Thank you, Mr Krugman for nearly nailing this. I say nearly because, in the last line, instead of calling the Republicans in power “intellectual zombies”, it would have been closer to the truth to call them out for what they really are: corrupt and greedy liars, thieves, and con-men.
15
Hmmm.....it's been about 70 years since the advent of TV in most households. Perhaps we're reaping the results with lower attention spans and a disinclination to engage in the mentally hard stuff like logic and reason.
8
I agree with Dr. Krugman's opinion and I would like to add one more thing as a question:
When was the last time you heard a civil, thoughtful, truthful Republican?
Ike?
7
Why don't you just call this column, "false equivalencies". But of course here, I'm speaking of your own. Sometimes it seems like your false equivalencies (fostering and lying about Russian interference in the election=prevaricating about inequality and climate change) are so transparent they're actually designed to help the Republicans, but not being a full time conspiracy theorist I don't think that's the case.
I don't think Paul Krugman is a mole planted by the Trilateral commission in the New York Times (along with Rachel Maddow at MSNBC).
I think it's just that smart people often have really stupid ideas.
3
Only a zombie believes that the Russians stole the White House for Trump.
Only a zombie is is still in denial about how the Trump tax cuts have been a boon for working men and women.
Only a zombie assures us that Trump is going to give away the store to China and declare victory.
Only a zombie obsesses about inequality and justifies his obsession by fabricating stories about the harms it does to society.
4
And there you have it!
12
well that was helpful; intellectual zombies??? this a week after the nytimes published a cartoon depicting the israeli prime minister as a dog being walked by a yarmulke-wearing president trump.
the nytimes is at the front of inciting the divisions in america. while differences exist, as they did in the past and will continue in the future; the nytimes and its opinion writers love to pit one portion of the country/society against the other. anything to sell a few more subscriptions.
shame on you nytimes. our country deserves better.
2
Paul, really, you ought to stop filing this column. This must be the tenth time I've seen it.
2
The political style Dr Krugman describes reminds me of the pathological liar comedy routine of Jon Lovitz. Except it's funny when he does it.
2
Perhaps if people took the time to consider the worst possible scenarios for their children and grandchildren, and the children of other societies, they would reconsider their allegiance to the republican party, the communist party, and the nazi party.
They should look at their children and consider carefully the world they would like them to inherit.
Some people may declare that the inclusion of the republican party in such sordid company is unbecoming, unfair, or incorrect.
I remind anyone who objects that it was the largely the republicans who protected the tobacco and chemical industries with such passion when citizens of the world were being killed off, in the thousands, by their products.
It is the republicans who stand in the way of any meaningful legislation while assault weapons are being used to slaughter our children.
It is the republicans who deny that the air we breathe is becoming more toxic by the hour.
It is the republicans who deny climate change when anyone with an ounce of integrity can look out of their windows and see the truth.
And finally, it is the republican party who protects the most divisive and destructive world leader in the history of our planet since the death of…fill in the blank.
8
The fun in voting is always to frustrate liberals and then to eat your cake as well by having already sent in an absentee ballot in one’s second identity. What? You silly all-my-details-exposed subscribers haven’t a second identity to shield you from the data vultures, the tax lady, the loonies and the Left? Well, you’re all just not paranoid enough.
You say "zombie", and I think "is this the 150th time trying to erase the ACA?" It's gotten to be so predictive that I now think Republicans represent ONLY monied interests. I don't think you need to keep it up, however, as I think, now, most Americans are NOT hoodwinked into thinking that the ACA is the greatest socialistic giveaway since Medicare. But I do appreciate your gusto.
Can anyone provide a list of Republican writers who have somewhat credibly articulated the policies they were promoting? If you find any, my guess is that they are today among the many who have defected.
1
That's why it ticks me off when the news media gives equal time to obvious liars and cheats like Trump and his favor seeking lap dogs. Even showing footage of his rallies gives an unintended advantage to this guy because there are enough gullible or just plain bad people in this country who believe everything he says or go along with it because they equate leadership with being a bully. Bullies are strong, right? Ever punched a bully? They fade like ghosts.
Edward Murrow would be rolling over in his grave.
2
Well, the GOP counts on endless repetition of falsehoods .. convinced that people will accept them as "truth". After all, Goebbels once said:
"If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself."
This is the GOP's catechism ..
5
I am 70 years old, just when did being a conservative Republican mean you became a liar. When did having ideas, opinions and plans get replaced by denying facts and science. Conservatives need to get a grip, we liberals are tired of dealing with your nonsense and persistently being asked by conservatives to adapt, adjust and change. We can handle frank discussions on issues that we may disagree on but we cant take the lies and obfuscation..
7
What Mr. Krugman has shown us (with clarity and X-ray vision) is that the GOP is not what it seems. Skim milk masquerades as cream, to quote Gilbert and Sullivan.
No longer a political party, the Republicans have been reduced to corporate-shills who double as white-walkers for the Night King in the Oval.
And their sole goal is to please their corporate masters.
5
In all respects, democracy has been a very fragile system that ultimately requires the goodwill of those in power to enact proper policy and have the moral character to do the right thing for all of its citizens. Unfortunately, if the system runs into trouble, there is no "default point" for democracy, hence, when those who gain power wish to dismantle the institutions of protections for all and abuse that power, we have what we have unfolding in America today, a situation that I am quite sure the creators of the Constitution surely did not anticipate.
Throughout history, with very few exceptions, those that abused that power ultimately paid a very high price for their psychotic behavior and history does repeat itself.
2
How does that compare to your own political gradualism (“incrementalism,” half a loaf, etc.)?
Russian "collusion" was a hoax, promulgated by an overzealous media in a perverse game of get back. They lost. And having a very difficult time saving face. Soon the NYT will be out of print, and the click bait business model will intensify.
Zombies don't read newspapers Krugman, neither does most of America.
Ideas don't survive just because they're "good."
Ideas survive because they serve the interests of a group powerful enough to impose them on others.
If you want bad ideas to die, you have to disempower the interest groups behind those ideas.
1
"they may invoke evidence, don’t actually care what the evidence says" Yes, Republicans simply do not care whether it is taking millions of Americans off ACA healthcare or that there exists enormous student debt, the list of issues is endless, because with Reagan to Trump GOP base voters vote not in their self-interest but fear, racism, myth and hatred! 2020 will not be any different!
1
When I read the title of the article, bad ideas that won’t stay dead, I thought it was going to be about socialism, modern monetary theory (aka printing money), class conflict, and neo-McCarthyism.
1
Who was it who, to paraphrase, said that you will never convince a man(or woman) of something when his(or her) perceived interests depend on their not believing it? People believe what they want to believe, facts not withstanding.
@Conrad Upton Sinclair
As has been said ad infinitum, all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. The response to the Republicans should be ferocious and sustained. If it isn't, there is little hope.
118
@Jon Orloff
An update : “ is for Women to do nothing. Good, bad or indifferent, but nothing. “
3
Bad ideas don't die...and they don't fade away.
It's a 3-D world but the media continue to see it in two dimensions -- "on the one hand this and on the other hand that" -- that mechanically equates two sides when there are either multiple sides or none at all.
Conflict drives media and the best kind of conflict is the simple black vs. white kind that forces everyone to choose between two contrived options, which bear no semblance to actuality and deny validity to dozens of alternative views.
We're home to 350 million very different and distinct people whose relationship to America is akin to family -- complicated, argumentative, headstrong, rebellious, stifling, ritualistic, judgmental. And yet we have exactly two flavors on offer: chocolate and vanilla, Democrat and Republican.
One reason for that is it allows media to frame just about everything as conflict, which continues to be the magic dust that captures attention, which is the coin of the realm in the digital age.
It's one reason we have President Conflict in office. Of all prospects for POTUS in 2016, Trump was the only one who guaranteed nonstop conflict -- which has in turn generated huge profits for media as America snapped to attention in horror and disgust.
I'm not a big sci fi fan so I have no idea what the creation myth is for GOP zombies is but we know media were there as midwives.
So there is an obvious synergy between media and zombies. Neither thrives without the other.
184
@Yuri Asian
Excellent comment! Black and white is such a narrow view but it makes it easier to sell conflict. One of the positives of the Democratic Party I find is it's diversity, both in people and ideas. I relish this diversity in the crowded field of candidates and hope this diversity bleeds thru to color the mantel given to our final candidate.
11
@Yuri Asian I look forward to your posts because you usually have a view that’s fresh or a nice macro swath and this comment does not disappoint. After the wildly stupid media coverage of the Barr/Mueller letter, I knew we were cooked. Not only was Mueller not going to save us, but worse yet, the media was only too happy to light the gas. The fourth estate is covering politics like a WWE wrestling match. Smack talk is the point, not the truth.
10
@Yuri Asian
I think the creation myth goes something like this : Progressive, liberal democracy has firmly taken hold of the body politic and is entrenched in our government and for the protection of all that is christian, white, and against all that is collectivist, any means are not only fair but necessary.
The original zombie was an non white, non christian liberal.
I believe the whole enterprise went off the rails when a permanent minority position realized it's only hope for survival was to align with corporate interests against the collectivists. They all learned to love the money, changed the rules to favor said money whenever they had the chance, and we now find ourselves in a downward spiral.
It really is about the Benjamins!
8
One of Mr. Krugman's best. Mr. Krugman, please do a parallel article about how Republicans attack Democrats for their own weaknesses. Who can forget the attacks on Kerry's war record while George W. only technically served in a near-by state's National Guard.
4
Zombie politics on both sides of the aisle. Democrats and progressives have been denying that there's a major illegal immigration problem for years, if not decades. It has been a taboo subject. Same with the worrisome declines in birth-rate and marriage rates and the opioid crisis. And rational discussions of affirmative action and diversity problems (all those flimsy and increasingly inaccurate and simplistic racial and ethnic classifications?) are impossible.
Paul Krugman has been shouting that the emperor has no clothing for years now, and the rest of the media keeps talking about the emporer's fine clothing. For many of us not in the media it is extremely frustrating because it is so obvious that Dr. Krugman is correct. The republicans lie.
1
In this op-ed, Dr. Krugman calls to mind a statement attributed to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
The leader of the Republican Party that occupies the Oval Office has been doing that most of his life, and the Republicans in Congress, Trump's apparatchiks, have embraced this attitude that is imperiling the nation. The party of "Honest Abe" Lincoln is long gone, unfortunately.
4
Agreed, the Russians helped Trump defeat Hillary, global warming is real and is caused by humans, and income inequality is bad and getting worse. So what? Middle America couldn’t care less about these issues and anyone campaigning on them, per Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, will lose. The only candidate with working class credibility is Biden and he is the only one who seems to understand that a strategy based on debating policy is hopeless. Whether we’ll get the old Wall Street crowd along with him would be something to consider if the alternative wasn’t Donald Trump.
1
@kbaa
Sanders had the independents of middle America in his pocket before Clinton won the nomination.
This is an excellent article Dr. Krugman. Thank you for clarifying why I find it so frustrating to argue with people "on the other side". I am old enough and have been wrong often enough to have changed my mind on important matters several times over my lifetime. Why is this called "flip-flopping" instead of "thinking"?
If both sides of a debate are seeking the common good they will likely find some common ground. But if the true agenda of one side lies elsewhere, as is the Republican zombie norm nowadays, such debates are a waste of time and energy. Better to simply expose them for what they are and work like heck to defeat them politically.
5
At this point, the GOP and Trump have lied so much that it is impossible to believe them.
Example: This week my red state congressman, Tom Rice-SC, said he does not support oil drilling off the SC coast. Good, but surprising. Many of his constituents work in tourism industries; that's the only reason Rice finally came out against drilling. He generally firmly backs Trump, no matter what.
It is typically a waste of time to contact him about an issue. His stance is always the opposite of mine and that of my friends on every issue from guns to food stamps.
It should not be surprising that my congressman has taken a reasonable position on an issue, but it is.
3
Dear Paul, your article on American politics is fascinating. However, I was hoping that you would comment on the nature of the latest 3.2 % growth in the U.S. economy and the relationship or lack thereof between this growth and the policies of the Trump administration.
@Ahmet Goksun
The growth in the economy as a whole has not touched most working class Americans.
Jobs are lower-paying and people are working more hours.
1
This is a very insightful article that is examining a peculiar feature of current American discourse. I hope that Mr. Krugman is aware that these same ideas are being explored and documented in a series of video essays under the title of "The Alt-Right Playbook" by Ian Danskin's Innuendo Studios. I would highly recommend this series to anyone who is interested in exploring how these intellectual zombies are deployed, and what ends they are trying to serve.
3
The gop is really good at only one thing... getting the rural white electorate to vote against their own best interest (gutting healthcare, social services, tariff wars, tax cuts for the wealthy/corporations, etc. etc.).
It is only obvious if you pay attention. The republican party is the only refuge for racists, the rich and the gullible uneducated.
6
Thanks, Paul. Appreciate your sanity during an insane time in American history.
4
Paul's analysis explains why all Republican roads inevitably lead to someone like Donald Trump. The American middle-class home is burning, so GOP fire battalions offer to put it out. It doesn't matter if the battalion commander is a Bush, or a Dole, or any other Republican, because they all look like firefighters, yet, unbeknownst to the homeowner, the fire engines are all filled with trickle-down gasoline. In time, the homeowner is so enraged a the inferno that ensues, that he turns to a fire battalion headed by a commander who strikes a very different pose, but whose engines are still filled with gasoline.
3
An excellent article. Take the next step and look at what's behind zombie style arguments. Money is behind all the examples Krugman gave us: Trump who enriches the rich at the expense of the rest, rising economic inequality, and climate change denial financed by fossil fuel money.
"Socialism" is the new GOP Enemy Label for Democratic policies that help ordinary Americans. Enjoy the associated zombie arguments. Sanders and the Progressives are Socialists, and Socialism is a Marxist invention associated with Communism. OK, Sanders isn't a card-carrying Commie but he's pro Medicare for All to destroy private Health Care Providers - you'll lose your health care. OK, Medicare works for old people but letting all the rest in will bankrupt it and letting it bargain drug prices will reduce PHRMA profit so no more medical research.
The companion to great economic inequality is corruption. The GOP Long Game of putting "Movement Conservatives" on the Supreme Court got us Citizens United and associated Supreme Court decisions that flooded our elections with dark money. Politicians court Donors now, instead of voters.
6
The dissonance caused by reporting outrageous claims, arguments and lies made by newsworthy personages as if it were news is unavoidable. Writing under the assumption that other are acting in good faith, one positions oneself as acting in good faith. I suppose an alternative to refuting ridiculous arguments would be to trace their derivation -- i.e. report on who uttered the lie first, as Michelle Goldberg does in today's piece on the incitement of infanticide.
3
The GOP is the party of nuclear opportunism. They don’t care about the truth, they do whatever it takes to advance their causes, no matter how much lying it involves. I keep waiting for some of them to try to slide in on the right side of history in regards to Trump, but it becomes more and more apparent every day that they don’t care. They don’t care about the truth. They have no integrity. They only care about winning at any cost. This war on truth is disgusting and disheartening.
2
"we can’t do anything about it without destroying the economy"--the argument of last resort, like all the others based on dogma, not empirical fact. Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman, for example, warns that raising taxes on the rich would hurt the economy. I defy him to name a time when that happened. Oh, BTW, he took home $786 million in 2017. Greedy, greedy, greedy.
4
This piece panders to all my prejudices. The level of analysis is, however, feckless for understanding how beliefs are formed and how they persist. I find the psychologists more useful if we really want to understand the underlying human behavior and devise less feckless strategies for making a better world.
The notion that doing a better job in discovering and articulating more truthful beliefs will sway the masses and make a better world, is in danger of becoming, in itself, a zombie belief.
Anyone who is truly interested in understanding and improving our circumstance should read:
Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization: The Effects of Prior Theories on Subsequently Considered Evidence
October 1979Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37(11):2098-2109
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.37.11.2098
Charles G. Lord Lee Ross Mark Lepper
and the forty years of research that confirms and extends these findings.
Incessantly shaming the shameless who profit from the psychological failures of the masses, is not a productive activity.
@PDL
In political marketing powerful expression of a viewpoint signals to the undecided the depth of conviction and strength of belief on one side or the other. Undecideds in political campaigns frequently choose the side they think is going to win because they don't want to feel like losers.
Too often the side that yells the loudest and projects confidence -- in other words, acts like winners -- is all undecided voters need to identify with that side.
The most convincing evidence of this is after every election, surveys show more people who say they voted for the winning candidate than there were votes cast.
In other words, democratic voting decisions often turn on which side looks or acts like it's going to win, conveyed by messages and body language perceived as strength.
In an alienated and competitive mass society informed voting is rare; what's more common is being on the winning side.
For Trump, his bravado and posturing have lost credibility so he starts out cast as the loser, which will cost him all of his soft support and diminish the energy of his core supporters who find themselves exactly where they didn't want to be. On the loser's side.
2
Good points, Dr Krugman, but who is doing something about this journalistic conundrum? You said "I understand the pressures that often lead to false equivalence. Calling out dishonesty and bad faith can seem like partisan bias when, to put it bluntly, one side of the political spectrum lies all the time, while the other side doesn’t."
Most reputable journalism (i.e., not Fox News etc) strives for some sort of objectivity. The definition of objectivity is muddled but we know it when we see it. It's also important to remember this wasn't always the case and yet the USA survived and prospered.
But what are journalists to do? It's hard to imagine a NY Times headline "Trump Obviously Lies, Striving to Mislead Voters". Yet those are the facts (pick your particular occasion from the multitude). Do we forget objectivity and return to 19th-century journalism? The Times and other publications have been pulling fewer punches, but the word-smithing still does not fit the crime being reported. Can journalists drop the other-side-says paragraphs when they are identifiably bogus? I would be curious to hear what the gurus at Columbia and other journalism schools have to say.
1
Prof. Krugman's observations about Republican sophistry are spot on, but even more trenchant is the point he makes about the media basically covering the GOP's flim-flam by applying hallowed standards of objective journalism to arguments that any half-bright reporter knows are con jobs and deceptions: The Democrats make one argument, the Republicans make the counter argument, and the resultant reporting leaves it to readers to decide where the truth might lie.
Except many of us, including some pretty smart reporters, know precisely what's a lie and who's telling it.
After decades of such well-intentioned (if unhelpful) reporting, perhaps it's time for journalists to develop new ways of covering politicians who insist on praising their King's wardrobe, when the rest of us, including the reporters, can see he's walking around in his birthday suit.
5
The Dalai Lama was once asked:
"If someone could show beyond a doubt that your beliefs were wrong, what would you do?
He replied:
"I would change my beliefs."
Such a rare man! Most people will NEVER change their beliefs, no matter how false they are shown to be. Holding onto beliefs is a way of resisting losing individuality to the group. Nietzsche talked about how the individual resists being overwhelmed by the tribe. The Israelis historian Noah Harrari also explained that our social orders are built on fiction, not truth. Nations are legal fictions, as are currencies and religions. Where I live, some people take great pride in being "Texans," a legal fiction that is less than two centuries old in land that has been inhabited for millennia. Now, we're about to wall ourself from a life-sustaining river to protect our "Texan identity." What fools we mortals be!
98
@Big Text
I remember reading an article in the economist recently that spoke to this point. People not only look for, but are also willing to forego money, in an effort to be be exposed to information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs.
Couple this with the potential to get lost in the echo chambers that our respective sides have carved out in cyberspace. There is no easy answer to our current predicament, that is the only thing I am sure about!
5
@Big Text
Every Chistian believes that the tax collector Saul was on his way to Damascus when....Shazaam!
I may not be a Christian, but I still have hope that Trump's true believers will have an epiphany.
Consider Judge Neopolitano!
3
@Big Text
I suspect many more people change their beliefs. CA had one ballot proposition that essentially outlawed gay marriage. A few years later, this became a minority position, and is now believed to be a postion held only by screaming, mindless bigots. Yes the voting population changed some--but not nearly enough to explain the change in opinion.
Our Constitution has a good demonstration of changing opinions: One ammendment to establish prohibition, and a second a couple of decades later to repeal it.
A biracial man was elected as president.
Unfortunately, it is the lies about facts that slow down the changing opinions. Climate change is a good example. The war on science to preserve the asset value of oil, coal, and gas in the ground has been quite successful--and a planetary disaster.
Still, there is good evidence that people can change their minds.
4
This article says that millionaires are fleeing some countries and heading to others because of "tensions" and "taxes".
The areas they are fleeing most are, in order, China, India, Russia, Turkey, France. They are fleeing to, in order of preference, Australia, USA, Canada, Switzerland, UAE.
It looked odd so I searched "taxation in Russia" and was given the following answer:
Russia - Taxation. Personal income tax in Russia is currently payable at a flat rate of 13% for residents, defined as anyone living in Russia for at least 183 days in any calendar tax year, and 30% for non-residents. All employees and self-employed people are liable for tax.
Like Bush said of Wall Street as it headed for collapse "our media is drunk".
@Excellency
Here is the link to the article I omitted:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/millionaires-flee-their-homelands-as-tensions-rise-and-taxes-bite/ar-AAAJcXq?ocid=spartanntp
Give it a rest. At least Noah Chomsky was smart enough to know that no, there was not collusion with Putin by the campaign or Trump. After scrolling through thousands of documents and emails we learn one person had a conversation about polling data with approximately zero special information with one Russian person who may or may not have been an operative. And this is on the east coast where a conversation with a "Russian" is about as rare and sinister as a Californian person having a conversation about politics with somebody from China or Japan.
That two years of distraction may have handed Trump the next election. Those are Chomsky's words not mine.
1
How old IS Noam now?
Because the “one man,” you’re trying to pass off was Paul Manafort, at the time Trump’s campaign manager, and he handed private polling data on our elections to a Russian zillionaire in close association with a KGB colonel who happens to be the Russian president.
Nor was this the only such incidence.
1
It would help matters to legislate the ratio of opinion to news. Dead ideas amble on in part because they cheaply fill the 24 hour news cycle. A better alternative is make them quite costly by, for instance, taxing opinion airtime at a far higher rate than news content. Also, let’s reintroduce the Fairness Act, requiring equal time given to the other side. If a new Fairness Doctrine spelled doom for shady propaganda operations foxily posing as news stations, that would be a good first step toward improved levels of cognitive hygiene among the broader public.
1
Who are these anonymous apartment and yacht buyers? Are they perhaps "...some bad hombres..."?
Who has that much money to spend on trinkets they rarely even use? Maybe the biggest immigration problem we have is people taking up prime space and resources that don't pay taxes or contribute in any way to the infrastructure and community they use.
The fantastical, colossal scandal is in the owners' meager use of these trumpian monuments to excessive wealth. Wasted capital.
We clearly need to lean into a bit more of a capital wiser, more fundamental socially democratic, environmentally conservative, balanced society.
Infants as young as 12 months expect resources to be divided equally between two characters in a scene. What we have now is an unbalanced political and hierarchical society that seeks zero-sum outcome schemes.
Yes, a brilliant engineer should make more money than a mediocre engineer, (add a zero). But...that CEO making an average of 271 times an essential, productive mid-level worker?
1
Men should not be allowed to hold public office for the next 200 years.
Women only. 200 years.
3
My news feed - the default setting on my popular tablet/laptop - has a cartoon section and I have to click on the cover cartoon to get to the section. The cover cartoon stays the same and will be there every time. It shows a man taking a selfie with Bernie Sanders while asking "I love your promises of all that free stuff, Bernie, but how are you going to pay for it?"
Has anybody ever asked Trump how he is going to pay for anything he does?
Here is a typical story from LA Times. It says it hasn't been determined if the infrastructure plan will be paid for by taxes or in other ways. Notice how the subject turns to impeachment
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-pelosi-schumer-infrastructure-meeting-20190430-story.html
It's useful to read George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" these days. Political language and evasion is all about making indefensible and brutal arguments palatable. Climate change is killing and will kill people. Inequality insures the "some people are more equal than others" and that fortunate people live on the backs and basically slave labor of others. Hillary Clinton must be denied the presidency even if it means lying and cheating and traitorous behavior to do so. But we can't defend those brutal arguments, so we use denials and evasions whose sole purpose is to conceal those underlying arguments.
1
True on all accounts, but lets not forget the media's hand in this. The media constantly feels the "need" to show a "balanced" viewpoint, even when that viewpoint is idiotic and not based on any reality except the opinion of somebody who is profiting from it. And the NY Times is very complicit in this distortion.
Republicans do the same on heath care by saying "let the free market decide" as solution. Um, we handed our entire health care system over to private interests decades ago and allowed them design, manage and administer it. And they gave us the most asinine, complicated and expensive system in the world, by far. And "big government" had to step in for senior citizens (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid) because the "free market" wasn't giving them insurance they can afford.
The Republican talking point that "cutting taxes brings in more revenue" is another one. That can be debunked very simply by using logic: cut taxes by 99%. Heck, cut all taxes - state, property, sales and all the taxes and fees on hotel rooms, rental cars, airfares and phone and cable TV bills - also by 99% and bring in even more money!
Republicans have gotten away with all this for years because Democrats never call them out.
2
Thanks to Fox News, Breitbart, Infowars, Limbaugh and the sordid like, we have at least 40% of the citizenry incapable of factual discrimination. The Zombie Infection is near complete, as with the Electoral College holding sway, only 3-4 states are ever in play for the presidential election. The Senate, by nature, is undemocratic in the election process. Consider that Wyoming with a population of 500,000 has 2 senators, while California with 32,000,000 has 2 senators. This is not representational democracy but rule by minority.
1
"If you’ve been trying to follow the Republican response to revelations about what happened in 2016, you may be a bit confused."
The Mueller report said there was no collusion, Paul. Is that simple enough to understand?
"On issue after issue, what you see are multiple levels of denial combined with a refusal ever to give up an argument no matter how completely it has been discredited."
How much did you cover Hillary Clinton's series of excuses about her private email server?
https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/08/hillary-clinton-email-scandal/
It's a safe bet you're not going to cover Joe Biden and his family the way the media has covered Trump and his family.
"By the early 1990s it was already obvious that growth in the United States economy was becoming ever more skewed, with huge gains for a small minority at the top but lagging incomes for the middle class and the poor."
Well, Paul, what is your solution? As much as you complain about "inequality", you have neither quantified it nor suggested ways to make things more "equal".
"You see the same thing on climate change. Global warming is a myth..."
OK, Paul, why haven't you weighed in on AOC's "New Green Deal"? Do you agree with her that we only have 12 years left?
"They’re a war in which one side’s forces consist mainly of intellectual zombies."
You should be honest enough to admit that both sides do this, Paul. The left doesn't have a monopoly on intelligent people.
1
@hm1342
You don't seem to read Krugman a lot.
From the very beginning he has written about AND supported the Green New Deal,for instance.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/opinion/green-new-deal-democrats.html
And his concrete proposals to reduce inequality are countless.
Just start reading his main books and you'll see that inequality is at the very CENTER of his work.
Conclusion: time to learn how to do some fact-checking. And once you'll do, you'll see that no, systematic lying is something "both sides" do, only the GOP today does. In the meanwhile, you're confounding honesty and agreeing with your own subjective beliefs ... which is precisely the point Krugman is making here.
3
@hm1342
Mueller's report said specifically that it did not exonerate Trump.
Clinton was investigated and reprimanded, but was exonerated from doing anything illegal.
Joe Biden will get the coverage he deserves. He's already been on the NY Times front page a couple of times.
Krugman has offered many ideas to address the nation's financial imbalance. Your not having read them is not an excuse.
You obviously missed this: "I believe progressives should enthusiastically embrace the G.N.D." — Paul Krugman
The policies, speeches, and actions of the GOP are proof enough of their existence among the Undead. Of course there are intelligent people in the GOP. But overall, they appeal to the easily duped, the under-educated.
1
@Ana Luisa: "You don't seem to read Krugman a lot."
Krugman didn't go down AOC's exhaustive list, did he?
"AOC Launches Green New Deal | Full Speech"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icV8WKlwjSU
Said Paul, "So what does the Green New Deal mean? It’s not entirely clear, which is what makes it a good slogan: It could mean a number of good things. But the main thrust, as I understand it, is that we should make a big move to tackle climate change..."
Paul either heard the speech and didn't agree with most of her taking points or just picked a few things he could expand on.
"Conclusion: time to learn how to do some fact-checking. And once you'll do, you'll see that no, systematic lying is something "both sides" do, only the GOP today does."
Conclusion: you should read articles from the other side of the ideological spectrum before you pass judgement. You clearly failed to do that with Obama and passage of the ACA. What else have you missed?
Once the Citizens United ruling was handed down the billionaires stepped up and bought themselves a party called the GOP. Republicans have become toadying, knee bending sycophantic yes men and now the bill is due. The next election should be as much about crushing the Republican party as ousting our Traitor in Chief. We need to stand up for our country and take it back from the oligarchs.
1
Republicans have truly become the new Know Nothing Party.
It is time for them to go the way of the Whigs, time for the Republican Party to die ... for the only true Republicans left - the ones who have left the party - to form a new one, an honorable one. A Party honestly concerned with protecting this Great Nation, not trying to milk it for all it's worth.
Time to step up.
ceterum censeo GOP esse delendam, DiogenesPdx the Elder
*Audible Groans*
Need Brains.... Brains... Brains...
- I suppose that is one way to think about the intellectual fraudulence of present day Republican Party. Personally I just find it bitterly ironic that a party obsessed with the idea of keeping government at bay has taken upon itself a state propaganda style apparatus that would of even made an East Germany general wince.
Describing politics in the United States needs a new paradigm. Instead of bemoaning partisanship or tribalism, the Republican Party should be recognized for what it really is: a cult. Tribalism and partisanship connote loyalty to a group or an ideology that is overly zealous and even unreasonable but still open to some rationality. A cult is a group that is so loyal to a leader that it is bereft of reason and oblivious to any concerns about the consequences or its actions. It’s members cannot be reached with appeals to reason or even emotion other than what is demanded by its leader. Democrats make mistakes. Some even say things that are untrue, but for the most part they are guided by reason, circumscribed by rationality, and open to self-correction-even apology. Forget any notion of equivalency. We live in a world that has divided itself into those who act in good faith, no matter how flawed, and a body of cultists who are completely unreachable. Hillary was pilloried for calling them deplorable, but she was right. Conventional discourse proscribes comparisons of Trump to Hitler, but until he starts rounding up the 11 million illegal immigrants and starts putting them in camps, we are supposed to ignore that Trump in 2019 is almost indistinguishable from Hitler in January of 1933. We are supposed to laud appeals to bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle ignoring that Republicans are no more capable of redemption today than were “good Germans” in the 1930’s.
3
The GOP has been intellectually dead for nearly 40 years. It still touts supply-side economics and tax cuts that will bring in more revenues by supercharging economic growth, policies that didn't work when first tried by Reagan.
What ever intellectual capacity the GOP has left has been directed to developing and spewing falsehoods - remember "death panels", "death taxes", "deficits (under Obama) will make us the next Greece", "deficits (under Trump) don't matter" as just a few examples.
The GOP has not been acting in good faith since 1994 and the "Contract with America" when the GOP decided that all that mattered was having power. At that point, its slide to its current formulation began to accelerate.
3
We seem to be a society that doesn't care about being told the truth. We just want to be told something that makes us feel good, or maybe feel angry towards somebody who is powerless. This is why we're here. I know it's a cliche, but Trump is the symptom of a much larger problem, which is that powers that be spend a whole lot of money to deceive the average person. Government regulation is the only way to contain this, ergo republican behaviors Paul is describing.
If the Press adopted the following approach for Presidential Candidacy
1. For each policy proposal state only at the end of the proposal who made it, mentioning substance before author.
2 Produce charts of agreement vs. disagreement among candidates
3. Forced candidates to explain how likely it was and how they would get ideas passed.
3. At the end of a President's term noted those proposals in party platform which were enacted.
It is likely that the U.S. as governed would be a better place. Professor Krugman might comment on the U.S. cult of the President especially media which puts the old Soviet Union to shame. Presidents are not omniscient leaders and they are not all powerful. It's what governments actually accomplish not the personality of the Leader which is important.
How far we've come, Professor.
And how little we have moved.
I can't imagine what it has been like to have been you for the past 3 years. The horror of having to be Paul Krugman with an abomination underway in full public view, with accompanying applause and snacks.
But again though, I blame the Democrats squarely for not standing up and responding with simple answers in the face of extra-ordinary spinning from Fox (and its friends).
I can't think of a better (or easier) opponent than the Republican Party. As you said in 2010, why were the Democrats so shy about what they had achieved ? They have learned a bit since then. The sages of Democratic Party values should have learned by now the exact rhetoric that the Republicans would use, and use effective counters to them.
I refuse to believe that such a department does not exist in the Democratic Party. A "light touch" education of freshmen Congresswomen and -men would be educated in Republican ways and how to counter the traps in laymen terms.
Every football club has one. Only when we fail to have such a department inside such venerable organizations do we fail.
I have missed you Professor. But I don't think I have missed much. It's among the oldest tales in politics, the manufacturing of consent. It's an immoral job designed to perpetuate the dominance of the gluttonous and the compliance of the gullible.
It's as old as time.
This is an ordinary forensic tactic. Honey, look, the baby fell out of her crib but it was just fine, I caught her. Okay, dear, good. Honey, now that we've had dinner, actually her head came pretty close to the floor but I caught her. Hmm. As long as she's all right. Honey, before you turn out the light, I gotta tell you the baby's head really did hit the floor and I had to take her to the hospital and they did a compolete workup with a CT scan of her head and she's just fine. NO NO PL:EASE DON'T HIT ME WITH THAT
There remains no evidence that Russia intervened in the 2016 election. None, no, the Mueller report doesn’t prove such. It makes evidence free claims.
Now true, Republicans ignored rising income inequality for 30 years. more, and sought to make it worse by extending tax breaks to the rich and deregulating banks. But the Democrats, Krugman included, largely went a long with that garbage.
Today in April 2019, we read bogus claims in the NY Times about NYC having to have knowledge workers, as if disassembling a crane doesn’t take knowledge (see the recent crane collapse in Seattle), or as if driving a subway train doesn’t require knowledge.
When the NY Times goes on about “a knowledge economy” it is mostly referencing yes men and women willing to go along with the latest speculative trend. Actual knowledge workers, if they’d been listened to, would have prevented the fiasco of the Boeing 737 Max. Instead Boeing rushed the project, didn’t listen to those who warned against not installing sensor conflict warning systems--spending profits on huge stock by backs to pad the portfolios of senior executives.
Krugman by pushing Russia-gate, again, is just helping to distract from income inequality and republican pushed tax cuts for the rich.
@Yaj
Both the FBI and GOP congressional committees, and now the 400-pages Mueller report have objectively proven that Russia intervened in the 2016 elections.
More then 10 Russians have now been jailed because of it.
Time to update your info ... ;-)
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@Ana Luisa:
“Both the FBI and GOP congressional committees, and now the 400-pages Mueller report have objectively proven that Russia intervened in the 2016 elections.”
This is simply untrue. Like many Iraq war pushers you’ve confused unsupported assertion for evidence. The Mueller report in redacted form contains no evidence to support the claims of Russian election interference.
The report assumes such interference to have existed, it doesn’t prove that to be the case.
“More then 10 Russians have now been jailed because of it.”
Hasn’t happened. You mean indicted, which in itself is not evidence.
You’ve made some huge errors in your response .To a large degree the NY Times makes these same errors daily.
@Yaj
On the contrary, the report confirms that Russia did intervene in the 2016 elections.
It just downplays what influence the Russians may have had over it, and says that Trump did not collude with them.
The Times is defining a certain sector of the working class as "knowledge workers," as distinct from blue-collar. It means those whose primary work does not involve physical labor.
Samantha Bee presented a great roast of the news media last Thursday. It’s perverse when the news media put the truth and lies on equal footing.
I think the adjective “intellectual” before the word zombie to describe the ir-rationale mindset of the GOP is being too nice.
1
What well-intentioned journalists have forgotten is the difference between what Plato called "philo-sophia" and "doxa-philia".
A "philosopher" is someone who loves ("philein") wisdom ("sophia"), and who constantly seeks to come closer to it, without ever imagining that what he beliefs to be true today must be the ultimate truth. So it's someone who constantly tries to question his own beliefs, and only accepts as true what has been objectively proven to be true.
A "doxaphilist" is someone who loves ("philein") opinions ("doxa"), which Plato defines as ideas that you personally experience as being absolutely true, and as a consequence start to identify with, as being "your" trut, without ever being interested in scientific/proven truths.
Politics is the realm of the uncertain and possible.
Political philosophies start from proven truths, and then go on to develop hypotheses about a future that has not and cannot be proven to be true yet. As a consequence, many different political philosophies will always co-exist and be equally valid.
Elections allow citizens to choose their own future, based on the available political philosophies.
Journalists, however, tend to completely ignore philosophy and proven facts, and instead only focus on doxa, opinions. So they write about polls rather than about policy proposals or proven record. And yes, they transform ANY statement made by a politician into a mere "opinion", regardless of the truth.
THAT's what makes a corrupt GOP win.
2
Professor Krugman, your understanding of the Republican Party's mendacity and bad faith, along with your trenchant description of them, are spot on, as usual.
The media and the American people's inability to see through Emperor's new clothes on these issues, and really all issues, are profoundly disturbing and upsetting. The Republican Party is gaslighting America, and being rewarded for it in election after election.
It is beginning to drive me mad. I can only imagine how hard it is for you.
1
I read both James Comey and Andrew McCabe’s books--the FBI directors fired in a moment of pique.
Both men were lawyers and prosecutors. They were both Republicans but were gobsmacked by Trump’s absolute incompetence.
Neither one voted for Obama in 2012 but both were amazed that we had actually elected such an intelligent, curious, FOCUSED man.
Here were two men who spent their lives defending the US constitution and every American life.
They were CRUSHED by Trump for one reason only...that was to show that they were total losers while HE was elected POTUS and was “obviously” a WINNER.
These books showed how our country is going in the wrong direction. Both said that Trump is an authoritarian who will end democracy and rule of law.
Both said that they NEVER heard Trump speak about loving our country or wanting to make it better. It was always about what is good for Trump.
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Why bad idea just won't stay dead?
Because they benefit the person/people promoting them.
Don't make something simple complicated.
2
The problem isn't that Republican politicians (and pundits) lie about everything.
The problem is that Republican voters believe the lies.
Democrats need to accept that Republican politicians will never stop their lies and Republican voters will never stop believing those lies.
The aim should be not to bring Republicans down to reality, but to defeat them at the polls, over and over and over and over, and then never listen to a word they say.
1
False equivalency is one method of trying to bamboozle people, but even more insidious is treating the ones enemies as evil-minded and treasonous, and denying them any legitimacy. In "How Democracies Die" the authors show what this leads to.
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@Cassandra
Treating the evil-minded as evil and the treasonous as treasonous is not insidious at all.
See Albert O. Hirschman's book "The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy." Coming up with a bogus argument to stymie debate is always easier than engaging in good-faith dialogue. Especially if you know that your side has a weak case.
This zombie affliction and its pernicious impacts go light years beyond just being unfair to readers.This grave delinquency skews our politics beyond any semblance of rational and functional action. The effect fundamentally threatens the viability of the nation and the democratic process that is routinely being thwarted and wantonly perverted.
Instead of any moving to genuine solutions and or progressive innovations the outcomes are an incessant and muddled diatribe in which the party in power imposes its draconian agenda or in which nothing of value or genuine purpose escapes the black hole of ultra partisan confrontation.
What is most disturbing and mind boggling is the degree to which this horrendous condition is incrementally treated as just a series of unfortunate missteps in what is purported to remain a purposeful arrangement for political action and governance — when it clearly is nothing of the sort.
Of course, if the news calls out the Republicans for their bad faith then they are accused of being biased. That is the whole genius of the "liberal media" attacks. I know too many people who have fallen for this, or rather, at least find comfort in it when hold up in their pits of ignorance or soaking in their sewers of misrepresentation, steeling themselves with bothsideism and whataboutism. The Republicans have been a dirty party for a long time; the main problem the old establishment GOP has with this now is that the new guys, Trump and Miller et al., don't bother to dissemble.
1
These Republican justifications are extraordinarily manipulative.
They suggest to gullible believers that their leaders are flexible, willing to change their opinions when presented with facts when, indeed, the bottom line remains the same.
The art of rhetoric must have a technical name for this type of spurious argument.
Perfect analogy as well for the, so-called, "War on Drugs." When will the, "Strict Constructionists, Originalists" or, "Textualists," or, verily, all who profess allegiance to our Constitution as written, actually honor the 10th Amendment and stop the Controlled Substances Act's federal overreach into personal liberty?
@julioinglasses: I would love to see both parties honor the 9th and 10th Amendments. But that would require politicians from both parties understanding the Constitution and shrinking the power and scope of the federal government. It's probably not going to happen in my lifetime.
What confounds me most is the utter shamelessness of the GOP Zombie brigade. They repeat their lies and obfuscations without guilt and with evident impunity. Their ends justify any and all foul means.
Quoting Macbeth, they are "...in blood stepped in so far that, should [they] wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er." In other words, why turn back now?
1
PK you are absolutely right and I've also watched it for years - the goal post moving, the ham-handedness, the righteous indignation, and the complete lack of intellectual honesty on the right. The only value they've ever had was to value what was handy right now, in any particular scenario and there's more consistency to an advertising air noodle than the gop.
2
Yes, the media all too often treat proven lies as if their merely subjective but valid opinions.
Now add to that the fact that the media tend to imagine that political journalism means focusing on politicians' approval ratings and how this or that event/quote might affect their approval rating or chances to win, rather than focusing on their policy proposals, available alternatives, and who does what in DC concretely (= taking into account that getting legislation signed into law in a democratic way necessarily means in a step by step way, rather than achieving your campaign agenda on that issue 100% overnight), and it becomes perfectly understandable why only 50% of those eligible to vote are interested in voting, whereas the other half simply stays at home, having become too cynical too engage.
Out of an intention to deliver "critical journalism", the media often spends 90% of its reporting on potential scandals that COULD destroy a politician's career IF they were true, all while ignoring their real record and policies.
Hillary's emails are a good example here, of course. But it already started again with the "news" about Biden. All media attention focuses on ONE issue (women's rights), and then on ONE event that happened 3 decades ago, and ONE person's opinion (Hill's) about that event, for days in a row, rather than giving an objective overview of Biden's (impressive) record on this issue.
That systematically distorts readers' perception of reality ...
3
@Ana Luisa: "That systematically distorts readers' perception of reality ..."
So true. Sadly, most of the media in this country are simply advocates for one political ideology or another. They are agenda-driven. Reporters don't act like reporters any more; rather, they try to shape the opinion of others.
@Ana Luisa
That ONE event decades ago gave us a Supreme Court justice who is not just misogynist, but opposes the civil rights of women, minorities, and gays, is a mouthpiece for the corporations, and has been involved in financial scandals in cahoots with his wife.
Biden's opportunistic support for Thomas influenced the life of every one of us, and possibly the next generation's as well, and not for good.
Biden deserves all the opprobrium put on him, and more.
1
When no one knows what the truth is, government policy, in a democracy, is hamstrung by the diversity of opinion. If you're in the 1%, this government inaction benefits you, since the current government inaction is one in which you profited immensely. The relationship may become so obvious you will gladly pay someone to disseminate disinformation, as the Koch Brothers do. In such an information-dependent democracy, however, the opposite situation can also work to benefit the 1%. Along with climate inaction, consider the media unanimity needed to spend $3 trillion and 5,000 American lives, invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and no WMD, kill over half a million of her citizens, and take control of her oil reserves.
Those are the two outlying phenomena in this information-dependent democracy: climate inaction, and the Iraq War action. We need to study them to move forward with a better reality-based Union.
2
Great article.
However, sometimes you can't fix a problem, you just have to outgrow it.
Americans will only ever want two sides to a question. But the right learned many years ago that if you move the goalposts over to your side, then those two sides become your ideas versus a more radical version of your ideas.
What we're seeing now is a move of goalposts back to the real center. It will take a while but it will happen.
What do I mean by this? What's the real center? Think of it this way: Democrats need Republicans to keep them honest about how much their ideas will cost and what some of the unintended consequences might be. And Republicans need Democrats so that they don't have to step over sick, starving people when they go to church on Sunday.
1
Another issue is that the country is so divided currently that people on the Right-Wing are not even willing to listen/read the news because they assume it's all lies and just bashing Trump. The Trump-Supporters believe the entire mainstream media is a conspiracy and opposition to Trump along with the "Russia Thing" to be a complete hoax to destroy him. This goes along with Climate Change and Income Inequality. They believe Climate Change is just another conspiracy to take money from the working class (Carbon Tax) and solving Income Inequality just equates to Socialism for them. Sadly the way politics plays out is so performative at this point, I already know how the Right-Wing would react to certain issues. The 2020 Election will depend on a small percentage of the country in swing states once again from people who only vote on the candidates personality/character.
3
The zombie style in politics. Why is it practiced? Because it works.
To draw a simile from current sports news, why does James Harden flop? Because it works.
Is it irritating? Demeaning? Does it debase the underlying activity? Yes, yes, yes.
In either case (politics or basketball) the sentient fan has limited choices - either ignore it, or do something to change the underlying cause.
I think a prescription for eradicating the zombie style in politics would make an excellent column.
2
"But my sense is that the news media continue to have a hard time coping with the essential fraudulence of most big policy debates".
No Paul, the news media is Part. Of. The. Fraud.
2
Yup, they are. We need to get rid of FOX, Hannity, Rush, the “Washington Times,” those lunacies from Dinesh d’Souza, the....
1
@Van Owen
That's way overboard.
I doubt that you get all your news from some secret, unimpeachable source.
The media is uneven, but we need it to keep us informed. It's just a matter of figuring out which ones you can trust, and when.
1
The main advantage of a conman or woman is that most of us assume some degree of good faith. Bad actors use that to manipulate us. We can’t quite believe the person is flat out lying to get what they want.
That said, a distinction needs to be drawn between Republican leadership and followers. I think many followers DO believe these zombie arguments and are arguing in good faith. They might believe in some underlying concepts (e.g., too much regulation is a problem and personal responsibility is key) and don’t notice or engage with the zombie specifics. And Republicans have succeeded in making an attempt to be fact-based seem like a partisan enterprise.
How to prove things to the followers is the key challenge. As you imply, persuading the leadership is a fool’s errand.
3
They've already started doing this with anti-vax -- which until recently were a stain on both the left and right, but it seems they've found a home in the GOP thanks to Trump. "Okay, fine, vaccines don't causing autism, but it's wrong for the government to force vaccines on people..." etc.
2
I was browsing through a couple old books on my bookshelf, "Politics of Rich and Poor" (1990) and "American: What Went Wrong" (1992) and I was struck with how much the causes the decline of the American middle class had already happened in the 1980s. They were listed in the tables of contents of these two books -- the decline of unions, the exporting of jobs, the destruction of pensions, deregulation, shift of tax burden, stagnation of wages, income inequality, loss of family farms, etc. There is still a narrative in America that Reagan and Bush 43 were the good Republican Presidents and that Clinton signed NAFTA and started this decline. President Trump reinforces this narrative constantly. It's time we "ruin" the Reagan/Bush mythology once and for all.
6
I taught The Great U Turn in undergrad Sociology course on Inequality in 1991-92.
The G.O.P. employs the "say anything" tactic toward its primary reason-for-being: wealthy people and corporations must have their taxes reduced. The G.O.P's secondary goal: wealthy people and corporations must get wealthier. These two goals have been long been part of the G.O.P. even during TR's Progressive Era.
Yes, there have been "enlightened" Republicans who used their wealth to preserve the environment; who believe in personal freedom from excessive governmental involvement in an individual's life (e.g. abortion; search and seizure; thought; religion). Even some (e.g. Eisenhower) had the temerity to question the military-industrial complex and the use of military force. Some even, begrudgingly, accept labor unions' reasons-for-being.
But, alas, those gestures most often are offered to distract from unbridled greed. When municipal, state, or federal government asks wealthy people to pony up more for the common good, the G.O.P.'s first response is always "no more taxes" on us. Sometimes, the second response is, "no more taxes unless government is free from corruption and totally efficient," as if any organization, private or public, can become totally efficient and free from all corruption.
Thus, the end is the same, the G.O.P. will say and do anything to justify being fundamentally selfish.
3
When what one wants or what serves one's immediate interests are the only things that determine one's beliefs or actions, all connection with objective reality is lost. Indeed, justice and reality become meaningless concepts. This is true not only for individuals but also for organizations. When this happens, the brakes of reality and morality come off.
I think this describes the Trump administration and much of today's Republican Party. The same could be said of many who support and approve of their behavior. When "winning" becomes the only determinant of political policy no one wins. Indeed, history demonstrates that the consequences of such behavior can be - indeed often are - fatal.
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@Fr. Bill
Don’t many religions use a similar strategy of domination at all costs?
11
@Sam Song
As religions are large human institutions, they face the same risk and challenge as any other large organization (government, big corporation, ...): those leading it can become cynical and then throw away high moral standards, to only try to use the institution for personal profit.
Most religions are centuries old, so yes, most religions have already known moments where corruption completely took over, as is the case with the GOP today.
Let's not become cynical ourselves, however, and stick to objective truth. If we do, we cannot but acknowledge (whether we're religious or, as I am, atheists) that history has shown that all those institutions CAN and regularly ARE led by outstanding, highly moral human beings too.
And it's up to each generation to make sure that the next generation of leaders will be real Leaders, rather than corrupt and "small" individuals, who are only in it for themselves.
4
@Fr. Bill
This all sounds good. But you need to make the case that it applies to Trump, his supporters and/or the Republican party - and not those that are vehemently opposed to him.
5
Excellent analysis of the ever shifting sands of the ethical desert that currently houses this era's GOP. Astonishingly this constant adaptation is all in defense of stasis or if at all possible, regression.
Obviously there are exceptions usually in state governments, but I can't think of a single new idea generated by Republicans in DC since Reagan's conservative vision, which even some of the architects of those policies admit are no longer sound, particularly in extreme form.
As for the current crop of born again trumpists, I have also never seen politicians more eager to abandon their principles, ethics and critical thinking skills for temporary gain, but then I wasn't around for the McCarthy debacle.
3
Zombie arguements are a blatant scatter-gun strategy to gather votes. If one voter believes zombie argument A, the next voter believes zombie argument B, and a third accepts the capitulation-that’s-not-really-a-capitulation because the economy, well, that’s 3 votes gathered by exploiting confirmation bias.
3
It's depressingly frustrating to deal with dyed-in-the-wool Republicans. They have no principles to pin them down on. They have no interest in consistency of reasoning. Precedents to them are non-existent, unless it's something that currently favors them; if they take an action or make an argument that might be used against them in the future, they have no hesitation to set that precedent because they have no intention of following it later. They are, at their very core, in their very souls, nothing but corrupt and immoral people.
I know that it's not considered fair to generalize about broad swaths of people like this, but I would ask any Republicans to show why it's not true about today's GOP. I would say to them, "If the shoe fits, wear it."
5
@RH: "It's depressingly frustrating to deal with dyed-in-the-wool Republicans."
It's frustrating dealing with two power-hungry, win-at-all-cost, blame-the-other-side-constantly political parties and their media sycophants. I believe there are some elected officials who understand the Constitution but it appears the vast majority in both parties are only interested in re-election for their cushy job.
One may assume the positions taken by politicians are in good faith, based on facts and valid evidence. My 35 years investigating violations of labor law, however, has convinced me that the reason members of Congress are able to avoid loss of sleep over their staunch defense of the indefensible is that many, if not most of them, have been carefully schooled in sophism, a form of deceptive argument, such as when a lawyer defends a client at trial.
Legislators who deny climate change are defending "clients" who insist climate change is a hoax and, therefore, cannot permit themselves to acknowledge exculpatory evidence. And, much of the sophistry that gushes from Washington has been paid for by free-market, libertarians who seek to greatly diminish the ability of government to regulate business or to provide a "social safety net" such as that provided by almost every other developed country.
It seems we have lost our ability to discuss difficult issues, because we lack agreement about what is good, about what is just. Our economy seems to be one devoted to making the rich, richer by manufacturing, or at least bringing to market, products that are essentially toys, which are far more profitable than investing in our infrastructure, our environment and the health and well being of people.
I am in agreement with those who suggest we are in a new Gilded Age and that is not a good thing.
198
@JP Thank you for that well said and rational response to Krugman's column about inequality. And thank you for your part in supporting fair business practices for all. These inequities are on my mind everyday. Maybe by the time my grandchildren are voting our culture will be more equal and the gross amounts of money in politics will be eradicated. Until then, keep the faith and vote the repubs out.
4
@JP
One sure sign of a zombie is that when he loses the argument he says the other side paid for the result.
2
The zombie image is memorable and effective for this reason. It doesn’t do much in the way of communicating the thinking of such intellectual dishonesty, though.
Like global warming, intellectual dishonesty, or lying as we are now forced to say when interpreting the president’s rhetoric, is a topic that is almost too amorphous to get a hold of. It’s brazen shameless. It requires constant maintenance—doubling down and demanding that opponents fight on an uneven field.
The media misinterprets zombie logic because they are perpetually focused on the immediate, the tactical story that has two or more sides.
Zombies make more sense when viewed as foot soldiers in a long strategic campaign. It was the great PR man Edward Bernays who recognized the zombie idea as a form of symbolic currency in the mass media before we even had television:
“Politics needs to acquire the technique of big business to do away with inefficiency in campaigning. When this is achieved, it is possible that political supply and demand can be brought closer together.”
2
We can often accommodate opposing arguments in our minds without sensing a contradiction. Many of those who believe in climate change are in a state of denial about it as well. How else would you explain all the real estate development in Florida?
2
They build because buyers are ignorant & regulations r too lax.
Paul makes an excellent point. Calling out dishonesty and bad faith can seem like partisan bias when, to put it bluntly, one side of the political spectrum lies all the time, while the other side doesn’t.
I hope the American public will wake up and look at the facts about the Republican party and Trump. Democrats are far from perfect; one does not need to be perfect to point out dishonesty.
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@robert zitelli
This is NOT about being perfect. It's about whether or not you accept the fact that in a democracy, it's objective truth and proven facts that create the common ground and foundation upon which real, respectful debates can legitimately take place.
Democrats, without any exception, accept this. It means:
- only proposing science-based policies
- systematically integrating the non partisan CBO analysis of new bills into those bills before starting to vote on them
- not spreading lies about political opponents' record and proposed policies
- not insulting political opponents, so that even when you question their character, you rationally expose all the fact-based arguments and the set of moral values that lead you to reject a politician's character.
Doing so means fundamentally trusting the democratic process and the collective intelligence of "we the people", in the sense that IF we all accept to not lie about proven facts, then our debates are about subjective choices about our future that are equally valid. Those are the debates that help us think more and think better, collectively, and it's what guarantees that the best options will be signed into law.
By systematically refusing to do all this, the GOP shows that it fundamentally mistrusts the democratic process, at best ... or doesn't care about the "common good" and America's greatness at all, at worst (in other words, became utterly corrupt - as is clearly the case today).
13
@robert zitelli...How often does the other side of the political spectrum lie if it doesn't lie all of the time?
1
@Ana Luisa: : "It's about whether or not you accept the fact that in a democracy, it's objective truth and proven facts that create the common ground and foundation upon which real, respectful debates can legitimately take place. Democrats, without any exception, accept this."
You need to look at any press conference given by the leadership of either major political party. Each will take the same issue and put their own spin on it. Each party has their own motive for their talking points, and rarely does the truth have anything to do with it. Usually it involves acquiring or maintaining power.
3
What I see in the behavior of the republican elite, but not only there, is an infantilization. People don't act as mature adults but rather as you would expect of children. But this is not only limited to politics. Look at movies or tv hits (yes, you know what I am talking about) or the obsession of the rich with status, power and money. This is not the behavior of mature people.
140
@Andreas
The children that grow up to be conservatives behave as they will later in live. The same is true for progressives.
3
@Andreas I actually was writing an opinion post on reddit just this morning on the theme of the American cultural glorification of the rebel, now having unraveled into something self-serving to empower childish petulance. As anyone who has dealt with a young child in a grocery store, intellectual argument over nutritional value with such an individual is not going to go very far;
...Nowhere celebrates a rebel quite like the United States, and some of them were undeniably pretty cool; from John Wayne, Steve McQueen to Andy Warhol, Kurt Cobain all the way to present day Donald Trump. Its so ingrained in music, TV, movies, books, magazines and in our hearts that we don't even think about it -- and that is a big problem because there is a very fine line between fierce free-thinking independence and a manchild brat consumed by their own self-justifying impulses and demands...
6
Thanks for writing:
"I first encountered this style of argument a long time ago, over the issue of rising inequality. By the early 1990s it was already obvious that growth in the United States economy was becoming ever more skewed, with huge gains for a small minority at the top but lagging incomes for the middle class and the poor."
The reason truth is so easily ignored is that the Republicans attached their lies to identity, so that their followers feel that rejecting the lies is somehow rejecting themselves, or their beliefs and culture. And we all know which identity the Republicans cater to . . . a white majority not ready to give up it's false privilege that at this point is used against the vast voting majority of them.
4
So the other side are 'zombies in denial'? These words are like candy (or viscera) to a zombie in denial. Dr. Krugman's articles are getting emptier, louder and more repetitive.
Besides MINOR social media troll activity, Russians apparently data-mined damaging DNC and Podesta emails and later allowed them to get on the internet. Importantly, they did not manipulate the CONTENT of any of these - at all. These emails revealed corrupt practices and would have almost certainly gotten bleach-bitted. Had Trump's campaign collaborated with any of this he'd be on his way to impeachment or worse. But they did not and all the smoke or smoking guns over the past three years did not correspond to fires or criminal activity. There were a LOT of people in mainstream media who got it wrong, including Dr. Krugman.
Now that the timeline of these activities is becoming clear, it's also clear that Hillary's campaign owed these Russians (and/or Julian Assange) a huge debt of gratitude. They apparently acquired these emails months before they began to release them in late April, 2016. By late May, with the help of super delegates, Hillary had the nomination basically sewn up (and this was WIDELY presented as "news" by mainstream media). Had they started releasing them right away (or even release ALL of them in April) Bernie would have almost certainly prevailed (and he would probably be president now). So close was that contest in the spring of 2016. Just do this memory/thought experiment....
1
... that is, if you're not a 'zombie in denial'.
The Zombie Style is just perfect fit for this topic.
I was watching the last episode of "Games of Thrones" too scary, because it reflects our reality.
At the end the girl saves the world, as it should be.
Anyway today is a revolt day in Venezuela.
We're not to interferer!
Not only that we have lost all credibility under this administration, we also lost respect of the world in general.
Plus, we can't claim history of successful outcomes, while interfering in other's countries affairs.
We're not a Beacon anymore, so take the humble place where we belong.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/world/americas/venezuela-military-juan-guaido.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
1
Intellectual laziness. Like the professor who gives the same lectures year after year. It’s easier, like Cliff’s Notes or plagiarism, just regurgitate what you’ve been told by someone else, a lobbyist posing as an expert for instance.
You always come through with the truth of what our nation is up against. Thanks. I hope the zombies run out of things to say and actually read this piece!
2
Beware your chickens coming home to roost. Trumph's misbehaviors, misdeeds, and miss-truths were ignored when the party in power, like the Democrats with Bill Clinton, ignored the man's trashy behavior and embraced him (anyway) to get what they wanted. Who elected Donald Trumph? People who wouldn't vote for crooked, seedy, selfish Democrats - again.
Paul, the Times Washington Bureau should read your stuff. Not kidding.
2
A wise man said “you cannot wake a man who is pretending to be asleep.” If we continue to try, are we not then dreaming?
Effort to awaken these “dead” is wasted. It’s past time to focus instead, on what needs doing. Again old sayings serve us:
“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and ORGANIZE!”
5
Correct! The midterm style organization is building now to make sure we r rid of Zombie Trump asap
"the big debates in modern U.S. politics aren’t a conventional clash of rival ideas. They’re a war in which one side’s forces consist mainly of intellectual zombies."
A slight correction: it's neo nazi repbublican zombies, feeding off the corpse of republicanism.
2
Look in the mirror Paul!! Who else took "information" from Russian "sources" and made it into a dossier used by and paid for by the Clinton campaign?
This is a lie and you know it!
Mr Krugman is spot on. Bad faith is at the core of most arguments the gop has ever made. I remember from the 80's the right-wing saying "the economy is humming, cut taxes on the rich". Then later on it was "the economy is just right, cut taxes on the rich." And when things weren't going to well it was "the economy sucks, cut taxes on the rich". Bad faith is at the core of who they are.
7
There are lies and then there are lies. The most maddening is the lie your brother tells, looking your mother straight in the eye and swearing it was YOU who broke grandma's urn.
Your brother knows you know he broke. You say him break it. But in your indignation and rage at the injustice of it, you come across as guilty looking. Mom grounds you for three weeks. Three weeks to stew and plan your revenge.
Your brother meanwhile grows up to become an oil and gas lobbyist.
1
OK do the LEFT now!
The Mueller Report will prove...
Trump is a Russian Spy... False, shift..
Trump Colluded with Putin.... False, Shift....
Trump is a Russian Puppet... False... shift
Trump Knows Russian People
CLIMATE CHANGE
Scientists: 1950 Coal Bad. Nuclear Good! False Shift
Ecologists 1965. Save Trees, Use Plastic
Climatologists: by 2000 Florida - underwater False, shift
Al Gore says by 2012 NY will be underwater... False, Shift
De Blasio says Glass is Evil ban it in NYC
AOC says Ban Cars! by 2024 it will be too late for the World
Fun Game!
1
Only if you’re three.
Two plus two equals five. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Trump is Big Brother. Hillary is Emmanuel Goldstein, target for the two minute hate.
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.” Orwell had it right. Lies are red meat truth to the Neo-Nazis. Their collective hate is stirring up the past thought to be buried these seventy years.
Instead of discussing and acting upon the findings of Mueller’s report, it, too, is buried under Trump’s falsehoods and the clamoring for 2020.
“Until they become conscious, they can never rebel, and until after they have rebelled, they cannot become conscious.”
3
Very easy to forget that Mrs Clinton and the DNC paid Steele to produce a Russian sourced dossier
which was false,but I guess since she lost that egregious act doesn’t count.Also professor Krugman
your continuous whining and praying for a recession is getting old as well as your prediction of a world
wide financial collapse after Trumps election,keep it up at the Times.
Republicans initiated that work, before it was passed on to Clinton. The dossier is not the sole source of information on Russian influence and (since proven) Trump campaign ties to it. And the person who assembled said dossier was a respected member of the intelligence community. US intelligence confirmed a substantial portion of it. The dossier has not been discredited, but even if it was, it’s a small part of the total evidence.
Is your comment due to not knowing that? Not believing it? Believing these facts, but not believing this information is meaningful? Or is this bad faith?
4
@Able
You forgot to mention Benghazi and Hillary’s emails. At one point, we had “But Benghazi!!” But that morphed into “But Hillary’s emails!!” The current dead horse is “But the Steele Dossier!!” I think some people actually believe Hillary is the president. (Well...she did receive 3 million more votes in the election, so I guess some people get confused).
2
Narcissistic, know nothing, nihilism
Non vaccinators
Non climate change
Non income inequality
No collusion
Etc...
1
Lies are stubborn things.
I saw the most recent Labour Party (UK) advert see link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkow80xNBA0
It very clearly shows what a tax cut means to the working class versus the same to a billionaire
Enjoy
If you don't want to use the link look up the Labour Parties adverts and look for the most recent one
What would crumble GOP’s resistance to Global Warming would be an announcement from the NYT that it was moving its offices and printing presses to higher ground.
Republicans want an oligarchy tax free and run by Trump and his henchman Barr. If defeated in 2020 Trump will not leave and will have biker gangs surround the White House and Barr saying well maybe the election was rigged there was spying and Hillary is a crook ,is my MAGA hat on straight,
1
Love the GOT tie-in, wights, and just like the Night King the GOP will lie and raise the dead lies over and over!
Paul-- what is obvious to you and me is denied by the 40% percent of the country who are hard core racists and will believe anything said by the racist in chief and his sycophants. How ironic that we had such a long long struggle with the USSR, and now our executive branch is becoming more and more like Stalin's every day.
2
The reason for obstruction and multiple nonanswers when it comes to policy, is they dont care about policy. Trump figured out a way to get himself elected so that he could use the presidency as a platform to create more wealth- by getting loans from sheiks, giving corporations what they want and by blocking any regulation. His "policy" on immigration- isnt a policy- becuase he really doesnt care- it is just a means for him to get votes. Same with any hot button issue- he has no fundamental core of values or morals. The media no longer report what would be considered news- its all about ratings and infotainment, so what is substantive and complex- is avoided entirely, made to be "entertaining"or watered down so much it is useless. I dont watch news any more.
2
Since 2016, Mr Krugman has become expert at spotlighting Republican lies and the media's false equivalence in political coverage. Republicans, almost without exception, are interested in neither facts, nor democracy. They're want to preserve their hold on power, reduce taxes on the wealthy, undermine SS and Medicare and democracy itself and permanently limit the power of the people to fight them.
This strategy is not new in US politics. The ante-bellum South protected slavery and the "rights" of the landed gentry over all other rights. (Some Republican ideologues credit John C Calhoun as an intellectual precursor.) The key to the strategy was/ is blocking approval of Supreme Court justices not adequately dedicated to their goals.
Democrats who tout their ability to reduce polarization, like Hillary, protect their Wall Street/ silicon valley funders, not the US Constitution?
The press, often including NYT and NPR, collaborate with this silent coup, by portraying both parties as equally culpable for dysfunctional politics. They echo Republicans, labeling universal health care and raising taxes on the wealthy, "extreme." It is intellectually dishonest and lacks integrity.
2
False equivalency has long been the biggest problem facing us politically. Republicans have become master's at invoking "what-about-isms." Their constant attacks on the Maine Stream Media are not because they honestly deem the MSM to be unfair, they are relentless in order to make the MSM appear unfair and force it to bend over backward to "present both sides." Thus facts become debatable topics rather than concrete truths.
The Main Stream Media needs to quit falling into the trap. If it's a fact, and some talking head comes on to explain why it isn't simply cut them off. FOX News presents only one side and pays no price for it.
The MSM's new motto needs to be "We present facts. That most facts have a 'liberal bias' is not our fault."
And we wonder why college students refuse to let right wing speakers spout the same lies they've heard before. The first amendment is supposed to allow a free exchange of opinions based on a set of facts. When one side bases their opinion on lies, or "alternate facts", they are practicing deceit. There is NO constitutional right for that!
4
I agree with the good doctor.
As an example I would like to see some good in-depth reporting about the ultimate impact of courts being packed with federalist society picked judges. I can envision the court ruling that the federal government cannot regulate environmental impacts, negative consumer impacts and negating many personal rights. The constitution limits what the government can do to us but is quiet on what rights we have gained through the years. I can see those rights being limited since they are not in the constitution. In this way the rich and powerful will rule and we will lose our ability the seek redress through the courts.
2
"Calling out dishonesty and bad faith can seem like partisan bias when, to put it bluntly, one side of the political spectrum lies all the time, while the other side doesn’t."
Or, as Stephen Colbert more famously put it, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
5
This research has been done...you can show Republicans and Democrats aerial photos of Obama's and Trump's inaugurations and ask, "Which had more people?" Republicans point to the larger crowd to say, "That's Trump's." But, when told the smaller crowd is Trump's beforehand, they still point at it and say it's bigger than Obama's. Even when the aerial view is clear. It's beyond zombie...it's just plain weird.
4
I play tennis with someone with a GoP attitude towards calling balls in or out. "Out" he yells. It takes protest from the two on the other side and a sheepish nod from his partner to get a 'play over'. Often the effort outweighs the benefit--after all, we are out to have fun not win Wimbledon. And so we let it pass. He gets the psychic high of winning a point. We get to continue play instead of shaming him into a play over.
No one really wants to play with him and his line calling is a continuing irritant. But we're all good old boys and everyone plays. (Wonder if we had women players he would be forced to stop?).
The analogy almost stops there. We do not have 40% of the group relishing and endorsing bad calls and benefiting from them. If so, we'd be a tennis debating society not an All Weather Tennis Club. And yet it is when his partner reverses his call that there is no debate, no pained protestations, no injured self regard. And points get played over, calls reversed.
The lies persist because of blurry ethical lines on the courts that partners won't cross. So the question really is how to shame the liars and prevaricators and beneficiaries until they stand up and call the lines as they are not how their partner wants them to be. Like what is happening with Trump's Federal Reserve nominees. Next target: 40% of Americans who must be made to understand what 10,000 verified lies and crony cabinet and top officials are destroying our and their game.
3
"Intellectual zombies" does indeed describe what one sees at a Trump rally where thousands of American voters insanely cheer and chant at his inflammatory schoolyard bully statements, along with his sneering facial contortions.
Folks, this is the President of the United States of America that supposedly represents the values of us all. If it wasn't right before our eyes it would be almost unbelievable. The GOP supporting this is nothing short of traitorous in my view.
I will never vote for another Republican.
6
Mr. Krugman, I am a fan, but this time you are stoking the flames of violence.
Calling the republicans "zombies" dehumanizes them
all at a single stroke, and justifies, not their deaths,
but their destruction.
You see, killing a human is reprehensible, but zombies
are not human, and destroying them is a positive good.
Sir, words have a singular power, for good or ill.
And this age-old tactic, which you just deployed,
is definitely a powerful ill.
1
He has used the ‘zombie’ concept many times over the years to describe bad, discredited ideas and economic theory. Absolutely no one interprets this as a call for violence.
1. Krugman called the old tired-out LIES “zombies,” not the people.
2. Considering who’s President, and the gun attacks, it’s pretty rich to see Trumpists accuse liberals of inciting violence.
@Bert Floryanzia You are seriously overthinking this!
And where does this lead us to? Will all but a handful of us be serfs existing on the stale crusts of bread we steal from the trash cans of the wealthy?
Will the excesses Krugman describes finally push the country into revolution?
If so, how will that end? In anarchy? With a modern incarnation of the guillotine?
One thing seems sure. The Trumps of this world will never have enough.
2
Thanks to Trump, we have entered "the age of shameless lies." And of course, he has many followers: the Republican members of the GOP.
3
The usefulness of Krugman's ideas should be questioned by any rational person. I don't agree with what he's doing here, which is wasting our time and his--by not running for president in 2020. I don't want him writing opinion pieces; I want him as my president.
5
"...at a fundamental level, they (GOP/conservatives) aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda."
Now you're getting it! Its the ideology, its always been about serving the ideology. Or what they see as one. Its not been about doing anything positive in decades...but instead its been about opposition and destruction. Its been about undermining institutions, and agencies. About creating suspicion of others, and even the US govt itself. Unless its some sneaky surveillance program they support.
Its been said before, that Trump is the result of years and years of GOP/conservative belligerence, fear mongering, race baiting, and so on...all true.
In him, they have found the Voice for the innuendo, and dog whistling, gas lighting, science denial, general disrespect towards women, among so much more. Trump gives them a voice they thought they'd never have. He's the perfect TV Character to spew all the nasty and outright stupid things they dared not say directly, in the light of the day.
And as for the Truth, in any real sense...Trump has never dealt in the truth, and as such he's the best Face for the GOP and their long denials of so many truths. Be they economic, social issues, foreign policy issues, environmental, technological, etc.
The GOPs been burying their heads in the sand for decades. Trump makes it easier for them to keep that position. He's so backwards and destructive, they'll let him run loose, do their work for them.
1
It seems Mr. Krugman has a lot to say these days--about Truth, in particular. We have recently been told that "Truth has a Liberal bias" and that the "Wrongest" ideas seem to survive only in the minds of Conservatives. And now we are to believe that only Democrats are truthful about our politics? Really, Mr. Krugman?
I just sampled the comment section for this column, and can't help but shake my head--at the mindless adulation and slathering of praise--for a man who has been so wrong--about nearly everything. And the reason he turns to social commentary, is because the folly of Krugman's economic pronouncements become more stark with each new economic report.
How about these truths, Mr. Krugman?
-Wasn't it you, who on the eve of Trump's election, predicted the market would crash--and never recover? Reminder: the market is at all-time highs
--Didn't you predict 3% growth would never result from Trump's tax cuts? The report for 1st quarter GDP growth (typically the slowest), came in at 3.2%--despite a gov't shutdown, bad weather and tariffs.
--Didn't you tell us manufacturing jobs would disappear forever, and never return? Well, we have created over 500,000 under Trump.
--Didn't you say all the gains from the tax cuts would accrue to just the top 1%? Well, income growth is averaging over 3%, and much higher for lower income workers.
Here's the real truth: lefty zealots shouldn't write columns about the truth--when they themselves can't speak it.
2
I was wondering if some devotee would chant the bit about Krugman’s post-election economic prediction. But I was sure that some Trumpist’d come along and disinformation the economy.
First, GDP? Nope. Tied with Obama, at best.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/25/trumps-misleading-spin-gdp-growth-rate/?utm_term=.ea3ff616b9c3
Second, Krugman and manufacturing jobs? Sort of. Not what Krugman said, though.
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/manufacturing-jobs-roaring-back/
Third, nice try on equating tax cuts and where they went to wage growth. But the tax cuts nearly all went to corporations and the wealthy, and the improved wage growth (wow! A big, big three oercent!!) is getting eaten by gas and insurance prices.
Oh, well. Squeeze them eyes tighter shut, I guess. By the way, you guys still care about deficits and debt? Bet not.
1
a couple of weeks ago the sunday morning talking heads had kelleyanne and rudy on. they were each given about 20 minutes..... to lie, filibuster and obfuscate. why? why are they asked to come on these shews when we know what they are going to do? the hosts NEVER ask hard questions then FOLLOW THEM UP. the lies and half truths just go out over the airwaves and find their place in the "conversation". this needs to stop. somebody in the televised media needs to take the their position as custodians of the public airwaves seriously...... if doing so makes it so these people won't given them access? who cares? it will be a true public service to stop the spread of the misinformation and propaganda.
4
Krugman's analysis tickled me because for several years I've referred to the Republican Party, once mine, as the Zombie Party--dead intellectually and morally but kept alive with massive injections of money by special interests, producing not policy but propaganda, operated not by people's representatives but corrupt political impersonators and opinion engineers generating cynical policy malpractice. Trump isn't a cause of this or even a prophet--he is merely proof that the GOP's tactics of manipulation have become so successful that it isn't necessary for a party to even pretend to govern in the national interest or operate from any basis in reality, much less moral consience. It's just a zombie, animated by money, attracted by the scent of power. As in all zombie stories, some terrible reckoning is inevitable.
1
This is exactly the behavior you expect from a party that makes it's living by appealing to the poorly informed. In this day and age, being poorly informed is primarily the fault of the person involved, since there is so much information available, literally at your fingertips. Being intellectually lazy is something very hard to overcome, in particular by people who seem to be prideful about their ignorance.
1
This also explains the success of Donald Trump. Given any topic he will simply lie to make whatever point he wants to make. (Are we actually even calling them lies yet or are they still vaguely untrue)?
His “base” cheers while other, more intelligent, republicans shrug. It’s the way of the world right? Or at least of the Republican Party. Do they all just wink at each other? At what point do republican voters say enough!? It’s up to them to stop the madness. I personally don’t have any great hope of that happening.
OK, I admit it. I read Facebook. I have Facebook friends. A couple of them are avid Trump fans. A couple aren't Trump fans. Their posts are both very predictable. They aren't arguing with each other. They are only posting opposite points of view repeatedly. They are both becoming boring and uninteresting. I keep reading their posts to see if they will ever say anything meaningful but they don't. Zombie Style just might be the right term.
Consistently, Mr. Krugman's essays have been saving my bacon, sanity-wise. And here again, a lucid argument that needs to be read by the Editors! Repudiation of the oversight function of Congress--NOT the give and take of political process. Absolute misinformation from our Attorney General--NOT good faith disagreement. If it walks and quacks like the end of democracy . . .
1
What Krugman seems to miss is that Republicans assume exactly the same about Democrats. When you have a mendacious ends-justify-the-means mode of operation, it's hard to believe your political opponents don't as well.
"Thus, inequality is about using whatever argument comes to hand to promote policies that benefit the undeserving poor at the expense of hard-working Americans. Climate change is about using whatever argument comes to hand to harm fossil fuel interests. Russia interference is about using whatever argument comes to hand to harm duly-elected Donald Trump."
1
I grew up during the Cold War era, with Russian pseudoscience and ridiculous claims not based upon any rational version of facts. He was all good fun watching a government stumble along trying to create its own reality which never existed, no matter how many times the politburo wished it to be so. Little did I know that I would live to see the day when my own country would become a cesspool of such ridiculous thinking.
1
I see this as a human mind evolution issue. Recall that scientific inquiry, which has a rigorous method for disentangling evidence we can build on (antibiotics instead of prayer to combat disease) is only a few hundred years old in terms of a societal practice, though the beginnings can be traced back to the ancient Greeks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_scientific_method). How did societies create and use arguments to sway various groups' thinking and motivate them to action before the advent of rigorous scientific thinking? They followed the dictates of their leaders who maintained their power through force of various kinds, including mass murder. In evolutionary terms, we are less than a nanosecond into attempts to base our arguments in reliable evidence. The GOP are using this old method, while the Democrats are making efforts to use the new method. Will we survive our own small-mindedness, given the myopic focus on winning which has characterized the greater portion of human existence? Hard to say, but it doesn't look good. The zombies are winning because they are impervious to evidence, and they are willing to use force of all kinds to advance their agendas (especially including lies). I wish us all the best of luck, because at this point, we will need it.
1
The faux conservative, right-wingnut-republican "intellectual zombies" of the more distant and the most recent past -- enormously distasteful, irritating and harmful as they were and are -- are like a breath of fresh, intellectual air by comparison to the trump-acolyte 'version.'
And trump himself? What a "revolting development" that 'thing' is … 'one' beyond possibility for any accurate, terse, and sufficiently opprobrious description.
1
I guess Dr. Krugman would rather talk about anything other than than GDP growth.
1
The GOP's approach to criticism is the same as Trump's approach to accusations:
"Trump told the friend that it's a mistake to show weakness in the face of such accusations, according to the book.
"You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women," Trump said, according to Woodward. "If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead. That was a big mistake you made."
Trump said the key was showing no hesitancy in denying accusations and instead, be on the attack and push back."
Fear
Bob Woodward
Trump commits treason every day as he promotes Russia's agenda of destroying the West's post WWII world order. He does it for money from the only source available because of his fraudulent business practices. We've yet to see the Mueller report, we've only seen the Barr report. Surely Barr has, as a Trump toady, lied to conceal some incriminating evidence of the conspiracy.
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
Prof. is 100% correct about the false equivalencies, they do great damage to us all!
1
Paul, if I remember correctly, you were one of the pundits who kept telling us how great things were for the masses.
In this day of fox propaganda and presidential lying we no longer recognize facts. We used to be able to look at a thermometer and say it's 80 degrees but now fox and the president say it's 65 degrees and they don't have a thermometer, just a belief. They will say anything to make people believe their belief and many people do.
Why have the Democrats been so unable to expose the Republicans for what they are? The fault lies not only in the media; the Democratic party has consistently failed to take advantage of the situation and often seem, unfortunately, like pale imitations of the GOP - yes, Republican 'lite'.
Trump's two greatest weapons are Twitter and Fox News. Without those two media sources and avenues, he probably wouldn't even have been elected. Fox "News" has some honest interviewers, but the station is based on lies and propaganda. Both Twitter and Fox allow Trump to bypass the usual channels of communication with us, the people who are, ostensibly, served by Trump. Ignore the tweets, just like we are starting to forget to mention the names of shooters in mass shootings. Marginalize Fox. Don't give it any airtime or respect, because it deserves none.
1
It would be better to have the zombies depicted as in the movies. In this society they walk with suits, ties and American flags on their lapels. The zombie women are even more frightful, until they speak they can't be identified.
Unfortunately, while Professor Krugman is right about the right, many so called "progressives" do not have the high ground either. You can't look at data that shows climate change, for example, to be a clear and present existential threat and oppose things like nuclear, renewable natural gas and carbon capture. Some of the lefty nut cases even oppose hydro!
And you certainly can't tie addressing climate change to an unrelated agenda of social justice reform.
Twisting every problem into a talking point for your pre-existing agenda is a trademark of both the left and the right. So is claiming to be "holier than thou" while refusing to look in the mirror.
1
@Stan: "... you can't ... oppose things like nuclear, renewable natural gas, and carbon capture"
Until the nuclear waste issue is resolved, nuclear is as bad or worse than climate change. Surely the Fukushima disaster demonstrates that nuclear is not an option. Renewable natural gas is exquisitely dependent on its overall carbon footprint. I know of no objections to it when it is derived from carbon-neutral sources. I know of no objections to carbon capture technologies.
"you certainly can't tie addressing climate change to an unrelated agenda of social justice reform."
Your assertion presupposes itself -- social justice reform is tightly connected to addressing climate change. As in so many other things, the earliest and most catastrophic impacts of climate change will fall on the world's least affluent populations. As the economic impact of climate change decimates the US economy, the handful of people at the very top of the wealth distribution will be the last to suffer. Our least affluent Americans will be the first.
Your attempt to conflate the right and the left is not supported by ANY reasonable fact-based examination.
Dr. Krugman describes the current moment accurately and compellingly as usual. What I take away is a warning : don't be them. Since the 2016 election I have often been dismayed by rumor mongering and credulity in the liberal world. We may be hanging on to a thread of superiority but a tit for tat world is known by it's other name: war.
The Republican party became compromised when it came under the total control of oligarchs and corporations who, at the same time, engineered the legalization of corruption through our courts.
Oligarchs feel less of a duty to nation than people who believe in democracy. Their allegiances are to their own clans of wealthy people, rather to country.
That is one of the greatest failings of our constitution. It was written by oligarchs, slavers, and it left some gaps through which generations of rich people have, in cyclical manner, tried to take control of our government. As our population has grown and civil rights have become more of an issue, this gaping hole is now visible to all and is impinging on all of our rights in new ways.
The other major party is no less susceptible to corruption than Republicans. In fact, after Trump or as Trump is up for reelection, the wealthy will turn their attention to the DNC and attempt to influence who is chosen. The New York Times reported on that last week in an extraordinary piece about how to "stop Sanders."
Russia is run by oligarchs. We are now run by oligarchs. If you google Ukraine and any number of politicians on the left or right, you will see a lot of connections.
Rot never affects only one portion of the food it is on. To think one is immune is to be a fool.
Choose wisely. 2020 is the last redo.
So long.
---
Things Trump Did While You Weren’t Looking [2019] https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-3h2
1
Zombie arguments are familiar to anyone who has attempted a discussion about Darwin's theory and biology among religious zealots. This should not be surprising, since the GOP joined itself to to the extreme religious right decades ago.
The GOP knows, uses and manipulates basic psychological principles of learning and mind control in systematic and effective ways.
This explains why the GOP campaign of upending truth and replacing it with a false consciousness works with some voters who will even vote against their own interests and accept rising inequality & dismiss climate change.
One example: Employ techniques used in advertising and by trial lawyers based on basic principles of Pavlovian mind conditioning
1 Continually associate the GOP with strong previously valued conditioning, such as patriotism, love of country, identity as an American, and the need to belong [in a mass, alienating society controlled by Big Business]. Fox News is particularly adept at this, especially the loneliness and need to belong in a society where the social bonds are fraying or broken--"Fox and Friends"
2 Repeat-repeat-reinforce the message as many times and ways as possible. This also includes conditioning minds to reject the opposition, criticism, contrary arguments and views. This is what advertisers do to get consumers to turn away from competing products, followed by more conditioning to prefer the target product. Competing products are associated with negativity, poor performance, weakness, uncertainty, when consumers can readily rely on and trust the Republicans to represent them against the ____ (lots of negative associations) Democrats and (ugh) Liberals.
3 Build on fears, uncertainty, & wishes
Zombie Politics
It's the press' obsession with balanced coverage that leads to the Flat Earth Debate. If one person says the Earth is round, someone in the Press is going to find a person who claims the Earth is flat and give that person equal time. The Right Wing has learned how to exploit the media, even the Times and WaPo. It was your paper that promoted the Hillary Clinton Email scandal, more than any other outlet, but they seem to be oblivious to how they are taken advantage of.
Climate change, Gun Control, Tax policy, Health care, Immigration are all issues where the Press has been hoodwinked to engage the Right on their terms, and simply by doing so, they have lost the debate.
The solution is to simply ignore them. Do not attend a Sarah Huckabee Sanders Propaganda session. Do not invite Kelly Anne Conway onto a TV interview. Do not report any DJT tweets, until any of them are willing to engage in a good faith discussion.
This opinion piece is why I love Dr. Krugman. He cuts through the nonsense and exposes the hypocricy and duplicity.
Pretending that good faith exists when it doesn’t is not only unfair to readers, it’s complicity with the liars. It indicates that the owners of the news media are onboard with the liars.
"... what you see are multiple levels of denial combined with a refusal ever to give up an argument no matter how completely it has been discredited."
That's not republicans, that's both republicans and democrats. This article is so one sided it should be criminal.
Perhaps Matt Groening's 3 excuses can be applied here:
1) Deny culpability: "I didn't cause climate change"
2) Blame someone else: "Climate change is the Democrat's fault!"
3) Declare it an accident: "I didn't mean to cause climate change"
Hmm, these work a lot better on a playground ...
Also, it appears that a 4th excuse has been added, Matt?
4) Deny the problem exists: "Climate change is fake news"
1
There's many good reasons that the BBC ws created. We, on the otherhand, went for the advertisers. Get the viewers all riled up, cut to drug commercial...
Republicans have always been far better than Democrats on messaging. They understand the design maxim to "keep it simple, stupid." In other words, they understand that voters don't think, they emote and the more simple-minded the appeal to the id/amygdala, the better.
So instead of harping on what was already known about the near-treasonous behavior of those in the Trump campaign, Democrats stupidly hung their hats on Mueller finding "proof" of "collusion."
Until Democrats learn to be less patient and rational (in fact, learn to be the opposite), they will continue to lose when they should be winning.
Forty years after the New Deal, America was humming right along; building a vibrant solid middle class, building infrastructure, even sending men to the moon.
40 years after reaganomics America can't seem to afford to fill our potholes.
If republicans were interested in democracy they would have found a way to work with the last two Democratic Presidents, instead they used every trick in the book to overturn those four elections.
The only fact republicans care anything about is that the koch bothers and their ilk demand absolute fealty to their goal of a fascist/feudal government for them, by them, and of them.
A democracy depends on an informed electorate and an honest Free Press. We have seen both of these necessities disappear from our public sphere in the last few decades.
If voters and reporters cannot see that the so called current president is the most corrupt president America has ever seen, and one of the most corrupt individuals currently in power anywhere in the world; then this Nation and our democracy are doomed.
The cherry on top is that this so called president is also stupid and incompetent. What could go wrong?
1
Some of this is true, but the same can be said of many liberal talking points, which are endlessly parroted without reflection. Each of the following is a conclusion of an academic study. I encourage readers to search for alternative sources of information to get a more accurate view of the important policy issues:
Progressive taxation: Federal and state combined tax burden is highly progressive, more so than most rich countries.
Gender pay gap: vast majority of the gap explained by non-discriminatory factors.
Education gap: funding for poor schools is substantially equal to non poor schools
Structural racism: black achievement gap manifests prior to kindergarten.
Income inequality: adjusting for errors implicit in using tax return AGI as data source, there has been a modest increase in income inequality for the past decades (reducing findings of increased inequality by 2/3).
Stagnant wages: total benefit costs for civilian workers have risen an inflation-adjusted 22.5% since 2001, versus 5.3% for wage and salary costs.
Medical cause of bankruptcies: pre-Obamacare fewer than 4 percent of hospitalizations resulted in bankruptcies.
1
@Mmm
Excellent use of logical fallacies...by cherry picking statements and not providing any sources, the validity of the statements and their context cannot be vetted.
Exactly the problem with politics today--and how the GOP uses propaganda.
2
@glennmr The studies finding these conclusions can be found with a simple google search.
It seems nothing positive has occurred for quite a bit on the political landscape. Continued anger and volleys of ad hominems are not going to magically disappear in the near future. At a time when bipartisan policies are needed most, the country marches into deeper trenches.
Debt, climate and energy....place your bets on which will hit the hardest and soonest.
The problem is that the same mega-rich individuals that benefit from Republican lies own controlling shares in all mass news. They either own major outlets outright, like Murdoch, Besos, Zuckerman, Bloomberg, etc., or they own controlling shares in the conglomerates that own the news organizations.
The rich shareholders hire the CEOs who hire the producers and publishers, who hire the editors and the talent. They hire those that share the world view that billionaires create wealth and jobs and the rest of us should just be grateful for their existence.
They claim that their content is determined by viewers and when viewers are demanding celebrity gossip and other mindless distractions, it's probably true. But no one I know who is actually interested in the news is demanding that news ignore actual issues to concentrate on who is ahead or behind in polls, or who raised the most money. Most people keep saying they want the news to analyze issues and ask candidates about issues.
The media is NOT liberal. The media calls ITSELF "liberal" to confuse us. If the media was liberal, it would have given Bernie twice as much coverage as Clinton and Clinton twice as much coverage as Trump, instead of the other war around. If the media was liberal, it would point out that Supply Side Economics has never worked once, and that growth was higher under stagflation in the 70s than it is after decades of tax cuts for the rich, and would not be calling Bernie's ideas pie in the sky.
2
You forgot two arguments that right-wingers use to justify inequality:
1. “Our poor would be considered rich if they lived in the Third World.” Maybe, but unfortunately they have to pay U.S. prices for everything.
2. “Our poor people don’t have it so bad.” They have refrigerators, stoves, air conditioning, and DVD players and cell phones.” But most poor people are renters, and in most places, landlords are required to provide stoves and refrigerators, and the AC is often built into the building.
Furthermore, maybe DVD players cost $500 when Mr. Smuggy McCallous bought them, but now they’re $30 or less. And though Smuggy with his iPhone X may not know this, it is possible to get an older model cellphone for free with a bare bones plan, an option cheaper than a landline.
I have occasionally challenged Smuggy types to trade places with a poor person. No takers so far.
4
Thank you, Dr. Krugman. Distilling today's partisan conflict down to the simple truth is a great public service.
3
I am so glad to read this opinion piece and have it out there that the current news shows keep trying to do false equivalencies. It is absurd to say the least and dangerous for our Democracy or at least the hope of a Democracy, we do not seem to have one at the moment. But...Please explain the Democrats role in all this. Sure they are great on social issues, but a large part of the elected Democrats have become caught in the same quick sand of bribes from the ultra rich and corporations as the Republicans for the last 40 years. They make popular promises to get elected and then complain that they tried but just could not buck the GOP.
Why don't they fight the Republicans? Why don't they stand up to them and not give away our rights? They cringe before them and try to pacify them, which leads to more abuse by the Republicans. And old smarmy Biden says that he wants to work with the Republican walking dead. What he means is he will cave in and support their plans to steal even more from the rest of us. Business as usual in DC.
For starters we need impeachment to go forward, never mind about the senate, we need all those who vote against it to be on record. The Democrats must show that they are against the president being above the law. Never mind Nancy insisting that Trump is good for her party getting more donations as long as he is in office.
2
Why are Republicans in a permanent state of denial about all these important issues?
It is called "cognitive dissonance". They have suffered from it for decades. The Republican Party is a party of the past, they serve no purpose.
3
@Deus
Why? Follow the money. You will notice that every time Republicans have held power, their reign is followed by an economic disaster... think, Savings and Loan, etc. This happens every time. Then the Democrats work hard to put things right, and then the same cycle of Republican pillage happens again. It's a pretty straightforward graph that charts this inhuman activity.
2
@JRW
Yes, however,for some inane fear of Republicans, the MSM continually refuses to call them out for who and what they really are, a racist party overflowing with hypocrits that continually talks deficits and balanced budgets, yet have no problem in emptying the treasury for the benefit of themselves and the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
The last time a Republican President left office with a surplus was Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960 and what happened to the so-called party of law and order?
They are a joke and stain on democracy.
Didn't humans used to think that the world was flat, and that the sun revolved around the earth? I believe that those in charge and who had the most to lose (Cathollic Church/Feudal Royalty) if these things were not true argued against it, even arresting people who said such things. It is easy to understand the Republican Party. The challenge to our country is how to change ourselves.
4
This becomes even more significant when it comes to the Supreme Court. Does the Republican majority really care about the law and the Constitution? Or will they justify their arguments to get the political results they want, such as illegal regulatory changes which defy Congress, or protecting the White House from oversight? If so, we’re in even deeper trouble than zombie ideas, in fact a constitutional crisis,
8
@Lennyg
The court appointees were the "straw that broke the camels back" in that even if the Republican Party disappeared tomorrow, the courts would make it very difficult to overturn the damaging policy inflicted by Trump and his "Trumpublicans" during their chaotic term in office.
History tells us the last time this happened was in the late 1800's in which the Federalist Society, corporately controlled Lochner courts ruled the SC in which during their time(among other items) a "gilded age" occurred and the stock market crash of 1929.
It took almost 40 yrs. a depression and FDR to turn the situation around.
4
The Republicans make simplistic, sound-bite arguments. They are lies, of course, but they appeal to simplistic voters who can't, won't bother, or don't want to understand the complex truth behind all political positions. During the GOP primaries in 2015, there was a TV ad for a candidate who promised lower taxes, massive infrastructure projects, better paying jobs, cheap health care, strengthened Social Security and Medicare, and building a massive wall to keep immigrants away. I jokingly said to my wife, except for the wall, I'd vote for that guy. Of course it was a Trump ad, and of course it was all lies. But the simpletons the GOP courts cannot see that those things are mutually exclusive and cannot be fixed by someone saying "only I can do it." Fear and lies sell; they appear as simple solutions to complex problems. GOP has figured that out. The Dems have not. The worst debate line during the 2018 campaign was not "Lock her up." It was "go to hillaryclinton.com to see my solutions." That assumes so much of the voters - that they have computer access, that they have time, that they care, that their attention span is greater than 30 seconds, that they can read. That type of campaigning loses votes. Sound bites and fear work. It's time the Dems started using them.
8
A case in point regarding the crisis at the US - Mexican Border. Over the weekend on 60 Minutes there was a good story documenting that there is a crisis at the US-Mexican Border as the border officials down there are being swamped with Central American Families coming here seeking asylum. More than the system down there can adjudicate in a timely fashion. They need housing, care, transportation and above all, more judges.
Well, in the debate over the wall, Democrats have been saying that Trump has manufactured a crisis on the border to justify his Wall. Trump has tried to use the "national emergency" rationale to go around Congress and Congress has fought back.
But, for Democrats, when presented with evidence of a crisis, the new polling indicates that Democrats respond to facts and agree that there is a crisis on the border. A wall still will not address the crisis, but yes, a crisis does exist.
Now for Republicans, if evidence were developed to challenge their partisan arguments, they would deny the evidence to hold on to their partisan argument, as long as they have a constituency that will buy what they are selling and there is a special interest to be served.
There, is the difference.
Media is to report on facts and information. Not spin. Not opinion. Not conspiracies. Facts and information. Let the people decide who is in denial about facts and information.
3
The norms and structure of modern journalism will not allow the media to call out bad faith arguments. Conservatives realized this and have used it to their advantage ever since.
So long as the only answer to a bad faith GOP argument is, "Well the Democrats say in response..." then the GOP knows they can get away with it. The public doesn't necessarily have the expertise to understand the implications of tax policy, or climate discussions. They rely on the media to help them suss out the truth. But when the media will not call out lies and bad faith arguments, it becomes "both sides" and false equivalence reigns.
The brilliance of Fox News is that they do call out the other side. There's no "both sides" there. It's the virtuous GOP versus the venal Democrats. There is no counter-weight to that.
Personally, I've lost hope. Even if Trump isn't reelected and even if the Congress became fully Democratic, there is only so much that can be done without a fair and engaged press.
6
@Leia
“The Mueller report found no evidence That the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians government.”
No, that’s not what it said. What it said was they could not “establish” a conspiracy with the Russian government. They couldn’t convict but they also wouldn’t acquit. Once you distort the Mueller report like that, anything else you say becomes fairly questionable. For example, you blithely pass right by the simple fact that the original documentation for FISA warrants on Page pre-exists the Steele dossier. You may have an interesting target in the Fed but it has nothing to do with the larger questions at hand. On those questions you’ve proved yourself an unreliable narrator and an unreliable witness.
7
And:
1. We have a better, cheaper plan.
2. Well, actually we don't have the plan yet, but when we do it will be better and cheaper.
3. Here's our plan. It's hard to see how it's better and it's going to be more expensive for everyone but the super rich, but at least it's not socialist
8
It is being bias against facts to equate facts with dishonesty and bad faith. Or to put another way, the reason America cannot do anything about climate change, inequality or Russia interfering in our elections, is that the media has used its awesome power to equate facts with lies to the extent most people do not know the difference.
That said, I want to call out one of the biggest lies the media has avoided by using false equivalences; that we have a conservative versus liberal Supreme Court. Rather, we have a Republican versus American Supreme Court. What has been true for decades and should have become obvious with Bush v Gore where the 5 justices voted to stop the vote count so a Republican who lost the election could be president. Sandra Day O'Conner has even admitted it was a Republican decision made against her oath and in fact everything the word "conservative" ever stood for. Since then we have seen the court gut the unanimous senate passed voting rights act, campaign finance reform and now even the census is about to be ruined because it will help the Republican party. When will the truth be told about the FACT that the Supreme Court is currently under the control of patrician Republican hacks who don't care about the constitution and whose only real concern is helping the Republican Party hold power by concentrating wealth in the hands of very few. But when will the media start telling the truth about the Supreme Court.
7
@Dangoodbar
Excellent observation. I thought I was alone in wondering how the "state's rights" judges on the court could all have thrown that aside to override the State of Florida's election laws. And remember the court stipulated the "Bush v Gore" decision was a 'one time only offer' never to be cited or used in establishing precedent for future cases, lest they favor a (horrors!) Democrat. The court is now wholly owned by the GOP and is merely another arm in their terrorist takeover of the American government and democratic process.
6
@Dangoodbar
Totally agree on Sandra Day O'Connor. For me she lost all credibility after Bush v Gore.
1
There was a time, upon my early arrival to this country in the 70s, when I was a card-carrying member of the Democrat Party. I joined because I subscribed to its values of hard work, equality, fairness, and aspiration, plus Patriotism. I am sad to report none of it is true about the party: it has become an obstructionist bunch obsessed with defaming and sabotaging the lawfully elected President. It is also clearly serving the elites (it is interesting to notice that NONE of the 32 people indicted in the recent college scandal were Republicans; very telling, isn't it) To be fair, there are some bad apples in the Republican Party as well, those who do not support the President. But, on balance, Krugman here is clearly fulfilling a social propaganda order of the liberal readership - no more and no less. He would do well getting out of his bubble and traveling the country a bit to see the massive support our President and His Party, of which I am a proud member now, enjoy.
3
@Yulia Berkovitz - it is sad that you have been duped by such a charlatan though you are not alone. As for the college admissions scandal, I am not aware of any publication of the political affiliation of the accused, but it isnt really a Republican (good) vs Democrat (bad, very bad) issue now is it? I would imagine there are plenty of conservative Republicans in jail for crimes committed, no?
2
@Yulia Berkovitz
Lies about creeping socialism are, as Prof Krugman points out, central to the GOP appeal to a simpleton electorate. Supporting a president anointed by our communist (not socialist) enemy is the height of hypocrisy and ignorance. The idea of a "socialist agenda" by the Democrats is GOP propaganda; I guess you have been exposed to such brainwashing for so long you can't even see its effects any longer. Stop watching Fox News and learn the truth. Trump lies. Constantly. That is enough reason to fight him. The Republicans obstructed the democratically-elected Obama at every turn, or have you forgotten that? Where was your outrage then? Trump lies. Republicans lie. Conservatism's foundation is lies. You can lie to yourself; you must to back the GOP. But those lies don't fly here.
3
And all of the people who march waving swastikas and confederate flags (hundreds more than those implicated in the college admissions scandal) are Trump supporters. If you immigrated here, as you say, and support Donald Trump, you couldn’t be more ungrateful to the country—and the people—who took you in.
3
Republicans are masters at presenting "alternative facts" to their base, through their mouthpiece, which is Fox News. Russian interference becomes "a few Facebook ads", never mind that a foreign adversary with malicious intentions actually interfered in our election process. Religious beliefs conveniently displaces fact-based science. Global warming is disparaged in favor of pseudo science which denies it. Meanwhile other developed countries are using and developing alternative sources of fuel, while cutting their dependence on fossil fuels, i.e. England went for over 90 hours without using coal for producing electricity over the Easter weekend. The Trump administration is promoting the use of coal and encouraging the opening of new coal-consuming power plants. Environmental regulations aimed at reducing climate change are falling by the wayside in a purge of Obama era environmental protections.
The Trump administration is using pretensions of religious conviction to denigrate education, because an informed public is a danger to the Republican Party. The disinfectant of the light of knowledge is the only power available to the Democrats to counter the onslaught of lies couched as fact the Republicans are spewing. The Democratic candidates need to make global warming one of the focal points of the upcoming election, and speak the truth loudly about the consequences we are already experiencing because of its impact.
5
It is a simple matter of economics, professor. You give a politician enough money and he will believe,or pretend to believe whatever is necessary to keep the dollar faucet flowing. We no longer have the clash of ideas, we have the cash of ideas.
2
@runaway doesn't it apply to Krugman himself then too? He is writing to his audience. I KNOW he knows better (read: that the president's policies are making the lives of the average Johns and Janes better) but he refuses to acknowledge it here as his contract with NYT will fly out of the window - poof, and it will be gone in a second. Let us not be hypocrites, shall we?
Back in the day...when civics meant learning about government according to the Constitution and important amendments; party principles, and differences; fair and balanced media coverage; and going to church on Sunday. Prof. Krugman makes me feel like a zombie, a quaint relic of bygone values of truth, rational thinking, justice and respect for one's neighbor. Are there any bona fide Republicans any more? Have they all become arch -Conservatives or Trumpists?
It wasn't always great, back in the day, as we armed or invaded other peoples' countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East to check communism and terrorism in the cause of democracy. At home we have extended civil rights to new social groups while continuing to exploit the poor, reduce taxes to benefit the wealthy, destroy unions, ignore gun control, and deregulate environmental protections. Call me a Progressive Zombie!
3
Krugman has two sentences that should be more linked:
1) "Thus, inequality denial is about using whatever argument comes to hand to defend policies that benefit the rich at the expense of working Americans."
2) "But my sense is that the news media continue to have a hard time coping with the essential fraudulence of most big policy debates."
The truth may be that the News Media (corporate owned) have shareholders who also own other companies, like fossil fuel. There's no interest in the media to report the news accurately (and in good faith, either). They have an incentive to enrich the few, who owns them.
1
Way back in university, I got to see false equivalence in person. I was invited to discussion/ debate between two prominent economists: Larry Summers and Art Laffer.
As Laffer defended his famous taxation theory, Summers would sit listening and practically rolling his eyes before eviscerating its real-world implementation, which by that point in the early 1990s had already failed twice.
To be fair, Laffer's actual theory doesn't state that lower tax rates will always result in more revenue, but true to form, this is exactly how the GOP has marketed it to the masses over and over again.
6
1st paragraph. One of the contacts with the Russians might have violated the law: the transfer of campaign polling data paid for with campaign funds to the Russians for their propaganda targeting.
4
Would that Mr. Krugman would heed his own words:
What I mean by that is that in each case those making denialist arguments, while they may invoke evidence, don’t actually care what the evidence says; at a fundamental level, they aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda.
The Democrats are flooding the scene with candidates for president. It's obvious that anyone with Mr. Krugman's perspicacity knows what candidate will serve the needs of the majority of people in the US, so long neglected. As before, only Bernie Sanders provides the program to restore democracy in our country, to serve our people, to stop the incessant warfare, to restore and improve the living standard of all. But as before, for many reasons, some obvious, Mr. Krugman will not endorse him for president but instead, serves a predetermined agenda.
Oh, please.
St. Bernie got booed nearly off the stage last week because he’s got a bad habit of lecturing black people on what they all ought to think, and his various and sundry sketchy claims about financing single-payer are pretty much the kind of gaggle of zomblids that Krugman’s talking about.
And piece of advice: if you’re gonna run somebody for Prez, stop wailing about how all them girls and gays and stuff is playin’ politics.
Thank you Paul Krugman for helping sort out the cacophony of junk that we are constantly subjected to in electronic media. The internet social media could be put to such positive use. I think that a system of regulation of the internet would be helpful. We pay a price in truth of living to allow advertisers free reign. The “free internet” sounds high-minded but is not really free. I want an internet that helps build community. Advertisers and spies have curtailed our freedom through this medium.
Thank you Mr. Krugman. I honestly don't know how anyone can vote Republican these days (or ever really) and sleep at night. Party over country, at all costs is their motto, obviously. How could anyone not see through this in good conscious?
5
I recently saw a segment on this false equivalence issue that featured an older clip of you (Paul) on the left of a split screen and a pseudo economic clown on the right. The idea was that since you each occupied the same amount of space on the TV, each of you carried the same weight in the viewers mind. It was a fine example of how human nature can be used to grant credibility to a faulty proposition.
4
Re:
What the right’s positioning on inequality, climate and now Russian election interference have in common is that in each case the people pretending to be making a serious argument are actually apparatchiks operating in bad faith.
What I mean by that is that in each case those making denialist arguments, while they may invoke evidence, don’t actually care what the evidence says; at a fundamental level, they aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda.
A very analogous situation occurred in the Soviet Union
where access to widely circulated print or television
was given over essentially to the same type of apparatchik, funded by the state/Party to come up with new ways of repeating the same old same old without regard to contradictory evidence on the ground in daily life.
In this state, such members of the apparatchik class slither
around from one well funded "think tank" or "institute" to
another, using their base to manifest on televised shows
of the state propaganda network (aka f-x) or others like cnn or npr. They are never put in the position where their nonsense can genuinely and systematically be revealed for what it is. The rules of the media game simply prevents it.
And the public just doesn't care enough because it either has
already stopped paying attention, or doesn't see the connection between this type of manipulation and the
politics that go into policy that affects their
daily lives in basic ways.
3
Paul, all I know is that this political party has, at least here in California, been crushed like a used beer can. Their Orwellian adherence to lies and deceit cannot stand unless they use the courts full of white males to transform our democracy into a fascist dictatorship. By then, I hope we will have left the union.
6
@Michael Donnery
By “this political party” you must mean republicans? You would be more accurate if you were referring to democrats who are trying to turn our republic, not democracy, into a fascist dictatorship.
1
This is why schools must teach critical thinking. We must be critical thinkers and journalists must engage in critical reporting.
Logic is a system. It's the facts and logic that is to be tested:
Simple Logic Syllogism:
Water is wet
Rain is water
Therefore, rain is wet.
Trump Syllogism:
Coal manufacturing jobs are leaving America.
Manufacturing jobs make America Great Again.
Bring back coal manufacturing jobs to America to Make America Great Again.
Never is the notion of coal manufacturing jobs (or manufacturing versus information technology or servic industry, etc.) tested as a fact that Makes America Great Again.
Neither is the notion that America lost its moniker as a Great Nation (at the time of Trump's slogan). There was no debate on what makes America great, i.e., her democratic principles, diversity, etc.
But the logic is not flawed, the ideas placed into the logic is.
This is where we find ourselves in the Trump era.
We need critical thinkers and critical reporters. We can do this, our founding fathers did. The Federalist Papers are a great example of critical thinking.
2
Okay, Krugman, I got it. Republicans dumb and very bad. Democrats smart and very good.
1
@GWB
Finally. But the actual message was Republicans LIE and very bad.
1
Basically, yes, but you left out greedy and wicked.
1
Ever try nailing jello to a wall?
It is about as easy as understanding conservative economics and the republican party!
Vietnam vet
2
it is very easy to know when the GOPers are lying.
their lips are moving.
2
Is that warped picture of the capitol building *supposed* to look like a Galactic Storm Trooper?
In short, when massive numbers of people in your party decide to put the pursuit and accumulation of personal wealth before all other things, your party and the nation are in deep doo-doo.
6
DeNile is not just a river in Egypt
2
Now we know how it happens. One guy, a total nincompoop that doesn't know much. But the reaction causes a total discombobulating reaction.
Fascism is a full party effort. Stop playing your part please. I see the problems every day. We're disintegrating, and I'm crushed.
Don't do it! We are so much better than this, but we losing everything. God help us!
Wow, this guys never stops.
For the last few years, he's been penning long op-eds, preaching to choir. His writing, tens of thousands of words can be distilled into three words: Republicans very bad.
What a waste of paper and ink? Sadly, all of this is dulling the minds of naive readers, who think they are getting insight into economics.
2
As long as they have Fox News and Talk Radio, Republican voters will drink whatever poison their party feeds them... until it kills us all.
5
Watching Trump at his Rallies is like watching a movie called " King of the Zombies". Trump has turned America into a 'B' Horror Movie. It is going to get worse as we get closer to 2020.
He is already talking about The Baby Killers ! The Muscle Bound Immigrant Animals threatening our borders ! Trump is trying to pull all of us into his diseased mind. We must fight back. We must resist.
3
Four legs good, two legs bad.
Correction.
Two legs good, four legs bad.
It’s not original but...
2
I first noticed this phenomenon in 2002. Cheney and Bush called for "regime change" in Iraq. Crickets. Then it was WMD. Getting warmer. Then it was "mushroom cloud", even though the israelis had destroyed Iraq's only reactor in 1980. Then it was "Saddam" and "9/11" next to each other in every sentence. Soon after, thousands of soldiers are dead, a trillion borrowed dollars are gone, and we never even bothered to count how many Iraqis died.
They never could bring themselves to acually say Saddam did 9/11. That was too big a lie, even for them. But times have changed. Now, the bigger the lie, the better. Wait for them to say Iraq was Obama's fault.
8
Did you listen how, when asking a 'sensitive' direct question to a politician (of the republican variety), he is an expert in not answering it? Instead, finds excuses in alternative realities divorced from the need for a true answer? Remember 'our' obstructionist in-chief Senate speaker McConnell as to why Garland couldn't be considered because later that year we were holding elections? How often do you find a zombie politician who is interested in understanding your question...instead of waiting to reply on partisan lines? What is happening is we have lost our ability to discuss issues on the basis of facts and the truth (rooted in reality). In brief, honesty has become awol, to our irredeemable loss.
4
NO, NO, NO! We cannot go on like this complaining about the Republicans and how they lie, deceive, dodge, and weave any topic. To bring home reality a sequence of NYT articles must address in a POSITIVE way what can be done for the PEOPLE regarding: health care, homelessness, world trade, taxes on the rich (or better yet making the rich responsible for supporting our American infrastructure and giving workers a piece of the pie), water resources, non-fossil fuel energy resources , facilitating invention and research, supporting students , public transportation systems, rebuilding infrastructure, converting sea water to fresh water, replacing drug culture with rehabilitation programs and training them to do work, development of a retraining program and CLEAN UP OUR CITIES, build more public toilets with toilet monitors, put bus driver helpers building of small affordable homes, medical assistants, train nurses and doctors, etc. ONE article for each of these topics to show what can and should/must be done.
Let's get off the complaint after complaint kick - we do not need more negative stuff to deal with. We must have some positive actions and goals to reach.
DJM
3
The news media has put itself into this position through it's own traditional bad faith about political reporting -- what I like to call the "Wise Guy School" of journalism. The ethos can be summarized this way: "All politics is just cynical pandering for votes. Politicians don't really care about the policies they are advocating; they're just saying what they need to in order to get elected. Therefore, all that's really worth reporting on is the horse race, and the complexities of policy can be safely ignored." Of course, this runs contrary to the justification for a free press in the first place, namely that people in a democracy need to be well informed in order to govern themselves. If the news media could reestablish itself as the marketplace of ideas and information rather than cynical entertainment, it would have a basis to call out the Republicans for their fundamental and persistent bad faith. But the Wise Guy School is founded on the assumption of equivalence, so it produces false equivalencies automatically.
8
Wait a minute....isn't there something about evolution? Oh, that's right - if it's religious based it gets a pass.
4
"essential fraudulence of most big policy debates" is possible and remains pervasive because of the "intellectual condition" (using terminology that may make it past the moderator) of enough voters. And that's something the NYT, preaching to the converted, won't change.
3
The fixation on Russophobia is the real mental illness. Putin did not elect Trump. The Electoral College did . . . . Why do the so-called liberals want war with Russia? Is a confrontation with another nuclear power really the answer to the country's problems? The Democrats have figured out the one way to lose to Trump in 2020--by running as the War Party.
3
@Red Allover: I don't know of any liberal that wants war. What they want is to effectively keep them out of our political process.
1
@Red Allover
My question for you: Where did you get the notion Democrats want a war with Russia?
Who coddled Russia in the last election? Not the Democrats.
Who attempted to create a " back channel" with Russia?
Mike Flynn is guilty of that traitorous act.
How would nuclear war help anyone?
One more question: Do you watch Fox?
2
“Putin did not elect Trump.”
Both Robert Mueller and the NSA have refused to say that. But one way or another, both have said it’s a possibility. What we are now hearing from Florida makes it look even more so. But you know better. Gosh, maybe you could write a report and convince us. In the end, the Russians wanted to elect Trump. To their own amazement, they did.
It's too bad there's no Republican Night King whose death or total discrediting would wipe out all the zombies at once. Well, there used to be, but St. Ronald died a while ago, so now he can do no wrong.
4
This is all well and good, but what we really need to know is, are we at war with Eastasia or Eurasia???
3
Russia's military spending this year was $66 billion, that of the US was $800 billion. Italy and Canada are bigger economies than Russia. Yet Russia is the biggest country in the world with vast natural resources and a well educated population. The American imperialists wish to further break down the country and are encouraging separatists in Siberia and the Far East to become independent nations, the better to put these areas under their domination of the U.S. With these resources secured, they can risk taking on a rising China.
There is a good reason why German law forbids denial of the Holocaust and similar Nazi statements and the public display of Nazi symbols. The Germans learned (with the help of the French, British, Russians, and Americans) that allowing disingenuous arguments to fester is dangerous when one side is not at all interested in finding truth.
11
@keko
When visiting Germany it is hard not to notice the Stolperstein. Brass markers outside homes memorializing the residents who lived there, and were murdered.
A subtle reminder of the atrocities of the fascists. The number of markers is astonishing, and sad.
The Holocaust will not be forgotten in Germany.
This concept that Republicans are evil liars and the Dems are good hearted truth tellers is just plain ridiculous, naive, without nuance and outdated. Get real. Liars and cheats exist in both parties. Time for both “children”to knock it off, put their differences aside and get work done for your employers, the people.
4
@Daniel Gilbert OK name six Republican politicians who told the truth this year.
1
@Daniel Gilbert
False equivalence is just what Fox News wants you to believe. "Repeal and Replace" - replace with what? The GOP only has lies in its arsenal. They cannot govern and don't want to.
1
“Thus, inequality denial is about using whatever argument comes to hand to defend policies that benefit the rich at the expense of working Americans. Climate denial is about using whatever argument comes to hand to defend fossil fuel interests. Russia denial is about using whatever argument comes to hand to defend Donald Trump.”
The other side of the coin is attack, insinuate, confuse and vilify the opposition using one falsehood after another. Dems and liberals are for “open borders” and for letting rapists and murderers into the country. No. Dems commit mass voter fraud. No evidence (in fact see N Carolina election). Progressives are “socialists” like Maduro in Venezuela but never like in Norway, Sweden and Europe in general. Mischaracterize. Dems murder babies! They hate whites and Christians! They want to take your guns! And on and on. They have no shame. When will people wake up, open their eyes.
And yes, the media in an attempt to show a lack of bias often give oxygen to the most blatant apologists for this behavior. Just as an example, on one CNN political talk show one of the habitual panelists is an active member of Trump’s reelection campaign no less. What do you think he says? Deny, deflect and attack.
5
Its sad but true that we often elect sociopaths to office and our media at least the so called "legit media" becomes fake news BY THEIR OMISSIONS. Why did it take 35 yrs for the legit press to print stories about murdering cops? Why did they stop? Why doesn't the media cover anything but shootings and Trump? The sheer amount of vital news that the big outlets withhold is staggering.
2
Thousands of southern men who were dirt poor who never owned a slave and never would left their struggling families to go and fight and DIE for the ability of a few wealthy men to own slaves. This psychological dissonance whatever you call it is deeply embedded and not readily responsive to reasoning
9
One of the commenters just mentioned this brilliant video posted yesterday on YouTube by the British labor party. It makes the point about the adverse effects of economic inequality in a brilliant way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkow80xNBA0
"Old arguments, like the wights in “Game of Thrones,” would just keep rising up after you thought you had killed them."
Right, despite 21 Presidential candidates, the Democrats have no one who is the equivalent of Arya Stark.
@Mark Kuperberg: The battle of Winterfell hasn't happened yet. She might show up yet.
This points out the myth of "Conservative Think Tanks" (i.e. AEI and Cato). If you think making up stuff to cover other lies is "Thinking" then I have some inexpensive unicorns to sell you.
2
@JLM: What those places are thinking about is how to keep you and I from thinking and choosing rationally. They're doing a brilliant job of it too.
They think, we react, they win. Simple, eh?
(I'm not accusing you of reacting, I'm describing their strategy)
This entire state of our affairs leaves me drained of blood, logic, and hope.
First and foremost, call out the lies from all and any sources. Call them lies. Then, when applicable and verifiable, call them manipulative propaganda.
Second, trace the source to the intended goal. If one lies about an issue or event, what does the liar have to gain by public accept of that lie? Make sure the dots are so close, they become a line.
Third, make the liar known as a liar as in no one cannot believe the verbiage from this person because earlier today, yesterday, last week, last month, and last last year there are the other, additional lies this person told.
Make the case a personal issue. If your spouse, sibling, parent, BFF, or trusted other consistently lies to you, do you
A. Continue to believe them without question
B. Don’t believe them but continue your relationship as though the lies didn’t exist because life without this liar is punitive
C. Challenge them on the lies and capitulate when they appear sincere in saying “No lies, just misunderstandings “ in spite of evidence to the contrary...but you are bonded to this person and cannot fathom life without this person as foundational to you
D. Jettison this person like a rocket out of your chosen sphere of influence and personal trust. One lie with appropriate disclosure may be permit able. Three lies clamps the jet pack on your beloved’s back side.
10,000 lies is nuclear. A nova has been recorded close to our atmosphere.
3
I figure GOP voters regard the Russia connection pretty much the way they regarded the Jesse Helms wing's enthusiasm for racist dog whistles: just what we gotta do to get elected. The 'dirtiest' equivalent I ever heard from a Dem candidate was the horror that the GOP might take away Social Security. Guess what? They openly intend to do that!!! What keeps Dems from playing hardball?
7
Meh - they're all just lying, foaming at the mouth. That's what Trump and his minions do - blather and yell, and jump up & down, and flail their arms, and lie, lie lie.
2
Could add in a paragraph on the GOP vision on the debt and deficit....bad only when Dems in the Whitehouse.
2
You know that there are real people called zombies who probably don't appreciate this insult?
1
Democracy, facts and an honest reading of today's complex truths work for only those who hold these most dearly. When they don't work toward your ends, work toward creating alternate realities and upholding illusions of democracy. In this alternate universe, the gatherers of intelligence can simply not be trusted. And any monitoring of the commons is simply out of bounds.
We are on this fatal shore with these homo non-sapiens.
It is quite easy to see what Trump and the Republican Party are doing about Russian interference in our politics. They're getting into bed with the Russian Mafia. One story strangely missing from the New York Times is why Trump's Treasury Department suddenly lifted sanctions on Oleg Deripaska, a murderous oligarch in Putin's inner circle. It turns out he's investing $200 million in Mitch McConnell's Kentucky. Deripaska, said to be a senior member of the criminal- Kremlin alliance known as the Bratva or Brotherhood, won control of Russia's aluminum industry in a bloody battle after the fall of the Soviet Union. He has been accused of theft, intimidation, bribery and murder, notably of a Russian banker in 1995.
6
@Christy, I just verified your report on multiple news sites. I find it horrifying. But sadly the uninformed under-educated voters of Kentucky will cheer mitch on (and reelect the worst senator, ever) because of "jobs jobs jobs." Never mind that Kentucky has been near the bottom of the USA heap in all the years McConnell has "served." He will ride this crooked scam to victory and insure senate GOP dominance.
Unfortunately, the dumbing-down of the American voter has allowed these parasitic republicans to do an end run around the voting rights laws and buy their way to power.
'You have a republic if you can keep it, ma'am.' We are doing a great job of flushing our democracy down the Powell Memorandum drain.
1
People who think Russia influenced the election consider the American electorate as STUPID an UNEDUCATED. The fact is Clinton was not a good candidate and she LOST!
While I agree with the evidence and findings of fact by the in-depth investigation led by a Republican,Robert Mueller, specifically that the Russians helped and a lot of Mr Trumps people were talking to the Russians and lying about it. By the way, I am a long time registered Republican.
I do agree with the assertion that Hillary and Dems blew it.
1
@NonPoll: however to you and greatni , HRC did earn 3million more votes than mister disgusting now residing in OUR whitehouse. Bad candidate or strategy does not change this. Nor does the fact that the electoral college victory was a matter of less than 100K votes, certainly not a decisive win.
This one more highly insightful Column by Paul Krugman. I might add that Rupert Murdoch's Fox "News" (propaganda machine) had a major role in selling these hustles to America's intellectually challenged.
3
Exactly. Thank you.
In the late 1800’s the U.S. Army killed off our vast herds of buffalos to starve off the Indians. Now it’s Trump, ringleader of greedy rich guys and racists, out to abolish the ACA and privatize Social Security so the the poor, the elderly, and the infirm die off quickly and the middle class dissolves.
2
Republicans are not that difficult to understand. Hans Christian Andersen said it all:
“But the Emperor has nothing at all on!” said a little child. “Listen to the voice of the child!” exclaimed his father. What the child had said was whispered from one to another. “But he has nothing at all on!” at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was upset, for he knew that the people were right. However, he thought the procession must go on now! The lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a train, although, in reality, there was no train to hold, and the Emperor walked on in his underwear.
Hans Christian Andersen, 1837
1
The point is: The "right" (is that even a real thing???) wants to win and doesn't care how and doesn't care what damage it does to the country in the process of winning or after it wins. All means are Ok to achieve the goal: hypocricy, lying, selling out to Russia (or China, Saudi Arabia or anyone else), committing obstruction of Justice, condemning people who come forward to accuse Supreme Court nominees of sexual assault......
To beat them in the political arena, you you have to be like them. Being honest and decent is for chumps. when you are trying to win, you must destroy your opponents and adopt all means necessary to achieve your goal. When you have won, you keep the pressure on: force through YOUR SCOTUS nominees, lie, cheat and obstruct justice. Wake up Democrats...you are in a new place now! You have been warned
1
One of their most pervasive zombie ideas is that cooperation equals Soviet-style communism. It's OK for the Koch brothers to organize a bunch of like-minded people to manipulate the public discourse, but let some ordinary citizens try to get government to do something because the market isn't getting it right, and it will lead directly to a meltdown. Then they point the finger at the meltdown of the moment, which is currently in Venezuela.
This is an intentional red herring argument designed to discredit any restraints on manipulative capitalism.
I happen to believe that something resembling serfdom is the natural endpoint of unrestrained capitalism, and that it can only be prevented by intentional design or violent revolution. I also believe that the right-wing billionaires know this and manipulate the political dialog to prevent the design from being discussed rationally. They probably also believe that they can manage the revolution with their private 'security services'.
This is Frankenstein's monster, animated with money and intention.
6
If by "cooperation" you mean the top 10 percent of taxpayers paying 80 percent of all federal income taxes and the bottom half paying nothing when adusted for the dozens of unearned income subsidies paid for them by the taxes on the top 10 percent (as is true today) then sure, it's not yet Soviet style coersion.
But were Bernie or Warren to become President it's pretty clear that's where they want to go.
@Fred Rick: Nope, that's not what I mean at all. In this context, it is usually the government doing something because the market gets it wrong, or needs some competition from a non-profit. For example, the public option might have put downward pressure on medical prices. Also, worker's co-ops and properly run unions are decried as communist, when they are just ordinary people organizing to improve their bargaining position.
2
The G.O.P. as we once knew it now stands for Gone Out to Pasture. What has frighteningly emerged is a "zombie" Trumpublican party that is busily devouring our Constitution and the democracy it supports. As Trump now hits the 10,000 mark in his mountain of lies that seek to bury the truth and tweet to death the truth tellers, we are in a truly existential Constitutional crisis where it's the Constitution itself that is under attack. That's why the Democratic-controlled House must draft "articles of impeachment" that reveal the corruption, criminality and the lies, and bring those articles before the American people as the ultimate jury to decide in November 2020 whether they want a Constitutional democracy or the zombie Trump autocracy. That is what the 2020 election will really be about--the survival of "the rule of law" or the authoritarian "rule of Trump" and his zombie party.
5
Another intellectual zombie is castigating the super-rich while denying that the merely rich benefit from the same policies, because to do so might alienate readers of this very column and newspaper. And the wights from "Game of Thrones", for those of us who don't subscribe to HBO, are casually borrowed from Middle English mythology, as are all tropes of modern fantasy, and in a way, a zombie-like idea themselves.
This article talks only about how the GOP stubbornly defends their absurd postions in the face of facts that show the opposite. We should also be concerned with the GOP's tendency to promote absurd positions despite the obvious absurdities. It just happened again with Trump's claim that mothers and doctors execute babies, but has been going on for years, probably decades. That is that they take any liberal or progressive position to the most extreme to argue against it. Thus, Dems gonna that ALL your guns. Babies are EXECUTED. Socialism will REPLACE capitalism. Mitigating climate change will RUIN the economy. Dems want OPEN borders, and on and on.
How do you argue with the absurd? You can't! All you can do is point out the obvious absurdity of it. Over and over, again and again, until it becomes obvious to all.
7
@Robert Selover
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” - Voltaire
And so here we are.
As a former long-time Republican I am appalled by Republican tactics today, and worse yet, that the Dems allow them to get away with it.
I would like to see Dems on the House Judiciary Committee tell Barr that his testimony is not needed, wanted, or of any value, and instead, give Mueller his time slot.
Bill Maher once said something like this: "When Dems are confronted with a gun fight, they don't even bring a knife. Instead, they bring a casserole."
9
Dr. K, you've hit on the very reason I left the republican party in disgust. This was during the Rove/Gingrich salad days. These two guys would get in an interview and just spout easily disproved statements, just flat out lie. That started to drive me nuts. Then these two especially, were the kings of lying as you've described in your article. Fact-impervious rants and the KellyAnne Conway school of trying to completely de-rail a question with stupid questions or stupid equivalences.
Why aren't all Americans disgusted by a party that devalues truth? Why would a party want to devalue truth? At this point it seems they would because they also want to devalue the rule of law, and the possibility Americans want the country we've always been promised, one of truth, justice and the American way.
6
@Lock Him Up Unfortunately, I think truth would leave many people feeling powerless and exploited -- which is their true position.
Better, dream that Team Trump will protect you from the alien invasion and the socialists. Better to ignore what Corporate Socialism is doing to you.
Of course, the Russians didn't interfere in the 2016 presidential elections. They were too busy negotiating for Rusal, Russia Aluminum's major business investment in Kentucky. Kentucky, you know, McCONnell's home state.
3
Some of the best information I get on various issues comes from Times commenters who have either experienced things first hand or are experienced or experts in certain areas. I often enjoy reading the comments more than many poorly researched or superficial articles. This recently came out when a pilot commented on the Boeing plane problems, and then an engineer weighed in. I learned more from those two comments than from the article they responded to. The same goes for the op-eds, like yours professor Krugman! People who have expertise and who are thoughtful and have interesting observations contribute a lot. So at least the Times is willing to entertain some additional factual information in the paper, I appreciate the Times' receptiveness to those comments and op-eds.
4
Lying works, better than truth. Repeat a lie three times and it becomes the truth and you never have to determine what truth is or was. Just lie. Keep lying. Lie again. You will be believed and you never have to do any work to be honest.
Those of us who don't buy into this have GOT TO VOTE for better leaders than this. And we will have to continue to work for honesty, because the GOP is not going to quit lying just because they are out of power. They will lie and lie and lie forever because it works. They will attack every Democrat and keep lying about it every chance they get. It is what the GOP is now, openly and unashamedly.
5
Yes, Republican's wage never ending war foreign and domestic, and they are frighteningly adept at domestic psychological warfare.
4
which is their night king and our Arya?
Americans are obsessed by winning...winning at all cost. Only winning matters and winning means totally obliterating your opponent whether it's on the courts, in the political arena, or in the course of a debate. Anything less than that brands you a "loser."
With that kind of attitude no wonder there can be no compromise, no give and take, no making of concessions to arrive at a middle ground.
For me to win, you must lose...and be seen to have lost badly.
So bring on the lies, the falsehoods, the mendacity, the misrepresentation, the duplicity. I must win no matter if in doing so I destroy my opponents, myself and the system itself. After all, I'm a winner.
The emergence and celebration of the winner-take-all society will eventually doom this country.
1
Another important reason that those crazy conservative explanations are not disputed by their followers is that they managed to create such wide divisions and hatred to the other side that plain vanilla conservatives don’t even try to analyze any of those explanations anymore. They automatically conclude liberals are bad and wrong, period.
The "Zombie style" is beyond Hypocrisy. The decades old war on the 'common good' reeks, to me, of simple treason laden with a heavy load of greed.
Odd that the 'right wing' phrase includes the word right. Their dogma shifts with the wind. We can hope that Trump and his regime are the end point but McConnell has shifted the Supreme Court even further to the right, or wrong if you like.
Looking for balance in the media seems hopeless. MSNBC and CNN have very good staff but CNN continues to give several Trump helpers air time for their drivel. Trump likes to brag that he has Zucker in "his pocket". We know Murdoch is a corrupt as they come. How does Shep Smith survive?
Equivalency comes in different shades but we see too much of it. Calling an orange and orange requires that the truth be prominent, not sacrificed.
1
@Harold And, thanking Prof Krugman for laying all this out for us week after week. It is bound to help.
If GOP arguments are GOT wights, and the GOP itself is the group of white walkers surrounding the Night King, who is the Night King? Not Trump. Trump is too much of a White Walker himself, shambling across the moors of Mar-a-Lago in the oversized clothes of dead presidents. The Night King must be Global Capitalism itself, which threatens to turn our good green earth into a wasteland and all hearts to ice.
1
Thank you, Professor Krugman, for these observations. And generally for your sane, intelligent, clear thinking.
1
One of the more notable zombies said,"Let them eat cake."
1
Perfectly written piece summarizing exactly what republicans are about: zombies!!!
And what exactly are zombies?
Zombies are entities entrapped in such domains of self-imposed illusion that is sealed for endless ages.
Very seldom, and only with the greatest difficulty, can we rescue one who in this manner lost his way, and lead him out again of the deceptive bliss of his imagined heaven.
It appears we love to over analyze the reasons Republicans behave in ways that appear irrational or corrupt. It's very simple. Follow the money. They embrace a value system that dictates wealth is everything and anything goes if it increases one's personal pile of cash. If corruption and lying delivers wealth then it's not unethical to lie. If disavowing responsibility for climate change brings wealth then do it. If gutting social programs enhances one's personal wealth then it's simply stupid to not gut those programs. Always, simply follow the money.
5
Provocative...
just reading the editorial by Samil Patil on India and fake-news.
This image of a plaque of Zombies that infest our national dialogue is sort of comical but it's not.
It is real and could also be viewed as a national health crisis.
It is a cynical, intentional scheme to dangle these
lies- useless and worn beyond dispute- in our collective faces. It appears to give them an immortal legitimacy.
Like tobacco and cancer...
Like an old beef roast, already rotten and stinking,
that somehow is always left there on the dining table,
because someone will eat of it.
"... reporting about these debates typically frames them as disputes about the facts and what they mean, when the reality is that one side isn’t interested in the facts."
And therein lies the problem.
You can not have a debate when one of the participants is attempting to investigate reality and the other is only interested in propaganda that aids its agenda-du-jour.
Constantly shifting the goal posts, while infantile, is also very effective when confronted with opponents of superior intellect. It is the essence of Republican "what-aboutism".
I have encountered this many times. Recently I made a comment about Trump being a frequent and fluent liar and a nearby supporter of the man objected. I finally whittled him down to his statement that "Trump only lies to get liberals upset". It was his way of saying that "to me he is honest but to you he isn't and that is OK "
2
As every animal in the forest knows not attending to the truth leads to harm and sometimes death.
History is not kind to countries that deny reality in favor of a corrupt agenda.
2
Let’s not forget that the GOP’s decades long propaganda campaign demonizing Hillary Clinton - perhaps the most qualified presidential candidate in our lifetime - paving the way for the election of Donald Trump, certainly the least qualified. Lies are as representative of Republicans as the elephant simply because the truth illuminates the fact that most Americans are against everything the party stands for. Which is why - based on the completely debunked notion of “voter fraud” - they relentlessly try to limit opportunities for citizens of certain demographics to cast a ballot.
4
Lie deny, lie deny, lie deny. This is a pattern that has made it almost inevitable that they would stand with Pinocchio and allow him to be President. Lies are so obvious yet it seems so hard for our media to recognize them and call them what they are. When the Times uses phrases like " an inaccurate refrain " they are using obfuscation to hide the truth. I expect more from the Fourth Estate! They have been given a duty to observe and report in an honest manor. But if they continue to call green yellow then we will continue to believe lies and denials.
1
always keep telling the truth.
1
Fact-free politics dominates the Republican Party line because they cater to the basic intellectual dishonesty of a system that promises equality of opportunity as a poor substitute for plain ol' equality in spite of enormous national wealth.
No wonder Americans are among the most stressed people on the planet. Trying to resolve what we all pretty much know are lies about the basic reality of American life - enormous wealth stolen "legally" from the bulk of the citizenry by rewarding greed, not hard work - tends to result in more confusion about what these principles really represent, cognitive dissonance that distracts most of us from seeing how political-economic robbery is facilitated by Trump's bodyguard of lies.
Yes, far too many Americans still believe the intellectual posturing of the rapacious wealthy will trickle-down to the benefit of the majority. It seems the strongest argument for that happening is pretty much the same logic behind buying lottery tickets as a retirement plan...someone's going to hit it rich, right, and just in case it's us we sure want to avoid taxing that jackpot of lies.
Fool me once is understandable, maybe even twice. But insisting on lies still having legs after days, weeks, months, years and decades when facts speak of reality at odds with these serial provocations of prevarications is nothing but foolhardy.
Sadly, too many Americans think that crumbs off the table of capitalism is all we deserve.
3
To every writer everywhere - stop with the GameofThrones references. There are people (I hope many) who have zero knowledge of, or interest in, a pop TV phenomena.
6
The Russian involvement argument is dead on arrival. Don't embarrass yourself in trying to resuscitate it.
2
@Crow, Read Volume 1 of the Mueller Report. I think you may be in unrecognized denial.
Brilliant and terrifying. Thank you.
2
The press isn’t the only problem. That apparatchik thing is now going on with the majority wing of Supreme Court.
2
Our 225 year-old Constitution is in tatters. No major rework is in sight. Revolution is the answer, the only answer.
2
There was a time when journalists claimed to be interested in finding out the truth. Now they don’t care. They’ve become dittoheads content to ‘report’ what’s happening as if it were themost trivial sports match you can imagine.
1
Who wouldda thunk it - an unholy alliance between unreconstructed confederates and the old USSR, now headed by a KGB agent, may finally be achieving their goal of victory. And I was taught that the Civil War and Cold War were over.
2
I agree completely and have so for a very long time. This all started back with the Powell Memo back in '73 or '74 as how to compete with Liberal Doctrine. False equivalency has been around for most of our lives.
So when will the chickens come home to roost? Or how about when will the cows come home? The republicans are so desperate as to now need help from our long term Boogeyman from Russia, or the neo-USSR under the angry ex-KGB man. This wealth inequity, fake news climate change, tax cuts for the relatively useless job creators, and led by the Conman-in-Chief is riding our system of government right off the rails. When does it stop and die off is my question?
2
@C. Coffey, Thanks for mentioning the Powell Memo. Hope the media can keep up with this developing story of the construction of what I call the Business Right, because the scholars are doing so. A short list of three reaching back both before and after the Powell Memo would include:
-Kim Phillips-Fein, Invisible Hands: The Businessmen’s Crusade Against the New Deal, NY: Norton, 2009
-Kevin Kruse, One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, NY: Basic Books, 2001
-Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Knopf Doubleday, 2016
There is a great term for this kind of reasoning. It's called kettle logic.
Neither Trump nor his lawyers have to "prove" the negative of no collusion. That's stupid.
The Democrats dirty trick hoax fell apert when Mueller found no Russion collusion or conspiracy.
But here is Krugman still whipping the now dead horse. Those evil Republicans told the truth by denying the multiple (and now debunked) collusion hoax narratives.
How dare they.
1
@Fred Rick Did you actually read that report?
The constant lying, fear mongering, personal attacks and "alternative facts" are not just the tools of a deeply dishonest and debased political party. They are the foundations of fascism. The GOP, which is now fundamentally hostile to democracy, has to be defeated and marginalized before it's too late.
2
When everyone else is the problem, a good counselor will tell you “have you thought about yourself?”
The Democrats cannot bring themselves to admit that there is always going to be a bottom 20 percent, and while there is no shame in that, government is not going to change it.
Democrats need to tell the electorate that that there are limits to what their governments are willing to do. Government will give you medicaid or ACA-level care. It will give you SNAP. It will give you EITC. It will subsidize some housing. It will enforce environmental law, labor law and a fair minimum wage. It will assure you two years of college. It will assure your vote counts.
And that’s it. Everything else is on you, the individual. You want anything else, go earn it. We will manage the economy so you can.
I agree there is false equivalence going on. Paul Ryan was a fraud of Trumpian proportions. But if you want change, be the change you want to see. Tell the uncomfortable truth about yourself, so you are credible.
2
I’ve stopped telephoning a very close relative since we got into an argument about global warming. I just can’t deal with these people who throw out words like global cooling as the reason all the science is wrong. This is the same relative who thinks there is a serious border problem as well.
I asked him to give me a source because the global cooling position was news to me but he had none he could site, but when asked who my sources were I mentioned the NYT and a recent book I read called the 6th Extinction.
“The New York Times! The Washington Post!” He shouted, “why those papers aren’t even owned by Americans. I honestly didn’t know who owned the Times but I knew Bezos owns The Post.
My point being it is next to impossible to have an intelligent conversation with people on the other side of issues when they simply don’t know the facts or simply don’t want to hear them, particularly if it’s going to affect their wallet.
2
@Ted Siebert, Rest assured. The Times has been owned (or led from a corporate board) by an American family for many generations. Of course, they got here by immigrating from a foreign country. Incidentally does your relative know that the pro-Trump New York Post is owned by an immigrant?
I've found this philosophical mantra helpful:
The truth of a proposition is not demonstrated by the status of those who agree with it--especially in politics. In mathematics, always, and in the "hard" sciences, most often, such status has no effect at all on the demonstration.
And we needn't dress up Republican ideas as 'intellectual zombies' when in fact they're just deliberate, nefarious Big Lies pouring off the Republican industrial-propaganda assembly line which are then repeated ad infinitum in classic Goebbelsian fashion until half of America's brains turn to predigested Republican gruel.
But beyond the public lies, which many Republicans will admit in private are lies, the question is what kind of people are attracted to these lies.
Authoritarians love lies, which is what the American right-wing is; they have no interest in democracy and ideally prefer a patriarchal, male, religious theocracy.
As Hannah Arendt wrote in her book The Origins of Totalitarianism:
"In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."
Decent Americans don't vote for right-wing madmen.
Remember in 2020
28
@Socrates
Precisely. We can only hope that Trump supporters will eventually share with the rest of us how it is that they are able to tell apart those instances when Trump is joking from those when he's being serious.
1
Nothing that can be exploited for fundraising ever dies in US politics.
5
“It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
― George Orwell, 1984
3
Astute for an economist. Although it is what I have come to expect from Mr. Krugman.
Magicians and con men can distract many if not most people. Magicians will amaze and entertain. Con men will rob you blind and tell you it is your fault for falling for their lies.
We have at least one con man in The White House.
Thanks Paul.
2
I think the real problem is that zombies by their nature eat brains.
2
America has gone the way of sham democracies. Hold a rigged election, deny that you cheated, blame the other side, rip off the system and repeat.
4
For many enthused about a society with minimal rights for religious or ethnic minorities; where the courts are beholden to the Leader, and not at all activist; where homosexuality is eliminated because it is illegal; where a strong man rules, a king more or less...
Expect to find the sympathies of our own homegrown authoritarians to not see the problems the rest of us see.
1
it never fails to amaze that the GOP, whose one consistent demon since at least the late 19th century has been the dreaded socialism (i.e., economic leveling) should have so completely adopted the tactics of the Soviet Union. Stoutly defend ideas that you don't believe, devalue or ban facts, and of course muzzle scientists, economists, or anyone with a fact-based idea. And then create a TV network to act as your propaganda mouthpiece--Rupert Murdoch has been a crucial part of the "tobacco strategy".
3
Can't have a horse race with only one horse. Who's going to buy a ticket to that contest?
OK, when Paul Krugman starts using Game of Thrones as a trope (seeping into his hermeneutic from the NYTs Arts section's OBSESSION), I should feel awful that I've never watched one episode. I'm lacking a deconstructive frame for the simulacra of Capitalist political marketing through GOP Whatever Wonderland.
My education is a waste. I coulda been a contender, if I'd subscribed to HBO.
But of course, the New Medievalism of China and Russia in covert war with the Atlantic Alliance (readily playing The Donald for a sucker) easily looks like comic book stridency.
1
Dr. Paul, how much higher can global economic inequality rise? Manhattan, LA, Tokyo and Singapore penthouses in the $hundreds of millions? And the "hoax" of man-made climate change? Stinking Sargassum weed is choking the Caribbean, poisonous blue-green algae invading Florida. Undeniable signs of climate-warming and extinction of mankind on earth.
Inequality of income and climate change are both global and undeniable truths. They will inflict worse horror on America's democracy than the trumpian dishonesty and bad faith of the Republicans.
P.S. Dr. Paul: great Weegee photo of the wonky, Zombie, Capitol in Washington, DC. Just like the shape-shifting Golem of the G.O.P. since president Trump won the 2016 election against all predictions.
1
It would be so sublime to have you read this on Hannity!
If only there was a way to counter 24/7 mis-info from FOX and Sinclair, the truth might have a chance.
Where is Bill Gates when you need him? Couldn't he buy another TV network and fill it with left-leaning liberal progressives. AOC would be a great "TV personality" alongside Beto and a few of the other younger Dems.
Keep writing, sir. You make it possible for me to face each day.
1
Marx (Groucho that is) put it best: who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?
2
As always, Paul Krugman is exactly right .
“Zombie style in politics” ? “Why bad ideas just won’t stay dead ?”
I’m asking myself the same question, decades after coming here from a Socialist Republic - why is Socialism crawling out of its grave ?
1
@Gimme A. Break
Hmmm, health care for all citizens is such a bad socialism? Don’t like your Medicare? Give it up!
“Don't write anything you can phone. Don't phone anything you can talk. Don't talk anything you can whisper. Don't whisper anything you can smile. Don't smile anything you can nod. Don't nod anything you can wink.” Earl Long.
Trump and Putin did collude in a way that only a RICO prosecution can fathom. Each man knew what the other wanted and so they didn’t need to communicate. Add that to the Zombie argument.
2
Yes and YES!
Based on the title here, I thought this might be about Rod Rosenstein's chillingly soulless stare while standing behind AG Barr's spin session prior to the release of the Mueller Report. Poster child for 'zombie politics'? lol.
Excellent column, Mr. Krugman, but in addition to highly informed and articulate accounts of the Republican Party's current corruption, we need editorial comment on the billionaires who control it and how to stop them.
Repeal of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision is urgently needed, yet I currently find no discussion of it in the media.
10
Krugman writes: "But my sense is that the news media continue to have a hard time coping with the essential fraudulence of most big policy debates."
Agreed. It's hard to know what to do when someone perpetually advances an argument like "inequality has been around since the beginning of time and even though there are some things we can do to prevent the worst abuses, there's not a lot we can really do about economic poverty and the suffering created by it without destroying the capitalist engines of productivity and having the government take your hard-earned money from you and control your lives."
These types of arguments may seem to folks to come from a point of authentically held beliefs, but they are disingenuous from the get go. They avoid all discussion of policy and concentrate all their energy on increasing the sense of inexorability of the situation. The goal is to create apathy in the public for change by creating an unending procession of false arguments, stray men, bait and switch and outright dismissal of concrete facts, ideas, proposals and analysis.
This approach deliberately manipulates the neurobiological vulnerability of humans who are programmed, at a very deep level, to allow themselves, as a survival strategy when subjugated by powerful male tyrants, to go along with things.
Given this current situation with the Republicans, it would make more sense to report on what they *aren't* doing (governing) then what they *are* doing (distracting).
8
Thank you for saying what has to be said, over and over. This column is particularly timely given the report this weekend that Trump has now told over 10,000 false or misleading statements since his inauguration. NO sentient human being should ever consider voting for that beast and his fellow-Republican enablers.
11
I just shake my head. It's uncomfortable to watch and read fairly well intelligent and observant people, such as Dr. Krugman, devolve into babbling idiots, muttering to themselves about russians, and trump, and this and that.....the guy over the subway grate near broadway sounds more coherent.
....
Look. Russians influencing elections is no different than, say, a lobbyist like Tony Podesta influencing elections,,,,,or say a Daddy Warbucks like any of the Silicon Valley Robber Barons influencing elections. If anybody got taken advantage of. it was FACEBOOK...haha....after years of Facebook/Google/Yahoo attempting to manipulate the public's collective mind........the Russians manipulated Facebook!!! Too Cool.
And......just to illustrate "blowback"......has any NYTs reader ever thought back to Ukraine?.....that place with elections influenced by the USA???
I can hear Rootin-Tootin Vladmir Putin saying to himself..."What is good for Goose....is good for Gander, No?"
2
@Wherever Hugo
I stopped shaking my head. This Alternate Reality the Left lives in to try and make sense of their loss in 2016 is truly just Trump Derangement Syndrome. Its a Phobia thats taken over the Left like they got bitten my Zombies!
1
@Wherever Hugo: There is a huge difference between the Russians and Tony Podesta. Mr. Podesta is an American citizen, subject to American laws, and entitled to participate in elections. Those laws might be all wrong, but that's a different but related discussion.
I suspect you might be right about Ukraine, but I can't tell which source to trust. It was most likely our puppet vs. Russia's. But the Ukrainians weren't the ones interfering with our election.
Facebook was a ripe plum waiting to be plucked. It might not survive the 2020 election.
@Wherever Hugo,
Beyond arguing that, contrary to what we were taught as children, two wrongs actually do make a right and calling those who don't agree with you 'babbling idiots', I'm at a loss to identify any valid points here.
The convention at least since George Romero's Night of the Living Dead is that Zombies are a coalition of the mindless driven by their voracious nature to destroy all life that stands in their way. Republicans, on the other hand, are loosely associated lone wolf opportunists individually bent on amassing material rewards without regard to any such thing as civic and moral responsibility. America could easily handle an invasion of Zombies. Republicans are a taller order.
5
All true observations, but insinuating it’s a single party (republican) problem is wrong and misleading.
Its one thing to call out deniers of critical issues, it’s another to deny personal culpability. Yes, I am talking about the moral high horse claimed by partisan politicians, journalists, pendants on both sides of this meandering isle.
Wealth inequality has been ignored, supported and practiced by many Democrats (as well as Republicans) Mr. Krugman. Campaign opposition research and morally awful political behavior has been practiced by both sides— need we investigate our history to be truthful to readers on this? Even recent history tells a different narrative: Campaign denies research via paid (foreign) intelligence. Ok, well I guess the Clinton team did do that. AG denies wrong doing by interfering with an investigation, telling FBI director to lay off charges? Ok, well I guess that happened in the Obama administration. Etc....
Its all grimy stuff and limited to republicans . Ok, well I guess both sides do it.
1
@Independent Voter So, equivalency survives. "Both sides are guilty of sins" so we have to accept it as a basic truth? I like to think some are better than others, Obama vs Trump for example. Pelosi vs McConnell. Leaders who actually care. We have a number of them on the leader board today.
4
My congratulations, Mr. Krugman.
In this one post, you've summarized what people of good faith who believe in refuting nonsense with logical argument have faced every single day of the last few election cycles.
2
It must be nice to have access to the only poltical truth, alway being not only correct, but morally superior at the same time.
Where can one sign up to become a part of such Puritanical superiorty?
1
The Republican party became compromised when it came under the total control of oligarchs and corporations who, at the same time, engineered the legalization of corruption through our courts.
Oligarchs feel less of a duty to nation than people who believe in democracy. Their allegiances are to their own clans of wealthy people, rather to country.
That is one of the greatest failings of our constitution. It was written by oligarchs, slavers, and it left some gaps through which generations of rich people have, in cyclical manner, tried to take control of our government. As our population has grown and civil rights have become more of an issue, this gaping hole is now visible to all and is impinging on all of our rights in new ways.
The other major party is no less susceptible to corruption than Republicans. In fact, after Trump or as Trump is up for reelection, the wealthy will turn their attention to the DNC and attempt to influence who is chosen. The New York Times reported on that last week in an extraordinary piece about how to "stop Sanders."
Russia is run by oligarchs. We are now run by oligarchs. If you google Ukraine and any number of politicians on the left or right, you will see a lot of connections.
Rot never affects only one portion of the food it is on. To think one is immune is to be a fool.
Choose wisely. 2020 is the last redo. So long.
---
Things Trump Did While You Weren’t Looking [2019] https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-3h2
7
Many GOP enthusiasts consider the statement "you can keep your doctor" proves that Pres. Obama was more dishonest than his successor,
Instead of newly valuing truth after Nixon, the Republicans let Reagan confabulate, repeat fact-free anecdotes, and blur the distinction between reality and its alternates.
Since then, the GOP has become more and more truth-optional.
Perhaps we could get Mr. Trump to believe that to help him stamp out "fake news", Fox is about to start making all guests, interviewees, etc., wear lie detectors.
3
@Grennan
There is one simple answer for the supposed Obama “lie”.
More than 97% of Americans kept their plans and doctors.
1
@CarolinaJoe
Yes, of course they did--but the hardy fact-resistant strain of Trump supporters keeps trotting it out.
I think PK should stay on its field, economics... For politics, he is not yet out of acute TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), and would do a better service to everyone, democrats and rest of the world included, to stay away from commenting until he gets healed
1
I spent the last 15 years of my professional career as a research scientist working in the climate-science arena. Attended conferences all over the world, wrote a bunch of (mostly peer-reviewed) papers, spoke to hundreds if not thousands of fellow scientists, etc.
Based on said experience, I *still* marvel at the persistence of the trope that there’s a world-wide conspiracy of left-wing-radical climate scientists assiduously and surreptitiously skewing data, publishing obviously misleading articles, and spewing their own form of left-wing propaganda. STILL! In all my many years and thousands of interactions with my peers, I, personally, never met a single person I would describe as a “Myron Elbel denier.” If you don’t know who Elbel is, just look him up. I know they exist—the Trump administration is full of them, and people like him, from top to bottom. Where do they find these people?!
My next-door neighbor is one of them. I’m in the process of trying to convince her, calmly, politely, compassionately, that a cabal of NASA and NOAA scientists actually aren’t fabricating and changing data to support what she sees as a left-wing propaganda effort. It’s slow going; one step—and one person—at a time. It’s exhausting, but what’s the alternative?
9
Thanks for your service!
1
There is not a conspiracy against climate science.
There is resistance to being stampeded into terrible domestic political "solutions" that put huge swaths of the US economy under the control of ignorant fools (like AOC) while having no real impact on what is a global problem.
The dastardly deed is done, and we'll find out in 18 months whether the nation is as well. Every day, in fact multiple times each day, my wife receives emails from friends (whose messages I have long since blocked) spewing the latest right-wing propaganda. No doubt most NYT readers experience the same, as it is now pervasive. But these posts are not from the so-called left behind, down-and-out, poor and poorly educated small town Americans we keep telling ourselves represent most of Trump's "base". These are from highly educated, metropolitan area or affluent retirement community residing retired senior executives of the nation's largest companies, professionals, and business owners. And the things they say are most outlandish, long-since proven inaccurate, couched in the most hateful, inflammatory language imaginable. That's now nearly half the country, and still despite all that we have observed about this administration. Where is the fix for that? The young, the downtrodden, the struggling middle class - all have to awaken to the truth, recognize the threat posed by untruth, and turn out to vote in record numbers. The media isn't going to save us, we have to save ourselves.
6
For a time, I exchanged emails with a “right thinking” acquaintance fm high school. I was interested in what HE thought, but didn’t want to see the drivel he wanted to forward instead of thinking. He persisted in forwarding propaganda.
Finally, when he sent along an obnoxious (but effective) slur equating poor people on “food stamps” to zoo animals, I shut him up with an outraged response that he could speak that way about _Veterans!_, since our (Republican) shabby treatment ensures that many of those “food stamp frauds” are in fact survivors of our endless wars.
As a proud Son of the South, he could not abide me rudely pointing out a slur on Veterans, never mind that it was his slur. A bridge too far. Haven’t heard from him since. Having successfully gotten that burr under his saddle, I do occasionally wonder if it ever sprouted...
Perhaps the worst idea of all those harbored by our mediocre president is his belief that he is above the law. He obviously has the zombie idea that he has the authority to defy congressional subpoenas for his financial records and for anything else. He doesn’t — not if we have a system of coequal governmental branches. Congress needs to issue a warrant for his arrest.
3
The walking dead analogy is completely apt. Zombie ideas that never die unless one cuts off the head. That is what it will take. Such an electoral defeat to send them scurrying back to the caves. Who will be the Arya that says to death “Not Today”? Think AOC not Joe Biden.
1
Many GOP enthusiasts consider the statement "you can keep your doctor" proves that Pres. Obama was more dishonest than his successor,
Instead of newly valuing truth after Nixon, the Republicans let Reagan confabulate, repeat fact-free anecdotes, and blur the distinction between reality and its alternates.
Since then, the GOP has become more and more truth-optional.
Perhaps we could get Mr. Trump to believe that to help him stamp out "fake news", Fox is about to start making all guests, interviewees, etc., wear lie detectors.
1
@Grennan
“Truth-Optional” gets close, but I think “Lie-Positive” is more to the point. I believe that lying itself is a dog whistle to the conservative base, giving permission to all who find science and fact-based discourse inconvenient to make up their own story. The problem for the media is that they continue to analyze the lies in terms of content, trying to parse what’s true and what’s not, whereas it is the act of lying that carries and reinforces the message to the base. And that message is: You can believe whatever you want to believe.
The fact that conservatives have several different false narratives going at the same time about Russians, climate, and economics makes it plain as day that they have no interest in reasoned dialogue, and that the lying itself is the point.
I’m curious as to how they think a democracy might function when a significant portion of the electorate and governing bodies (Executive, Senate, DOJ) practice delusion and disregard for the laws of both nature and the land as their political mandate.
1
@T Bucklin
Good point...how about "fact-proof"?
There can be no government without the goodwill of men.
2
The media is to blame. News isn’t “news”’any more: it’s become a amateurish debate between professional spokesmen. Reporters don’t “report,” they referee two or more yelling adversaries.
Maybe the owners think this makes great copy and TV, and gives the imprimatur of “fairness.”
1
"“What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening,” Donald Trump
What IS happening is what gets the most "likes" on Facebook, the most views on YouTube, and the best traction in the polls conducted by political consultants. Truth IS data driven... but the data driving the truth is not grounded in reality... it's grounded in what appeals to our belief that problems can be solved quickly, easily, and cheaply without any personal sacrifice.
3
Belief is the enemy of Reason. Never has this been more clear than in the current stance of what passes for the Republican Party. At all levels of government they need to be removed from their jobs; because if you define that job role as supporting the needs and aspirations of average America they have failed, failed, FAILED to deliver. Remove them and put belief in its place.
John~
American Net'Zen
Intellectual Zombies? Barrow-wights?
Just a few years ago, geologically speaking,
we emerged blinking from our cave.
Last week we finally tired of royalty and dragged
a few of our rulers- kings and queens-
off of their thrones and cut-off their heads.
Just yesterday about half of us were asserting,
again and again, the moral superiority of chattel slavery,
and ready to shed their own blood- and yours- defending it.
This morning, employing our disproportionate genius,
we cranked-out a big firecracker loaded with plutonium
that ended the lives of nearly a half a million of us.
What fresh horror will the evening bring?
3
Unfortunately, one reason the GOP, which is essentially a treasonous organization, has been able to sustain itself and its lies for so long is that Democrats have been too afraid for too long to say the emperor has no clothes. Every Republican policy for the past 65 years (think Joe McCarthy) has been premised on the big lie.
3
Ok, I will illustrate the "both sides" bit to illustrate that it is not just Republicans who repeat zombie lies endlessly for their propaganda value:
"Healthcare is a human right"---repeating endlessly to dull the senses. No, breathing is a human right, but even water costs someone money.
"Immigrants fleeing violence in Central America"----repeat endlessly until the senses are stupefied. Well, maybe some, but the overwhelming majority travel 1500 miles through a sanctuary of physical safety (Mexico) to claim "asylum", using the shield of a child in order to obtain greater economic opportunity.
"We can have a carbon free economy by 2050 with renewable energy---no Nukes!"---repeated endlessly until believed by the numbers-challenged public. This goal is physically implausible and probably impossible without substantial nuclear power investment.
We are immersed in an ocean of lies and distortions coming at us from all directions. Yeah, worse from Republicans, but from the Democrats are doing their best to catch up, and their lies are just as impactful.
1
You are right . Everything fake and corrupted is already in the language .
It is the trace of education and the process by which the forclusion of sense is made sure . By elliptical avoidance .
Everything is won by refusal.
Inequality: does anyone think encouraging competition with low cost labor offshore and allowing unskilled labor into the country may contribute to inequality.
Global warming: physics says severely limit human reproduction or standard of living to lower atmospheric co2
2016 election: the DNC rigged the primary. The previous admin used foriegn and domestic spy agencies to sabotage the Trump presidency.
You don't have to accept what the Times tells you. Sometimes it's distorted or at odds with reality.
1
Dr. Krugman’s Op-Eds are consistently insightful and excellent. Thank you, NY Times, for bringing his wisdom to your readers.
3
I have a purported Seal team motto shirt that sums up republican and conservative strategy: “ deny everything. Admit nothing. Make counter accusations. “. And I’ll add two corollaries: be selective about facts: our’s are, your’s are not. Repeat untruths unwaveringly. And I love their use of implicit assumptions in even their opening statements. But as i’ve said before: if hypocrisy, callousness and cognitive dissonance were fatal the republican leadership, their billionaire controllers and a majority of their voters would cease to be. You can not argue with a person’s firmly held beliefs, facts or truth or reality have no leverage, this is a belief. It’s a reality inside their head. All you can do is exercise power: vote. Get involved, help other sane people vote. And reality, Mother Nature, basic physics and thermodynamics will always prevail.
2
So in this scenario AOC is Arya Stark?
1
Let’s hope so.
Mr. Krugman let’s not forget the latest golden oldie the GOP has dusted off: equating any proposal to mollify the harsh affects of their policies, as “socialism”.
3
Excellent article Mr. Krugman. I believe you are touching on one (out of several) fundamental.
If you combine this strategy of multilayered denialism, with a propaganda machine, and a 'tribe' of citizens who are 'all in' on this party, then you get something rather dangerous...
2
Democrats have their own zombies. They use lefty promises to win elections and the use conservative economics to excuse their inability to follow through. They promise to do something about inequality and then use their zombie deficit hawkery to keep their Wallstreet sugardaddies happy.
You have to be blind not to see this happening again with Joe Biden's entry into the race. Wallstreet's money and influence keeps him in the media spotlight and he soars in the polls. How else could a boring 76 year old be competitive for the Democratic nomination!
3
@L F File, How else? Well, you should at least count the inveterate venerable voters, who are near his age, and not rich or healthy enough to comfortably retire and help their children with their declining incomes and time. They could be Vietnam Veterans Against the War, wearily looking for security against war without end or purpose, and climate change. They could even be social democrats. And to such 70+ year-olds, Biden looks far less corrupted by the oligarchy than Hilary did in 2016. (But of course Trump beats them both by a mile on that score.)
@William Everdell
Being one of those 70+ Viet Nam era veterans I still think he is too old and did not show much competence even when he was younger. A magnificent gladhander though I believe. We can't have liberal government with conservative economics and that is what the centrists like Biden stand for.
1
When did the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt change direction to evolve into the ongoing criminal enterprise it has become?
Was it Nixon’s southern strategy?
Was it Reagan’s It’s Morning in America, government-is-the-problem scam?
When the Republican Party sold its soul to the devil by climbing into bed with evangelical Christians, for a few pieces of silver?
When did they give up even the pretense of decency?
The entire party is a zombie that keeps walking and talking.
5
Russians, Russians and more Russians.
Sounds like 1980's (or 1950's) foreign policy.
Yes, as the expression goes, Putin owned Obama and Hillary and all the Cerebral #44 had to offer was an attempt to denigrate Romney.
In terms of working class wages and jobs, do you, your family, friends, acquaintances drive automobiles assembled in the US by union labor? There's part of your answer - automation notwithstanding.
Race relations? How goes the racial desegregation of NYC public schools? Right, it doesn't.
Krugman truly has the conscience of a liberal.
Now get back to hammering on those folks in flyover country.
The followup question needs to be asked: what exactly motivates the Republican propensity for zombie arguments? Is there any underlying method to their apparent madness? Unfortunately, I believe the answer involves parsing the drivel written by Ayn Rand back in the 1940's and 50's. Rand proposed an infantile dichotomy of society into 'parasites' (or 'moochers') versus her charismatic Übermensch entrepreneurs, Howard Roark and John Galt. In her moral universe individual impulses are sacred, and any agency that thwarts those impulses must be demolished. It's a not-even-half-baked pseudo-ideology perfectly adapted to justify winner-take-all laissez-faire crony capitalism. You marry that nonsense to thinly-veiled Jim Crow racist strategies plus a dose of the good ol' bible-thumping revival tent, and _presto_ you have the Republican zombie army on the march. They want to own _everything_, to control _everything_, and if the rest get swallowed up by war, disease or poverty, well that's just too bad. They have self-mutilated themselves - amputating the common human emotion of solidarity for their fellow man - exactly as espoused by Ayn Rand.
3
@Paul, Yes. And to her embrace of "the virtue of selfishness' and the multitude of Ayn Rand's other intellectual offenses, we must add her recommendation of extraordinary bad faith. Along with her went Paul Ryan, Alan Greenspan, and many more. Her books sold out in stacks in airports full of "businessmen." I hope we can recover. The world's great religions used to help with this, but now ...?
I've assigned some of her most egregious writings to smart, religiously unmoored high-school students as a prophylactic, and that has helped.
1
Krugman. The Nobel prize winning economist who said the markets would never recover from the Trump election.
2
And then actually admitted his mistake in judgement. Something almost never heard from GOP politicians and mouthpieces.
We should thank Trump for abandoning all pretence about telling the truth, and for forcing the issue. If he is re-elected in 2020, then America will have chosen deliberately to go fascist. We will all have to either accept that, or leave. Judging from yesterday’s article about Alabama prisons, the outlook is bleak.
1
Bad faith arguments are devastatingly hard to deal with, but every step we can take to expose them will help. Thanks again, Prof. Krugman
4
Thank you for the cold comfort of knowing I'm not alone in how I look at the world. I suppose it's better than nothing.
Please keep reminding us, although I know it gets harder and harder.
3
When it comes to Climate change, the problem is that there is no political will to act, even if the majority of the population is is favor of doing something. I believe that the politicians will be forced to act when the pre 18 year olds are able to vote! If those politicians do not act, they will find themselves out of a job.
4
All my life conservatism has been defined by the argument, "Okay - we were wrong about that, but we're right about everything else."
For me, it started with school segregation and intermarriage - which they finally gave up on opposing with the above argument. Then is was Viet Nam and then Nixon (except for a few diehards). Now it's inequality and climate change and they are already starting to soften on the latter - at least in the red states most affected by hurricanes.
The essence of conservatism, now championed by the Republican Party is defense of bad ideas.
11
The Mueller report showed no obstruction. O.K., it showed obstruction, but it Trump underlings didn't carry it out. O.K., so, legally, it doesn't matter if it wasn't carried out, according to FOX News legal analyst, Judge Andrew Nepolitano. O.K., we'd like for him to discuss his views on air but, gosh darn it, we can't find him.
8
Didn't Marx and Hegel teach us, if anything, to come up with a great idea but then think of a hundred reasons why it isn't such a great idea?
Once there was a proposed ban on chlorine. Why was it a bad idea? Because the bacteria in drinking water would kill people without the addition of chlorine.
Presidents, Rhodes Scholars, and the greatest political minds in the agreed with the ban. All egged on by the Green Party. So why wasn't chlorine banned? Would putting the Green Party in charge of the world economy be a great idea? Why?
1
@JoeG, I missed that "proposed ban on chlorine." I'd like to know more about the proposers you call "Presidents, Rhodes Scholars, and the greatest political minds [...] egged on by the Green Party." And about those who accused them.
The truth of a proposition is not demonstrated by the status of those who agree with it--especially in politics. In mathematics, always, and in the "hard" sciences, most often, such status has no effect at all on the demonstration.
@William Everdell
Do I ask you to prove you're from Brooklyn because I never met anyone from there with the name Everdell.
Bill Clinton was the president with a Rhodes Scholarship. The United Nations has the best(?)political minds and if my memory is right Brussels was for it. If that's not enough Google it and the while you're at it the Google the Green Party.
"Hard" science requires proof and does not believe in only the worst case models. It does not require dupes of the Green Party to save the world.
@JoeG
Hmm, difficult to figure out where hyperbole ends and argument starts. Or is it all hyperbole?
It is impossible to discuss politics or policy with a self identified republican any longer. That is because every issue used to curry their votes by a party controlled by oligarchs and corporations is completely based in emotion. There is no logic and no pretense of logic.
There cannot be; the r party actively works against the interests of ordinary voters on behalf of the oligarchs and corporations that own it. Single hot button issues, and cognitive dissonance makes all (non billionaire) followers edgy and ready to blow.
Republicanism has become more of a religion or cult than a political party. You do not discuss religion or politics, because for republicans they are now the same thing.
16
But the Republicans’ religion abandoned Christianity some time ago; now it is the Theology of Trump.
And this is where the conversation needs to head. We need a conversation not just about climate, income equality and healthcare, but about the fundamental need for honesty, transparency and good faith.
The election in 2016 was lost precisely because the American people have stopped believing in good faith from either side. For this reason above all others, the Democrats must select a candidate who unequivocally represents the people before the profits.
10
"There’s a whole industry of people denying that inequality has gone up," or that climate change is real and caused by our over-reliance on fossil fuels.
But the bad faith is more sinister than this. It is not merely anchored in a callousness toward democratic norms; it is viruntly anti-democratic. When Democratic practice raises the possibility that the Right might not win, then democracy itself must be terminally damaged.
Why? Because winning is not only everything; it is the only thing. Anything else, including the United States Constitution, that might obstruct the path to victory must be burned to the ground.
This is what we're living with in early 21st Century America. Failure to understand the danger can only lead to a nationhood that resembles Germany or Italy or Japan in the first half of the 20th Century.
11
@John LeBaron, Yes. Coach Vince Lombardi's dictum was morally wrong, even about football.
Reminds me of a story my old Evidence professor used to illustrate the issue of conflicting defenses:
The man was defending himself against charges that his dog bit a child. "My dog was not running loose the day the child was bitten," he asserted.
Witnesses were produced who saw the dog running at large that day. "Well, maybe he got out, but my dog does not bite, though," was the next claim.
The mailman was called to testify that the dog in question had bitten him.
The defendant's last stand? "I don't own a dog."
8
I heartily agree with those who condemn the Republican Party, but I think that's beside the issue this column raises. Mr. Krugman is talking about a human characteristic--I think his colleagues who think in terms of economic psychology call it "confirmation bias." Virtually everyone, having taken a position that is important to them for whatever reason, rejects arguments against their position and accepts arguments in favor of it. If you decide, rationally or because of your upbringing, that any increase in federal spending will hurt the GDP, then you will oppose anything that increases federal spending. Psychologists go even deeper, and point out that people don't just believe one thing, they believe a cluster of things. If you oppose increased federal spending, you probably oppose abortion. Etc. In short, people in the thrall of confirmation bias may not be taking their policy positions for evil reasons; the debates we now have are not primarily about logic and facts.
4
It’s hard to think of a major political issue that this argument doesn’t apply to.
Guns: Guns make people safer. Ok, they don’t make people safer but it’s impossible to do anything about it. Ok, it’s possible to do something about it, but we don’t want to because, ummm errr, you know, freedom.
Health Insurance. The private health system is good. Ok, the private health system is bad, but it’s the best we can do. Ok, public health systems around the world are actually really good and loved by their citizens but we’d have to be a socialist country to do that. Ok, we wouldn’t have to be socialist, but, ummm, err, you know, government death panels.
Corporate Taxes. Lowering corporate taxes will boost the economy and pay for themselves. Ok, they won’t really pay for themselves, but they’ll boost investment. Ok, so we just did lower corporate taxes and there was no investment boom, but we have to have low corporate taxes to be internationally competitive. Ok, so corporate taxes are at historically low levels and we’ve been internationally dominant for a century, but we need to remember the lessons of Regan. Ok, so corporate taxes were much higher under Regan, but, ummm, errr, you know, socialism.
21
2016: Democrats claim the economy is doing better than 2009, but inequality remains a problem. Republicans claim the economy is in shambles and we need to cut taxes.
2019: Democrats claim the economy is doing better than 2009, but inequality remains a problem. Republicans claim the economy has never been better and we need to cut taxes.
The economy of 2016 really isn't fundamentally different than 2019. So, who is telling the truth?
6
@Astroman you should be able to figure it out.
In many ways we are losing our democracy. We live in a country run by capitalism. The issues we face are complex with no easy answers . To tackle these issues we need an open honest debate but the industry’s effected don’t want change so they continue to put forth their bad ideas. Changes in environmental or health care policies mean less money and power for these industries. They fight changes with their financial support of think tanks and political leaders who will continue to vote against any meaningful progress. Capitalism has taken power from the electorate. Second , is the strong support for trump by the conservative evangelicals. Their Mind set is not open radical change and with gerrymandering at the local level and electoral college at the national, these groups have increased their political power. A successful democratic candidate will have difficult job fighting these roadblocks.
9
If you want to know why bad ideas persist in the GOP play book, it is very simple. Follow the money. If a bad idea is making a lot of money for a small elite which translates into power you can be sure the GOP will milk it for everything it will give them to the detriment of the rest of us.
22
At times, these policy arguments result from believing your own nonsense. A few years ago, I was assisting an industry group in explaining their concerns about a bill to Republican committee staffers. They were very sympathetic and helpful, but toward the end of the meeting, they asked me to confirm a belief they had about the agency of the government in question. However, their "facts" were wrong, and I proceeded to attempt to correct their misunderstanding. At that moment, I realized, they actually believed their own nonsense and did not want someone honest enough to correct them--even someone they identified as an ally. They wanted to believe what they wanted to believe.
That our partisanship has become almost a faith where facts are what you choose to believe rather than reality, even to the people who should know better, makes legitimate discussion about policy very difficult.
22
@T. Schultz Most people allow their likes and dislikes to influence their judgement of what is true and false. I do it too, but I try not to.
Bravo Dr. Krugman, well said. Maybe if I earned a PhD and a Nobel prize, my similar thoughts would carry as much weight.
1
@Gene W.
Your thoughts carry enough weight if you vote and convince others to do the same.
Mainstream media coverage of Trump and the GOP strikes me as, above all, tragically naive.
The rules of evidence used in courtrooms distinguish between witness statements offered in evidence for “the truth of the matter asserted”—where the purpose of the statement was to convey something a witness believed to be true—and statements made for other purposes.
The media cannot seem to tell the difference.
5
Most can tell the difference but realize that they will be blasted as partisan unless they acknowledge the nonsense.
Case in point: when Republican Governor Mitt Romney enacted market-based health insurance reform in Massachusetts it was hailed by both sides as the way forward. When Obama modeled the ACA after that exact successful program it was excoriated by the GOP as 'socialism' that would 'kill the economy'.
68
Fear justifies itself. If my argument demands your response to fear I have already won. Fear is never about the future beyond one’s own life.
2
All you say is true. While multiple inferences about likely causes can be drawn, here are a few.
Hypotheses: Republicans are this way and winning everything in America at local, state, and national level, and the economic inequity is the way it is, because:
a. One too many American voter no longer feels ownership or stake in the country, and has the same indifference an overnight renter at a motel has toward the color of the walls.
b. The culture that is increasingly rejecting everything difficult in favor of everything easy and expedient. Physical and mental labor is imported.
c. The humanities professors has triumphed in their tireless effort to produce an anti-elitist state in which all ideas and points of view are equally worthy and meritorious, and everyone is entitled to equal rewards regardless of merit. Hence every idea is good and bad, everything must stop until equal outcomes are achieved. The hiring committee for a college provost now includes freshmen who want to be celebrities.
And as a result (later-order consequence):
d. One too many American voter is venerating a tribal leader and is a tribal member. In tribes, facts don't matter. The tribal leader metes out (our version of) social and economic justice with extreme prejudice and maintains power with any means necessary.
It couldn't have been this way always. The country did win WWII, transform Japan and Europe, build a highway system, put a man on the moon. Wonder what on earth happened.
9
"I understand the pressures that often lead to false equivalence. Calling out dishonesty and bad faith can seem like partisan bias when, to put it bluntly, one side of the political spectrum lies all the time, while the other side doesn’t."
How can you write an opinion like this and still claim to adhere to the notion of "intellectual honesty?"
"The other side doesn't"-really-Mr. Krugman you must be joking?
It is one thing to call out statements that are not true and another to not recognize the falsehoods in our own arguments or opinions.
2
@B Williams: Liberals don't make faith-based arguments. We don't value holding beliefs that lack substantiation.
1
All this reflects extremely poorly on the electorate, are we too involved with our celebrity status on FB and the chaotic circus that we cannot discern the truth?
5
Unfortunately, we live in an age where the intellectual zombies have their own customized news outlets, and they have used them to insulate their confirmation bias from any truths considered to be inconvenient. We're living in a country different groups have completely different beliefs about what facts are. How can that be sustainable?
14
Last weekend I talked with a Trump supporter who pointed out that Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlements were too big a part of our budget. And then, two minutes later, complained that there was not going to be enough left in Social Security when he retired.
We need to find out ways of talking to one another about the important issues. Right now, it seems we are in our various trenches, lobbing grenades at one another.
7
I don't think it's fair to paint the whole Republican Party as acting in bad faith. When I engage in debate with conservatives, I am often struck by how we talk past each other; we're not really engaging in the facts, because we disagree on which facts matter. I note the refrain in the article of "we can't do anything about it, because it would destroy the economy." I too hear that, and it seems to me that this was the real concern all along. Whether the economic impacts will be as bad as feared can be debated, but unless you engage with someone in terms of their real concerns, you're not going to get anywhere. Rather than painting people with a broad brush, we need to look beyond the public statements and identify the legitimate concerns and address them.
3
@Aaron M.: Belief in something that cannot be independently corroborated is bad faith.
1
@Aaron M.
Could you name one top republican who is acting in good faith and making a genuine effort to help the working people. Name one with a reasonable proof and then send me your address. I’ll send you a $100 check.
He might name Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts.
Thank you, Mr Krugman. The media bends over backwards into false equivalencies on a regular basis..I felt their doing so was one of the biggest enablers of the result of the 2016 campaign. It’s dangerous.
39
As a footnote, there's an institutional aspect of the Republican Party's strategy: the creation of pseudo-think tanks and pseudo-news outlets, to claim non-partisan sources for the Party's messages.
David Brock provided an insider's view in "Blinded by the Right."
22
Sure.
The only "real" news come out of leftist think tanks via their preferred Democratic advocacy outlets, like CNN, MSNBC, WAPO and the NYT.
Where would we be without these utterly independent truth tellers?
I don't understand why at least some powerful Republicans refuse to take a long view at our country. Denying climate change or rising inequality may work to increase your bank account in the short term but what good are those millions/billions in an unstable world where you have to live an isolated life in order to feel secure? Even out of pure self-interest for themselves (or their grandchildren), I would think that they would actually want to acknowledge these dangerous trends.
14
@KS
If re-election is your only goal in life why would you care about anything long term?
Corporations depend on us to keep them in business. We have the power to make change. Organize and eliminate. If you’re worried about the environment eliminate plastic bags. Stand for the truth. Or are we all going down with the ship? Too simple?
5
This is not a new phenomenon. Republicans have been obstructing without any policy decisions for years now. They deny, they lie, they obstruct. That is their purpose while working behind the scenes for their uber-rich supporters that keep them in office. The goal of the party is to keep social issues front and center for those that can be easily swayed by misinformation. Religion, immigration, borders, military, race, gender issues, abortion and guns are the target issues that are used to sway those who have a hard time understanding how they are for ever being used.
24
I absolutely agree with this article, Mr Krugman.
In the Soviet Union's last 25 or so years, 1970s to 1989, the term 'hyper-normality' became used as a description of factual reality people lived yet were forced to ideologically deny. The Republican Party exists in a 'fact free' or 'selective fact' zone, the Twilight Zone, and its arguments do seem to be ideological zombies. Reality based, reality tested policies, using metrics, needs to be returned to our politics.
21
In grade school, we were given an assignment to create something to sell to the rest of the class. I made a decorated box, and then I drew a picture of the box on a bunch of small pieces of paper. I sold each for a fake dollar, but I told every person that when the game was over, they would get the actual box. Of course, it was a scam, because I only had one box. I had lied to everyone. In the end, I actually won the contest! But needless to say, my classmates were not happy with me. Eventually, the teacher awarded me my prize, a small packet of marking pens, by throwing them down on my desk.
Now that was half a century ago. I still remember it vividly, because the experience taught me some valuable lessons. It taught me to be humble, honest, and to treat everyone fairly and with dignity. But most importantly, it cemented into me the reality that you will not get away with it. Time will tell, and it will flush you out.
What should we be teaching our children today? That what I had done is really the way to succeed, the path to victory in business and politics, even to becoming our president?
Republicans have been busy transmogrifying into White Walkers since the time of Reagan. Trump is simply the newest incarnation of their Night King.
395
@Blue Moon
Have you been to Kansas lately?
13
@Blue Moon, except Trump and his ilk never learned that grade school lesson, and his/their experiences in adulthood show them that the scam works more often than not.
20
Cheaters never prosper, if only that would be true with the current administration.
4
A long time ago, Mr. Walter Mondale attempted the experiment of telling electorate the truth (that their taxes would rise regardless of who was elected). 49 states ran away screaming. Some years later, Mr. Al Gore -- "inconveniently" -- attempted it again. We quickly bought more guns & pickup trucks. Etc.etc.
When the public shows any appetite for truth, I have no doubt it will be spoken. Until then, there is way better margin telling American Dreams than citing statistics.
17
It certainly is frustrating when one side knows from the starting point that their position has no merit, but they act like they have a right to be in the debate anyway. And to be taken seriously. How do you reason with people like that? It's intellectually dishonest, and makes policy debate worthless, but that is where we're at with the republicans. I used to think conservatives had a few good ideas on governing, but after decades of watching them become more disengenuous with each election cycle, I've given up hope for an intelligent and reasoned political system.
444
@JP
There are a lot of very smart, innovative ideas that could be implemented by leaders in Washington (some "conservative" and some "liberal" in their origin). The issues is not that those ideas do not exist, it is that too often the party who takes over leadership during an election cycle gets co-opted into preserving the status quo and benefiting the incumbent players or the entrenched bureaucracy.
It happens regardless of whether the President in power has a D or an R after his/her name, likewise for Congress.
To move to a more intelligent, reasoned political system, elections will probably need to move away from parties and be more non-partisan in nature.
Think about some of the largest cities in the USA that are in decay. Many have been governed by one party (usually D) for many decades, yet voters keep pulling the lever for the same politicians who fail them over and over.
3
@EE
Yet they are not all in decay. Many are in revival.
31
@EE - I disagree. There have been no periods of any length at least since Clinton's first few years that Republicans (mainly in the Senate) have not been able to prevent progress. Look at FDR's administration for an example of what can be done with a Democratic supermajority.
51
Dr. Krugman, do you really believe that the news media have a hard time coping with the essential fraudulence of most big policy debates? I think you're giving the major media too much credit. I had so hoped that the media would change after the disastrous 2016 election, but nothing has changed. Time is wasted on MSNBC, for example, by assembling panels of 6 people who are given mere minutes to speak. Depth, complexity, nuance are disallowed. Hours and hours are spent repeating the same stories while climate change is basically ignored. Campaign coverage is limited to identity politics and the horse race. Policy discussion is limited and discouraged. The media could make a concerted effort to inform and educate. Instead, they waste time covering polls. They're far too content to tell us what people already think rather than to help people think more deeply by actually teaching them something. How much time is spent "analyzing" Trump's tweets? How many times have I heard them lament the fact that they're covering his lies and inanity? "But what else can we do? After all, he's the president of the United States." We desperately need grown-ups to take over our newsrooms. We desperately need them to put the fate of our country and our planet over their ratings.
520
@susan smith-So true. The Democrats could serve the public by convening national commissions and other news-worthy educational events; call in the experts and start to take over the news cycle from Trump.
71
@susan smith What I have always wondered is, how much control or influence do any of the opinion writers and MSNBC, CNN, etc., commentators have on the choosing of topics and guests, or does that come from the owners, executives, etc., of the organization. Are these in the public's eye ordered to interview these guests? How can we get the media topics decision makers to change directions to inform and delve deeply into climate change and the things that are being done to destroy our country.
34
Susan,
You make a number of valid points, but I believe you miss the point on the news media. The media is not a public service organization that exists to inform the citizenry, it is a form of entertainment that centers on current events and measures success by how many people watch their product. The network with the most viewers wins, and the network that shows us what we want to see gets the most viewers. In that way network news is much more like EXTRA than the Walter Cronkites and David Brinkley’s of the 60s and 70s.
Though unfortunate, this is the reality today: too much airtime to fill, causing a mad scramble to the bottom to reach more and more increasingly uninformed and disinterested Americans who only want to see and hear what they already believe to be true. Sadly, I don’t see this changing any time soon...
43
There is a moment in "The Wizard of Oz" movie where Dorothy asks which way she should go. The scarecrow answers her by saying "This way". It's a moment that brings home to Dorothy that they really aren't in Kansas any longer. The scarecrow talks but the critical point here is that he crosses his arms and points both ways at the intersection. The yellow brick road goes both ways.
The GOP wants everything both ways. My memory doesn't go back to the 1950s. I was born in the late 50s. I remember Watergate and what came afterwards. Each time we've had a Democrat in the White House the GOP has obstructed, been disrespectful, looked for reasons to impeach or have a special prosecutor, refused to work across the aisle, and attempted to create scandals where there were none. This is the same GOP that made a big noise about Clinton and Lewiniski. Now it's fine that Trump lies, lies, and lies even bigger.
I don't think we expect our political leaders to be virtuous or completely without problems. But I don't think it's too much to expect that, no matter which party they belong to, the morals, ethics, and willingness to work for ALL Americans will be the same. There used to be something called the common good. Now, with Trump in power, it appears to have degenerated into a one sided game of who can inflict more damage on America while pretending to care.
Democrats are not perfect. But they are not the ones telling us up is down and vice versa.
4/29/2019 9:09pm
1248
@hen3ry
In a true democracy, elections should be governed fairly by the popular vote, and our representatives should work in the best interests of the people, all the people, including those who did not vote for them. They should work honestly to enact the policies on which they campaigned.
We no longer have a functioning democracy. Our votes are skewed by gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the Electoral College. We have Republicans taking all they can for themselves (i.e., tax cuts) while stacking the judiciary to maintain control.
The GOP has wholly abdicated responsibility in effectively dealing with the critical issues we face today: climate change, the environment, infrastructure, public education, health care, wealth and income inequality, and international relations (e.g., Russia, China, Iran and North Korea).
We need to take our democracy back from those who would take it for themselves.
373
@hen3ry I’d also like to point out that in the same period Republicans have won the Whitehouse twice without the popular vote, once with the help of a conservative Supreme Court and once with the help of a hostile foreign power.
238
@hen3ry
Oh, deny the common good is an old Reagan trick, people bought into it and here we are. Say what you want about those gop, but they get their way every time, every time.
One could think that this is pre-arranged.
However, I will still lay the blame at the feet of all of us. Finding morality and ethics should not be this difficult.
Better choices are right in front of us.
48
"But pretending that good faith exists when it doesn’t is unfair to readers. The public deserves to know that the big debates in modern U.S. politics aren’t a conventional clash of rival ideas. They’re a war in which one side’s forces consist mainly of intellectual zombies."
This is the most important observation in the piece, hands down. We need an overarching commentary that does not address or engage with the pseudo content spewed out by the Republican propaganda machine, but that exposes the "bad faith" that underlies it.
The place to start is with Trump's tweets. They need not be compulsively reproduced by every news outlet in the country. They should either be ignored, or published with, say, the horoscope or the shipping news. The Times can lead the way on this.
868
@Cassandra Why not relentlessly fight the mendacity of Trump? Letting him spread his lies as business as usual is a trap! Reading them ,hearing them everywhere without check gives them appearance of truth!
30
@Gadea
Perhaps a better idea would be focusing on new ideas and proposals that could be implemented to help the nation and its people, instead of a continual "Russia, Russia, Russia" focus.
Democrats took over Congress and instead of implementing important infrastructure projects to rebuild bridges, schools, etc. they have been obsessed with scheduling Congressional hearings into all things Trump.
Bernie Sanders is one of the few politicians who realizes the American voter cares about programs to help them, not yesterday's conspiracy dejour which turned out to not really be a conspiracy.
13
@EE
Actually, if you look at the House Committee websites, you will see a lot of hearings and bill markups that have nothing to do with trump. The problem is, that information is not covered much in the news. Or at least not on the front page or on the 24 hour "news" networks.
It's not hard to find that out, if one wants to look, but not enough do.
84
"...they may invoke evidence, don’t actually care what the evidence says; at a fundamental level, they aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda."
That's the situation in a nutshell. Politics has always had this element. As long as some voters are ignorant enough or partisan enough to embrace discredited arguments, some politicians will continue to advance them.
I like to think that what has changed is not the Republicans' readiness to lie, but our ability to be aware of it. Fifty years ago people made these arguments or their equivalents in neighborhood bars and beauty parlors, and a handful of like-minded people heard them. Today people make them on Twitter, and the world hears them.
But I may be fooling myself.
2
What the conservative movement and Republican Party have done is tantamount to the gaslighting of America.
Mr. Krugman's well-stated and thoroughly recited history of evolving Republican policy justifications serves to highlight this, and bears witness to the troubling reality that for the GOP, managing the moment for the sake of political expediency is of greater importance than either consistency or the well-being of Americans and the country as a whole.
Zombie-style? Perhaps. Sociopathic behavior? For sure.
16
Republicans are not zombies.
Republicans are malevolent actors who have no respect for anything but raw power and what ever is required to take power and hold on to it.
The Republican Party, as an institution, has become a danger to the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy.
The problem is not just Donald Trump; it’s the larger conservative political apparatus that made a conscious decision to collaborate with him.
13
Anyone who has followed Republican leaders for some time know that they will lie and even contradict themselves to do whatever it takes to win. Republican leaders are not going to change; they've found that approach pretty much works for them. It's Republican lies that have made late shows like Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, and a few others highly successful.
What's puzzling is why roughly half of voters realize the Republican leaders are liars while roughly half do not or do not care or want the leaders to do anything that would win out over liberals. I can understand that young voters haven't been exposed to politics long enough to realize that Republicans lie and contradict themselves, but older voters really have no excuse.
6
I bought a used car about thirty years ago and the seller guaranteed that nothing would go wrong with the car for three months or he would cover the cost. Being naive and overly trusting at the time, I took him at his word. The muffler broke and the repair would cost about $300. The seller refused to pay for the repair, saying, "I promised to cover all big expenses. This is not a major expense." This may be the way of the world. Most people cannot be trusted to honor their promises--especially those who come from the bottom-line first business world. We now find that Republicans will mouth any kind of excuse for their actions, often contradicting earlier excuses. Dr. Krugman is right. In our world too many unethical people use new lies to justify old lies.
2
Many Americans have forfeited their critical faculties for the sake of non-stop entertainment. We bemoan our lack of physical exercise, when the same applies double to what goes on in our heads. Stupid ideas churned out from the GOP's stupid idea factory would not persist if they did not have the mushy agar that fills most people's brains in which to flourish. Almost all our information is absorbed passively from some device or other, and at breakneck speed. Reading a book at least allows more deliberative thought, but if information comes from a screen, and even worse, from the mouth of a "celebrity", it goes unquestioned. I doubt there was a serf in 12th century England that was as subservient to their master's whims as what we see now among the GOP true-believers, who don't even believe the testimony of their own eyes, ears, or wallets..
6
Yes, we definitely need a cultural change, and American anti-intellectualism is dangerous ground fertile for the growth of fascism.
You built a solid case for your Zombie thesis. The Zombie horror stories are the consequences of these bad ideas.
Society is not served by these ideas. You chose some of the most virulently toxic to discuss in this column. I agree with your list.
I rank global warming as #1 and what is so tragic about this Zombie is the valuable time lost in doing what anyone with any sense knows will be required. Meanwhile during this period of denial, equivocation, and alternate reality there will be unnecessary human suffering, serious ecological damage, societal upheavals, mass migrations and economic dislocations unlike any experienced over the evolution of our species.
Zombies are a form of short-term thinking that holders of investment capital, a tiny portion of the global population find all too easy to rationalize.
Fundamentally, it is the root of the raging inequality that engulfs human society. Clear-headed, long-term thinking should be possible for members of the political class but it is becoming rare.
As an energy wonk but I am and was an admirer of Senator Dick Lugar who passed away this past weekend at the young age of 86. Dick Lugar had a finely tuned long view of the human society and he had a very sensible, and realistic world-view. He was very thoughtful and I knew him mainly for his work in energy, but he is well known for the Nunn-Lugar initiative to reduce the "loose nukes" a clear danger to the safety of humanity.
So, there are RARE G.O.P members.
5
Bad Ideas:
The reality of growing inequality is the fostering of nationalism, racism, jingoism, in a nutshell, trumpism.
Present-day growing inequality had its renaissance during ronnie reagan's adminstration as clever oligarchical capitalists had the idea (good for them, bad for the country) of installing a mouthpiece to begin the duping of the public to increase their already obscene wealth and to kill social security.
5
What Trump and his party have realized is that there is hardly any penalty for acting in bad faith and shameless lying, on the contrary, adhering to facts may cost them reelection. Trump may be a master of obfuscation but the master of ruthless bad faith is McConnell. In his own terms he has been very successful, thus he sees nothing to gain by changing his modus operandi. In his world honesty and gallantry are for suckers.
6
@serban
Why bother with the truth when there is no market for it. There are millions of voters who want lies sold to them. Just two words “ God” and “guns” can win you most elections, and that gives you plenty of time for fund raising. Who wants to give up such an easy path to power?
@serban - I couldn't agree more. Imagine how much better off we would be if Mitch McConnell and his Republican cohorts actually acted in the best interests of our country, instead of acting in the best interests of themselves and their corporate masters. History will judge these weasels harshly.
1
The bad faith arguments from the Right have reached their culmination in Trump, who CANNOT argue the points of policy he seeks to implement. He is incapable of such argument. Reagan was the Great Communicator because he actually tried AND WAS ABLE to explain why he believed the policies he did. For Trump, his policies are "great" and the opposing arguments are "bad" or "dumb" or "terrible" or, when he's really going for maximum persuasiveness, "very terrible".
The party that doesn't remember how to justify its intellectual arguments has found the perfect leader in a man who couldn't explain the arguments if he wanted to.
8
This is so true. The Republican party drank the poison with Milton Friedman and the Powell Memo from 1971, and even earlier. It is overdue to call it like it is, in the open, shine the disinfectant of sunshine on it all. Thanks, Paul.
We have lost truth, trust and honesty in America, and donald trump is pouring gasoline all over that fire. This must not and cannot continue. It will destroy America.
The Republicans must lay out their agenda in a transparent manner - tell the American people what lays beneath the surface. Same with the Dems - and let experts and recognized leaders, journalists and stewards we trust (Robert Mueller appears to good example, many other highly respected voices who many people would likely believe) help us see behind the curtains of Oz and share up close insights. Then the voters will decide with intelligence and truth.(values that liars prefer dead)
If we don't seek truth, trust, honesty, (add a little love - OK - add a lot), we are in the jungle - beware the predators.
If the Rs just keep on lying, then they must be crushed. We will not allow them to destroy the future so the 0.0001% can grab another yacht while the rest of us who are not as smart as trump and actually chip in with taxes (dues for a civilized society) feel the stress and anger of this entire sham. Truth, trust and honesty will indeed make America much better, maybe even great some day. Liars on the loose will destroy us - they've already begun.
5
It is beyond terrible to realize that American myths and commitment to democracy have been a chimera all along. Trump has allowed the Republican party to joyously unmask themselves and the destruction will be legion.
We have not become Orwellian as much as Huxleyan. Is truth hidden or is it drowning in a sea of irrelevance? Are we a captive culture or are we an irrelevant one? Perhaps we are both. We are a base one and the media still hurts us.
Many times I've dreamed of a Citizen's Solutions Board - a game show where people debate the merits of policy. And I'm all for an American Citizen's Union. A strong one. We have to take a greater role in looking out for us. There is too much money being spent on our destruction.
At times I am energized for the fight but then I see something like Dan Bishop's brilliantly vicious ad against Dan McCready here in NC's 9th district where the Republican Party just committed major election fraud - and all I want to do is walk out into the snow like Melisandre and simply disappear.
2
When a party pursues power at any price, including the cost of truth, reason, even country, all it has left to sustain it is big lies, propaganda and fingerpointing.
That’s no way to run a country that is supposed to respect its citizens. So many Americans have no idea how much we are falling into backwater status, leaving our people broke, broken or dead far too frequently—and directly as a result of mendacious Republican policies and talking points that undermine the general Welfare.
1
My favorite comment, among many I have read in various news media of late, is one that claimed that Donald Trump isn't a liar. He's a visionary who uses language differently than ordinary folk. The will to believe is extraordinarily powerful! And it makes believers easy prey.
2
Ultimately, zombie ideas cannot win. Unfortunately, if one group continues to prop them up past the revelation of their falsity, the building tension cannot be relieved with reasoned discussion and sober reevaluation.
The serfs and vassals will eventually decide they must rebel and use such tools they have at their disposal--mostly pitchforks and torches--to storm the citadels of the overlords.
The French followed our example and toppled their Sun King with the newly invented guillotine. Blood ran in the streets for years until reason prevailed.
An arborist will prune a tree to keep it healthy, removing dead or diseased limbs. An axeman will clear cut the forest and let nature start again.
We need political arborists to cut out deadwood before our only recourse is the axemen. As one of the older trees in this forest of society, I prefer culling bad ideas to chopping us all down or leaving us worst of all to the vagaries of uncontrolled forest fires.
1
The policy issues that the gop constantly, insudiously,insipidly push are largely background noise in campaigns. For forty years, they have run parallel campaigns that basically has told targeted audiences that "others" are a danger to "them":Blacks,Hispanics,gays,liberals,women's lib, labor unions(although some unions' rank and file vote for the gop), Muslims,and on and on. The press ,to this day, still won't use the word "liar". Many in the press would rather handicap the races rather than probe into policy. McConnell has gotten virtually no challenges from the press.His hypocrisy has virtually gone unquestioned. The press almost literally knelt at Ryan's feet during his destructive reign in the House. Yet,they will run stories about what great political strategists they are. Many Democrats, except for Hilary Clinton, are deathly afraid of offending voters who will never vote for them. We are in deep trouble.
3
Now, more than ever, it would be great, if you could get your colleagues in the media to follow your lead and - at long last - finally start calling a duck a duck!
That, by the easy, goes for our side of the pond as well!
2
I understand. In the wake of the synagogue shooting, guns have been the topic in our house. Just when I think I have made headway in the resident Republican’s thick head, on banning assault rifles in the homes, he reverts back and tramples his own reasoning. It must be fear, as David mentioned in his column. I can get him to believe assault rifles should never have been in the hands of the regular man, and he believes there are too many on the street, but when I mention banning them, he comes up with cockamamie excuses of how they will kill us by other means. Thank God, I’m a mother. When a kid hits another kid over the head with a toy, you take it away. And, if they pick up another, you take it away, too.
2
Since the era of Reagan and “voodoo economics” the unspoken Republican Party slogan has been: Lie, cheat, steal and repeat as necessary sufficient to maintain power over a foolish and ignorant electorate. The process works well. Republican Party hegemony is assured now that the Supreme Court is a GOP subsidiary.
2
Awful as the impact of the Trump presidency has been on the country, it would be a mistake to think that he is the source of the rot. The Republicans have been relying on lies and propaganda at least since the time of Reagan. Take a look at Bill Barr with his reputation as an impeccable and distinguished Republican attorney, but who was always willing to twist the rule of law and violate basic human rights. Remember "extraordinary rendition", that charming euphemism for torture? It was during Barr's first tenure as AG that the practice was approved. And now with his unjustified verdict of no collusion and no cover up, Barr shows a continued willingness to misstate facts in order to conceal the crimes of the president he serves. At least now the truth is obvious: the president is a criminal, and those who serve him are conspirators in his crimes. But another fact should also be clear: the GOP is less a political party than it is a criminal organization.
4
Lincoln said: you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
It might be added: you can fool enough of the people enough of the time to keep control of the levers of power and line your pockets.
4
The Republicans in Congress do not even try to hide their lies. They just repeat them hoping that they become accepted. Their untruthfulness elevated Trump to the presidency, a habitual liar who does not even make an effort to adhere to truth, but finds it more convenient just to make things up. His shrinking base thinks that this is just fine, while the rich get richer and the poor (among his base) get poorer.
2
It's not hard to imagine how different the Republicans' behavior would be if the Russians had enabled Hillary Clinton's campaign, her aides had gleefully accepted their support, and she had won the election. Their cries of outrage ("Impeachment!") would have been deafening.
2
Nice Game of Thrones tie-in. We could have fun with that one.
"There are so many wights at a Trump rally, you'd think they were giving away free mayo."
"There are so many wights at a Trump rally, you'd think there was a lacrosse game going on."
The potential is pretty limitless. We haven't even gotten to the zombie crossover jokes.
Maybe part of the blame lies with the GOP but i think most of the blame lies with the public that bought those arguments, again and again. It was said that democracy depends on an informed public so will it be fair to say, we the public, deserve to get what they got, a trumpian garbage?
2
The Republicans have put the U.S. well on the way to having the same kind of corrupt government that plagues so many nations. In fact, they glory in tearing down government, because they think that proves their theory that legitimate government cannot work.
2
Of course the Republicans do not want to have an honest conversation about inequality, climate change, health care policy or anything else that will not bolster their agenda.
So we are left with a "Zombie" agenda.
The only way to make sure this does not continue is vote the Zombies out in 2020.
3
As usual Krugman is right on the money. A society, a party, a news media that is built on fact finding and honesty has no defense against alternative facts and an imaginary reality built on lies.
Republicans and their media outlets have lost all their shame.
Donald Trump personifies them: pathologic liar, looking out for his advantage while pretending to serve the public.
Yesterday Trump reached the 10.000 milestone of documented and verified lies told or tweeted since he was sworn in as president.
It hardly made the headlines.
10.000 lies should be enough for at least 100 impeachment indictments.
5
Everyone seems concerned that Trump hasn't done anything to stop the Russians from interfering in our next election, but nobody wants to admit the obvious. He doesn't want to stop them because he wants their help the next time. How hard is that to understand? The sad part is that he doesn't really need them.
While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, he secretly knows that they can be led around like a bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
1
Was Krugman born yesterday?
Lies are the currency of the politics. Sure, there are differences in extent, depth and brazenness in the offenses against truth promoted by the two parties, but look at the bipartisan lies: for example, that American foreign policy is at heart benevolent and selfless. Or the Venezuela is a grave threat to American freedoms and security.
What zombie whoppers are bigger than those two? And yet Dr. K. is curiously untroubled....
This capacity of Republicans for fantasy didn't come out of nowhere.
1
Mental chaos ensues when conflicting explanations are not explanations at all, but rather serve as smokescreens manufactured to mask malign intent. All we need to know is very simple. Trump wants to do anything he chooses with impunity. McConnell wants to obstruct the Democratic Party even if he spits on our Constitution. What comes out of their mouths is irrelevant. Anyone can become a tyrant in this manner. No one should be permitted to destroy an entire citizenry’s way of life in such a vile, and yes, stupid manner as this. These men fill the ethical vacancy around them with word packets that resemble meaningful speech. We know enough not to listen to their words, but to watch their attempts to dismantle not just common sense, or justice, but the rule of our common law.
I knew a couple who were victimized by a shameless scam conducted via telephone. I felt bad for them. I tried to lay out the facts as to why it was obviously a scam so they could be on guard going forward. Very soon afterward, I learned they had been scammed again---via telephone--by the same operation--for a greater amount of money. I was at a loss as how to help them at that point.
I recognize the same dynamic in play in the Republican zombie style bad-faith politics: Repeat the same lies to the same audience. Not only that, escalate the absurdity and frequency of the lies. The suckers will continue to fall for it.
Perhaps that strategy has reached the demonstration of its natural limits in the elevation of Donald Trump to the U,S. presidency. Perhaps not. And that is one frightening thought.
2
Funny enough GOP seems to have picked more than “a couple of ads” from their Russian friends. Those who have lived on the other side of the big wall in Europe, know this modus operandi very very well: it’s the way the Soviet propaganda fashioned an alternative reality based by outright denial or truth, incremental distortions of facts and promotion of delusion through amoral people. Oh, and the violence. But the GOP is not opposed to that either, cue to the kids in the cages. Which are not cages but playing places.
3
"...one side's forces consist mainly of intellectual zombies." Could be, but that doesn't ring true to me. What turned Lindsey Graham, who once showed nothing but contempt for Trump, into the president's staunchest defender? And what explains Rosenstein's obsequious resignation letter after incurring Mafia Don's wrath by appointing Robert Mueller? Neither man is stupid, but both men are now rich. Both have been paid off by the fabulously wealthy Vladimir Putin. And the continued groveling of both men heavily suggests that the payola continues.
So what's the deal? Is it a million dollars for each month Benedict Donald remains in office? Is it more than that? How many other Republicans are on the take? Is it a handful...or dozens?
As Krugman notes: "All of this is or should be obvious."
2
All absolutely true. There is zero intellectual coherence in the Republican response to most economic and political issues. If you want to see an example you need look no further than an opinion piece by Douthat's right next to this article by Krugman where he a lot of sophistry to suggest that the Republican party's approach to monetary policy is in some way different to that of Trump.
3
Krugman, the fake economist. has returned once again--to spread misinformation and promote progressive propaganda.
I often wonder why he so often abandons economics, in favor of social commentary--but then I'm reminded, his economic theories are being systematically dismantled, as each passing day, the economy gathers strength.
--When on the eve of Trump's election, he predicted the stock market would crash--and never recover, he was wrong.
--When he predicted 3 percent growth would never result from the tax cuts, he was wrong.
--When he told us "manufacturing jobs would disappear forever, and never return", he was wrong.
--When he said all the gains from the tax cuts would accrue to the top 1%, he was wrong.
Here is the truth Krugman tries to avoid--when he's not wearing his economist dunce cap: everything he has ever predicted has been flat-out wrong.
--Our economy is has sustained growth of over 3%
--Wages for workers are growing above 3%--and higher for lower income workers.
--Our unemployment rate at 3.8% is the lowest its been in years. especially for minorities and women
--The stock market is at record highs.
--Over 500,000 manufacturing jobs created.
--5,000,000 are off Food Stamps
The truth is, Krugman is a partisan. If blindfolded, transported to another world, informed of the latest economic stats, then asked if it was good news or bad, before responding, he would first want to know--"is the president a Democrat or Republican?"
2
Only one party tells continuous lies. Only one party tells the truth in so far as it knows the truth.
All of us know which party lies and which tries to tell the truth.
Why the pretense of "balanced" news, when one side is only propaganda. It's deceptive.
It's long past time for American media to call out the lies of the Republican Party.
3
How surprised should we really be that adversarial legal practice, calling for vigorous advocacy of a position without regard to truth, comes to dominate in a field filled with lawyers?
"If you think Republican arguments on climate have gotten more sophisticated, wait for the next snowstorm"
But what if it's in June?
1
Another fine column.
Krugman's focus on habitual "bad faith" Republicanism is a fact that the columnist unerrigly illustrates.
Thanks for tenaciously illustrating this fact. It's as true as rain in the hills.
2
Thank you @PaulKrugman for your as usual
Outstanding piece. Our society’s familiarity
With the continuous barrage of lies from
The Republican Party has permanently changed actual intellectual discourse in
America. Few seem to recognize what has
Slowly eroded recognition of the truth and
Facts from what is the seemingly relentless
Lies 24/7 taken as given. It’s time to
Demand that we hold our leaders accountable and seek to reset the dialogue
Thanks Mr Krugman.
12
I think Joe Biden has said it about right. When speaking to ordinary people, he said he knew that group isn't concerned with the stock market. True. I well remember my Dad's ritual of listening to the 6 o'clock news, usually during dinner. When they announced the stock market report, he would get up and turn the radio off. Nothing to do with me, he would say.
That was a long time ago, but it still holds true even thought many in the Middle Class have retirement portfolios that include stocks. Most are not enough to worry too much about the market and, of course, since most of those accounts are being managed by someone else, you just accept it and move on. For everyone else, those without retirement especially, you often hear "God will provide." Sad, but true.
How do we raise the conscientiousness of our elected representatives? Write (you can reach Speaker Pelosi: Google - Speaker of the House), call, email your thoughts to your rep. plus others you believe might listen. The more we the people let them hear from us, the more they will have to listen.
3
Yep, yep, and yep. And the most unbelievable aspect of this 40-year process of looting the middle and working classes in order make the undeserving even more fortunate is that it happened - continues to happen, even - with the cooperation and approval of most of the victims. The joke-onomics of Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, empirically discredited by decades of actual data, continue to be a Republican mantra and continue to convince enough of the gullible that getting smashed in the face yet again for no benefit makes sense. It's absolutely inexplicable. America is a vast carnival midway, the GOP are the hucksters, and the public are the rubes.
24
Odd, isn't it? The Democrats seem at a loss to counter it or fight back. It's almost as if there is only one party, and its goal is to destroy the middle class. Some resistance
8
@Joe The Republicans want to mug the middle class, pistol whip them, and them frame them for a crime and send them to a private prison. The more corporate aligned Democrats also want to mug them, but feel bad and want to pay for their hospital stay and will only take half their money.
@Joe
Thank you. I wonder why but don't like the conspiracies and anti semetic insanity I get when I ask on line. What did Bush senior mean with a new world order. If the intentions are good why not be honest?
This has been going on for a long time.
In 1948 I asked my father who with his brother ran a small business in a small town what all this Truman and Dewey stuff was about. He said. "Leonard, the Republicans are the party for the Rich. The Democrats are the party for the rest of us."
He then took me to an attic where the books my grandfather kept were stored. We started at 1930. There were pages and pages that were blank. I vividly remember one page that had nothing for sales and 2¢ for fly paper. Eventually we got to 1933. On March 4, my grandfather sold an Arrow shirt. I believe it was for $2.95. My father put his finger in the place, and we went on. There were more and more sales thru 1933, 1934, 1935, and 1936. At this point my father stopped and went back to March 4, 1933.
He said, "This was the day FDR was inaugurated."
24
@Len Charlap So very true. That’s why I say we have to dump Tom Perez and the rest of the Clintonistas. Remember: under Obama, we lost over 1,000 legislative seats - House, Senate, State Legislatures, Governors, not to mention county and local seats. Even if, somehow, we win back the White House it won’t matter UNLESS we also win every race in every district for any office (a very tall order). Full on FDR Progressive politics for the next three presidential cycles might...might...make a difference. I’m not holding my breath. I am praying for miracles (beginning with the removal of Tom Perez).
@Greg - I am not sure I agree. If you read Hillary's platform and detailed fact sheets which were never covered by the media, you will see she is a progressive in the style of FDR. She want to fight Citizens United, rein in Wall street and corporations, regulate financial markets (she was better than Bernie here), support education and research, etc., etc., etc.
Please do not fall for the decades long campaign of vilification by the Republicans against her. They knew whom to be afraid of.
PS I currently support Elizabeth Warren.
@Len Charlap
Your father was a Democrat! I wonder if your or my father would recognize the current version as being the same party?
A lot of things occurred in March 1933 besides FDR becoming President. WW2 became inevitable with the German elections on he 5th. That inevitably not his policies saved the US economy.
That said RKO’s “King Kong” was released earlier that week and perhaps the shirt purchaser was planning on taking his date to see it!
FDR, Hitler and King Kong all became real in March 1933! Who would have thought it?
"[A]t a fundamental level, they aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda." It does seem that the GOP has abandoned any interest in truth as a guide for policy positions or political discourse, but I fear their strategy is even more pernicious. Their goal is to undermine the ability of ordinary people to discern truth from lies. For example, most of us probably have not personally studied the science of climate change in depth, but we rely upon knowledgeable and reputable sources who inform us of the generally accepted scientific findings, sources such as the EPA, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other such agencies, institutions, and experts, as reported by the news media. The GOP response to truth-telling is to wage vicious attacks on the basic integrity of respected and reliable people and information sources. In the age of ten thousand lies, it becomes difficult for a large segment of the public, especially those pre-disposed to GOP ideology, to know the difference between truth and falsehood. The default for them is simply to believe in whatever supports the pre-determined agenda. The GOP strategy is more than a simple disregard for the truth, it is an all-out assault against fundamental underpinnings of democracy. Why? Power and money.
12
The next big lie from the Republicans is going to be that yes, climate change is real, and their solution will be to build more nuclear power plants. I have already stared seeing this in print. This is a very dangerous idea because:
1. Spent nuclear fuel is radioactive for thousands of years.
2. It would be extremely difficult to find places to store the radioactive spent fuel because no one wants it near them and so we end up with decommissioned nuclear plants storing the fuel on site - for thousands of years.
3. While solar and wind power can be owned locally (My family has solar panels which produce all our electricity), nuclear plants are owned by large corporations, giving them too much power over our lives.
We must not let the Republicans continue to put the profits of large corporations above the safety and well-being of all Americans.
17
I'm ALMOST completely on the side of Dr. Krugman here. The GOP is incredibly dishonest at the molecular level, and Trump is the Night King who has completed the process of making all Republicans who want to get re-elected (e.g. Lindsey Graham) into wights who will say any lie.
But we should note that these wights will be able to say the same thing applies to Democrats. "At first Trump was a Russian spy. Then someone in his campaign was a Russian spy. Now that Mueller says he can't prove it, they're saying the Trump campaign was unwittingly doing Russia's bidding. So how are Democrats better than us?"
I don't buy it, but there is no way that a lot of "swing voters" (people who are mentally challenged to the point where they cannot detect differences between Democrats and Republicans in 2019) won't immediately say, "That makes sense - both parties are zombies."
Hard not to feel we're doomed.
3
@Patrick - Name me the significant Democrat who said, "Trump was a Russian spy."
Anyway, you totally miss the point. When the data change, the Democrats change their story. The Republicans never change their story.
@Patrick a little too easily manipulated by fear, aint ye?
Unfortunately, many federal judges with lifetime appointments also take this approach. They start out with a conclusion they wish to reach and then concoct arguments to rationalize the conclusion.
14
@CH - A great example is Alito in Ledbetter v Goodyear. If you want to see a man tie himself in knots to reach a desired conclusion, Alito is your man.
What does that darn clock start ticking?
@Len Charlap - I meant:
"WHEN does that darn clock....."
Our political system is rendered into a duality, the Republican and Democratic parties, two corporate entities which hold an effective lock on power, resisting all intruders. The side that musters its visceral narratives better, wins, and the Republicans with their embrace of evangelism - faith above reason - have a natural advantage. Satisfy the basics - freedom (to own guns), God, patriotism, tough on crime - and you are half way there. Stick to the program and divide the opposition pitting social justice against economic justice and through an all too compliant media reduce the conversation to personalities rather than substantive policy.
How I wish the 20 self-aggrandizing candidates for the Democratic nomination would sit themselves down in a room and first thrash out some actual solutions to the crises that face the American people, and then agree to carry them forward. We need a compelling narrative to oppose the dogma, misdirection, and lack of reason that are exploited so well by Trump and the Republicans in contrast to the confusion amongst Democrats. We need enactable legislative proposals on immigration, healthcare, and climate for starters.
15
@Roger C - The operative word here is "enactable." The Democrats have plenty of good proposals. Heck, Hillary had a lot of good proposals.
But how do you get them enacted when a significant part of the electorate is willingly to vote against their own best interest and the country's best interest just to stick it to the people of color? And when the electoral system is biased in their favor.
2
@Len Charlap
Take healthcare, for example. I am for universal care but M4A is not going to happen when those who are employed are against it, preferring their company backed schemes. Instead of each side sticking to their guns then, get in a room and put forward a grand compromise that both moves us towards universality and - key - reduces costs. That will require honesty because the current system of medicare, while administratively inexpensive, encourages vast over expenditure in people's later years. So, by accepting that we have to tackle the real problem of public cost, we appeal to fiscal conservatism and universality, which would form the basis of affordable expansion over time. Actual cost saving coupled with universality is sellable. The ACA didn't accomplish it and Berne's M4A plan won't either. Arguing about that which is not going to happen v. that leaves the status quo intact is a sure fire way to turn off the American people.
@Roger C - "system of medicare, while administratively inexpensive, encourages vast over expenditure in people's later years."
Other country's universal. government run health care systems take good care of the elderly and cost less than half per person than ours. their life expectancy after 60 is better than ours.
In fact, if you look at the last 20 years or so, if private insurance premiums had risen at the same rate as Medicare costs, they would be 20% lower (Jacob Hacker).
Besides admin savings, the reason other countries costs are so much lower is that they all have a single entity that can gather data, analyze it, and make recommendations based on medical reasons, not ot profit or return to stockholders. We can't even gather the data since the private insurance companies won't give it up.
I've been reading about the donors to various democrat presidential candidates and thinking they are the same people who are looking the other way as Trump trashes our democracy.
They've been pulling the strings behind the scenes for a long time, outsourcing jobs, manufacturing weapons systems and fomenting war, capturing our justice system, and giving themselves yachts. These donors--corporations, law firms, lobbyists won't allow a radical change in our social safety net because it comes out of their profits.
And we do want a radical change to the fossil fuel interests, the healthcare racket, the grossly unfair tax system. There is an American dream out there for a cleaner, healthier, more civil and egalitarian world if we can only achieve it.
11
@betty durso
Dems have long supported campaign finance limits and reforms, but that has been blocked primarily by the GOP.
A few "rock stars" like Bernie Sanders can raise money alone, but most Dems cannot and have no choice but to play by the rules until the rule change
2
In my lifetime I never thought I would have to say this phrase so often: "I believe in science.".
20
@Ed Mahala I don't have to "believe" in real science, it has objective evidence to support its ideas, not subjective ones.
5
@Ed Mahala
Here is a funny: My daughter called the other day to tell me the weirdest thing happened to her. Never knowing what to expect, I immediately told her, I believe in science and everything has a scientific explanation. She screamed back, “thank you!” It seems she purchased pink iced donuts on the way to a meeting, with plans of dropping the donuts off later to a cake decorator who would turn them into flamingos. Unsure of the pink color, she went into her meeting. When she came out the donuts had turned white. If you knew her imagination, you can imagine what she was thinking. I’m assuming, she parked them in the sun, and the sun bleached them?
@vulcanalex
Yes, this is really at the crux of the matter. Nature behaves independently of what we choose to believe. It would help if the media, unfortunately including the NYT at times, would stop labeling every unsupported hypothesis a "theory." Newton and Einstein painstakingly developed theories of how the world might work. The typical individual may have ideas worth investigating, but these hardly qualify as theories.
Faith.
It's likely that when you were a child you were taught to have faith, that faith was a virtue, and that if you were a Doubting Thomas and required evidence you were less than those who took it on faith.
In those days serious people in cassocks and habits and suits told us with a straight face about this life and the afterlife. We believed them because we were children and what did we know? How could serious adults lie to us about something so important?
The habit of believing well-dressed people who act sincere is hard-wired into most of us. Today, when Mitch McConnell stands at a podium and says things that clearly are not true we have to nudge ourselves because the tone of the homily is so familiar. We can so easily be taken in.
The other half of the toxic equation is that so many of us believe that this is not our souls' final stop, that this is merely a test that will elevate or relegate us to a Marvel version of some alternate reality. So, as this life is not so very important, why let facts get in the way of a good story?
We were conditioned as children to accept serial falsehood as truth. How can we be surprised when our fellow citizens show so little critical faculty? Doubting is what Thomas did, and nobody wants to be Thomas.
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@Jack Mahoney
You got that right.
When we're taught that faith is a source of facts, and that to believe contrary to or in the absence of evidence is a virtue, we're intellectually crippled. We may never develop an intellectual immune system to protect us from charlatans.
3
@Jack Mahoney: The most stupid act of legislation in Congressional history may have been to insert "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance. It is just plain silly to adhere to beliefs that cannot be substantiated, and coddling such notions makes a nation ungovernable.
4
@Jack Mahoney
Yup. That Yahweh guy demonstrated himself as a kind and all loving God on numerous occasions. I like the one where he killed all the Egyptian first born children best. Now that's something to celebrate 5000 years later.
1
This zombie-ness is possible because that’s what our schools produce. Zombie kids that dutifully pass the tests, are well managed (and if not find themselves we derisive labels like ADHD) and focused on some approval through all sorts of graduation possibilities. Creativity levels in kindergarten kids are many times greater than those in 12th grade and higher. How can you expect resistance to Republican zombie isms when we bake it into the kids. It is only a natural reaction you’re seeing.
14
@Judith MacLaury
Schools might contribute to it but so does the media, our celebrity obsessed culture, and the willingness of society to be duped over and over again.
Older Americans skew republican especially ‘the silent generation’. So r u referring to schooling in the 1940s?
Like all Ponzi schemes, the truth shall be revealed when the money runs out. Will it be the end of cheap oil? Maybe when all the baby boomers retire and demand their SS and Medicare? Maybe the US federal debt will actually become too large for the GOP to ignore? Or maybe the stock buybacks will end and crash Wall Street?
Only then will Reagan’s slogan “government is the problem” will be repealed. Government will be the solution.
18
Shortly before Obama took office, this did happen and the economy crashed. But denial works for the past as well as the future.
1
@Bruce Thomson
It was the lack of regulation of the financial industry that caused the crash, not Obama. I can't believe I have to say that.
4
@Mark Barroso It’s the point of the article. Though it is true that Greenspan said let the market work itself out and did not regulate the housing market, they won’t believe that he said it.
They move the goalposts while the ball is in the air.
1
We don't talk enough about inequality; for decades. This is our reckoning: we've concentrated wealth, income, property and power, so, what did we expect?
Equality is a basic foundation of democracy, community, humanity. And, wherefore art thou? Where is our commitment to one another? I don't see it. We desire to be rich, and walk past the others (quickly). This is US.
Little changes won't work, either for the planet's climatic stability or our societal stability. Change is the agent. How will the great concentrations of wealth react? Of course, they will fight the others, the communal, the society. They will gate their little communities and raid the banks (till the society is to bail them out again).
Let's be real: equality, yes, even the semblance of equality of condition. I work with the homeless. We're mad about money; not really caring for our community as a whole. 'As you treat the least of mine, you treat me'. Yes, of course, we use and abuse the poor, the worker, the less-fortunate, and we abuse the creator. Our time to change.
16
A great point And that leads to the question why? Is it because of racial diversity and social fractures along lines of tribal Identity? The ingrained American myth of equality of opportunity and ease of social mobility (truer for white males than others)? An aversion to taxes, public goods, and income transfers by elites and political donors? Or that the reasons for inequality are essentially complex and difficult to understand and accept? (My own guess is that it's all of these and other factors).
2
It used to be a two party system, with both parties expressing both sides of the American public, one more pro business and one more people oriented. They used to find common ground. What we have here since the 70s is a Republican party that is truly against democracy. It is hard to believe. But there is no other conclusion. Donald Trump is the result of this behavior that has gone on for decades. He is not hard to understand; just look at what he might get out of it and his survival. This is a real test for our system of government and the American people's ability to wake up. We have been reluctant to believe this.
21
@ncg
We need Paul Krugman to point out what many of us know in our gut is true.
We need many Paul Krugmans in the media to combat the never-ending and contemptuous of democracy lies told by Fox news.
The United States is a divided nation. On one side we have Democrats who pretty much tell the truth and on the other we have Republicans who pretty much lie all the time.
So how do we get the people who choose to believe the lies to wake up?
3
The answer to many of Krugman's and his readers' questions lie in the book, "Democracy in Chains" by Nancy MacLean. The ultra-right is operating a stealth campaign to re-arrange the rules of the game so that the plutocrats (read Koch brothers etc.) can control the rules. They are actually against democracy. All the questions and wondering about how a party can be so clueless or so cruel are answered in this book. I think it is a must-read for people who are trying to figure out why we are faring so poorly against a party (Republicans) who are operating in bad faith.
27
Quick: name one -- just one -- Republican policy idea since Ronald Reagan.
Hint: tax cuts for the wealthy spur economic growth for the rest of us.
That's it.
47
Paul, one side lies all the time. The other side may not lie but it receives money with open hands from the deep pocketed sources that may not “lie” in spoken words, but are players in the name of the Game that is unbridled capitalism.
5
@petey tonei
Right you are, Petey!
“They’re all the same”
Next Election Day, stay home...or vote for Jill Stein.
That will show them...!
I am not a Psychologist, but I think this pattern is called Motivated Reasoning. It's definitely not a Republican invention: it applies to everyone who attempts to use reason to defend a position they are emotionally attached to.
But within Motivated Reasoning, it is a particularly pernicious type, because it is organized, purposeful, and premeditated. It's not so much a cognitive bias, as a conscious strategy to produce unconscious bias in the listener. To call it psychological warfare would be fair.
The purpose is not actually to persuade he hearer. It's to make conclusions seem unavoidable, and render reasoning useless. The easiest way I've found to detect his technique is to notice how difficult it is to even CONSIDER, let alone accept, an alternative conclusion after hearing such arguments.
A fair argument allows the listener to think about both positions on equal terms, but provides tools the listener can use to differentiate their validity. Mental warfare encourages the listener to skip the step of comparing alternatives.
19
@James
Hi James, psychologist here. Motivated reasoning is part of it, and yes, everyone uses it to some extent.
The concept that might be more helpful (and truthfully, you don't need to be a psychologist to apply this:>)) is cognitive dissonance.
Here's how it seems to work in this instance:
(a) I've voted for Donald Trump
(b) I can't deny that Donald Trump lies more than any president in history, lying about things (the # of people attending his inauguration) I can see with my own eyes are not true, and I vociferously attacked President Clinton for lying and demanded he be impeached, but i don't want Trump to be impeached.
I am simply and utterly incapable of holding all those things together in my mind because it would simply explode. Therefore, if you ask me about these issues, you will see me shifting from one to the other in a wholly irrational way. it is confusing to you because you are maintaining awareness of all these factors at the same time. I can't do that, because if I do, my entire world view and sense of personal self-worth will be threatened.
If you ever have had a sustained conversation about the history of the universe with a religious fundamentalist, you will have a similar experience.
It reminds me of the first time I led a therapy group at Bellevue, and one of the patients had a "thought disorder." it was dizzying; for a sentence or two he seemed to make sense than suddenly we were on a wholly different topic.
Very similar!
60
@James I read Michelle Goldberg’s op-ed on Trump’s abortion incitement and James’ point became clear. The purpose of the President’s statements was to make it impossible to consider an alternate point of view.
1
It's the old Wizard-of-Oz trick once more: what you see behind the curtain isn't what you see behind the curtain so pull close the curtain which may not even be a curtain.....etc
10
What needs to be reinforced over and over is the reality that wealth is doing nothing for those at the bottom. The masses are expected to watch as huge multi billion dollar corporations pay little or no tax. The same corporations deserve the best tax break package to relocate their headquarters in your city. And the corporations making huge profits and the wealthy watching their portfolios multiply in value need permanent tax cuts even though they will do just fine without them while everyone else's is temporary so there is always someone to pick up the tab. Republican dogma is to do more of the same. The American people are waiting for the scraps to be thrown from above. But, you know, once you start throwing scraps from your plate, sooner or later there won't be anything left for the wealthy to eat. And we simply cannot have that, now can we? Despite the fact that the wealthy buffet is all you can eat.
16
@Walking Man The irony here is that one has to ask: what does amassing obscene amounts of wealth do for the wealthy? In what way does owning a 5-story penthouse overlooking Manhattan while using it perhaps 3 weeks a year benefit the occupant? Power for its own sake (which is what great wealth bestows) can only be used to acquire more power --- how fulfilling is that when you know that there is always someone with more power? if the point is to flaunt your wealth, how do you do that when that wealth resides in some bytes in a computer in the Cayman's or Panama and there are only so many Ferraris, diamonds, sable coats, Lear Jets etc. in the world? What is the point of amassing oil wealth when your grandchildren will not be able to breathe without a mask?
3
@jprfrog You're looking for rationality, but this stems from the fear and denial of death. Either they think that they can keep death from entering by blocking the door with a big enough pile of yachts, luxury cars, furs, etc. -- essentially bargaining that they have "won" and therefore should be spared -- or they feel that the reality of death makes life into an otherwise-meaningless chase after hedonistic pleasure, and how that's brought about is completely irrelevant (hence the amorality). Neither position is rational. The maneuver to bequeath their "winnings" to their children, and hence to transfer their supposed power to bargain with death or to live a thoroughly pleasurable (albeit hollow) life to their children is very common -- which results in such things as buying their offsprings' acceptance into elite colleges, and the painting of the Founding Fathers' well reasoned taxes on estates as "death taxes".
1
@Livie I am almost 80 so I have seen quite a bit. Your take is interesting --- but my observation is that those who fear death to the point that they warp their actual lives into a (futile) defense against that fear are basically afraid that they have not truly lived. I have seen in my own family that death itself can be a release from unbearable pain (not all of it physical!). However, the true obscenity is that such fearful people have enormous power to make into hell the lives of thousands (or millions) that they will never know, all in pursuit of an unattainable goal. I consider it a mass mental illness --- and one which, by ruining our environment, may well destroy the possibility of a human existence that is more than a brute animal struggle merely to stay alive. WE are part of nature, and nature always has the last word --- and it is not usually a kind one.
This is the essay which best clarifies the crisis of our times. Krugman has written his masterpiece. We all need to share this with as many people as possible. That, however, is the easy part. The hard part: we got here because a large portion of the American public seems to have reached a condition of moral and ethical degeneration that seems beyond the reach of reason.
And so we're faced with the dilemma Alex Guinness as Prince Faisal faced in "Lawrence of Arabia." We need a miracle. Another word for miracle? A leader that can unify those of us still capable of building a better world.
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@bill
Yes, Bill, I thought that too - definitely one of Krugman's best. I'll definitely share it - i hope others will also.
6
@bill
It could be true, but that leader is not Joe Biden.
Your view of the American public may be right but then again you may be wrong or perhaps they are ethically degenerate but that doesn't make them bad because ethics is good, isn't it? By the way, what is ethics? Not that I don't know but I may know and the public knows or maybe they don't know. My God, I'm sounding like a Republican or is it a publican????@bill
Stop with the Democrats are not perfect. Krugman is correct that Republican leadership and their spokesmen are zombies, empty of ideas and humanity. They carry on recruiting others in bad faith to ensure their continued existence.
Democratic party and spokespeople are made up of humans with human foibles that are no different than their voters. The ideas of the party and the body politic are alive and debatable. The core beliefs are still based on the founding principles pointing the way on an infinitely long journey to a more perfect union.
As to what reasonable people do to bring the Republican party back to the living - being ruthless when saying the party is dead. The challenges of the late 20th century have proven its ideas are not sustainable in our present day reality.
Prehistoric humans were socialists, dependent on a common good. All the great inventions of those early days were shared until we discovered efficiency. Then governments were devised to control capitalism and its inherent soulless drive, social good being only a side benefit.
The 21st c challenges of wealth distribution and societal health are overwhelming. Returning to the caves could be where we end up if we can't learn to share resources.
The Green New Deal, unfinished as it is, is the road map we must begin the debate with. But media too often buy into the Rep skepticism and mockery as if idealism is not cool. Being excited by positive ideas is unifying. Fear of the future is Republican.
52
@MKKW
Yeah, media is too caught up with showing a talking head trying to trip up the interviewee with a gotcha question.
As i heard close to two decades ago, and have come to fully believe, rational people draw conclusions from their data but Republicans draw data from their conclusions.
98
thank goodness for Shep at FOX. The only reason FOX can claim " Fair and etc"
@arusso More often, just make it up.
1
Skewering the boundless cynicism of today's GOP is God's own work, and nobody does it better than Krugman. One of my favorite examples is Senator Portman, who -- despite his regular expressions of concern, "Babies ripped from their mothers, oh my," tempered his criticism by endorsing Trump's re-election almost two years before the vote.
19
When the accepted, encouraged strategy of a major political party
is 'Deny, Deny, Deny. Defend, Defend, Defend. Attack, Attack, Attack,' the result will always be the same and there's only one to break that vicious cycle.
Vote.
28
" O.K., the climate is changing, but it’s a natural phenomenon that has nothing to do with human activity. .K., man-made climate change is real, but we can’t do anything about it without destroying the economy."
And finally, "I always wanted beachfront property in Kansas."
21
@Dave Scott: Sorry, no can do. That Kansas property has long been ripped up by vicious tornadoes or burned down by raging fires when it's finally on the beach...
The right has an easier time defending the zombie ideas because there is a right wing echo chamber centered around Fox propaganda that reinforces their message, no matter how intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt it is. And those who seek to do something about it should seek to diminish the power of Fox, Breitbart, Limbaugh, etc, perhaps by convincing companies not to advertise on those sites. Honest ideas would stand a better chance if the headwinds of opposition from Fox etc were diminished.
50
Mr. Barr is bucking for a Supreme Court nomination!
@CitizenJ I suppose it’s the same as Corporate Democrats like Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden have the New York Times. Imagine being a Bernie Sanders supporter and reading the New York Times daily. I empathize with your sentiment.
@CitizenJ
YES! Boycotting Fox advertisers, difficult though that is because there are so many of them, is more important even that voting, unless of course you live in a "swing" state...before 1980, the Laffer curve was consider "laffable"; now, Fox "News" pretends it's economic fact.
America's biggest economic problem is rising inequality which will not be fixed by overpriced real estate on the two coasts.
The solution to inequality is a needed improvement in infrastucture. Infrastructure in America is in decay; that includes not only road, bridges and improved public transportation; but includes affordable Healthcare; and affordable and cost effective education. President Trump and many a Republican has campaigned on the first two as have many a Democrats. No solution insight except for the Zombie ones.
7
Read Steve Rattner's piece yesterday to see a shining example. He equates the Republican decades-old phalanx described by Dr. K with a some Democrats who individually are out there.
With Republicans it is strategy; with Democrats it is demographics. You'd think someone like Rattner could tell the difference. He probably can, but he'll never write it down.
6
If some media continue to use fuzzy descriptions like "conservative" to cover also the GOP reactionary populism in decline, willingness of the uninformed to accept these disingenuous and specious arguments will continue. Many like to think they are conservative in some sense--life style, sensitivity, and some kind of faith. If journalists describe this witless group of manipulative arguments as conservative, it for certain does no honor to the memories of Burke, Adams, or William F. Buckley.
9
@FactionOfOne
And you may recall, Buckley referred to groups with similar reactionary populist views as "the crazies."
Professor Krugman, OK! We have got your point about the Republican zombies, now it looks like a refrain of a too much sung song.
Shouldn't the American liberals and sincerely democratic ones worry now about a political society where nearly a majority of voters still believe the zombies' truths?
And a great majority of voters either are excluded or just do not believe it is good to go voting.
In other words, is it worth to chant the same song to the same delirious audience, while the people which really matters are elsewhere?
@renarapa: Well, sign up for a voter registration group and go out and knock on doors then. Krugman cannot do it on his own...
The Labour party in the UK has just issued a video that very clearly shows the difference between giving a tax break to a billionaire or the rest of the population.
It can be found at youtube "Its just common sense" and is about 1 day old.
I suspect a similar advert could be run in the US - it might be quite effective.
14
@Marianne Thanks for pointing out that video - brilliant in its simplicity.
3
@Marianne
Thanks for pointing out the video. To see it, search for the Labour Party on YouTube, or just go to this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkow80xNBA0
The one partial fallacy is that while the video shows the non-billionaires shopping locally, a chunk of our expenditures go to purchasing goods and services from monopolistic enterprises (which should not exist in Capitalism -- which requires truly competitive markets to work as it was intended, without huge income inequality). Take a look at this image of brands and who owns them to get a look at - in part - what I am talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkow80xNBA0
This being said, it is certainly far better for "the small people" (remember the BP Chairman?) to get tax breaks and and benefits, rather than dole out welfare in any form to big corporations and billionaires.
1
@Hope
Wonderful video!! Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkow80xNBA0
I'm going to write a separate comment so more people will see this.
This is similar to how the big media have an extreme reluctance to use the word lie and or liar when it is entirely appropriate and correct. In some rare cases lately I have heard/seen the L word used. But it’s as if it’s only reserved for the egregious examples.
12
That’s because we should be trying to convince people. When you call somebody a liar, ears have a tendency to close.
"But my sense is that the news media continue to have a hard time coping with the essential fraudulence of most big policy debates."
The essential fraudulence of all the big policy debates tarnishes whatever claim to moral authority as truth-tellers journalists might have.
Such fraudulence goes hand-in-hand with our politics, unable to decide anything about countless major topics: inequality, heatlh care finance, climate change, student debt, firearms and the use of force (the list goes on).
I used to be see a graffito on I-95, "The French aristocracy didn't see it coming, either." Political fraudulence and zombie debates, alas, are nothing new.
6
"Thus, inequality denial [used by Republicans] is about using whatever argument comes to hand to defend policies that benefit the rich at the expense of working Americans."
At least in my adult lifetime, beginning in 1978, this has been exactly true.
Ronald Reagan became a hero "defeating" one of the most successful set of workers in the USA at the time, air traffic controllers. People who were very modestly paid, highly trained, dedicated, but, far from wealthy. But, Ronnie turned the air traffic controllers into the enemy of the "people" and destroyed their union while the ignorant folks, like me at the time, stood by thinking Ronnie had been heroic.
In fact, Ronnie had taken the first large step toward destroying the working class, which, he kept going at GE with Jack Welch after that.
It is not only that Republicans destroy the working class, it is that the ignorant, like me at the time, support that destruction and view it through the lens of Republican Propaganda as heroic.
Excellent article Paul.
164
@Michael I’m pretty much the same age and I have watched the extreme wealth transfer with my own eyes here in South Florida, I’ve watched houses torn down and replaced multiple times in Palm Beach from my bike seat, just so the new owner could demonstrate his wealth. I’ve watched local airports that were home to single engine aircraft (what I would call doctor/lawyer airplanes) replaced with jets that start at 10 million and top out around 80 million. On winter weekends there is a steady stream arriving on Friday and heading north late Sunday and Monday. And these are the people Republicans say are over taxed!
83
Climate change will destroy the economy. Cost of living will skyrocket and markets will crumble. Climate change will destroy capitalism because the cost of damages will be a death knell to growth. Of course there will be a recovery. It is just none of us will be alive to see it.
39
Like in The Great American Abdication, prof. Krguman seems is again unwilling to discuss the macro-level, related to world history:
During the Cold War, capitalism made itself an ally (or a co-belligerent) of Western democracy, curbing its own excesses and paying lip service, in the face of an existencial threat from a competing economic system. This view, no doubt stemming from the PR and branding from capitalist actors, lead many to believe, despite the evidence to the contrary in e.g. Latin America, that capitalism equalled democracy and would bring about all the things people wanted like freedom, equality and human rights. This belief distorted the public view, keeping them oblivious to the fact that all allegiance to democracy was gone as soon as the competing economic model was deemed dead. In the 90s, it lead to at least partial neoliberal capture of most governments and made the center-left cosy up to the capital, make counter-ideological moves and end up driving their base away (to green parties, center parties and hard right parties).
The point is that capital doesn't care about democracy. It doesn't care about your freedom or your human rights. It is ludicrous to think otherwise. Capitalism and market economy are base instincts, often rash, selfish and wrong. They should always be doubted and made to justify their existence. A society deserving of the name, just like a person choosing to be more than an animal, should always be ready to overrule those instincts.
21
Bad ideas don't stay dead because their backers don't want them dead. Three reasons:
1. Financial self-interest--they benefit from the bad idea. All of those economists pitching Laffer curves and supply-side economics come to mind. A lot of tenured professorships, jobs in Republican administrations and media talking head spots went to these guys. Admission of being wrong could jeopardize a lucrative career.
2. Self-worth--they have invested a lot of personal capital in the bad idea and it has come to define them. Their reputation has become associated with the bad idea and the notion that it may be wrong is, in effect, a repudiation of them as a person. So the idea lives on, lest the person have to re-evaluate and re-examine their own sense of self and self-worth.
3. "It Just Hasn't Worked Yet, But It Will"--Their intellectual flexibility allows them to blame some other factors or issues for why their idea, while still right in their mind, has not yet clicked. The "tax cuts for the mega-rich" idea is a perfect example. The economy was at or near full-employment when they were passed. Where are the added benefits to the those not in the 1% or large corporations? " Well, my idea needs time to ripple through the economy, but it will, very soon . . ."
32
Reading the New Yorker Magazine profile of National Security Advisor, John Bolton, is to understand how profitable it is to be a "conservative" pundit and proselytizer.
Apparently the intellegentsia's tendency toward liberal viewpoints has created a demand for the relatively short supply of persuasive conservative voices, and substantial rewards for those voices from conservative publications, think tanks and wealthy sponsors.
Propagating the Republican party line appears to be a profitable enterprise for those willing to countenance the cognitive dissonance, falsehood and tortured logic that the task requires.
66
@Reed Erskine-ditto for Fox propaganda pundits.
@Reed Erskine
Bingo. There is no such thing as a Republican intellectual. The closest they've ever gotten is George Will, effusively grateful children of affluent immigrants, and a bunch of second-rate economics professors angry at not being taken seriously by their successful peers.
There are ways to reveal fraud. It requires digging in, real investigation, real reporting. Not investigation of the subject, but investigation of the fraud and fraudsters. It is essentially what police and plaintiff's lawyers do in cases against fraud.
"they aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda."
That can be proven. It requires real work to do it, but it can be done.
Somebody pays them. They profit by it. There is some direction. There is some discussion that is a conspiracy to commit fraud.
Dig it out.
We've done it. Remember the recording of Romney's secret talk to donors about who he was writing off and cheating? More like that, a lot more.
Does anyone really think it is not there to be found?
25
@Mark Thomason
It is there to be found. It's been found. More is found every day (often by this paper). I think this is sort of what Mr Krugman's getting at: this new information ought to have an impact on the supposed contest of ideas, but it doesn't - because one side isn't operating in good faith.
47
@Mark Thomason
"they aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda."
What more proof do you think Professor Krugman needs to prove this point?
It's being broadcast every day by Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.
Oh, you mean that you think if the 40+% who support Trump suddenly learned that Hannity, Coulter, etc receive their marching orders from some billionaires, it would change their minds?
I just wrote a comment on cognitive dissonance. You might read up on it. I've talked with numerous Fox devotees in person, back when I lived in Greenville, SC (8 years, including dozens of conversations with religious fundamentalists as well).
you may be on to something, but it doesn't ring true in my experience. "Oh, Exxon has actually written scripts for Hannity, Trump, Coulter, etc to use? Well, it's a free market society, and the socialists who are using climate change to destroy our economy and create gulags for all the God fearing conservatives deserve what's coming to them. I'm a second amendment guy anyway."
Folks who read the NY Times believe WAY too much in the idea that most voters consider the issues in a purely rational manner.
2
“at a fundamental level, they aren’t interested in the truth. Their goal, instead, is to serve a predetermined agenda.”
Exactly. They are entrapped in domains of self-imposed illusion and sealed for endless ages.
They find themselves in phantom realms, a sphere that corresponds to the ideas and notions they had formed in life and which now satisfies their hopes and expectations.
I don’t really know what the answer to this morbid situation is.
7
Data collecting, examining the flows of money towards the GOP would, I presume, clarify how jobs are connected with the careers of the politicians. In the Netherlands there is is saying, I try to translate it: "whom's bread one eats, whom's word one speaks".
26
The GOP and its elected officials will tell whatever lies will keep them in office, will support whatever lies told by others i.e. Trump will keep them in office, and will willingly validate the lies emanating from their corporate sponsors if it keeps them in office.
Politics is now a well-paying career and moving up its equivalent of the corporate ladder is the goal. Public service has not been part of the Republican mission statement for years.
27
Mr. Krugman explains the problem well, as usual. I came across this quote from Tom Ricks "Churchill & Orwell" book, which also struck me as similar and very direct: "The struggle to see things as they are is perhaps the fundamental driver of Western civilization. .... It is the agreement that objective reality exists, that people of goodwill can perceive it, and that other people will change their views when presented with the facts of the matter." We seem to have lost all 3 of things in the 2nd sentence: agreement on objective reality, goodwill, and willingness to change. It's hard to imagine it all ending well. So it goes.
87
I agree that the three have been lost in many Western/democratic states in addition to the US. But is it too naive to assume that the loss is temporary? The answer could be found in the US through the run up to the 2020 campaign. Hope the US would find ways to overcome the loss. But, how?
As you have identified the cause, Prof. and other pundits, please help jumpstart the process to find the recovery steps, and implement them. Quickly, please.
6
@How many fingers, Winston?
That quote gives a great insight to the principles of the Russian disinformation tactics. (Also used by the right-wingers, whether or not there is an overlap.) They exist not only to push their propaganda but to also muddy the waters. When you can remove the underpinnings of reality, belief becomes a matter of interpretation. When you make each fact just one choice of many alternative interpretations, people have to choose what they believe or become disillusioned and indifferent. The latter become non-actors that will not actively hinder your agenda, whereas the former become potential stooges to aid in it.
A fluid set of beliefs not grounded in reality can be pushed and manipulated. If you can manipulate people's beliefs, you can control their actions in aggregate a lot more effectively, though more crudely, than directly manipulating their actions and singular opinions. Of course, in the environment of the former, the latter can also be used more easily to drive specific events.
5
Good points. The only thing that I disagree with is saying objective reality, et al., were “lost”. These things were not lost; they were intentionally discarded. Manipulative wordsmithing was deliberately employed to confuse and divide — think “death panels” and “death tax” from messaging maestros like Frank Luntz — in order to garner votes for Republican electoral wins.
2
Climate change: ADD: Okay, we can do something about it, but it will be good for us by increasing agricultural output.
3
@Thomas Zaslavsky
Certainly not true globally. Making larger areas in the central latitudes less hospitable for agriculture can't be balanced by the smaller areas of land in the latitudes nearer to poles that also have (longer) winters.
Even locally its debatable: the increases from warmer climate and higher levels of CO2 are probably more than countered by the increased extremes in weather.
5
@anon
you do realize, don't you, that Thomas was adding another specious argument, not putting forth his own view?
1
@Thomas Zaslavsky
Throw in a few hurricanes and the construction business gets a nice little bump too.
1
With this clear-cut explanation on how American conservatives of these days behave, I convinced myself again through a very simple argument why Mr. T would be the next US President.
(1) So many American voters love zombies (because they don’t study, but they love just sensation of thrills out of zombie theories);
(2) They have influential powers through SNS as well as voting;
(3) Republicans and Mr. T discovered the combination of (1) and (2) yield their employment.
(4) Each of reasonable politicians, right, left or center, who holds dear the voters outside of (1), gets only a smaller share than Mr. T’s.
I’m getting more pessimistic about the near future of the US and its allies.
9
I am not a psychologist, but a lifetime of observing individuals under stress has taught me that it is not as simple as, "...people pretending to be making a serious argument are actually apparatchiks operating in bad faith...." For income inequality, climate change, and other quantifiable issues that have social consequences, the data science is not really the issue. It's convenient in making an argument to carry on as though it were ... but it's not.
It is about the social consequences and who gets to make those decision. As a conservative, well, first of all I do not lie. I never lie, and if I find that I've made a false statement, I will be the first to point it out. Back on topic: as a conservative I have no problem ageeing that that the climate is changing. What I disagree with most strenuously is the progressive program for addressing the problem. I favor nuclear power as the best baseload option; progressives point out that nuclear is hideously expensive and horribly dangerous; I point out that the expense is largely the result of roadblocks erected by progressives, and concerns over safety is founded on progressive innumeracy. But most conservatives would rather avoid that argument and simply attack at the line of scrimmage. Progressives do the same thing when their ox is being gored.
With all due respect, this editorial is as though Dr. Krugman just discovered human nature, but failed to comprehend the implications.
3
@Charles Becker
What progressive roadblocks do you see relating to Chernobyl, Fukushima, 3 Mile Island? Sure, nuclear power can be made to appear less costly if you ignore or hide the back-end costs, but the utility companies seem to think wind, solar, and conservation are smarter bets.
18
@Charles Becker
Viewing the expenses of fission energy as the result of progressive roadblocks is a prime example of the topic under discussion. The dilemma is that it is difficult to judge the degree of wilfulness behind the ignorance.
I am with PK here. I have grown tired of regarding conservatives as decent folk who have perhaps been misinformed. Mr Becker presents himself as articulate, intelligent and reasonable here. Fine, I accept this. But that means I am not inclined to view his position as born from lack of knowledge. And that means I have to plump for bad faith.
17
@Hugo van den Berg,
You should eliminate bad faith as a motivator. I spent several decades within a stone's throw of naval nuclear power and would not be the least reluctant to take up residence as close to a nuclear generating plant as zoning laws would allow. I simply believe in science and the facts, no matter where they may lead me. I know, that's shocking.
5
The living dead aka zombie is an oxymoron. The dead are not living. And vice versa.
Humans are one or the other. Our use by mortality date encapsulates all of our hopes and fears.
Zombies have replaced vampires as the preferred supernatural horror metaphor commentary on the human socioeconomic political educational demographic historical condition.
While androids have replaced robots as the science fiction preferred insight on what it means to be human. And aliens from space offer a similar perspective and context.
That they are all mostly fictional creatures eliminates the need for any facts or knowledge. Androids and robots are real. Aliens are possible /probable. Zombies never. Thus they are a great option in the Age of Trump.
3
@Blackmamba As people in medical profession or e.g. biology will tell you, the line between living and dead is very blurred.
Zombies and vampires also provide a very different kind of commentary due to their differences, which in itself could be a commentary on our society. Robots and androids are essentially the same thing with different connotations, though. That is more of a language and terminology thing.
1
@anon
Androids have become a metaphor for what it means to be human. They can pass for human. Robots can't.
Cognitive brain function is the divide between life and death in sentient beings. Having the ability to respond to external stimuli aka reflex is not living. It is existing.
1
@Blackmamba
I’m sorry but I disagree.
My father has Alzheimer’s and is incapable of describing any part of his life. He does not know he was a 747 pilot, he does not know where he lives and he basically does not get out of bed.
But he can eat. And he does like the “doggy” that I bring with me when I visit. I have to help him pet the “doggy”. At least he knows it’s a dog and it’s the only name he calls anyone or anything.
2
Keep it up, Professor Krugman. We really need frequent doses of the truth about our economy and the positions of the two parties on the things that matter, income inequality and global warming. The Republican Party was a decent conservative party at least through Eisenhower's term. Since then it has tried voodoo economics (George Herbert Bush's term for trickle down economics), found it to be unsuccessful, but still keep beating that tired old horse. The Republican Party has become a cult which collects money for political campaigns from the big money interests and then votes accordingly. They get by with it as long as they can stir up fear and rage about a wide range of social issues.
89
Yes, it was decades ago when I heard the joke about how you could tell when Republicans are lying. Easy - you can see their lips move.
But it has worked so well, why change?
52
" one side of the political spectrum lies all the time, while the other side doesn’t."
Paul, you don't honestly believe this, and anyone who follows the news doesn't either. If you like your health insurance, you can keep it, Susan Rice explaining Benghazi, etc., etc, etc., etc. And oh, by the way, I remember a certain Democrat Nobel Prize winning economist saying the American economy would go into the tank if President Trump was elected.
2
@Stew R
Regarding your comment on the economy... think about economic cycles. Trump’s administration is benefitting from coming into office as a boom was taking off. The economic strength you are seeing was created by the recovery of a near disaster ( the Great Recession), a recovery managed by the previous administration. We are also having an extended run because of - low interest rates. The tax cuts and deregulation happening under Trump give us a false reading- the stock market goes up further because corporations (not the average Joe) are racking it in. All of this made possible because we are taking more and more money from various government programs in order to pay for tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy. Just wait until the poor and middle clssses realize that they have nothing and no safety net. We will have a disaster in our hands.
37
@Jwalnut,
The recovery was managed by Ben Bernanke. Extended low interest rates (and the quickly becoming mythical "zero lower bound") are not understood by me, and I've yet to hear a coherent explanation from anyone else. The Great Depression lasted from 1932 to 1940, or if you wish to make a point, from 1929 to 1940. We have been 'recovering' for that long, and in an age when information/money move many times faster than they did in the 1930's. Since we started in a less bad position, either there is an underlying change occuring, or we're not measuring the right things.
And when it comes to cycles (which I doubt explain any of this), if you are reluctant to credit Trump for the recovery then you should be equally reluctant to blame Bush for the crash.
3
@Jwalnut,
If Trump doesn't get credit for the boom, is it logical to then blame Bush for the bust? No, of course it's not.
3
Paul Krugman is a beacon of light in a 21st century America that is otherwise bleak, dark and creepy in a decidedly Orwellian way. Lies are the truth. Fakery is sincerity. Reality is up for debate. Perhaps this is the result of the American obsession with fame and fortune, culminating in the rise to power of the man who best embodies this sick obsession.
60
So what's a Democrat to do? I say they should join the fight with their own lies, distortion and denial of facts in service of an agenda that helps the largest number of citizens instead of the fortunate few. Find those emotional buttons in the public psyche and push them, relentlessly. People vote emotionally, not rationally. They pick and choose the facts they like and ignore the others. The Trump GOP is beyond fact-checking and reasoning with. Now it it's time to engage them on the fact-free field they play on. Let THEM be the fact-checkers for a change.
4
But that’s the point, they don’t care about facts. The Democrats would do themselves a favor by beating the fake tax reform bill that average working class Americans will pay for. While corporate profits are at 80 year highs, wages are at 60 year lows, and the Republican controlled states have waged war on organized labor, and managed to gut the one thing that got them better paying factory jobs, better benefits, safer working conditions and that is the union.
There is a reason that Ford hated the unions, same reason Carnegie hated unions, for the same reason any industrialist hates organized labor, because it means that they will be forced into paying labor more, for keeping their factories safe, or means paying better benefits, holiday pay, paid time off. All of these things are seen as a negative effect to the bottom line, because in the end, employees are nothing more than numbers.
30
@abigail49
Abigail, I don't think that your proposal is fit to be adapted by the party as a whole, BUT...just for the entertainment value, I'd like to see a Democratic contender for an office that is safely in Republican hands (in other words, no chance of being elected) take on the incumbent and just flat-out lie in an over-the-top fashion (ad absurdum-like), preferably in a way that exposes the falsehood of the argument being presented.
R: Any one receiving money from the government should be willing to work for it!
D: Right you are! In twelve years in the Senate, you've introduced zero bills on your own, only having co-signed two. Obviously you're not earning your keep as a Senator, so maybe you could be put to work empty the trash cans in the Capitol at the end of the day. Sure, that's janitorial work, but it comes with senatorial pay!
What an utterly sick joke.
Obama, with 90% of his top economic advisers being Rubin-Citigroup people, tripled the market from its bottom in 2009 on the basis of absolutely zero growth in wages for the bottom 90%. Instead of Krugman's fiscal stimulus which would have helped the economy, they had 8 years of near-zero interest rates that were good only for the market.
Trump adopts Krugman's fiscal stimulus and as predicted gets extremely rapid growth and a sharp rise in wages. He wants to limit immigration to increase wages even more.
So it is Trump who has zombie thinking?
2
@Jerry Hough, what fiscal stimulus did Trump adopt? I hope you're not talking about the GOP tax law because that sure didn't produce jobs, and it didn't produce wage growth.
Btw, you usually adopt fiscal stimulus during a recession, not when we're at full employment.
5
@Jerry Hough
Hi Jerry. Dave from Wisconsin here. We haven't talked in a while.
I admired your commitment to the proposition that Krugman was essentially Hayek in terms of global trade. I believe you were right. His intentions were nothing of the sort, but his advocacies were a bit in the realm of something I call 'narcissistic conscience'.
But what is this?
Trump used pro-cyclical stimulus. No Keynesian would claim that it wouldn't work, and none of them did.
But given that the US government is essential to US survival, and given that it protects the lives of its people, its revenues need to be maintained at a reasonable level. What Trump achieved through tax cuts could have just have easily been achieved through government spending.
The real question is whether we need the Federal Government or not.
Many Americans are not in touch with the effects of the federal government, and they falsely believe that it is a frivolous addition to free-market capitalism. They fail to realize that everything their employer achieves is impossible without the federal government. Without it, all US ideals of freedom and the right to pursue happiness die. You'll wish you died if we starve the government out of existence.
Context is paramount. Timing is paramount.
Paradoxes exist only in a failure to accommodate time. They're a figment of the mind's inability to accommodate time and changing conditions.
1
Maybe you should do some homework, since Mitch and the Trumplican party have had control of the purse for what 8 years. Obama wanted a Roosevelt style work project, and he wanted to upgrade the infrastructure. But Mitch and the Senate didn’t want to give Obama any stimulus monies. Keep in mind Mitch was determined to stick to his making Obama a one term president.
This is how the Chinese combat a recession, and one reason why they have state of the art transportation system, along with Europe, and one reason why our infrastructure is crumbling. A class you must have missed in high school, called civics....
2
I've had more a few... hmm, nitpicks, let's say, with both PK and NYT the last few years, but this is the most honest thing I've seen written in the "establishment" press in a long time.
The Republicans are just nihilists now, intent on a path of destruction even to the extent of destroying the society and economy upon which their nominal corporate/one-percenter overlords prey.
70
The duty of the press is not to avoid “bias” but to unearth the truth and make it known to the public. Maintaining an appearance of even-handedness comes at a price when one side in a debate is mendacious. But too often, the media has seemed willing to pay that price.
It time for the press to stop treating the opinions of a partisan hack and of an expert six months away from a Nobel Prize as having equal value. “Fairness” can be unfair to people who know what they are talking about, and to the public.
19
@Jesse Fell
The same "expert(s)" that predicted the Economy would collapse under President Trump economic policies?
2
If your talking about Krugman’s Nobel Prize, he won it more than 6 months ago...
It's called Movement Conservatism and its decades long strategy has always been "never explain, never apologize" and never take "no" for an answer.
It is like a boa constrictor. It grabs it's prey and then waits as long as necessary for the prey to briefly relax by exhaling and when it does so, the constrictor tightens the grip further. Each time its prey relaxes even for a second, the constrictor's grip tightens until it is no more.
Movement Conservatism waits for liberals to stop paying attention, usually a 3-10 day span of time on most issues, but Movement Conservatism is prepared to wait out liberals for decades if necessary such as one issues like school prayer and abortion. Everytime liberals think they can relax, along comes MC'ers to tighten the grip.
Trump understands this and helps the Movement by spewing issues on a daily basis to the point where there is such an abundance of prey that the constrictor barely has to exert any effort to feed itself.
41
What struck me about Dr. Krugman's analysis is how intricately correct is. And how little it matters to core Republican voters. At the end of the day, the column speaks to educated liberals and moderates.
It says nothing meaningful to dwindling numbers of conservative, middle class voters. It doesn't explain the impact of inequality on them: How much higher would their paycheck be if inequality had been tempered since 1990? How much has global warming affected the crop yields and farmers' incomes?
If we are to succeed at winning over conservatives hearts and minds, and convince them that Republican politicians are harming them, we need to explain it in simple terms. Concrete, pocketbook impact. That's what they consider when they vote.
39
The argument that your asserting, is the same one I have been, to win, the democrats need to show real time data, and ask are you really better off today, than 2 years ago. Today Trump said, that Chinese car makers had secretly agreed to spend billions in car factories in the US. He went on to say, they’re coming back, those manufacturing jobs have come back, in large numbers.
The democrats need to show that the tax reform was really nothing more than bait and switch, and that corporations are now paying zero in federal taxes, yet, working class Americans do. They need to point out that a minimum wage of $15.00 dollars an hour, only puts in you in a different tax bracket, it doesn’t raise your standard of living. The democrats need to point out that the tax deductions we currently get, have a sunset date, that we have to rely on congress renewing working Americans tax cuts, yet, the rich, their tax breaks are codified.
13
@James It's not just about the data, though. It is also about passion, showing respect and not running away from tough questions, taking time to explain the matter logically. You can get a lot of respect and votes, if you can honestly explain the problem and tell that you don't have a solution and that show that nobody else has a solution either. That also pays dividends later.
Crucially, one also has to remember to explain values and principles and how they apply there. If they don't think they like your values and your premise, they don't care about your logic or your conclusions. People need to see where you come from. You can even get votes from people who disagree with you, if they respect you and your values.
2
@Ken L
Unfortunately, the Republican party is mostly pushing racism, rather than economic issues. They know making black Americans the scapegoats is too politically incorrect, even for them, so now it's Hispanics who are cast as the bogeymen.
There was a letter in my local paper advocating a test in English fluency in order to be able to vote. That's where we are now. People who were born US citizens in the state of New Mexico (where Spanish as well as English is an official language), according to the letter writer-- should be deprived of their voting rights!
When pure bigotry is motivating people, simple, clear explanations of economic issues won't go very far.
1
Men of reason need to stop rising to the bait. It takes two to tango. And mendacity takes two too. One to tell, and another to hear the lie. The Dems need to talk the issues and ignore the twittersphere propaganda. Better yet, be and act the truth. Start impeachment hearings with an eye to ending them sometime in early 2021.
19
if one starts innocently with an untenable position, be that regarding economic inequality or global climate change, one would be led to contradictions. At that point there is an opportunity to admit error and revise one's views. But what if the untenable position is chosen knowingly for purposes of self aggrandizement? The contradictions then are just impediments to the ultimate goal and need to be managed rather than be allowed to interfere with the planned strategy. There, being unencumbered by the constraints that bind Professor Krugman, I 've just spelled out what he is unable to do.
2
Are you saying that there is no income inequality, no global warming, or are you just typing big words to sound intelligent, it’s not working.
1
Paul,
If there are always those three stages of denial which are logically inconsistent, then ask when the Republican party start with the first set of lies?
I'd say Reagan. Senior Bush even called it voodoo economics, though he slowly charted a course that was more conservative than what his CIA background would have suggested.
My view of the 20th century is simple. We were a minor player until WWII. Thanks to our economic boom during WWI, and the immigration of scientists (including many Jewish scientists) after WWII we became the richest country in the world with the best faculty and students for approximately 35 years.
In the big picture, not really that big a deal.
Clinton saved the economy from voodoo economics once. Obama did it a second time.
But we can't seem to help ourselves. We are giving it a third chance.
Our founding fathers did not write a genius constitution, they wrote a very compromised document filled with loopholes that are being exploited before our eyes. With the current 6-3 SCOTUS, no changes for the better will be ruled constitutional. We are stuck in a blind alley.
The history of the 21st century seems to be that both Russia and the U.S. will become oil/gas/fossil fuel based oligarchies. Russia will control Syrian and Iranian oil, and we will control Saudi and Iraqi oil.
Will there ever be a single superpower again? Maybe China in 2050. Look on the bright side: they won't be white supremacists!
39
@priceofcivilization We-ell.. Don't forget Nixon got elected by basically committing a treason. IIRC he sabotaged LBJ's Vietnam peace talks by communicating with the Vietcong that LBJ couldn't be trusted and then ran against the war. Check the LBJ tapes.
Don't forget China ended the two-term limit with Xi, so their fight against corruption and other development might start stalling. I also remember reading that whereas the old batch of party leaders were engineers, the new batch will essentially be bankers. They might focus on entirely wrong things.
1
As you say, Dr. Krugman, "All of this is or should be obvious." But one thing you leave out is the libertarian right has a vast media network just as eager to promote lies as the Republican Party. Between talk radio, Murdoch media and platforms like Breitbart, the ultra-wealthy can spread their lies farther and wider than any number of concerned scientists can spread the truth. And the American people are rapidly becoming less and less able to distinguish facts, reason, and science from calculated lies anyway. Therein lies our thorniest problem.
36
@Eric Caine and do not forget the impact of social media
where some people merely believes it because they heard something about it before
7
I was wondering the same thing, I’ve never heard of the “libertarian right”, seems like a conflict of terms, like governmental coordination.
2
@Leia, interesting point of view. I consider libertarians to be free market fundamentalists like the Koch brothers. How do you see them on issues like economic inequality and the social safety net?
2
"What the right’s positioning on inequality, climate and now Russian election interference have in common is that in each case the people pretending to be making a serious argument are actually apparatchiks operating in bad faith."
Yes, exactly. A contract is only as good as the intentions of all parties, and Republicans quit even trying to appear to be operating in good faith. They have shredded the social contract. And also are looting and despoiling and profiting in a privatized manner our land, air, and water -- the commons that used to be held for the benefit of all of us. In particular I look at POTUS and the Senate Majority Leader and wonder if they're a reverse of "The Portrait of Dorian Gray": are pictures hidden somewhere showing them as true leaders, even respected statesmen, if they had directed their potential on a path of good faith? But lurching zombies they are.
Very short-sighted [actually blind] policies of greed are fast making us Planet Titanic. My only consolation if they do manage to end up sinking us is that there are no lifeboats, not even for 'first class'...
Thank you for this and other columns, Dr. Krugman, but please watch your back. Journalism becomes more hazardous every day.
21
I wonder if Republican leadership’s truly bizarre mendacity isn’t explained by its peculiar relationship to the Republican rank and file. The leadership serves only its UHNW donor class. But it depends on the votes of the rank and file. The latter’s vital interests are, of course, fundamentally inconsistent with the former’s. So, votes must be secured by bamboozlement.
The truth isn’t just inconvenient, or uninteresting to Republican leadership; it poses an existential risk.
Why are intellectually indefensible Republican positions long-lived? Because they are tools that don’t wear out with Republican voters.
19
@Eastern Liberal
Yes, you're right. But why do the Republican "rank and file" not see through the "bamboozlement"? They seem to have an unshakable mistrust, even hatred, of liberals, which predisposes them to believe whoever claims to share that hatred. Why -- what have we done to earn that hatred? And whether we've earned it or not, how can we overcome it?
The zombies are the the Republicans out in the country. And "the base" is now virtually the entire set of self-identified Republican voters. The zombies that make up this base shuffle along absorbing false arguments and right-wing sound bites fed to them by the Republican messaging establishment. This is content-free messaging.
What is scary is that this ultra-conservative base is now much larger, and comprises a larger part of the Republican party, than it was say during the heyday of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. These are not your grandparents' red baiters. This is a roll call of the local Republican voting list in community after community.
This torrent of false fact exists because the zombies feed upon it, often ravenously. As long as this messaging moves the zombies, the Republican messaging machine will keep feeding it out.
13
Naomi Oreskes is co author of "Merchants of Doubt" about how climate change deniers use the tactics employed successfully by big tobacco in the face of decades of studies linking tobacco use to cancers. Denial of the truth or settled understanding of science is a form of modern day patriotism. After all, theories, conjecture, hypothesis, evidence -- what's the diff. Naomi Klein's "This Changes Everything" explains how the flat earthers have come to the precipice. No modern day political system is prepared for the extinction of millions of species, the end of legal dominion over the ecosystem that sustains life, or the strife that comes with billions of climate refugees seeking food and water. We can't even accomplish equal access to healthcare for our own country, much less save the human population from the end of civilization based on individual nations with distinct home rule. Climate cares not for geopolitics and demands so much that our American Way of Life is in jeopardy. So, the Republicans care not for climate. They win elections on the promise of walls of safety and prosperity from the past for ever more. How quaint.
13
A great man once said to a joint session of congress,
“So I say to all of you here in this chamber tonight, and to all in the Nation, that those who appeal to you to hold on to the past, do so, at the cost of denying you, your future”.
But we don’t have leadership like that anymore, there is no torch to be passed, there is no “moon shot” to those of us who were lucky enough to be children when we were shooting for the moon, to remember a country that was much different from today. The promise of a brighter future, where all Americans black, and white, Jews and gentiles, would be judged by the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin. This country had a dream, this country proved what a better nation we could be, and we went to the moon.
The kind of leaders we have now, are self serving, and really don’t care about those who elect them. They are willing to outright lie, just to stay in power. It’s time to push the pendulum the other way.
1
The Democrat party is nominally on the side of climate reform - but it's lobbied all the same by multinational corporations and has no clear manifesto for the ecological restoration, clean energy, or climate migration. Along with zombie climate deniers, there is an all the more insidious culprit - climate vampires - who look and know when to say they right things. Both ravenously gorge from the profits of industrial capitalism.
4
@Hernshaw
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
1
I agree with much of what Krugman says about the Republican Party. On the other hand many of the responses in support of Krugman prove that there really is a sickness called Trump Derangement Syndrome
I have no respect for the Republican Party but I fear the Democrats. The 20th Century proved that Leftist governments were far more dangerous to their own citizens than Rightist governments. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are more likely to become 21st versions of Robespierre and Madame Defarge than any Republicans. Many Trump supporters admit he is awful but they find Democrats to be even scarier
I’m voting Libertarian in 2020 just as I did in 2016 because I don’t see the Democrats regaining sanity. I hope against hope to be proved wrong
2
@Norman Lange
No, there really isn't "Trump Derangement Syndrome"; Trump really is that horrible. The problem is that to say so risks turning the person saying it into a latter-day Cassandra because we as a people have such a short attention span.
The Democrats you fear so much are responsible for the creation of what was once the world's strongest middle class. They gave us Social Security, Medicare, OSHA, civil rights for minorities, and virtually every amenity enjoyed by regular Americans. I'd love to know why you think they are "far more dangerous" than the Republicans.
Sanders as Robespierre? Warren as Madame Defarge? Please explain those to me; I don't get them.
Of course Trump supporters find Democrats scary; that's what a steady diet of Fox News will do to them.
A Libertarian vote is a vote to keep Trump in office.
49
@Norman Lange The overwhelming historiographical consensus is that Communism and Nazism overlap and are considered as a single phenomenon - totalitarianism (see Hannah Arendt). No historian makes the simplistic, reductionist claims that you are. I find any discussion of death toll to be obscene so I will keep it brief, Timothy Snyder estimates that Stalin deliberately killed over 6 million people between the 1920s and his death in 1953. By contrast the Holocaust claimed the lives of over 5 million Jews over a period of a few years, and something like 50 to 70 million people died during WW2. I don't have time to address your misconceptions about the French Revolution.
14
@Norman Lange: It appears from his comments that Lange is unable to tell the difference between Democrats and communist dictators. Voting to fund medicare or regulate monopolies in the market must be indistinguishable from seizing total power and prosecuting and executing enemies. Oh my mistake, that was Donald Trump talking about prosecuting his opponents as traitors.
21
It is unfortunate but true that Americans only change their wrong-headed political stances under two circumstances: economic disaster or war.
Even then the change for the better always falls prey again to zombie politics until: economic disaster or war.
What is the way to get off this merry-go-round?
6
@Leia
Both have taken place in the past 20 years. The point?
2
To me, a most frightening result of the media creating this false symmetry between right and left is that four more years of Trump would seem a thoroughly respectable 2020 outcome.
By the time the election rolls around, I would venture that Trump's well documented lies will reach into five figures, given his current pace. Yet the media, by virtue of its fear to call a Trump lie, a lie, has given him cart blanche to let his mendacity soar.
If Trump gets his four more, the media may have helped, but us voters will have to shoulder the blame because, after four years of observing him in office, it doesn't take much sophistication to spot a genuine fake.
14
What I would like to find out is WHY? Why are they denying facts, science, and truth? There must be some reason. Why are they clinging to something deep down they know is false and wrong for the nation. These people say they love our nation, but they eviscerate the protections against the land and people.
The best answer I heard so far: Maybe they are just bad people.
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@Miklos
Well yes. And also the very wealthy and powerful think this won't hit them. And they may be,
at least sort of, right. Carbon output and climate change might be averted by a swift 90 percent population reduction. I have no doubt that that the very wealthy and powerful would be able and willing to carry out such a population reduction, with only the concession of saving the technology necessary to support their lifestyle. What do you think?
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@Miklos
The very wealthy have no concept of "nation". They live and operate internationally.
As for climate change, the super rich will be safe. It will affect the poorest populations first.
3
@Miklos Neuroses - people with psychological perversions are able capable of grandiose self-delusion. No different to socially conservative commentators or politicians who in private solicit prostitutes.
the opinion is concise, correct and historically true, the republican
party has demonstrated only party politics and agenda that clearly is not in the best interest of america. to follow trump, and allow such damage is gutless, and spineless on their behalf, they must be voted out. a dark time, but america will endure.
5
The national Republican Party has sold its soul and the effects are cascading down to state and local levels of Republicans. The future of Republicanism is to either change or die. For the good of the nation I'd prefer the first, but the second offers a certain schadenfreude.
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If my economic predictions for what would happen if Trump got elected were so spectacularly wrong, then I’d be as angry as Krugman too.
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@JQGALT
Actually, he was right. And thanks for such a stunning demonstration of the cognitive dissonance Krugman was talking about.
if you're not sure about this, look more closely and be patient. Most important, read David Hume on the irrationality of the human mind.
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@don salmon
Actually, he wasn't.
3.2% GDP.
3.6% Unemployment rate.
The Nobel committee should rescind the prize they gave him.
1
The chief reason the Republican “side” can get away with what it does is that the FCC disarmed itself with the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, as others here have noted. All in the name of free speech, the FCC has essentially been neutered. It is no longer able to regulate, to perform essential editorial functions with respect to the line between what is true and what is false.
Editing is not synonymous with censorship, nor is it incompatible with free speech. Yes, it’s complex and even delicate. Firing a howitzer responsibly is also complex and delicate. As a weapon of use to those responsible for maintaining the complicated ever-shifting line between what is true, what is false, and what is unsettled, the Fairness Doctrine at least recognized the need for judgment.
Bringing back an even better version of the Fairness Doctrine is the only way to wake up the zombies. As it is, they’re probably going to kill us.
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I wonder if anyone even knows who got rid of the fairness doctrine, can we say Ronnie Reagan.....
What good ideas did Richard Nixon ever have? He is responsible for the Environmental Protection Agency, true. And he "opened" China to American interests; he persuaded the-then Soviet Union to join the modern world. Their political leaders lived in unaccustomed luxury while the average Russian stood in lines to buy toilet paper. And Nixon was regarded as a genuine hero by Republicans...until they were forced to tell him, "listen, Mr. President."
What good ideas did Ronald Reagan ever have? "Government is the problem" remains with us to this day. That lie, and the "trickle-down" fraud, and his forcing the clock back on civil rights, are his legacy. Oh; Iran Contra and the Marine barracks at Lebanon in 1982: 240 Marines dead.
So what, right, Republicans?
What good ideas did G.H.W. Bush have? The Gulf War was fought to massage the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates.
And the military industrial complex.
What good ideas did W. have? He ignored Bill Clinton's warning about an attack on our shores. And he began two still-ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and unlocked ISIS. Oh; "heckuva job, Brownie," as New Orleans sank beneath the waves.
Now we have Donald Trump. Tax cuts for the rich. Roll-backs of climate and trade agreements. Mitch McConnell's urinating on the Constitution was a great idea. And he's salted the judicial field with applicants even further to the right than he is, a "power grab" that we'll pay for the next century.
Other than the above, heckuva job, GOP.
62
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
Don't forget Ronnie's part in the crack epidemic that hit America.
1
The evolution of excuses and explanations for the Trump campaign and administration have been fascinating. Remember when the story was that Don Jr met with the Russians to discuss Americans adopting Russian children? That's a golden oldie!
And it is just not Trump's involvement with Russia for Republicans. Remember when the Right denied that there was climate change at all?
There are millions of Americans who have been prepared for totalitarianism in that they believe whatever deranged story they get from Fox, Rush, Breitbart or the more obscure RWNJ sites. We have always been at war with Oceania. They can't remember that last week it was Eastasia.
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@Mike
Don't forget... Uzbeki-beki-stan...
In today's political/media landscape, dishonesty and bad faith make for compelling--let's say it--propaganda. Furthermore, false equivalence sells papers and clicks. A mainstream party and most of the mainstream media routinely do this because it WORKS and/or PAYS...
Republican political maneuvering for the last decade has been objectively irresponsible--often bordering on the obscene. But how many political leaders or journalists take a step back and call them on it in plain language? Surprisingly few.
Until Democratic leaders find their voice to do this effectively, dirty politics will likely continue to prevail.
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Since we are on the conversation of GOT we might as well point out one of the great quotes from the last episode, “it’s the truth, it’s the most heroic thing we can do now, look the truth in the face.”
Unfortunately, as this article points out, there is one party that doesn’t want to “look the truth in the face.” In fact, it’s all over the headlines - Trump has made over 10,000 false or misleading statements since becoming president. And the rate at which he makes these statements has only increased.
This is what really scares me. It’s not climate change, we have several solutions for that. It’s not income inequality, we have several solutions for that’s. It’s not the hundreds of problems that confront our country and our world today because we have solutions for those problems, or at least our capable of coming up with solutions.
I don’t know if there is a solution for willful ignorance because logic and reason don’t seem to be doing the trick. And unfortunately, we don’t seem to have Valyrian steal and dragons at our disposal.
P.S. sorry for the spoilers.
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There is something interesting here Mr Krugman. You try to analyze a system of narrative denial : a logic of avoidance. And you have people, in good faith, on your side ( or they think they are ...) and they go arguing " we keep the house, regain the senate" etc...Socialist solutions, etc...
They don't catch a bit of what you are trying to develop.
I see this all the time with American students . They have a complete lack of concentration on logic. They go straight to the end of reality. they cannot conceptualize.
5
"a party that ... wanted to slash taxes for the rich and dismantle the social safety net." But that party has been so good at fooling the public!
Sadly, if we aren't careful, Donald Trump may be reelected. Unless the Democrats can keep the House & regain the Senate, which is quite possible, a Trump reelection would be disastrous.
Already some of the 20+ presidential candidates started sniping at each other, though not yet overtly. I hope they all leave each other alone. I also hope, after the first debate in June, some of them drop out and leave the top "performers" based on post-debate polls to compete among themselves.
Unfortunately, some of them are running to have a name for themselves, knowing fully well they have little chance. That's a bad sign.
Today Beto O'Rourke put out a very ambitious plan to combat global warming. He's quite articulate & has a decent chance to get the nomination. Jay Inslee is not very impressive. Since O’Rourke has come up such a plan, Inslee ought to drop out. Similarly Kirsten Gillibrand, Tulsi Gabbard, John Hickenlooper, Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton, Tim Ryan, Eric Swalwell & Marianne Williamson also ought to drop out, even before the first debate. They can pick their favorite candidates to endorse if they choose.
I also hope, the last few candidates will be civil to each other so that the Democrat who gets the nomination will have a decent chance to win in 2020.
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The longevity of bad ideas is a long-standing problem.
You'd think that 150 years after the Civil War, we'd have consensus on its causes. But no!
You'd think that 50 years after the Vietnam War, we'd have some consensus on its lessons. But no!
You'd think that after decades of its repeated failures, trickle-down economics would be thoroughly debunked. But no!
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My biggest intellectual interest over the last decade has been an intuitive investigation of the ways in which large social systems pass information and how that plays into politics and economics. I like to look for non-obvious cause and effect relationships in political positioning. I think I've come to understand a lot of things that most people don't.
Once I've identify what I believe to be the main cause of political dysfunction, I focus in on finding a solution to that. This is why I've chosen to focus my efforts on designing a global trade system that is fair for everyone, while still maintaining the positive aspects of capitalism. Socialist solutions need to be created democratically -- public school and medical care seem to be agreed by everyone to be ideally socialist, but those are national decisions.
If we alleviate the inequality produced by our massively destructive global financial and economic system, we'll be on the road to a more reasonable politics where people can let down their guard and admit that global warming could kill most of our species if it isn't addressed soon.
For most of us our primary role in society is worker. If our work lives don't seem fair, if people are suspicious that liberals don't value and reward work properly, they won't hear anything else.
Both parties have sacrificed workers for profit and ego. They claim that trade makes the lives of everyone better, but it doesn't if it isn't done properly. It makes many lives worse.
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@DudeNumber42
I should add that the picture I've been allowing to form in my head regarding trade and international capital flows is becoming beautiful to me. I'm compelled by something I've never experienced before, which is scary but beautiful.
It won't be perfect, and I'll get a lot of criticism. I'm preparing for that. It will be a starting point. A lot of the feedback is going to be irrelevant. Too many people are used to thinking in defeatist terms, clinging to the notion that what's bad about capitalism is actually good. Most of us were taught this way.
It's simply wrong. What's bad about capitalism is actually bad. What's good about it is actually good.
My view is that it will soon be time for the UN to take up a new system that overrides the WTO, the IMF and all existing trade agreements. The future of humans depends upon it.
I'm not trying to be grandiose, rather I'm just preparing myself to be a conduit, because I am but a simple human.
Defending the indefensible has become a trademark of the Republican Party. From climate denial to the shrinking middle class to our unbalanced president. The question of why they are acting in such an irrational manner is open to debate. For myself, I believe that they are supporting the small percentage of the population that holds most of our country's wealth. This servitude brings in money to run their campaigns and promises good paying director's job on retirement. The health of our democracy or their fellow citizens? Not their concern.
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The problem is that Social Democrats have seen how effective the Republican's fact-free strategy is and they're copying it. So: they embrace modern monetary theory, claiming they can print money to pay for their Green New Deal and Medicare for All. And the Green New Deal itself twists the problem of Climate Change to fit the socialist agenda.
Politicians have abandoned the ideas of leadership and public service and understand how to manipulate the gullible--most people--in the same way that corporations abandoned any pretense of social responsibility and manipulate the gullible to maximize profits. We are in the transactional society and it will be the end of us.
1
Why not, the republicans did it for their tax reform package....
@tanstaafl
At this point the ideas you mention are just the ideas, not specific bills to vote on. It will take a lot of debating to end up with specific solutions. Are you ready to contribute to the debate?
There is a spectrum of human thought, and from the outside it is easy to see an axis with Reason at one end and Fear at the other. There may be other axes, but this article is about the uses of Reason, Fear, or both in argument. Keep in mind, even when they are mixed they are basically polar opposites that act on different parts of the brain and elicit different responses.
Reason uses cognition and interpretation of data and interrelationships. It can stimulate curiosity, challenge, struggle, and even pleasure when solutions are found. Fear stimulates the Fight-Flight response, with hormones surging, worry, anxiety, depression, and a sense of impending doom. In the words of F. Herbert, "Fear is the mind killer."
Say something that is false. If challenged, say something soothing (which implies a need to be soothed). If your assurance is challenged, say that can't be fixed because any fix would be dreadful and invoke a sense that socialist zombies are coming to eat our brains. Then remind people that only you and your way can hold off the zombies, for now.
That is Prof. K's pattern independent of topic. Mexican drug zombies climbing your wall, and maybe some of them are good people, these walking dead. Thus Fear trumps Reason.
3
So now Trump has reason, let’s see, this crisis at the border is of his making...
The recycling industry is in disarray. It costs $100 a ton to process material placed in the recycle bin; $70 to dispose of trash. 65% of the material in the recycle bin is trash. That gets sorted out and landfilled or incinerated. The remaining 35% is put on the market. But there is zero demand in North America for paper, boxes, glass, and many plastics. There is such a supply-demand imbalance that the plastic and metal that is sold has declined 28% over the last twelve months. No new recycling applications are on the horizon. A large portion of the 35% is sitting in inventory; or on a covert ship to South America. It will be buried there. What is the government of Tucson’s answer? Let everyone keep thinking that recycling works. That it’s saving the environment. And then cut costs by collecting it twice a month instead of every week.
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