The analysis is spot on, as usual for PK.
So what should the Dems do?
The Dems should embark on a root and branch campaign against the Quisling Republicans in the Senate.
Nancy Pelosi should come out swinging, saying:
"We have decided not to hold Impeachment hearings because, despite the fact that the Mueller Report by itself presents evidence which convicts Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors beyond a reasonable doubt, the craven Republican moral cowards in the Senate will never vote for conviction.
"In part because they are dyed-in-the-wool partisans, like Mitch McConnell, who will take public monies for horse breeders in Kentucky, despite the fact that thoroughbred horse breeding is a hobby of the filthy rich and contributes less than a wisp to the common weal; or because they are are incumbents who are scared that Trump will unleash his racist white hordes to primary them from the far right.
"In either case, they are oligarchic tools and are useless as public servants.
"So, from now until the election, we are running a campaign against Republicans in the Senate who would not, against all the evidence, vote to convict someone whose criminality leaps off the page.
"This will allow us to run a national campaign, but also a campaign in every state which currently harbors one of these cowards.
"And, oh boy can we name names."
The Republicans will scream and invoke the necessity of retaining comity among governmental institutions.
Yeah, Mitch, what comity?
161
The last two paragraphs of this article should give everyone pause. It would be useful how he expects American Democracy could possibly exit. Will Trump stage a coup. The coalition that elected Trump has some similarities to that which elected Hitler and Weimar Germany and today's Congress have a lot in common. One difference is the relative health of the U.S. economy, Lets hope and pray that we do not have a serious recession while Trump is still in office.
38
I believe it is time for the Republican Party to die.
Call it for what it is, the GOP has morphed into the John Birch Society, the ones we used to make fun of. It's not funny anymore.
ceterum censeo GOP esse delendam. Where is our Cato ?
Pray for a new Lincoln.
88
'Rich people have no country' - a Chinese saying (I'm told)
61
The special counsel was unable to interview the sitting president, who heads DOJ. He also could not interview Trump Jr? It seems clear that DOJ was ill suited to an investigation of a sitting president whom they could not indict. Indictment in the House is impeachment, with trial and conviction in the Senate. Impeachment is not birther conspiracy. If Trump won’t release his taxes because he is under audit, maybe the IRS could complete the audit. Or maybe he’ll have to release them under impeachment. Impeach and convict. But impeach first, then convict.
26
They're corrupt and complicit. Check out this story from Kentucky. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/pure-politics/2019/04/16/reactions-differ-after-news-russian-oligarch-is-investing-in-braidy-industries
20
Oligarchs United.....just like in Russia.
Nice GOPeople.
Remember in 2020.
54
Absolutely perfect photograph to accompany this opinion piece. Well cropped, and what an expression of adoration on Mitch McConnell's face.
29
Anyone who still insists on being called a Republican doesn't belong in Congress. The Democratic Party needs an opposition to keep them honest. Can anyone utter a sentence containing the words 'honest' and 'Republican' with a straight face?
Feckless Trumpian stooges, for a limited time only, it's still a free country. You're free to leave your satanic cult at any time before the vote to convict. Start your own party if you want.
Let's energize Trump's 'base'; he'll do it for us if we don't, so who cares?
20
Abortion? That is why millions of people support any GOP candidate.
22
By this time tomorrow this essay will get 4000 comments simply because the GOP is void of morality, character and Americanism. They are racist without soul or sense. They are collectively authoritarian without care of normal people or humanitarian needs. They need to crawl under a rock and grow mushrooms.
48
The tax cut and racial resentment people are solid with the GOP agenda. Others in the group that will ignore the criminal in office and the McConnell stonewalling are the religious factions that want tax funding for religious private schools and prayer (Christian) in public schools along with eliminating choice rights. Add another group of firearm people who oppose reasonable and responsible actions to reduce gun related deaths in the U.S. These folks will all be in that camp regardless of what happens to their healthcare, their retirement security, their employment security. Their objectives make them base donators and workers for the republicans. We have to do better if democracy can be rescued.
21
I hope that EVERY person that has taken the time to voice their horror about this administration remembers to VOTE!
33
It used to be said that Republicans didn't have the spine to stand up to trump. That is not correct. They go along with him because he is the perfect examplar of their values, distorted and twisted as they may be.
58
What you have is almost total corruption of values by one of your major parties and that includes seeing that money is not denied the freedom to fully express itself politically even as there is ongoing systematic voter suppression. What fills me with horror is the stream of thousands of ongoing appointments made for individuals (including judges) who will facilitate all this corruption of values on an ongoing basis. Let us celebrate the victories for goodness when we can find them, because the future looks like a very ;long ongoing challenge. Thank goodness for good institutions like NYT.
31
Women's rights. Reproductive rights. Rights for African-Americans, from protecting their right to vote to dismantling segregation. Religious pluralism. Gay rights. Gay marriage.
It is difficult to overstate how furious all this has made many so-called "conservatives." They were furious, and have been furious, for decades.
Remember one of Trumpism's basic beliefs? That "political correctness is destroying our country"? What they are referring to is the list I above.
Trump finally crossed the Rubicon and unleashed all that repressed anger. Now it is ok to be a racist. Now it is ok to be a bigot. The president every day gives permission and models how to let it all hang out.
And for the sake of all this pent-up anger and hatred, Trump and his base are more than happy to ally themselves with Putin.
All they know is, that American can hate again. And if an amoral and self-dealing man is the one who has opened that door, their blessing is upon him.
The danger to America is that for Trumpism, one happily would burn down our village if it means that all the grievances they have been stewing over for the past 60 years can be avenged.
"Make American Great Again" is just a polite way of the reactionary right to say, "Eliminate these people and ideas from society." Blood is on their mind.
After all, as Trump keeps telling us, his people have all the guns.
48
Our "democracy" is being transported into the American Apartheid system whereby a relatively small group of older, rich, conservative white men, i.e. the GOP establishment, is taking over by reapportioning election lines to create false majorities in states critical to the Electoral College so they can stay in power and make the rules to benefit themselves. Just today another example appears where there will be a 5-4 Supreme Court majority favoring the citizenship question on our Census next yr. to specifically scare Hispanics from answering their census forms to show a white majority in states where there is none so more neocon whites get elected into Congress to continue to cut taxes, decrease abortion rights for mostly poor women, and whittle away civil rights mainly affecting minorities and poor whites. And using their American Politburo Fox News blaring their prejudiced messages 24/7, they continue to brainwash their white electorate into continuing to vote them in. Frankly I see no way to stop them anymore which is a pretty scary thought.
26
Trump is busy lifting the public's wallet while the public remains transfixed by the latest episode of "Apprentice White House: Season 3".
Trump backs out of Iran deal, aims for no net Iran oil exports, Isarael is happy because it weakens Iran-Palestine connection, Saudi's are happy with their increased market share of oil, Trump-Kushner happy with the protection money they get from Saudi's, American big oil happy with higher oil prices and Fox viewers get to foot the bill at the pump while raging about the alternative energy hoax.
20
Paul Krugman's email today is most powerful indictment of Trump and the Republican establishment I can recall. Well done, sir.
Krugman:
But the real killer quotation from Moore’s record is his one-time declaration that “Capitalism is a lot more important than democracy.” What we learned over the last few days is that almost the entire Republican Party has the same view.
Imagine, “capitalism is more important than democracy.” An invitation for dictatorship to preserve the wealth and privilege of the donor class.
Capitalism was little more than a gleam in Adam Smith’s eye when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution establishing democracy as “The Great American Experiment.” A civil war was waged to preserve it. Now it is under threat by the very thing Adam Smith feared -- concentration of wealth.
They’ll have to rewrite the presidential oath of office if Trump gets re-elected. “Preserve, protect and defend capitalism from all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help me God.”
23
The Republican Party today is defined by what it is against: taxation of the wealthy, healthcare, people of color, immigrants, regulations, environmental protections, reproductive rights, alternate sexual identities, education . . .
It is all negative and that is what sells when an electorate is angry, frustrated and scared. The great irony is, Republican policies cause the plight of the electorate that has people angry frustrated and scared. It is a macro-scale Stockholm Syndrome. The more the Republicans grind the electorate, the more the electorate loves the Republicans.
25
Great work! Always!
8
Those ubiquitous flag lapel pins worn by Republicans should be replaced with dollar sign pins. "To thine own self be true..."
29
Thank you so very much for this unadulterated and honest expose of the god forsaken Republican Party. The only person more despicable than mr trump is mr McConnell. I have no idea what he tells himself to rationalize the destruction of our democracy. But whatever it is, it is either delusional or evil. I suspect trump is delusional and McConnell is just plain evil.
35
It's quite obvious to me that the Republicans want this country to be an oligarchy and throw any semblance of democracy out the window. It's amazing that anyone but the rich vote for them at all. Here in Mississippi people continually vote Republican out of racism and absurd religious dogma. They are very willing to go without any help as long as people of color don't have anything to better their lives. Abortion and saving Israel are also big issues.
21
If we don’t proceed with impeachment inquiries and trial the lesson learned by Trump (and GOP) is there are no consequential punishment for cheating and lying so why not just go “All In” and use every tool in the arsenal to rig the 2020 election? They’ve already demonstrated the ability and determination to restrict voting in some states.
And even if they manage to loose why not attempt a coup like Cohen testified about and refuse to leave after the election??? He’s not leaving unless in chains! Better start the war now before he gets too much power or it will be over for the late great US of A.
8
As an outsider (Australian) looking at American politics and society it seems corrupt beyond imagining.
Republicans care not one iota for their constituents but only their backers.
The president is morally and ethically a man without any thought beyond his survival.
Business in the end will pay the price for supporting this folly, when, and if the Democrats gain control.
It may not happen for a while but eventually it will, politics tends to reverse itself very now and then. One can only hope that for the American people this happens sinner rather than later.
9
2020 Trump victory will be brought to you by Electoral College + has voter suppression + Russialtax + Citizens United.
He will again win as a second place finisher.
GOP/Trump have created perminent minority rule in America. Can our democracy survive this again?
10
Reagan pushed tax cuts for the wealthy & benefit cuts for everyone else but at least he stood up to America's enemies & embraced her friends. Trump slashed taxes & benefits while attacking our friends & alliances & embracing our enemies.
9
Professor, please stop with the tax cut on the wealth rant, everyone got a AGI tax cut this year. I paid less in taxes this year than last; of course I don't benefit from the tax deductions that millions of Americans who make less than me get. When millions of Americans sell their homes, they get 300 to 600K in capital gains deduction, but when I sell a stock or take money out of my 401, I have to pay taxes. Oh, and let's not mention how taxpayers like me subsidize Medicare for people who spent down their estates so their kids could get money before they get shipped off to the Nursing Home.Overall, millions of Americans in the lower 75% paid less in taxes; except people living in high-tax states. Oh, yes, I hate Trump too.
1
This. Stated plainly and eloquently.
4
Not a single one of the failed governments described in "How Democracies Die" is a democracy--they are all republics.
There is only one word in the entire book that even approaches the name of a democracy, and it appears in an endnote as part of a mailing address: "Athens, Ohio."
This blatant error, accepted hook, line, and sinker, by Krugman and the great majority of our population, demonstrates how Americans do not understand their own history and certainly do not understand the ancient Greek democracies.
But Washington, Madison, Franklin, and the other framers knew the difference. They all said that our system of government is a republic, not a democracy. But I am sure that most Americans can invent some story that turns the word "republic" into "democracy."
Sometimes, the Founding Fathers called our system of government an "elective government" to make sure that the reader understand that the writer was talking about a republic, not a democracy.
In fact, John Adams, in a 1796 letter to Thomas Jefferson, said: “…corruption in elections has heretofore destroyed all Elective Governments.”
The delegation of the government to a small group of citizens by means of elections is the flaw, the imperfection, that the Framers knew about, and warned us about, because they could not find a way to correct it. Washington said that if this flaw was not corrected by future generations it would ultimately destroy the government and finally the nation. And lo, it is happening.
1
2020 Trump victory will be brought to you by Electoral College + voter suppression + Russia + Citizens United.
He will again win as a second place finisher.
GOP/Trump have created perminent minority rule in America. Can our democracy survive this again?
3
I think Krugman is pretty much on the mark except for his over-emphasis os so-called "American values." We've seen these "values" disposed of so many times in the past without most Americans batting an eye about them. The Chinese exclusion act, the Japanese-Americans internment, and of course the Jim Crow era. Championing moralities and condemning racism have not been demonstrated to be consistent values of Americans. What has been is that Americans abhor paying taxes, right from the beginning of our country. Congress reneged on paying the Continental soldiers their due and seemingly cared less about the soldiers families near starving at home. And many farmers who fed the army never received payment from the Congress. And now there is a debate in some circles whether the U.S. is a democracy or a republic. The refrain "Make the world safe for democracy" apparently had a better ring than "make the world safe or republicanism."
4
Excellent article, Paul. It clearly describes what we’ve all watched unfold. If you don’t believe it, have a look at the people who sit around Trump - all rich, old, white men.
11
I seem to remember candidate Trump proposing we set time limits on length of term anyone might spend in the Congress. For Trump, that's not going to happen. But what about Democrats/Independents? Will they be willing to go against their own self-interests? I would be so surprised! But wonderfully so.
1
Spot on and elucidating, a usual. But, what do we do about it?
As an economist, Mr. Krugman knows his own field of expertise, Keynesian economics, is a product of the last historic shift in world economic structure, from agrarian to industrial, a century ago.
At that time, the economy was controlled by and run for the benefit of 'Robber Barrons' -- yesterday's Bezos, Sacklers, Gates, et al. And these men, too, bought much of government, at a time when there was far less regulation to protect society and people were far less educated and politically aware as they are now (even for how little that seems sometimes).
So, are Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and all the rising stars of the left ushering in our 21st century Progressive Era?
Is our only hope a calamity big enough -- such as the bankers this time causing a Depression, instead of a mere Great Recession -- to finally get society to yell loud enough and politicians afraid enough to start turning this around?
What will be our economic engine comparable to a world war that will jump start society's return to not only economic security, but a future of prosperity for their kids?
Will it matter that we shipped all our manufacturing to other countries?
And if history does not point to possible answers, what does?
8
You have not given enough, or any reason, for Republican popularity resulting from their domestic conservatism that refutes the liberal ideas relating to abortion rights, gun control, LGBTQ recognition, historical corrections, and other ideas that seem to hinder "Making America Great Again" with the older voters. Older voters are embracing their father's beliefs while ignoring the new world in which they live. BUT they pretend to be old fashioned, and will vote against modern liberal ideas, while living them.
2
This column describes perfectly what Republicans represent. Voting for any republican at any level of government enables this malevolent cycle as does voting for any third party candidates no mater how seemingly attractive. Twenty twenty may well be democracy's last stand.
11
All I can say is AMEN! There is no Republican Party at this point, there is only the party of trump - no ethics, no principles, no limits on their greed or mendacity.
12
Republicans used to value honesty, integrity, science, rule of law, and country over party.
Now the party peddles lies, sells itself to the highest bidder, sneers at science, breaks the law with alarming regularity, and has put the fortunes of the party elite over the Common defense and general Welfare of these United States.
For all that I am a partisan, I care far more about process than party. Unfortunately, the Republican Party has become the most irresponsible quisling I have seen in US government since southern Democrats tried to secede from the country in 1861.
If they are able to continue lying their way into office, this will end extremely badly for the country.
7
When did Republicans do the things you describe in your first sentence? Possibly, if we go all the way back to Lincoln, I guess.
3
We must hope that Trump will kill the Republican Party, as another pundit suggested Only then, out of the ashes, may the phoenix of a decent party emerge, one that is in sync with American values. No decent person with any intelligence can possibly think that the current party has the best interests of the country in mind.
9
The GOP is not evil or full of racists. It is composed of a large number of people who care about our country, just like the Democratic Party. They have different priories and policies, and a two party system is better than either one by itself. They provide checks to power.
I recommend everyone to try to get out of their eco chambers and confirmation biases and speak with people who disagree with your world view.
4
Regarding your opening sentence: Yes it is.
12
Name one...
I registered about 200 new voters over the past 18 months. All were high school or college students. Not one registered Republican. Granted, I live in a progressive snow globe, but I estimate 60/40 Democrat registrations to "No Party Preference."
All I have to do is show them the demographics of the people in power in this country and they understand that young adults will have no voice unless they vote. And they will!
7
Since the days of the Southern Strategy, outside of their repetitive mantra that government, taxes and regulation are "evil", they essentially stand for nothing and never have.
Much like Trump, Republicans have mastered the "divide and conquer" approach to ideology in which they have convinced a considerable number of Americans that whatever their problems are, it is immigrants, minorities and all those not like them that are allegedly leeching off the system at their expense.
Of course, while the Republicans have continued to deflect the REAL responsibility for these issues, at the behest of their influential corporate donors and the wealthy such as the Koch bros. Sheldon Adelson and Robert Mercer, they have systematically emptied the treasury leaving nothing more than scraps for the people they claim to want to help.
14
The flag and the cross will continue to keep white working class workers in line, and so we have it - government supported by the least educated, the least innovative, and the least motivated. This does not bode well for the country.
16
GOP sold its soul years ago and never attempted to buy it back. Sanders and Stein played their roles to divert attention from the onslaught, and now we are headed over the falls, hoping we survive.
5
The GOP doesn't understand basic economics: you do stimulative tax cuts at the BEGINNING of an economic recovery not late in the expansion, like being in the eight inning of baseball game when you're ahead by seven runs. Furthermore they conspired to keep the economic slowed during Obama's term so they could undermine him.
So now we have not only a president, but most of his party who are morally unfit to hold office, and who are aiding and abetting attacks on our democracy. Everyone should vote while they still can.
15
Paul’s predictions have been so inaccurate that they are used by investors as a form of contrarian indicator.
Just do the opposite of whatever he is predicting this time.
4
Specifics are always more compelling then ad hominem statements.
5
@Ken
Yes,
please enlighten us on what predictions have been incorrect, within the last 20 years or so preferably, and provide links to the columns you cite. I am sure that all may be found in the NYT archives. Go on, we will wait.
14
Sadly, Paul is essentially right.
Consistently GOP politicians pass and support legislation and policies that hurt the working/middle class
Perfect example: When VW was opening it's plant in the south, the company was preparing to set up union representation along with wage and other benefits, then was pretty much hammered by GOP to drop that and made sure it never happened,
The result was a VW plant with far lower wages and benefits for the "lucky" employees.,
There seems no other explanation for the consistent winning on the GOP side other than racial identity. White people see the Dems as an intruston into their lives on the part of minorities, Trump's lily white rallies consistently demonstrate this. Can no longer be a coincidence that darker people make up only 1% or less of those events.
Then there are all those dogwhistles.
Sorry. sometimes the truth hurts.
7
The seeds of the destruction of American-style democracy were planted with the electoral college, which we all know by now has resulted in allowing minority rule.
What shocks me most in watching America from afar is how little the population raises its voice against the electoral college. Yes, there's the occasional article with the words "electoral college" in it these days, but compared to all of the other daily noise in the media, such burbs are quickly forgotten.
The travesty of the electoral college is or should be issue number 1 for Americans who care about democracy. Shouldn't the theft of 2 presidential elections by the 2nd place candidate in the past 20 years have awoken some anger in the populace?
Apparently not. I would think marching in the street against the electoral college would be in order. But I suppose people are actually just too busy to care.
7
Our system is a federal one where each state has some autonomy, and the electoral college helps ensure that the smaller states have a voice that isn’t drowned out by the more larger ones.
This may work against Democrats but there would have to be a constitutional amendment to change this which would require 2/3s of the states to ratify. Do you think the smaller states will be on board to relinquish power?
2
@Matt
The Red states undermined the electoral college years ago when they mandated electors were required to cast their votes according to which candidate won the State's popular vote, which was basically the opposite of what Jefferson had in mind for the creation of the electoral college. Specifically, the "well informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy" he was referring to was the State's electors and not the general public.
3
However, some states are moving to withhold their electoral college votes, until the popular vote is counted, whomever wins the popular vote for that state, gets the electoral college votes...simple.....
2
Dr. K. the commentary to this column has produced a great poll of the democrats who read your column. I hope you will keep it open for a while.
In discussing this column with non-modern, older G.O.P. voters they keep reminding me how well the economy is doing and believe that the Trump tax cut has created the recovery that they are all enjoying.
I am quick to remind them that the economy is slowing but they come back with the high level of employment and great performance of the stock market.
They seem to worry about liberals taking over the Congress and doing crazy things like promoting more social welfare programs and more regulation.
The thoughtful ones, who are older, don't think that President Trump would ever allow social security, or medicare to be cut simply because he promised this during the campaign.
They also believe that the country is being harmed by the uncontrolled flow of illegal immigrants and think that Democrats are obstructing the efforts of the President to stem the flood tide of illegals and phony asylum seekers at our southern border.
My political G.O.P. friends believe we are trying to re-litigate the last election and say that it was natural for President Trump to accept the support of the Russian government.
3
@james jordan
"My political G.O.P. friends believe we are trying to re-litigate the last election and say that it was natural for President Trump to accept the support of the Russian government."
And are they still your friends? I am incapable of suffering such follishness in my life.
4
Imagine if Obama accepted Russian help........Mitch would have had an aneurysm.
4
The scope of grifters in this country exceeds every expectations...how many people and corporations making billions by fleecing the country and causing tremendous human cost.
Purdue pharma and others simply put are drug traffickers, so are the affiliated doctors and pharmacy.
3
None of this lets the voters of this country off the hook for Donald Trump. If he’s so bad for so many, one would think he would eventually be blamed and suffer the electoral consequences.
We will get to test both ends of that theory in November 2020. To defeat Trump, the Democrats will need to offer something that is substantively different and better.
The Democrat establishment will try to offer anyone but Bernie, and right now that is Joe Biden, a three time loser. Failing that, they will back Mayor Pete, because he offers another identity smokescreen that will make upper middle class Democrats and moderate Republicans feel good about themselves that they aren’t homophobic. And he won’t upset the money machine.
Maybe democracies die because the candidate selection system becomes corrupted and only those who feed the wealthy can get a ticket to the ball. Democrats would rather have Trump than someone who represents their voters.
3
@Jazz Paw
Your points are very valid. As it stands right now, up until this moment, corporate/establishment democrats have shown very clearly, that up until these past mid-terms and despite all their previous electoral failures, while continuing to attempt to marginilize progressives in their party who wish real change, they choose collecting money over actually winning elections.
2
@Jazz Paw: Money counts for everything in the perpetual campaign for paralysis.
Thanks, Dr. Krugman, for another spot-on article.
6
Finally, someone is saying what is really happening to this country—in real time. The rich are in control, and they are getting away with their narrative—allowing a corrupt, inarticulate, wealthy racist to destroy our democracy. It is very chilling, indeed.
13
Obviously this column hit a nerve with Mr. Trump, to judge by the tweetstorm.
A good way to see if it resonated with the GOP: whether former Mass. Gov. William Weld's now-announced campaign gets substantial donations this week.
Hard to believe any of them would come to their senses, though.
2
Abdication? More like coup d’état.
1
Why the Democratic leadership does not take every word of that to heart is beyond me. They have a duty now to begin impeachment, and the fact that most Republicans will oppose it---and that he will likely not be removed as a result---does not relieve them of that duty. Right now, their concerns simply cannot be about winning the next election or the optics of the party in the eyes of some mythological undecided voter. As the adults in the room, their concern needs to be about the rule of law and the democratic nature of our society. Some battles simply must be fought.
Future generations will shape the country to come, but they will be guided by decisions we make today. What will it say to them that a president of the United States did all these things and no one rebuked him? And what will it say to the rest of the world?
5
Sterling quality piece from M. Krugman. As usual.
3
This is about right: past time to be scared. It's a solid argument
that the Republican Party is more single minded, and more unyieldingly so, than the corporate media is usually capable of
even acknowledging, let along understanding. A great piece.
4
It does seem that Trump is playing from Putin's playbook and that many (a majority?) of the ultra-wealthy support a proven autocrat, while an incompetent one, who is quit willing to allow them to play Oligarch to his Imperial pretensions. That American democratic values fall by the wayside doesn't seem to bother them much. Unfortunately, a sizable portion of the electorate have acquiesced to his erratic rule and have been propagandized into accepting his lies as truth. Is there still a majority of citizens out there who have not been seduced by his lies? If there is, the Democrats need to sound the alarm as you have done. A famous American from an earlier time put out a message for Rep.Pelosi and the Democrats, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
All this is true, but the boundless offshoring of American manufacturing is what gave Trump such a large opening and Krugman was one of its biggest boosters. Go read his book Pop Internationalism if you don't believe me. America's manufacturing sector is half of what it was 40 years ago, while Germany's is actually larger. Trump was an opportunist, but that also means he told the Trump occasionally when it suited him as well.
@Robert: The US is the last hold-out on the planet from the Metric system of measurement that originated in France and became global because it is derived from natural laws. Don't underestimate the impetus to the exodus of manufacturing from the US given by Reagan's nullification of Carter's Metrification initiative.
1
"By large margins, the American public believes that corporations and the wealthy don’t pay their fair share in taxes. By even larger margins, the public opposes cuts to safety-net programs"
No matter what Democrats should fight tooth & nail against any (further) cuts in safety-net programs.
On taxation side, the tax-hike proposals ought to be less drastic than Elizabeth Warren proposed. I would say let us have 2 higher rates of 44% on over $2 million in taxable incomes for joint filing & 49% on over $10M. (Actually, Bernie Sanders proposed only 52% on over about $10M) Incomes from all sources should be treated alike beyond $500K-1M, which will generate substantial revenue.
The wealth tax ought to be 1% annually on >$100M & 2% on >1B. But the inheritance tax should be eliminated, which may well be a selling point.
Payroll tax & sales taxes are big burdens on the working poor. Payroll tax should be cut to 1% on the first $10K & to 2% on the second $10K. Lift the cap but cut again to 1-2% beyond $200K to be less unpalatable to the rich. This will extend social security solvency also, which's in great trouble.
We may have to have special Medicare tax on incomes over say, $40K, especially to have Medicare for All if that materializes.
2
In a true democracy, the votes of the people are counted and the side with the most votes wins. None of that applies here so let's not call the U.S. a democracy and, yeah, I know it's a republic.
4
McConnell doesn’t so much think he can control Trump, he probably thinks he can ride him out.
McConnell’s goal isn’t just tax cuts, it’s installing as many Republican judges as possible.
He’ll have installed 2 Supreme Court Justices that would have gone liberal and hundreds of lower court judges. He’s fine with paying the price of a Trump presidency.
9
If the House moves to impeach, it will be front-and-center news for many months, no matter that the Senate will never convict. Media coverage will be a constant, daily drumbeat, holding up all the administration's transgressions for voters to see, perhaps all the way up to the conventions next year.
If the House does not move to impeach, the entire post-Mueller-report focus on both interference and obstruction will fade away, as media move on to more-current shiny objects.
The Dems can't afford to lose this high level of attention being paid to the investigations started by Mueller, but not finished by Mueller. It was never up to him to conclude what is to be done next, should the evidence collected not be sufficient to bring charges. It's always been up to Congress, and the House had better plan to get started carrying on where Mueller's team left off.
3
Right Paul, but I would include the incompetence of the Democrats as almost, but not quite, culpable. As a Democrat for 60 years I once again find myself in that Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, living the same scene, over and over. Here is just one example of what I mean: The Dems let the Gops frame the issue (or non-issues). Trump said the election will be between Capitalism and Socialism. No, the election will be between the two flavors of capitalism--the Republican flavor of unregulated, survival of the fittest Capitalism and the Democratic flavor of regulated citizen, worker and consumer protecting Capitalism. And the Democrats say nothing.
If the Republicans are winning campaigns, it's because the Democrats let them!
JD
10
Right on the head of the nail.
2
@Joe DiMiceli: Yes, the Democrats are profoundly incapable of articulating the basic concepts of modern socio-economics within the attention span of a distracted public. Even Buttigieg has no coherent perspective to articulate.
1
Since John McCain died, there are no Republicans in the Senate that have made real sacrifices in service to our country. McCain's service to the country cost him dearly, and he continued to manifest his loyalty to country once elected to political office.
The so-called service to the country by the Republican legislators currently in the Senate or House has not really cost them anything; if anything, the time in elected office has enriched them and provided a cushy existence--Mitch McConnell is the poster boy for the privileged life of an elected official; even his spouse is on the government payroll. These elected officials have all been on the dole: good pay for doing little or nothing, great benefits now and in retirement, etc.
Trump has certainly never done anything for the country that has cost him anything. He had alleged bone spurs that kept him from serving in Viet Nam, and he continues to enrich himself while being enamored by the enemies of democracy, which is manifested by his affection for Putin and his trust in our adversary, preferring Putin's assurance of no interference in our elections while denigrating the work of our own intelligence agencies.
We have Trump and his political allies in the House and Senate that were not defenders of American values prior to being elected to political office and have manifested no patriotism since taking their seats in Congress.
Why are we taxpayers continuing to enable all these deadbeats on the dole?
14
So, is trumpism a threat to democracy because of trump and the current slug of Republicans? Or, are trump and trumpism a symptom of a system of government that has out grown its utility? I fear it is the latter. What replaces it, I don't know, but it will be American Democracy in name only. And yes, Republicans will be seen as the party in power when the tipping point was reached.
3
@PJM: The overall concept of constitutionally limited government to protect minorities from the whims of majorities under terms reached by equitable negotiation is still valid. But we can see it doesn't work well when adapted to condone slavery and coerce religion.
1
I got into an argument yesterday with a proud union member who voted once for Barack Obama and now is all in for Trump. This was after he was praising the Amish for creating a strong community and impeccable values. I mentioned Amish society was based on non-violence and socialism and that sparked going off the gold standard, climate change hoax because banks don't factor that into their lending, the liberal media, and God will never allow anything negative to happen to the planet ("look at Japan - it's beautiful after an atomic bomb"). Obviously he consumes right wing media.
It has been a decades long systematic manipulation of people attacking their trust and belief in institutions from news outlets (liberal bias), government (Reagan's "government is the problem"), immigrants (illegals), socialism (taking your hard earned money and giving it to the lazy), and justice (deep state). By demonizing government, the Republicans have dominated the narrative while gladly running it and abusing it beyond all recognition.
The Times piece on Rupert Murdock was a great first step in exposing the campaign of manipulation by the Right to steal our democracy while telling you it is only to expose the rot and hypocrisy of liberals who have violated the Constitution. They have gotten around that lie by contaminating any source of truth or objective thinking and leaving us at the mercy of the wealthy who have made out like bandits the whole time (income inequality).
24
@Lucas Lynch
Yes, yes, yes.
I keep telling people to read "Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing Is Turning America Into a One-Party State" by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber of the Center for Media and Democracy. It was published in 2004 and it is prophetic. The Right wing takover of american culture started in the 70s and the intentions of the GOP are not now, nor were they ever, good. If we cannot put a halt to the erosion of our society and our government, assuming that it is not too late already, the result will be very unplesant.
2
If American democracy, as we have known it, is dead or dying -- what comes next? Curious to read your opinion Dr. Krugman.
2
@Economist
Oligarchy.
When Mr. Mellon pushed for the huge tax cuts for his rich friends just before 1929 he probably believed his own mythology about helping the rich would help everyone. His republican self delusion continues today. Sure sometimes tax cuts to some Americans helps us climb out of recessions but the constant matra of gov. bad, tax cut good has caused a lot of pain for Americans since Uncle Ronnie began pitching it for his rich sponsors. But fox/briebart/sinclair/etc. will convince 30% + Americans to vote against themselves and our country until we can undo Murdoch's curse. These people cause a lot of death and destruction domestically.
6
In his August 2016 speech in Kentucky McConnell had said: "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.' "
McConnel is a real GOP conservative hero, very proud to steal.
10
@Sergei: Pride goeth before falls. When McConnell falls, he will find no bottom.
3
It is very funny to see how some Americans are trying to reject responsibility by saying " It is not Us ! ". But I have lived more than 30 years in the USA and it did not surprised me at all to see Trump elected. Half of Americans think like him. If not more. And the values of the republican party embrace completely the values of the USA as a nation.
Capitalism, ignorance total of ecology , disdain of the rest of the world.Just look back over your shoulders . There was just a slight change with Obama but what was accomplished then? Not much difference.
3
Trump only cares about the rich. He said that he would look out for the white working class, but that was just a big lie that helped him get elected.
5
@Brandon Scott
IMO, your first sentence should read : "about the rich [named Trump]."
Yes it is follow the mental mind sophistication trail and not just thinking money money gets wins and then we will do whatever the job of the day is..... America must demand qualifies in its political class or abdication is inevitable, truly..
2
Dems - tax and spend.
Repubs - tax-cut and spend.
Hmmm.
1
@BeeQue: Never fear, more money is created when the Federal Reserve Bank buys up debt instruments issued by the Treasury Department electronically.
1
When McConnell denied the opportunity to allow Obama to pick a Supreme Court Justice in his last year of office, I felt the "roof" over the government cave in, destroying any semblance of fairness in national policy. Not that it wasn't a smart move, but hideous in all of its implications. But yet "we" wait for "We, The People" to form a MASSIVE demonstration in Washington to put a stop to this runaway injustice. Obama, Mr. Calm And Collected, should have thrown a FIT in full public view to rally the troops. But that would have been "undignified", right? And now we have a POTUS who is losing "all of his marbles" suing Congress who want to see his financial records. With a big team of lawyers hired on to make a big production over his "massive victory" in 2016.
But don't worry, because the Pres. own staff refuses to carry out many of his ludicrous instructions. Mitch isn't worried- he carries around Kentucky like a bauble on his keychain. Along with a bunch of deluded people from those "other states". Mitch, Trump, and Putin. I just hope there are some seasoned experts over at the Pentagon that aren't buying any of this nonsense. National Security may be all that's left when/If? they clear away the wreckage left from this ship of fools.
7
What I find most intriguing, is that the Republican party actually looks down its nose at the "low information voters" it regularly tries to fool into keeping it in power. While Republicans serve their elite donor class, they rely on the idea that their voters are so stupid, uninterested in policy, or so easily manipulated that they can "fool all of the people all of the time." The net result is that those who vote Republican based on fear, dislike of others, or wanting to stick it to the elitists, essentially support those very elites. And Republicans continue to sneer at, but not respect, their voters
14
Republicans wrap themselves in a flag, and hug it sometimes too, all the while wishing they could install a dictator.
Republicans hide behind a Bible and pretend they’re Christians, while doing the exact opposite of what Jesus taught.
Republicans constantly lie while attacking any and every truth that isn’t advantageous to them.
Republicans will destroy the Earth and everyone who lives here for a few more millions in the bank and not care at all, even for their descendants.
I so hope that Potus is put on trial after he is defeated and loses all his money just like Manafort. If only.
12
Let’s not forget the ultimate prize of conservative voters: a stacked judicial system that will roll over Roe vs Wade (and deliver decades of gifts to corporations and small government advocates). The real coup will take place in the courts, not at the polls.
13
One of Krugman's best. Especially the line that Trump is giving the Republicans what they want and they will stick with him. As well as the money men.
6
when will those against the worst president in history quit dealing and pushing the lie that Russia conspired with Trump to win the presidency? While they lead millions into a dangerous dead end, Trump destroys the intended functions and purpose of all government agencies and the fabric of our democracy. It's as of they are complicit in the neoliberal, neocon endless desire to control the world by making its imminent destruction possible.
2
Our government is totally losing its legitimacy, and with that has set the country adrift.
Look only at the question of impeachment. The case is clear enough. But the majority off Americans believe it would be a total waste of time. The belief is that the Republican controlled Senate would be unable to do what every jury in the US can in fact do--render a fair verdict in a trial. The assumption us that republican politicians are incapable of doing a task every other citizen is expected to do.
The Supreme Court is similarly tainted. As Trump says this is now a republican court, not an relatively unbiased court of objective experts. The Robert's court has been the most activist court in our history, throwing out centuries of court rulings in order to basically rewrite the Constitution in support of big money advocates.
Next to fall will be the independence of the FED. It will be come just one more crony capitalism support group.
Democrats offer no answer, just platitudes and hand waving. The lost any chance of the moral high ground with their stance on abortion and in their failure to put the top banking leaders in jail after the 2008 debacle.
Trump is now free to be a total autocrat. He has jiggered the system to make him unstoppable, The Republican Party is the vehicle of this overthrow of the US Constitution and the creation of the American Oligarchy. mJuszt as they wanted
The only remaining obstacle is the first amendment. Goodbye
It's not just tax cuts - don't forget that the Republican party is owned by the Koch's and the oil industry so that they can spew their poisons upon the earth and block the adoption of alternative energy sources.
2
I love the picture! In the foreground the mouth that roars, taking our country to its nadir. In the background, giving full support to the appalling situation, Mr. Smarmy.
3
In many ways, Trump is despicable, but he did not betray his country. Your fiat that he did does not make it so, and this entire column is based on the premise that he did. Knowing that Russian malfeasance might help you and being glad of it is not treason. The Mueller report makes absolutely clear that nobody in the Trump circle (in fact, no American) worked with the Russians in their efforts to affect the American election. Trump had no duty to counter the Russians, but someone did--President Obama. The Obama Administration was aware of Russian efforts to interfere in our political system for two years before the 2016 election, but did NOTHING to confront it until after Donald Trump had won. In other words, the Obama Administration did not care about Russian interference until they could use it to undermine Trump's legitimacy. Did Obama and his gang betray their country?!. No, of course not, they were just incompetent and cynical, a lot like Donald Trump.
3
I do wish Mr Krugman would consider the obvious: many people voted for Trump and still support Trump because of his stance on abortion and judicial appointments. A perfectly valid stance, given the choice set. Some of his supporters may be racist, some may be consistently fooled by deceit. But that is far from the whole story and does not further the conversation. Mr Krugman is no better than those he opposes if he fails to recognize this.
1
@Les
Well, assuming what you say is true, then it is very clear that for these two beliefs, they are willing to give up everything else and Republicans will gladly accommodate them. When President Obama stated that for many Americans all they care about is their "guns and religion" he was severely castigated for that comment.
Well, guess what? He was absolutely right.
7
Paul Krugman is right, as usual, but I believe it also goes deeper. Many Republicans are true believers; they believe that Liberalism has destroyed all higher values and all possibilities of human greatness. This notion is based on resentment; they somehow convince themselves that they are underdogs, although this notion is obviously false in the case of the wealthy power brokers.
I think we have to see that they are hopelessly confused. Many of them really believe the rhetoric they live by. They believe they are defending high ideals. They are fools, but I think we miss seeing them unless we see that they are sincere fools. If we think they are always only devious manipulators we fail to grasp how deep and difficult our situation really is.
3
I will never understand how one of the two political parties of this country incorporated as major part their platform "Bring Back Coal?" The evils of coal have been known for decades and coal miners hated those job when they had them.
5
@Tom M
Yes, you'd think the renewables would be their style: by getting subsidized to build facilities that allow corporations to mark up the price of something that costs nothing.
Let’s face it. Americans in general are a profoundly pragmatic bunch. Just about the only thing we agree on is that it’s better to be effective than ethical. (You may argue with that, but rather than take umbrage please cite instances in our history where it hasn’t been true.)
From this it follows that we care rather more about economic matters than about political ones, and much more about economic ones than about philosophical or ethical ones.
I do wish Krugman would offer analyses of the present state of our country that relate to economic principles, as well as to both their adherents and their critics.
His moralizing is predictable. Worse, it isn’t doing much. But if he would give us a critique of Trump’s transactional, neoliberal mindset that relates to, say, the work of people like Nancy Fraser and Wendy Brown—wow, that could be great!
@David: Politics is the only lawful process we have to negotiate the master social contract that defines the conditional rules of relationships between people, corporations, and the government.
2
Modern? Nope that’s the way they’ve been at least in my lifetime. Please Don’t wax romantic about the old timey republicans. Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Bush. Nope.
1
For decades now, the GOP has been about one thing.
Sure, you can say it's tax breaks for the wealthy and very wealthy, but its main focus has been keeping immigrants and minorities (blacks and Hispanics) from rising in society.
Why does Trump want the border closed? Are these people really all drug smugglers and rapists? No, they're just brown.
We're full, he said. What he meant was: we're full of brown and black people. No more, thank you.
In order to keep these people down, you force them to have children they don't have the resources to raise. You deny them health care, housing, an education. Even food stamps.
You'd think the Republicans and anyone else who was against abortion (and by association, more black and brown people) would be throwing birth control at those people. That's a concrete way to prevent not only more abortions but more people as well. But, no, the enforcement has to be as cruel as possible to enhance the whipping boy status on millions of people. They're what's wrong with America.
Trump and McConnell, King and Grassley from Iowa, all want this country to go back to the 1950s, when they didn't have to deal with anyone who wasn't rich and white.
That's the American dream. For and by white people.
8
I remember when Dylan, during his early folk era, was considered the new American Prophet, but as recent history has demonstrated he was way off the mark when he wrote in “The Times They’re a Changing” that the “First one now will later be last,” as well as “The loser now will be later to win.”
Yes the times have changed, and not in the way Dylan's lyrics alluded.
1
@Jim: Coincidentally, Leonard Cohen died when Trump was declared the victor after the Electoral College spindled the ballots for where they were cast.
Democracy has not come to the USA.
2
And where will the wealthy be if Trump does become dictator, and be subject to his whims like with Putin? And what if he dissolves Congress?
1
DJT imho will seemingly win re-election.
Hurricane Michael's damage apparently amounts to billions, while that doesn't
seem to damage DJT and the GOP.
Hillary wouldn't stiff South Georgia, and
it would not be a complete surprise if the
GOP loses politically in 2020 at least one
sunbelt population, and the trashing of
Medicaid which rural white people are
seemingly hurting seemingly will hurt
the GOP, so political reality may soon
change, though I won't bet on such
a rational dream.
Paul says: “the modern G.O.P. is perfectly willing to sell out America if that’s what it takes to get tax cuts for the wealthy”.
That is understatement. The GOP is not “willing”; it has decided to sell out. And not just about tax cuts, but about the Country and its many problems: health care, infrastructure, diversity, immigration, affordable housing, ..., you name it.
The GOP has subscribed to the billionaires advancing alternative facts and supporting an erratic dotard who doesn’t even know he’s a marionette.
8
As they say, you can shear your sheep over and over but only skin them once. The GOP is dangerously close to "skinning the sheep" instead of their usual fleecing. They are going to get cocky and push their harmful policies too far and the result will be violence. That is where we are headed if we cannot change our direction and fast.
5
Yep! Totally agree!
1
The GOP has taken advantage of a culture that is driven far more by emotions than rational thinking. Sadly, for many the rational thinking piece is under-mined by being under-educated, incurious, and apathetic. There are millions and millions of very intellectually lazy adults who could not only care less, but are proud of their ignorance. Bake a country of knuckleheads long enough and Donald Trump pops out of the oven.
2
Mr Krugman downplays the effect of populism on what is going on politically in this country but populism has the establishments of both parties in a worried state.
The Republican establishment, by and large, dislikes Trump and fears that he is going to drag them down with him in the coming elections. However, they fear the solid populist support that Trump receives even more, so are choosing to hunker down in the hopes that the Trump phenomena will eventual blow over.
The Democratic establishment is pressed by the populist phenomena from the left, with Socialists gaining a great deal of support within the rank and file, especially among young people. The establishment has been pandering to this group in the hope of being able to contain them to a certain degree. What they likely fear is that a Sanders/Ocasio-Cortez/Omar face and leftist lurch by the party may very well spell electoral doom come 2020. Socialism may be enticing to a sizable minority of Democrats but it's not a winner among the general electorate.
The Republican Party knows its policies are unpopular, and cannot win majority support ever, despite what a nauseating number of commenters on this thread are saying. They could never pass a tax cut like the one they did in an actual bill instead of a “budget resolution.”
So they cheated to get their cut, so they can then get huge reductions in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which also would never pass Congress. Rich people don’t like the idea of sharing their money with their fellow poorer Americans.
Mitch McConnell announced to the American people that the GOP was in charge, no matter what, when he denied the duly elected president a chance to name a Supreme Court justice. The majority elected Barack Obama in 2012 with the understanding that if a SCOTUS vacancy came up, he’d fill it. But McConnell, seeing that the GOP could not secure its regressive agenda without the court, simply blocked him.
That’s when the country died, when a party that cheats at everything to stay in power took the final step into one-party rule. The GOP does not care what the majority wants since it does not serve them, and it has installed a strongman dictatorship to carry out its will. Barring anything unexpected, the Trump family will be running the country for decades to come: It’s a monarchy, basically, and we’re in it.
The country is gone. It will not return anytime soon, absent another civil war.
9
hey Dale1102, 'no man is an island' a hard piece of philosophical thought which we must deal with on a daily basis as well as the idea that we must respect but not necessarily love our fellow man. Remembering that all men are created equal but not treated equally should keep us honest.
1
Matthew 4:9 - Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Looks like the minutes from the last RNC meeting.
12
Bone chilling and completely true. They embrace the flag all while selling out the country. And with the SC poised to plant citizenship in census reports the country will be reclaimed for its white people, with truth aborted, justice for some and borders and walls.
6
Russia knew very well what it was trying to do, although it likely didn't expect to be successful. While they didn't like Hillary whom they knew would have continued Obama's policies toward Russia, they really wanted Trump precisely because not only would he not be Hillary, but also because he aligned himself perfectly with the anti-intellectual GOP.
The Russians are not stupid. They have been following the American political divide for many years. They are well aware of which party and its constituents are inherently easier to manipulate. The GOP has chosen a course of anti-education, anti-intellectualism, groupthink, anti-science, revisionist history, and false facts since at least the time of Newt and really much earlier. The success of the Tea Party in the 2010 midterms was our first warning shot of bigger and worse things to come. Russia had at least that much time to plan a well orchestrated attack when the time was right. In Trump they saw their Manchurian candidate and acted on it.
Really this is a case where the "why" is even worse than the "what". We have idiots in power because Russia wanted precisely that.
8
I think the Republicans are willing to let democracy die if a vibrant democracy means letting another black man, or a woman, on an Hispanic rise to the presidency.
11
@Ed: The Republicans want to Balkanize the US with "State's Rights".
1
thank you, Paul Krugman, for sounding the alarm while your conservative counterpart at the Times, David Brooks, continues to put his head in the sand, writing about the need for rituals.
10
@robert hofler: I think the British have a better idea to assign public rituals to a figurehead family so politicians don't have to bother with them.
1
@Steve Bolger
Be careful -- apparently Ivanka used the term "my princess moment" when the post- inauguration walk was being discussed.
1
It's really very simple: while Democrats have been focusing on Ideals and Values, Republicans have been focusing on results.
Republicans want to keep their money in their own pockets, so they hire people - CPA's. lawyers, politicians - who will help them do that.
They don't want to be told they can't do something they think will benefit them, so, same story: hire people - lobbyists, think tanks, politicians - who will advocate for them to make the rules they don't like go away.
The point is, they want what's best for them, regardless of who else gets hurt. The mistake Democrats make is to try negotiating this point. The Republicans aren't going to negotiate, and when they have majority control, well, Trump is the result.
Democrats should just ignore the other party and push for results We Want: universal health care; quality free and appropriate public education pre-K to college or trade school degree; clean water and sewer everywhere; efficient, fast, and inexpensive public transit; a 5% increase in Social Security benefits; and so on. Too expensive? Nah. I bet we know where we can find lots of money.... We just need to win at the ballot box.
3
Paul Krugman got it partially right. The other part is that the president is helping the GOP to co-opt the judiciary by appointing young right-of-the-center jurists who will make consequential decisions for many decades to come. Any little and incremental success in altering the fulcrum (the judiciary) of the other two branches of government will go a long way to cement the Republicans control of everything.
1
I do like to see people argue this or that detail that accounts for the strength of the Republican Party over the Democratic Party in elections, why they effectively "rule" the politics of the country, Some of these details do matter but in summary they do not. Most people do not know the details and their relevance to other issues that they care about. And certainly the interests of very wealthy people who hobnob with other wealthy people and politicians who enter the business of politics to befriend all influential people, will not be terribly critical of their sought after friends This is the ultimate reality of all politics, fascist, communist,republican or democratic. We all fall into the trap of overestimating our wisdom and politicians are not the exception to this rule. The important question is: what error are republican politicians more likely to make than say democrat politician.
From my observation of events over my life time I'd say that republican politicians are more likely to betray a country's accepted (advertised) ideals than democrats. The example that clings to me is Petain's surrender to the Germans as soon as Hitler occupied France. France became ruled as an extension of Hitlerite Germany. All other parties continued the fight. I think that what we are seeing in the USA's Republican party is another instance of this phenomenon.Republican patriotism is a farce in the USA and everywhere, in my opinion.
4
This party and their dear leader is a stain and shameful time in our country history.
They know how people see them and they don't care.
Gluttonous greed for more and more blinds any semblance of decency.
Revolting!!!
6
83 percent of Trump's tax cut benefits the Top One Percent (families earning an average of $421,926 or more). It was funded by borrowing almost a trillion dollars from our children. That's the centerpiece accomplishment of his so-called populist agenda.
7
If I may say, the "America as we knew it" is already gone; is already changed. It's been a gradual boil into irrationality. What you describe is the "America of today". It's fumny that we don't yet realize it: we are engaged in a protracted, decades-long non-kinetic civil war (with Mitch McConnell as the president of this new Confederacy amd Democrats/ profressives losing" the battle because a rational person can never win an argument against irrational rule-breakers. The root of the problem is partisanship. Partisans are by definition strong adherents to a philosophy. That leads to a left-right spectrum divide. What we must do, the ONLY way out is to break the left-right spectrum and think "up and down"; cost vs. benefit. Cost v. Benefit analysis is what companies do, is what engineers do. An engineer doesn't design a plane without wings or engine on the left side. When we realign our thinking to cost v. benefit we *think* instead of always reacting emotionally.
We can hope that the resiliency of the rational individual will ultimately defeat McConnell and his septigenarian new Confederacy, but we'll see. In the mean time, let's just acknowledge that until McConnell gives up his hyper partisan ways and Fox news too, the country is embroiled unequivocally in a non-kinetic Republican-led civil conflict.
3
I so want to be standing at the pearly gates watching Messers Trump, McConnell, etc. try to buy their ways into heaven.
The sad fact is that the billionaires will always be billionaires, regardless of public policy. They are hoarders of money, with the same mania as those material goods and cat hoarders in lower class neighborhoods we see on cable TV.
So, shouldn’t our government of We the People act in the interests of everyone else, knowing the billionaires can take plenty care of themselves?
Promote competition to ensure free markets act in the interest of consumers. Basically, bust up the big boys so that the people have choices: ISPs being one obvious example to provide immediate broad benefit.
Create public programs to free people to pursue their strengths to make maximum societal contribution free from needless angst over the uncontrollable. Everybody is going to get sick and die; nobody should have to go bankrupt paying for it.
Law and order needs to be replaced with the rule of law. The law should not exist to make the wealthy’s lives easier and poor people’s lives harder. We need to free up all people from all walks of life to help solve the real problems we face today, not the made up ones.
The list of backlogged needs goes on.
- Tom
3
Paul,
You've got it backwards. The party no longer believes in American values in subservience to Christian Values. The group that used to be known as The Religious Right took control of the party a bit at a time years ago. Only when it was almost a fate acompli did the uber wealthy join them, pumping money into their coffers that help spread their godless message, cementing their stranglehold on the party. Since the agendas did not seriously clash they were fine riding each other's backs and voila............here we are. The party barely believed in the good of the country when Bush Jr. was president, by the time Obama took office, they cared not a wit. They support DJT only because he is giving them pretty much everything they want, a lock on the courts up and down the federal system, tax cuts that benefit only the wealthy and more. I have been preaching this sermon for almost 40 years, warning folks of the dangers of the religious as policy folks. No one wanted to listen.
4
Here's the federal code to apply to all Trump associates ignoring a subpoena from a House investigatory committee.
"Every person who having been summoned as a witness by the authority of either House of Congress to give testimony or to produce papers upon any matter under inquiry before either House, or any joint committee established by a joint or concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress, or any committee of either House of Congress, willfully makes default, or who, having appeared, refuses to answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 nor less than $100 and imprisonment in a common jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve months."
2 USC 192
4
Actually, I don’t think that anyone seriously believes that Putin and Co were able to install Trump in the White House. As a matter of fact, Trump was heaved into the White House by American voters. Hillary Clinton happened to call them „deplorables“ which I consider to be very condescending and misleading. In my opinion, the Democrats should instead tackle the real problem underlying their loss. The Democrats should acknowledge the economic woes of the average American citizen and they should attack the right wing ideology of the big money spenders that played a powerful role in the last election. To heap all the responsibility for the last election on Russia is just too simplistic an evasion.
2
Actually, most of us don't believe that Putin's influence was instrumental in getting Trump elected either. The point of the article is that our democracy is threatened when a major party abdicates its responsibility to keep presidents from trying to sell out our national interest in favor of short term tax breaks for the wealthy. Whether Clinton was a bad choice as a candidate is a different and not really relevant discussion to this problem.
1
most of us like who?
3
@C.O.
Two issues that shouldn't be conflated: possible meddling in a U.S. election and political errors Sec. Clinton made in 2016.
The first is a problem no matter who ran or who won. The second is something the Dems tried to avoid in 2018; they were successful in running on issues connected to those economic woes, primarily healthcare and the budget-busting GOP tax cuts.
"The simple fact is that one of our two major parties ... no longer believes in American values. "
Here, Krugman reveals he's not too hip on American history. Conservatives have NEVER believed in American values. Why this fact is not crystal clear is a mystery, a quirky lapse of cognition that may well cost us our democracy.
The original American conservatives were the Tories! They despised the cause for independence, perfectly content to be British royal subjects. They killed patriots! And it gets worse from there. Don't forget they so loved America, they walked away from it in a huff, determined to conserve... slavery! That may have been the nadir of American conservatism... unless you ask any Native Americans who conservatives never - to this day - have considered worthy of any of that "American ideals" stuff.
Nor were conservatives ever eager to extend "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" to the poor, women, freed slaves, workers, immigrants, non-Christians, LGBT people, or even children. Conservatives have opposed every shred of cultural progress... every attempt to "perfect the nation." And they still haven't given up on finding a replacement for King George. Maybe it's Trump, "sent by God" according to many evangelicals.
Tax cuts for the rich is not the "Big Idea" of conservatism, though it conveniently abides. The core thrust of conservatism is to conserve traditional hierarchy. That's what they do, and Trump is just their current Svengali.
2
Krugman provides a chilling appraisal of the GOP based on empirical facts that anyone with a pulse and any capacity for independent thought knows to be true because we have all witnessed it in real time over the past three years.
No impeachment or legal indictments required. Come November 3rd the nation will render its verdict and impose the sentence.
Any judicial proceedings can take place after Jan. 20, 2021.
The focus must be on policy from now until election day.
3
What is truly frightening (and there are so many frightening aspects to this situation) is that the super-wealthy are backing Trump and the GOP. (Not to mention hostile governments.) They will probe these comments, search for weaknesses, widen cracks, exploit idealism, bypass laws. They have the resources to do it.
2
It's not later than I think for American democracy. I said in 2003 that this country had been a great experiment, and I thought it was over.
2
Data recently published by the OECD showed that if we plot percentage of population in the middle class against median income PPP adjusted, the US has a lower percentage of people in the middle class when compared to other developed nations. However, the US has a much higher median income than most. Some low income households in the US are better off than some middle class house holds in other relatively developed countries. I would take this as a proxy for some of the long term beneficial effects of Republican policies. But the world's most dangerous liberal, Mr. Krugman, would never want to tell you this because it would not help his policy demagoguery.
True, Trump is a disgrace in many ways and this individual needs to be held accountable for some of the things he has tried to do as President. It is also true that the Republican Party has failed the country. But so has the Democratic party, which plays identity politics in a far more toxic way than the GOP . The hypocrisy in this opinion piece knows almost no boundaries.
The Muller Report is clear in its legal conclusions. Yet Krugman is so blinded by hate that he encourages us to ignore them. So much for the respect we need to have about the rule of law and our institutions. I don't have a problem with a political indictment, but the Democrats are all over the place and Nancy will have none of it.
4
You put your finger on a point that is key to me. I have believed that impeachment must have significant support from both parties to avoid it being a nasty partisan action that's just politics by another means. But, that view requires some trust in the Republican Party to have a significant number of reasonable people in Congress. We now can say with surety; There are not a significant number of reasonable Republicans in Congress. The whole idea falls apart. Democrats HAVE TO do the impeachment alone; and I think now we can say, they have to stop stalling. There is nothing left but impeachment. No more information is required. The House investigation is a silly waste of time unless it's done under an impeachment resolution.
5
@Publicus. So you don’t think impeachment is a waste of time?
Tax cuts, law and order, conservative values, and pro-business policies are not unpopular. I think it's misleading to say that Republicans only succeed through white identity politics. No doubt it is part of the story, but if you are going to defeat Republicans you can't just assert your moral superiority. You must offer something better and convince people that you can deliver on your promises.
161
@DALE1102 "Tax cuts, law and order, conservative values, and pro-business policies are not unpopular." Yes, they are. 57% of americans think that Corporations and the wealthy do not pay their fair share. There were 60 corporations that paid zero in taxes (including Amazon) that made huge profits last year. Conservative values--like legalizing discrimination against LGBT citizens? Yeah, not popular either. Law and order? Trump? I'm going to stop responding, you are literally brainwashed if you think Herr Pumpkinpisser has been enforcing the laws (emoluments anyone?). Your guy is morally bankrupt. Without voter suppression and propaganda, the GOP would never win another election.
275
@DALE1102The Repubs also make skillful use of the Abortion issue which pulls in some voters and makes them seem that they're the party of decent living. Of course when in power they never act because with that off the table these voters have no other reason to vote Repub.
86
@DALE1102
They're not unpopular as concepts, but the actual Republican implementation of these concepts is unpopular. Tax cuts are popular when the middle class gets a nice break, usually in the form of a visible return. The 2018 GOP tax cut is highly unpopular because a) the middle class got a very nominal tax cut, b) the decision to dribble out per paycheck and mostly as a decreased withholding made it imperceptible to many and caused a poor experience at the end of the year in the form of a decreased refund or tax bill, and c) eliminated/limited popular deductions and exemptions used by the middle class while adding completely unjustified new exemptions and deductions that only the wealthy use - a private jet deduction!
"Law and order" as a concept is common sense but majorities are now looking for major reforms in criminal justice, drug laws and private prisons and moving away from traditional "tough" Republican approaches that has produced a massive incarceration population and strained police relationships. Also, many people feel the criminal justice system is way too lenient on white collar crime while overly punitive for crimes committed by the non-wealthy that arguably have much less impact on broader society.
"Pro business" - but not anti-worker or anti-consumer or anti-environment. Majorities do not always support Republican proscriptions for business health - and do not really agree that businesses are facing much impediments to profits to begin with.
121
Dear NYT:
Yes, a political party hired a foreign spy to dig up dirt on a presidential opponent, using unverified second-hand Russian sources, likely got fed disinformation, and later used it to delegitimize the winner.
While spinning this Russia collusion fantasy, President Obama did almost nothing to stop Putin from further destabilizing our political system. and even failed to warn Trump he was being targeted.
Now we know: "no evidence of collusion" between Trump campaign and Russia. This was a Russian hoax, swallowed whole by partisans here who hated Trump so much they were happy to peddle any conspiracy nonsense.
Sure, it is hard to accept this truth, and yes, Trump is unfit to hold office.
But the worm has turned. When will liberals in the media (and I am a, ACLU liberal) again begin to care about this profound attack on our civil liberties?
A party -- and a press -- that no longer believes in these core values has abdicated its responsibility.
2
Jorge, you are missing the point that opposition research can be done through legal methods, and as far as I know that is true for the "dossier". That is contrasted to the Trump campaign taking advantage of information based on illegal hacking.
5
@Duke Briscoe
The Trump campaign did not coordinate or collude with Russia.
It looks like Clinton did coordinate with Russian spies, via Christopher Steele,and got played very badly.
Wikileaks is a site that many journalists, including The Times, have cited in very important stories about government malfeasance and the ongoing invasion of our civil liberties. I am grateful for what Wikileaks has done. The best disinfectant is sunlight,and Democracy needs a dose of disinfectant now and again.
Mueller has not alleged that Wikileaks participated in the hack, only that it obtained information from Russian-linked hackers.
It would be extremely dangerous to criminalize the publication of stolen information, especially under overbroad "conspiracy" laws that would vitiate our First Amendment freedoms.
Under this dangerous standard, The Times would be guilty of a felony for publishing stolen Trump tax returns. And both the Times and the Post would be guilty of conspiracy in the Pentagon Papers case, as they provided direct aid to Daniel Ellsberg.
Our nation will survive Trump. Let's not do greater damage by undermining the very foundations of our democracy.
1
@Jorge
You are playing a dangerous game of false equivalencies. You either don't understand the purpose of campaign finance laws or pretend so. Freedom of the press is protected though also attacked for publishing leaks, yes. Newspapers might influence voters but they are not going to take over the government, and eventually they are held accountable. A corrupt and devious presidential candidate on the other hand is a far more dangerous threat. Once in power accountability fails as the institutions of justice are corrupted. Hence the Trumpian methodology of "fake news" and attack any truth, including what you see with your own eyes.
1
The wealthy elites are predominantly Democrats. They are willing to open the fliodgates of America for votes and global profits. Their last POTUS claimed he WOULD cross the aisle though without question he was the most progressive senator per his voting record. Obviously it never happened. See Obamacare. President Trump has delivered: a red line for the gassing of children in Syria; a booming economy; jobs for all urban working men and women; a discontinuation of N. Korean ICBM testing, a strengthened military force and economy improving tax cuts. He will win in 2020 as economic power produces military power. Jobs and safety are high on anyone's list. See the last Israeli election. The highly aggressive trio of Mueller, Rosenstein and Barr could not indict. Those who deliver the goods and are the recipients of justice over the exaggerations of the opposition maintain their effective positions particularly when they do not hide behind executive privilege. Ours is a combative environment. Sadly that is the state of the nation in these United(?) States. Even the Dems cannot seem to unite on their latest tactic, impeachment in the face of a very expensive, very thorough federal investigation without the evidence to indict. Does anyone believe the Senate would sustain the Dem majority House if it even got to the Senate?
3
@Curiouser
So you're ok with a president telling his subordinates to break U.S. laws?
Oversight is not a tactic.
Or, it didn't used to be, which is a perfect illustration of Prof. K's point.
@Grennan
Repeat. Justice was served. The POTUS did NOT declare executive privilege. The Mueller report of 400 pages was created in a $30M plus, intense, multi-year investigation. A far better legal trio than the sole professor (or you or me) including a Democrat could NOT find the evidence to indict. I take it you believe this non-legal professor and you have expertise in federal law that exceeds that of the trio. Is that correct?
1
It's easy to find fault with Trump. But if he suddenly resigned, the issue that led to his election would still have to be addressed: Namely, the crowds of *illegal* immigrants making their way to the borders of Europe and the U.S. Is this an invasion or a great way to get young, strong new workers to keep our economies churning? Are they going to to help our countries or destroy our institutions and our way of life? Liberals/progressives/democrats are unwilling to do anything about illegal immigrants, just like they're unwilling to do anything about the homeless, except throw more money at the problem. Unfortunately, Trump and the other "far right" leaders are the only ones willing to confront the immigrant issue head-on. Trump will be gone one day, but the illegal immigrants are still coming.
1
Immigration has declined for decades; there is no invading horde; your hysteria showcases ignorance.
Immigrants are a net plus — less crime, harder working, paying taxes.
Anti-immigrant sentiment is largely racism.
16
@Gerber
"are the only ones willing to confront the immigrant issue head-on"
Then why do they resist making E-verify mandatory?
1
Well, it doesn't help that all a politician has to do to be elected in red states is say they are pro-life. This one issue, despite the fact that a woman's fundamental right to choose abortion before a fetus's viability has been established, convinces people to vote against their interests in every other area (and even IN this area, really). Never mind the fact that the entire rest of the Republican platform demeans and desecrates "life." For many voters, this one issue is dispositive and blunts our entire democratic system.
3
The major factor that Mr. Krugman has omitted is extreme voter suppression. If today's argument before the Supreme Court regarding including a citizenship question in the Census goes as it appears, another huge suppression effort will have paid off, blessed by the highest court (thanks to Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, no doubt). Republicans know they can't win free and fair elections because their ideas are incredibly unpopular.
3
Americans love being "patriotic" but don't really give a damn about other Americans.
7
Cut to the chase. Republicans are tools of a larger conspiracy to overthrow our system of government and replace it with what they would probably call "a benevolent autocracy."
We currently have a government that is demonstrably worse than the government we had under George III, which we fought a way to discard.
It will eventually come to war again, but war against each other.
I hope I live to see and fight.
2
Krugman is spot on. He forget to mention judges: Supreme Court and all the ones underneath. Willing to go along with Trump, means picking judges for the next generation or two.
And when will Trump apologize to the American public for lying about Russian interference (as opposed to accepting Putin's story); lying about not having business dealings in Russian (only his people and Putin knew of them...not the voting public); obstructing an investigation into this (and then asking his staff to lie about his involvement).
No need for the MSM to apologize...they got it right. Trump and his media support group are the real fake news and should apologize to the America...and the MSM must make it be know where this administration has lied.
1
The Republican party never believed in American values. Remember trickle-down economics? Remember the Jim Crow south? All Trump has done is peal away the layer of civility that hid a brutal history. Now there are no more masks.
7
All the "fake news" was not true. The oversold story was that Trump conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election. That isn't true.
The Mueller report reads that the campaign (Trump, Jr., Lewandowski, Conway) were a bunch of incompetents who knew how to do one thing well: create a message that appealed to voters where it mattered. Everything else was borderline incompetent. Even Trump's attempts to obstruct the Mueller inquiry were weak tea- any real leader would have gotten things done.
Because of this story, and continued press of "something must be done," we have a Democratic party and electorate that has little focus on actual policy that matter to actual American voters who will matter (see people that don't read Paul Krugman). Get on with it and stop appealing to Jerry Nadler's district. Focus on campaigning to beat Trump, and Democrats will be happy. Keep focusing on 2016 and people will look to someone who will focus on the future- Trump.
Why can’t republicans do policy? They still control the senate? Do you believe any democratic policy will move forward with Trump and McConnell.
I personally don’t support any policy moving forward until Trump and republicans are out. They will block or poison pill it.
2
@Pat
Trump not conspired only in criminal sense. Otherwise he asked Russians for help in obtaining Clinton's emails, was willing to meet with them to get more dirt on Clinton, never reported these activities to FBI. In total 140 meetings with Russians.
Pretty, pretty bad for a presidential candidate. Blaming it all on Trump’s incompetence?
As for 2020, Dems are doing very well, given the beginning of the campaign.
1
I think America will survive. We do have deep reservoirs of democratic practice in our society including our free press and still free elections and still an independent judiciary. We also have an educated public that irrespective of the corruption of the Republican Party has been socialized to support democracy. If you don't believe me, just look at the most poll of American youth by Harvard's Institute of Politics. Trump's approval rating among Millennials is just 26 percent. His approval rating among generation Z, 18-21, is 21 percent. That is the post Trump future. Trump and his Republican henchmen are political and cultural anachronisms. I don't believe they will last beyond the Trump presidency. It is white identity politics cult that will sink into the earth once it loses and they will lose.
1
And the stock market keeps going up and up and up.
1
Like it’s 2006!
1
@Chris Manjaro so when it plunges in a week you're on board with impeaching that loser Trump, right?
2
Is there any doubt the GOP abdicated their responsibility
to uphold the constitution years ago:
Abdicate is most often used to describe a head of state or member of a royal family voluntarily renouncing a position. It may also refer to the act of failing to fulfill a duty a responsibility. It shares this second meaning with abrogate (although the “failing to fulfill one’s duty” sense of this word is more common in the United Kingdom than in the United States). The senses of abrogate most commonly found are “to annul” or “to do away with.”
OATH OF OFFICE
“I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God
"The Great Republican Abdication
A party that no longer believes in American values."
Has the republican party believed in American values from the days of Newt Gingrich when he was Speaker of the House and his lies in his "Contract With America"? I think every indication is a resounding NO!
The republicans have as their one issue to get tax cuts for the rich and big business. Remember the days of Paul Ryan as the so-called expert in budgets that would have bankrupted the country while giving huge tax cuts to the wealthy and big business. It's almost eerie that the Trump & republican "tax cut" bill came after Ryan was out of the picture.
If a Democrat had tried even a watered down version of any of Trump's lies and spins, the republicans would have been all over him. With Trump, the republicans have turned their backs on every American value they claim to have and I call that Hypocrisy.
1
Why the so called opposition party, that ridiculuosly boasts to be the resistance, has never called for massive protests on the streets, or strikes to paralyze the country? That is how is done when freedom and democracy is at stake, not singing Kumbaya with the enemy in the name of civility.
1
As an outspoken critic of a nakedly kleptocratic Republican leadership, Dr K is performing a valuable service. There is a lot he gets right, but not everything. In the liberal view, which Krugman follows, non-wealthy whites, with no interest in the Republican financial agenda tag along with the GOP because the it gratifies their racist leanings. This is wrong. Most Americans, and most Republicans, are not racist. And even for those who are (or who fail to meet liberal standards of racial-gender-ableness inclusivity), race is a secondary issue.
What Trump voters care about is not race. They care about liberalism - and they have had it, as a half hour (if you can stand that much) reading comments on Breitbart or any other right-wing site will amply attest. Liberals are perceived as insufferably pompous and superior, and to add insult to injury they have all the money: Hillary counties produced two-thirds of US GDP; Trump counties one third. Trump voters do not share liberals favorite foods, travel destinations or political values, in particular the idea that being minority-inclusive is the highest form of virtue.
There is a serious cultural divide in America. Liberals who dismiss people on the other side as ignorant racists are simply not seeing things as they are.
1
Keep in mind also that they packaged themselves as the supposed “family values” party. The “moral values” party. The “Moral Majority” party.
With its moral and ethical reputation now in veritable tatters, the Trumpian Republican Party has lost all pretense of moral authority, for (as Paul has shown in this column and other recent ones) its attitude has devolved into blatant, amoral self-interest. Importantly, this attitude is not other-regarding. Or, put another way, it only considers others as a means to self-interested ends, never as ends in themselves. And in most major schools of moral and ethical thought, this view is tantamount to immorality itself.
Thus when Trumpian Republicans do presume to speak with an air of moral authority, it will be just that—air: their words will have no weight or force. And they will reek of the noxious smell of hypocrisy.
In fairness, not all Trumpian Republicans accept this amoral, self-interested view of ethics and morals. Most notably I have in mind the large proportion of evangelical Christians who fall under this category. But this only strengthens my point further: For how ironic, and how much more hypocritical, is it that those who categorically reject the amoral, self-interested view of morals modeled by Trump continue to categorically support the amoral, self-interested and corrupt president?
2
The GOP is willing to let Trump do what he does best: bankruptcy. They want him to bankrupt the country in order to justify terminating social security and Medicare.
Anything for another dollar in certain pockets.
After Trump gets rid of those programs, the GOP will dump Trump. Notice that no one cares about the “people” not even his own not very thoughtful base who are about to become the biggest losers ever.
1
On-point, accurate, well-considered column.
2
Today I heard the report of a presidential "tweet" calling Democrats criminals. This in response to a report drafted by Mueller, a Republican, and supervised by Rosenberg, a Trump appointee. AND, in the face of the following conclusion at pg. 66 of the Report: "The Office [of Special Counsel" identified multiple contacts - "links"... between the Trump Campaign and individuals with ties to the Russian government."
Anyone who thinks this report doesn't matter, as some of my reasonable moderate and very well educated Republican friends have opined, are indeed guilty of putting politics before their contrary. The shame of it all!!!
4
Mr. Krugman your column is right on the mark. Two observations: I believe beyond tax cuts, Republicans feel like they are one re-election away from changing this country for a hundred years. I'm convinced they're betting Justice Ginsburg's health won't allow her to serve another four years and if they can return Trump to office they can get a 6-3 conservative leaning Supreme Court that will shape this country for a hundred years. 2: The Trump phenomenon is sustained by a core fear -- that the dominant culture, aka, millions of white Americans many of whom perhaps for the first time ever see their hold on power and influence threatened in a real way by multiculturalism. To his credit, Joe Scarborough is the only high profile pundit I have heard say on air verbatim that MAGA is code for Make America White Again. The country is under assault from the White House. Mainstream media people need to start writing and broadcasting like it.
2
How have the Republicans managed to keep getting elected? Don’t forget about gerrymandering and voter suppression.
3
@Kat
Gerrymandering is about House seats, which the Democrats control. There is no gerrymandering in Senate elections, so the Republicans control the Senate. I think your argument about gerrymandering proves how the party that controls the House got elected.
Frankly, this moral abdication is nothing new. It's just that Trump has torn down the GOP's facade of false rectitude .. behind which they've been hiding for all these years. Now, they are out of the closet and reveling in moral turpitude.
To quote Sinclair Lewis: "You're so earnest about morality that I hate to think how essentially immoral you must be underneath" ...
2
Trump appeals to racism, yes. Bigly. But he also appeals to the "God and Gunz" demographic, in ways that simple racism don't explain. Like Trump, these people like authoritarians, and some of them would like him to be king. Pence was thrust on him to make him palatable to that crowd, and it worked. Pence has probably got a lot of advice for Trump on pandering to that base.
You have to understand the whole macho, patriarchy mindset. Whiteness is a huge factor, but powerful macho is as well.
1
Trump learned his racism at the knee of his father... witness the Trump 'consent agreement' in the 1970's regarding racial discrimination at Trump apartments. Trump learned his lying, cheating, fraudulent ways from dear old Dad too, a lifelong tax cheat son of a tax cheat father. Trump learned how to dodge the law, manipulate the weak-minded public, and fool voters from Roy Cohn (the Trump lawyer "who didn't take notes" - no doubt so there would be no incriminating paper trail later...) A lifetime later, America struggles to endure and survive the worst president ever, a president who sees himself wholly above the law, and a petty-minded, mean-spirited con man worthy of no public office, not even dog catcher. Republicans latched onto Trump because they thought the same thing Putin did - that Trump is so greedy, narcissistic, and ignorant that he could be easily manipulated into delivering their agendas. Putin and the Republican plutocracy have both won big with Trump... but the rest of America are anything but "winning".
2
WOW Paul! I've often disagreed with you when you argued for a more moderate approach, in particular when you went all-in on Hilary who was a Republican-In-Dem-Clothing, but you've pulled no punches here! Trump poses a threat to our country and our democracy, but he has been enabled by the Republican Party and their backers. And not just recently. Their policies and actions over decades paved the way for this wannabe tyrant. For all their initial opposition to his candidacy, that was all for show. Secretly they licked their chops. Frankly, it's hard to know who was happier with his win, the Russians or the Republicans. That alone should tell you all you need to know about the danger we face.
Who should we hold more accountable for this threat, Trump or the Republicans? As is often the case, history can instruct us. While Hitler was an evil man, he was simply the face of a movement attended by millions, and financed by a few shadowy figures who for the most part escaped punishment and kept their fortunes and power. We have the same ingredients and recipe today.
You are right Paul, that it may already be too late.
3
The Republicans are a dirty party. But it is not necessarily new, it has been that way at least since Nixon scuttled Johnson's Vietnam peace efforts. Perhaps Reagan really did pay the Iranians to hold onto the hostages. It does not seem so far fetched anymore. Dick Cheney undermined our intelligence services to get us into Iraq. And so on.
4
I like Krugman, and I respect his opinion. His analysis misses out at least one key point, though. Trump didn’t just tell white identarians what they wanted to hear. He told millions of Americans displaced by an ever-evolving economy that he would get their jobs back for them. These guys feel deeply distressed by their growing inability to make it in the modern labor market. Many of these guys held their noses and voted for Trump despite his racism. Clinton made the mistake of telling them the honest truth—that a lot of their jobs aren’t coming back. No machinery operator in his mid-forties or fifties wants to hear that he’s going to have to retrain for a completely new career. How is that going to get paid for? How is he going to make ends meet while he’s off the job getting retrained? Does he have to wear and tie and sit behind a desk to do a job he’s pretty sure he’s going to hate? Clinton and the rest of the Democrats have entirely failed to provide good answers for these important questions. Trump made it simple: I’ll get you your jobs back. It doesn’t take an intelligence analyst to figure out who had the winning message.
1
Let us be precise before we lose sight of the reality of the time. The activities of Russians who were either employed by the state or sponsored by the state were focussed on achieving one objective. The objective was that conveyed by the leader of the Russian state to his employees and contractors. Hillary Clinton could not be elected President of the United States. How that was to be achieved was up to the various employees and contractors, what useful idiots were to be persuaded, what actions were to be undertaken - it was all to achieve that one goal. Hillary Clinton could not be elected President of the United States. All the rest is commentary.
2
It IS very much in the air whether America as we've known it will survive Trump & Trumpism. It is precisely the goal of both the Republican politicians in Washington and their base throughout the country-consisting of an overwhelming majority of whites and a tiny minority of self-deluded non-whites-to destroy the culturally, ethnically, racially, religiously, sexually tolerant, pluralistic and altruistic country that America's democracy matured into and which they utterly abhor. In short, their goal is to transform America into a country that in all of those aspects is the mirror-image of Russia. That is why they have no problem at all with Russia having helped Trump win and why they actually welcome Russia's continuing efforts to undermine and ultimately destroy America's democracy. No one said it better than the two idiots who wore the "I'd rather be Russian than a Democrat" t-shirts. The clock of Threats to America's Democracy shows it's five minutes to midnight. Doubtful if Americans have the will to stop it.
3
Abortion is another wedge issue
The remarkable thing about this all is that not even the fear of RUSSIA which has been nurished by the Republicans for ages and was the core of the narrative of good against evil from Mc Carthy on has now rendered useless. Whenever Democrats introduced legislation supporting the less wealthy they were stigmatised as Socialist or pro Russian. The President welcomed Russias support and all his voters stand by him.
As a German watching all this from oversea I stand there in shock and awe. There was a time when people thought they could control a ridiculous, small, uneducated narrow-minded Hitler. Whobroadly supported him then? Evangelicals, Catholics, people with highest moral standards, otherwise condemning anyone who would fall below a fraction of these standards. Who in the end could not control this villain? They could not. America won't. For god's and the worlds's sake, all you Christian voters, please, please stop supporting Trump, before it's too late. Before you will hide your faces in shame for generations to come.
10
I wish more international people would write their views and articles on what they see.
1
Re: '"..So all the “fake news” was true..."
My response to Nixon's, (1960's-'70's), 'silent_majority' rhetoric was / is...similar to my sarcastic laughter, each, 'N, every time some papal_spokes_mouth (again) claims my former faith is, ('finally...'), a safe place for kids!
As for Emperor Trump's oft repeated innocence claims, all I can say, is...it's way, past time for this presidential_usurper to throw himself on the court's mercy!!
When Republicans talk of morality, these days, well...I'm reminded of how the people who claim abortion and murder are the same have amassed 500,000 dead men, women, and kids in Iraq, alone!
And...those 'holier, than thou's' retain the temerity to further, dehumanize these innocent dead as mere...'Collateral's, Damaged'!
1
The fact that we're talking about Donald Trump for President in 2020, that we're talking about potential paths to his re-election, that he is a even a candidate, are clear signs that some things fundamental in the American Dream - the IDEA of America - have been torn asunder and scattered to unfathomable places, where we shall be hard-pressed to pull them together again.
5
Trump's approval fell 5 pts to 39% on politico/morning consult after the Mueller report dropped, demonstrating the limited popularity of Trump's tax cuts for the rich.
2
So... Republicans don't like America if it means race-neutral, non-binary, socialist, worker-oriented and kid-friendly?
That America -- the one we're headed into -- doesn't have a lot of room for Republicans either.
In not so many years, This will be seen as the turning point.
4
The majority of Republicans have abdicated their Congressional responsibility of oversight. Many mainstream Republicans (myself included) are disgusted and, as a result, have changed their party affiliation. That leaves the Republican Base, a disgruntled, mis-informed and ultra conservative minority inspired by President Trump, to dictate the direction of our country.
If the Republican Party today doesn't scare you, it should.
13
Yep. They appear to be a merger of state and corporate interests with a mask of religion when useful.
“The truth is that the G.O.P. faced its decisive test in 2016, when almost everyone in the Republican establishment lined up behind a man fully known to be a would-be authoritarian who was unfit morally, temperamentally and intellectually for high office.”
Don’t forget the other truth of 2016, which is that the left did the exact same thing. If it weren’t for Sanders-Stein voters, Donald J. Trump would not be president. And that is a fact.
3
@Mike
One problem we face here in NY and some other states is the political process is owned by "both" major parties; if you are not a registered democrat or republican you have no voice in selecting the eventual candidate. It's well past the time where NYS, and other closed states allow for "Open Primaries."
I disagree that the question of whether America as we know(knew) it is up in the air. It's right there on the ground, in tatters. We'll never be able to go back after this. Too much legitimacy has been lost.
6
You are right Paul. All trump believes in is raw power which he can use to crush and humiliate others. He doesn't believe in democracy and Bannon told us right after the election that they would investigate postponing or cancelling the 2020 election.
trump is trying to make an alliance of strongmen with the dictators of the world while Bannon is in Europe trying to undermine the Pope and to create chaos because that is the environment in which they work the best.
Krugman is right that the republican party will not stand up to him. They are terrified of him.
14
Thank you professor for your sober reading of the Trump presidency and the role the GOP plays in his ascendancy.
My only remark is to observe that I think the GOP has done a good job of "controlling" the Trump presidency evidenced by the roles played especially by Don McGahn and William Barr.
McGahn refused to commit Obstruction of Justice (an obvious criminal offense that might have derailed the presidency) and Barr, with a white washing of the report that shows the president "endeavored" to obstruct justice.
Clearly, getting these two GOP soldiers into the executive branch is intended to keep the presidency going against all odds.
3
The tragedy that is our country's leadership is aggravated by the fact that although we have someone in the White House who is illegitimate, we can't right the wrong of Merrick Garland, our should be POTUS Hillary Clinton, Paris Climate Accord, Iran Deal, open borders embracing refugees, TPP, warm relations with our European and NATO partners, esteemed status on the global stage, reassurance that our leaders will protect the rights of the American people's health, education and welfare and most importantly our collective expectation that our country will protect the rights of each and every one of us. And, collectively, we the people are experiencing the five stages of grief.
9
I agree with much of what Mr. Krugman says. However, American values do not include the monumental giveaways proposed by the democratic candidates. America is built on competition and a large degree of individual self sufficiency. That is a far cry from what democrats are proposing.
2
As opposed, say, to enormous tax breaks for the wealthy. I never could understand how helping people in need is worse than making the wealthy wealthier.
14
Bryan, how about the monumental giveaways to the very rich and corporations that are driving the enormous deficit?
2
Have traditional Republican office holders abdicated, or have they merely been made irrelevant by their owns voters and their monied benefactors? Do the semantics really matter at this point?
For example, S. Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who has become a full blown Trumper, really has no base support in SC. Any chance that Graham has of retaining his seat in the Senate is based almost entirely on Graham's continued sycophancy to Trump, and to his monied donors. Graham will most definitely lose his seat in 2020 (his next election) if he were to stop kissing Trump's ring and stand up to him. Trump owns Graham and the GOP, and Graham and the traditional GOP (what little is left of them) know it.
9
@Sparky
Kissing up to Trump worked wonders for DeSantis in FL, why do you believe it will not work in SC for Graham?
1
Completely agree with this analysis. I will go one or two steps further.
To me it appears as though the GOP has been infiltrated or bought by crony capitalists. The right wing in this country has been making a concerted effort in every branch of the Govt. particularly the Judiciary and following a path of voter restriction and gerrymandering, aggressively for the benefit of the 1% couching its policies with creative Madison Ave. messaging, owned by the very same 1% for the credulous! I am not saying there is a conspiracy, because I cannot prove it, but the results speak for themselves.
Neither am I saying all of GOP is bad, but a critical mass has been hijacked by the rot and that is enough to keep the rest at bay or ineffective.
As for American values, the less said the better. We like to believe we have them and actually we did, more than a century ago, but the industrial oligarchs have whittled it down. And the current occupant of the WH is simply a personification of that and the GOP, a partisan puppet!
What proof do I have? How many GOP politicians have stepped up to criticize and challenge this potus? What do you think would have happened if it was a Democrat president who behaved like this one? The behavior of state Republicans that lost power has been worse than despicable and not a single member stepped up to protest. NJ Democrats also tried but the party bosses came down on them. Not the GOP!
And 50% of our citizens won't do the only thing they can do: vote!
7
.
Although he makes the case for it expertly and irrefutably, Mr. Krugman does not come right and say the word, but I will: Trump is dangerous.
He is now cornered, and he must either be legally taken down, or he will strike out like a cobra. As mentally off-balance as he has repeatedly shown himself to be, God only knows what that might entail. And he has a sizable flock of blind followers who will joyously back him up in any crackdown on his political opposition.
As Krugman correctly states, the country's survival is now "up in the air."
.
11
The GOP abdicated its responsibility nearly 2 decades ago, when it refused to check George W. Bush, and it's only gotten worse under Trump. Let's see if Larry Hogan (a reasonable Republican) and Bill Weld (who's turned into a tax-cutting fanatic) can gain any traction running primary challenges to Trump. Meanwhile, the Democrats should start impeachment against the grossly incompetent, endlessly lying, grotesquely narcissistic, predictably racist "unindicted co-conspirator" Trump. If Mitt Romney and a few other sane Republicans sign on, so much the better, but Trump is unfit even to be Queens Borough President, as the redacted Mueller report makes clear many times over.
6
As usual Krugman is right on.
4
@DSS Where is the market collapse, without recovery, that Paul predicted once Trump was elected?
1
Mr. Krugman, you nailed the Republican mentality in it's warped head. They are all talk and no walk. They like to spout off about their patriotism, Godliness, and love for America, but are willing to sell their country down the Volga to protect their pocket books and investments. Trump loves Putin, Putin loves oligarchs, Trump wants to make the U.S. into an oligarchy and his supporters and sychophants are kissing up to him so they can be one of the elite few who will be allowed to be wealthy in his new world order. Shame on the GOP!
3
Paul you must have hit the nail on the head if Trump is trashing you in the media. Well done & well written again.
4
I believe in many of the claims/arguments that Krugman puts forward and I think it will lead to a reformation of our "two-party" system. Where it will lead, I'm not sure. But I think Trump will effectively change the Republican party into something that many Republicans cannot support. So perhaps the most interesting thing to watch is what our political parties will become.
2
Good going, Paul. You really got under the skin of this criminal who stole the presidency with the help of the Russians. Keep up the good work. You may get a well deserved prize!
4
Not trying to take the plunge that all sides are equally as bad, they're not .......... but wouldn't it be interesting if somehow a huge dose of honor was pumped into American life and we actually strived to do the right thing even if it wasn't expedient? The Dems too easily are twisted by the Jussie Smolletts of the world.Kloubachar and the Mayor of South Bend came across as honorable citizens last night. We have to avoid politicians being politicians like the plague this time around. They make everything murky and only people who really pay close attention can make the fine distinctions.
A successful democracy requires an educated and informed electorate. We are failing both requirements. Our educational system has degenerated to trade schools that do not consider anything about how society works or should work, and our sources of information have turned into propaganda outlets. We are on the brink of irreversible change.
6
@Cassandra
Every Republican administration since Ford has said (to paraphrase Shakespeare) "first thing, we kill all the public schools".
From Australia, it seems strange that so little attention is being paid to perhaps the most practical way of solving this problem, namely, court challenges to gerrymandering. Here our electorate boundaries are set by a non-partisan official Electoral Commission. What is happening in America to reduce what looks from the outside to be the root of the problem?
7
The GOP will abandon President Trump if and when it is convenient, i.e., when the polls turn significantly against him. A 39% approval rate is still high enough to win reelection.
2
"In 2017 he passed a huge tax cut, largely for corporations, that disproportionately benefited the wealthy, and almost succeeded in repealing Obamacare, in the process gutting Medicaid. And these policies have endeared him to the G.O.P.’s money men. “Deep-pocketed Republicans who snubbed Donald Trump in 2016 are going all in for him in 2020,”
Let's not forget that both policies were also a MASSIVE betrayal of his own voters.
He had promised to INCREASE taxes for the wealthiest and to cut the deficit, whereas the GOPe tax bill that he enthusiastically signed into law does the exact opposite, even doubling the deficit.
And he had promised to replace the ACA with a plan that would cover even more Americans, at even lower costs, whereas once in office he enthusiastically (a party thrown in the Rose Garden included) supported Ryancare, which made HC unaffordable for an additional 30 million Americans, all while strongly accelerating cost increases once again.
So yes, as a candidate he ran against the GOP establishment, using conservatives' hatred of the GOPe to his advantage, by promising policies that the GOPe had always rejected.
But as a president, he flip-flopped 100% on all his major policy proposals distinguishing him from the GOPe (a wall, comprehensive immigration reform, deporting 11 million illegals, repeal and replace Obamacare with something better, no cuts to Medicaid nor Medicare nor social security), to simply allow his cabinet and McConnell do what they want.
3
All these comments and nobody blames the real culprit. The so called centrist voter! What is a centrist? Simple, someone who goes in the middle, but then my next question is what is the "middle"? As of now the country is moving more to the right (in the future it might be the left) so wouldn't the center or middle then be more to the right then it should be?
3
In our collective gut it is depressing to think that what Mr. Krugman writes is true but, it seems to be on the money. Unfortunately, what alternatives do progressives have except to hope that the power players in the Democratic Party have not sold out to the big money interests that haunt the halls of congress. I'm somewhat skeptical, also, that our system of government checks and balances has not reached a tipping point from it's long slide beginning circa 1790 from what the founding fathers had in mind, unless, what they had in mind was a Kleptocracy which it seems we have right under our collective noses and, if so, that is certainly different than what generations of citizens have been taught in civics class.
1
How the times have a-changed. Can you imagine Joe McCarthy sitting in the Senate right now and there were speculation that Russia interfered in a U.S. election to help get the president elected? As odious as McCarthy was, I can't fathom the idea of him tolerating someone within his own party who potentially colluded with the Russians to win the presidency. Not that those were the halcyon days of American democracy, but country and values mattered then.
1
The Republican Party - at least all elected members of Congress - have put wealth before country. That cancer started with Reagan and has metastasized to the entire elected party and the party organization. The whole organization cannot be saved.
Worse - the conservative commetariat has followed along blindly. The 1% own the party and they own the commetariat. (A few former Republicans can criticize Trump, but few actually criticize the Party). Conservatism in the USA has been taken over by wealth and greed.
The new American religion - wealth is great, greed is great, America is great because it believes in wealth and greed.
The prognosis is not good.
2
I appreciate it when a columnist "tells it like it is"! The House needs to go through the process of clarifying the significance of the Mueller Report, and call out the Republican leadership for not complying with their Oath of Office. This is a serious matter which cannot be brushed under the carpet. All they need to do is to ask themselves: what if the shoe was on the other foot and the GOP didn't control the Senate and the Presidency? The GOP would be screaming...incessantly!
If it isn't abundantly clear already, the American people and the World will gradually learn more about Trump's ineptitude, corruption and inability to perform the basic tasks required of the person elected to occupy the Oval Office.
3
Sadly this article just feels like the simple truth.
7
@Peter
fortunately it isn't
@Juan Briceno
Are you saying it's a complex truth, not a simple one?
Thank you Dr. Krugman for speaking truth to power.
Apparently you hit the mark...please see Twitter.
7
Brilliant, cogent article. Thank you.
4
Why isn't it obvious that our Republican oligarchs and the Russian oligarchs are now working together in the common cause of profiting from fascist governments run of, by, and for the billionaires in both countries. The interests of the Koch Brothers are really the same as those of Russian energy czars, aren't they? Why shouldn't they happily co-operate to make America as tightly controlled for its oligarchs as Russia is for its own? No wonder the Republicans have zero interest in stopping the Russians from trying to control the outcome of the 2020 presidential race as they did in 2016, since all the help is going to go to the oligarchs' party, the Republican.
8
Excellent column, Dr. Krugman. Thank you.
In addition to tax cuts, he's also giving the Republicans the deregulation of industry, land, resources, that they long lusted after.
8
Perfectly stated
4
The scary part comes when Trump loses the next election and, 1) has a couple of months to really wreak even more havoc; or, 2) refuses to leave office. Remember that Giuliani wanted to stay on as Mayor of NYT even after his term ran out; a foreshadowing of the "I alone can fix it" mentality. It will be interesting to see just how far the GOP will go when there is a major transfer of power at hand. Don't expect the statesmanship of Al Gore.
6
@Frank
To synthesize the professor's view and yours: Mr. Trump is the vanguard of an invasive species like the zebra mussel, clinging to whatever it touches and crowding out traditional occupants. First the GOP, then the White House.
It's all out there for anyone to see. Voters who can least afford Republican policies continue to vote them into office because of their underlying racial and bigoted appeal. A criminal sits in the White House for the same reasons. What would the founding fathers think of their great democratic experiment now? Is it to late to reclaim government of the people, by the people, and for the people?
3
@John Lewis: Perhaps they would see it as a scheme to protect liberty to enslave.
@MinisterOfTruth There is no question that at its creation our democracy was an imperfect union but you have to look at it in the context of the time. Thankfully it was written to evolve and the arc of history, thus far, has proven it to be a worthy experiment.
@Steve Bolger So you're suggesting that the founding fathers were all white supremacists and Republicans? There intentions were noble but you have to look at the creation of our democracy in the context of the time.
Is it possible to distinguish between Trumpians and Republicans? Much of his “base” has all the characteristics of a cult. 43.8 millions Americans, each year suffer with a mental illness. 9,8 of them have a serious form on one. It would be interesting to determine how many of his fanatic followers are amongst this group. Lonely, lost, frightened and desperate people seek a savior. It has happened many times before in human history.
Many of his followers go from one rally to another. They find comfort in discovering that they are not alone in the universe and have found many like themselves.
It is also a sad truth that too many Americans are living under constant stress and anxiety.
Under such conditions we humans have always sought a leader. One very grandiose and troubled one has come forth and has presented himself as their savior. Hopefully, not all Republicans are members of the Trumpian Cult and will remember who they really are. The party of brave men and women.
3
Good point. Remember that Trump won with the support of a lot of former Obama voters, especially in the Midwest.
As a southern libertarian who held his nose and voted for Hillary, I do like to point this out...
1
Timely and disturbingly accurate commentary.
3
A home run Dr. Krugman! One of your best.
3
Democrats should fix their own house and then move together in a progressive manner with progressive policies to take the Presidency in 2020. (Speaking of things to get rid of: Superdelegates! And stop all the negative spin on the progressive policies. The current center status quo ain't gonna win it 2020. Those days are over.)
And forget impeachment. It's a waste of time. They'll never get the Senate to go along and when (not if) the next Democratic president is sworn in, you can bet the Republicans will be looking for payback. So just stop. Seriously. You've only got 18 months to go and then he's gone. So get organized and be progressive, and prepare to take over in 2020 instead. That's a much better use of your and our time and money.
Trump, with all due respect, couldn't have colluded for one reason: his personality prevents him from colluding. He simply can't do it. His ego is too 'uge. (Even his own administrative staff can't get him to collude with them, let alone Russia.) All we found out is that he just benefitied from another nut half-way round the world who decided to mess with our elections and make sure he was installed.
So yes, get mad. Yes, work for change. But forget the past.
Think of the future and work towards it. (Forget Trump. He faces the past. And one day - in 2020 -- he will be firmly placed in the past for good.)
2
My hope is that the national GOP will follow the CA GOP into irrelevancy before they destroy the American ideal with their greed and racism.
4
@Duncan,
.
For the reason of enabling the national gop's fall into irrelevancy, some analysts say dont impeach Trump -- he's pushing the gop that way
Trump is a Republican in name only, if that. He cares not about anyone or anything besides power. The GOP has gotten what it wants - tax cuts for the wealthy, conservative Supreme Court judges, and major blows to healthcare, the environment and social justice programs. Trump is an ignoramus, unfit to hold the position he has stumbled into and he will continue to wreak havoc. Ryan has slithered out of town leaving the feckless one, McConnell, and other sycophants and spineless members of the GOP to watch Trump destroy their party while they sit idly by and watch. To quote an oft used Trup refrain...sad.
4
When all is said and done; after the dust has settled on our Times of Troubles, we will learn how utterly compromised Republicans were. Whether they were beholden to NRA Russian money or just plain old US Dollars from American Oligarchs, Republicans will be exposed for their treason and treachery.
How sad that so many citizens support these traitors!
3
I hope Trump gets everything he has earned...including time in prison for tax fraud and money laundering.
5
Nailed it.
4
Consider this passage from "A Man Called Intrepid," a book about Britain's intelligence chief, William Stephenson, in WWII:
"The Wednesday after Stephenson returned, the Nazi military victories in Europe were celebrated in a private suite at the Waldorf Hotel in Manhattan. The host was an agent of SS Intelligence Chief Reinhard Heydrich. The guests were prominent Americans, millionaires and industrialists who were being urged to "cut off supplies to Britain.
"This advice came from Dr. Gerhard Alois Westrick, a German intelligence agent masquerading as a German trade official. ... 'Britain will be polished off in three months,' he advised his guests. 'Then the prospects for American trade with the New German Empire will be beyond your wildest dreams.'"
Unfortunately (for them), word got out about the "party," and the industrialists quickly disavowed association with the plan. However, the point was clear: they would have sold out Britain in an instant in exchange for the profits they envisioned that would arise from working with Hitler.
4
@Robert Wood,
.
That shows the huge cost of political ignorance
@Robert Wood
By all accounts, Mr. Trump's father's views in the 1930s were in accord with the American industrialists, such as Henry Ford, who carried their isolationist politics further, in the pursuit or retention of German business.
This is not a Republican abdication. Far from it, it is a reaffirmation of their values. They have been insurgents inside the federal government since the 1930s, when they were appalled by FDR and his expansion of federal powers, which, arguably, saved our country during the Depression. So, Republicans are willing, no, anxious, to weaken the government so that any checks on what they believe in---untrammeled capitalism---can disappear. Does it matter that the NEA disappears? Not to a Republican. Does it matter that national parks fall into disrepair? Not to a Republican. Does it matter that regular people lose any chance of protecting themselves against financial chicanery? Not to a Republican. They are beneath contempt.
3
I am seeing irreconcilable differences. We cannot change the Trump lovers. The blue states are powerful and we could go our own way, maybe it's time for a "Cal Exit". Personally I have given up trying to change their minds and I do not want to have them in my house. I just got back from France, everybody looked happy and there were no TV's tuned to Trump.
When America goes, we still have the west coast and the northeast.
4
@Bill Evans
I would love to see states have the right to secede from the Union, or barring that an amendment or statute which limits the right of the federal government to transfer tax revenues collected in one state to offset the expenditures of another state where their tax code ensures an annual revenue shortfall.
@Bill Evans
...and Minnesota, much of Wisconsin and some of Michigan.
If it came to it, though, I like to think that almost all of the states that stayed in the Union in 1860-65 would stick together.
Every ill that Mr. Krugman mentions can be rectified by sweeping Democrats into power, provided the new President and Congresspeople don't adopt the same self-preservation tactics of the GOP.
Tax laws can be rewritten, Medicaid can be funded, the conversation around race and immigration redirected. The government can be reconstructed by putting professionals and scientists back in charge at the various Cabinet departments. A new president can undo harmful executive orders with strokes of his or her own pen.
What Mr Krugman fails to mention is the long-lasting damage done by the GOP to the judiciary, much of which has been done in the name of just a few medical issues. It will take a lifetime to rectify that.
Mr. Krugman also fails to mention damage to our natural resources. Recovering precious lands from the extractive industries, cleaning up air, water and land will also take decades.
Focus on the truly longterm consequences: these are the devastating legacy of the Republican abdication.
5
DAILY REMINDER:
The tax cuts were the last spasm of the cabal that *truly* runs the GOP:
The donors.
They want 5-10 years with their effective tax rates at zero (via loop holes, used to be 10-20%)
The GOP donors will sock all that money away offshore until the point where the demographic trends make it impossible for Republicans to hold power anymore
The thing they are NOT realizing is that they are pushing Democrats so hard, they are going to go FAR in the opposite direction
Examples include:
Vastly increasing the IRS budget and mandate for investigation of abuse of the tax system by the wealthy
making ownership of assets illegal by anonymous offshore shell companies that obscure the final beneficiaries
Auditing, perhaps through technologies like block chain, perhaps through traditional methods, the electronic paper trails to ensure that every dollar spent to purchase real estate was first taxed or owned by a taxable entity
5
"Because the modern G.O.P. is perfectly willing to sell out America if that’s what it takes to get tax cuts for the wealthy. Republicans may not think of it in those terms, but that’s what their behavior amounts to."
This is not just about tax cuts. If you haven't noticed Trump has stacked the federal court system with conservative judges. If I recollect correctly he has appointed more federal judges in his time in office than any other president in the same length of time. This will affect the country beyond most people's lifetimes. It is probably more concerning than the Republicans selling out for tax cuts.
7
Yes, Paul’s essay is, unfortunately, very true, though other elements, like the right-wing media and conservative religious groups are other factors in the Republican Party’s failure to be either moral or patriotic in the face of Donald Trump. it’s “god, guns, and greed” all the way to the bank. I think the only recourse is to try to influence religious conservatives to rethink their politics, and this means that Dems have to also rethink theirs.
1
Great opinion piece.
I'm still wondering why I don't hear accusations of treason, lack of patriotism, and criticism of the ample dictator aspirations from many of the democratic candidates?
Trump would be the dream boat of any political opponent in any other country because he gives you multiple opportunities daily to make him look bad to the commoner - yet, no one here grabs that opportunity. Why not? What could possibly happen?
1
i see a broad revival of commitment to our democracy. we can do this. remember who we are. remember how we got here. stand up. speak out.
1
I was planning to change my party designation since 2016. I have now done so after reading this. Thanks for the jog Prof. Krugman.
9
We are witnessing the death of intellectualism and democracy simultaneously. Our democracy has become an oligarchy ruled by a billionaire class. Our thoughts have become impulses, easily manipulated by billionaire social networks. No election can change this. Time to adjust to a new American reality.
3
American values will survive this as they have before but only if the majority of Americans believe in them and vote accordingly.
4
Still, with this next election let's not get caught up in proving how wrong and bad Trump is. Anyone who doesn't know that by now is beyond reach. The Dems have actual solutions about the problems most people deeply care about including health care, economic opportunity and climate change. We need to focus on that. Do we want to prove how right we are or do we want to get the right things accomplished.
8
I am not sure why we can't do both!
1
Under-educated whites who voted for Trump and against their own interests did so for almost exactly the same reasons poor white southerners joined the Confederate army, in spite of not being slave owners. Their enemy is the other, the educated coastal elite or the Yankee outsiders trying to take away their rights such as they are in a deeply vulnerable reactionary political order. The white families whose own best interests are undermined believe fervently in the enemy who's at their door, an alien immigrant about to take their jobs, or an outside agitator who's trying to disrupt what's left of their fragile, status quo. Nothing to fear but fear, and it's lethal and easily inflamed by lies and demagoguery.
17
Republicans also win by subverting elections with voter suppression tactics and gerrymandering. Another way: spreading fear and lies via Fox news
10
The modern Republican party hasn't legitimately elected a president period! Nixion/Kissinger prolonged the Vietnam nightmare killing even more Americans for a reelection strategy. Reagan's campaign manager appointed to lead the CIA seemingly negotiated with Iranian ayatollah delaying the release of American hostages until ronnie's inauguration and I don't need to review the recent illegitimate Bush & Trump presidencies. Tax breaks for wealth & corporations necessitating spending cuts for the poor to reduce deficits of their own creation all while real earning value for middle class Americans has flattened and the #GOPhascists smile.
3
It used to be that the conservatives found a Ruskie behind every curtain. Now it's the liberals.
Trump is a joke. Very 21st century American. A carnival barker.
But don't make it worse by pretending that it isn't our fault. Dirty foreigners did it (yeah, I know; the ironies are incredible!).
The Russians did not put Trump in the White House. We did! Fantasies got us here. But, they won't save us.
3
I am partisan plain and simple. There is absolutely nothing the GOP can say or do that will give me a pause to pay attention.
That said, the need to commence impeachment proceedings is not being looked at through a partisan lense. You only to be semicomatose to see this is a constitutional imperative. Let everyone cast their vote on the preponderance of the evidence. Let history be the judge.
Leader Pelosi will be judged quite harshly if she impedes the impeachment process.
American needs to do this "exercise", not just for ourselves, but for all the world to see. We've lost almost all of the international respect that we had, and faced with the prospect of not performing this constitutional duty, we will inevitably lose the rest.
This is no longer a partisan matter, it's a constitutional matter.
3
The sad fact of the matter is that when it comes to money,
Republicans have ALWAYS acted this way. Not one
Republican supported any of the legislation passed by FDR during the New Deal. (Was a more equitable distribution of wealth ever part of any Republican agenda?) No, their view of this country is simply, "Of the Rich, by the Corporations, for Themselves"!
3
Krugman must have done something right -- Trump went ballistic today ("apology", "enemy of the people", etc. etc) ! Go Paul !
14
Please get rid of these people. The easiest way is to VOTE!!! If you know someone who would normally not vote, please drive this person to the polls. Many register but never vote - this is the only way we can stop these people from stealing our money - in their compensation packages - and stealing our country.
5
An excellent view of reality here by Mr. Krugman. That reality however is nothing new. Republicans have been like chameleons for quite some time now. They seem capable of instantly changing colors to suit the moment. The only genuine bone in their bodies is the one that recognizes wealth and its wants. They literally can not honestly refer to themselves as true patriots. Unless of course patriotism is defined by how much wealth one has. Their goal is and probably always has been to keep the peons exactly where they are, subserviant to the conservative elites who love enriching themselves at the expense and peril of all those peons.
7
Another comment. All supreme court nominees should be a minimum of 60 years old. We need history and intelligent, experienced people. Having just relistened to the ON A series on reconstruction era, I realize how many times the Supreme Court has failed to right by extending democracy to citizens.
2
Since the head of the Republican party has repeatedly sided with our enemies, it is time for the Democrats to vociferously claim the standard of the American patriotic party which it should have done years ago.
5
I have been in the Pelosi "go slow" camp on impeachment but the combination of Republican intransigence and dereliction of duty in the face of Mueller's clear exposition of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” by Trump has pulled me into the Warren camp. The fact that conviction by the Senate is unlikely is no longer a consideration in my mind. Let the Democrats pull up their socks and do the right thing for a change. Let's see if Trump and the Republicans can win their elections in 2020 with their 40% approval rating.
11
This begins "So all the 'fake news' was true." Well, except that Buzzfeed added editors notes to two of their stories, as did McClatchy. And the Mueller report directly contradicted "bombshells" that Cohen traveled to Prague and was instructed to lie by Trump. Oh and the Guardian claim that Manafort visited the most watched fugitive in a London embassy was wholly unsubstantiated by the Mueller report. And of course CNN's claim that the president knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting and that it was to obtain Russian dirt was specifically refuted by the Mueller report. This is just more outright gaslighting by Krugman.
1
@Beardo
Nonsense. Complex investigations like this never yield perfect results. With the Republicans fighting tooth and nail every day to obscure the truth it's a wonder half the leads end up accurate. You are looking at the 10% of the Mueller report that gives you a shred of solace. Check out the whole report (to the extent possible). Even Republicans like Mitt Romney have to admit that this president is shameful and unfit.
1
Evidently, someone read or summarized this column to the Trump, and as reported by those who study the Trump's Tweets, he is upset.
Good job, Paul!
14
Whatever term you call it, "conservative, extreme. more-radical", nothing expresses treason like the word treason. Trump and his family sat down with our enemies. A business person can do this, but not one running for the presidency. Trump has betrayed all of us, and that his so-called party doesn't call out for justice almost brings me to tears. And for that party to turn it's head for money, requires a true revolution in response.
13
BLOTUS needs to be seen in the context of the global far-right populist movements funded by billionaires from Russia to the United States.
One by one, around the world, eerily similar far-right kleptocratic governments are consuming democracy from within. The slide into lawlessness and the elevation of what Hannah Arendt called “organizational lying” is on display.
Today, the White House has issued a letter to a Federal employee counseling her to refuse to answer a Congressional subpoena. The White House has blocked release of personal tax and financial information on the grounds the Chief Executive is a “private citizen” and not a public servant. If this stands, the world’s most important nation will resemble the autocracies of Third World status.
8
@Mjxs
The precedent of other US presidents' provding their tax records should have some weight.
If not, defiance of an order from a body of Congress should carry a legal penalty. Unfortunately, the situation puts the Federal employee in an Eichjmann position..."just following orders"...when the real offender is Trump.
There's even more we seem to keep forgetting:
1) A hostile foreign power intervened in the presidential election, hoping to install Trump in the White House.
2) The Trump campaign was aware of this intervention and welcomed it.
3) In power, Trump tried to block any inquiry into what happened.
4) Trump ignores Russian interference and does nothing to prevent future interference, at odds with his own intelligence community.
5) Trump tries to roll back, impede, and blunt the impact of US sanctions on Russia.
6) Trump publicly says Crimea is part of Russia and calls for Russia to be welcomed back into the international community with no concessions.
7) Trump repeatedly, and inexplicably, parrots Kremlin talking points on global issues.
8) Trump calls the US’s commitment to EU allies and to NATO into question.
9) Trump attacks the EU and actively supports anti-EU, Kremlin-backed parties.
10) Trump repeatedly praises Putin, lending the credibility of the US presidency to Putin’s standing.
11) Trump shifts the Republican traditional hawkish views on Russia.
See anything suspicious here by any chance?
Some credits: https://themoscowproject.org/reports/putins-payout-10-ways-trump-has-supported-putins-foreign-policy-agenda/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russian-asset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.5450f7cd4a0a
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/world/europe/russia-trump-foreign-policy.html
4
If you subtracted from America all that is non-white, all the pieces fall into place for the Republican party:
They really are patriotic in refusing to pay taxes for the foreign non-whites' benefit: Tea Party rebellion.
They really are patriotic in seeking other similar-minded allies such as Russia to counter non-whites: Liberty.
They really are patriotic in promoting guns to arm whites against a coming rebellion by non-whites: Independence.
They really are patriotic in supporting the wealthy, who are overwhelmingly white, keeping wealth in the hands of the "real" America: Pursuit of Happiness.
If America was only for whites, the Republican party is then a liberator, a caring and a loyal combatant against the invaders and enemies of white rule. It doesn't matter whether they were here already or if they immigrated last year on an H-1 visa.
It's cowboys and Indians all over again, the Indians being are all the rest of us who aren't white American Republicans.
The Republican party is not a national party, and has not been for decades. It is the party of white nationalism in an American civil war that, in their imagination and delusion, has never ended.
3
“A star shines its brightest right before it burns out”
In my humble opinion, theirs is a dying breed. With the amount of legal/illegal immigration the US demographics and with it the political landscape will change for good. I understand illegals don’t vote, but only the first generation. The second generation is US born.
I say let the GOP have its last waltz…
2
In reality, many mainstream Republicans opposed Trump in 2016, when they thought he would lose the election. Immediately afterward, they quickly pivoted. Romney is a good example. He excoriated Trump, then tried to suck up to get a cabinet position. Paul Ryan was another; ditto the conservative Erick Erickson. This was appallingly sniveling behavior, but not unexpected. They had and have no courage. But they did understand that the new president could be a useful idiot. The joke, however, was on them, and on the American people, who cannot afford to have this go on much longer.
5
Krugman has hit the proverbial nail on the head: Republicans put up with, tolerate, and by their inaction, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) condone Trump's and his lieutenants' actions solely to get their agenda passed (e.g., lower taxes for the rich, right-wing judges installed, gutting universal healthcare and all regulations that protects the American public). Contrary to popular belief, Democracy is fragile and in the process of breaking wide open.
4
Despite, or perhaps because of, Mr Krugman's credentials, this is the epitome of "contempt politics". By ascribing an evil motive to all Republicans, Mr Krugman discards all appearances of tolerance for other opinions or worldviews. How sad to further promote division along ethnic or racial lines. As an Hispanic woman, who is NOT a Republican, I know these divisions are more manufactured than organic. I am very sorry for this hateful piece.
What we are experiencing is the logical extension of the GOP's drive for deregulation, except it is no longer confined to the economy, but to the political system itself. It is the amoral drive for political gain at all costs, even if this means the destruction of our political values and institutions. In this regard, President Trump represents the ideal GOP CEO. There is little reason to expect any of them to act any differently, given that they have stumbled upon what, to them, is a modern day political nirvana.
For the rest of us, that is the body politic, it is nothing short of a real time nightmare, a political dystopia driven by greed and nihilism.
4
Richard F. Miller’s books include Harvard's Civil War: A History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and States At War, Volumes 1-6, (UPNE, 2013-2018).
Real civil wars have a pattern. One or more consequential constituencies,
● Have grievances decades or even centuries in the making that they believe are existential; and,
● They cease believing that the current power structure offers redress of such grievances; and,
● They have the material capacity, sometimes with the help of self-interested third parties, to inflict sustained violence on opposing constituencies; and,
● They possess in sufficient mass the will and organization to inflict this violence as well as absorb the inevitable counterattacks.
The GOP and its main support: the South; obviously have grievances (Civil Right Movement of 1965)
and Trump is the vehicle the GOP and Southern States are using to control the government to assuage those grievances.
Islamic Jihad or Evangelical Rapture
Real Americans are under attack from without and within.
1
Rights and responsibility should always go together. We should not have a Right without also having taking responsibility for the actions that come with that Right.
The Right to free speech should not be the freedom to speak lies without impunity. Real life events have shown us many people are unfortunately nonthinking and non-discerning to the the words presented to them. Just as we have laws that criminalize acts such as killing and stealing because there will always be people unable of self restraint, why can't we criminalize false words that cause actual harm?
Only perfect people can have perfect freedom. Since we are not, we should not demand absolute rights to absolute freedom.
What we are most fundamentally losing in the era of Trump and GOP dirty politics is not just American democracy and values, but our appreciation and allegiance to truths. Without truths, how can anything else be possible?
1
Dear Mr. Krugman,
Thank you, thank you, thank you .
We need the truth.
Keep it coming.
7
"A party that no longer believes in American values."
The GOP does not support even the most basic universal moral values most people around the world agree to.
There are a number of lists of universal moral values. One example of a short list says:
RIGHT CONDUCT.
PEACE.
TRUTH.
LOVE.
NON-VIOLENCE
Can we say that Trump and the GOP currently support and reflect any of these universal values when their policies and behavior are much the opposite?
We know that Trump and the GOP proudly claim to represent business interests. I found an article online in the "Journal of Business Ethics." that attempted to identify universal moral values in business by examining: corporate codes of ethics, global codes of ethics, and the business ethics literature.
They concluded:
"Based on the convergence of the three sources of standards, six universal moral values for corporate codes of ethics are proposed including: (1) trustworthiness; (2) respect; (3) responsibility; (4) fairness; (5) caring; and (6) citizenship."
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-005-3403-2
Whops! Based on their political actions and behavior, it looks like, once again, Trump and the GOP engage in the very opposite of carrying out the above 4 universal moral business values.
But a lawyer colleague, who taught business ethics to university students for many years, came to the conclusion "business ethics" is an oxymoron in the real world and most business majors really are not interested--as we now see
3
Missing one very important thing: Stacking the courts with conservative judges. This is what GOP wanted more than anything. It puts them in power for the next generation, no matter who is elected.
5
The question of "What will Republicans do?" has also not been asked after the every mass shooting, because we all know the answer: the Republicans will do nothing at all.
7
I'm confused. When you end with;'The simple fact is that one of our two major parties — the one that likes to wrap itself in the flag — no longer believes in American values.' Shouldn't you be referring to the Democratic Party?
1
I missed the "Great" in the article.
Must have been in very small print.
So true, so frightening, so brilliant. This comment is incisively accurate and does not bode well for our country unless every caring American makes certain to vote in 2020, and makes certain that his/her vote is counted. I would add to the enabling Republicans also the evangelicals and one-issue religious zealots who are willing to support an individual who flagrantly and openly contradicts the essential teachings of their faith in his personal behavior all for the chance to get the Judicial Branch overturn abortion rights.
2
" The party’s willingness to back behavior it would have called treasonous if a Democrat did it is just more of the same."
The Republican candidate in 2012 attempted to call attention to the growing problem with the "hostile foreign power" Russia.
The Cerebral One in the White House mocked him. Hillary gave the Russians a Reset Button and in 2013 suggested the US snub Putin.
No comes Krugman crying "Oh the humanity!".
"Knock it off, guys."
@Jp
Hillary called out Vladimir for what he is. That's why he hated her, and, that's why he supported Trump. It's a bit more complicated than how you present it.
4
So Trump, the 'marketing genius,' is too dense to know he just gave Paul Krugman a million buck freebie of promotion with his smarmy tweets? Krugman has been criticized as being too smart for the crowd. Guess what? The crowd here is super smart, and just became twice as big.
1
We need to proceed to hearings to bolster public confidence and necessity for impeachment. Too much damage has been done. We also need new laws demanding that presidents (and candidates) show tax returns and debt obligations for obvious reasons. It wouldn't hurt to force a return to the 60 vote for laws and nominees for positions and demand that supreme court nominees get a timely fair hearing Gorsuch's tenure should be illegal. Sixty votes would force moderation.
1
As Joe Lockhart pointed out in his opinion piece today, “For Democrats, leaving Donald Trump in office is not only good politics — it is the best chance for fundamental realignment of American politics in more than a generation.”
Not impeaching is clearly a better choice at this time for getting rid of this President. Crucially, removing him via the ballot box would have a sense of legitimacy for his supporters that impeachment likely does not possess.
For some reason, and it doesn’t make sense to me, Trump has succeeded in creating the impression that he won by a landslide when in fact he didn’t even win by a majority. While he has millions of supporters (go figure), he doesn’t have enough support to win the popular vote. His only strength is the Republican base, and they are a declining portion of the population. This election is extremely likely to be their swan song as influencers.
Let’s let he, and them, get a dose of reality by losing, as he might say, “Bigly.”
In a nutshell, the Democratic Party is the only party that values the idea of a democracy.
The Republican Party worships wealth of any kind, including inherited (undeserved) wealth. And they get elected thanks only to political tricks that undermine democracy, i.e. one man one vote, universal suffrage, etc. have been deliberately undermined by gerrymandering, the electoral college, etc.
It is remarkable, as we observe the death of our democracy, to realize that the majority of years in this century our President did NOT win the popular vote. And the Republicans are conspiring to continue that ad infinitum.
2
Sound analysis Dr. K but tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations are by no means the only priorities for the GOP. Among others are the re-making of the federal judiciary and the evisceration of environmental protection. Trump fulfills their expectations completely.
4
The Republican Abdication presents an existential threat to our democracy. As Krugman concludes: "It is very much up in the air whether America as we know it will survive." What the Republicans have abdicated is the protection of our constitution (and democracy) from enemies both foreign and domestic.
5
Paul, It is obvious to me that the republicans as you say are willing stand by and do nothing so that they can get tax cuts for the wealthy. That's it. There is no need to dig deeper. With such an unequivocally defined mission do you really believe that republicans can be so ingenuously unaware of their purposes?
I doubt that. What I do believe is that they have embraced a the Friedmanian religion of greed is good, the natural order of power, the class struggle and the willfully elected favorites of god, the chosen victors, the wealthy.
They know what they are doing.
2
I would submit that Krugman, along with most media opinion makers, fail to hold accountable the vast majority of people who ought to be held accountable. Sure, the politicians and the Koch Brothers should be held accountable. But, they are a small minority of those who are at fault. Every voter in the country should be calling for Trump to be held to account, and they are failing in that duty for their own narrow reasons. That is the real tragedy.
If they would get their act together, the politicians would also.
Right on. In addition, their agenda includes stacking the courts with conservative judges who will back corporations and a regressive agenda for many years to come.
4
Those who are nihilistic and apathetically poor will say that there no difference between the parties and will stay home on election day. Apathetic Puerto-Ricans voted at a rate of 47% in Florida after the haranguing they took after hurricane Maria.
I have called, knocked on doors and pleaded to no avail. Yet, I still volunteer and contribute to entities that helps the disinterested poor.
2
@Mark Smith
Sadly, I must disagree with you. The Democrats for two generations have proven themselves to be Republican-lite. They go around on extended weekends every weekend, with their hands out at chicken or steak dinners, begging from the rich to keep themselves in power. Even our last Democratic party candidate called regular people "deplorables". Under President Obama, how many bankers did we see prosecuted for financial crimes? Martha Stewart was made an example of, but, bankers? How about Obamacare, aka, the Affordable Care Act, which was a giveaway to insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and was the beginning of the dismantling of Medicare. This is no way to demonstrate support of the middle class or poor. There are some really attractive candidates coming forward, but the old money grubbers and corporatists (Delaware? Come on!) are still the entitled ones and fully expect to be anointed. Until that changes the Democrats remain fully Republican.
@Dennis You made my point.
I worked in corporate banking and barely kept my morality. I heard moral conservative Republican takes everyday for over thirty years. They believe the opposite of what I believe is good. My mother sent us to church three times a week and twice on Sunday. We were taught to help the downtrodden. They believe in the prosperity gospel and those who cannot help themselves should perish. I heard this too many times.There is a quantum difference in venality.
The parties are not the same.
1
@Dennis: Your comment illustrates Mark's points to a "t".
1
Calling it as it is, thank you Dr. Krugman. However, by GOP, I hope Krugman includes the Republican voters. Without their continued support of Trump, the Republican Party might have been able to find at least a pretend and self interested conscience and patriotism. What is wrong with the Republican voters? Are they so fearful of the non-whites that they are willing sell out American values whole sale, throwing out the baby with the bath water?
It is the nature of scorpions to bite, and it is the nature of the GOP as we see now, to cheat and lie for self interests. But is this also the nature of the millions of Republican voters? Are the Republican voters supporting Trump now because they have been lied to or because they actually are just like Trump? Do they like Trump for who he is?
I think we Americans have always thought of themselves as the good guy, (versus the Russian bad guys), but the past few years are showing us that may not be the case, that we may just be the bad guys also after all.
4
Democrats need to pour more energy into flipping the Senate.
The Senate under Mc Connell will do everything in its power to
obstruct any Democrat elected President, just as it did under
Obama. The Democrats should be running as much against
Mc Connell as against Trump.
9
The deepest mystery to me is how the working class are persuaded to vote for the plutocratic gold toilet part. Without that the Republicans would be sunk. Does anyone understand this? Isn't this an inexplicabke failing of the Democrats?
Please address the issue.
1
And it doesn't much matter to the GOP financiers and handlers whether Trump is non-compos mentis - comatose - asleep at the wheel - ignorant or indifferent...he's the wicker-man on a pole at the head of the column trying to force America to turn to the far right. Enshrined American values shrunk to whatever they can get away with...tomorrow's USA? Sure hope not.
It's not complex. "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Lord Acton) Power and wealth! The age old drivers of tyranny. Sprinkle it with deception, racism, and lies.
Very effective.
The Greeks had the same issue. "The Trial of Socrates" of IF Stone outlines how the deeper story of Socrates / Plato was the obsession of power and control by the elite, covered by a patina of abstracts and absolutes. Sophistry of that time has been updated for todays world.
1
@Paul: Plato was a scribe who wrote down what Socrates said. History belongs to those who record it.
1
I agree wholeheartedly with Krugman's analysis except for one missing element and it's huge. Lost in the shuffle of Trump's misdeeds, lying and power-grabbing is the right wing tilt of our federal judiciary as a result of conservative judges being hoisted onto benches nationwide by GOP Senate. Trump himself could care less about them (other than they tend to favor executive power over the other branches) but the Republican Party realized years ago that these judges will rule in favor of their pet projects.
4
@scottso: If truth in advertising were required of political parties, the "Federalist Society" would have to rebrand itself to the "State's Rights Society".
1
There are dozens of instances where the Republicans have acted in their own best interests and not for the benefit of the country as a whole. And they continue. One only has to read of the efforts by their machine to discredit Trump's own council, McGahn, for his terrible infraction of telling the truth about what Trump has said. The R's are now going for his jugular. Because of this seeming ingrained nature, the only way to combat them is to face them head on. Impeachment should be on the table as first, second, and third course. With more impeachment as dessert.
4
Although I agree with most of Mr. Krugman's points, how can he miss this huge factor: people who vote on the single issue of abortion.
Here in the Midwest, this drives far more voters to Republican candidates than "white identity politics." I'm related to more than a few Trump supporters and there are many in my comfortable neighborhood who all vote anti-abortion.
All Trump had to do to get literally millions of votes was say he's anti-abortion. And then as long as his handlers make sure that anti-abortion judges are getting appointed at break-neck speed, these voters are happy and will keep going Republican.
10
@Valerie: All of this is religiously motivated. These people believe that God punishes them for failure to ban abortion. It is psychopathological nonsense that defies the reality that any species of animal can proliferate enough to destroy its own environment.
1
@Steve Bolger Hi--I agree that it is mostly religiously motivated, but their position has more to do with their sincerely held belief that abortion is the murder of a baby. They can cite scripture all day long about murder of innocents being wrong, which is of course not debatable.
I don't agree with their conclusion (that a fetus at any stage of development should be considered the same as a full-term baby), but I think you do them a disservice by dismissing them as holding pathological, nonsensical beliefs that defy reality. How are we ever going to convince them that we respect their opinions but believe our earthly laws should have compassion for women and girls who are in a desperate situation?
The failure of American democracy is not something that those of use who experienced the Nixon impeachment would ever have believed possible. The republicans in the senate tried to save Nixon but the constitution and democracy prevailed. The stakes are much higher now. Pelosi is right in advocating for pursuit of the facts. It is time for republicans to join her in this pursuit. It is not about their party, it is about our country.
The Republicans, aided and abetted by the American Public and the spineless Democrats expressly indicated their goal to abdicate their responsibility to govern nearly 40 years ago when we elected a President whose infamous inaugural address stated "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."
Spot on!!
@Me
I look forward to your vote in 2020; remember just vote the straight anarchist line.
In backing Trump, Republicans have become members of the criminal class. To quote My Cousin Vinny, they is "aidin' and abettin'"
4
When Mitch McConnell looks back over his achievements he will see a new country he designed for the rich not the poor, for the Russians not the Americans. It won't be called USA.
4
The Republicans can only be empowered if we let them. There are so many voters ignorant to the fact that a relative handful of billionaires are influencing politicians through lobbyists and dark money to essentially undo democracy and privatize America. It would represent a neoliberal system of medievalism. And with every political victory and Supreme Court nomination they inch closer to that reality.
6
@Mickey: Everybody who calls Jesus "Lord" considers him a master, not a liberator.
1
Hi Dr. Krugman,
Looks like you've gone big-time on the president's list of enemies. Congratulations, it's all due to your insightful, penetrating analyses, amongst the best.
2
The Republican party, after several election seasons in which moderates were purged, consists only of mercenaries, who gladly sell out their country to their party's wealthy patrons, and the fervent ideologues of race, guns, and religion. They have our former democracy by the throat and aren't going to let go voluntarily, are they? To retain power, waging war of any kind seems in line with their rhetoric, and strategy of continuing betrayal. They are as much a menace to the people's government as any foreign power who wishes us ill. They should be treated that way at every turn by the Democratic party and patriotic American voters. A scorched earth political policy against them now will be less destructive than other scorched earth policies later.
I would dispute only one issue with you, Paul: the RepubliConfederates, as I now call them, do not "win" elections so much as steal them, through Jim Crow era voter disenfranchisement, voter suppression, voter roll purges, using partisan right wing hack Secretaries of State to deep six newly-registered voter information and oversee their own gubernatorial elections (e.g. Brian Kemp, illegitimate Gov. f Georgia), and, of course, now via cyber warfare by a malign foreign power (as James Mattis correctly noted). More voters vote Democratic than RepubliConfederate, yet the right consistently steals most of those elections. It is long pat time to fight fire with fire and demand a beefed-up Voting Rights Act, imposed upon all 50 states in perpetuity, among other major election reforms. We are no longer capable of running credible, verifiable elections.
7
It is not just tax cuts for the wealthy and shredding the safety net - Trump is also delivering by gutting worker, consumer and environmental protections and stacking the courts with arch-conservatives. And while I agree that racism is part of the electoral strategy, the Republican playbook has also included catering to social conservatives on issues like abortion.
3
.
@jr,
.
It's Class War
.
Every article like this needs to name names. The role played by the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, the Mercer family, and others.
If financing Trump is not treason, what is?
5
@Bill,
.
Its legalized and enabled by the Citizens United campaign financing decision of the US Supreme Ct in 2010.
.
The mega-billionaire Koch bros, Charles & David, were the main financiers of that legal effort.
@Bill: Failure to exploit the flaws of systems is treason to these folks.
2
PK "...cuts through to the heart...," well said VicG. Who will stanch the flow of blood?
Here one of the problems for Republicans: their base is largely made up of conservative parts of the country where the evangelical movement is its strongest. And therefore, there is a high proportion of Christian members in both the House and Senate. Yet, despite this large representation by Christian politicians, their political and economic policies run 180 degrees from the very teachings of Jesus who taught the values of compassion and empathy for the poor, the homeless, the sick, the old, ... yet, Donald Trump, known widely for serial bankruptcies (in the casino biz, of all things!), for business fraud, cheating his contractors, charity fraud, as a serial philanderer, chronic liar, and self-annointed sexual predator.
He also lies to fearful Americans who've lost their jobs due to plant closings and shipping their jobs overseas — all to simply plump up investor profits and executive compensation.
Whether or not impeachment proceedings take place, the investigations coming from various House committees will expose Trump and his enablers for their collective corruption and treason. Despite Rudy Giuliani's statements last Sunday that "there is nothing wrong in receiving help from the Russians" — the greatest threat to world security — the fact remains, getting into bed with Russia for the sake of winning an election is treasonous.
With or without impeachment, 2020 will be the most important election in American history. The Madness of King Donald must end there.
2
A suspect this abdication preceded the elections of DJT and dates back to the eve of 44's inaugural when Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and Co. made a pact not to cooperate with anything 44 proposed, even if they agreed with it, in order to "defeat" his Presidency. At that moment R's took the road of fear, demagoguery, and hate.
1
Krugman your wrong on everything. I looked up your predictions for the past 4 years. Not one is correct.
1
@Thomas Lashby,
not one is posted here, along w/ credible sources
1
For all of my 40+ years of voting, the republican party has been the party of no. No to Of the People, By the People, and For the People has been their total mantra. They have pretended to be the Law and Order party only because that's the only way they could get elected.
They have always been the party of Big Business. They could care less if small business (the cornerstone of employment) survived. It's been Big Business, the Military Industrial Complex and the 0.01% that they care about since the 60's.
3
I agree with every word of this chilling assessment, except for the conclusion, that"it’s very much up in the air whether America as we know it will survive." I don't think it's up in the air at all; the America we thought we knew is already dead.
3
I encourage people to read a piece by Nassim N Taleb on how the intolerant win. That, combined with exploring how moral corruption is becoming the norm, as we destroy our democracy and our planet, helps me understand. We are in a civil war (with many countries targeting us in a cyber war), and the good people are loosing. If we don't stand up now and demand truth, transparency, and real representation, one person one vote, and the evolution of democracy to implement the policies that people want, we will sink further into a war where all citizens and the Earth will loose. Everything.
3
@Leslie S,
The fight vs loosing evrything is our effort vs our own human destructiveness :
Climate disruption
Is it time for pitchforks and torches and screaming masses in the street yet? Or does that happen AFTER Trump rigs the next election?
5
As long as no one has the will to remove corporate interests from politics (including creating caps on campaign contributions, creating and strengthening laws around limits of corporate bribes, etc), then America will belong to the rich.
Money, not ethics, determines policy and governance. It is an autocratic state, an oligopoly, no different from Russia.
2
@SpottedChui,
We the People can also determine policy & governance
He's either going to be voted out of office (with as many of his bootlickers as possible) in 2020, or we have endless partisan/tribel bickering-or worse. Forget impeachment.
What's so discouraging to me is the cowardice of Republican elected officials and the continuing (sorry... I guess) stupidity of the Republican "Base". Why can't ANYBODY that voted for this dyslectic third-rate grifter just admit that they were wrong and do something for the good of the country? Pathetic.
6
Hopefully, we are seeing the destruction of party politics altogether. It appears that republicans are likely to self destruct in the near future. We would then no longer need democrats since their enemy would be foiled. It's time to get back to what the founding fathers intended - no cabals running our country.
3
There is plenty of blame to go around. But it is the uninformed and misinformed voters who are to blame. There is no excuse for voting for Trump. Being too lazy to search out the truth is no excuse for making such a stupid choice. Putting our democracy and planet at risk in return for tax cuts doesn't make you selfish, it makes you a traitor.
4
No one should be surprised by the GOP.
In 2009 they were willing to starve a deeply recessionary economy to make pres Obama fail.
They were willing to drive us into a depression to get what they wanted.
6
Just read the Trump tweets about this column, as follow:
"Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me. He is obsessed with hatred, just as others are obsessed with how stupid he is ...
"I wonder if the New York Times will apologize to me a second time, as they did after the 2016 Election. But this one will have to be a far bigger & better apology. On this one they will have to get down on their knees & beg for forgiveness—they are truly the Enemy of the People!”
The New York Times never apologized to Trump—the president is misrepresenting a short letter to NYT readers in November 2016 thanking them for loyalty and saying it would “rededicate” itself to journalism after Trump’s unexpected victory.
Trump's "Enemy of the People" rhetoric is chilling, given his disdain for the law and the Constitution. Happily, the First Amendment is not in tatters. But, because Congressional Republicans give Trump a pass on everything, could he next call a free press a threat to national security and shut it down?
In the meantime, congratulations for hitting a tender Trump nerve. Verifiable facts send him into rages, His response has the content and tone of a 12-year old bully.
13
Police cars in San Diego have a ornament that was not there a few years ago, a decal of an American Flag. It's only the size of a cell phone, but it wasn't there before Trump.
An American flag should be on military vehicles to define their country, but the S.D. police never leave ours. What this reinforces is Trump's statement a few weeks ago to the effect, "I can't be voted out of office because my supporters are tougher, cops, military etc than the opposition."
On the eve of his election when asked whether he would accept the outcome, Trump responded, "I will if I win." If any thought he was kidding then, we can't anymore.
4
Two things:
1) It should be no surprise that we get politicians who will do anything to get re-elected. Those who don't are voted out. So we're left with the former.
2) In addition to the wealthy, Republicans also cater to the single-issue voters where the issue is abortion or guns.
4
As much as I agree with the money angle, I think the Rs have found the perfect opportunity to change the judiciary in fundamental, nondemocratic ways that we have yet to fully appreciate. I fear for the republic - the water is boiling, has been boiling for some time. Good luck to us all.
4
There ar many comments here that I agree with. I also agree with Mr. Krugmans's assessment of the Republican Party. There is another factor that I believe is driving the Republican Party's non-action on censuring Trump. It is the stacking of the courts with judges favoring ultra-right positions. While all the brouhaha is going on with the Mueller report, the courts are quietly changing to support the ultra conservative agenda. The courts will affect American life for decades too come.
7
I am confused here:
As a school teacher, I have chosen to embrace a calling greater than the material wealth my education would allow me elsewhere. I truly believe I can make a difference at the scholastic level rather than trying to compete with the ever worsening rhetoric coming from the politicians and the media.
Having said that, my lower middle class income, modest as it is, is structured so that I benefited from the latest rounds of tax cuts; my take home pay increased a significant amount and the return I received was actually a little greater than last year. I have not "sold out" to anyone to get this increase.
So lets look at my healthcare. Before Mr. Obama's ACA, I paid about $50/month for my family's healthcare. Under this plan, the knee surgery I had back in 2009 cost me a total of $500.00 out of pocket including the pain medications. Fast forward 2 years: The ACA had passed and my healthcare payment ballooned to $245.00/month. I suffered another knee injury of the type I had suffered previously, just on the other knee. It would have cost me $9000.00 out of pocket FOR THE SAME EXACT PROCEDURE with the SAME DOCTOR at THE SAME HOSPITAL. In other words, I now had a health care plan that cost me over 400% more every month that I COULDN"T AFFORD TO USE.
So please explain to me who sold out who.
@Jonathan Logan
I'm confused. Since you are a teacher, I assume your previous $50 per month premium was your portion of an employer-paid health insurance plan, which was quite a bargain. When I retired from education in 2006, we were paying $3000 per year for our family's insurance. So why did you switch to the ACA?
4
@Jonathan Logan: Health insurance costs have ballooned since 2009 and would have done even more so if the ACA hadn't passed, and under Trump the Republicans sabotaged the ACA where they could. Since you're a teacher, you probably get health insurance through your work anyway, so what has that to do with the ACA? In all likelihood your increases have more to do with cuts in education funding that result in cuts in benefits for teachers... As for taxes, wait until the tax cuts for corporations are made permanent while your tax cut expires. Those trillions going to corporations now and in the future will have to be paid from your Social Security and Medicare.
1
@Jonathan Logan I am even more confused; my tax bill , even with my modest income is higher under the new tax law than it was prior to the changes.
Also, the "fact" that in 2009 your family health premium was only $50 a month, and your out of pocket expenses for knee surgery totaled $500, IMHO, strains credulity.
2
Fine column, and it certainly rings true, but the last sentence should end "...whether America as we knew it can survive." Today's America is hardly one I can recognize as the America of my youth.
2
Yes, we are in grave danger, as Paul Krugman emphasizes. The high crime of treason is being ignored daily. The rule of law that has saved us from crooks in the past is compromised, broken. For me, this is an unreal--incredible--place for our country to be in. How could it happen so fast? Will any of our institutions come to America's defense? Are we that corrupt, that vulnerable to deception and fraud?
3
@Nancy Cooke McAllister
Treason can only be called if the US is in a war with another country. Until then Conspiracy against the US is the only crime that be called to account.
The crisis is not that we do not have the information of all of the corruption, it is shown each hour, the news is that we appear to be helpless to stop it. We all thought we had a 'fail safe' government that would surely self correct itself. Trump has shown us that was a myth and was thought only because we never had a Trump to attack it and use its weaknesses. WE se that we are very close to a dictatorship and all of our so called checks and balances are easily ignored.
It has also shown us the weakness of our electoral process where we are able to allow a minority to rule.
2
Both parties faced populist challenges in 2016. The Democrats cheated heavily to stop Bernie the Republicans couldn't image having to work that hard to stop Trump.
Either Hillary or jeb! would have worked towards a more globalist agenda. ie Siphoning the excess wealth from the west to lift the rest of the world and prevent conflict. Trump and Sanders agree on "free" trade and forever wars. Most US citizens realize on some level that their standard of living is being lowered.
Your job Dr. Krugman is to keep the country divided so that few people explicitly see what's happening. Congratulations, say hi to Rush Limbaugh
1
More truth here than any other response I have read.
@Brian: Putin couldn't have stated it better.
I appreciate your stating the obvious, it needs to be said.
The hypocrisy has never been greater. Mitch and Co. will eventually be seen for what they are.
3
When Trump falls and hopefully he falls soon, all the Republicans will deny they knew him. That's what happened with Nixon. Then the Republican establishment will just go back to work with Pence to undermine the American way of life under the guise of patriotism.
6
It's a little bit like the period before the Civil War when the big planters of the South (the "slavocracy") and their rich capitalist allies in New York used poor white fears of black equality to control the country until Northern public opinion finally had had enough. White racism was not confined to the South in those days, but since there were so few blacks in the North (or West) the new Republican Party could portray itself as the champion of the white yeoman farmer while still condemning the expansion of slavery. Today's Republicans reprise that big planter/big capitalist alliance with lower class whites fearful of black (and now Hispanic) incursions into their white communities.
2
This is what democrats need to run on. For decades GOP portrayed itself as patriots and law and order party. Instead they turned into “spurious nationalists.” It’s no longer just a few of them. The whole party is complicit for covering up for it. John McCain is rolling in his grave.
2
@Anna John McCain didn't like Trump, but I heard him say that he voted for Trump. He voted for the Republican standard-bearer, Donald Trump. Cindy McCain recently said that she doesn't like Trump, but she is still a Republican and will always be one. Barbara Bush stated in her last interview that because of Trump she didn't consider herself a Republican anymore. I don't think John McCain is rolling in his grave. I think he was a questionable person who said or did what was necessary to get elected. Yes, he was a Vietnam War hero.
2
Waits two years for Mueller to say there was collusion . When Mueller says 'no collusion', Krugman says 'collusion' anyway. And, btw, party that believes in open borders is the party that can hardly speak to 'American' values.
1
@Teller
Seriously? Welcoming immigrants is not an American value? "Give us your poor, your tired, your wretched refuse yearning to be free." Sound familiar?
6
I would argue that welcoming people to America is far more American than reflexively barring them, regardless of the howls from ethnonationalists.
4
@Andrew Wohl
When was the last time you just walked into another country w/o border control? Immigrants are welcome here through lawful channels. Citizenship is welcome here through lawful chanels. Asylum-seekers are welcome here through lawful channels. What do think happened at Ellis Island anyway?
Charles Blow made the point that impeachment is a necessity now whether or not the Senate would convict Trump. Paul Krugman's column today convinces me even more that it is necessary. Still, many think that impeachment is a bridge too far. If we are to reassert American democratic values, it starts with standing up for them. That has been our history. For all of their opportunism and manipulation, Republicans have shown they are cowards to their rotten core when it comes to defending our country and democratic institutions. Now it's up to the Democrats in the House.
4
While I share Prof. Krugman’s thoughts about the current state of Republican led policies in the country, I have no clear idea of what constitutes “American values” that he refers to at the conclusion of his observations.
The colonies grew out of three BUSINESS CORPORATE charters from the Kings of England: Massachusetts Bay; Virginia; Plymouth Charter. These had missions very much in tune with current corporate policy: exploit the resources of North America and if indigenous peoples (Indians) got in the way they were disposable. Slavery was the bedrock of these corporate enterprises. Throughout our history these corporate missions and slavery seemed to have persisted in a variety of formats. Do these underscore the “values” that he refers to?
2
@Gordon Silverman Thanks. An important insight which I'm sure 99.9 % would rather not address.
On a personal level, I find that conservatives have a cartoon-villain notion of all those who identify as liberal. Liberals are plotting to take their (numerous) guns, tax all of their "riches," steal elections by allowing undocumented immigrants to vote (though apparently only in states where Democrats are going to win anyway), etc. So, in order to combat these dastardly liberals, conservatives have managed to transform themselves into a quite nasty segment of our society.
5
Every single word of this column is true. This is the rap sheet of the Republican party at least since Reagan. They won't stop until every single one of them is voted out of office. This short column should serve as marching orders for every person in America who wants to preserve and strengthen democracy in this great country.
Greed, power and the destruction of the public sector... seems as though it's working as planned!
6
Democrats should continue to investigate in open hearings in the House publicly proving Trump to be the incompetent, lying criminal that he is. They can do that while they aggressively promote popular legislation.
It will be hard for Republicans and Fox News to continue to spin the news sufficiently to enough voters in enough states to continue to protect Republican Senators from having to acknowledge and deal with reality.
2
It's also about the judges on Federal courts. They want a partisan judiciary to further and support their anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, pro-business, anti-environment agenda.
My father is a lifelong moderate Republican and former senior state official in Arizona under 3 GOP governors who doesn't recognize his party anymore, and is sincerely horrified. He finally quit the party and is now an independent.
3
You are spot on about Trump and the Republican Party. They were made for one another. Both are hypocritical to the core and both have put the rich in charge of America. But I do not believe that you can boil down the Republican support by the white working class to racism. For sure, there are more than a fair number of racist supporters of Trump and his party. But you are overlooking a more nuanced portrait in my view. Most of these Republicans believe they have played by the rules but the elites have adjusted these rules to give preference to minorities; it’s a concept sociologist describe as standing in line. It is the anger you feel when you’re stuck on an expressway that has to narrow down to a single lane and you see some jerk roaring up the breakdown lane and cutting in front of you. It is also resentment born of a feeling of inferiority through lack of opportunity and education. This is mixed with an innate sense of anti-intellectualism: climate change denial, common sense can outsmart a college degree anytime, all lawyers are crooks and all politicians are corrupt. It is a deeply cynical outlook.You can find it described in almost any Shakespearean play about history’s tyrants use plubians as their tools. The problem of modern society is that the Internet has supercharged the entire atmosphere and only has served to stoke smoldering resentment into destructive anger that wants to burn the whole house down.
3
Even if you agree with the message, how in the world can you look in the mirror every morning and support a bully, an adulterous liar. And someone demonstrably mentally ill. What most Americans have not yet realized is that the Republican Party has been radicalized to the point that it wants to take over all branches of government. It has slowly weaponized media and is packing courts with like minded subversive tea party radicals. If you think school shootings are a symptom of a breakdown of societal values, your right. The NRA has made sure that it continues until the Russian republicans can finally declare marshal law.
3
Congrats, Dr. Krugman, for being singled out by Trump for abuse. I'm obviously you've hit the nail on the head. Keep enraging him.
9
Great piece. I've believed all along that the Democrats should devote the majority of their energies and criticisms at the Republican party (and specifically folks like McConnell) instead of Trump. I would question them over and over about their values, double-standards, terrible policies, and support of a con man and inveterate liar. I've always thought going after Trump is like going after a 5th grade bully instead of questioning his parents and the teachers (those who should know better). Trying to parse, argue with, and criticize Trump's bad behavior ends up legitimizing it, and, worse still, all the energy and reasoned arguments get lost in the theater of Trump. Take it (and present it) as a given that Trump is a liar and a con man and then focus on the enablers!
1
"If the Republican agenda is so unpopular, how does the party win elections? "
Because we don't vote on individual issues, we vote for a party that has a position on a wide array of issues, some of which we may disagree with as long as there is agreement with the ones that are the most important to the voter. So, gun rights may be the most important issue to some voters which end up trumping the fact that the party has a hurtful position on, say health care to that voter. We all have our hot-button topics that we tend to emphasize when choosing a party to follow.
America as we know (knew) it is ALREADY gone. Beginning with Ronald Ray-gun and the Gekko "Greed is Good" mindset, it's been all downward, financially, morally and ethically. The saddest thing is that the prevailing mindset has gone from "I've got mine, go get your own" to I've got mine, and I'm coming after yours." Pathetic.
5
The real outrage is the "evangelicans" who pause their moral concerns until the next time we have a Dem president, at which time they will return to moral lectures about chaste values.
4
Awesome column, Paul! Republicans have sold out the country. And for what? Tax cuts for the rich...
2
It has been the "party of mean", the Republicans, who have had the most un-American, even traitorous scandals in the last 50 years. Nixon, up to and including Watergate; Reagan (their patron "saint") and the Iran-Contra travesty; W and the neo-cons misguided war on Iraq following 9/11.
Impeachment? Nah. Prison for "the donald" and his criminal mob.
2
Whatever, you may admit it or not, the US are a nationalist right wing state as any other.
2
@Eric Exceptionally so, they tell us.
Republicans, Trump is all yours, forever. Enjoy that.
3
In the lingo of the sporting world, Krugman's piece is a slam dunk.
3
The GOP will continue to get what it wants... more tax cuts for the rich and more unequal distribution of wealth. But ultimately the joke is on them.
They sacrifice everything they used to claim to believe in to maximize the accumulation of money by their few powerful masters.
But what makes them powerful? Money of course.
But money isn't real. It's just bits in a computer. Society invented money as a management tool. (the invisible hand of Adam Smith and all that). Money is only powerful as long as people firmly believe in it. People will only believe in money so long as it serves society/their interests well.
If the GOP games the system too severely -- so all the bits in end up in just a few accounts, and the problems of the people go unsolved -- the people will simply unplug the computers and try something new. (Communism? Fascism? Religious Mania?)
We've been there before. The Victorian Era is selectively remembered for its fabulous mansions, but it was also a time of great inequality. When capitalism fails the people, the people *will* experiment with far worse ideas!
Last time it took 60 years and a world war -- from the great depression to the end of the cold war -- to fix the mess we'd made.
I fear that we are doomed to go down that road again....
2
Time for We the People to buy back our elections. I'm calling for fully funded public elections for all national offices with no outside funding from industries, from special interests, or from billionaires across the idiological spectrum. Every candidate knows that the biggest fund raiser has the electoral advantage and every incumbent knows that most of their time in office will be spent pursuing new funding to pay for the next election. It is well past time for our experiment in self-government to function again, time to remove special interest money from our elections, everyone will have to compete on their ideas, not their ability to curry favor with financial promises attached.
2
@TalkPolitix I would like to add to limit the campaign to no more than 8 weeks. To start the campaign for re-election the day after the inauguration is intolerable
4
Good question Paul: If the Republican agenda is so unpopular, how does the party win elections?
Good answer Paul: Partly by lying about its policies.
Sadly, the GOP has become the cynical party of the Greedy and the Gullible. We will never defeat greed in our society but let's hope we can make some progress on the gullibility problem that afflicts so many Americans that repeatedly vote against their own interests (clean air, clean water, an equitable tax system, health care, the list goes on and on.....).
1
This is an excellent and succinct analysis of the situation. Add in misogyny as a motivation for why Republicans support the president.
1
Your ledger headline should state that neither party is concerned about American values. Both parties represent only their personal career inflated egos for the gathering of power for themselves. They are both paladin's for the highest corporate or wealthy personal donor. Each party's value system and ideologies is an antipathy to the American belief as set forth by America's patriarch forefathers. The citizen is the true holder of American values who is demeaned and manipulated by both parties.
1
Mr. Krugman makes sense morally and ethically. His conclusion that the Republican Party is corrupt is correct—by any sensible person’s standards.
But politically the Democratic Party will be making a mistake if its members try to take on Trump at his own game. He’s a master at rhetorically forcing the chattering class to follow his narrative. He wants a long, drawn-out “conversation” about impeachment. It will end with a Senate dominated by corrupt Republicans refusing to remove him from office, at which point Trump will still again claim “vindication” and blame the actual defenders of democracy for the continued “witch-hunt.” His narrative is his fuel, along with his fast food burgers.
As Mr. Krugman provides in this column, what is needed is as much fresh air and healthy food as possible. The American public already knows what Trump and the Republicans are about. The House needs to provide still more airing of what Trump and his Republicans lackeys are continuing to do and be.
Do not take the Trump and Republican turn and disrespect the American people, Mr. Krugman should more clearly advise. We will eat you alive! I do wonder why Mr. Krugman is not more clear about that.
If the Democrats take that turn, they, too, will be eaten alive and will join the ranks of fast food burgers.
2
One way that Republicans continue to win is what the Democratic Party stands for is unclear. Being anti-Trump is not for anything. There must be boldness and commitment to the non-rich, the non-corporations - in essence, us - the poor, working, and middle classes. And this is tough for the Democratic Party to do, as its politicians take enormous amounts of corporate campaign contributions. Our "regular" citizens have been sold out, pretty much.
2
As a patriot and conservative from the Midwest it’s sad to see the “Party of Lincoln” evolve into the current bigoted, morally bankrupt, gutless, bought and paid version of its former self.
Nice work McConnell, and Ryan. You’ve left yourself quite a pathetic legacy. And thanks for your damage to our country.
3
Money is how Americans keep score. There are no other American 'values.'
Fortunately the earth's climate will be so uninhabitable it won't matter.
3
Did they ever? It was always just rhetoric for votes.
Well said.
Why is this news or a surprise to anyone?
1
The Democrats sold out America to benefit their wealthy donors. The free trade agreements they got behind cost millions of Americans their jobs. Obamacare didn’t cover everyone. It punished people for not buying private, for-profit, health insurance. That’s why Trump won the Midwest and became our president. And now, look at what Democrats like Elizabeth Warren are proposing. She wants college to be paid for by taxpayers. So a waitress and a store clerk have to pay higher taxes so I can study engineering for free. And she wants free childcare, so bachelors have to pay to raise children that aren’t theirs. The Republicans aren’t about tax cuts for the rich. That’s just a spin on reality. They’re about individual responsibility.
I sincerely hope that either Governor Larry Hogan (MD) or Governor William Weld (MA) run against Trump in the primaries. At the very least, they'll give Grifter Trump a run for his money. Especially if he has to perform in debates.
1
Paul,
You say, "Trump is giving the Republican establishment what it wants, and it will stick with him no matter what." But wouldn't Pence? In fact, Pence is a more reliable conservative. So why are they so resistant to impeachment?
I remember Bill Clinton's impeachment. I, like every other liberal, knew it was a setup. Starr laid a trap and Clinton fell right in. The original charge had nothing to do with with Clinton's sex life and the question about it should not have been asked.
BUT having been asked, and the fact that Clinton lied under oath, I supported his removal from office. What made it easier for me, was the fact that the presidency would still have stayed in the hands of the party I favored - just like it would stay in the hands of the same party if our current president is removed. Given this fact, why are Republicans so fiercely against impeachment? This is the biggest mystery of the whole impeachment issue.
2
At least during my lifetime the republican party has been consistently devoted to promoting oligarchy (tax cuts for the rich), militarism (unbridled defense spending), and christian nationalism (anti separation of state and church, anti-gay/trans/birth control/immigrant, etc). The GOP has not been about American values for at least half a century. All drumpf did was get a little more transparent and crude about it.
6
Why do none dare call it fascism?
5
I think the Republicans will do anything to keep Trump in office as long as possible, regardless of his personal failings. The longer he is president, the more judicial and other appointments he can make. These people will share the values of the Federalist Society. Once these appointees are in place, it will really not matter if Democrats control two, or even all three branches of government because any laws they pass can be challenged in courts with a great many Trump appointees in place. These people will be very likely to block laws passed by Democrats.
3
Levitsky and Ziblatt paint a picture of an American Democracy that exhibits several warning signs of potential failure. While they also attribute many of these warning signs to actions by Trump and the Republicans, they do a great service by pointing out that many of the signs we now have began under prior administrations - Republican and Democrat. They also identify the underlying changes that have occurred in our society that have contributed to the polarization and lack of respect for opposing political positions. Both political parties are at fault, although Republicans do seem to have made polarization and negativism an art form (thank you Newt Gingrich). While economic/tax policy are certainly contributing factors, Mr. Krugman does the book a disservice by only focusing on these issues. The roots of our polarized political discourse run deeper and include social/demographic factors that effect economics. Trump's election and popularity by his base is the product of these factors. However, this does not condone his actions or mitigate the risk to our democracy they present. To return to a government that is perceived to represent and work for all Americans will require that both parties work to find common ground on important policies. To do this, the authors state, our country (and Congress) must return to an environment in which we respect that "the other side" and their positions are not evil. Congress must understand comprise does not represent failure.
3
The stench of republican hypocrisy grows everyday.
3
And of course they believe in L'état c'est Républicain!
1
Word!
1
Like he knows American values.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
3
Exactly which American values are you referring to? The ones that informed slavery, or the treatment of Native Americans or our role in overthrowing elected govts in too many countries to list? Or maybe the ones that looked the other way after Iran-Contra showed that Reagan was as corrupt as Nixon? Or the ones that have us spending more money on arms than the rest of the world combined for decades? Or the ones that see education, health care, and a roof over your head, as optional and for sale rather than as human rights. The current GOP is horrifying but to lay all the blame at their doorstep is to ignore history. Our problems are more deeply rooted than that.
6
What happened over years is that the Republican Party, the GOP of old identified by its conservative probity, allowed their Party to become highjacked by right wing extremists. This right wing element had its intermittent outbursts into the forefront, but had largely been confined to the Party's margins. Then slowly but surely this retrograde faction came to be its dominating force culminating in the nomination of Donald Trump for the Presidency. It's more than conceivable Party leadership envisioned Trump as their Manchurian Candidate, one they could program and script to serve as poster boy for their operational agenda. What they found out was that Trump was no Ronald Reagan an individual with political credentials and a professional actor who knew how to take direction and stay on script. And so, things may not have gone as Republicans initially planned calling for a rewrite around an administration provided by Trump. One that's a proverbial three ring circus drawing attention away from the dirty work Republicans are up to behind closed doors. As far as the Republican
Party is concerned they've won the day. And America's future.
3
A disturbing article, indeed. Impeachment makes no sense if failure to convict is a certainty. First, the Democratic majority in the House needs to bring their Republican counterparts onboard. If the impeachment is not bipartisan, it is a waste of time and energy. Concentrate on convincing the electorate to defeat Trump in 2020.
2
"But mainly the G.O.P.’s political achievements depend on identity politics — white identity politics. "
The professor leaves out a third reason -- widespread resentment of Roe vs Wade, which removed a key issue from democratic control. Trump had promised that his Supreme Court would overturn the hated decision.
To borrow loosely from Hemingway: Things fall apart slowly and then suddenly.
Republicans will obviously mount a defense for the President. They've already bought-in. The question is when and how much will they feel the political gravity of Trump's disgrace pulling them down.
Democrats have the initiative to control the narrative right now. Their actions will determine whether Republicans ultimately fold or not. Remember, McConnell is up for reelection this cycle. If Democrats can only apply the right leverage, even he might crack eventually.
More realistically though, an impeachment process probably won't even conclude before the 2020 election. So why not impeach? The Democratic House doesn't even need to hand the issue to the Senate to vote on. The public can be the jury in a public case.
The political strategy is predictable. If Democrats decline to impeach, the White House will continue stalling and obstructing. If Democrats impeach, Republicans will attempt to rush the proceeding and grant acquittal before the 2020 election. Democrats need to thread the needle.
They need the moral and legal authority of impeachment but they can't move the process along too quickly. I think taking Mueller and Barr's depositions first is a logical first step. That burns a couple weeks of the clock at least.
3
The negative economic fallout in mid-America of our free trade agreements also helped Mr. Trump get elected, by inducing many in the rust belt states who voted for Obama in 2012 and 2016 to vote for Mr. Trump or stay home, thus giving him the edge in the electorial college. Mr. Trump in part campaigned on that issue. His campaign wasn't entirely based on race.
And not to mention, Mr. Krugman, the appalling Republican approach to judicial nominations.
According to Trump and Co. the system is broken:
It is.
Remember Merritt Garland and Christine Ford.
3
While I agree with all Krugmans points , my main distress is that in his campaign Trump promised a backing off from the current overly aggressive posture abroad, but instead only increased it.
I hope the Democrats offer an alternative to escalating military expenditure and a continual thunder of aggression in every field
2
This comment about the loss of American Values in the Republican Party is a curious one. Trump is certainly an unusual and hyper-reactive personality, but it seems that he holds to the old values more than the Democratic Party does at this time.
Voting in favor of Men competing in Women's sports is a strange departure from American Values, no? And no civilized society can allow abortion up to, or after birth, as is being advocated by what I assume is your preferred Party.
1
The silence is deafening about not The Trump this or that.
It is about Mueller report clearly proved Putin played his game in our electoral system and he manipulated the outcome.
Republicans , in background of Regan republicanism, apparently absolved themselves from America's future.
Republicans wouldn't like to clash with their president but this doesn't mean that they cannot act against Russia.
So my Republican friends , that is the question.
What you can do for Russian interference other than welcoming?
2
This viewpoint understates the importance of the abortion issue to average Republican voters. It acts like a political cover, allowing other issues to be distorted and party-centric.
1
As Stephen Moore, our current President's nominee to the Federal Reserve says: "Capitalism is a lot more important than democracy. I’m not even a big believer in democracy." By capitalism, he means unrestrained capitalism. This is a rare case where Mr. Moore is right about something, and he is saying outright what Republicans believe. This is essentially the same point Prof. Krugman is making in this Op-Ed.
3
Don't forget, another agenda was getting those two supreme Court conservative (life time) Justices. That's the main reason my Republican friends voted for Trump. And they succeeded. Makes me depressed I won't see the court swing to liberal in my lifetime (retired).
1
I've thought for a while that income inequality has become so extreme and corporate power so concentrated that any small adjustments, any compromises have become impossible.
The system is rigid, brittle. Decades of policies aimed at protecting and maintaining the social and economic status quo -- weak anti-trust enforcement, broadly favorable tax treatment for wealth paired with stripped down mobility ladders like public education, deregulation ending the notion of common well-being -- don't bear close political examination. (See Elizabeth Warren's many proposals)
The money men have long decided to stop funding democracy, because democracy is a threat to their money and power. Half-measures like 'less' Social Security or Medicare won't make them more unpopular than draconian cuts would, so they will destroy the safety net as blithely as they have destroyed the presidency.
4
Sometimes I imagine what America would be like if we had an intelligent leader whose considered actions and measured words inspired us to pursue constructive, humane efforts. Oh, well. Paul Krugman is not our president. Alas, look what we have instead. God help America!
6
@Metrowest Mom We will never get a president with the power or the desire to seek a cooperative and humane foreign policy.
1
While I agree, I find your argument incomplete. A great failure of both parties is to step back from policies advantageous with their base, and remind us that the US government has a purpose: to protect Americans. There used to be agreement on that purpose, if not the specific policies pursued to accomplish it.
2
Mr. Krugman is certainly right that Republican exploitation of white racism--in addition to non-white voter suppression--has been a key element of Republican politics since Nixon. What neither he nor other commentators have adequately addressed is why roughly a third of the American electorate is so racist, xenophobic, morally obtuse, and ignorant as to vote for Trump and stand by him no matter what outrages he commits. Why has it been so hard to convince these voters that Trump will do nothing for them except put on a good show, while he betrays their interests to the wealthy? And if the answer is Fox News, then that raises the question of why these people watch it and believe the nonsense it spews in the first place. I think it behooves us to think more deeply about the political education people receive in this country and take steps to repair a deeply flawed system before our democracy collapses in the face of major challenges like global warming and growing income inequality..
8
Unfettered capitalism. GreedOverPeople. White, male power agenda acting to deny resources and progress to the 99%. The GOP is not a political party, it is a bonsfude tool of the wealthy and white to retain personal wealth.
7
Perhaps it is a warped survival strategy, that the best way to beat survival odds is to amass as much money as you can and hold onto it as tightly as you can, so no one can use it against you.
1
@Zane When a group of men choose to plunder their society, they soon create laws to legalize it and a moral code to make it a virtue. To me that says it all.
6
@John Ayres So true.
The Democrats must get this message out clearly to the poor and middle class that voted for Trump & his enablers. The Republican Party only cares for the rich and unless the Democrats can drive this point across to these voters with facts to counter the fear based rhetoric of Trump, we are doomed to his re-election.
3
Well I know i don’t believe in your brand of values, whatever they really may be. Perhaps sometime you could expand on what you really do believe. You’ve got the bully pulpit so tell us exactly what you believe besides hectoring us like a fish wife all the time.
Personally I think the same for a large percentage of Democratic ideas, what ever they may really be. Most of them appear to cost in the range of trillions of dollars and rely on taking away personal freedoms or mandate behavior most free thinking people can’t abide. I don’t need a mommy who takes all my money or opportunity and gives it to some juvenile dependent person who can’t tie their own shoes without you or the governments help.
1
@Mike
Your government feeds your money to the military industrial complex monster. This nation spends $$$ trillions to turn the ME in the rubble it is while China used the people's money to build high-speed railways and promoting the welfare of their billion people population.
#GOP has been corrupted for a long time. The dirty laundry on both parties must cause all of us to question all elections. A majority of Americans are better than our President and the #GOP. He was a minority elected president. The "base" is smaller than the majority!
1
News Flash:
Today is a deadline for IRS to release his tax returns.
Does anyone think will ever see them, probably not in my lifetime.
But really, do we even need to see it, to know he is a capital CROOK!
6
Here’s a solution:
1. Hire an expert tax accountant to create a plausible set of returns, based on what Trump has said, how he has operated in the past, and any other evidence.
2. If Trump protests, challenge him to produce his actual returns as proof of his claim.
3
It is the "Supreme Court Stupid." I have been screaming this for years and yet pouty brooding Bernie Millenials crossed the line to vote this reprehensible man in office. He delivered to his cult and band of billionaires what they wanted. The cult wanted a court that would give them control on woman reproductive rights. Make them feel empowered while the pro-life movement loads their guns to ensure more children will be mowed down. While the pro-life movement watches children caged. Pro what? Really! More like pro hypocrisy. In fact let's call it what it is. The pro-hypocrisy movement. The billionaires (mostly agnostic at best) could care less about all that. They wanted a court to deregulate and stuff their pockets even more. Guess who is losing in all this? Yep all of you middle and lower class folk (myself included.) We are indeed suckers. And now that money (by the grace of a conservative court) rules. The billionaires can pit citizens against each other on racial profiling etc.,. Once again money trumps the slave. And they did it while the average citizen gave away their collective rights. Unions are essentially dead. It is probably all too late now.
No it is not. This great nation has seen this before. We can take it back. Though with Fox news and the billionaires, it will not come easy. Les Miserable.
3
What's amazing is that a man so trivial and useless has caused so much agony, debate, and destruction, as if he deserves to be taken seriously.
4
Once again: I agreed with every word. Thank you.
In the news this morning the new polls have come out on Trump.
He's at 39% approval - down 5 points.
And that's after the Mueller Report came out and he crowed that he had been deemed a saint, pure as the driven snow, and it had all been a witch hunt, indeed!
Republicans can either believe him on that - or, they can go with the simpler facts: The 'simple fact' is that Trump, over and over, ordered those around him to "do" something...... and, over and over, they either told him that what he wanted was illegal and they would not do "it", or, they simply smiled and walked away and never did it anyways.
The simple truth is, he ordered laws to be broken and the only reason he's still sitting at the desk in the Oval Office is because everyone refused to "follow orders".
Of course, now the problem is that all those "law-abiding" staff-persons are gone.
They quit.
They got fired.
They bored him.
They weren't crooked enough.
But the NEW batch is ready to go! Hot to trot! They love the smell of cordite in the morning!
They are crooks.
They love a rigged game.
And we have 550 days (plus or minus) to go.
"It's later than you think for American democracy..."
4
Paul Krugman for President. Immediately, if not sooner.
Paul Krugman; Trump obstructed our coup attempt and for that he much be impeached.
Who are these "republicans"? They are your co-workers, neighbors, relations. They vote republican because this is who they want, they are just like each other. 1 of every 3 people you see is either not particularly bright and subscribes to a lite version of the following, or is definitely a propaganda addled nihilist who harbors an unpleasant, malicious reactionary worldview. They only care about themselves and what is immediate to them. It’s always somebody else’s fault. Why should I care? What’s the point of working together? If we could just get rid of the [liberals, fill in the blank] we could make this country great again. This may seem extreme but if you converse and observe these people that’s the conclusion to be drawn. The question is what to do about it? I’m a progressive yet pragmatic seeker of consensus and I’ve been at odds with these people for my entire life, and it’s gotten me nowhere. It got worse and we are going backwards. I’m at a loss. This is the danger to which Mr. Krugman refers: It is not a matter of honest disagreement - conservative vs liberal - they want to de-legitimize the right of other ideologies to exist; to exterminate them. This is done by packing the courts, and by ceding power to the executive, eventually creating a unitary state. There is a name for type of political behavior. It is called Fascism. Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Moderates - anyone who truly cares for our Republic – Now is the time to stand together.
3
Isn't due process and presumption of innocence an American value? If the Democrats believe in American values why was Brett Kavanaugh denied those very American principles based on absolutely no evidence just because you didn't agree with him?
Let's review what happened. A woman came forward with no evidence and huge conflicts of interest who remembered something with no dates or locations. She was not cross-examined. The witnesses she named all denied under oath every having witnessed what she said. When the full investigation was done, which Democratic Senators so self-piously asked for, two men swore under oath they were "Kavanaugh" and "Judge" in a different incident which Kavanaugh was not at.
After the Duke Lacrosse case and the Virginia rape case how can you destroy a man without due process simply because a "victim" said so? Because you don't like what happened to Merrick Garland? Because you don't agree with Kavanaugh's stance on abortion? Democrats uniformly believed a person with no evidence, I'm sorry there are no American values on the Democratic side.
I despise Trump, but he won the election and he had the right to fill the seat and Kavanaugh was qualified. Kavanaugh was badly mistreated because the Democrats can't accept they lost not just the 2016 elections but also the 2014 elections which gave the Senate the priority of not confirming Garland.
You want to pick judges? Win an election! Nothing more American than that.
Question for the GOP before our next election.....what countries that are hostile to the US are you willing to accept help from in this election?
Is there no one in these comments section who views this article as spin and hyperbole?
It is preposterous to say that the Republican party no longer believes in American values or that our democracy is at risk.
Disagree with policies all you want but there is a reason 40%+ of the population support Trump.
@Matt
Actually, Matt, as of this morning he is polling at 39%, DOWN 5 points.
I guess that his "pure as the driven snow" routine didn't take with his base.
1
The party of Lincoln has become the party of Lee.
1
This is why we now need to abolish the electoral college. A majority of Americans did not vote for this man. A majority of Americans do care about issues of Justice and morality. It is only by this trick of the system meant to protect the racist slave owning states that we get this amoral leader. Also, where are all the Republicans that impeached Bill Clinton for far less than what Trump has done? Why was it ok to impeach then, but somehow now its unfair and a witch hunt to do so now? This man lied to you about not having anything to do with Russia during the campaign while at the same time seeking a billion dollar deal with Russia. He lied about trying to end the investigation while at the same time trying to get the Whitehouse lawyer to fire the investigator. Republicans, does it not bother you to be lied to? Weren't you the party of morality, law and principles? Live up to your own standards, doing the right thing now may hurt your power but it will save your party from being destroyed by this one man.
@ART
Actually, Art, they never tried to spin their party as "the party of morality, law and principles".
Until they fell off the cliff they presented themselves as penny-pinchers, balanced budgets, anti-grass, fiscal responsibility and anti-Russian/Soviets.
Then they 'found God' and all they are now is anti-woman, anti-abortion and anti-contraceptive.
The only reason to keep Trump around is "Pence".
Even Republicans don't want that one!
2
A stunning but accurte piece of writing. He is so clea onr what a lot of us are begining to feel. Hope we overcome the growing problem
1
That republicans are as Paul Krugman has frequently and truthfully described them to be, makes many wonder how many of them are in ones normal life. If you are aware enough, you will soon discover that their general character, not just their political- American character, is also seriously toxic, diseased. Keeping such "friends" closer than your healthy friends may work for the mafia, but it will bring unnecessary decline to yourself and your dear ones.
1
The Republican Party is a patronage network through which a small number of people defend their own extreme concentrations of wealth. It has actively solicited for a certain kind of corruptible personality to exert sub rosa influence for decades. The result is a hierarchy of toadies.
4
The Republican embrace of Trump is, to a great degree, a reaction to the Obama presidency.
You and I might see in Trump a uniquely unqualified President; unfit morally, temperamentally, intellectually, and experientially for higher (or any) public office.
But Republicans saw in Obama a uniquely unqualified President; unfit racially for the highest public office. Republicans felt utterly horrified for 8 years, and to this day feel 100% justified in elevating a Trump to an Office they already consider irredeemably defiled by their countrymen who elected Obama. Turnabout is fair play, they say.
These are our fellow Americans... so no, it's not really "up in the air whether America will survive." The die is cast.
2
Thank you Mr. Krugman. You nailed it.
2
America will probably survive but the GOP will not . The survival of America will depend on the wiliness of the Democratic Party to grab the bull by the horns . In other words to show the spine that the GOP could not . It is not time for weakness or political calculations . Forget about the public opinion polls and follow your moral compass . It is time to impeach .
3
Trump got elected because he said he would bring back good jobs.Trump got elected because the Democrats sold out America long ago. (And I was a Democrat) When all the good jobs were allowed, even encouraged to move overseas--the Democrats did nothing. When education in this country was turned into a con job designed to enslave a generation in the guise of student debt--the Democrats did nothing. When health care costs spiraled out of control--the Democrats did nothing. Now all the Democrats are fighting for is to maintain a permanent underclass of undocumented labors who cannot demand to be paid minimum wage. Not that Trump isn't a big liar--but at least he's lying about the right thing.
Thanks, Donald Trump, for drawing my attention to this opinion piece this morning during your Tuesday Tirade. I overlooked it at first.
1
So what is Trump doing in the aftermath of the Mueller report? Attacking McGahan for NOT lying under oath, and attacking Paul Krugman for his relentless criticism of a total and complete fraud.
2
And let’s not forget, when this house of cards starts to fall and the true consequences of all this unopposed greed and incompetence are realized by all, it won’t matter if you’re Republican or Democrat.
1
It’s clear that GOP has no desire to work but for itself. By siding with Trump, who kowtows to Russia, they are essentially working for a foreign power against the will of the American people. Where is the line drawn between derelict and treason?
2
An incorrect assumption in all this is that Russia is a bad country. To Republicans, it is not. Back when the USSR was an atheist, socialist country it was bad. Now that is has adopted Russian Orthodox christianity, and stopped making pretexts about giving out "free stuff" as part of socialism, it's not so bad. Add to that all white, anti-Muslim, and anti-gay, it's no surprise that Republicans aren't upset about Russia having interfered to install a Russian style leader in America.
1
@Jim S.
Add to that that the Russian Orthodox Church demanded last year that the Russian Duma get rid of domestic violence laws AND THEY DID!
Reason #29 on "Why USA Republicans Love The Ruskies".
1
Time to take a look at Democratic leadership. Giving up without a fight! Getting punked by Trump before the battle starts. It's too late to save the SC and the federal judiciary, God help us. Does Nancy really intend to avoid confrontation and impeachment ? She's already signaled to the GOP that she's ready to lay down her cards before they even were dealt. Sorry. Lay down our cards. It was bad enough when Obama gave Bush and Cheney a pass for 9/11, Iraq and the recession. Barack didn't even ask for any concessions, just gave away the store and let Rahm give Progressives, (they who had elected Barack) the finger in word and deed.Barack was fine with that. B/c he took us for granted. Then he let the Democratic party drop dead in 2010. Even he knows -now-it was a fatal mistake for the country. And the world. Really no one in the Democratic Party speaks for the rest of us. Just a bunch of appeasement snowflakes after all. And don't claim that Nancy somehow beat Trump over the State of the Union message. Trump won't step aside but she should. And can we find someone to run the DNC? What, someone is? OMG!
2
@Martin Veintraub, the DNC and their pals at CAP are too busy trying to stop actual little-d democrats (progressives) from ruining their sweet alliance with the corporate class to do anything about stopping the authoritarians from wrecking the country.
It seems that Trump's base puts racism first and foremost in their voting considerations: "Take away my medical coverage and give me zero tax relief as long as I can have a racist in office".
It is high time to call the Republican Party by it's true name, The Russian Party.
Thank you professor and New York Times.
The Republican Party is no longer a political party. It is a criminal organization impersonating a political party. It should be prosecuted as a racketeering enterprise under the RICO statutes, and scattered to the wind.
In 1954 the Congress banned the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) as a subversive organization in thrall of a hostile foreign power intent on subverting American institutions and destroying our democracy.
Is the modern day Republican Party and its various apparatus: it's Fox News/Sinclair/Limbaugh propaganda wing; it's NRA terrorist unit, it's bogus "think tanks" and "institutes", any different?
2
Term limits!!!
Truth.
If Republicans cared about these United States, our Constitution, or our core values, they would unite with Democrats to toss out a criminally corrupt national security threat currently illegitimately holding our highest political office.
Instead they repeat his lies, make up their own lies, and circle the wagons around a criminal and wanna be dictator.
I guess we only need one party in American Politics......
@John, in ideological terms, we've got three major parties: one extremist, far right (Rs); one center-right (neolib Ds); and one center-left (progressives).
What the GOP are doing makes me sick to the bone. Watching the racist, scared white people looking the other way while American values and exceptionalism get flushed down the toilet is unthinkable. They don't care, they're going to shove it down everyones throat anyway.
If the GOP would look at history and think about the current disparity between rich and poor, they will come to the conclusion there will have to be a revolution soon and the, not so rich, masses will come after the GOP and the wealthy supporters with pitchforks.
Study history so that it will not be repeated. Just saying.
ALL NYT picks are excellent comments. I just want to point out that the root cause basis for the love of white power and etc is this; Once people choose a team - a party - a leader, is they do not want to admit they made a mistake and have closed their review of information and thinking. They are no longer listening to anything that counters a belief. It is no surprise that many of these are the fundamentalist Christians because "belief" is what they base all decisions on. What prevents America from learning and changing and growing is EGO and lazy preservation of a mind state.
The Dems need to put themselves in the Republicans' shoes. Do they imagine that if the postilions had been reversed, the GOP propaganda machine would not have put the Democratic Party on the defensive??? The Dems should not allow the GOP to get away with enabling trump by its silence.
09:35 EDT, 4/23
The irony that the party which wraps itself in Jesus and the Bible doesn’t have an ounce of morals or decency.
For Republican “Christian” it always “morality for thee not for me.” Republican Christians are too busy using the Bible to attack those groups they don’t like or to get to rich to actually lead moral lives.
Instead of taking about impeachment, Democrats should be talking about breaking the country up. Time for blue states to free themselves from the millstone of the Red Welfare States.
1
It is horribly disturbing that the republicans, all of them, no longer have any belief in values, no moral compass. Racism is unbelievable and so many of them have pure hate.
And they are nationalists, and they do love war. They love money and power. They love torture and killing.
"I wonder if the New York Times will apologize to me a second time, as they did after the 2016 Election. But this one will have to be a far bigger & better apology. On this one they will have to get down on their knees & beg for forgiveness-they are truly the Enemy of the People!" Donald Trump
In Trump’s weirdest fantasies he hears things.
@Larry Trump obstructed our coup attempt and for that he much be impeached.
In reading the "Great Republican Abdication" , I ask who have the republicans been? Is their current behavior anything new? No it has not ! They certainly have not been the party of health care , civil rights , social security ...they have not been the party standing up for the poor and despising just about every entitlement .
So how could they keep being elected? The only answer is that they indulge the public with the rhetoric of small government, individualism and patriotism. They pretend to be defending the interests of the little guy, they pretend to favor a system that shares the wealth. I
The G.O.P. is in effect a two faced party , one face to fool the people with the other to serve intrenched interests, the very wealthy and powerful. Republicans have been doing this for years, Trump did not invent it, and it will continue with future versions of Trump, unless the american people demand change !
1
All perfectly reasoned if a tad depressing.
Hey here is a wild fantasy . All the big billionaires make their very pro-Trump move when he loses the election. As Michael Cohen warned saying something like "don't expect him to go quietly. "
We should not confuse political strategy with an appeal to values. In this 'information age' it seems that two things have changed. First, debate linked with compromise and the trading of votes has evolved toward a winner take all mentality. The proportion of partyline voting seems Second, it has become much easier to blame the 'other' for one's problems - whether the other is the African American, the immigrant, or the neighboring household on welfare. The Republicans have exploited these strategies more effectively than Democrats. The question is how to offset these strategies. Is an appeal to 'American values' still effective?
1
And so-called Christians sold their souls to the demon spawn Trump for judges. (Jesus taught that the devil is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44.) The Supreme Court is illegitimate because Mitch McConnell and his gang of liars and thieves stole the seat on which Injustice Gorsuch sits, and Kavanaugh ought to be in jail for lying to Congress.
The House Judiciary Committee ought to investigate when Kavanaugh knew of the Ramirez allegations, before or after the New Yorker published the story.
7
Hilarious. The GOP wins by relying on identity politics? Is that a typo? The Democrats perfected the art of slicing the electorate into micro grievance groups long ago. And, surprise, surprise, that backfired spectacularly in 2016. Of course, anyone not in an official DNC grievance group is a “white nationalist” because, well, only liberal identity politics is ok.
2
How does the Democratic Party “slice” the electorate? What policy have they ever promoted that pitted one group of Democrats against another?
What you’re looking at is the opposite: a collection of groups banding together to promote common interests. What you see as identity politics is an argument among those groups about what policies are more important and why.
What Krugman is pointing out shouldn’t need clarification. Republican race-baiting is well documented, from Reagan launching his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, to gerrymandering in Texas especially, to Trent Lott and “all these troubles”, to Trump’s “criminals and rapists” and “good people on both sides”.
Republicans convert kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality into disrespect for the flag (as if police brutality were not itself disrespectful of what the flag represents, or claims to represent). Is it any coincidence the protesters, and the victims whose lives were needlessly sacrificed, are largely black?
5
As usual, the far right accuses the rest of the population of something they invented and practice every day. "Political correctness" also falls in that category.
1
I suppose you didn’t read the Mueller report or the New York Times; no evidence of collusion.
2
But Trump did not cooperate with an investigation that shows he did not collide with the Russians. If anyone is accused of a crime it is important for them to not repeatedly say that they are innocent and to not do anything that hinders an investigation that is looking for proof to the contrary.
1
@John, the Mueller report said no such thing. It pointedly refuses to consider the term "collusion," because there is no such legal term or concept.
I suppose you didn't read the report or any non-Fox/Breitbart source on it if you think your statement is remotely true.
1
@Richard Winchester
Per the NYTimes headline;
No Russia Trump Conspiracy, but stops short of exonerating
The purpose was to look for evidence of collusion. There wasn’t enough evidence to support that belief. This wasn’t about declaring him innocent, only showing him not guilty.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjlgJDEzebhAhWKr1kKHU-mDPQQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2019%2F03%2F24%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fmueller-report-summary.html&psig=AOvVaw3sCU6pPNZYh-pGHWQ7b3Li&ust=1556122324140664
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for Republicans to say nothing.
12
Let's not forget that Trump also enjoys unshakeable support among white Evangelicals and they do not constitute a large swath of the top 5%. Let's face it, Sunday mornings are still the most segregated hours of the week in America which makes me wonder if American Christians are all worshiping the same Jesus. Sure Trump has delivered Gorsuch & Kavanaugh for the right to life crowd but how does that even things out vis-à-vis destroying the social safety net, despoiling the environment and abandoning this country's traditional stance in a favor of democratic principles and support for personal freedom and liberty?
3
At two thirds through the detailed report, I have failed to detect a single piece of evidence that is core to the collusion investigation. Although in the summary, Mueller and company assert as fact that there was Russian intervention in the 2016 election intended to favor Trump, the big lie is that there is any evidence to support Russian intent.
The Russians created fake social media traffic [and the social media companies paid Russians for their ad clicks] to create the illusion that Republicans are deplorable. That did not attract any Republicans, Libertarians, Independents or white working class men who voted for Obama. It made Republicans look bad. Obama loved it, and was unconcerned about how much money his FAANG friends were getting paid. The click payments were coming from leftists who equated anti-Hillary with pro-alt-left white supremacists. That hardened their support of Hillary.
Meanwhile, Trump, the reality star and serial womanizer was decimating all of the Republican contenders who had a chance of defeating Hillary in the election.
The Russians did not want Trump to win, they wanted him to destroy Republican candidates. Which is why Obama's FBI and Justice department did not have any interest in investigating.
It was not until July 2016, when Hillary started shopping the Steele dossier to the media and they wouldn't touch it, that Obama enlisted the FBI and Justice Department to take action and leak to the press.
The Russians did not want Trump.
1. Mueller and company AND THE ENTIRE NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNITY did not “assert” that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to favor Trump, they clearly demonstrated it — with actual evidence ‘n’ stuff.
2. In your quirky alternate universe, why did the Russians want Trump to destroy other Republican candidates? Because they DIDN’T want him to win the election? And they wanted so badly for him to lose that they released a bunch of hacked emails from his opponent?
I’m so confused.
6
Seriously? Russia has reaped vast gains from Mr. Trump’s penchant to aid and abet the Putin agenda: The United States is an unreliable ally for NATO; Syria is poised to become a Russian vassal state; Russian annexation of Crimea has Trump’s acquiescence; eastern Europe is open for Russian exploitation; Russian interference in western democracies (including our own) continues without resistance from the United States. Mr. Trump offers no rational explanation for these policy reversals. The reasonable conclusion for a concerned and thoughtful voter: Mr. Trump is a Russian stooge and Republican Party leaders have sold out to Russia in hopes of staying in power by any means.
9
Republicans no longer believe in anything but the end justifies the means.
Giuliani said it perfectly on Sunday:
‘Oh so now we’re talking morality?’
Yeah, Giuliani, we are. Morality.
But we forgot that you lost yours years ago. Remember when you slept at your mistress’s apartment (now your ex-wife) while your wife and children endured the humiliation of staying in Gracie Mansion alone?
We can all see why you would mock and sneer at any discussion of
what is right and what is wrong.
8
I have a “win-win” proposal for Republicans in the Senate.
The first win is already in place – just declare victory for the past two years of policy change. We won the Supreme Court, the big tax cut, and the battle with federal bureaucracy.
The second win is at hand - just accept the gift that is the Mueller report. We explain that we’ve been very concerned about the potential for corruption in the white house. Now, with the Mueller report, we have extensive documentation of that corruption. Trump was a useful idiot, but he’s now more liability than asset and it’s time to get rid of him.
The fact of the matter is that Obama refused to counter attack Russian attack on American democracy while he was president, appears to have allowed his security agency heads to spy on Trump campaign, created a hoax of Russian collusion with Trump that paralyzed American government with too many investigations, used Russian dossier to obtain FISA warrants to spy on Trump campaign and helped to fix Hillary e-mail investigation. Still Paul is saying that all these very bad things are Trump's fault. It looks like he lives in an alternative universe like his economic predictions.
1
@AlexE:
but you are not listing facts at all, Alex, just conjecture that “appears” to you to be true. Krugman, on the other hand, lists verified facts in his opening paragraph. We know irrefutably that a “hostile foreign power intervened in the presidential election, hoping to install Donald Trump in the White House. The Trump campaign was aware of this intervention and welcomed it. And once in power, Trump tried to block any inquiry into what happened.”
So, one can only wonder who lives in the alternate universe.
No Paul, the fake news wasnt true. You and the rest of the Democrat cohorts at this paper have been calling Trump a traitor, and have been broadcasting all this feigned outrage that Trump colluded with a foreign power to win an election. He didnt. He didnt even come close to that. Since there was zero evidence to support that, where did the proof come to initiate this investigation in the first place? Lets face it, if Hillary had won, the words Russian "collusion" or "meddling" would never have entered American society. The words would never have been uttered. Thats why even Obama said "There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections, there’s no evidence that that has happened in the past or that it will happen this time". Dont forget, he said that in October of 2016, right smack in the middle when all this "meddling" was going on. Now, after you folks launched a fake investigation against an innocent man, and it failed, you now say he should be ousted from office for fighting back against this hoax of an investigation?
If liberalism was really something to aspire to, and it really worked, Hillary would have breezed into office after 8 years of Obama. Now because "Mueller time" didnt pan out, you have to beat Trump at the ballot box. And with a booming economy as a result of Trumps policies, that scares you to death.
2
@Sports Medicine. This us vs. them comment is very sad.
1
And the Democratic leadership meets in secret with big funders, more afraid of Sanders than Trump.
Plenty of potential for a viable third party, provided the main stream media doesn't get in the way of the obvious message.
1
While this White House is unbalancing the governmental scheme set up by the Founding Fathers, the Republicans remain silent and just continue to appoint judges who allegedly would disagree with how the government is being rebalanced. Maybe their beliefs are late 19th Century? Republican judicial appointments have been hand picked because they allegedly believe in the literal reading of texts and a Constitutional interpretation based allegedly on the ideas of the Founding Fathers in 1794. Are they, the Republicans and the hand picked judges being appointed with conveyor belt speed these days, Hamiltonian at heart? Could this mean that all of the silence of the Republicans is really a complicit agreement that a certain kind of strong President is ideal, and a limitation on things Congress can pass, like hours and wage laws that contradict the clear Constitutional Contract Clause (see Lochner 1905 SCOTUS case) would be the ideal reading of the Constitution? Perhaps, besides enforcing a ban on abortions, birth control coverage by insurance or otherwise as a means to limit and regulate women's health care and advancement in society, the silence of the Republicans means that they have other, major goals to unwind mid-Twentieth Century laws. For example, the Dormant Commerce Clause's upholding the Civil Rights law cannot be found in the precise words of the Constitution, but a First Amendment religious right to avoid certain peoples if the religion says that must be done is.
All that you say is true, Mr. Krugman, but I fear we have passed the point of no return in terms of maintaining a hold on the kind of democracy that most Americans believe in. The Republican Party is now the party of traitors and opportunists and the Democrats, while adhering to the rule of law, are fighting a losing battle. Without control of the Senate they have no hope of removing this corrupt administration and the election of 2020 will do little to change that equation. The Supreme Court has been compromised by McConnell (the true power behind the throne) and gerrymandering (with a little help from their friends, the Russians) has locked in Republican legislators in many states. Citizens United opened the door to the demise of democracy in the United States, allowing the flow of enormous sums of money into politics with all the corruption and influence peddling that attends it. We, the people, are facing a major crisis with little room to maneuver and little real say in the outcome.
Until the likes of McConnell and Graham are removed from office (not likely) these "yes men" will rule.
The Republican party of the past, a mostly loyal opposition, is dead.
The "let them eat bread" party will continue as is until the population is hurt even more than it now is and it "revolts" at the polls. Then, perhaps they will see it to their benefit to re-evaluate their positions! Prepare for a rocky road ahead!
2
We, America, as we KNEW it before Nov 7th 2016 hasn’t survived, Paul. We are forever and irrevocably changed.
2
Thank you, everyone one is giving Republicans a pass but their ignoring of crimes is not ok, and it’s not ok to do an eye roll statement about the senate.
So what comes after America? China? Wars? Artificial intelligence surveillance states? Smart people need to start visualizing positive workable models for our future.
1
This GOP charade will continue ad nauseam until the DNC can articulate a coherent counter-narrative and put forth an attendant policy construct that middle class Americans can actually relate to...and subsequently support.
Regrettably, given the ineptness of the current DEM leadership I am not optimistic.
Krugman is still too nice to Republicans. They have become an extremist authoritarian party. They are willing to do anything to hold on to power. They followed a clear plan and got lucky: win all branches of government despite being in the electoral minority. Now they will hold on as long as they can and they are willing to sacrifice the constitutional order
3
Thank you for this very clearly written summary of the state of the present day Republican Party. It is absolutely spot on!
3
A provocative and timely column that spells out again clearly and shockingly the dilemma the country faces due to the GOP and its actions from the executive in the White House to the lawmakers in both houses. Judges nominated and pushed through to serve who are not qualified, a tax cut that served the top one percent (!!) of income in this country, children in cages at the border, ignorance of climate change and the many ramifications from that, and yet, and yet, besides the 2018 election and the addition of some Democrats to the House of Representatives, AND the Mueller report we continue to find ourselves in this ignoble state. I vacillate between impeachment now, but then resign myself to Pelosi's thinking on this. Will the tide change by 2020 and Trump be ousted?Our celebrity culture elected him due to his role in The Apprentice. He has proven by his actions and deeds how u nfit he is for the role. This country is not a company so we cannot fire him. We must find a way to at least attempt to adhere to some of our ideals and keep after his many lying, corrupt ways and remove him from office soon .
1
Dr. Krugman has succeeded in getting my eyes open this morning.
I am 100% convinced the GOP is a gob-smacked lackey serving the Swamp Owners. Nothing the Republican-owned Congress has done (nor plans to do) has helped anyone but the super-rich. Their complete shunning of responsibility to reign Trump in, or educate him, or remove him from office is proof. They're selling out America.
Will the Base figure out the GOP bus that Trump rides in is coming and will make them roadkill? Medicare, Medicaid, current ACA program, Social Security, clean air, clean water, etc, etc, etc, all programs that the middle Americans need, that I need, are on the super-rich's radar for drastic cuts, if not outright extinction.
The Base was built on the victimization of those that feel they are losing the GOP's zero-sum game. The GOP courted their anger and resentment. When will the Base wake up and turn this on the GOP? They are a target of these nasty, evil policies, just like the rest of us who aren't yacht-owners.
Trump is a gift to the uber-rich. He can play around and be incompetent, and they're happy to let him twaddle and twitter on. It distracts us from the Uber-RIch/GOP agenda to gut America. The party that, as Dr. Krugman pointedly says, "wraps itself in the flag" is burning it. Stripe by stripe and star by star.
3
Tax cuts for those who hardly need them and ever increasing deficits which will fall on the shoulders of our offspring, the Republican playbook and do they really care? Trump's latest attempts to lower interest rates, will only weaken the floodgates but does he care? Afraid not and neither does McConnell and the rest of the feckless GOP followers who have hitched their ride on the deviant conscious less Trump train. The Republican party's storied legacy is rapidly eroding and shall be replaced by an oligarchic demagogic entity, a divisive isolationist form of populism, i.e., Trumpacracy.
1
I was reading the sentencing guidelines prepared for Maria Butina by the DoJ. She claimed she had input into Trumps selection of Secretary of State thanks to her NRA pals and turned the name over to her boss in Russia. She was worried that the GRU would get the credit if she didn’t act quickly.
So now we see the Russians were trying to set up a private connection right to the White House.
Sorry to say it, but with McConnell and cronies firmly in control we might as well take down the flag and ask the Queen of England if we can come home.
2
Thank you for an *Excellent* article - seems to be spot-on.
Perhaps the motivation by the Republican push for tax cuts is not about making rich people rich (they're already rich) - but to keep poor people poor, and desperate for low-paying jobs - maybe more a matter of ruling people, than of governing them - or, at least, so it seems at the moment ( possibly related Wikipedia link => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_for_the_rich_and_capitalism_for_the_poor ).
In any case - Enjoy! :)
Dr. Dennis Bogdan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Drbogdan
Lovingly perplexed about how/why my hyper-Republican, orthodox Roman Catholic family can be pro-Trump. They are not the wealthy class who drive and benefit from his tax cuts. They are "good" middle-class, well-educated people: kind, give to charity, volunteer to help others ...but blind to this realities of the GOP and their disgusting president. I know it's partly because all they watch is Fox news; I think, at bottom, it may be about abortion for them. But it is beyond me to understand how they can kneel in church every Sunday while condoning and supporting the destruction of our Democracy by a lewd, mendacious, greedy, autocratic narcissist.
2
If Republicans do not recognize climate change and do not support actions to ameliorate it, where do they intend to live when the planet becomes hostile to life? At that point will any amount of money buy fresh air, safe drinking water and food, and immunity to newly strong diseases, and access to planet B?
I heard Lindsay Graham say on TV " with Trump you got tax cuts and the judges you want. What more do you want?" Says it all.
1
Thank you Paul Krugman for calling out the Republican party for what is truly is: UNAMERICAN.
2
To me, the saddest aspect of politics in the West, including the USA, is the dumbing down of its electorates. This nightmare has taken my entire adult life to develop to where it is now. I clearly remember over forty years ago, being dismayed at intelligent people being looked down on; as being somehow not "of us," by their less intelligent peers.
It's taken a while, but look where we have arrived now. Many countries, which were formerly run by an educated bureaucrat class are now led by thugs and their toadies - some smart, some dumb; but simply opportunists almost all of them. The Republicans are just the US cogs in this dysfunctional machine.
We're definitely at a tipping point now. Ukraine has just elected as its president a TV comedian with zero political experience and some very shady connections. How different is that from the USA, which elected a TV show carny with no political experience and an abundance of shady connections?
Republicans are just enablers of their sheeple.
1
Uh, what is the evidence that Russia sought to install Trump?
2
Every person who watched Trump and the GOP the past two years agreed with this. Thanks for your support for the US and not the GOP.
I have been struck by the number of Repub (or former Repub) commentators who are busy advising the Dems of what to do now.
For God's sake, will NO ONE call the Repub party to account? Will NO ONE place any pressure on them? Shame them? Call them out by name?
One of the things they've done recently is to encourage private entities to ignore Dem subpoenas. That's obstruction of justice. Why is this ignored?
How do these liars and the willfully blind get a pass, day after day?
3
Here's a radical, but thoroughly defendable idea: REDO!
I suggest that since the election of 2016 was criminally influenced by a foreign power, it is invalid, should be nullified and we should get a redo.
I suggest the DNC nominate Bernie this time.
Let me go get my popcorn and watch the thread . . .
What more can be said? There is no limit of depth that the Republican Party will sink in order to prop up their corrupt leader. Democrats need to show up in even greater numbers in 2020 and wrest all control from the Republican Party if we want to preserve and strengthen our democracy.
1
Where we find ourselves is chilling.
Trump unveiled a harsh reality, that some equality between Blacks and Whites was only an illusion.
There is only one way to right the democracy ship. Vote for anyone but a Republican. The "party' needs to be so devastated, so humiliated, so toxic to the public in the 2020 vote, at all levels, that the "good" republicans, if there are any, will be forced to completely revamp the party with what its original supports want, ie. smart people who put American values and beliefs first but whose programs take a more conservative approach than those of the Democrats. We can and should have policy debates but morals and values cannot be compromised. VOTE THE BUMS OUT!
1
Actually, Trump was hoping Wikileaks would thwart Hillary Clinton's obstruction of justice destruction of 30,000 e-mails. This first paragraph is a disgrace ... Trump did not betray the US. Please.
But, the republicans have always been the party of the rich: since Lincoln. The party almost died off after FDR: their actions during the 1920s, starting with the first attempt at trickle-down economics led by Mellon resulted in the market collapse in 1929. Until Ike, they were doomed. Notice that Nixon was there to take over from Ike.
The Republicans count on the support of Trump's fascists. The oligarchs started us on this path in the 1970's. They want their country back. We're just the helots who live off their scraps --- until we're not.
Why would the wealthy elite sell us out to a budding autocrat? Don't they live here, too?
Well actually, no. They are internationalists. They travel in style and stay in places you and I will never see. Their kids go skiing in Switzerland on spring break. They are more at home in the company of benighted worthies from all over the globe than they are with the likes of you and me. If this bourgeois country goes down, they will always have Davos.
1
Paul, the racism and identity politics part of your article is absolutely correct. My daddy used to say, "how else do you get poor working people to vote for rich people?"
1
If the Republican agenda is so unpopular, how does the party win elections?
Apart from gerrymandering, purging voter rolls, outright cheating,passing voting laws that make voting difficult for certain portions of the population(native americans, blacks,hispanics.....etc).
Mr. Krugman, the goal of the Republican party is not just tax cuts for the wealthy, but a court system that benefits people with money and business, and voters who think that their Christianity is under attack (See Douthat's colum). That's why they won. The republican voter chose Trump not because of tax cuts but because of opposition to abortion, dislike of brown skinned people, and the notion that current minorities are taking their jobs. Abortion and race. plain and simple. The elected members of the GOP know this and will ignore anything to keep their power. Hence the silence from them all at this president's abuse of power, bullying and near-treason.
1
Well, Rudy Guiliani said yesterday that it's ok to take help from the Russians. New Republican Party mantra.
1
Yes, the right wing (no longer "conservative" by any means) agenda has been to grab more and larger tax cuts for the wealthy, effectively looting our national treasure, and further dimming the future of real democracy in this nation, and in many others linked to our national fate. And yes, they achieve their ends through lying, pain and simple. Not the softer-toned "untruths" but straight-out lies to dupe their victims. For more people to actually recognize this, it needs to become a common meme: "He lies like a Republican!"
I think the GOP base is inured to FOX news calling right-of-center policy from Obama and Clinton "treasonous" that they really don't hear anything too bad about the actual *treason* committed by Trump.
1
The assault on American Democracy has been well documented by a number of authors. The rise of the radical right has been ongoing since Reagan.
Trump has simply provided space for a combination of unbridled greed, racism and misogyny embraced in fascist ideology. The billionaire right cynically exploits the fear of the other and the sense of aggrievement among whites to gain office. The “left behinds” who support them at the polls actually vote against their own best interest repeatedly.
Ironically our last best hope for change will be another even worse recession and catastrophic climate change.
Otherwise it’s Democracy out and Fascism in.
1
I just can't believe they elected the most Yankee New Yorker as the Confederate president. Realize this is what's happening, a Confederate coup of the United States. Just wait for someone in the Freedom Caucus to argue it's against someone's freedom to deny them the right to sell themselves into indentured servitude, we know it's coming.
I want to see subpoenas for DJ and Mcconnell. There is no way DJ didn't know Russia wanted to sway the election. And Mcconnell is just evil. He was warned time and again and refused to do anything.
If Republicans abdicate it's not to Democrats and it's not 'cuz they're kings. They'll abdicate to authoritarianism. (Which is exactly what Levitsky and Ziblatt warn against in How Democracies Die.)
In the book "Democracy in Chains" Nancy MacLean describes the roots and development of the current Republican operating philosophy. They believe that government has no right to "taking" their property via taxation and that democracy stands in the way of achieving their goals. Recent Republican politicians have stated their anti-government beliefs, notably Ronald Reagan. It is clear that Republicans in government are working for goals that are clearly anti-democratic yet are still able to sway large numbers of voters to support them based on fear and prejudice. The ultimate question is what can be done to show these people what is happening and educate them as to what the future holds under oligarchy. That grim future is something we should all fear.
Paul Krugman speaks the truth. When will the rest of America get it.
@Peggy never hopefully
1
Those who think Professor Krugman is being melodramatic & overstates the danger the Republicans are doing to this country need to watch this TED talk by investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr:
https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy
Gandhi said resistance is about provoking a response. Mr. Krugman, you got yours this morning when the current occupant of the WH began his morning tweet during "executive time." Your analysis must have been spot on because Trump seems particularly unhinged in these tweets.
By the way I do agree that the republicans who matter have gone completely over to Trumpism. According to Lyndsy Graham in a NYT report, he embraced the defense of Trump so that he can have Trump's ear and advance his agenda.
Will the United States of America and its democracy survive Trump? As Paul Krugman says, it's very much up in the air. If the Democrats fail to come together on a mostly-centrist platform soon, and present a reasonably-centrist candidate, US democracy is probably doomed.
There's also the risk that outliers, many of whom have some excellent ideas but are otherwise too extreme, can collect a lot of votes as a third-, even fourth-party candidate, will split the vote, making it largely impossible to beat the RepubliKKKan machine.
I'm nore frightened now than I was even at the height of the Cold War, because this time the enemy(yes, enemy) is among us. Shades of Germany circa 1933?
2
Only four things can save America's democracy, and the GOP response to these might nullify their potential to revive the country:
1. A 2018 electoral drubbing (Done, thank goodness)
2. A 2020 electoral drubbing (who knows, please God...)
3. The courage of a potential democratic senate majority to eliminate the filibuster, thus allowing legislation to pass and real policies to be implemented that help the nation compete in the current real world
4. A 2022 electoral drubbing that cements the GOP as a permanent minority in America if it does not change
The GOP has succeeded in seizing power through antidemocratic means and its used to losing nominally, only to stab the federal government in its back to "prove" government doesn't work. So if it sees it cannot stop laws from passing, and loses one more time after that, it may actually realize that it should exist to represent its voters' interests, then develop policies that serve those voters...sadly, for now, its just the rich and their own authoritarian desire to throttle opposition. Not looking forward to the next few years, personally.
3
I think it is clear that the GOP is not fond of democracy. They would prefer the Plutocracy that is. Voter suppression delivers that message loudly. “We know best about how to run the country, and we will serve ourselves while exploiting most of the population.” It seems naive to believe that the GOP aspires to democracy.
4
"The key point is that Republicans are committed to a policy agenda that is deeply unpopular."
How is this possible in a "democracy?" With the utter lack of representation for tens of millions, the problems with the Supreme Court (and the courts, in general,) the popular vote, and the extreme partisanship, what exactly are Dems trying to save? Does the Constitution only work well when you have the "right" people in power? (The Federalist papers might offer a clue to that answer.) I'm not so sure if racists voting for a white supremacist government is suddenly an issue now. However, I am sure that these major, systemic problems at the core need to be addressed because more and more people are losing faith in this government structure.
3
As Norm Orenstein and others have pointed out, there is "asymmetrical polarization" of our political parties. For many election cycles now, the Republican primary electorate has rewarded increasingly extremist candidates and positions. The Republicans have gone over the edge of the cliff - the only question now is what will be the impact when they finally land?
3
Thank you for writing this. We should also be reminded that all those tax cut for the wealthy and corporations go to all the foreign investors who don't pay state and federal income taxes. I certainly advocate for foreign investment but as the US did not do in Latin America during the Banana Republic years, the taxes must be paid to support the country infrastructure or instability follows. But then do foreign corps or gov'ts truly care about that? Instability is a form of control, right? Just sayin'
I think Paul is only partly right in this column. He identifies two key interests, corporatists and white supremacists. He misses two: evangelicals, who are brought in by the abortion issue and militarists, who include the regular military their suppliers.
Of equal importance, the value this coalition is against is democratic rule, not Americanism. Certain groups have historically been disenfranchised or worse, even in periods of great public patriotism. Ask the Nisei how it was in WW2, or African Americans in almost any period.
1
It isn't that hard to get really immoral and bad candidates elected in an environment of distraction and fragmented social media reality. You just have to win the war of American's diminishing attention span and willingness to "move on" from painful and depressing realities. People don't like continual tension.
I work part time in an all American big box store. A few employees are politically conscious, but with their low incomes they would find it too difficult with their responsibilities to try to stay above water.
The food I see most of them eating would cause most of our pets to become sick fairly quickly; "Food, Inc" was an apt synopsis of how inhumane and unhealthy our food sources are. If we are what we eat then it is hard to see how the unwell masses could be helped except for a strenuous political effort to try to win that battle.
If you watch the mainstream media channels in the US you would have to come to the conclusion that something is very wrong politically. But on what basis would you complain that what we have in 2019 is abnormal? How many people remember how placid the Obama and Clinton years were in comparison?
2
As usual, I agree with the theme of the article yet, I would like to add my opinion in an effort to enhance the effect. Some of the Democrats in power - Representatives - have put forth an argument against impeaching, as follows: Look what happens when the Senate doesn't pick up the proceedings ala Clinton. The President becomes more popular and the impeachment process has the reverse effect.
The distinction lost on these Representatives is that during Clinton impeachment, both the House and the Senate was controlled by Republican majorities, and Senate Republicans thought of the impeachment evidence of the House so flimsy that they refused to continue the indictment proceedings. People would not view the refusal by Senate Republicans the same way this time around. If Senate refuses to proceed with indictment, people will see it as the partisan sham as it would be.
3
@Bamarolls: Trump is impeached by all who believe that he is incompetent, if not insane. Impeachment is only accusation. The accused can only be found guilty by the Senate.
Perhaps this helps pose the impeachment question: is pursuing impeachment the most effective way to rescue what's left of an already sagging democratic process? Trump's high crimes are not mainly flirting with Russians, but violating conditions of democracy -- the lies, the contempt for law, for the constitution, the racism, the support for oligarchs. These are the kinds of offenses against the constitutional system that warrant impeachment. Could an impeachment case be made by the Congressional Democrats help build a case for a democratic renewal? Or would it do the opposite? How would the Democrats be able to raise the level of debate? The alternative, return to electoral politics, is not obviously a better path, since, among other things, it indirectly concedes too much to Trump and the Republicans.
2
After all the diatribes and sharp rhetoric where's the vision of the future that will turn the tide? Where's the platform that will swing the election and stop the bulldozers? It's like watching Stephen Colbert... or Bill Maher... it was interesting, even reasonable, for a while but now, it's old, tired and counter-productive. Surely the time has come to stop complaining and engage in the Green New Deal or whatever the new directions will be called.
@Taoshum
Yes, I think Robert Reich has good ideas. He lays out specific bullet points to for turning this around and dismantling the components that feed and support this new Gilded Age. Hopefully, whoever wins the democratic primary will implement some of his ideas into their platform.
Krugman neglects to mention that Trump and the Republican Party has the unwavering support of at least 40% of the electorate, whom also could care less about “American values”. To win Presidential elections, they need only harvest another 8 to 10% of independent/undecided voters. The Democratic Party’s support, by contrast is not nearly so monolithic, with new voter blocs seemingly popping up every month, and many at odds with each other. To win, the Democrats need to field a candidate that appeals to all the different factions, not an easy task by any means, akin to herding cats.
2
I realize it's commonplace to assert, but I'm not sure it's accurate to say that Republicans simply support tax cuts for the rich. It's more along the lines of supporting tax cuts for the rich who will give them lots of money to keep them in power.
Money and power may go hand in glove, but retention of power is the name of their game, and they will use it as long as Trump is in charge to remake government services in line with their skewed vision of the national interest.
The question, then, for voters: how long will we allow Mr. Trump to remain in power, and just how drastic are the consequences if he is somehow re-elected? Do we really need any further forewarning?
1
At this point it is a given that American democracy is dead on the vine and we will most likely not survive Trump. The question is when the riots will begin.
1
The Republican Party has for decades been for less taxes on the rich and on corporations, and on fewer or no regulations on industry. That's their so-called values.
But, sad to say, I have wondered for the past few decades if we truly have a Democratic Party, or just a "show" party made up of members who claim to be in favor of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
3
I've been reacquainting myself with the history of great nations and empires. I'm no historian, but the similarities to the ancient Senate of Rome and the current Senate of the US are striking. While not the whole story, what is so similar are wealthy elitists who abdicated power to emperors to maintain their wealth and the status quo.
4
Well said. I have watched this country deteriorate over the years. Trump and his backers have placed what once was a great democracy in further peril. With the GOP it has been and will always be about the money, country, values, etc are very distant seconds.
1
Unfortunately, I agree with every point presented in this succinct summary of the state of our country. We can only continue to provide accurate information in a straightforward, respectful manner as we try to persuade every eligible voter to participate in the 2020 elections. Although it is sad to see the party of Lincoln fail so miserably, it is worse to see our democracy crumbling with the support of so many. Additionally, US policy is proving increasingly harmful to our neighbors here on planet Earth. Neutrality is no longer an option for anyone who both understands the situation, and has integrity.
2
As the party explicitly aligned with capital (as David Frum has said, even the powerful deserve representation in a democracy), the GOP will embody capital's core interests. Only when social stigma or adequate regulation restrain capital will it refrain from acting anti-democratically, because democracy is usually not what's best for the corporate bottom line. So whether consciously or not, with a corporate executive president in office, the GOP is acting on all of its latent anti-democratic impulses. It is becoming more brazen and up-front about fearing the electorate and messaging to its base in millenarian terms to legitimize these steps.
What we are seeing now in the US and elsewhere is a pivotal conflict between liberal democracy and capitalist authoritarianism. How many Republicans realize this? How many understand that they are acting and talking in support of anti-democratic forces? How much ethnocentric hysteria needs to get kicked up on Fox, in the rest of the right-wing media, and Trump's Nuremburg rallies before Republicans begin to just throw themselves headlong into an overtly authoritarian politics?
Stephen Moore's comment that democracy is less important than capitalism was more than a slip of the tongue. That is the logical and reasoned position of the GOP and with Trump it can be realized in its extremes perhaps even without most Republicans even realizing what they've come to embrace. Scary times.
14
A perfect expression of how and why the Republican Party has betrayed this country. What is truly mind boggling is the unwillingness or inability of many voting Americans to understand the dire consequences of voting for a party whose representatives care nothing for them! Now, when truthful, factual information is still readily available, many choose to tune into Fox or other radical right wing outlets, or, more frighteningly, disengage from any thoughtful discussion of the issues that imperil us all. The importance of reading anything challenging, regarding our own history, or trying to understand on a deeper level, issues which may determine the survival of the U.S. (or indeed the planet), seem to be outweighed by a preference for video games, glitzy entertainment events and mindless social media postings. If our democratic systems of governance fail in the near future, the blame will be on those voters unable to distinguish the importance of understanding American history and a corrupt Republican Party invested only in maintaining its power.
5
“What is truly mind-boggling is the inability...of many voting Americans to understand...the dire consequences...”
Not mind-boggling at all, but a “feature” and a result of the Republican assault on public education, from grade school to college, that began under Exalted Leader Ronald Reagan and continues today unabated, with Betsy DeVos as the current public face of popular ignorance.
Take a populace devoid of critical thinking skills and feed them a daily diet of Fox propaganda, and behold, unwavering support of the current Occupant of the White House.
62,984,828 Americans voted for Trump. 42% of the country approves of him. He may well be re-elected. From these facts I infer that Americans are not the exceptionally good people who are destined to lead the world to a better way of life. I also infer that our politics are deeply polluted and unlikely to be purified any time soon. The question is, when will the reality principle reassert itself? When will Trump commit an irretrievable blunder that cannot be misrepresented by Fox News? The immiseration of the middle class is occurring too slowly to have much effect during a normal election cycle. There will have to be a catastrophe - a war in the Middle East, a financial collapse, a disruption of global supply chains. Only then, I fear, will the herd change direction.
6
Recent history in a sound bite: when climate change became recognized as an existential threat, the oil and gas industry panicked. It would lead to draconian regulation of their industry. Their equal and opposite reaction was to buy the government in the form of senators, and to launch a massive propaganda campaign to demonize Hillary Clinton and liberals in general, the ones who were most likely to impose sanctions to try and save the planet. This led to the radicalization of the right and to the Trump administration. Putin was heavily involved, since he is in many ways an oil and gas executive.
1
It seems the only institution left to make the major correction is Wall Street. Rational players in the major financial houses need to recognize that their self-interest is directly tied to the Republican pathway to mutual self-destruction. Adequately paid workers, the safety net, less-not-more militarism, capitalization of climate change initiatives and the fight against institutionalized corruption are what serves the long-term interests of publicly owned companies. Jamie Dimon knows this, so do Buffet, Gates, and most of the billionaire class. Only the haters can see it.
1
Mr. Krugman has gut for cutting through all the noises and tells it like it is. Unfortunately, in today's bitter partisan politics and given the fact that most Americans just don't care that much for they are too busy making end meets, Mr. Krugman's cry for American democracy is lost in the howling winds of American heartless capitalism.
One paragraph that captures the essential truth of the ugliness of the American soul is this.
"If the Republican agenda is so unpopular, how does the party win elections? Partly by lying about its policies. But mainly the G.O.P.’s political achievements depend on identity politics — white identity politics. Exploiting racial resentment to capture white working-class voters, while pursuing policies that benefit only the wealthy, has been the core of the party’s political strategy for decades. That’s why, in an increasingly diverse country, Republican support has stayed overwhelmingly white."
5
For the House to not even pursue an investigation into the possibility of an impeachment will be interpreted by most as an admission that the almost 2 year investigation by Mueller and the Democratic support of it was, indeed, a witch hunt. To cave in before even conducting investigations may well be to hand over the 2020 election to Trump on a silver platter. IMPEACH NOW!
3
"Because the modern G.O.P. is perfectly willing to sell out America if that’s what it takes to get tax cuts for the wealthy"
This and the Judges they want....yes, in a nutshell, that is what it is all about..the rest of the country, it's infrastructure, it's future, its sense of decency and morality, global warming, clean air, health care, it all means absolutely nothing. There is not one shred of patriotism or courage in the whole bunch. History will not be kind to them.
5
History may not be kind to the Republicans, but they don’t care about History.
Did they learn any thing from past fiascos by Nixon, Reagan and W?
They are busy selling out to highest bidders, including Russians, to keep in power and become multi-millionaires.
If the Trump and his cabal is the best America has to offer, America is doomed to become a third rate power in near future.
But that doesn’t bother Republican leaders, since they would accumulate enough money for themselves.
1
It might go along way if Dem politicians and the real media could learn to talk about trumps's policies without invoking his name. Give the credit where it belongs, Mulvaney and Miller. Let Trump be the Republicans problem.
5
Should Trump win in 2020, what will be the rationale then? That, after the Mueller Report, Mr. Krugman believes the Russians helped ‘install’ Trump in office,
should take us down another rabbit hole of Mr. Krugman’s invention.
1
@J House
Very little of what Krugman wrote was invented. It's unfortunately an accurate description of what has happened to the Republican party, and to our country. Very much like what happened to Von Hindenburg and his party in the 1930's. That bleak period was not invented either.
If Trump wins in 2020 it will mean that we will be subject to four more years of destruction. That's all. No inventions, just more pain and suffering - and ironically, much of the suffering will happen to those that elected him.
1
"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." - David Frum (not remotely a liberal)
9
Democrats, in the House, should investigate Donald Trump's businesses and finances, battling him through the courts in a dramatic duel over the truth. They should forge legislation that benefits average Americans and watch the Republican Senate ignore them. They should call Mueller and others to testify. They should do all they can to lay bare the cruelty and injustice at the Southern border. But, they should let Donald Trump continue to impeach himself, as he has and will continue to do, in front of the American people. They rejected him in 2018, and we have to pray they will do it again to both him and his Senate in 2020. Because, it is finally the American people, who are going to decide whether freedom or racism is the American creed.
5
Some people criticized Barack Obama when he did not go directly to the American people about the Russian attacks on the election process in 2016 after Mitch McConnell refused to release a bipartisan statement and actually threatened to say Obama was trying to sway the election to Hillary Clinton. It is rare that a difficult, high stakes decision is validated in such a short time. If Republicans have no desire to do the right thing now after knowing many of the details in the Mueller report, is there any doubt that these same Republicans would not be interested in the Russian activities right before the election, especially if the Russians were aiding Trump? I'm talking about the voters as well as the elected officials. Going straight to the people in 2016 with the truth about the Russians would not have mattered at all with today's Republican party. And I am appalled.
13
Thank you for this potent reminder that many of us may have forgotten. At a point in 2016 when we began to suspect Russian interference and Obama was still president, McConnell refused a bipartisan statement on the matter and threatened to portray any unilateral statement as an attempt by Obama to assist Clinton. Concerned about the optics of that — at a time when the extent of Russian interference was only in its nascent stages — Obama kept his public statements on this to a bare minimum. Now, the Republicans and Fox News are trying to paint Russian interference as Obama’s failure. The hypocrisy, and thorough rancidness of McConnell for that matter, is astounding. It is justifiable to conclude that McConnell is a greater threat to our democracy than Trump
Mr. Krugman is missing a couple of key points here. I believe the issue that drives Trump's base more than racism and tax cuts is abortion (and installing judges who will end it). And the reason GOP lawmakers will continue to hold their noses and follow Trump off a cliff is that their time as officeholders will end if they cross Trump's base.
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@John D You miss a key point here with regard to abortion. There are two kinds of pro-life beliefs. One is a true belief that human life begins at conception. The second is not a belief at all, but a stand-in, a proxy and a perfect opportunity to bash liberals and be impervious to contradiction, to boot.
The only thing Republicans in the House and Senate are truly committed to is getting and staying in office. Since they and Trump have the same base of clueless voters, their support for him will not waver. That this is not good for American democracy bothers them not at all. Only in America.
An excellent and truthful piece, as always, Dr. Krugman. But I have one question:
If the Republican Party so blatantly represents and defends the extremely wealthy, then why is Trump and his party so popular among so many white working class folk and so embraced and sheltered by the Republicans in Congress?
One could conclude that the appeal of Donald Trump to Mitch McConnell and the Republican power structure resides in the fact that Trump’s populism (racism?) is a useful smokescreen to provide perceived legitimacy to obfuscate a corrupt attempt by America’s oligarchs to usurp democracy. In Trump they have found a foil to forment social discord to distract people from the Republican’s greedy sleight-of-hand. In Trump, they have found someone who commands a dedicated cult following, regardless of what he does, wrapping himself and his Party in the American flag, while destroying what it stands for in the process.
Trump and McConnell are con men, and the millions of ignorant and undiscerning among us who bow to them are being taken for fools, and they don’t even realize it.
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Sadly, it is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.
It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you. It’s what you know that aint so that does.