing backwards thinking Justices and Judges resulted from the careful cultivation of hatred and anger to prod their base to vote in fits of anger, stimulated by Trump who learned it from the Congressional Republicans, first instigated by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his "Republican Revolution" he started in 1994. Did you listen to Gingrich during the 2016 campaign? The man is nuts, leading people to insanity through anger and hatred which are not rational states of mind. I can only hope Kavanaugh, the presumptive Justice will rule in favor of "The People" as the tilted Conservative Court assures us they will align themselves with the traditional literally interpreted Constitution. Let's remind them of that promise.
1
The way Professor Krugman has described populism is self-contradictory... think value based on the lowest common denominator whether in politics or in music (his other love). Just because it's popular doesn't make it good or has a deeper value than its shallow surface illuminates. Don't use deep words to describe popularity or elements of polularity. There's no accounting for taste. I suddenly have a bad taste in my mouth...
Bluntly, Mr. Krugman, what good does it doto mention, " The public strongly supports worker protections." when public support has neither strength nor political chops? Neither Trump nor the Republican Congress members care.
Kavanaugh, whether a minion of the "conservative elites" or conservative Republican shills, is a dangerous addition to the SCOTUS, but his defeat is almost insurmountable and there is so much at stake.
3
The "Supreme Betrayal" is election voting roles were hacked into by Russians in 2016. Maybe they didn't change any votes
(we really don't know) but systems were breached in key states and voter's names were removed so they couldn't cast votes! These efforts by Russia are likely to be more sophisticated and wide spread in November 2018 compromising our Elections. Yet we've NOTHING done to stop this! I'm truly FRIGHTENED.
5
"He has declared the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which helps control the financial fraud against working families that played a major role in the 2008 crisis, unconstitutional. "
This argument, along with many in this article, is disingenuous.
When Kavanagh says the CFPB is unconstitutional, it has nothing to do with whether financial fraud is a good idea.
Rather, the creation of an executive board that is not subject to Congressional funding, and whose leader is not able to be fired by the chief executive (POTUS), is unconstitutional.
Congress has the power to create a board within the executive branch to fight financial fraud. It just did a lousy job in its last attempt to do so.
Paul Krugman seems more interested in bashing Trump and Kavanagh than getting to the underlying issues.
2
Trump daily betrays the country with his multiple lies and his disdain for the press, the FBI, and Justice Department, etc. We now have a Republican president without a conscience, a Republican majority in Congress without a backbone, and we will soon have--If Kavanaugh is confirmed--a Republican majority (i.e., Republican politicians in judicial robes) on the Supreme Court legislating from the bench to comfort the comfortable at the expense of the afflicted.
Betrayal is not only restricted to the Oval Office, unfortunately. The voters can eventually deliver us from the betrayal by the Chief Executive and Congress, but not so easily from the Supreme Court--these political operatives will be around a long time after the others have been retired by voters.
4
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Kavanaugh's ancestor. Dermot McMurrough Kavanaugh, was the one who invited the English into Ireland where they stayed for over 700 years. They still keep the northern part of the country.
http://www.ireland-information.com/articles/dermotmacmurrough-strongbow.htm
(The family name McMurrough was later changed to Kavanaugh/Kavanagh)
1
This makes sense if Trump was a real politician. The only reason to shut down the government during an election cycle is to usher in Nancy and the socialist agenda. The anti-ICE pro-impeachment DNC Congress will create a tremendous and welcomed black lash from the Independent working folks.
2048, the worker's lone representative sat at the table with the bosses and their lawyers. The corporate crew nibbled on prawns, cheese, grapes and other assorted tidbits. The worker's rep finished the other half of her PBJ. The lead lawyer for the bosses leaned forward and asked the rep, "What's your opening proposal."
The rep looked up with glazed eyes and said, "Please sir, may we have more soup."
The lawyers and bosses chortled collectively, a couple of them coughed up small chunks of prawns. The lead lawyer sternly replied, "No way. We offer you smaller spoons so it last longer. What do you think we are made of, money?" RAW
8
"By now, it’s almost a commonplace to say that Trump has systematically betrayed the white working class voters who put him over the top." We "haters" all agree on that, and tell each other so in our echo chamber. Unfortunately, Trump loyalists are impervious to facts so his betrayal of them does not matter. Hopefully there are enough of "swing" or moderate voters (maybe the Obama/Trump voter group) to tip the scale.
Apparently Krugman thinks the Supreme Court makes policy.
2
The poor souls in the picture accompanying this piece look like every tourist who lined up to the 3-card monte table back when Times Square was a wild, wild place.
It's amazing how people can be so easily duped by a rigged game. Sad!
1
Great sound bite for Dems to be repeating ad nauseum:
I oppose Kavanaugh because he is "an anti-worker radical."
Everything trump does is a betrayal of someone or something.
1
Alright fellow Democrats, we're going to lose this battle, but the war is yet to fight and you're hiding if you think civil unrest is impossible even as you witness how the Republicans are reinforcing their base and followers with guns and money. You need to ignore your delicate desires for gun control and arm yourselves just to stave off attacks in the inevitable future. If you don't take my advice, there is a very good chance you will die of lead poisoning. I can only advise you to try to save you.
In the mean time, I will literally pray that a new upsurge of dissent over this packing of the courts overwhelmingly tries to convince the Courts to literally follow the Constitution, as they claim they will, in always supporting "The People" in their deliberations and decisions to forestall or eliminate the possibility of civil unrest.
The irony is rich: I can imagine a future in which SCOTUS holds our Constitution hostage by insisting that the Court alone has the legitimate right to interpret our Constitution for the rest of us in all situations for all time. Whoever owns the meanings wields the power. Revolution, of course, was one past solution to ensure a government by the people. Just saying...
1
It is amazing that in almost every election most poor people (including everyone but the very rich) vote to the right wing politicians and against their own interests, in every single democratic country!
To paraphrase Charles Evans Hughes: The Constitution is whatever the Supreme Court says it is. Republican control of the Supreme Court means a Republican congress and president, or Republican state legislatures and governors can pass any law they want regarding any aspect of American life. Think about the some of the ideas Republican politicians have expressed, and the very real possibility they will turn them into laws once they are certain they will be upheld by a Republican Supreme Court. Nothing--repeat--nothing--can then be done to prevent their going into effect. One example: Republicans believe that any citizen who will not vote for them should be allowed to vote at all. They are working state by state and at the federal level to legislatively achieve that. Consequently, 2018 may very well see the last free elections this country ever has.
1
"Many people have made this point with respect to the Trump tax cut, which is so useless to ordinary workers..."
It's not useless to workers with retirement accounts which have benefitted from rising stocks - with companies whose earnings have risen because of a much lower tax rate.
It's not useless to workers who have found work at companies which can expand thanks their ability to retain more of their cash flow rather than pay it in taxes.
So what Paul Krugman is doing is to look only at first order effects of the tax cut on individual recipients, rather than at second order effects on their retirement plans and job prospects. Even so many workers this year are seeing thousands of dollars in tax reductions/enhanced child care tax credits - along with those tax-related corporate bonuses paid out earlier this year.
If the Nobel prize-winning professor wants to be truly objective in his writing, he might discuss major reductions in African-American, Hispanic, and female unemployment under Trump's economic policies. (Or does he think credit should go to Obama?)
The President's supporters believe him when he takes credit for "good" news about the economy, even, as is the case in trade war measures he's taken, no one truly knows what the ultimate outcome will be when all is said and done. They buy into his brag that the 4.1% growth in GDP is the "most amazing," and when he calls "his" tax cuts a promise kept to the average worker. None of them want to believe that anything he has done might well put their jobs or futures at risk. They're riding a kool-aid high.
1
Dems need to propose 3 Constitutional Amendments.
1. Corporations are not People and have no inherent rights except those defined by legislation that creates them.
2. Money is not Speech.
3. Access to Health care and good educations are a right of all citizens.
6
There are hard rights and soft rights. We need to acknowledge the difference particularly as it relates to the Constitution.
Good column that gets to a key mysterious question. Why do middle-class jurists like Kavanaugh support an anti-labor agenda? Unlike members of Congress who are basically professional fundraisers angling to work the revolving door, jurists have much weaker personal and career economic ties to big business and the ultra-wealthy, right? So what drives someone like John Roberts into Citizens United or undermining the Voting Rights Act? What are the mechanisms by which huge GOP donors can enforce discipline upon future jurists? Do jurists like Kavanaugh start out with balanced views on labor? Are pro-business views socialized into them? When? How? Is there something inherent to textualism that lends itself to Gilded Age economic legal reasoning? Or do conservative jurists just have a huge libido for wealth that combines with a classic upper-middle class false identification with the ultra-wealthy?
4
For all the complaints about Kavanaugh interjecting political views into decisions I find it amazing that these same critics argue that a jurists balance is measured in the political effects of their positions. Capitalism is about capital. Labor is somewhere between a supplicant and a necessary evil. The system that’s values labor, claiming it is equal to capital is communism which can never be allowed on these shores. Anything that even approaches Marx’s position is a dangerous lean toward communism.
Trump was never a populist, and the media has made a huge mistake by referring to him as such. The top definition is: “a member or adherent of a political party seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people.” Everything about Trump is the opposite of that.
Unfortunately, the term has been bastardized to the point of being almost unrecognizable. What passes for populism these days is the pretense of populism, inciting anger against the
4
[accidental send before complete]
... anger against the traditional institutions and claiming to represent the common people, while in reality scheming against their best interests.
as home to the least informed electorate on earth, djt found a way to unite the most gullible, single issue voters w/i said electorate and provide them each with a reason to vote for him.
he got the haters, the fake christians, those who fear progress, the gun nuts and even those who'd rather get poisoned than give up there monster trucks.
he got them all with the very LIES that they wanted to hear and now he's screwing them all for their monumental gullibility.
4
I don't know of any Trump supporters who are going to even understand what this article means. For them, Trump says it...it must be good.
For this administration and the big money interests that are backing them..this is like shooting fish in a barrel. They are literally going to get everything they want and they are going to screw everyone else for generations. And they are using the most ignorant among us to accomplish it. It's kind of genius...if not evil.
4
It's standard Republicanism: lie to the people with meaningless slogans and bad promises, then screw them when in office.
But it's worked for Republican politicians again and again for many decades. It's working now with Trump. He tried to take away their health care. Almost all Republicans support him. His trade practices hurt them. They support him.
Unless something has changed and we will easily be able to find that out come November. Democrats are spending big in red state contests. A sea change is not impossible.
4
I sort of don't get why big businesses and the one percent don't see why worker protection is important to productivity and the wealth the one percent and the plain vanilla two percent etc. If corporations did not have workers, but only people on the board; who really is going to make the money?
3
While you are factually correct, your argument is dangerously close to that of Marx who wrote that capital and labor are equals because one cannot function without the other.
Your argument is dangerously close to that of slavery. What's your point? Communists aren't always wrong. That paradigm is reserved for conservatives.
1
Thank you, Mr. Krugman. You got it right. Since the 1970s, the plutocrats, including corporations, have been stealthily undermining the middle class and its workers by stagnating their wages and increasing the wealth of the CEOs and corporate stockholders. And let's not forget the bettors on Wall Street who love corporate profits, regardless of how they are made. Saint Reagan wasn't only a pitchman for GE but also advocated their policies toward corporate domination of the workplace. First, cut taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and then kill the unions, which were the lifeblood of the middle class worker. That was trickledown economics.
The first thing the middle class must do is reestablish a progressive code that taxes the rich to keep them from using the money that they save in taxes to try to take over the government through Citizens United.
Perhaps the so-called liberals have been asleep at the wheel for too long and now the Republicans will finish their work by installing judges like ultra-conservative Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court who are anti-worker and anti-union and pro-corporatist and oligarchs.
2
If unions were ever the “lifeblood” of the middle class worker, then you are admitting that labor requires coercion, extortion and mob rule to artificially move its value above the poverty level. Let’s allow the free market to determine labors value and make each of us live our lives according to that value. Whatever the outcome.
@From Where I Sit
The free market you tout so uncritically was responsible for everything from child labor, 80 hour work weeks, low pay, very poor working conditions, zero benefits or vacations…etc….with robber barons building huge mansions living like kings and spitting on the working class.
Unions formed because working class people were being exploited and treated as just being expendable. Trump/GOP are taking the country back into those eras using every legal trick they can muster. Sorry, but no thanks.
@From Where I Sit
Translation:
If "free" markets were ever the lifeblood of the General Welfare, then you are admitting that corporations require coercion, extortion and oligarchs' rule over politicians to move their value above the poverty level. Let's allow influential K-Street and the Koch network to determine politicians' legislation and make U.S, citizens live their lives according to that value. No matter how stressful, humiliating, toxic, and deadly the outcomes.
This is not really news as Trump was expected to do exactly what he is doing. Every move he makes is amplified by his childish behavior.
It is just not a recipe for a sustainable society since extreme changes will have extreme consequences--as the deficit is already showing. Placing far right conservatives on the courts will increase the disparity of haves and have nots. That has never worked.
At this point, it seems just a question of when, no if, economic collapse will occur. Place your bets.
2
Nothing will improve the conditions of the working class and other members of the middle class as long as the Republicans adhere to the following Milton Friedmanesque principles:
(1) Competition guarantees balance among all market factors, including prices, wages, rents, job availability, etc.
(2) Nonetheless, minimally competitive private quasi-monopolies--too-big-to-fail enterprises--are preferable to government regulation of the market.
(3) Effective labor organization weakens the free-market in ways that too-big-to-fail enterprises do not; hence, effective labor organization, as a threat to freedom, must be opposed at every turn.
3
I am a person who Trump and his followers should hate. I am an effete Eastern intellectual who resides in the upper middle class. a scientific techocrat. Yet, although the tax cuts and other regressive measures imposed by this government should at least marginally help people with my economic advantages, I would gladly sacrifice some of my wealth in the form of a tax increase if it would help people in lower economic circumstances.
4
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
Winston Churchill
We are living it.
6
@Nelley1947 - However, "Democracy is the worst political system in the world. Except for all the others."
Same source.
@Mikeweb
Thanks Mike, but the exact Churchill quote is:
"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
It is interesting that the party that almost worships Adam Smith completely ignores his warnings about those who live by profit.
He wrote that those who live by profit have deceived the public. He also observed that there were laws to prevent the workers from organizing to raise wages but none to prevent the masters from organizing to keep wages down.
5
All true, Mr. Krugman, but Democrats are deluding themselves if they think they can block Kavanaugh's confirmation. If Democrats would think a bit strategically on this issue - which I realize is usually anathema to them - they would accept the fact that it would be political suicide for Senators Manchin, Donnelly, and Heitcamp to vote against this nomination. If those Senators win their races and if Democrats win in Tennessee, Nevada, and Arizona - which is very possible - Democrats just may gain control of the Senate and could block any future Trump nomination. Mr. Kavanaugh though flawed is not evil incarnate - and if Democrats go to the barricades in a futile attempt to prove that he is - and alienating a lot of reasonable voters in the process - they will just be diminishing their very realistic chance of becoming the majority in the Senate next January.
2
Economic pundits constantly say "the economy is improving but wages stay down. Why?" Duh. Workers no longer have the power to negotiate wages up! There is no competition for getting a better manual laborer that will drive up their wages. Only unions and collective bargaining gives low skilled workers the power to demand higher hourly pay. Another gift from Republican lawmakers who, in service to corporations, have convinced workers that unions taking $10 a month from their paychecks for dues is an affront to their personal liberty. They are laughing all the way to the bank.
7
Many of the programs that will have to be cut are the programs which working class families use. Any working family is hard pressed to care for handicapped children or elderly relatives.
5
The CFPB seems to be useless based on my experience. I filed a complaint regarding TD Ameritrade and the response from CFPB was that they have no jurisdiction over government agencies. Since when is TDA a government agency? There was no apparent way to protest or question the decision.
It's been a long-standing failure of the democratic party to connect with workers, laborers and working class people. Instead they're attention has been diverted by the Republicans towards issues having to do with social policy, of which the republicans gleefully create controversary and the Democrats predictably outrage over.
Not to say that these issues aren't important, but people worry less about who goes to which bathroom when they have extra scratch in their wallet. They're more open to immigrants when they feel financially secure at home. When all the money goes high, the regular folk get real low, becoming more easily manipulated by hate and fear.
Democrats have a chance to take over both houses, but they have to shed neoliberal economic policies that shackles them to capitalism and get back to the people that elects them, the voters. Campaign on investing in America, on infrastructure that puts people to work and improves our communities. I remember Obama once proposed a high speed rail from New York to California. He was laughed at, then the financial crisis happened. We need big ideas like that to energize people, and we need leaders with courage to present them.
4
Needed:
Ads that show working families exactly what they will lose if Kavanaugh is on the court. These are meaningful incursions on the lives most people live, and they simply have no idea about these.
In the midterm elections, starting now: the Democrats need ads that educate the public, showing working families what proposed cuts will mean to their household budgets and their lives (most, again, do not understand how much their lives are subsidized by the government 'they want out of their lives'), and another set of ads showing just how much the rich are getting from tax breaks (and how those tax breaks are impacting social programs on which they rely) and how much they themselves are getting
And then numbers--hard numbers--about what it will look like if women's health centers continue to close, Obama care is rolled back, and funding is cut for opioid crisis response.
Trump supporters need to wake up. There is nothing in this administration for them, unless they are members of the super-rich.
7
you're right, of course, that wage stagnation is not being driven by forces like "technological change" but rather by political/legal changes that weaken workers' power.
but it's not just the current administration that is responsible for those changes: obama's people bought into the "technological change" argument.
we need to re-visit anti-monopoly policy, at least in the way europe has, to restrain market concentration in order to challenge the increasing divergence in our society in wealth and income. a return to antitrust policies followed in the 1960's and '70's at the federal and state levels would help restore economic democracy.
1
I disagree w/ PK. Trump's only betrayal—& his fatal error— is playing Session’s game. Going to the mat on immigration won’t compensate for refusing to stop the coup. To quote Kyle Reese: "Listen. Understand. That Terminator is out there. It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with. It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear & it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead."
Trump is hiding behind Mueller's obstruction threat—an unconstitutional red herring. He must go on offensive—fire Sessions/recess-appoint DiGenova, who will RICO-prosecute Obama-Clinton-Mueller cabal—ALL of them.
Time is of the essence. The Ds/deep state are dismantling the republic/endangering national security/running out clock.
Rosenstein/Mueller/Comey are up to their eyeballs in conflict/crimes—i.e.:
Rosenstein/FBI Dir. Mueller conspired in the coverup of the Russia-Clinton-Uranium1 crimes.
Rosenstein advised Trump to fire Comey.
Comey leaked classified info to cause the appointment of his pal Mueller as special counsel.
Rosenstein appointed his Uranium1 coconspirator Mueller to head Trump probe despite the absence of a crime—violating the special-counsel statute. This freed Mueller to go Stalinist rogue, i.e., ”Give me a man & I’ll find you a crime,” the operating principle of Stalin’s executioner, LBeria.
Rosenstein/Comey defrauded FISC using the fake Clinton-Russia dossier to take out Trump.
The fate of US is now in hands of our KGB—not Putin's. Trump must not let it stand.
2
@Marian: I hope somehow you can find your way back to planet Earth.
2
I don't know which is more depressing.....this delusional comment or the photo showing the faces of Trumps's clueless supporters. It will all come tumbling down and the most important thing will be that even the most ardent deplorables come to understand just how complicit and corrupt their dear leader has been. You can't say he didn't warn us on Day 1 with his American Carnage speech.
2
@Marian:
I think someone might be watching a little too much Hannity and Pirro.
Also, the National Enquirer is not a news source.
"Trust me, Mexico will pay for the wall! (But it will cost American taxpayers $23 billion!)_Notorious Liar
5
Ah, look at the faces in the picture accompanying this article. It looks like something from Leni Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will. The same mindless euphoria is on display. They are so lost in tribal racist euphoria they have no idea they are committing class suicide.
It would all be very depressing but it's so karmic.
8
Hey, good column.
1
Yawn, every piece is the same. You used to write expansively.
2
@Joe The issues are the same
The pathetic, suicidal stupidity of the white workers who fell for this con-artist president outdid anything Barnum could have dreamed up for the fool masses. Mencken, Twain, Barnum, and Trump all fully appreciated just how dumb the mass Americans always have been, and apparently always will be.
6
They are slow learners, not necessarily mental deficients. Many republican voters are just doing what they have been to trained to do by mass media like Fox Entertainment News and Rush ‘codone’ Limbaugh. Web-based demagogues like Breitbart and Drudge are just the latest iteration of the same process. All these sources have one thing in common: they are in it for the money. They advertise products, sell advertising time or - easiest of all - get paid by the click for website visits. Whatever generates the most traffic is what they broadcast; ideology has the same relation to their rantings as the steam whistle has to the locomotive - it’s just a by-product. When cornered they admit this, like Alex Jones’ defense in a recent court case or Fox’ own characterization of its news program as ‘entertainment’.
It’s much easier to control the voters by emotion rather than by intellect because there are a lot more people of average intelligence who ‘react’ instead of ‘think’. Democracy will always be vulnerable to the demagogue for this reason.
Southern white voters don't mind being swindled as long as their President goes out of his way to humiliate black people. It will be this way to the last day of america's life.
5
It's a coup by GOP with the mask of racism and ego massaging of white supremacy over a democratic people of America.
3
All the catastrophic metaphors of Trumps presidency are actually understatements.
Our civil culture, from town hall to the United Nations are the result of the the devastating wars, internecine and international, and then compromises, from the Treaty of Westphalia in the 17th century to the international treaties at the end of the cold war.
The President of the dominant country that advanced this extension of civil society is at his core a barbarian, with no internal compunctions to preserve the norms that have evolved and been internalized.
It like the death of the last of a species, which means the end of its ecological deme. To restore it would require nothing less than a new Abiogenesis, and reconstruction of misty history to the enlightenment and the wars that resulted in a culture we felt permanent as the air we breathed.
Donald Trump has unleashed a powerful primitive force that is beyond reversal, certainly not by a change in party control. Once the fragility of civility has been breached in this avatar of rationality, the internalization of broad empathy with self interest is gone, as the instincts of barbarism is too entrenched in our species.
Trump does not represent any political platform, but the destruction of, at the least the ideal, of what civil society had come to mean.
3
@Call Me Al . The "American Dream" has become a Death Wish.
@Big Text
"You know why they call it the American Dream? Because you have to be asleep to believe it."
George Carlin
Dah.
See earlier brilliant comment by @Quoth the Raven: The little guy (that would be most of us) is not T***p’s “concern.” We are his “mark.”
Dr Krugman,
Kavanaugh is perfect for a GOP Supreme Court and when Russia and the USA merge Kavanaugh can serve on both Supreme Courts or the merged Court of Inquisition.
3
@Memphrie et Moi
I keep wondering when the GOP will finally let us all know that Putin is a leader of Russia's Religious Right (which he is) and even if he wasn't born in the USA he would be a much better President than the hedonist Herr Trump.
Everything spanky and his cronies have done and are doing is the opposite of populism. The media has misused the term populism consistently. It is good to see you use the term properly.
4
All of what Krugman says is true. The sad truth is that most of his fans will still support him. They punch themselves in the face, and then ask for another. It’s amazing how people will do things that run counter to their interests. As someone once said, you can’t legislate to stop stupidity.
4
The success or failure of any human culture might be reduced to the outcome of the tension between two ideas:
~ Rene Descartes: "I think, therefore I am."
~ Adolf Hitler: “How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.”
Descartes' dictum identified the core potential for human survival and progress. He went on to begin the logical processes for pursuing the quality and accuracy of thought... still a work progressing by fits and starts.
Hitler, however, saw how the tedious burden of thought made men susceptible to shifting it from their brains to the effortless impulses of their glands and the ease with which that can be manipulated.
That is the story of human nature and the dynamics that determine the fortunes of its cultures. The main questions are the values by which we gauge our behavior today and the prospects they portend for the destiny of our children.
A final quote from the last optimist in the Soviet Union: "Life is difficult, but fortunately, short."
3
Despite all this, his base made up mostly of workers,
firmly support his every mind boggling decision.
Hard to figure it out. We are in trouble unless
this base wake up or Muller comes up with
the finding of impeachable offense.
@s.khan No there are only 60 million of them and they're dying. The real majority of nearly 200 million voting age Americans will, to coin a phrase, take back our country (from the barbarian, heretical religious, death cult, tribe). See you at the voting booth. No reconciliation without truth.
This has always been the conundrum - White people vote for the party whose economic policies do not help them! I guess racism is a powerful drug...
4
The Civil War was never really settled, nor the Revolutionary War for that matter (Shays' rebellion being a prime example). About a third of the country wants fascism and a third wants democratic socialism and the other third is either waiting to see who wins or singing Kumbaya . Vote Democrat in '18 and '20 or 'lock and load' or head for the Canadian border after.
3
They are not carrying water for business interests.
They are serving and servicing the powerful to be more powerful.
They are fascists.
It is no secret.
5
Trump is a used Edsel who sold himself as a new Lexus. The same people who are fooled by used car salesmen voted for him. Caveat Emptor. People who believe him have since coming out of the womb been unable to open up their eyes to phonies.
2
Three strikes:
Strike One: North Korea
Strike Two: Russia
Strike Three: Iran?
Next batter up!
2
Can we hope that Kavanaugh is as big a fraud as Trump? You know.....Says one thing, and then does just the opposite.
1
LIES.....the REAL Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The way of Trump’s life, leaving detritus in his wake.
1
Sadly, the average supporter of the vile trump lacks the mental capacity to understand, let alone care about what the Court means to them. The lowest common denominator for them is that the vile trump hates all the people that they hate and that's why they love him. Hate triumphs and republicans sit by and continue to enable this treasonous and lawless presidency.
3
Paul, obviously you do not watch the Washington Journal on C-SPAN each morning or watch fox news. The racist hatred of a trump supporter knows no bounds. The racist will cut their nose to spite their face as long as they keep black and brown people down.
Kavanaugh will be confirmed no problem and all this money wasted on a special prosecutor will just be money thrown down the drain. trump could put the clinton cigar trick on twitter and his followers would cheer.
4
Paul Krugman questioning the Trump agenda asking why workers wages stuck in a time-lock. Trump has not helped them as promised. Curious why his base has not turned on him yet? Other NYT contributors seem equally annoyed with Trump for his antics. No names mentioned but if I was Trump I would avoid NYT Thomas Freidman. Betrayal is a strong word like "traitor" taking us down a path to social division. A country called Russia the cause of this mismatch in which Trump caught in the headlights of a growing net of intrigue. Trump probably knows he is the most loathed US President in history according to the liberal NYT establishment. That said in his defense he claims he is the victim of a conspiracy by the liberal East Coast media. Pity really as there must something nice to say about Trump. People will decide for themselves if the news is biased and acting like a pack of hounds. Unfortunately the world has to watch this spectacle knowing the final outcome. Americans know any leader has enemies but to have so many strikes one as rather unusual; given Trump is only human.
If you are on a desert island with a Trump person and have two gallons of water, you'd be better to drink you half promptly.
2
So many voters were so stupid to fall for Trump’s “populism” on the 2016 campaign trail. Now that he has betrayed the middle and lower classes through his economic policies, he continues to fool them through his divisive rhetoric blaming immigrants, other countries trade policies, Democrats, “fake news” for their problems while instilling fear about them. So many voters will continue to believe in Trump, basking in identifying with the bully’s sense of power, saying that might makes right, that whatever he says, despite the truth, must be believed, that both Trump and his voters are never ever wrong. This was Hitler’s path to power, was it not?
2
I searched and searched the lead-in photo, not one black face in the crowd (maybe one asian on the bottom-right).
The white middle class who put him over-the-top; THEY. DON'T. CARE.
2
I wonder what Jill Stein thinks of all this.
3
Betrayal? Trump? Of course. Betraying anyone who can no longer do Trump any good has been his M.O. his entire life. He'll cut his family loose if he needs to to save his be-hind. With Trump, it's always been about Trump. No one else matters. Despite this despicable behavior, over 60 million puddin' heads figured this buffoon could get the job done. The most astounding thing about the 2016 election is how many genuine idiots could come together and decide a most horrible person such as Trump would have their interests at heart. Trump, of all people. Think about it. If you voted Trump and still think it was a wise decision, I'm surprised this nation is still functioning at a somewhat competent pace.
DD
Manhattan
5
Oh come on, we know Trump is a true friend of the 'little people'. He has tremendous respect for them. Nobody has more respect for them than he does. bla bla bla...
1
It is only fitting that we use Cicero to illuminate the treachery that Donald Trump is:
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
Cicero’s description of a traitor like Trump 2100 years ago. Treason in plain sight.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/33210-a-nation-can-survive-its-fools-an...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2016/11/03/donald-trum...
2
Krugman, do you know why they are called Killer Whales?
NEWS FLASH : TRUMP IS A FRAUD!
I love the smell of CAPS LOCK in the morning. Trump cares about the common working man in this country about as much as he cares about those poor slobs in Gaza he is starving out of existence.
1
Paul if you think trump voters will see the truth and not continue to be blinded by their racism, you may want to think again. Remember in the movie Mississippi Burning when Hackman's character explains why his daddy killed their black neighbor's mule? Nuff said!
1
And I thought this article was going to be about the administration's idea to eliminate capital gains taxes! There are betrayals to working people every week with these Kleptos. At least they know stocks are going to drop soon for Wall Street if the status quo persists. If this latest goose puts them through the midterms, they'll all be laughing to the bank.
1
The ‘base’: crackpot white evangelical churchgoers; gun worshippers; the “sovereign citizen” guvmint hatin’ libertarian set; white supremacists; ill educated/ semi-literate/ ignorant/ angry whites; nativists; ‘conservatives’ who are radically destructive; ‘family values’ proponents whose politics are mainly a way to express their cruelty, especially toward children. They all hate some people so much they equate them with “what America has become” and are willing to undermine it and themselves as a result. Add more casual enablers of the middle class who harbour a bitterness or two, or have a notion that voting for ‘a business man’ is good for the 'economy'.
This awful minority now rules, a coalition of resentment, like Brexit, but whose project? For the answer, just look at what the GOP is are doing: turning government into a funnel to move wealth offshore, away from taxes, away from the people, away from the vaunted 'Homeland', meanwhile creating a blizzard of distraction to cover it up.
And all hail Fearless Leader, who clearly represents money without national affiliation or loyalty; yes MAGA Man. The Russians found him offshore in their laundry, a floundering buffoon propelled by an empty mind, some low rodent cunning, a foul mouth and a terror of the truth, which pursues him constantly like Captain Hook’s croc. Perfect.
The true horror is that so many think this is OK. What is happening to you, America?
5
Kavanaugh’s nomination is, in great part, a big wet kiss to corporate interests and the radical fringe religious right. To Trump, however, Kavanaugh is HIS judge who has an extreme view of presidential power. In a real sense, he’s Trump’s get out of jail free card when he is convicted of treason and theft.
3
The cornerstone of conservatism has always been to increase the power of management and to minimize the power of labor to gain any advantage. How this reality is disguised during campaigns as a boon to those fighting management for more rights and higher wages is one of the great paradoxes of our political life.
8
I blame the voters who do not know their left hand from their right hand -- and refuse to inform themselves. They are focused upon refusing wedding cakes for "immoral marriages" and they feel good about being underpaid and overworked.
The sad thing we have to remember about Trump supporters is that they know and they don't care that he is doing nothing for them. What's important to them is that Trump is making all those "other" people miserable. They just want their own small, mean-spirited view of the world validated. As long as Trump continues to do that it's all good.
14
All nominees for Federal judicial appointments who are cultivated, and vetted by the Federalist Society will adhere to the same ideologies. The recently invented "originalism" interpretation of a flexible Constitution will be anti-women's rights, anti-union, pro religion, anti-voting rights, anti- campaign finance legislation, and support the novel theory that a legal entity "corporations" are people and entitled to rights that were meant for "human people."
When Kavanaugh accepted the nomination he used two coded terms: "rule of law" and "liberty," "Rule of law" gives the powerful and connected control over the poor and unrepresented, while "Liberty" is the freedom to do as a rich person or corporation wishes without the government restrictions of regulations and protections for ordinary Americans. Nowhere did Kavanaugh express even a minimal interest in "Justice" which is why real human people seek standing and redress in Federal Courts.
Anyone selected by Leonard Leo for a nominees' list will have the same deficient credentials.
16
I'm depressed enough just reading the news and now, your article. Then I looked at the picture with your article and I'm really hitting bottom. I know those people. I've taught their children and even maybe some of them. They all want a better life and don't know how to get it. Misinformation reigns in so much of the media. Check out the jewelry and the makeup. This is a group that prizes looks above information. This is the group that the student who chastised my about my non-brand shoes comes from. This is also the group that prizes their hunting rifles because that's where their food and masculinity comes from. And, yes, they are woefully uninformed by the drummers on TV, who tell them which product to buy and which candidate to support. They are the group that is over indebted to at least one major credit card.
I also wonder as I gaze upon that group, how much does Trump pay them to attend his rallies?
4
The GOP is using Trump and his Trumpettes to destroy the working people of America. This may not be news, but we do need to be constantly reminded.
3
They voted for him. They'll get what they voted for. The same ignorance that impelled them to vote they way they did will likely prevent them from connecting the dots and understanding who are harming them and their children.
4
Does not have to be a 30 year problem. If Dems control both houses of Congress and the White House in 2021, the Constitution allows creation of additional slots by majority vote, no 2/3 nonsense. Yes, that Constution which the Radical Right loves to intone. Expand the Supreme Court and all federal judiciary slots to “dilute” the Trump effect. Requires Dems to have unity and courage — not be supine as they were in 2009-12 when they let the GOP paralyze the Senate and Obama appointments. Otherwise, a 30 year Trump judiciary. Democrats, courage to govern?
7
I am with you here. I hear a great deal of talk about spineless Rs -- but the Ds seem to be even more feckless.
That Trump spouted faux populism during his campaign (a shtick he stole from Sanders btw, after witnessing his success in the democratic primary) is no surprise.
That millions of people fell for it is bigger surprise. Though actually not - these are the same people who've been voting against their own best interests since 'Saint Ronnie' rode in on horseback.
4
Stole from Sanders?
The Republicans started earlier and Trump's announcement already had the racism, faux populism, and xenophobia in it.
The primaries then overlapped, so there's no way Trump stole from Sanders.
Now, if you care cite some analyses that show Trump populist, faux worker support coming after Sanders did well, please provide them.
The key, though, is Krugman's point — Trump is no friend of the working class and the people who continue to support him are ignorant, fools, of falling for Fox Fake News propaganda!
@Stephanie Bradley - what I'm referring to is Trump talking about tax policy and how 'we have to fix it' and how 'all those hedge funds guys need to pay their fair share', etc.
Sanders, and Clinton for that matter, had already been talking about that for months.
Couldn't agree more. No confirmation, until ALL the documentation has been viewed, by every member of Congress. However, eventually he will probably be confirmed, unless Republicans suddenly grow their consciences. Uh-huh. I believe that Neil Gorsuch's placement on the Court, was a Constitutional violation of the president's right, and requirement, to offer a nomination, and expect there to be a fair review, and vote. Ergo, impeachment must be considered. Regular order. VOTE Democratic, preferably progressive.
6
Details, details, details. The Trump voter is not interested in details, facts, information. They are a big picture crowd - if Trump says it or blames Obama/Hillary for it, it cannot be wrong.
The Trump voter threw a hail Mary pass, hoping that some of the Great Grifter's cash would fall their way - this was re-enforced by his allowing them to come out of their closets and be openly vocal racists.
Kavannaugh might as well be Wapner of Judge Judy for all they care. They are spitting in the eyes of the "elites" who have been ruining their Father Knows Best World with all of this diversity and fairness nonsense.
This is US.
5
Don't bring Robert Young or Jim Anderson into this.
He didn’t know best; had a smart wife; two daughters who broke norms; and wasn't a racist.
It's an utterly false charge and disparagement; the title of the hit TV show was ironic!
1
Thanks Dr K for finally coming down from the ivory tower for a while to say a few words in favor of unions and workers, not a topic you usually deem worthy. I don’t see any way to improve workers’ lives on a large scale other than increasing their bargaining power in the economy, and if you’ve got a better idea than unions I’d like to hear it.
6
Kavanaugh’s view on the constitutionality of the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau may extend to all independent agencies. The far right that groomed Kavanaugh has long believed that agencies like the SEC, FTC, and NLRB are unconstitutional because the commissioners/members exercise executive law enforcement functions but the president has no ability to remove them except for cause.
10
Trump was elected a symptom of the Democrats and Candidate Clinton veering away from the successful formula followed by FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ and representing the common man and become more like Republicans and accepting money from billionaires and representing the needs of business over the common worker.
Had Clinton followed the wisdom of successfully elected Democrats (as in some ways Sanders attempted to do) she would have won.
When Carrier Air Conditions said they were sending 2000 Indiana jobs to Mexico, Trump and Sanders spoke out, but Clinton was silent. If only Clinton had gone to visit the Carrier workers and denounced big business, she would have won.
But instead she showed workers that Goldman and their $675,000 for 3 talks was more important. Sanders called her out about the talks many times.
If Clinton had denounced big business and the billionaires who ran companies and favored workers, if only she had visited Carrier workers. If only she denounced immigration which lowered wage rates of working class Americans.
If only she had denounced illegal immigration and the people who worked in America illegally at wages lower than legal wages in illegal working conditions.
Only 51% of white *university* educated women voted for Clinton as well.
But Clinton was in the pocket of big business acting more like a classical Republican.
Only Trump (and Sanders) spoke out for the worker and Trump won.
13
@David MD
Apparently you haven't heard of Trump's next attempt to reward the wealthy by giving them yet another tax break.
That doesn't sound like speaking out for "the worker" to me.
39
@N. Smith
Helping the wealthy with lower taxes is not the same as helping the wealthy receive more income from lower wage rates of labor which is policy Clinton favored.
Sending jobs to Mexico harms workers while helping billionaires. Importing immigrant workers with little education harms the working class. Increasing H1-B Visas for immigrant STEM workers harms STEM workers. These policies all lower American wages that favors the wealthy.
Clinton should have focused on "bread and butter" issues of jobs, jobs, jobs, that Democrats have classically favored. She did not leaving the door open to Trump to favor "bread and butter" issues of jobs.
@N. Smith
There's a big difference from "...speaking out for the workers." and actually doing something about it. Trump used it as a con. Sanders meant it.
While I totally agree with what you are saying Dr. Krugman, as others have pointed out, whatever Trump does will not matter to his supporters. They will continue to vote against their own best interests. They don't want government in their lives (excepting women), yet they want an authoritarian tough guy president. As far as Kavanaugh is concerned, it is his anti-choice views that matter the most to them. With Kavanaugh seated, SCOTUS is going to have the votes to overturn Roe vs Wade. That is all that matters to them.
The Republicans are silent about Trump because all of their wishes are being fulfilled. Tax cuts for the wealthy, the near death of the ACA, deregulation at all levels, and most importantly the control of the Judiciary soon to be at completed with the confirmation of Kavanaugh. It is the control of the Judiciary for decades to come that has sealed our fate.
In my opinion we have had a de facto coup in this country. The GOP has slowly but surely taken over this country starting with the Southern Strategy, using gerrymandering, enlisting the help of the evangelical right with promises of Christian rule, by appealing to white nationalists, and yes, with help from Russia.
Trump has been the perfect vehicle to appeal to the Republican base. There is no more dog whistling. Everything is blatant.
It has been only 18 months since Trump has taken office, but I don't even recognize this country anymore. President Obama said we would be alright. We are not.
92
@Diana
Obama left us in this mess by not being smart and brave enough to announce the FBI investigation of Donald Trump's collusion with the Russian government.
He's a nice man who made inspirational speeches, but he was and remains naive. He killed Osama bin Laden - but he is not going to hold up well in history I think because he didn't realize while governing that he had to have two branches of government to get any thing done - and he wasn't able to understand the advantages FDR and the New Deal had brought to America. Obama was greatly influenced by the economists at the University of Chicago who were pro market, anti controls.
1
President Obama decided to nobly ride into the sunset and strike a Netflix deal. He has failed to continue leading his movement. I forgive him some of his mistakes in office, including not slaying the dragon in 2009, but his disappearance act is almost like a betrayal of his base.
Dr Krugman,
I have been making the point lately that Russia is GOP dream world and has achieved much of the GOP wants and strives for . I talk about the Russian courts the powerless middle class, the military, the police , the law, the state religion of Russian Orthodoxy, the flat wealth and income, the non existence of extreme poverty and of course the plutocracy and oligarchy.
I talk about Vladimir Putin a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, anti abortion, anti feminist , anti labour, anti liberal, anti diversity and he is ultra-conservative.
Yesterday I was reminded how much my comments could not be understood by many readers.
Someone asked me if as a devout Christian Vladimir Putin could order the murders of his perceived threats around the world.
My eyes were opened.
I am a Jew with a knowledge of history. I remember the Crusades whose first victims were the Jews who lived in the villages along the Rhine who were practise for the Christian knights and soldiers headed to the unholy land. I remembered the Inquisition that my paternal ancestors escaped to avoid the choice of conversion or death. I remembered the Pale of Settlement and the pogroms where Orthodox Christian Cossacks had no problems running their spears through the bellies of pregnant Jewish women in the name of my brother Jesus.
Kavanaugh will be put on the Supreme court and the GOP will win another small victory in making the USA a little more old European, a little less diverse and a lot less America.
30
did you forget to mention there are vanishingly few black people living in Russia, that the environment is in crisis, alcoholism is rampant, and there is no free press or political opposition? 1500 characters is not enough to scratch the surface of all the things that make Russia a paradise for their current moneybags aristocracy.
just ask Paul Manafort about the wonderful opportunities today's Russia presents.
1
@ Pottree
I also didn't mention our Minister of Global Affairs Chrystia Freeland who heads our Nafta negotiations. In addition to be one of 14 Canadians honoured by being barred from travelling in Russia by Putin she is one of the world experts on Russia, Putin, Russia's economy and its oligarchy. Her book Sale of the Century tells the story Russia's voyage from communism to oligarchy and her Plutocracy: The Rise of the Global Super and the Fall of Everyone Else that discusses the rise of many of Russia's oligarchs. Freeland is no lefty she was an economic journalist before politics with a great lecture on you tube titled Plutocracy from the 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival.
I know there are many Americans who know and understand that GOP America is very like Putin's Russia and I know how difficult it is to explain. Thank you.
“If Trump manages to install Kavanaugh, he’ll help institutionalize these anti-worker policies for decades to come.”
There’s no “if” about this. Trump, a mindless dotard, will do exactly that, if not with Kavanaugh another sick soul suggested to Trump by his bilious billionaire backers.
17
and "conservative" think tanks hell-bent on disrupting the lives of working people.
Interesting reading the "Comments." The 'crazy' Liberals use logic, history, context, science - some are better argued than others. The 'conservative' respondents liberally use repetition, repetition (learned from Fox Fake News - repeat ANYTHING often enough, it starts to sound true), straw arguments, "just my opinion," hypocrisy & all 10 of Basic False Argumentation. I remind those with brains and thoughts that the Trump-voters REALLY BELIEVE this stuff and there is no arguing with them or convincing them. We have to abandon them to their Fear, Hate, Ignorance, & Stupidity. Journalists should quit covering them, quit interviewing. They aren't 'deplorable,' they are the Sick who throw themselves on the Trash Heap of history. They deserve our Pity but not our Understanding. Ignore McConnell's Win-Win (HE is the true driving force of the Republican Party) - we will reform the Supreme Court when he is dead and gone.
22
Maybe when the TWIT and his cronies undo minimum wage laws, his supporters will finally get the message?
Probably not...they are so far gone that they identify with their captors as if they all have Stockholm Syndrome. They think they are "rich" and entitled because they are white, because they have "contributed" to the "system (so getting disability payments is not getting "handouts" for example, they "earned" them with hard work).
And when they finally wake up (if they ever do) and find themselves to be like serfs in the feudal Russia they seem to admire) they'll cling even more to their entitled whiteness, religious zeal and guns...
The rest of us will have moved on...they'll just die out for lack of adaptation.
Hail California, the new America!
16
I disagree with the author. Unionism is as liberal a concept as exists today. Unions may have been required to curb the excesses in the early 1900s, but they have grown into huge wasteful and corrupt bureaucracies. Today unions are known more for protecting incompetent workers and lining the pockets of corrupt union officials than anything else. It is high time that unions were brought under control. Likewise the "sue everyone over everything" environment legal lobbyists (and corrupt politicians) have brought us to. Wonder why healthcare is so expensive? You can partly blame the ambulance chasing lawyers who have forced malpractice insurance so high that doctors are literally fleeing some states in droves. The Sea World employee had to know that killer whales are wild animals whose instinct is to eat smaller prey, and working alongside them could be dangerous.
4
@Ramon. Without unions your mom and kids would work 6 days week and could not afford a computer.
It's true, Trump immediately betrayed his pro-workers positions
But imagine if the opposition, name of 'never, ever Hillary', hadn't invited him to run to her left -- thereby losing substantial numbers of former Obama voters in crucial swing states. You know, all those racists....
This would be the same candidate who couldn't inspire the black and Latino vote, which was down substantially, despite all the vacuous identity politics.
And what have Democrats concluded? Why, don't look at us, it was the fault of Jill Stein and Bernie bros!
4
@jrd I actually have no idea what you are saying.
1
@Sarah
Exactly: Hillary supporters refuse to understand how it is that they and their candidate --not Stein or Sanders -- are responsible for the loss to Trump. Or why Democrats lost 1000+ local and state seats and numerous governors during Obama's 8 years.
You may have love loved those 8 years, but most voters didn't, as they demonstrated in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016.
So please keep trying. I would recommend Thomas Frank's "Listen, Liberal", if you're genuinely interested.
If Hillary had run as an FDR Democrat and not let Trump steal the message that trade deals have been bad for workers more people would have voted in the states that gave election to Trump. Republicons have voted unanimously for every trade deal and Democrats haven't but voters believed all of a sudden Trump turned Republicon party against cheap labor even though all of his merch is manufactured in China.
I expect the Supreme Court to soon rule for a used car dealer's First Amendment right to not be forced to tell you that the car he wants to sell you has had its odometer reset, that its frame is bent, and it was sitting in three feet of water during Hurricane Harvey.
22
Kavanaugh is another "textualist:"
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that's all.”
6
It appears pretty simple and straightforward to me. Trump will retain the absolute loyalty of his working class base until the day he divorces Melania to publicly marry Al Sharpton in Central Park, and invites Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi, and Bernie Sanders to the wedding.
32
@Jason Shapiro
This made me laugh so hard!
1
My experience has been that trump supporters do not read and most of what they glean is from watching Fox News. As long as this propaganda spinning machine continues to exist, trump followers will continue to mimic his xenophobic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic rhetoric. If it sounds as though I’m disheartened, its because I am. I live with a bevy of these people.
26
It is unfortunate that only some states can recall those political figures that blatantly lie about their platform. I know it is a hard case to prove but there should be no problem with a POTUS who promised the poor working poor relief and then with casual callousness takes what little they have in the form of healthcare, unions, etc. It is also pathetic to see these betrayed folks cling to the ankles of the betrayer. Shakespeare would have a field day with this tyrant.
8
Democratic opposition to kavanaugh is understandable. The process is fully broken. I expect ridiculous and petty arguments to be made by partisans in the Senate. I believe the times does damage to its credibility when it joins in. Or is there not even a pretense of independence from the democratic party at this point?
1
@Brian To which "ridiculous" and "petty" arguments do you refer? The breakdown of the rule of law? The loss of worker protections? The loss of a woman's right to reproductive freedom? If you mean any of those, you are the one being ridiculous and petty, because those are serious matters indeed.
2
@Brian
Piffle.
1
.Amy Klobuchar for President. Vote in ALL local elections
8
It would serve The Deplorables right. After all, they voted for this guy Trump. Let them suffer the consequences of their decision. Maybe they'll finally wake up.
11
@Mark They won't but it's a nice thought. The right wing media feeds them a constant barrage of anti union, anti working people, pro gun, anti roe v wade, etc. and they blindly accept all of it.
4
@Mark unfortunately most of the rest of us will suffer the consequences with them, and they will never wake up. They will still blame Hillary, Obama, and the Democrats.
5
@Mark The problem is, the rest of us will suffer as well, and we'll be aware of it, and of our powerlessness. The dopes who voted for this horror show President will praise him even as they sink into greater poverty and ignorance.
2
‘Conservative elites’. That’s a moniker worth repeating, often.
3
Trump's base supporters don't care. They think he's put them back to what they feel is their rightful place as Whites at the front of every queue, while simultaneously knocking down and/or kicking everyone else.
18
Trump and the GOP have betrayed the working class. The Clintons, Obama, and the establishment Democrats have betrayed the working class. We need a socialist platform. We need to take over the Democrat party and create, if necessary, a violent response to the likes of the Koch Brother-supported fascists who have run this country for years.
6
@Rocketscientist
I'm always suspicious of the motivations of someone who uses the term "Democrat party". It tells me that they're right-wing republicans. In this case not using the name Democratic Party, tells me that rocketscientist is a right-winger in disguise trying to foment violence, and yes it's clear he's no rocket scientist.
13
Cool your jets. Say NO to any violent response.
1
@Able Nommer
I hope you're right but maybe not this time.
There are five stages of revolution: 1) ballot box; 2) protest; 3) pranks; 4) assassination and guerrilla warfare; then, 5) civil war. We are somewhere in 3 and heading for 4 if the status quo is maintained. Look what happened to the BLM movement 2 years ago. Look how the OWS movement was also crushed. When the government goes after protesters then pranks like the Boston Tea Party are tried and finally it's on to violence. We had the Boston Tea party in form of what Anonymous tried to do a few years ago: the FBI shut them down and now Anonymous works for Russia.
Establishment Democrats: look around! Is this really working for you? Do you really think violence is avoidable if you continue to appeal exclusively to the donor class while spitting in the eyes of the working class and young. Give up the lip service and use the laws to go after the fascists before it's too late for words.
The Republic Party: an ideologically perverse and degenerate bastion and tool of egotism, cynicism, nihilism and misanthropy masquerading as common sense, agape, piety and patriotism. The party for an ugly "America" for ugly Americans only. Until Earth cries "Enough!".
9
I agree, Dr. Krugman. But you need to get this message out to the workers who are getting the shaft. They likely don't read the times. Maybe you should do a speaking tour that connects to the workers directly. A tour of factories and rural towns?
6
@JP Tolins...in Krugman's world, Princeton is a rural town.
what I don't understand is why the press continues to identify Trump as a populist, or a fake populist. He is not. So call him what he is, a fascist.
46
I never understood why so much of the media went along with Trump's attempt to brand himself as a populist.
Trump represents the worst things about our politics in that he says and does everything for himself and what he thinks will benefit him in the moment. If that means pretending to be a populist who represents the needs of people that is what he will say, but watch the man's actions and you will know that those words were as empty as soap bubbles.
So much of our population hear and believe what they want to hear. They think that going alone capitalism where unions have no place is the way to success, Kavanaugh as he represents this idea seems to be what they want, but in the end will sell them out as Trump does so well.
9
If it turns out that Trump isn't a legitimate President, then his appointments will all have to be removed by office. By impeachment, if shame isn't enough to prompt them all to resign.
Every last one.
12
A problem that won't go away: Republicans' refusal to read Mary Shelley.
9
This is the type of article that the MSM should be splaying in large print in its headlines. We need more analyses of the impact of this government's "policies" and far less coverage of trump and his endless stream of tweets, boasting, and bullying. What would happen if his tweets were ignored and replaced with coverage of actual hard news and sound analysis of that news? Same with the headline yesterday about jared and ivanka moving back into the news. This can happen only if the MSM let them back onto the front pages, only if the MSM cover them. I would like to see sensationalist coverage of these players ignored and read of them only if they do something that was actually newsworthy. We feed them and stroke their celebrity egos otherwise.
12
@Barb
I agree that we need better coverage of what's actually happening in Congress, what decisions the Supreme Court is making, and what actual executive orders are being put into place, rather than the dizzying barrage of tweets and "Campaign 2020" speeches which only serve to take attention away from where the true damage is being done. Not to say that we should ignore the so-called president, but one way to show his true colors to his supporters might be to let them see the hissy fit that would happen following a whole day without seeing/hearing his name on the front page of the Times, the Post, the network news shows, or the late night talk shows.
With Citizens United, the takeover was assured. All else is just tidying up the edges and twisting the dagger.
13
Trump has betrayed everybody, and ruined countless beautiful US lives throughout his life. His wife, Manafort, Flynn, Cohen, and even his children.
5
But do these working class and middle class white voters, who mostly have never heard of Paul Krugman, realize they are being duped? As far as I can tell these folks are content, just as poor white southerners have been for generations, while white elites used race to keep down wages for all workers. For southerners, Trumpism is very familiar and very effective.
7
The cheering (WHITE) people in the picture are not going to be persuaded by a liberal elitist intellectual that they have been betrayed by Donald Trump. They are just not. What is the key to understanding them? I have implied race and deep, deep resentment of a stereotypical elite which exists more in mind, reinforced by those us trying to understand the Trump supporters, than in reality.
2
Dr. Krugman:
It seems that it applies "The workers have the president that they deserve"... and government too; but they are still applauding him, they are born masochists, I guess.
wah wah wah....
Here is how this works folks. The President nominates the candidate and the Senate confirms him. In November 2016 we installed a Republican President and a majority Republican Senate. Prof Krugman and his followers have nothing to say about it. Actually, they can say all they want but they can do nothing to stop it. Kavanaugh is a done deal.
You want to make the pick, you better win at the polls. As of now however, the President of the United States of America is Donald J. Trump, get over it.
2
@Jerome
Merrick Garland's hearing and vote?
What a Republican authoritarian power play that was!
Just making and changing the rules as they go along, with no regard for what the majority of Americans want.
9
how come it didn't work that way with the Obama nomination of Garland?
Trump, unlike Obama, did not win the popular vote, and was possibly installed by a foreign power far, far from being our friend.
here's how that works, folks: racism enabling good old Republican dirty tricks and cheating.
The Republican base voted Trump into power inspired through instinctive stimuli of hatred and anger, so why would you think they would smartly care about their own well being? The Trump voters actually voted for losing their health care. We really need education support in America.
1
“There’s growing evidence that wage stagnation in America – the very stagnation that angers Trump voters — isn’t being driven by impersonal forces like technological change; to an important extent it’s the result of political changes that have weakened workers’ bargaining power”
Couldn’t possibly be the Democrats’ insistence on flooding the country with unskilled illegal aliens, could it?
1
@Ken
The democrats do not flood this country with unskilled aliens. It is the failure of Congress to act on Immigration policy. The Republicans have controlled congress since 2010 because of their gerrymandering. So it is the REPUBLICANS who have abetted this flood. It's cause is due to the dire conditions in the countries from which these people have come. It will not stop until those countries achieve rule of law and reduce rampant cronyism -- two trends that Trump is accelerating in our own government, unfortunately.
3
If Trump has betrayed the white middle class, he did so with their blessing and there is absolutely no sympathy for them whatever results befall them. Sorry, these people knew, or should have known, what Trump was about and gleefully voted for him to "save" them. Frankly, I'm not even sure they would agree with the contents of the article ( though by definition they will never see it). Mr. Krugman's information always is grounded in logic and common sense, commodities usually in short supply among Trump voters. Please don't start bombarding us with articles sympathizing in any way with Trump voters. They ( and we unfortunately) are getting what they bargained for and gambled on. When the republicans put the cherry on top of the entire economic pie they are swallowing by further reducing taxes on capital gains for themselves, I hope they send a big thank you note to individual Trump voters. Those voters have been graciously generous to their Betters.Now, the Trumpites can wallow in their racism and begin to think about who or what they can blame, for whatever befalls them. The one sure thing is that they will take no responsibility for the fact that they did it to themselves (and us).
1
In another column Paul should deal with Roe vs Wade. The litmus test applied by POTUS for an appointment to SCOTUS is the nominee’s pro life stance. Trump’s abuse of ordinary people will continue long after he is gone. As always the wealthy will abort at a luxury resort in another country. Such is life in Trumpland.
8
It may be that my oversimplified thinking can no longer find any logical reason why DJT is supported by people who for the most part would have to enter his clubs and hotels through the service entrance.
6
Krugman's Opinions are "a spectacular example" of repetious strongly partisan political views.
Should the Times have liability for the damage to the readers that these mind numbing Opinions cause?
Does Krugman have life long tenure protected by labor laws?
How would Kavanaugh or the Supreme Court justices decide these issues?
Liberal thinking formerly cherished the exchange of differing opinions which was thought provoking and stimulating.
Today, liberal thinking has been overwhelmed by political interests and suppresses differing opinions.
2
@jck what? Lol. Thanks
1
Sure, it's an absolute commonplace that Trump has systematically betrayed the white working class, plus the middle class & all races.
Now, we need immediate discussion of how the Other Party ---we have only 2---- can restore our political representation.
Can you stick your neck out, Paul, and list some ideas for the Dems? Can you answer the GOP objections to basic commonsense ways govt can start working for the people that elect it?
Of COURSE, wage stagnation is the result of “political changes that have weakened workers’ bargaining power.” Get specific on those 'political changes'---- such as the deliberate weakening of employee unions by 'unions' of capital, called corporations.
Why do we rarely see much on worker unions in NYT columns? In past decades 1/3 or Americans were unionized, and they raised pay also for non union workers.
I worked for an airline in a non union job, but we got raises, good benefits and pensions because other airlines were unionized.
So what are a few ways that our Other Party can restore workers’ bargaining power? Or can they do that while competing with GOP for mega donor money to run?
Can you grapple with that problem?
Otherwise we just get endless repetition on how bad Trump, Kavanaugh, and the rest of his crew are. We’re painfully aware. Easy columns.
Come on Paul, stick your neck out. Discuss how do Dems heal the US after 'Trump's Supreme Betrayal'? You won’t look too ‘liberal/left wing.’ Except at Fox News. Do U care?
4
Agree with most of what you say here with one exception, however it's a fairly large one: Trump voters on average had higher incomes than Hillary Clinton voters.
This means that the entire myth that "working class" voters were the reason Trump won is nothing more than that, a myth. Well, or largely a myth. There did seem to be a fairly large divide between those who'd been to college and those who hadn't, with the non-college educated going more heavily for Trump. That doesn't mean "working class" though in the way most people are going to interpret those words, that is, if someone without a college degree made more than $100,000, that's not what most people are picturing when you refer to "working class voters". The average Trump supporter by the way made more than $80,000, so there are certainly a lot who made upward of 100k. And no, that's not because a few billionaires skewed the scale, most Trump voters had more than what is considered to be a working class salary, in fact.
If you look at white versus non-white there is a strong correlation so that part holds, and if you dig a little then racist views are easy to discern in Trump voters with fears of immigrants and people of color featuring high in Trump voter "concerns".
So in many ways Trump betrayed people in the working class, actually anyone who's not a billionaire basically, but for the average voter he actually gave just what he promised: racism, bigotry, and authoritarian bluster.
13
@Jeo
A better way to look at it is that the usual rich people voted Republican just as in prior presidential elections, but Trump was able to get a larger portion of the white working class vote than folks like Romney and McCain. So: Trump's superior ability to get a larger portion of the white working class vote is the reason why he won and Romney & McCain lost. There is a good analysis here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/12/29/places-that-b...
1
@tanstaafl
I don't agree at all that Bump's article is a "better" way to look at it. He completely ignores the correlation between white voters and Trump, while it's the strongest correlation of all of them.
In fact, the theory that he puts forth about poorer counties going heavily for Trump is explained perfectly by adding the white resentment factor, which he ignores entirely.
He also confirms that higher income voters went more heavily for Clinton, which pretty much contradicts your idea about Trump keeping all the wealthy voters and just picking up working class voters in addition.
@Jeo
I'm afraid you lost me. Romney got 59% of the white vote and lost. Trump got 58% of the white vote and won. So 'white resentment' was nothing new in 2016--maybe Trump was just a bit louder about it than prior Republican candidates. Also, I haven't seen data showing that Trump got a lower percentage of higher income votes than Romney; if you have a link I'd be interested. But then, the point of your original post was that Trump voters on average were richer than Clinton voters, wasn't it?
Precise points to remind us that Trump was never for workers' protection and well being. And always for the 'rich and powerful', which he so faithfully carries out, especially for his own enrichment. Trump has unleashed all brakes for the abuse of power he and his minions exercise day in and day out. This ugly American in-chief has no scruples, and sees kinship with Kavanaugh's disregard for the Union's gains in favor of worker's dignity. Paul, we are witnessing the destruction of democracy, in favor of a pluto-kleptocracy, whose social distance from the 'common man and woman' is so wide, they could care less. This is a crisis...while the republicans have fallen asleep at the wheel...and the public's 'anomie' as long as it does not 'seem' to affect them too deeply. Do we have the 'will' to stop the carnage? We shall see; but soon enough before all that is left is the crying?
4
Democrats need to pull out every stop to delay voting on this appointment until February 2019. It's the only hope.
1
We who have eyes and ears are watching and listening to the racist dog- whistles and distractions that emanate from the mouth of our bigot in chief. Authoritarian and would-be totalitarian, our MAGA leader is a nationalist as fraudulent as those America Firsters who opposed the European and Asian horrors of last century.
The Republicans are holding democracy hostage. We, who clearly see the threat of a judge who protects and defends the American elite, are hoping that Brett Kavanaugh will be borked during his confirmation grillings. Our Executive Branch has been ashcanned since Trump won the 2016 election. Donald Trump's loyalists -- blinded by their idol's fool's gold buffet -- still revere the master demagogue. Propaganda is king.
All the working class voters who revere Trump are up a creek with no paddle. Two parties have caused the trainwreck we're seeing in our country today. The Republicans deride everything green (even the Earth itself). America needs a labor party. Intelligent working class voters need a champion of democratic values and a fair deal. Not a megalomaniacal would-be tyrant who is betraying democracy.
I am confused by people like Kavanaugh, he is a Catholic who is also a libertarian. How is that possible?
8
I remember listening to an interview with Francis Ford Coppola. He was talking about the making of The Godfather. He was asked whether he knew any mobsters before making the movie. He said Mario Puzo told him to stay away from knowing any mobsters, “They’re all monsters.”
Trump supporters didn’t see that in The Don. And still don’t. And don’t know when they are being extorted.
3
Karl Marx notably declared that religion was the "opium of the people". Trump, in his expertly calibrated and well-practiced manipulative words and actions, has revealed himself to be the personification of a modern day "religion", an entirely contrived "populism". His true believers would follow him to the edge of the cliff, then willingly jump into the abyss upon his command, expecting a soft landing on the jagged rocks below while proudly wearing those blood red caps on the deadly descent.
The Fake Treasonous President is the opioid of his base. Utterly beyond reason and fact.
28
@John Grillo
Great comment … I'll be damned if your religion & [fake] populism analogy isn't perfect. (I think 'we' may be "damned" by the one AND the other.)
P.S. I fear that the 'treason in trump' ain't "Fake."
Conservative elites no doubt are and have been winning the war on rights of the peons. They are winning simply because they have been persistently successful at indoctrinating an overtly gullible extremely partisan base. A partisan base designed only to see in one direction. Decades of building a platform of fear and hatred of anything not white enables their deranged attack on democracy. Trump represents the pinnacle of that effort. They are a deeply compromised lot and hopefully not representative of the majority of America.
2
Fascinating to watch the world's newest slave state being assembled.
Democracy doesn't expire - it has to be deliberately, systematically killed and the so-called president is all about that.
27
Would Kavanaugh rule in favor of the whale that swallowed Jonah? This man, I fear, disconnected himself from his Jesuit roots a long time ago. When it comes to the environment, worker’s, immigrants and women’s rights, Judge K is the polar opposite of Pope FRANCIS, another Jesuit.
1
Republicans have mastered the use of wedge issues (guns, abortion, religion, xenophobia, etc,) to get people to vote against their self interest. Trump may be the ultimate practitioner of this dark art. Democrats, particularly Hillary Clinton, have proven to be pathetically ineffective in countering this strategy.
8
basically, the Republican outlook is negative and the Democratic outlook is positive. Rs are obsessed with protecting against bad things; Ds try to do good things. Rs want to preserve what their mythology tells them were the wonders of the past. Ds know we're going to be living in the future and the past is over whether we like it or not.
the Republican message is stronger, it's flight or fight. progress calls for at least a little optimism and creativity, too much of a heavy lift for entitled, lazy, superstitious Americans.
then mix in the Christian concern with evil, sin, all the bad things Republicans harp on. it's like a hand in a glove. by comparison, Democratic concerns are pie in the sky. plus, they may cost money.
If a democrat screams in the woods about how the GOP is betraying GOP voters, does anyone hear them? There is something fascinating about a liberal elite in a northeast liberal paper telling working class Americans they have been duped and betrayed.
2
Krugman even looks like the proverbial pelican in the wilderness.
Suggesting it’s somehow anthropologically “fascinating” for someone from the east coast to report on Kavanaugh’s record unfortunately doesn’t change his record or anti-worker stance.
2
@Chris Any Republican other than the 1% has been duped big time. You just don't know it yet. Republican promises are like poison ivy, you play in the woods all day and brag that night how you don't have an itch on your body. Three days later you are covered in poison ivy and taking steroids. The steroid part of your Republican life hasn't hit yet. It will and it will itch.
1
Fox & Friends and Trump, have begun using “Trump Derangement Syndrome” (TDS) as their latest descriptive slur for liberal media angst and outrage over Trump policy and antics. Well it occurs to me that the true TDS is manifest by those who continue to support him and vote against their own interest and espoused moral posture as he publicly and proudly dismantles, truth, empathy, affordable healthcare, the environment, the social safety net and the global leadership of America. The only “cure” for TDS will be found by those not yet afflicted hobbling him in November 2018 and sending him packing in 2020.
25
doc, look at Trump's age, weight, diet, exercise profile, and exposure to toxic hair dye and whatever he does to look orange. there is at least another possibility outside the voting booth.
Evangelicals, and many Catholics, will never support a Dem so long as the Dems support Roe as a national issue.
Let states decide Roe..... We won't be going back to 'back alley', as there are LOTS of options available.
Over time, this issue will disappear, but as a nation can we afford the cost of full-throated support? I think it's clear that we cannot!
2
Cheer up--Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she'll be on the Supreme Court for the next 5 years.
1
The photo says it all. It's all white people. It is beyond sad to think that we are turning back the clock on all the progress in civil rights, environmental regulations, women's rights, health care, etc. because of mediocre, cynical, Republicans.
4
as long working people keep voting against to their own interests . This is what happens and some how when it's all done they will blame the liberals for it.
1
Sorry, but Trump's worst betrayal to his voters has to be the 'Green Lighting ' of the invasion of Israel to Putin at Helsinki.
"he’s governed as an orthodox Republican"???
Come on Paul. Don't feed the fake news narrative. Trump may be many things, but an orthodox Republican his is not. Think trade for one.
What do you expect from an entitled conservative Catholic 1%er, whose father was a congressional lobbyist for big business? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree: Kavanaugh is a total company man, business, political, religious. "He's a well-respected man-about-town, doing the best things so conservatively..." A soulless zombie, in other words.
2
“anti-worker policies for decades to come.” Just one facet of the destructive effect of Trumpism lasting way into the 21st Century! We are experiencing a real life Orwell's "1984" and it is only going to get worse. Trump has and will continue to have solid Republican, evangelical Christian, and ultra-white nationalist racist support, look at the faces of the Americans at the Trump rally because Trump HATES the same people they do and they celebrate their hatred with and through Trump. “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov: (1920 -1992)
26
Mr. Krugman:
I know there's some debate over the influence of the 1971 Powell Memo, but didn't that memo start the U.S. on the path to the destruction of unions and workers pay and benefits?
I seem to remember there was some dealings with the US Chamber of Commerce and the development of conservative think tanks with the purpose to attack "socialist" programs and scholarship. This has been on the Republican agenda for a very long time.
3
I have no problem w/ "expansive views of presidential authority and privilege." Nor did I have any problem w/ Johnnie Cochran exonerating the black man from white-populist crime. But just as Mr Cochran failed to prove that his white-populist / murder-suspect client was indeed black, nobody's been able to prove -- beyond a reasonable doubt -- that Donald J Trump's indeed the POTUS.
With Kavanaugh, the focus has remained on removing Trump. How would Kavanaugh affect the various ways to remove Trump?
It is actually rather unlikely that a President would be removed, since it has never happened despite wildly intense emotions. Therefore, the other things about Kavanaugh really deserve the attention instead.
Actually, the much bewailed Merrick Garland denied to Obama was very much a "centrist" compromise with the things Kavanaugh is likely to do in-your-face.
If we talk about shaping the Supreme Court, we'd have to admit that he was no Ginsberg nor Kagan. The problem was losing the Senate, not losing the White House.
2
Analyzing tax policy is beyond the emotional range of Trumpers. The Republican base does not do critical analysis, what they do is bond through group emotion. Trump is their rock star and they sway to his racial drum beat. It does not go any deeper than that for them and they do not want to be persecuted by annoying liberals with their math charts and logic.
1
Paul, either most of Trump's voters never went to schools or they dropped out at elementary levels.
And that gave Trump a huge advantage in his primaries first.
Presidential election,next.
And lastly in his style of governing because his followers don't understand anything he does.
So if we've to judge his short lived legacy after he decides to quit presidency because of an earth shattering testimony by his fixer/lawyer Michael Cohen to Mr. Mueller, we can easily define his term with a phrase we learnt from our childhood, "What goes up, must come down."
Trump thought that since it was so easy to win the election with the help of unsavory characters from a nation called Russia who was our enemy for the last 65+ years, he can glide easily through second term too.
But what he failed to realize is that America is a democratic country now, not an authoritarian monarchy like Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.
Even his current best friends like Putin, XI and Kim of North Korea watch their backs while they make any risky moves knowing the dangers lurking under the surface.
But Trump, who was born to a ruthless father who got away with hundreds of dreadful acts while he was a member of infamous KKK in '20's America, thinks he too like his father can get away from anything he does.
What he fails to realize is that to appoint a Supreme Court Judge he has to go through numerous obstacles that our Senate Democrats planted on the way of Kavanaugh which even Mitch McConnell cannot overcome.
1
Actually, I somewhat agree with the Sea World decision. Imagine Roy Horn suing the Mirage Hotel because a tiger bit his throat. Alternatively, imagine Bindi Irwin suing Discovery Channel over Steve Irwin's death. It doesn't really make sense. Working with dangerous animals is dangerous. There wouldn't be shows, or even research, featuring dangerous animals if there weren't professionals willing to work with these animals.
The foolish part about Kavanaugh's dissent though was his comparison to professional sports athletes. In effect, he was using Dawn Brancheau's death to take a swing at OSHA. Aside from making an absurd comparison, Kavanaugh completely missed the point about why OSHA fined Sea World in the first place. The whale involved in the incident had already attacked trainers on previous occasions and yet Sea World didn't cancel the show. Instead, Kavanaugh is out there prattling on about NASCAR drivers.
"Don't worry Mr. Earnhardt. This stock car has only exploded twice before but the drivers mostly survived. You're okay with the risk, right? A lot of people bought tickets for this race today. We wouldn't want to disappoint them."
9
We can say that Donald Trump “ran as a populist,” but he never has been a true populist. The campaign was faux populism, calculated to match the crowd reaction to applause lines at his rallies.
Trump’s heart, such as it is, and mind, such as it is, have always been with the rich. Trump’s only concern has been how he personally can become richer, after frittering away inherited money through business incompetence.
Donald Trump, of course, never has been a true conservative either. Trump favors an imperial presidency. He feels no duty to guard the coffers of the United States for future generations – except the children of very rich Americans.
Brett Kavanaugh is the perfect Supreme Court nominee for a president swimming endlessly in the water with the lifeless eyes of a predator, showing only the tip of a dorsal fin to suggest a playful porpoise.
Judge Kavanaugh considers the Constitution merely a document which can be twisted by a clever jurist into a recipe for favoring the powerful over the powerless.
Judge Kavanaugh, just like Mike Pence, makes showy gestures of Christian charity to mask a perverse, weaponized Christianity which will make life miserable for the poor – especially poor women.
"There's growing stagnation in America" Prof Krugman sums it up.
Please analyze:
...why is the U.S. the only industrialized country without universal health care? (start with Henry Ford)
Does this impact labour mobility?
...is Mr Trumps base the group most vulnerable when there's an economic crisis?
Aside from the original American sin of slavery, the most egregious heritage that we Americans carry on our backs is the greed of soulless and aggressive capitalism.
When I was a teenager in Ohio I sold various products door to door in my neighborhood and got a taste of what it was like to be a capitalist selling a product to customers.
The employers I interviewed with for these products made it clear that they were only interested in profit and not the least interested in serving the customer.
This experience in greediness drove me to obtain degrees in psychology and career counseling as a more humanitarian approach to life.
The arrival of Trump and his minions is the culmination of generations of thoughtless greed now finally taking over the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court.
How can we be proud to be Americans and feel patriotism when someone like Trump has a following of enough citizens to be elected president?
4
Krugman is correct however most of Trump's base doesn't care even if the family china being stolen right out from under them. The base cares that 'their' person is in power. Trump for them represents a mythological bulwark against the tide of a more racially diverse America. Fear is a powerful motive. A large percentage also were simply uninformed about what Trump was really about and perceived him is a viable option to Hillary who just had too much baggage for many to stomach. Two years in now, no one can claim ignorance that the Republican agenda is antithetically opposed to the common good.
Trump's base hasn't been fooled by him one bit! Their highest priority is to make "liberal's heads explode". As long as that happens, they are good to go. All this talk of wage growth, CEO pay or any other topic is just window dressing to hide their real intent - which is to reset the social order of America back to time when white, straight, christian guys were in charge and everyone else knew their place. Appeals to focus on sensible policy are ridiculous at this point. Trump knows this and so do his supporters.
1
I'm sorry Mr. Krugman, but you still don't understand. The very fact that all of these policies enrage you (and other liberal elites) is sufficient benefit for working-class Trump voters. It's like that old joke about God granting a Russian peasant anything he wanted with the caveat that he would double whatever that was for the peasant's neighbor. After some deliberation the peasant finally said: "Please Lord, blind me in one eye."
1
Workers get workers' comp. This was the protection for workers, so that they would get compensated for injuries otherwise not compensable because the workers would be subject to the defense of assumption of risk.
I am definitely opposed to Kavanaugh, who seems like another white elitist male who thinks the world is better if everyone else is kept in their place, which is always, at the most, second place. From the article, though, I'm not sure that it is clear that the killer whale example helps the anti-Kavanaugh cause.
I hope this information comes out about Kavanaugh in his hearings; the working class, not as dumb in general as NYT comments make them out to be, pretty much understand about the tax cuts--- we have seen this movie before. Betrayal of the non-moneyed masses is almost a given in the United States in these times, and increasing powerlessness is frustrating. The powers that conspire to keep wages down must understand that at some point, enough is enough and you have to loosen the oligarchic economic straitjacket workers are forced to wear, or eventually, its aux barricades, citoyens. They think it can't happen here, haha.
1
I almost rebuffed Mr Krugman's claim: "(Trump has) governed as an orthodox Republican".
Surely, His Royal Bizarreness is unmatched.
But, what about McConnell breaking his oath to uphold Constitution? That is craziness.
And, what about Ryan as the absentee landlord of the House? By his silence, he condones Nunes' and Freedom Caucus' attacks upon FBI and Trump's attacks upon Free Press. That is craziness.
What of Republican lawmakers suspending ideology? By their silence, they support Tariff Wars and use of a government program for a $12B bailout. That is craziness.
Mr Krugman is correct. Republican orthodoxy IS the headlong pursuit of power and its solely partisan uses - aka Trumptown USA!
Concerning nominee, Republican presidents use the non-profit Federalist Society to provide their idea of the best 'wine' list. Then, they leave their 'non-profit' - to support the President's pick. Best wine or not (Kavanaugh), the conservative pick is almost always coming from The Federalist Vineyard.
Their main pursuit is to vint Originalists and Textualists who, as judges, will never cramp the business owners with responsibilities, especially rulings that adhere to fair labor statutes.
By and large, Federalists are secretive self-dealers serving a partisan priesthood who worship power. Their 'traditions' are an affront to democracy; and that smells Un-American.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-conservative-pipeline-...
5
Please don't call them killer whales. Orcas are one of the most magnificent creatures on this earth to say nothing about their intelligence. I know they kill to eat in their natural habitat, but so do we all or let others do it for us. As for the judges decision not having read it, I will just say this: I have little sympathy for people who treat wild creatures as if they are tamed poodles.
1
I almost rebuffed Mr Krugman's claim: "(Trump has) governed as an orthodox Republican".
Surely, His Royal Bizarreness is unmatched.
But, what about McConnell breaking his oath to uphold the Constitution? That is craziness.
And, what about Ryan as the absentee landlord of the House? By his silence, he condones Nunes' and Freedom Caucus' attacks upon FBI and Trump's attacks upon Free Press. That is craziness.
What of Republican lawmakers suspending ideology? By their silence, they support Tariff Wars and use of a government program for a $12B bailout. That is craziness.
Mr Krugman is correct. Republican orthodoxy IS the headlong pursuit of power and its solely partisan uses - aka Trumptown USA!
Concerning nominee, Republican presidents use the non-profit Federalist Society to provide their idea of the best 'wine' list. Then, taking leave from their 'non-profit', they support the President's pick. Best wine or not (Kavanaugh), the conservative pick is almost always coming from The Federalist Vineyard.
Their main pursuit is to vint Originalists and Textualists who, as judges, will never cramp the business owners with responsibilities, especially rulings that adhere to fair labor statutes.
By and large, Federalists are secretive self-dealers serving a partisan priesthood who worship power. Their 'traditions' are an affront to democracy; and that smells Un-American.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-conservative-pipeline-...
3
Like all snake oil salesmen, Trump has a beguiling message: "Only I can fix it. Trust me and you will be rich." He is now fixing the Supreme Court to benefit the very rich at the expense of us little folk, and more than 40% of the little folk are cheering him on. Will they even allow him to be impeached if the Mueller investigation calls for it? Will the power-hungry GOP allow it?
1
I'm an anti-trump person who spends a good amount of time on Breitbart making anti-trump commentary and debating with the supporters.
I can say with near certainty that if Brett Kavanaugh's anti-worker agenda is presented to the vast majority of Breitbart readers, they will either:
a. not believe it/call it 'fake news'
b. agree with it because many hate unions even though for the most part they are workers
2
The history of Republican policies as viewed by this former Goldwater Republican is betrayal of the public interest for the past 50 years.
See documentation of my awakening at https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
2
Re Kavanaugh's 'expansive views of presidential authority' ---> likely only for Republican presidents. Democratic presidents he would hobble as much as possible.
1
Until the day when working class voters see abolishing regulations as a means of lowering protections for workers and instead see it as getting rid of “red tape” (whatever that is), the Republicans can continue to slash and destroy with impunity. Minimum wage? Overtime for extra hours? Safety in the workplace? “Job Killers,” per the Kavanaugh’s of the world.
2
Perhaps this op-ed was written before the latest Trump administration policy obscenity of using executive action to index capital gains cost-basis to inflation in order to calculate taxation for wealthy gainers. Doubtless the Supreme Court will sanctify this Mnuchin-inspired ploy if, as expected, the matter should be litigated.
Hello Brett Cavanaugh!
2
Don't kid yourself, trump's only interest in Kavanaugh is his position on Executive immunity.
The Republican establishment loves Kavanaugh's position on corporate supremacy and curtailment of workers' rights.
2
Trump wants Kavanaugh for one reason: Impeachment. He sees his inevitable case in front of SCOTUS with one key vote from a man who has just been given a job for life. To Trump everything is a money transaction. He gives the judge a big-money, big power job, he gets to skate on destroying the U.S.
3
"Who stole the American Dream," by Hedrick Smith, a 2012 Random House paperback is a must read if you want to know how this country for workers---at least from the 1930's to the 1960's---became a country for the 1%---at least from the 1980s onward.
1
Thank you for making the cas that Trump made a great pick.
Anyone who finds the Dodd-Frank CPB unconstitutional knows his constitutional law. He passes with flying colors.
1
A bit too late Paul.. remember when Bernie stood with Verizon striking workers? You waved it away..
3
Well, Paul . . .yup.
Trump campaigned as an economic populist and racist, and has governed as a contemptuous oligarch . . .and racist.
But, because of that second part, the economically insecure working class people who voted for him still support him, despite the evidence that he's not going to do anything for them, and will continue the transfer of resources to the .1 percent. So long as he dog whistles that this erosion of economic security is due to an encroaching black/brown/female/LGBTQ horde, those supporters will keep on supportin'.
The only question is whether there's enough pushback from the rest of the country to vote enough people into office to blunt his oligarchic shuffle. I'm really to the point at which I have no expectations that his supporters can be convinced of the bait and switch and of the lies they've been fed about their situations--their self-images are too important to them to sully with facts. They believe what they believe--despite what their own lyin' eyes tell 'em.
1
Kavanaugh was once asked whether there were any Supreme Court decisions that he would like to see reversed. With a big smile, he fairly shouted "Yes!" and the whole audience laughed. Why? Because they all knew it was Roe v. Wade. There is a recording of this event. That is why so many on the religious right tolerate Trump. Once Kavanaugh is in, they won't care what happens to Trump.
1
With Kavanaugh in, we the workers are doomed. Vote folks. Our lives depend on it.
2
What hits me in the gut is when I see a photo of white Americans showing absolute glee for this monster's presence, nothing more than that - his presence and his babble.
He has essentially accomplished nothing. The tax break for the wealthy and corporations is a GOP accomplishment, not Trump's. He is now unilaterally proposing to shower the wealthy with another tax break, reducing the capital gains tax. On top of that, he and his GOP buddies have managed to almost eliminate the union's effectiveness that has historically brought some balance into our economic lives.
His NK deal is an obvious failure as is his embrace of Putin. We can soon add Iran to that list.
Brett Kavanaugh is icing on the cake for these criminals. Can we expect any GOP Senator to break ranks and deny him the nomination? They are tightly controlled by the head master McConnell so I don't expect any of them to have the guts McCain did when he turned his thumb down on the ACA vote.
A tweet this morning from Trump being critical of the Koch's is telling. They got their tax break and now feel that Trump is "too divisive" for their taste. They are now willing to reduce their contributions to the GOP and consider helping Democrats. Imagine that!
If the Democrats are so hapless that they can't manage to at least take back the House in November 2018 despite having more ammunition against horrific Republican "policies" than ever before, please forward my mail to Sweden.
I am a liberal and don't support Trump of Kavanaugh. But if you swim with a KILLER WHALE for work you should recognize that it's a very dangerous job. I don't believe Sea World owes anything to that worker. Sorry Professor K. It's called a KILLER WHALE. They never should have been imprisoned in the first place, but if you want to be part of that exploitation, you're taking personal risks.
4
@Prescott
A lot of jobs are inherently dangerous: machines can maim and kill, practices expose the worker to harmful chemicals, or you face people that shoot bullets or build bombs. Should those employees also just accept the risks without any recourse, especially if they are the third person injured or killed (as in the Sea World case) because the employer failed to take corrective actions? Should we consider all jobs the same as race car drivers, because, well, OSHA can regulate all or none (as Kavanaugh argued)?
Kavanaugh doesn't believe in government regulating industry for the benefit of workers. He should not be a justice.
2
@Prescott
She had a CONTRACT, got PAID and was TOLD to swim with that killer whale.
@Prescott Yes! And why didn't those workers know that BOILER would explode and scald them to death? It is called a BOILER after all.
By now there should be little doubt that Donald Trump will manage to install Mr. Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court bench, just like there's no doubt he betrayed the poor and working-class folks who were blind enough to vote him into office.
And with the new revelation that Trump's Treasury Chief is now considering a $100 billion tax cut for the wealthy, while the rest of us are forced to pay more because of his worldwide tariffs, if Americans don't get the picture now, they never will.
9
The unions protected workers and brought them into the middle class, with all its benefits. The Republicans from Reagan on have tried to destroy the unions. Successfully.
The union days of the past are no more. Union members cannot afford to buy a house, and most are not union members. America must weep. How can voters go along with these people?
10
Those of you old enough to remember the great depression of the 1930's have seen this movie before only in the 30's there was a president - a rich one no less from Hyde Park in New York who at the heart of his presidency understood the working men and women in this country.
FDR didn't bluster, didn't accuse, didn't denigrate, because he knew the only way out of the Depression was to put people back to work, which he did with the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board). Simple moves, Simple understanding. You will also remember the soup lines, the 25% unemployment and the less fortunate who came to the kitchen doors of homes all over this country asking for a meal. I would bet anyone that in 99% of those cases the homeowners/renters and whoever without hesitation gave them a meal. We don't have that spirit today, not even at the federal level. Imagine our country willing to give a person a hand out and a hand up without even considering not doing so. Yes we have lost something, our way (maybe), our spirit (likely) and our interest in and concern for our neighbors and others (?).
Those living then and through World War II were aptly designated "The Greatest Generation." I hope the millennial
generation rivals that one.
15
@Tom osterman - Good points. There's one you missed: FDR had Eleanor who often confronted her husband with : "Franklin, you must do something about this." Which was followed with a list of social problems to be addressed, mostly to help the poor.
Trump has Melania who doesn't care, do U?
@Elizabeth Thank you for bringing Eleanor to my attention. I am stunned that I didn't think of that 1st. As an advocate for women for over 50 years, I am disappointed in forgetting her for a moment. My only excuse could be that my mind was wrapped up in the depression and I forgot the role that women played there too. Especially the part about giving the dinners to the less fortunate.
Thanks again!
Throughout his business career, Trump mistreated workers whenever he could (which was often), so why should we expect anything different now. The GOP does not like workers, or unions, either. Workers are chattel for the big business owners that rule the GOP, and unions are nuisances that get in the way of letting big business from completely owning workers. And the Supreme Court has shown that it does not mind if big business controls elections through unbridled campaign financing. Kavanaugh will fit right into this picture.
This country is in crisis. Its executive sector does not speak for the people. Its legislative sector does not speak for the people. Its judicial sector does not speak for the people. Much has to change.
22
Copied from Bernie Sanders campaign...Shaped by focus groups...Trump's "populism" is completely astro-turfed. Populists don't dig the nation into deeper debt to enrich the Already Haves, spike a flawed but working system that improves healthcare, or appoint cabinet secretaries to deconstruct our education system and environmental protections.
A voter might be forgiven for being fooled the first time. If they vote for Trump again because of his populism, you are simply voting for what you wish were true and against the evidence of your eyes and reason.
26
sounds just like a perfect Trump voter to me.
now the rest of us have NO EXCUSE.
@Jack it isn't just Trump why should voters ever ever vote for Republicans. They lie and misdirect to achieve their goal of destroying government and allowing their wealthy masters to reign with lower taxes hoarding their cash and using it for power.
2
I think the response of many working class Republican voters might be, "at least he's not a liberal." They are gladly hurting themselves and their children and grandchildren out of hate of "the other side."
22
We will probably start seeing more negative articles about Brett Kavanaugh the closer we come to the conformation hearings. He is an excellent candidate with brilliant qualifications and a refreshing change from the progressives we now have on the Supreme Court. He is supreme no pun intended and they cannot do any better.
Mr. Kavanaugh will in all likelihood be sworn in as our next Supreme Court justice which will be wonderful for the country. He will decide the cases according to the constitution and will be an impartial justice. The liberals will try and find fault with this choice but will find nothing of consequence. This choice by President Trump is a very good one and he promised his supporters he would nominate a more conservative leaning one. He has chosen two winners as Supreme Court justices for the American people and they will be the benefactors of his wise choice.
1
@WPLMMT so regressives are the way to go. Let's turn back the clock to the Middle Ages. Repeal the vote for women. Repeal recognizing former slaves as citizens. Bring back indentured servitude for the masses.
2
@WPLMMT What are the "brilliant qualifications?" He is part of the conservative in-group, went to the right schools, is white male and lives in the right town, but what exactly makes him brilliant?
2
@WPLMMT: Ironically, the post directly above yours, from Michael in Brooklyn, says that Republican voters will respond by saying "at least he's not a liberal." That's what your comment amounts to. What about all the points Dr. Krugman raises? Do you agree that unions should effectively be outlawed? Do you agree that the CPB should be dissolved, leaving consumers with little recourse in case of fraud?
Whenever I read an argument that boils down to nothing but name-calling, I know that the other person in the dialog has completely failed to muster any rebuttal to the facts and substance of the matter in dispute. You would be stomped in any high school debate competition.
3
At one point, we will see a "Stepford Wives" effect.
Meanwhile, Trump will get the votes of the betrayed, Again. It is a branch of the Stockholm syndrome seen mostly in authoritarian regimes, in developing countries. The amazing difference is that in the third world dictatorships people go to rallies because they are forced by the regimes. Here, because they blindly believe in their leader. Until the day of the Stepford Wives. Poor America will realize what Trump is doing to them.
6
Kavanaugh has and will continue to interpret and make rulings based on what the Constitution and laws actually say, and not based on what someone wished it said.
Twisting the Constitution like a pretzel to come up with rulings that favor how the political winds are blowing is dangerous. This is how to left has bastardized the Constitution to create laws using judicial fiat when they cannot get unfavorable legislation to pass.
Outstanding nomination Mr. President. Keep up the good work.
3
Krugman: "the news analyses I’ve seen focus on his apparently expansive views of presidential authority and privilege."
From Wikipedia: "As an attorney working for Ken Starr, Kavanaugh played a lead role in drafting the Starr Report, which urged the impeachment of President Bill Clinton."
Kavanaugh's expansive view of the power of the presidency appears to be situational. He appears to believe that Republican presidents should be kings, while Democrats do not belong in the office. His apparent partisanship is evidently extreme.
20
To me, the supreme court (I don't even write it with capitals any more) has lost all legitimacy when McConnel blocked President Obama's nomination, Merrick Garland. This is not a court that represents the American people, or me for that effect. It only represents big business and GOP extreme politics. The interesting part is that this (the loss of legitimacy in the people's eyes) is exactly what john roberts (chief justice) was (is) afraid of, which is the only reason he voted for the ACA (Obamacare) a few years ago. NOT because he was so concerned with the American people. So to feed this fear, we (the American people) should let it know through continued massive protests that we don't accept the legitimacy of this scotus any more, as long as it keeps taking decisions that do not represent us. And maybe, we might live to see a complete overhaul of scotus to happen: Term limits; and they way supreme justices are picked to this court. Because the way things are now, this court (and the GOP) have made a mockery of it.
45
@TermlimitsNow
I like what you wrote and how you wrote it.
I am a Canadian who has lived in both Red and Blue America and must remind you that kavanaugh, gorsuch, scalia, and roberts are exactly what much of america wants on the US supreme court.
Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the gop has systematically cut any bonds that held america together. It is no accident that 1984 has become the new american bible and in its various editions amazon's number one best seller. Every day the divide in your country grows larger and I don't believe it can be narrowed. It is time for a solution which begins with acknowledging that you cannot share one supreme court. The two philosophies cannot be reconciled they go far beyond the political.
Alas, some of the people who were duped don't read your column - or anything that dissects this Administration's actions. The ones who might read this - they are beyond delight to see that with each step it appears that ordinary Americans will lose all rights to protect themselves in the workplace, or in their homes, while those who have power will consolidate it further, and insure that they have no competition.
17
At what point will the Trump base regain its self-respect, its commitment to morals and ethics that was its strength a generation ago? This is especially a concern for the Irish, Italian and Polish Catholics who drove the Chuch's progression post-Vatican; but, now appear to have veered to a congregation formally attended by evangelicals and Catholic conservative bishops. Away from Pope Francis, they talk more about being Proud and Strong while in contempt for the second of the greatest commandments, 'Love thy neighbor...as..' One wonders who will replace God as the subject of the first Commandment.
Maybe as they as Yeats would observe ' fed their hearts on fantasy and have grown bitter from the fare'. Only a good thumping will now restore their souls as they no longer listen to a Jeremiah or an Isaiah.
6
It is amazing that those judges on the supreme court who are the most overtly religious have the strongest anti-worker protection views. What are they thinking when they go to church or pray at night? Do they believe that God inspired them to ignore all the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount?
23
Church devotees are accepting of daddy-style authority. it is a short step to an authoritarian workplace for we the members of a for now secular society.
1
@W
Religion is the greatest evil on earth
What could go wrong with over half the people on earth believing in various fantasies instead of living in the real world.
40% of Americans believe the world is less than 10,000 years old. With that kind of ignorance it is hopeless.
Presidents often say A and do B – the excuse for the difference is the practical realities of governance. What distinguishes this President from others is his comfort with admitting C and D are facts even though they are mutually exclusive.
In 2012, the Nobel in Physics was awarded for proving that electrons can be in two places at the same time - this is referred to as quantum superposition.
Over the last several weeks, the President expressed a belief that Russia DID interfere with the 2016 Presidential election and a belief that Russia DID NOT interfere with the 2016 Presidential election. So much like electrons, elections are now understood, at least by the President and his supporters, to be capable of simultaneously occupying two different spaces in reality even though each possibility excludes the other. We could refer to this as the election superposition principle.
Yes, the President’s supporters should feel duped by the Supreme Court bait-and-switch and they should hold him accountable – if that is even possible. As for mutually exclusive events, he might win a Nobel yet.
14
"If Trump manages to install Kavanaugh, he’ll help institutionalize these anti-worker policies for decades to come."
Another spot on assessment from the NYT's insightful resident econo-boffin. When one considers the other actions taken against workers' rights in recent years (See: Supreme Court’s Ruling on Compelling Arbitration, NYTs May 21, 2018) one gets the feeling we are on our way back to the 1920's. On the other hand who is surprised. It's not like the GOP have exactly been champions for the workers. Yes, Trump betrayed most of the people who voted for him, but the question is, as usual, why did these people, against all the evidence of history, vote for him?
14
@kevo
Speaking on behalf of the American people: What's history?
Kavanaugh will be the next Supreme Court justice. Barring some horrifying revelation he will win the votes of all 51 GOP senators and probably a few red state Democrats.The GOP has worked very hard to be in a position to control SCOTUS. Controlling SCOTUS is the grand slam that ends the ball game. Control SCOTUS & you win the Cultural wars. Control SCOTUS & you destroy the liberal agenda once & for all. If the GOP can pull this off they control the political agenda for another generation whether they win elections or not. They are not going to let this opportunity pass. That's why they are putting up with Trump for now. Trump has gotten two Supreme Court appointments, he may well get more, and he’s moved more quickly on lower-court appointments than Obama did. The legal arm of the conservative movement is probably the best organized, most far-reaching and far-seeing sector of the Right. They truly are in it — and have been in it — for the long game. Control the Supreme Court, stack the judiciary, and you can stop the progressive movement, no matter how popular it is, no matter how much legislative power it has, for decades. All other priorities are rescinded. Archimedes said give me a place to stand and I will move the world. With this embrace of the judiciary the Right has found it's lever & place to stand. Long after Trump is gone, the right will rely on the judiciary — and behind that, the Constitution — to protect, enlarge, & consolidate their gains.
47
@Bill Brown "....and he’s moved more quickly on lower-court appointments than Obama did.". True, however, given there was a Congress that stifled anything Obama, the comparison is a straw man comparison. And I am not a Trump supporter.
21
Dan, your point re the Congress is true, but brings up no actual logical objection to Bill's statement.
1
It’s a shame Obama didn’t play dirty—maybe he could have gotten some of his judges confirmed. He should have had a Manafort or a Roger Stone.
Sadly, I have given up on the working class. After almost two years of Trump, I now totally buy into the theory of writers on the South, that, they would vote in any candidate that promised to keep African Americans in their place. Trump has brilliantly enlarged this narrative to include all foreigners---well, except the Russians. As long as they believe Trump is the candidate of white supremacy they will endure loss of health insurance, loss of jobs, loss of homes, loss of religious belief, loss of sons and daughters to opinate addiction. What these poor soles will go through to experience one hour of superiority at a Trump rally.
19
Lost in all discussions of Trump's motives is the unkown extent to which he is beholden to Vladimir Putin. Only Mueller knows now.
8
Kavanaugh's supreme court confirmation will profoundly change the dis-United States for decades to come. At some breaking point I hope blue staters will say: "We just don't recognize our country anymore. We begrudgingly acknowledge red America's political adroitness at imposing their will on the rest of us, but this is no longer a nation we are willing in good conscience to defend to the death. It is time for the blue states of the west coast and the northeast to break away and make a new beginning. A little revolution every 242 years or so is not a bad thing."
14
@WDG I love the look of that new map - join Canada! both coasts and the northern fringe across the country.
If Democrats seemed to have neglected their modern roots with the working class, the underclass, and the forgotten class, the Republicans for their part have been doing their utmost to exploit, oppress, and destroy them.
It is easy to forget that today's Republican Party is in fact rooted in the old Civil War South that was built on slavery, exploitation, and oppression not to mention a strong dose of super nationalistic fervor (for the Confederacy), self-righteous sense of victimization on the part of the victimizers, and religious fervor used to justify bigotry and hate.
If we want to understand how so many of today's workers, seniors on Social Security and Medicare, and relatively recent one time immigrants who suffered under oppressors in their home countries could ever support the policies and personalities of today's Republican Party we need only look to why so many Southerners fought to uphold the aristocratic plantation slaveholding system that they themselves were victimized, and to this day revel in its cause while wrapping themselves in their pseudo hyper patriotic American Flag.
Perhaps it is the nature of the human condition that no matter how low we are on the social scale so long as we can have someone lower on the scale to hate we can feel better about ourselves. Clearly, today's party of the old civil south otherwise known as the Republican Party has done a fine job of exploited this human trait.
Its up to the rest of us to do something about.
21
America is a democracy, and the people have gotten the government they deserve.
9
@Ernie Cohen
No, it is a republic built on a representational democracy: elected officials act as voter proxies. Except they don't: they actively vote against majority desires.
We have not gotten the government we deserve. We have largely gotten a government of moneyed interests, gerrymandered districts, and voter suppression.
1
which people?
Bob Gibson's best pitch was Strike 1. Donald Trump's best pitch was Neil Gorsuch and his second pitch (Brett Kavanaugh) will be also be a strike. I can only hope he gets yet another chance to throw the ball.
1
@Mark
Let me make sure I understand your metaphor.
You're rooting for Trump to strike out American workers.
Good grief! You're a real foul ball.
2
Judge Kavanaugh, an originalist in the Scalia mold, will make an outstanding counter-balance to Justice Sotomayor, a judicial activist, for the next 30 years. A brilliant pick by President Trump, as Kavanagh’s life and work are indicative of the Jesuit-school tradition of “men for others”.
3
Half the people who vote, by definition, have below average IQs.
5
It's highly likely that Judge Kavanagh will be appointed. And it's well within the realm of possibility that Mr. Trump might appoint a third Supreme Court Justice.
So, the only recourse for even the most mildly progressive national environment is for Democrats to win elections and regain control of two of the remaining branches of government. The die is cast for the next generation--at least-- as far as the Supreme Court is concerned.
The GOP has made their mark on the Supreme Court by a long, patient, relentless, systematic effort. The Democrats should learn from this. I will likely not live long enough to see if they do.
8
We are back to a discussion about why people apparently fail to recognize and vote for their interests.
Are Trump’s supporters really so naive? Are they so ensconced in the Fox News and right wing talk radio bubble that they are oblivious to the consequences of the GOP’s tax cuts and their botched repeal and replace the ACA promise?
We know that farmers and others are, in fact, very aware of the consequences of Trump’s budding trade wars. And, how can anybody be unaware of the fact that their paycheck is not blooming in spite of a booming economy, a soaring stock market and full employment?
I suspect part of the answer lies in what Trump’s supporters have heard as the Democrats’ alternative. That alternative is captured in one word - free.
People understand that there is no free lunch - no free college; no free health care. They know that somebody has to pay taxes to provide the freebies and they suspect that they are that somebody. Add to the mix the perception that the undeserving “other” is going to be the recipient of the largess and the choice for the Trump supporter become clear.
10
@Michael Roush Two words: Bernie Sanders. Mr Sanders, who is NOT a Democrat, runs around offering "free" college, health care etc. Most people in the US are moderates/centrists, including self-identified Democrats. Mr Sanders does NOT speak for Democrats, yet he continues to muddy the waters while trying to sabotage the primaries of electable Democrats. The outcome is that in general elections people falsely believe that Democrats are all about "freebies".
3
@Michael Roush I think they must know, but have circled the wagons, at least in public. And, the Fox has done such propaganda on the Democrats that they view them, still, as a worst alternative. So, they are probably sticking with their guy, even if it's a sinking ship.
@Michael Roush,it is actually quite simple why trump supporters do what they do (voting against their interest). To them, trumpism is a cult, a religion. With trump (I don't write that guy's name with a capital any more) as the cult leader. And as with every religion, logic goes out of the door and the followers are prone to do stupid things. Brainwashed into this behavior by cluster-Fox, an organization evil to the core, which on its turn is heavily subsidized by big business because the latter understands that without these cult followers, their GOP puppets will never win an election any more. THAT is what American politics have come down to. And the only chance the Dems have to end this madness is to get out the vote and go to the polls en masse come November. Because our democracy won't survive another two years of unchecked crazyness from our clown president, supported by the GOP. It actually is THAT simple.
The extent of damage that has been done to the Supreme Court since Mitch McConnell steamrolled Merrick Garland’s nomination is difficult to overstate. At this point, there is nothing to suggest that any open seat on the Court will ever be filled by a nominee who is anything but a youthful ideologue with a clear partisan bias.
The late Antonin Scalia was obviously not the greatest friend to Democratic interests, but he was both a sharp legal mind and an experienced jurist. The notion that Scalia’s individual legal philosophy would somehow become the litmus test for future Conservative nominees is absurd. It is worth noting how the Supreme Court reacted when hearing the early 90’s flag burning case.
If “Gorsuch 2.0” is seated on the Court, then we can all wave goodbye to the pretense that human life even matters when corporate interests are involved. Not just for a few years, and not just for a decade or two. The ramifications of this Constitutional Crisis (yes, this is where we are) will continue to impact the future of this country for generations to come.
29
Mr. Krugman,
All that you say is true. But does the average Trump supporter know or understand what the effects of Trump's appointments and policies are on them? I don't think so. The genius of the Trump administration is to keep his supporters tuned to Fox where the get a daily dosage of propaganda to keep them uninformed. And they like it that way.
26
If the allegation is that the working class is betrayed, it is then up to the working class to respond in the ballot box. That the working class has grown during the Trump presidency is a consideration that those who have found work will certainly make. This article is really all about Trump's supreme court nominee judge Kavanaugh and his respect for presidential authority which has been undermined by congress beyond simply checks and balances. The people elect the president to become the most powerful person in the world with regard to making needed changes. What I have witnessed is the power of this president is under absolute control by congress and the lower court judges restricting the reform and changes that this president would like to make.
Fear mongering that Kavanaugh will do harm to the liberal extra constitutional cause is uncalled for because he will only be one of the 9 justices and there still will be 4 judges who were appointed by democratic presidents including Ginsburg who reiterated yesterday that she will be around for 5 more years.
I had never heard about judge Kavanaugh before he was nominated. But I have heard and read enough about him to feel comfortable he will be more like the outgoing judge Kennedy than like the late justice Scalia. While he will more tied to the US constitution for new cases, he will not try to overturn previous cases. A case in point Roe v Wade. I cannot be convinced that he will be so foolish as to work to overturn R v W.
2
@Girish Kotwal No, they do not elect him to be the most powerful person in the world with respect to anything. They elect him to share power, leadership and responsibility for federal governing with two equally powerful and responsible branches of government. They elect him to uphold the constitution and to represent the U.S. and its interests as its top diplomat.
5
@Bonetd from Richmond CA. That is why you Trump. I doubt whether he became a president so that he could be Mickey mousy controlled by the establishment and bound by shackles and boundaries. He feels he was democratically elected to keep his promises to the people who elected him. I don't think he did not anticipate reasonable checks and balances. But the extreme extent. If the country's direction was left to congress, he would be a sitting Donald Duck getting nothing progressive done. He will ultimately be judged by what the country accomplishes during his years as president.
Trump talks populist, but acts like the leader of a banana republic, trying to line his own coffers.
Trump has ceded policy to Stephen Miller-types - rabid in anti-immigration, and stirring up rancor over race and other social issues- and has ceded the business of business to forces like ALEC.
ALEC is hardly populist, and I bet they are plenty happy with Trump, in everything, except for the tariffs. ALEC will benefit from Kavanaugh.
Trump is popular with populists for sounding like their kind of guy and popular with corporatist Republicans for delivering the benefits they have come to expect. And what the corporatists have come to expect is the growth of the American Banana Republic. Maybe that is why they are so adamant about denying climate change. You can't be a great banana republic, if you can't grow bananas.
6
Paring away white blue-collar loyalty to President Trump is of paramount importance to the globalist combine. It's not globalization that is rotting away the foundations of working-class Americans, but the "anti-worker policies" of "conservative elites" like Kavanaugh. Trump voters correctly understand that the real "betrayal" is the unrelenting campaign to undermine a president unafraid to confront the forces that have consigned significant swaths of the country to the dustbin of history. Who cares about "wage stagnation" if you don't have a job?
If the Kavanaugh were confirmed (and he most likely will be,) this court will be the most pro-big business we will have seen in a long time. In an era when big businesses hold your most private personal data, when pseudo-monopolies can force you to choose between waiving all your rights or giving up the most basic services necessary to modern life, when wages and collective bargaining power are already in decline, that kind of court will be a disaster for the vast majority of Americans.
But I disagree with Dr. Krugman that this constitutes a betrayal. Why? Because it was clear as day that this was coming. Everyone knew at least one Supreme Court opening was up for grabs in 2016, and given the age of several of the Justices, most likely several. And people still let themselves be taken in by a con man who couldn't even keep his lies straight, or were too wrapped up in partisan squabble to stop him, or were just too apathetic to care.
Quite frankly, if I were a major shareholder in a big corporation, I would pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming. Who are these people so stupid they are throwing themselves in front of you to be stepped on?
6
The campaigns against increasing the minimum wage, universal health coverage, public transportation, union organizing, protecting workers and their families from fraud and mistreatment, and against any policy that might alleviate wage stagnation or income inequality are not being implemented by stealth, nor have they been ever since Ronald Reagan. The white lower middle-class voters who have been supporting GOP candidates in increasing numbers ever since then were well aware of the policies that Reagan, Bush, and Trump were in favor of when they voted for them. The conclusion that anyone but an economist would draw is not that these people are stupid or uninformed or were betrayed, but that these policies, which all deal with money in one way or another, are not very important to white lower middle-class voters. Those that do matter concern guns, God, gays, immigrants, and minorities.
The blindness of the Dem leadership in interpreting public voting has been astounding. Obamacare’s "individual mandate" was surely the most hated law in the history of this country. Its repeal may make the rest of Obamacare unworkable, but if the Dems are going to campaign on reinstating it they will continue losing elections, as they have been ever since the law was passed. The good news is that except for extreme situations like this one, candidates with lower middle-class credentials can be elected regardless of their views. Let us hope the Dems continue recruiting such candidates.
4
@kbaa Beg to differ but I think slavery tops anything that you can mention about hating.
Would any voter, given Trump's history as a so-called businessman used to short changing small contractors, and the republican party's historical hatred of the "takers", expect any thing else? Or wouldn't? As far as the working class are concerned, Trump and Republicans, they are the double negative.
3
It doesn't matter if a Princeton professor says that Trump has betrayed working class voters. It will matter when working class voters realize it.
16
How can the Senate allow the confirmation of Kavanaugh while trump’s presidency is under investigation? How can the Senate allow trump to choose a jurist who may have to decide his fate? How can we allow the sycophant republicans to confirm any trump nominee? Save America, Stop the confirmation process until trump is out of office. I believe that trump’s presidency was bought by Russia and therefore is illegitimate.
7
Dr. Krugman's critique is as accurate as it is depressing. In a Capitalist society without govenmental intervention, there is ultimately only a few winners and a lot of stagnating wages. Absent proactive government, one way of counterbalancing the power of the uber-wealthy is through unions. Sadly many of the unions overreached in their day--corrupt management, unrealistic benefit goals, unreasonable bargaining positions--leading to the swing of the pendulum and our current unsustainable economic situation. If there is an answer it is not to be found in today's politics of boundless greed and narcissism reflected in the Trump poliical movement of shameless self-entitlement and short term thinking.
2
Kavanaugh is the latest nail in the American workers' coffin.
The sadder truth is that American workers have been blithely building their coffin, closely following the specs in the blueprint provided by the Republican Party.
Capitalism is the best economic engine established by mankind. It incentivizes innovation, encourages and rewards hard work, but it can also dehumanize mankind. When a worker is paid less than a living wage, is provided no protections, has unpredictable work schedules, is threatened with job loss if they fail to perform or if they raise an objection, then the worker may as well be a mule.
Capitalism should be recognized for its benefits, but it should be feared and regulated for its harms.
The Republican Party has long been neutering worker rights. Amazingly, workers have been thrilled to lose their unions...because they hate the idea of paying dues to support unions and they have been suckered by Republicans to think that unions abuse workers instead of protecting workers.
Recent generations of Americans have forgotten or never learned the history of capitalism abuses and worker unionization. Sad to see Americans spit on the brutal battles that past Americans fought to get worksite protections, a living wage, a 40-hour work week, health benefits.
Kavanaugh is another attack on workers and if workers don't wake up soon and fight back, they will find that "worker" is an obsolete word that no longer identifies them; "slave" will be the proper term.
9
Amen! As a retired auto worker I can vouch for the necessity of strong and independent union. Conditions in the early 60s were appalling and after OSHA they started to improve. Over the years both union and management came to understand that cooperation was exponentially more productive than confrontation. This seems to have been lost to the current crop. I still am in awe of the large number of my coworkers who were swayed to support Reagan. The original rightwing union buster. Ask the air traffic controllers of that time.
19
I would be VERY interested in Mr Krugman's thoughts on the recent disclosure that the Trump Administration, especially Steve Mnuchin, are trying to get a further tax cut through the re-classification of "cost" to include indexing for inflation. WHAT a SCAM!
8
This Country is doomed because it’s citizen don’t care to cast their vote and are usually uninformed and misinformed about the huge challenges their country has to face , beginning with basic human rights such as education and healthcare for all.
17
Trump is not a populist. He doesn't even know the meaning of the word. Trump has no coherent policies. He is driven by his ego and the unending need for approval from his loyal fans, and greed. These adoring fans do not care that Trump lies constantly to them and everyone else (more than 3500 lies since taking office).
Trump's strong need for Kavanaugh is Kavanaugh's willingness to block any prosecution of Trump for the myriad of laws he has broken. These laws include his willing involvement of foreign powers in his election, his violation of election laws tied to his sex scandals, as well as his violation of emolument clauses when he uses the US government as a personal business asset.
Trump's betrayal of the American people is no shock, it is who he is: Trump first and foremost. Most disgusting is the GOP leadership's cowardice and anti-patriotism as they allow Trump to destroy the global reputation of the United States on behalf of their billionaire owners.
26
Seems to me some Trump voters are just stupid. More are willing to sacrifice some material gains in order to promote what they see as a "conservative" social agenda. Trump voters are complaining about his policies that can hurt them in the pocket and the vast the majority support his choice for the Supreme Court.
9
The working class, many of whom helped to elect Mr Trump, have most always accepted their position as pawns on our political chessboard.
Rarely have they accepted their right as Americans to sit at the same table as the wealthy and now, as these rights are being formally eliminated, they are simply following the direction of those who almost lost control of them during the first half of the twentieth century.
At this point with control of our government firmly in the hands of the wealthy there is little the still cheering crowds can do when reality stops nipping at their heels and begins to consume them.
What most of our nation's people do not understand is that they are of no more value to the monied class than the Native Americans were to the earlier form of exploiters who ruled with a more exposed fist.
Judge Kavanaugh like many who share his upper class strata is completely inculcated with the values which benefit those who do not turn the other cheek. His religious beliefs and the cover of his lily white skin provide him, like many of his fellow jurists, with the cover of unquestionable sanctity.
His appointment, like the redistricting which is overwhelming the ability of free and fair elections, is a last gasp effort of the soon white minority to protect their ability to extract whatever wealth they can before the wave of color overtakes them.
There is always a corrosive factor within any society, but the acid being thrown by Mr Trump is blinding.
Vote
8
Trump's white working class supporters are not fools. Many, if not most of them, are fully aware of his recklessness, his lying, and the dangers he poses to the country.
Their primary motivation in supporting him is to gain revenge against liberals whom they despise and blame for most of their problems.
They are not expecting Trump to actually do much good for the country or even for themselves.
What they have been looking for in the recent years is a sounding board, a megaphone really, for their grievances. their anger and
their ever present hostilities.
And in him, they have found the perfect man.
37
And in him, they have found their perfect man.
1
I normally agree with Krugman, but I have a few comments on this piece.
Trump has not betrayed his racist base. Yep, he is hurting his base in health care, taxes, regulations, tariffs and many other issues, but as long as he keeps "those" foreigners out and ensures America says Merry Christmas, they are happy (which is sad).
If the example of Kavanaugh being unreasonable is the Sea World case, I am afraid I am with Kavanaugh. The risk of working with killer whales is self-evident. If Sea World failed to follow a safety protocol, there may be liability, but it doese not seem to be the case here.
Soldiers know they may die. If they are owed nothing, and their families nothing, when they die, you'll find few to serve. Police, the same. People on oil rigs, fire fighters, all those whose jobs are hazardous, will risk their lives and know their families will be financially devastated if they are killed in the performance. All to profit the bosses and investors. There is such a thing as fairness, as right and wrong. Shrugging when your workers are killed and leaving their families with nothing but ashes is wrong.
3
Clearly Trump supporters are getting their comeuppance. But then look again at the field of candidates who ran for the Republican nomination. Not much of a choice, but they could have done better. The Trump supporters I know of are beginning to get a little on edge especially when you ask specifically what he he done for you? The wall and abortion are metaphors for the racists and the Evangelicals. The choice of Kavanaugh is par for the course. We really do need to flip the congress to get this country back to any semblance of normalcy.
4
Have we forgotten something? Right now there is a lawful government investigation as to whether this president legitimately holds office due to an alleged conspiracy with a hostile foreign power. Whether as the result of post presidency trial or impeachment, it would become clear whether or not the Trump presidency was illegitimate from the start and if proven to be that illegitimacy would have started when he took the oath of office.
Can a president who holds office by means of fraud on the American people and a conspiracy with a hostile foreign power appoint a Supreme Court Justice with a lifetime tenure? Why would any representative democratic government allow such a person under such a serious investigation make any judicial appointments until that investigation is concluded and where the American people know the results of whether their president is a criminal who stole his office and is therefor illegitimate?
This president is acting just like a guilty man and evidence is piling up. Which leads us to the bottom line. Can an illegitimate president nominate Judges and Justices with a life long tenure, and also can Justices who accept appointments to stolen judicial seats, which belonged to another president to fill with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, stay in office when the man who appointed him is removed from office or convicted after leaving office as being a criminal? Why would we want to reach such a question except for a political power grab?
20
Trump has said that he likes the uneducated. Not surprisingly, many of his supporters are uneducated. And many of these uneducated are poor.
The actions of Trump and the GOP are clearly working to keep their supporters stupid and poor.
It's a moral question whether they deserve to be poor.
5
betrayal - that says it all. the fact that millions have bought into trump's ponzi scheme that makes the wealthy richer and the middle and lower class the water boys and enablers of his agenda is outright sad, gullible, and terrifying. The Ezra Klein's of society are trying to take the blinders off the eyes of the lambs to the slaughter but it's an uphill climb that will take decades to undo.
4
Mr. Krugman,Donald is a marketer whom sells image and he appeals to peoples prejudices,therefore his restrictive immigration policies and his negative views on people of color work wonders in the voting booths,there people can secretly express their desires.The reality is many Americans dislike immigrants of color and native born black and brown Americans.Often Americans are ruled by emotions,for exampe why did poor Southerns fight well and bravely in the CivilWar,it was not in their economic interest
1
Trump's white working class supporters are not fools. Many, if not most of them, are fully aware of his recklessness, his lying, and the dangers he poses to the country.
Their primary motivation in supporting him is to gain revenge against liberals whom they despise and blame for most of their problems.
They are not expecting Trump to actually do much good for the country or even for themselves.
What they have been looking for in recent years is a sounding board, a megaphone really, for their grievances. their anger and
their ever-present hostilities.
And in him, they have found the perfect man.
1
In 2001 my wife and I bought a winter home in Southern Mississippi where her family comes from. In the Deep South labor unions are despised and feared. Coming from New England and a life-long union member, I was curious as to why these Southerners hated unions. People in Mississippi work for very low wages, and I'd ask them why they wouldn't unionize to get better pay. Their attitude was "At least we have a job." They had been acculturated to believe that they were better off with a low-paying job than having their employers leave because of labor unions.
5
The Cult45 supporters simply don't care. They can lose their livelihoods, job protections, health care, pensions (if they even have one), and the safety net, and as long as they feel like they can "own the libs" or that the "others" aren't getting something they're not, then they're happy. Kavanaugh will just be another nail in that coffin. Case in point, the soy farmers -- all those in the heartland do is preach about personal responsibility, the welfare state, etc., but when it comes to them, well, that's different. A good 30% of our populace has been totally brainwashed.
7
Conservatives like to call Kavanaugh a modest judge who respects the Constitution, but his declaring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unconstitutional may itself constitute ideology-driven activism. Presumably, as a Supreme Court justice, he would encourage the institution of litigation that would enable him and his Roberts wing cronies to judicially repeal the Act of Congress that created the CFPB. That would constitute judicial activism, and disrespect for the Constitution that clearly assigns legislative function to Congress.
As the son of a Washington lobbyist, Kavanaugh is the swampiest of swamp dwellers. If Trump's campaign promise to drain the swamp meant exposing the swamp creatures writhing in the muck, then he has kept that promise. Now we have to clean out those swamp creatures.
24
I am going to echo the sentiments of one of the commenters before me. In approximately 100 days, this country's future will be on the line. We need to all get out there and vote. I'm supporting Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan gubernatorial primaries, but if he loses to the establishment Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, I will vote for her on November 7. At the risk of sounding overdramatic, this really is for all the marbles. If we do not take the back Congress, it will be dark days for all of us for years to come.
54
@William,
I too, am going to do my very best, to help decide this country's future in 100days. A more important Mid-Term Election has never been held. It is the Mid-Term of our United States Congress. It will be messed up again. All the States, County's, City's, School Boards, Judges etc, will be added to that Mid-Term Election to make it too complicated for most people to understand. This Country should be holding a Real Mid-Term Election.
The only items on the Ballot must be "SENATOR" and "MEMBER OF CONGRESS".
That is the way all the other country's in the world hold their National Elections.
Result: No long lines at the polling stations. Computers not needed. No Hacking possible. Everyone understands what to do, and everybody VOTES!
Hold all the State Sections of this Election at a different time.
FOCUS the whole country on what matters. VOTING is what matters!
2
The fault lies with both the left and right wings. The right wing vehemently opposes any measures that limit the massive wealth consolidation of the aristocracy, and the left has abandoned its devotion to poor and working people in favor of morally-corrupt identity politics and the politics of victim culture.
1
@Chris
How can you say that when Democrats have passed healthcare, have been trying forever to pass legislation for equal pay, minimum wage, childcare credits and education loan reform? Also, they have always supported unions and women’s reproductive health.
They get no support from the GOP and will never be completely successful if the American voter votes against their own self interests after the thorough brainwashing they get from Fox news et al.
16
So much for Judge Kavanaugh's thorough Jesuit education on social justice for the poor and those less advantaged. You wonder how a person could turn his back on such powerful lessons in compassion for others.
5
Kavanaugh’s dubious rationale for placing a president above the law is that the commander-in-chief not be distracted from the onerous burdens of governance. In the case of lazy, distracted Trump, that might mean some fewer minutes devoted to sitting glued to Fox News, or even foregoing an 18 hole game of golf for a 9 hole diversion. The fact of the matter is that there is really no collusion - between Trump and governance. The man spends all his time tweeting and lying and preening in front of the cameras; to be the center of attention and draw all eyes towards himself is the only activity that Trump really devotes himself to. Governance is for losers. Sad.
7
So now economists are fit to provide expert commentary on the judiciary ? Here is a candidate who is clearly qualified but whose views differ from Krugman's. This is not a cause for disqualification, it is a sign that Democrats need to win elections rather than engage in this continued ineffective hysteria.
2
As a 60 year old management guy it gets really hard to have any concerns for the Trump supporters, who are conned on a daily basis and would rather continue being conned than admit they made a colossal mistake about Trump and Republicans in general.
6
What my lying eyes are telling me is that the economy is at the edge of real trouble. Everyday on the way home from work I pass a dollar store mall. Every deep discount store you can imagine is in this mall. When the 2008 recession/depression hit the mall parking lot was jammed. At the end of the Obama administration the parking lot was almost empty but now it is full with cars circling to find a parking spot. Scientific? Hardly. But intuition tells me that the working class is not making any strides and is actually having trouble. Income stagnation, fuel costs, health insurance costs and interest rates rising are just a few factors crippling the work class. Trump giving another tax break to the rich and nominating Kavanaugh is the tip of the iceberg of anti-worker policies of the Trump administration. Before the administration enacts any more crippling anti-worker policies or nominations they should drive the discount malls parking lots. It is an eye opener for even for lying eyes.
28
Kavanaugh is the latest in a long line of uber-capitalists who dominate Republican ideology. Their belief boiled down to the basics, is that labor is but a means to an end (profits) and that individual workers have no rights of their own and are wholly dependent upon the goodwill of employers for their livelihood.
This relationship, they believe, exists in an ideal world of owner/employer beneficence. When this relationship is threatened or upended, government must step in to restore “equilibrium” in which labor’s aspirations are reduced or eliminated in order to maintain economic balance and the accumulation of additional profits.
6
With regard to Judge Kavanaugh and Mr. trump, I think the Mitch McConnell rule should be restated:
A president with less than a year left in office should not be allowed to pick a Supreme Court nominee.
15
This is one of your best columns. In reading it and rereading it, I felt a sadness in your words. I can only hope that when this country thinks of Republicans that they remember the phrases here: "racial dog whistle"; "anti-worker radical";
"carrying water for business interests"...
All of the 99% live under these words as we try to improve our lives while being thrown obstacle after obstacle.
53
The GOP is trying to call Kavanaugh mainstream and thus fit for the Supreme Court. He has been consistently far right on all issues over the years. Does that make him mainstream? It is a hard question. I don't believe consistently being far right or far left is mainstream. His lack of interest in worker protection is hard to coordinate with the Founders' thoughts, given that the eras are completely different. But, Kavanaugh's consistent lack of understand of the separation of church and state is not. Kavanaugh's thoughts on this issue are completely out of line with those of the Founders and that is why he should not be confirmed.
21
Actually, there's a bigger issue at hand for Mr. Kavanaugh. Everything that man says essentially devolves down to "It's Congress' responsibility." He just doesn't seem to believe the judiciary has any responsibilities, including judicial review. The obvious question becomes: what does he think the constitutionally mandated responsibility of a judiciary should be and why? Why does he feel he deserves a place on the SCOTUS if he doesn't believe in judiciary review and all things should be thrown back at Congress? If he's developed a proverbially "Meh!" attitude about the obligations of his job, why does he think he deserves a promotion?
14
While millions of Americans were enjoying themselves screaming “lock her up”and “build the wall” then object of their affection was stealing their future and that of their children. The problem is that in this age of short attention spans and immediate gratification getting people to chant “don’t let the GOP take away my pension, healthcare, rights as a woman, rights as a worker, clean air and reduce my social security and Medicare” is near impossible.
41
Drumpf's poll numbers are finally taking a hit with his recent performance in Helsinki and daily revelations about the involvement of Russia in his campaign. This being said, with the effects of gerrymandering and voter suppression being a virtual certainty on the republican side every vote we can get counts.
Make no mistake, while there has been a great deal of damage done up to this point it will pale in comparison to what will happen if the GOP retains the majority in the house and senate. It will be seen as a mandate. Drumpf will not be held accountable for what he's done, environmental protections will be further eroded, there will be more tax cuts for the wealthy, safety net programs will be slashed, worker protections will be eliminated and we will almost certainly lose more supreme court seats.
In less than a hundred days the future of our republic will be decided. Donate some money to your candidates and candidates in contentious seats elsewhere, even small amounts will help. Get out and vote and help others to vote if you can.
29
I'm sorry to be so critical of the Democrat Party I love, but they must get someone stronger than Senate Minority leader Schumer to lead the fight against the criminally minded Republican caucus led by the Kentucky Senator and Majority leader McConnell. Schumer is too accommodating to Trump who has given him campaign money in the past, and the Republicans, claiming to desire bipartisanship. Senator Schumer, along with the rest of Congress existing in their isolated and protected world of privilege don't realize people are dying out here; real Americans dying as a result of Republican policies. We no longer practice politics in a civil manner. Republicans are largely a cold blooded lot who care nothing about life and the Democrats care about everyone, the reason I flock to them.
I am strictly opposed to blanket socialism and more so a dominating Communist style governance, and that is what the American Oligarchy is morphing into. Whereas a Communist Government dominates the lives of citizens, so too does America's wealthy individuals and businesses. If you really think about it, now the Conservative Republicans believe in an elite all-powerful government of the wealthy, I think, that the Republicans believe are the better judges of people's lives. That appears to be the style of Judge Kavanaugh and probably why the Republican leaders gravitate to him and might confirm him. Conservatism equals Communism in my view. I abhore both. I care about everyone.
22
Worker protections are like abortion: once the right was codified into law, we became complacent. We thought the battle had been won and we could move on to other things. The fallout from that neglect has just begun and both abortion rights and the right to a workplace that pays a decent wage and doesn't put you in mortal danger while you are at work are no longer things we can expect. November 6, people. Don't put the snooze button on.
79
By reading this column, I now understand why the Congress is supporting Mr. Trump, and why they will fight to keep him in power:
The republicans found a “populist” that can appeal to an angry base, while they stuff the judiciary with conservatives and pass tax cuts, dismantle “the welfare state”, dismantle financial regulations, and, as a sider, sit on their hands on gun control.
A populist covering up for the most conservative agenda inna century.
72
Paul, I love you, but you’re barking down the wrong trail. Right now, the Democrats need to stay focused on issues that we can win. Trying to stop Kavanaugh right now, although it would be nice, is taking away energy to stop Republicans and Trump in this upcoming election. Let’s go with things we can truly win with; bringing fresh blood and ideas into government.
5
@Eric Cosh The appointment of Kavanaugh would change the character and outcomes of SCOTUS for at least a generation. It's kind of important.
7
This column begs a bigger question. What is the ultimate goal about life in our American Experiment. We threw off the yoke of monarchy and kept refining our democracy until we aimed at annealing our melting pot into a strong metal. Workers had unions to push back against large, strong business moguls and impersonal managers. Then the Republicans decided that they represented business all in. Remove unions, get rid of consumer protection, weaken worker protections, make profit the sole winner and enhance consumerism as a means for control of the little people, and now control the political system with fringe issues and massive contributions from the wealthy.
So, what is the aim of all this? Control of the now complacent average guy? Weakening of the dangerous Middle class? It kind of reminds us of Leona Helmsley who said "we don't pay taxes, only the little people pay taxes". We are the little people who got rid of the monarchy and a class system. Are we just going to let the "big" people just take it all back?
47
@William Trainor Yes - that's exactly what we're going to do. We have an opposition party that ran a candidate in 2016 that focused on transgendered people and DACA. We don't just need more people to vote. We need to give them something to vote for. Obama successfully raised my healthcare premiums by 40% - thanks! And now all I hear from the Dems are identity politics. This is why so many stayed home in '16 and why Trump will probably get re-elected.
5
@Dino
Maybe if you listened to news outlets other than Fox you’d find out that there is a robust Democratic Party agenda.
Better yet listen to local candidates.
If your healthcare premiums actually went up, then you are part of the 1% that fell into the gap of being in your late 50's and most likely self-employed. For everyone else, ACA is a success.
American workers tend to be timid, docile and submissive to employers who play worker against worker domestically and internationally keeping returns to labor low while returns to capital soar. American workers haven't exactly fought for bargaining power over the last half century as it was stripped from them along with wages/benefits. Actually, bargaining power seems to be about the last thing they are about. It's doubtful they would have a clue what to do with it if it were given to them. They probably prefer being lied to by the daddy figure they elected.
39
I am in an ever shrinking minority: I am a member of a union. Many times in my life I have not been a member of a union, so I know both sides. No union = no protection. You are at the whim of a boss. Its a scary place to be.
112
@sjs Agreed. See the Guardian this morning for an article on injuries to Amazon workers (and their ensuing homelessness).
1
@Macchiato I remember reading once that the number one reason people leave their jobs is the boss. Their only option is to flee.
Good for you!
Pace Paul Krguman, Kavanaugh did not find the CFPB unconstitutional. He found that the director had too much unilateral power. In order to remedy the constitutional flaw, Kavanaugh favored a "narrower remedy" than shutting down the entire CFPB. Kavanaugh suggested allowing the president to supervise, direct and fire the director at will, just as he can with a normal Executive Branch agency. The CFPB would have survived intact.
7
@Cynical Jack
As we have observed with Cabinet members appointed by Trump, he picks the people that will weaken or even destroy the apartment they are heading. Do you really think Trump wants protection for consumers? Remember Trump University and all the contractors who never got paid or only got pennies on the dollar from him? Remember how many people he sued rather than pay them for work done? The CFPB might have survived in name, but not in intended function.
1
@Cynical Jack
You are correct. However, since Mulvaney is now the "acting director", he reversed, unilaterally, many protections for the consumers. So, the president is in no hurry to fire him?
Workers that supported Trump get what they deserve. They voted him in, now they get to deal with the consequences of their actions. It won't affect me, so I couldn't be less concerned. It's an unpopular opinion, but I just can't keep caring about people who refuse help and never learn anything or trust people who know a thing or two. It's going to hurt for the next couple years and maybe that's what most Americans need — a little hardship to understand not to do that again.
49
I agree with some of your sentiments, but the problem is, the innocent get punished along with the guilty in this scenario.
13
@Martti: Those Trump voters will just blame those hardships on illegal and legal immigrants and "those people". The Republican party, Trump and Fox News are skillfully dividing the poor and working stiffs against each other, so they won't organize and fight for their common interests. An age-old and successful recipe to suppress the common people.
1
@Martti
Unfortunately a lack of willingness to try to understand why people voted for trump and then shaming them helps enhance Trump and the republican power. I fear on this path it's not just a few year's of pain but the destruction of democracy. We all own this problem.
2
the issues Prof K points out are important, certainly - but of secondary importance to Trump. for our great leader, job one is personal loyalty. he wants appointees who will swear allegiance to him, personally, and be sure bets to rule in his favor when cases he's involved in reach the Court, which it looks like they will. the pro-business, anti-worker stuff is icing on the cake.
11
Mr. Krugman notes that wage stagnation—a major factor in income inequality—is not simply due to technological change, but the result of political changes that have weakened workers’ bargaining power. It’s the power differential that is the underlying issue.
Representative government is supposed to provide a political corrective to the concentration of power. Reagan began the long slide to the inequality we see today. Aided and abetted by “realist” Democrats and any other politician with a PAC on speed dial, we now face inequality we have not seen in over a century.
The difference today is that we also have to contend with Russians actively subverting honest representation, apparently aided and abetted this round by the NRA. You can bet the billionaires have been taking notes.
The use of social media to target individuals based on psychographic factors alters the electoral process in fundamental ways. Perhaps we need to shut down the social media for a couple of days before each election. It may be a trial to deny people funny cat videos but our democracy is worth it.
45
"There’s growing evidence that wage stagnation in America isn’t being driven by impersonal forces like technological change; to an important extent it’s the result of political changes that have weakened workers’ bargaining power"
Please talk more about this, what's the evidence?
6
@Sha The evidence is the decline of the union movement and weakening of worker projections since the Reagan years. Republican administrations have enacted anti-labor legislation and tax plans that benefit the wealthy and disadvantage the middle class, while opposing with the healthcare bills, consumer protections, and minimum wage increases that would have reduced inequality.
Anti-discrimination laws have also been weakened, a result of a Supreme Court that has moved steadily to the right, as the majority of Republican leaning justices has increased. Kavanagh will complete the process of turning the Supreme Court into an anti-labor, pro-big business panel.
Especially disheartening is that this move to the right and against labor and middle class has been spearheaded, not by the wealthy, but by middle class and working class white voters who are taken in by Republican dog whistles. The Republicans blame minorities and immigrants for economic woes. They have created a myth that blacks, Hispanics and other people of color exploit the system to undermine the well-being of the middle class. White people buy these fictions and vote for the real culprits, the Republican candidates who have loaded the dice against the average American.
Republican gerrymandering via state legislatures has made it difficult to undo the damage, even when the damage and it’s causes are recognized by their victims.
40
One more thought on the liability of Sea World vs the liability of the worker who was killed by an Orca. We as individuals have to be responsible for our own decisions about who we work for. Sea World like any other for profit company can only exist because individuals work for them. It seems to me that the Judges decision in this case was about just that. It's kind of like the military. Soldiers know or should know what they are getting into. To blame the entity that you work for when you should have known better makes no sense to me. If this is what you mean by workers rights, then what you are really saying is that choices are not made at an individual level. But, they are. And to me that is where the liability is.
7
Gee, it's been awhile since hearing about all those alternative jobs available to workers, the premise implicit in your assertions about worker choice. Similarly, I question your assumption about worker access to knowledge of employer priorities & decisionmaking.
34
@CBH
OSAH was created to protect workers from dangers in the workplace. Orcas are dangerous but the companies make monies from these dangers shouldn't they then be responsible to shield their workers in every way possible?
A well trained staff is crucial for any companies ultimate benefit and survival. Unfortunately in the greed of companies to keep more profits for themselves they forget the employee.
9
@CBH Serving in the military and working at a civilian job cannot be compared. Military duty is life or death, and everyone in the armed forces understands and accepts this; working at Sea World is not supposed to be a life or death situation. Nobody can claim, "You knew the risks when you took this job" in the private sector, except for law enforcement/first responders.
7
Age sometimes brings wisdom. I graduated NYU Law 40 years ago, and I remember my ethics class mentioned a once-distinguished jurist named Martin Thomas Manton, who served on the Second Circuit until he resigned in 1939 due to bribery and was subsequently tried and convicted. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Thomas_Manton
Judge Kavanagh's $100K "baseball ticket debt" and his claim that "friends" paid it begs this same question.
This is the kind of appointment authoritarians/gangsters propose for the judiciary.
152
I’m surprised more isn’t being made of this. The stink is pretty hard to miss.
1
If this "anti-worker agenda" continues to produce a stunningly fast growing economy and record low unemployment, then I'll take it.
6
@Southern Man Hopefully you're in the top .01% so you're really taking it. If you are "stunned" by the economic growth you should be getting used to it, since it was just as stunning for three quarters during the Obama administration. And remember that this record low unemployment is accompanied by record low employment participation. And hopefully you don't have any children who will suffer from Trump's needless and reckless increase in the deficit, as well as his evisceration of environmental and worker safety regulations. But what continues to mystify me is how anyone could possibly support someone who lies so often about everything and never admits it.
70
@Bob Allen The article is really about Kavanaugh, not Trump. Contrary to your assumption, I am not a Trump supporter. However, I am a supporter of Supreme Court justices who fully accept that the US is in fact a Constitutional Republic, rather than a pure democracy.
There are a lot of people employed in China who do not benefit much from all that growth and jobs.
1
It never ceases to amaze me how far so many Americans are willing to go to undermine their own interests. I think if you step back, the common theme to most of Republican policy is things have gotten out of hand, we have gone too far in protecting the environment , protecting workers, and protecting consumers. And the average worker has been convinced that the answer to that is to totally give up those protections. Unions are bad, employers should be allowed to run their business unimpeded. Farmers and corporations should not be hindered by environmental regulations. And let the consumer beware should rule the day. And, along with taking away impediments to the free market, we should also make it nearly impossible for the average person to get any compensation when they are hurt by the lack of protections. I get that sometimes, a lot of the time some would argue, we don't see the forest for the trees. But what is happening is the pendulum has swung to the other extreme. And now the only option workers will have is to again show up at the owners' homes in the middle of the night with torches ablaze. Demanding to be heard, recognized, and treated more fairly. I just wonder when these folks will recognize that the product doesn't live up to all the hype. And the car in their driveway is a true lemon. But they no longer have any recourse. Because they were convinced by their heroes to give that away.
62
you say convinced, I say hoodwinked.
in the end, does it matter?
1
"Kavanaugh is, to put it bluntly, an anti-worker radical, opposed to every effort to protect working families from fraud and mistreatment."
Last night, for the first time, I heard the words "Robert Bork" or other failed SCOTUS nominees in reference to Brett Cavanaugh.
The nominees vast trove of writings are beginning to scare even Republicans who have rarely met a reactionary justice they didn't love.
And yes, Kavanaugh is reactionary, not forward thinking. Like many of the more gilded echelons of Republican elites, Kavanaugh regards the government--its laws and protections--as an impediment to the continued protection of entities with wealth --individuals and corporations.
That his writings include a seeming bottomless pit of protecting those with power over those who don't-- in my view-- make him unfit for SCOTUS.
195
@ChristineMcM "That his writings include a seeming bottomless pit of protecting those with power over those who don't-- in my view-- make him unfit for SCOTUS." Why else do you think he was nominated?
2
Trump voters don't even know who Kavanaugh is or that there is an open seat on the Supreme Court. They do know, however, that Kim Kardashian just tweeted that she loves Donald Trump, and, that's what matters now Paul. So, relax. Watch the movie Idiocracy to understand the fundamentals of what is happening in American Democracy.
109
Finally, someone who distills this horrible Trump mess into the simplest and most accurate truth. Michael, I have been saying this all along. That, there is always hope in the coming elections.
@Michael
My friends and I for sure know who Mr Kavanaugh is, and think that references to the President and his appointees as being lawless and uncaring are hypocritical pre-election mantras.
@Michael And these same people also salivate when Kim said she was naked when Donald called. But, then again, they salivated when he publicly said, "My daughter is hot! But I can't marry her," not to mention all that such a statement implies.
Hopefully, Democrats get their messaging right in time for the midterms. TV ads should be asking voters to look at their paycheck and see if the Republican tax cuts helped them. The little money they did give to workers is spread so thin people barely noticed. Dems can also make headway with healthcare. Dr. Krugman is exactly right: Trump conned the voters into believe he would help them. He's done exactly the opposite. Push that message, Dems, and don't take your foot off the gas. It's not about what we're NOT doing, it's about what Trump and Republicans ARE doing.
77
If the court does not represent the will of a majority of the people it would be illegitimate. That would lead to attempts to correct it by increasing the size, instituting term limits etc.
7
Term limits for Supreme Court justices? Amen!!! These people reign too long and are too powerful.
In the days before our scalding partisan political environment there were more reasonable outcomes to their decisions. Now everything is coded in decisions along party lines.
One of the remarkable things about the USA is that we have no labor party. We have two business parties. The "laborers" are staunch defenders of property rights. Even those who have close to zero assets want to preserve their right to keep them, if they ever get rich.
It is not like that in Europe or many other countries. It is a great strength in some ways, but also a mystery.
29
Kavanaugh is a character straight from the Koch/Scaife/Olin/et al. foundations' playbook v.2.0: influence law school education and judicial selections to support their pro-business at everyone else's expense agenda. Once appointed, there is no accountability.
Buying candidates, gerrymandering and otherwise suppressing unwanted votes is messy and the results are variable. Seating an activist conservative judge (sorry, one who channels the thoughts of long deceased Founding Fathers), to SCOTUS no less, is much tidier and cost effective. Jane Mayer's "Dark Money" describes the process and rationale with frightening precision. Throw in an obstructionist Republican Senate majority leader (only one elected official to be bought) when an occasional Democrat is elected President and you have the perfect formula for an entrenched oligarchy masquerading as a democracy.
Sad...for the rest of us.
147
@Ray Zielinski, Thank you. I couldn't have put it better myself.
The wealth imbalance of the U.S. has surpassed that of Mexico. Mexico! @Ray Zielinski
@Ray Zielinski
Read also "Democracy in Chains".
If it is a solid assertion that Trump has performed a sting on working class voters, an assertion that can be backed by evidence, then why don’t the Democrats take this as the core theme in simple, straight forward messages to voters in the run-up to the next elections?
92
@T.K.
Because the theme is not simple, and the audience is not listening.
Quantum field theory is of great import, is representative of a great deal of the physical phenomena that we observe, and the math is symbolically compact.
Yet try and convince 2nd graders of its importance.
When you educate the populace poorly, and dangle celebrity as the ultimate in personal success, complex issues of society, the environment, technology, and political power, are ignored in favor of prejudices, greed, and exploitation.
When you prize self-sufficiency and grit, but do not allow the populace the tools to produce, design, and innovate, you find avarice, intolerance, and egotism.
When voters find they are living hand to mouth, they do not read the fine print on the ballot.
1
@T.K.: Because these voters have been brainwashed by Fox News (an outlet that probably would not be allowed in Australia) that facts and evidence and what fact-based outlets are broadcasting, is "Fake News". Trump literally told them to not believe what they see and hear. Nothing is simple and straightforward in a climate in which the truth and facts have the same status as emotions, opinions and gut feelings. The only way to convince many Trump voters of the fact that they'll burn their fingers if they hold them to a flame, is to have them hold their fingers to a flame...
@T.K. It's a good idea and, to be fair, a number of Democrats are trying to do this. But when your opponents are as unscrupulous and well-financed as the Republican propaganda machine, it's an uphill battle, to say the least.
Little that Trump says and does originates in his mind: he's essentially a monkey see/hear monkey do/say puppet who, regrettably, is a know-nothing president desperate to keep flapping his mouth. Recently I noted that one of his tweets threatening Iran was, oddly enough, well written (though utterly blockheaded). I concluded there was no way Trump wrote it, and sure enough: days later this newspaper surmised that John Bolton was behind Trump's explosion of inventive toward Teheran. Monkey hear, monkey do: A watchdog group recently found close correlations between Trump's caroming on Twitter from subject to subject and Fox News content. For all his posturing as a "leader," Trump is mostly a follower dependent upon cues from those around him. Unfortunately, he has surrounded himself with the worst from the used car lot of ideological lemons.
220
@Mark Hugh Miller I can't be the only one starting to hear drum beats and talk of attacking Iran. We have seen this playbook before; get into a nice war, make your friends a lot of money (they will remember you later) and get re-elected, because Americans never change horses in mid-war. By next year I suspect the drumbeats will be audible to everyone.
1
@Mark Hugh Miller Puppet, and not just Russia's.
@Mark Hugh Miller
Dan Scavino, White House Director of Social Media, writes many of Trump’s tweets. The ones with more complex sentence structure and better vocabulary.
"If Trump manages to install Kavanaugh, he’ll help institutionalize these anti-worker policies for decades to come."
Another step toward the subjugation of employees--not to be confused with workers--some are self-employed--their own bosses.
But employees are subject to the dictates of their bosses for the livelihood of their families. Trumpies--Kavanaugh included--want abject dependence and obedience for the cheapest price--and gratitude to boot.
"Jobs jobs jobs" is spin for reducing employee rights, expanding employer rights--and other atrocities.
"Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage...It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder...It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts...television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play....the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials... it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." --Robert Kennedy
GDP is indeed gross.
115
Thank you Professor Krugman. As always, you have crystallized the Trump (and Republican) anti-worker agenda in terms anyone can understand.
Why is it that Democrats have such a difficult time speaking in these simple terms and providing concrete examples like you have done, and why do they let people be hoodwinked by the disingenuous, focus tested messaging from the right?
116
@Sambam
They are hoodwinked because they let themselves be. To them the important issues are gays, blacks, abortion, socialism, the bogeymen of the right. They sell out to those who promise that the minorities won't be tolerated, that walls will be built, that their supremacy will be guaranteed.
LBJ said it best "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
1
@Skip Moreland, I totally agree with you. But if we look a little further down the road, that "lowest white man" will have exactly what he desired: no immigrants to take the jobs the lowest white man would not accept
which will result in employers begging to let the immigrants back in and the benefits the minorities ( actually more benefits go to whites than minorities ) currently get will be cut way back until the "lowest white man" realizes their paychecks aren't going to increase requiring them to demand the benefits be returned. So until that time arrives, who will the "lowest white man" blame if no one is left to scapegoat? Certainly not the Republicans. All they did was throw the "freeloaders" overboard. But they also made the holes in the boat bigger. Making sure the boat still sinks. And eliminated life jackets as well. Happy sailing "lowest white man"!
@Walking Man
Employers are already upset about the immigration attacks. Farmers and businesses rely on immigrations to do jobs that no americans will do already.
Healthcare is another field where the pay is so low and the work backbreaking that most people refuse to do it. And there is a huge shortage of staff at many nursing homes.
And no the wages are not going to go up, they are purposely kept as low as possible by economic policies and the the destruction of most unions.
But then again, the republican base has ignored their economic situation for voting purposes because of the red meat issues that are thrown to them.
All those abortion, gay, black, etc need to be defeated and only the republicans will fight to make america white and christian again
Betrayal is the ongoing theme of the Trump administration. One of Trump's first executive actions was to permit coal waste to be dumped into waterways in West Virginia, a betrayal of the environment and the health of those in the region.
Another early action was Trump's repeal of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces EO for federal contracts.
Many of the advisory boards across the government such as the experts advising worker safety issues for OSHA, those for the FDA DoE, on HIV/AIDS, and others were disbanded.
Coal miners are exposed to serious health and safety hazards. Many industries and fields depend on federal safety regulations and legal recourse.
With Kavanaugh's views, we seem to be rolling back to 19th century, pre-union days for worker conditions, hazards, and liability.
51
The contradictions abound in every nook and corner of Our thinking; when large Restructuring programs are announced that decimate workers that leave them with nothing, the stock market cheers and no one points out the deeper malaise that is embedded in the system. Capital has replaced everything, the ability to discern right from the wrong.
Why only blame political appointments, the very fact that workers and families have been denied the basic right to the minimum escalation of wage that should beat the inflation at least, says volumes about our society that is so selective about its general sense of equity.
Capital and the sense of equity seems to be at odds.
23
The real question that Trump supporters need to ask is how many jobs have been created during last year in much touted Steel and Coal mines. Perhaps just a few thousand if that much. Compare that to hundreds of thousands in new tech industries like solar, wind, research and development in science and technology and internet. So they need to ask themselves what kind of visionary leader this country needs which is good for their future and future of their children.
There is no question that our political leaders of both parties have been extremely stupid in terms of trade and our business leaders have been too greedy and exported major chunk of our jobs to other countries. But the methods employed by present administration are completely flawed, without any strategic thinking and are fraught with perils for our country and specially for our farmers and auto sector. In fact there is every possibility that the farmers may loose the markets and customer permanently because the buyers- many of them governments may permanently find alternate sources because of US policies.
12
The GOP bears some responsibility for Trump. Years of convincing a large swath of the population to vote opposite their economic interests and the 2008 depression created a vulnerability to Trump. A collateral supreme affront to some, the establishment GOP ushered in a black President. Teflon Don plays the same game. The game remains rigged in favor of the wealthy.
10
And, of course, Judge Kavanaugh's equally expansive views on executive power amount to a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for Donald Trump. Kavanuagh believes a President can fire a Special Counsel for cause and not have to obey a subpoena from him. Just in case you were wondering why Donald Trump wants him on the Supreme Court where he'll be the deciding vote as both judge and jury on issues stemming from the Russia investigation. What this amounts to is Donald Trump picking the swing vote on his jury which is a crime called "jury tampering." Given the thickening cloud of potential criminality (which is what "collusion" amounts to: "a secret agreement ...for an illegal...purpose") swirling around Trump, the last thing he should be allowed to do is to pick the judge and juror who will decide his fate. As bad as Judge Kavanuagh is in his views, it is clearly conflict of interest and likely obstruction of justice for his nomination to proceed until the Special Counsel's investigation concludes and the legal issues regarding Donald Trump are resolved.
38
"There’s growing evidence that wage stagnation in America – the very stagnation that angers Trump voters — isn’t being driven by impersonal forces like technological change; to an important extent it’s the result of political changes that have weakened workers’ bargaining power."
Fool me once, shame on you, President Trump.
Fool me twice, shame on Fox and the GOP.
Fool me three or more times, the price of being a Trump supporter.
Brought to us by Donald J. Trump and his weapons of mass deceit.
51
When and if Democrats regain power, they have to expand the Court. The Gorsuch seat was stolen, Trump was likely elected with the illicit aid of a foreign dictator. Additionally, he failed to win the popular vote. There is no moral or constitutional reason why a majority of Americans have to live for decades under a judicially imposed right wing agenda they do not support.
27
Trump didn't betray them. The DNC betrayed them. Trump is the result of this betrayal, but the bankers and their mouthpieces in the party keep bleating the same line.
5
@John: Would Neil Gorsuch be on the SC if Hillary Clinton had won? Would the tax heist for the rich have been passed? Would the ACA have been undermined instead of strengthened? Would consumer and environmental protections have been hollowed out? Would the courts have been stacked with reactionary judges? Would children have been separated from their asylum seeking parents at the Mexico border? Yout false equivalence is growing a beard like Methuselah's...
2
@Anna: We would have had Neil Gorsuch (D) instead of Neil Gorsuch (R) with a different skin color and the same politics. Yes, the 1% would still be paying the same 55% of taxes payed by citizens as now. Would Hilary's puppeteers had the same impact? Yes, with different words.
Would children be separated from their parents? No, the bankers really want cheap labor, and illegal immigrants are exploitable.
@John LOL
Trump is betraying his voters? Not at all. Of course they'll be harmed by his moves designed to gut the public coffers to aid the 1%, but they really don't care. They don't mind living off the largesse of the Blue states' tax revenues, and fiscal responsibility has never been in their lexicon. They're a net financial drain on this country, and they know it.
So why isn't this a betrayal? Because Trump voters made a pact with the Devil, and so far, the Devil has kept his end of the bargain. Trump voters wanted only one thing from him -- to be a "president" who tells them that as whites, they're superior to the rest of us, and only their rights matter. Trump's policies could send millions of Trump voters into homelessness, if they lose their Medicare and Social Security benefits. Let me repeat. They don't care. Even though these decisions would be entirely Trump's, they will continue to spout the lies that Democrats, or Obama, or Hillary, or Bernie, or Liz is really to blame... These voters aren't ignorant. They know Trump is lying to them. And by now, they know they're lying to themselves.
But they need to understand that the rest of us see them for who they really are. A group of people who are happy to see this nation turn into an ignorant, racist backwater of a country, where only the very rich can live decent lives. This is the deal they'll make every time, so long as their "president" tells them that as whites, they're the "real Americans".
63
Let's face it, at this point, any reasonable person has to say the average Trump supporter is not only ignorant, but revels in their ignorance. There's no point in trying to reason with them.
Rather than waste time on those who are willfully and joyfully ignorant, much better to focus energy and effort on mobilizing everyone who recognizes Trump and his Republican enablers for what they really are to vote on Nov 6.
100
It doesn't matter what Trump does to hurt his base they will still be true to him - at the loss of much money but who's counting. Certainly not the base. The tariffs are and will hurt them too. Trade wars will be another hand in their wallets but these people don't seem to care. When they look at Trump they see a god - a very crooked god but that is what they see. The wealthy have worked very long to lower the workers' wages and they have been successful. I really wonder how his base can live because before long they will have almost nothing but they are fooled by certain thing Trump does like pretending to bring the mines back etc. They still do not realize Trump is a con man and a very good one. He got rich in the first place from his father and by cheating workers. He would promise certain wages and then at the end of the project he refused to pay workers. He's just another low life. There is nothing nice about him. He can shake your hand and pick pocket you at the same time. He's making plenty of money from his business while he is president. That is really dirty. He sets you up and then crashes over your head. Dangerous game. Wonder what he has in store for Americans. So many law suits I can't count them all.
23
@BKC... As Lyndon B. Johnson used to say... "If you can convince a Southern White skinned person that they are superior to any darker skinned person... you can pick their pocket all day long and they won't do a thing to stop you."
1
Trump voters don't think, they feel. They hate the same things that Trump hates. What they don't know is, Trump only likes rich people. Great picture of his supporters.
49
@sdt
Or what Trump says he hates or loves... just for effect to get the red state masses behind him so he can do the rich and/or Putins bidding
The checks and balances in the US voting system need te be re-evalueated.
Trump will betray anyone or anything that threatens him. See if Donny Jr. gets protected, when push comes to shove in the Mueller investigation. POTUS -- and I shudder when I type those words to refer to Trump -- will sell his own blood down the river in a Queens nanosecond.
30
as if D.T cares one wit about the American worker! or retirees for that matter.just one
more bunch of losers and parasites to the
likes of him and Ryan and McConnell. no
offense meant,but these sorts of columns
are getting repetitive to the point of real
boredom. the way to fight back is to vote
for realistic alternatives to him and his
arrogant acolytes.
10
The people who like Trump don't like him because of anything he does or says he'll do; they love everything he says and does (even when it directly hurts them) because it came from him. It's important to understand that cult mentality. The Dems either need to count on a mass deprogramming (unlikely) or a counter cult with a more benevolent cult leader to come on the scene. Attempts to treat voters as rational animals is a sure road to madness.
15
Trump is a fraudulent populist and above all a deceitful demagogue who appealed to the anger and resentments of blue collar workers with empty slogans. He is an extremely weak and cowardly leader who succumbed to the Republican establishment with orthodox Republican tax policies and anti union and pro business elite deregulations of worker and consumer protections. What happened to infrastructure spending? What happened to the most wonderful healthcare plans?
Thus it is not surprising that he chose in Brett Kavanaugh a radically pro business ideologue who would hurt blue collar workers and favor the business elite.
It is typical of this con artist and very illegitimate and unqualified President! He has no real concern for American labor at all! He is just a rich somewhat shady real estate tycoon who has never treated his workers well.
24
It all started with Goldwater.....
Southern Strategy. Racism as appeal to blue collar workers.
RACISM = Republicanism
37
Trump not really on the side of the gullible rubes that put him into office? I'm shocked...SHOCKED! I thought that kind of stuff only goes on in the drama heavy...(scripted)...reality TV shows!
16
Conservative elites. Democrats need to start using that term every day.
16
70 years of union busting and anti-worker activity are coming to fruition and the people who will be hurt the most support the traitor. I also can’t believe that the rank and file at FOX are this stupid too. Traitor Trump is doing what he does best, destroying everything. Putin must be pleased.
80
Dr. Krugman, the white working class voters who elected this president will stand by him, come hell or high water. They’ll suffer any wage decrease or stagnation and tolerate any abuse to stand by their man. Their mantra is “don’t listen to what he says, look at what he does”. If he tells his base that trade wars and tariff fights will make America great again they’ll swallow their misgivings and go along with him. The president has led his faithful to the edge of the chasm and they don’t yet see the danger.
Judge Kavanaugh was nominated to protect the president’s powers and, if need be, expand them under the guise of executive privilege. Kavanaugh’s hostility to working class voters bears scrutiny and his lengthy paper trail is why Mitch McConnell frowned on the president’s Court choice. All sorts of inconvenient contradictions may pop along the way to Kavanaugh’s confirmation. McConnell could be getting a down payment for the dirt he did to Merrick Garland.
The president is interested in his Supreme Court legacy as the Chief Executive who shoved the Court far to the right for the remainder of this century. That is his only concern, not his base of voters still can’t see the forest for the trees.
11
It all goes back to St. Ronnie of Reagan and the blue collar workers who got baited and switched to republicanism. He would have loved this nomination. I would point out that Justice Kennedy has not exactly been a paragon of worker's rights. You've seen one anti labor supreme, you've seen them all.
15
My guess is that the well-educated who can follow Paul's clear description are not the primary beneficiaries of the policies he advocates. The level of discourse at Trump rallies is actually more appropriate to the level of political understanding of his base. I guess it does make for a career path for those journalists who try to make clear to avid readers how the Trump base understands all sorts of things that actually affect them; China, tariffs, walls, tax breaks for the wealthy, dirty air and water. I sympathize with the many highly charged new candidates who try to articulate a world view that Trump supporters can identify with.
4
@WHM
And yet, the majority of voters with a college degree are Trump's base.
The wealthy donors who laughed along with Hillary's deplorable comment, are the Democrat base.
3
@
Bible schools are not educational institutionss. Accepting silly dogma is not learning.
@ebmem
Polls I have seen show Trump’s base are non-college degree whites.
Trump's judicial appointments are fruit of a poisoned tree.
13
The only think I'll take issue with is the assertion that the public supports worker protections so strongly. Many working class people have turned their backs on unions. The right wing has been so effective smearing the unions and eroding the rights of unions that "the base" has come to believe they're evil. But without them it's literally every man for himself. That's compounded by the what's-in-it-for-me glorification of the the individual. There is also a belief that all the worker protections that are needed have been done, so why have unions. Very few seem to believe that what's been done can be undone, but that's what people like Kavanaugh get paid to do.
But the problem is that the reason for unions has never gone away, and their need is a great now as at any time in the past. With automation penetrating deeper into the skill base, attacks on worker rights, persistently stagnant wages, and entire non-union new industry sectors, there's a lot of work to be done.
If working people really believe that each one as an individual can influence any of this, they're nuts. But trump people seem OK with giving up some of their pay or jobs if that's what it takes to offset higher costs of trump's protectionism. That's plain weird. But it's an indication of how divorced the worker has become from his own interests. If they each want to go it alone - Joe Doaks standing up to David Koch on Koch's terms - fine. Let's see how that turns out.
22
@Stevenz
The reasons private sector unions are down to 8% are twofold. Unions that were unable to partner with companies to increase profitability and productivity drove their employers out of business and the businesses are now operating in other countries.
Successful companies treat their employees well. If unionized, they have a cordial relationship with their union leaders and memberships. If not unionized, the workers have no need to unionize.
The Koch brothers have several unionized businesses, and do not seem to have big public issues with them. We would be certain to hear about them if there were strikes or any negative information coming out of Koch union operations.
Too bad your analysis is based on prejudice rather than fact.
8
@ebmem
I would be interested to know if the Koch brothers union business stick around. My experience has been that the real business is sold off and the union pension remains with the company...which evetually goes into BK. The “conservatives have been doing this deliberately for 70 years and they can proudly recite the justification that the union bankrupted the company, they fail to mention they sold the real business out of the company years before.
1
I don't see why Trump would betray his base. I mean wouldn't.
287
@de Tuinsma
"I don't see why Trump would betray his base. I mean wouldn't."
You mean his real base - the ultra-rich.
So which historical version of America will be made great again? The old version where coal miners and factory workers went toe to toe with oligarchs, only to be squashed like bugs? Or the more modern version where collective bargaining had a place at the table to negotiate for a living wage and benefits for a burgeoning middle class? Given all that has transpired, and in view of the Kavanaugh nomination, my money is on the former, not the latter.
18
Another way Trump plans to get away with it is to blame others when the economy tanks. He has already started blaming the Fed and our trading partners. Once the economy heads south, he will claim to have the right plan if only the people will help him get the troublemakers out of the way. He'll say that when his policies were allowed to work, we got 4.1%; then the Fed, the Dems, the Chinese and the EU got in the way and tanked his great works. He will ask for support to stop those bad guys and allow him to do the great work he has shown he can do.
Kavanaugh will provide cover when he starts fiddling with the Fed.
37
@WJL That would take too much thought. He will probably blame Hillary, Obama, and the fact that his stupid wall hasn't been built.
9
Every assertion made against Trump is equally applicable to Obama.
I voted for them both, hoping for the best, but assuming they’d sell out to Wall Street and the corporations as soon as possible to cash in - just like every president since Eisenhower.
Wait ... can I say something good about Eisenhower ? After all he and his mistress and government employee maintained a sexual relationship for years.
5
@Informed Voter, Sotomayor and Kagan are in no way comparable to Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. You're pushing a false equivalence.
What about Trump made you believe he was pro-worker? I'm genuinely curious.
17
64 year old home health care worker here. As an example of blue-collar Republicans being sure Obama and the ACA are evil, I was confronted on the street returning from a patient's home to my car (which has a bumper sticker in support of the ACA) by a young white landscaper who was mowing nearby. He lit into me because "I can't get insurance, make too little for Obamacare to much for Medicaid." I tried to gently explain that he would be eligible for Medicaid if our former Republican governor and legislature in NC had accepted Medicaid expansion. To no avail, he was still sure Obama was conspiring against him.
227
4Katydid: This is a powerful example of something I've encountered many times: an absolute inability to hear anything, no matter how brief, simple and decisive, that contradicts what the hearer believes. I have no idea how to deal with it.
64
@Thomas These are the same people who are for the Affordable Care Act but against ObamaCare, and who think that Hillary should be impeached.
@4Katydid
Racism + Trumpism perchance?
Professor Krugman's essay needs to be posted in every union hall and break room in the nation. Wage workers who voted for Trump thinking he was going to do something to help labor need to wake up. Kavanaugh's appointment is just one of the ways Trump is bleeding working families to enrich billionaires.
252
Life requires brains AND guts, Mr. Krugman.
3
His supporters will continue to sacrifice their own well being so long as they believe African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, LGBTQ folks, and other various hated Others are harmed more.
56
You make some good points, but I think tribalism far more than populism explains why Trump’s approval number have changed very little in the last year. Sans tribalism, anyone who voted for Trump and had done some due diligence on the guy’s performance in office (and reading this op-ed is a good start) would not—could not—still support the guy.
14
@Huge Grizzly
Roll back of regulations [legislated by Congress], reduction of the corporate tax rate, enforcement of immigration law, ending the Paris accord, enforcing Russian sanctions, not supporting the repeal of the Magnitsky Act [John Podesta was taking money to lobby for its repeal while he was Hillary's campaign manager], pressing to push back the last minute decree by Obama that CAFE standards be accelerated despite the ineffectiveness and high cost with zero scientific basis, attempting to end Obamacare, even though big medicine is resisting.
Support of Trump policy has nothing to do with tribalism, it is based on satisfaction that he is working toward honoring his campaign promises and enforcing the rule of law.
In contrast, the resistance movement is pure tribalism. Democrats, frustrated that they lose elections, decided to undermine the elected government. Even Republicans waited until two years into the Obama administration before they used their limited political power to resist his attempt the transform the country into a third world country.
Apparently, being a Democrat involves a mental illness that causes Democrats to project their own bigotry onto others.
This editorial should be in the Tennessean, not the NYT.
And stick it in the sports or religion section where it might get read.
258
Why are Democrats allowing this confirmation hearing to go forward when the Senate requires a quorum consisting of 51 members to conduct a hearing? Republicans only have 50.
Obama did not fight back when Republicans blocked his Supreme Court nomination, allowing them to steal the seat. Now Democrats refuse to use a Senate rule to stop Kavanaugh.
Is this how an opposition party should act?
359
@RLS
You are profoundly confused. Hearings are conducted in the committees which evaluate those nominated, not by an in session Senate.
It does require a quorum in order for the Senate to be in session. In order to lack a quorum, all 49 Democrats would have to vacate the Senate chamber. If the Democrats wish to block the full Senate from conducting hearings after the nomination has left committee, just one present would constitute a quorum, at which point Republicans could call for a vote they would win 50 to one, a vast majority. Or they could fly McCain in from his deathbed and Kavanaugh would be confirmed even with a few unlikely Republican defections.
Obama complained non-stop when his nominee was not confirmed. What other action do you think he was capable of taking, or what could Trump do if the Senate decided not to confirm his nominees?
Obama had the option of making a recess appointment of Garland, which is what Eisenhower did in appointing three SCOTUS justices with a recalcitrant Senate under the control of Democrats. Fortunately for him, the Senate flipped and his recess appointments were later confirmed.
Here's a truth: Republicans accept the rules, even when they don't like the rules or the rules operate against their partisan interests.
Democrats have hissy fits and say the rules are unfair or make up new rules when they don't get their way.
2
Actually no, it's the Republicans who do not accept rules. Here's a real truth - when Republicans don't like the way the rules of our Democratic institutions work, they destroy those rules. Mitch McConnell, as you very well know went nuclear and now the SCOTUS nomination only requires a simple majority. This overturns decades of bipartisan cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. This is similar to the overwhelming use of gerrymandering, mostly by Republicans, in order to let their weak candidates pick the voters that they want in order to obtain and retain power indefinitely. This is not what made this country great, and Republicans, like Trump, are tearing down everything of worth in this country in order to fulfil of their side of the bargain with their obscenely wealthy donors.
1
Riiighht... Like the time the Republicans wanted to deploy the Nuclear Option - thereby lowering the threshold for advancing Supreme Court nominations from 60 votes to a simple majority in order to essentially hand Neil Gorsuch his seat on SCOTUS - but DIDN'T because they, bless them, respect "the rules" regardless of the effect said rules have on their agenda. Hardy-har-har!
Personally, I'm far more offended by the idea of offering a huge, one-time tax cut to the wealthy (in today's news). I expected Kavanaugh and I certainly don't expect Trump's base to understand or care a whit about how that might affect them.
10
Why do we keep going over old ground? We are painfully aware of who and what 45 is.
Our efforts should no longer be about describing various symptoms of our disease, but how to return to health. And, yes, it does seem impossible to do so when tens of millions of Americans worship the man and trust his minions causing our national malady.
It's odd. Almost a distant cousin of the Stockholm Syndrome. Instead of breaking our chains, we wax eloquent on the pains they cause us, describing them ad nauseam.
Maybe it's analysis paralysis.
20
@Jim Muncy We all have our Trump followers, even here in New Zealand. If you scratch the surface you will find they are climate change deniers, anti women's rights and population control, against alternate energy sources, saving our biodiversity, science and facts. Indeed, they are against any efforts to save the planet. When confronted with the abyss, they will jump rather than save themselves or the planet. It looks more and more like a idealogical war.
18
@Jim Muncy - Exactly! POTUS's base needs to hear from his opposition about what they will work to do for them: jobs, higher wages, health care, education--all the good things POTUS is working hard to destroy. We all know that he is a bad person. Enough already!
We need to stop futilely throwing stones at this president, because by doing so we are playing his game. Hearing his name from any source, for any reason, is what he loves, it keeps the ball in the air; let's stop saying it. Call him POTUS, or "this president," or anything but his name. But keep it clean.
Let's all remove the nasty "T" word from our vocabularies.
5
@RLW
Yes, if they wanted to know, or cared about the truth, they could see the light, too. But, like implacable sports teams, they'd rather fight any and all opponents. They just don't see the "other" as their brother; they seem him as a bother.
There is a confluence of events that this republican administration has done that will lead to another huge bubble burst. People within and outside (backers) are already moving huge sums of money, waiting to pounce and buy up the remnants for pennies on the dollar.
The economy cannot support trillions more on the nation's credit card while siphoning off wealth from the poor and middle classes to the top 1% and corporations. All of this is happening within the backdrop that the new republican taxes (tariffs) are eventually going to hit businesses (especially the base) quite hard. The administration is already trying to use the taxpayer's money (tens of billions) to pick even more winner and losers by propping up farmers. It won't last.
Now the President is going to put forth another Supreme Court justice (after having stolen one from Democrats already) that will essentially lock in all of the above and more. (let alone shield the President from impeachment and the like)
This coming election (midterms) might be the only possible opportunity to put a check on the above, and then reverse it all in 2020.
Pay attention now. This is your future.
199
@FunkyIrishman: Nobody is ever ENTITLED to a seat on SCOTUS, from either party.
Obama nominated Garland, as was his right as POTUS -- and Congress declined to consider that nomination by confirmation -- as is THEIR right.
Think about this: let's say Trump has two terms and in his last year -- 2024 -- as a lame duck -- is about to nominate his FOURTH Justice....another hard right conservative.
Congress by then is majority Democrat -- and refuses to consider the nomination until Trump is out of office in January 2025.
Would you still object to Congress refusing to confirm? or think it was hunkey-dorey, to avoid another Trump appointment?
Be honest!
2
For a whole host of reasons, including but not limited to the ones you've mentioned Dr. Krugman, Brett Cavanaugh is simply not fit to sit at the same bench as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan and Earl Warren.
33
It's clear to me that the GOP consists of cult followers & predators. Rational discourse is counter-productive, causing cultists to dig their heels in ever deeper.
Fiasco is about the only reality check possible.
We saw this in the 60's, when the US as champion of moral authority ran into stories of incredible incompetence and corruption coming back home, along with the bodies of sons, classmates & neighbors. Young men who refused to be put in harm's way for such bogosity had enough (actual) skin in the game to confront the patriotism cult.
Those who stayed in the cult became the focus of Nixon's Southern Strategy. They and their offspring are still in it with the same very successful cult machinery still at work.
The Iraq war shifted the dynamic for a while, but complacency and ineffective messaging on one side combined with relentless & well-financed Southern Strategy messaging has changed the balance again.
In the very long term, changes take place "one death at a time" as the saying goes. I'm not hopeful about the short run. Hope I'm proved wrong in 3+ months.
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" I was just following orders ". That defense never works, and THIS Guy helped to write it, concerning torture via Bush. Therefore, a perfect choice for Trump. The only thing he's missing is the " For Sale " affixed to his suit, or perhaps his backside. Disgusting. Seriously.
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It doesn't really matter, because the average person who voted for Trump will NOT change their minds in the face of overwhelming evidence. They have consistently voted AGAINST their best interest and are hopeless.
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By the same token, Brett Kavanaugh should understand his liability with Trump equivalent to the Sea World worker who knew the risks of the job when she was the victim of a killer whale. Kavanaugh is no innocent but is going full throttle into the mouth of his predator. He doesn’t think workers need protection in this oligarchical hegemony? His thinking is as flawed as the faux president he desires to serve. It stinks to high heavens.
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The photo that accompanies this piece shows at least 15 deliriously happy Trump-worshippers at one of his rallies taking pictures of him with their phones. I wonder, if someone hacked the Android and iPhone camera apps so their screens went blank if they detected an orange person in the frame, would it be possible to wake any of these 15 people up from their stupor? Russia, if you're listening ... we could use a little help here.
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The real problem is in persuading perhaps one-third of the 45% of America that supports Trump that he really does not support them. It is not elitist to suggest that most of them are not reading Paul Krugman or anyone else. They are watching Fox News.
The challenge for Democrats is to get themselves in front of these people , to talk to and with them, and to find the soft spot in their loyalty to Trump. It's likely to be their economic situation.
At some point, those supporters need to decide whether they would rather do without needed goods and services than to concede that maybe brown skinned people are not their enemy. Their enemy is rich white people who want to keep them subjugated and who use exploitive fake arguments about immigrants, gun rights, and abortion to do so.
One question that might be posed is, "The stock market has increased about 25% since Trump's inauguration, how much has your net worth gone up and how much has your gross income increased?"
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In terms of getting in front of groups to encourage voting for their interests, I would add our black community. With Obama out the door, many stayed home instead of voting. Maybe Trumps question to them, instead of asking "what do you have to lose?", should have been "what do you have to lose by NOT voting at all?".
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@M.i. Estner: by your logic.....45% of the population watches Fox News.
Boy, they will be thrilled to know that! only it is not true. Nielson says their aveage viewership is 1.3 million and has never exceeded 2.2 million. That can't explain 63 million votes for Donald Trump....what accounts for the OTHER 61 million votes?
Also, the lefty meme that this is about hatred of "brown people" is ridiculous and will provably backfire on you. Do you mean African American citizens? or H1Bs? or illegal aliens? Indian engineers? Chinese physicians?
Most decent law abiding US citizens are opposed to ILLEGL immigration. The left is in denial of this and needs to WAKE UP.
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A Supreme Court Justice that believes a "President" is entirely above the Law. What could possibly be wrong with THAT ???
Thanks, GOP. November. Seriously.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian Sorry don't think that is what he said. I believe he might have at some point implied that the President shouldn't have to faces charges while he was in office because it would be a distraction from his job. "Oh, excuse me judge the North Koreans have just launched nuclear tipped missiles at Los Angeles. I have to leave now to respond." Did he ever say that the President, according to to the Constitution could not be impeached? He never said the President was above the law (Constitution) he only implied that it might not be a good idea to distract him from his job.
Absolutely right, Paul Krugman! Thank you.
Too many Americans have grown numb to Trump's torrent of shameless lies. I sincerely hope the numbness wears off in time for them to vote against the Trump-defenders, come November.
However, we should all be just as indignant about the judicial appointments and nominations as we are about the lies.
We should be incandescent in our ire at the attack by Trump on such essentials to human survival as clean air. Potable water is a fundamental that we can no longer take for granted under Trump. But long after Trump is dead & buried, decisions made in courts that Trump handed over to extremists of his own ilk will continue to erode & degrade the most basic functionalities that sustain life in the USA.
This is one of the saddest, most daunting, most upsetting times in our history. And you are one of the most consistently engaged truth-tellers in our media, taking on this dangerous apprentice to a dictator & his corrupt sycophants. God bless you for that! And all those who stand with you against this evil man & his idolaters!
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Kavanaugh is from the new breed of conservatives, plucked from law firms to attend summer sessions where they are steeped in right wing reactionary dogma. Also, they are always fully active adherents to the Federalist society. This new breed are indeed "groomed", like Manchurian candidates.
Then, they do the bidding for the wealthy benefactors, as instructed. Is the money worth it? Apparently, it is. Truly pathetic and unoriginal.
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I hope that you will write a column titled "The economic consequences of Mr.Trump".
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Paul,
I hope that the Times will go through Judge Kavanaugh's opinions and sort them out by category. I am interested in his views on the people's interests vs the corporate interests on science issues like the environment, clean water, clean air, toxic wastes, global warming and occupational safety. I would also like to hear his views on the welfare state and the distribution of income and wealth. It seems like these categories and his views could be detected from his previous opinions.
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Kavanaugh is the GOP's dream, he is the St. Ronnie savior, their final victory over the New Deal, the campaign to give the working person independence and financial stability.
He is also the savior of those who think it costs them too much to keep the waters, air, and lands free of pollution and toxics. He is the friend of the credit industry that likes to find ways to keep you from paying off your bills, the company's that scam you with hidden fees, he is the final link in a new Taney Court.
However the public has no one to blame but themselves. Those union members that voted for Donald the Mad who are giving up workers benefits, benefits that workers took to the streets and died for, I never though I would see a union craftsman/woman vote for a republican in my lifetime.
The elevation of a sociopath to the presidency has shown just how cowardly most GOP legislators are, and how little they really care about the state of the country. We have seen these political plays before. We have a second coming of Il Duce and a great many denizens like it, civilization is too stressful for them, they want security and protection from all those things they do not have the mentality to understand.
Bigotry will prevail until it affects them personally, just as it did in Europe 80 years ago, their memories are devoid of constructive reasoning, reality will punish them.
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