Krugman's surely making sense here.
We need firewalls to slow the monied slugs and their brownshirts, and it's hard to think what those firewalls might be.
Perhaps the optimists are right and reason will prevail in October, but if that happens the respite must be temporary.
The United States has done marvelous things, but its underbelly has always been seething--happier by far with a truncheon than with a book.
The world visible to the trumpists is an ugly one. It is uneducated, hatefully nativist and without humanely educated "leaders." Religion, in such parts, is lighted by torches and animated by shouts.
I wish I were imposing longtime liberal views on an imagined landscape, but I'm not. I grew up in this world and have watched it become a shabby caricature of what it once intended to become.
I'm not confident that checks still exist to prevent a social collapse of the sort we have seen far too often in the last century.
3
I must spend this evening trying to dream up some impossible and horrible idea to apply to the country that are totally fanciful and unworkable even in the imagination. Having done that I will have to backtrack and find one that the GOP has not already got on it's knees and worshiped. No shame, no brains apparently. When their stupidity hits the fan it is never their fault either.
3
"Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats."
So the racists allow the plutocrats to get huge tax breaks as long as the billionaires look the other way when racism breaks out. And the plutocrats use racism to distract the Trump base from the sweetheart deal they get from Government. Meanwhile the Trump base will get screwed when Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and Social Security get the coming budget cuts because the Tax Cut for the Wealthy didn't work to stimulate the economy.
So, there you have it. The Trump plan to split the nation with divisiveness allowing Trump room to push the country towards fascism and totalitarianism. Some will object that Paul Krugman predicted a bad recession after Trump was elected...and that hasn't happened yet. But we now have Trump treading down the path of a major trade war with...everyone. Friends and foes. But really, is anyone a friend of the USA anymore? Yeah, Putin and his best little buddy Trump, may be good, but not Russia and the USA.
Trump wants a wall with Mexico...and then a wall with Canada...and then a wall along the coasts because that ocean can't be trusted either. What should we call these walls? They will likely be made of several materials, but in a nod to history...not Trump's strong point...how about:
THE IRON WALL
I'm sure the Donald will love it. The communists had a curtain...we're building a wall. It shows how strong we are.
NOT
3
How come Krugman didn’t complain about this when Obama and Clinton were doing it?
I Don't Care. Do U. ? This is a warning to us that we should heed. Trump cares only about the attention he gets, good or bad.He is not a normal person, he is dangerous and getting worse. We try to normalize this behavior at our peril. Pay attention or go down with the ship. This may be the last call, for all we know we are as lost as those children.
5
Thanks for reminding us of the role the US Chamber of Commerce and it's long time leader Donahue are playing in supporting the evil being done. But the US CoC has been at it for a long time, opposing most everything which would make workers' lives at work safer, healthier, better paying, etc., opposing environmental protections, sensible tax policies, etc.
Donahue is the Wayne LaPierre of business associations and seems willing to do anything to gain his goal of a deregulated world.
At least some of the local Chambers of Commerce still focus on good citizenship, unlike Donahue's bunch.
6
Happy to hear some local Chambers are virtuous. I haven't observed that.
1
Well said.
Perhaps the most destructive tactic used by the GOP in their ruthless pursuit of power has been the fostering of tribal political identities.
The "party of ideas" insists they are the only real drivers of the great American dream. They created their own mythology where they have a monopoly on morality, good governance, and courage. They stopped trying to debate ideas and just poured all of their efforts into persuading as many as possible that Democrats can't be trusted with the reins of power.
The GOP has so successfully delegitimized cooperation and compromise in governing, that they can't even agree amongst themselves on any substantial policy except a giant tax cut.
This is tribalism in its purist form. The other side isn't just wrong, they are bad, evil, and traitorous people. And this is where it starts to get really dangerous. Once you start down this road, fears and emotions eclipse empathy and critical thinking.
7
I an still waiting for Democrats to stand up and admit their role in enabling Republicans by refusing to challenge their absurd mantra of lower taxes, less government, and deregulation by defending the need for higher taxes, more government, and regulation.
When is the last time a Democrats stood up and argued that we need to increase taxes if we are to save Social Security, Medicare, and all of the other programs and services that only government can provide? http://governmentisgood.com/ The cowardice (or, perhaps, just plain ignorance) of Democrats in this regard is just as responsible for the mess we find ourselves in today as the duplicity of the Republicans.
Until Democrats are willing to stand up and face the fact that we must increase taxes in order to provide the government people want and make this a campaign issue rather than countering the Republicans by pretending we can have out cake and eat it too there is little hope for the future.
It’s not enough to just complain about how bad Republicans are. That’s how we ended up with Trump. Democrats have to offer a viable alternative if things are going to change: http://rweconomics.com/Deficit.htm
George H. Blackford writes, "The cowardice (or, perhaps, just plain ignorance) of Democrats in this regard is just as responsible for the mess we find ourselves in today as the duplicity of the Republicans."
Thanks for demonstrating why we have Trump as president. Wrong headed thinking that equates both sides as equal...kind of like suggesting the rape victim is as guilty as the rapist. Or maybe, George would make a good MSM editor trying to appear balanced when there is nothing close to a balance in American politics.
Earth to George: the far left is a small minority. If the far left could attract more voters...why hasn't it done so? Hillary, who the far left calls a terrible candidate, still out did Saint Bernie by 3 million votes in the stinkin' primaries. If you still want to blame the DNC, then you aren't facing the truth any better than the Trump base.
The Democrats have a message problem. They try to appeal to what people actually want, they try to sell the truth, but it doesn't sell as well as the republicans message of hate and prejudice and victimhood for white voters. The Democrats sell wholesome food that's good for you, while the Republicans sell Cola and Twinkies. What do you do when the voters want Cola and Twinkies???
Here's a thought...more Democrats in Congress will mean more progressive policies. Yeah, it works like that. More republicans in Congress means more fascist policies. Time to wake up.
1
Thank you, Paul, for reminding us of the historical juggernaut that has brought the GOP to the point that they must own this horrendous atrocity. They want to terrorize Brown a n black citizens and residents. They want to cement their status as the white ruling class--with their own absolute monarch, Emperor Donald. But they don't like those pictures of frightened, crying children. Bad optics! So they try to disavow their responsibility--historical and current. Shame on them. They are all cosmetic, no substance. We mustn't let them escape this easily. Vote them out in November!
3
Those children and pictures of them are from Obama’s time in office. Nobody said a word when he was in charge and this was happening. Can you say “double standard”?
Thank you for your cynicism Mr. Krugman. As this ongoing tide of repulsive American behavior continues to wash over us, it is perhaps a more measured response than fury, and certainly better than apathy or despair.
I approach each new day optimistically; believing that perhaps today the high water mark will be reached and that the forces propelling this storm will diminish, trusting that there are more Americans that are for, rather than against, who have the courage to propel us forward rather than backwards and who are still committed to the principles we started this country with...but then I have always been a dreamer.
6
In his usual excellent and on-point column, I note with special interest Prof K's gibe contrasting real conservatism with the "philosophical" version represented by "maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages." As the NYT's last remaining liberal, maybe he was referring to the increasingly conservatively "balanced" NYT op-ed page?
His point cannot be stressed enough. In today's "both sides have a point" mainstream media, GOP extremism is given critical ideological cover by papers such as the NYT and the Washington Post (along with CNN and MSNBC), by providing precious airtime and op-ed space to people such as William Kristol and David Brooks, to give their watered down version of GOP Trump Lite.
Their "concern trolling" of liberals and "both sides-ism" serves to mask the extremism of the GOP Trump personality cult and as a way to make Trumpism more palatable to wavering moderates and conservatives.
As Prof K continually points out, the mainstream media "conservatives" are engaged in a dangerous and deceptive game.
7
And speaking of the apparent deals with the devil rampant in today's halls of Congress, for all these Republicans who ignore the separation between church and state and selectively quote biblical passages to defend their cruel policies, might I remind them of Galatians 6:8 (taken from the New American Standard Bible):
"For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption..." or to put it in its simplest form for the average Trump supporter, "you reap what you sow!"
7
Most people don't realize but Republicans going back to Reagan have not been deficit hawks.
Reagan cut taxes and got 16 Million jobs and a huge increase in the deficit / debt. It’s the reason they put the debt clock in Manhattan.
Clinton raised taxes and got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan and balanced the budget, zero deficit.
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and we got 3 Million jobs. He took Clinton's zero deficit and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. And he also gave Obama the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. He gave us the "jobs killing" Obama-care and we got 11.5 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush. And 20 Million people got healthcare.
And now with Trump, Republicans have done it again, cut taxes and increased the deficit / debt. And I expect worse job creation than Obama.
So Republicans only claimed to be deficit hawks when it a Democrat is in office.
And they shouted the loudest when it was Obama fixing the mess that W. Bush created.
2
I couldn’t agree with you more and I feel the same way about Cardinal Dolan of NYC and other Catholic and Christian leaders who pretend they didn’t know who and what the Republicans were and are until this scandal. They did but they didn’t care because the GOP hates woman and is anti choice, anti birth control and anti female autonomy. Supporting the GOP has helped so called religious leaders rake in the $$ and the privileges. The Consitution says no religious privileges but they abound in our current government. It’s time for us to shine a light on all this those who pretend to care about the children but made sure this mad man and his GOP cronies got elected!
4
Your comments reveal your lack of understanding. Many of the GOP voters I know voted for Trump reluctantly just to avoid having Hillary Clinton in the White House and keep Merrick Garland from the SCOTUS. I have dropped my membership in the Republican party due to the totally inappropriate behavior of our President, but I don't wish for Hillary. And I am very thankful that two justices (and perhaps even more) will be put on the bench by a NON-LIBERAL president. As is so often the case, the pendulum has swung far past where it should have stopped. I, and I believe a majority of Americans, want a more moderate approach to governance. Only then will we see a return to reason in Congress and in the way our government functions.
There are some well known unholy alliances among conservatives groups: Religious, Libertarian, NeoCon, and Crony Capitalist. Through deceit and ginning up extremist single issue advocacy They have managed to trick large swaths of voters to vote against their own interests. These groups aren't really natural allies though. Their underlying philosophies are different, although they all end up favoring the extension of power to the financial elite. That is in fact the one thing they agree on.
Trump is a wrecking ball. He destroys indiscriminately. The people who advocate "small government" thought Trump's dismantling was serving their purpose. It is not. Trump is exposing the reality that government reflects moral purpose in its actions. To suggest otherwise is to advocate for Trump's indiscriminate abominations and abasements. That is nearly unbearably untenable now.
Nearly but not quite. The Apalling actions and advocacy of Trump and his "best people" Pruitt, DeVos, Mulvaney, Pai, Sessions, Neilson, Mnuchin, Zinke, Price and Azar... Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon are indefensible to the American people. I'm hopeful these most obvious and hypocritical abuses of morality, American values, and international law we have just witnessed Trump et al perpetrate through his personal border policy will wake voters up to the other abuses against the basic decency which should be expressed through government that he has so obscenely violated.
3
The cruelty will continue next year if the Republicans keep the House, and if they do, cruelty toward tens of millions of Americans begins when they cut or eliminate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Will they finally be happy when tens of millions of Americans, many elderly, are begging in the streets and dying in the gutters?
2
M.S. Shackley asks, "Will they (Republicans) finally be happy when tens of millions of Americans, many elderly, are begging in the streets and dying in the gutters?"
No. They won't be happy until everyone who doesn't agree with them is "gone".
2
You know, social security was not meant to last forever. Do some research and read what Franklin Roosevelt said about what they were doing when it began. We must start weaning people off the dependency on government payouts. You must begin saving for retirement when you are young. You must be a responsible citizen - for the sake of yourself, your family and this nation. Those of us who have been responsible are tire of carrying those who wanted it all now and would not save for their own future needs. Yes, there are some who, through no fault of their own, have become truly needy and there should be a safety net for them, but the majority of US citizens do not need social security benefits. Besides, if local community organizations like churches, etc would do what they are supposed to be doing we might not have so many needy.
But Paul, I'm sure that these immigrant children separated from their parents are in the "thoughts and prayers" of Tom Donohue and his fellow grifters. What more did you expect?
As toy boat Trump sinks further and further into madness...it will be "oh so very" interesting to see which of the rats infesting his base jump ship rather than drown in the malicious cruelty spewing forth from "wherever". Of course, the instant that the latest outrage blows over, the rats will swim right back and jump on board demonstrating their own duplicity.
One aspect of the Trump strategy is the good cop, bad cop routine. Trump playing the bad cop allows republicans to pretend they are the good cop with their feeble protestations. They don't care if you, Paul, are not fooled. They only ever want to fool their base. Not so hard when most of the base either likes malicious cruelty or wants to be fooled.
3
Amen! Mr. Krugman has once again spoken truth to power.
It may not be politically correct to call these folks racist, but behind the veneer of respectability, that's what they are.
And it may not be politically correct to kneel at football games, but I'm proud of players who do.
I think we're all learning that political incorrectness is the only way were going to defeat this tyrant.
1
Well, a pretty good portion of Donohue's organization does thrive on cheap, exploitable labor. Maybe that's why he piped up...
7
When you lie down with demagogues, you wake up with fascists. Rich and powerful Republicans know this on some level, if not consciously, and this seems to be part of their plan. It's a bad plan, and it's not going to end well.
3
I'm still hoping that my main comments make it past the review board. Seems NYT editors are as "careful" as are the FBI and DOJ.
carl bumba writes, "I'm still hoping that my main comments make it past the review board."
Well Carl, it took the reviewers a good 24 hrs to let my comments out...so I suppose there's plenty of time left for yours to still come out...maybe.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.” Lyndon Johnson
How the demagogue sets it up...
1 Scapegoating
2 Fearmongering
3 Lying
4 Emotional oratory and personal charisma
5 Accusing opponents of weakness and disloyalty
6 Promising the impossible
7 Violence and physical intimidation
8 Personal insults and ridicule
9 Vulgarity and outrageous behavior
10 Folksy posturing
11 Gross oversimplification
12 Attacking the news media
... and holds power:
Drama and emotional hype gets people to not use the rational parts of their brain and just believe whatever they’re told, true or not, because cult members are devoted to the leader, not to the leader's ideas and there is no questioning of his decisions.
The people who are vulnerable to a charismatic cult leader have:
1. a lack of self-confidence
2. a reluctance to question authority
3. gullibility
4. low tolerance for uncertainty - a need to have any question answered immediately in black-and-white terms
5. a feeling of marginalization within one's own culture and a desire to see that culture change
All there in front of us...
3
I wouldn't give W. too much credit for cautioning against anti-Muslim prejudice after 9/11. He said the right things, but why? His family and friends knew all too well how dependent America still was on Middle East oil suppliers. Remember the effective and disruptive Arab oil embargo of the 70s?
Prof Krugman, which Trump policies do you think will motivate people to vote Democratic in November more?
Cruelty to brown children and their families?
Hunger and loss of SNAP food benefits?
Or, loss of Health care/Health insurance inflation?
4
Is that any worse reasoning that virtue signaling?
Freud and human nature. We are never satisfied, we always want more. If we see our neighbor with more, we become envious maybe jealous, or worse. But why? Some may be happy for the neighbor, some may not notice. My thought is the jealous type will always carry grudges, no matter how fair life is. They will not accept their own weakness and work at improvements. Or accept the differences in each other. Instead, feeling miserable, filled with self-interest, followed by conflict with a perceived enemy. After all, we deserve more since we were born with that right. Right? Wrong! Some may understand this and accept it. Some may not accept it. Those that need our sympathy are the ones who do not understand it.
Deal with the devil indeed. Today I heard the CEO of Volvo state his concern that the 4,000 jobs promised to materialize at their new South Carolina plant may not happen if Trump's trade war with China escalates. Several deep South red states also have large auto plants driving their economy. Farmers in the Midwest are concerned about tariffs and trade with Canada. Many of the people I saw at Trump's rally last night in Duluth look to be Medicare eligible, so proposed Medicare cuts may hurt them deeply.
I have said for two years that Trump supporters were willing to cede the moral high ground to a man who they see as their best hope to push conservatives judges, overturn Roe v Wade and implement an agenda of "religious freedom". Now it appears that their blind support may cost them in ways they never imagined.
14
If there is one thing I have learned in the past several election cycles, it's this:
If the Chamber of Commerce supports a candidate, ballot proposition, or proposed law, that candidate, proposition or law is absolutely harmful to the rights and well-being of the vast majority of voters.
19
Paul;
and now, to confirm your alleged fair and balanced rep, please write us an article on the Democrat party traits: on how they hypocritically stand for women's rights while simultaneously covering up for serial womanizers; how they profess to be for the little guy while initiating globalization and NAFTA, and shopping industries out of the country while blaming the average Joe for being slow to move on with times; how they score multi-million dollar deals from Goldman-Sachs of this world for speaking fees, etc. Of course, such a publication would never occur for Paul knows who is paying his bills - the Democrat Party, wthat's who.
2
Better than being a bigoted toady who blindly supports a President who used his charity to enrich his own businesses. Your hate for something good comes right off of FOX News, where your prejudicial views were obviously stoked by a high school grad like Sean Hannity. The Clinton’s have their faults, but for the most part, their foundation has done good things for society, and people like you believe the bull like Benghazi and Uranium 1, which we’re used by the Republicans and the biggest liar on the planet to beat somebody who has faults, but is basically a good person.
What part of this article is inaccurate? Do you wish to address that or do you just want to deflect?
1
Untril you can say Democratic instead of Democrat, no one of any substance will take you seriously.
2
Just exactly right. The GOP and their supporters own this appalling cruelty. Shame.
10
Superb essay.
10
As our inexorable march toward the values of fascism continue it is no longer enough to simply recognize the hatred and crimes being committed around you. It is time to define how far you intend to let all of this go before you will take extreme action. The fact that good people are talking is pointless in a political regime that discounts the popular voice and which is driven by a relentless program to pull the money out of the pockets of others through legislation that is tantamount to class warfare. It is no longer a question of the pain of tightening belts, we are seeing this regime replace a centuries long moral tradition of respecting humanity with the narrow values of professional thieves. The Republicans measure all things through money and see virtue only in the increase in their bank accounts while ignoring all the costs. The costs in lives and damage to society and the planet, the costs in subverting humanity in a constant culture of war and forgetting the true value of peace. At some point the lives and well being of everyone who is not very rich will be in danger from this system and the people will have no choice but to rise up in self defense no matter what the cost. This seems to be the war that the plutocrats want, they act as if they have already computed its costs and feel that in the end they will still be on top. And the longer the people wait the harder that war will be. So we all need to ask if this is the time, and what will we do when that time comes.
12
What war? What crimes? Are you, the Democrat party, COMPLETELY out of touch? Stop being sore losers. Produce better candidates, positive ones and not filled with hatered, and then you might have a chance with us - the silent majority. Stop covering up real crimes (I.e. illegal immigration, fetus murder, etc). Otherwise, you will lose again and again.
The great tradition of selling one's soul to the devil in a moment of weakness is innocently being besmirched by Prof Krugman in this essay. The US Chamber of Commerce is the devil, or anyway 'his' fully invested political arm. That leading lights in 'his' service occasionally express outrage at injustice and wanton cruelty is merely a pro forma offering to the weak kneed, not meant to be taken seriously let alone at face value by anyone with a head on their shoulders.
5
Dr. Krugman has missed a few of the elephants in the room in terms of who are the biggest enablers in todays Republican Party.
I would draw his attention to Messrs. Adelson, Murdoch, Hagee and Netanyahu. The power of these gentlemen is enhanced by the timidity of the American Press in identifying
them as powerful.
Strange.
15
The majority has to vote to rule. The majority of Americans believe in the good. As Kesey said, "Put your good where it will do the most." Get people to register to vote. Make it clear to your kids that if they don't vote they shouldn't bother coming home from college for Thanksgiving. Do something about voter turnout. Drive somebody to the polls, call somebody to remind them. Walk the walk.
10
Republicans can never take responsibility for who and what they are and what their policies actually do. Instead, it's always pie in the sky projection, philosophical sophistry, straw man tripe. They've used racial division since Nixon and perfected it under Reagan, with a grandpa smile. Trump is just bringing all the trash out to the light, which of course, is going to make it putrid and stinky quite fast, as we've seen this past week or so. It's a reality potus, a farcical ride through fascisto land, we are seeing. It has the carnival barker, in our dear leader, the sophomoric vampire jester, in Miller, who is the only one who laughs at his own jokes, it even has a car full of clowns, that 's "all the best people" in that cabinet , y'all. Our country will survive, but not our reputation and position in the world, because we have jumped the shark, and everybody is watching it unfold painfully slow. Republicans will doubt what comes out of the investigations, because they have to. They will act as if this (hopefully) four year rollercoaster was a fun ride, because they have to. Anything else is admitting they were at fault for taking the republic down a notch that cannot be recovered for a generation, and doing so in an orgy of crass hypocrisy and utter incompetence.
14
Like most devotees of market religion they don't like to take responsibility for their actions. Hypocrites to the end.
6
Tom Donohue is a poster boy for the GOP hypocrites. He may say "this is not who we are", but that is only because of the potential loss of power for the Republicans. He has no problem with taking healthcare away from millions of American workers and causing thousands to die from treatable conditions.
8
A major reason why so much has gone awry is the ascendancy of 'party' over 'country'. But to be fair - and to borrow from Bernie Sanders' remark about H. Clinton, that while she might not have been the ideal candidate on her worst day she was better than Trump on his best - the Democrats are light years ahead of the Republicans. Measured by their actions the R's stand for ..NOTHING.. that is generally associated with genuine American values. No sense of community or common identity, their only concern is advancement of their own private financial interests regardless of the costs, material and otherwise.
What are denigrated as 'liberal' values like equality, tolerance and fairness are what America is supposed to be about. My formative years were the mid-1960s through Watergate and post-Vietnam, a time of turmoil when feelings of uncertainty were high. But there were lots of people from many sides who chose to do the right thing ... because whatever it was, it was the right thing to do, and not because it advanced my career or made my bank account bigger.
I remember thinking that as bad as things were at least we were on a good path. Never would I have guessed how far we would regress 50 years later.
The 'plutocart wing of the GOP' referenced in the article are a waste of time. They have the means to do something but instead choose to wring their hands. Not because they genuinely care, but rather because it creates the impression they do. Shame!
23
" In fact, whites without a college degree are the biggest beneficiaries of the social safety net. Nonetheless, these voters supported the GOP because it spoke to their racial animosity."
I'm reminded of a conversation, back in the '80s, with a couple of white colleagues, technicians, when I was a scientist in Massachusetts. They were listening to A.M. radio taking heads blathering on about a possible tax cut. Asked by my colleagues what I thought, I said 'not much' because it was the federal tax that was killing me.
The jokingly reminded me that as a scientist I was making the 'big bucks' and could afford to shrug off the issue.
With that I reminded one colleague that he had kids in public school paid in part by state taxes and that my other colleague had a mother in a nursing home paid for by state and federal taxes.
I also pointed out that I was happy to help fund educating the next generation and to protect the health of the last(my colleague's mom).
The sheepishly agreed.
18
Try to post that on Breitbart news and see the reaction you get.
Medicaid is seen as a welfare program by the rank and file Republicans. A place where the undeserving poor get a free lunch at tax payers expense. The children at the border are where Trump is making America great again. Trump ran on hate and preaching how immigrants are the cause of economic decline felt by Trump's resentment inspired followers who powered his weird improbable victory in 2016. Polls indicate that nationally Republicans support his zero tolerance immigration policy.
12
"They aren't themselves racists". They may not be bigots (people who hold an animus towards those of other races), but racism, unlike bigotry, is not a state of mind. It is a measurable phenomenon. To the extent that one identifiable racial group in society is disadvantaged through all measurable criteria, that society is racist. To the extent a person supports, or fails to oppose the policies that bring about that result, that person is racist, regardless of their private personal views or the race of their best friends.
13
Tom Donohue is a Trump facilitator, a perennial supporter of policies (economic and otherwise) that undermine working class people in this country and abroad. He is complicit in all the evils being perpetuated by the party of Trump. And now he claims to be morally outraged by the separation of children from their parents along our southern border! No, Sir. You are not excused. Slink away in shame to that rock from beneath which you emerged.
15
Don't be fooled. The Chamber of Commerce is not some benign organization designed to help Americans running businesses. it is a political organization that is only interested in the rich and powerful. I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw a bent cop.
14
I think pretty much all people who respect other people and the ideals of our nation despise Trump, the politicians who back him like courtiers, and the voters who elected him. But calling the names is just flouting our political impotence. And calling all of these people racists is factually incorrect and contemptuous. For example, gerrymandering to weaken the impact of black or Hispanic voters is not racist; it's a tactic to weaken the Democratic vote. If those voters were favorable to Republicans, the gerrymandering would take other forms. This is not to deny that there's a lot of racism, but smearing everyone on the Republican side with that term is unfair, and just makes sure that they all vote.
4
@Keithofrpi
You are saying that just because the GOP's gerrymandering and economic policies as well as their dog whistle rhetoric disproportionately hurts minorities doesn't necessarily mean that those who vote for the GOP politicians are racist
Well....Let's look at it from the perspective of the victim
What does it matter to the murdered victim if his killer is accused of first degree murder, second degree murder or negligent homicide?
If GOP voters are not openly racist, they are quite comfortable being around them
8
You live in the bubble, Sir. You have just called the 67# million of us - the Trump supporter - disrespectful of others. This is a pretty sweeping allegation. As such, you are calling us names. we will indeed all vote in November - Republicans always do - and continue this President's great policies for 4 more years and beyond (Mike Pence is young enough to be the next Pres.).
Conservatives believing they can use the extreme right to keep power and being eventually devoured by the extremists is a recurrent theme in history. Right now it is not only Trump, it is happening in UK, Brexit, Italy, Berlusconi opening the door to Salvini, Germany, CSU adopting the AFD etc. The most glaring historical event was Franz von Papen getting Hitler in a coalition government in 1933, i t seems we will never learn from history.
17
Bravo, bravo!!! Way to call 'em as you see 'em, and not be shy about naming names. Dr Krugman, you are a breath of fresh air.
16
At least the hatred and racism is finally out in the open. Sunshine being the best disinfectant, and all.
Even though you might shudder at the sight of those babies and mothers wailing at each other's absence if you support this so called president in any way you are in that "basket of deplorables".
When racism is added to fascism the result is Nazism, and that is what we are seeing reborn right here in the capital of the Nation that defeated Nazis 75 years ago.
Sad
15
I am so glad to see someone say that the child separation policies of this administration "harken back to the slave trade." Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book where one of the main characters broke the law and ran away to keep her son from being taken away to be sold down the river.
I realize that it was Tom who was sold to Simon Legree rather than the child Harry, but Trump is doing his best to channel Legree in his cruelty.
Like most southerners at the time of the civil war who didn't own slaves but fought for the "rights" of the elite to own other human beings, many working class whites today support Republican policies that go grossly against their own interest. Let's hope it doesn't take another civil war to put things back on the right course.
9
"The more things change, the more they remain the same." The U.S. Constitution was written by the Founding Fathers, a very small elite group of wealthy white men, primarily to protect their personal property (especially federal bonds), and economic standing, e.g., Geo. Washington was the wealthiest landowner in the country.
Read Charles Beard's 1913 seminal book "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States."
2
Imagine a terrorist attack that kills 700 people. It would be a huge story for many weeks. Now multiply that by a million. That's the number of deaths we'll see this century from tobacco products if current trends continue. Under Tom Donohue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been fighting a global fight to stop other countries from regulating tobacco in their own countries.
Nobody is born into this world craving cigarettes. That demand has been created by tobacco companies, past and present. We need to be more blunt about what is happening, thanks to the selfish rich, their wholly owned political party and interests aligned with both. This is evil.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/business/international/us-chamber-wor...
21
This is exactly who we are.
9
Since Reagan, the only principle truly guiding the Conservative movement has been to do whatever's necessary to make sure that the wealthy get to keep their money and their right to acquire more. Duping the uneducated has always been crucial to ensure that this condition is possible--after all, 90% of the populace don't get much benefit from this philosophy. The way to accomplish this for the wealthy is to convince the uneducated that their wealthy leaders have something in common with them. So racism, intolerance, religion, and other non-financial issues have to be used to create the appearance of a bond between the two groups. It is only when the uneducated have been completely impoverished (like during the Great Depression) that this has proved to be a difficult challenge for the wealthy. Since the US is once again headed to a Great Depression-level of inequality, naturally the wealthy have emphasized these issues--otherwise the chump in Kansas might realize that he has practically nothing in common with Mr. Trump.
7
HIt the nail on the head with this one .
Mr. K>heart.
3
Reading made me think that working class whites just don't know how much of the safety net benefits them. They only see it as going to undeserving people. It doesn't hurt that it appears to them that the "undeserving" are people of color.
4
Right you are Dr. Krugman. May I add that Trump, with Republican acquiescence, has moved bigotry to the mainstream, encouraging it and increasing the number of bigots. Of course there is a backlash to this and now we have such stridency between opposing groups that it is impossible to govern and it is tearing society apart.
5
It's not really about racism. That is just the tool that the 1% instructed the Republicans to use to distract the public from the massive transfer of wealth and income from the middle class to them. Just as they instructed their Democratic apparatchiks to use social issues as a distraction for their participation in this massive transfer. It is all about our corrupt politicians of both parties distracting the public from the really important economic class warfare which is hurting the general public of all races, sexual orientations, religions, persuasions, or whatever. "Look at the shiny object. Ignore that man behind the curtain."
2
And it is not nearly blame enough. Not nearly.
2
Dance with the devil and come away burned. Deep is the mud that covers the Chamber, Republicans in Congress, Wannabe candidates mimicking Trump's hateful words, and arenas full of resentful, angry, self-interested people. Are we going to allow ourselves to be ruled, led, or represented by people with bad values, no back bone, and craven urges for power.
13
We certainly hope not. Vote and get out the vote from others.
1
Yeow! Scalding-hot indictment, Dr. K.
Well-reasoned, supported by facts, and not a wasted word. I would be interested to know what Conservatives would say, do, or think if they dared read this judicious and well-deserved screed against their unholy war against the plebeians, especially the darker-skinned ones. (They probably would attack Dr. K. personally and then go to a fabulous lunch where they would think about their upcoming golf vacation in Scotland. It's a wonderful life for a Nietzschean in Trumplandia.)
18
Protest outside the local or national offices of your Republican members of Congress.
Put their names on posters for the Republican Wall of Shame.
My two members on the Republican Wall of Shame are:
- Representative Susan Brooks, 5th district Indiana
- Senator Todd Young, Indiana
They are moral cowards who won't speak up about anything.
They each made one mousy comment about separation of families through a spokesman.
3
Thank you for the clear and concise description of the devil's bargain the economic elite have made with the racists of this country to further enrich themselves.
1
This lesson became clear to me shortly after I started working for a multi-employer pension and benefit trust for a labor union when Lyndon Johnson was our president: "The conservative economic agenda...is objectively against the interests of working class voters, whatever their race...Nonetheless, these voters supported the GOP because it spoke to their racial animosity."
With Richard Nixon and the "Southern Strategy," the southern states began electing Republicans hostile to the economic interests of working class voters but having a strong interest in keeping "those people" in their place. Also, in the northern states, where many working class voters were represented by labor unions at that time in our history, many of these voters also began embracing conservative Republicans, the political party opposed to collective bargaining, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--all programs that came to reality under the leadership of Democrats to benefit the working class.
Since there are clearly no economic reasons why working class voters would support Republicans, what is the explanation? The political party now led and controlled by Trump continues to have "those people" in its sights and under attack, but this time "those people" also include immigrants, the “animals” Trump insists are now trying to “infest” America.
17
Great explanation why all Republicans are corrupt and won’t stop evil Trump.
2
Republicans?......no resemblance whatever......?
but these the same actors......so this must be what they have hidden under slimy rocks for decades....
1
There is no legal basis for Trump's actions in separating children from their parents. If an average citizen did it, they would be convicted of kidnapping and sent to prison.
10
BRAVO !
2
https://www.facebook.com/donate/490507544717085/
Be on the right side of history and tell your friends and family you did something.
2
Thank you, Paul.
I remember Lee Atwater. (Born in '48.)
But thank you mainly for bringing up the point that it would only take TWO Republican Senators to stop all of this dead in the water.
The Senator I despise the most is Susan Collins.
Oh, how she wrings her hands.... except when she is raising it to vote like the Trumpbot she is.
If I hear, "She's a moderate!" one more time then I shall inelegantly barf.
Please, America: The only "moderates" in this country are the Lefties who call themselves "Progressives".
The rest are somewhere to the right of Charles Manson, Jim Jones and Jeff Sessions.
Senator Susan Collins stands front and center AT ATTENTION for Trump. She shrugs off any plea from her fellow Senators or her fellow Mainers that would improve this country or their lot.
She has no intention to help anyone except herself. Senator is fine, Gov works nicely, too, but she's never stood up to LaPage, just as she will never buck any man in the White House..... oh..... wait...... that's right..... she had no problem standing up to President Obama.... but he was a leftie.....
Which proves my point on Susan Collins.
She is EXACTLY where she wants to be.
Surrounded by right-wing, child snatching, Bible-quoting, Supreme Court seat stealing monsters.
She don't need no stinkin' "human rights"!
And neither do those babies.....
8
I find it unsettling to hear or read the "n" word - and three times is 3X too many, for me... unless Krugman transitioned into a black guy (or gal). Likewise, the use of the 'female dog term' for women, by dudes of any shade of gray, is disturbing to me. The casual use of the term "hooker" is also an unfortunate development.... I don't mind getting old.
1
Where's the Beef at Carl..............?
Outraged by the words.......not about the deeds?
3
Thanks
1
The Republican/conservative viewpoint has been swallowed whole by Calvinism/social Darwinism.
It basically starts from the assumption that if you are not rich, not "one of us", it must be your own fault, you're not smart enough to work the system and get rich, and therefore you don't deserve any sort of help or charity anyway, because, being unworthy, you'd only squander and waste it, and it rightfully belongs to those who have proven their worth by already being rich.
So, you poor, non-white, non-male, non-native, non-straight, non-people, not only do you deserve to die and keep from sucking up our precious resources, we're going to do everything in our power, both obvious and subtle, to help that along.
If you follow this reasoning, and this designation of most of the human race as inhuman, the Republican/conservative viewpoint and behavior patterns makes perfect sense.
16
As your colleague Charles Blow has always said.....if you support Trump you are an enabler. You are responsible for the inhumane policies, racism, etc.
4
Trump is obviously an amoral lying opportunist. Eventually he will be in the manure pile of history. But Trumpism is here to stay. It is the result of the tension between the well off European, American, and Australian economies and the have - nots of the world. Wherever the poor and suffering have access to a rich country, they are going to want to go there - giving rise to resentment in any class threatened by them. Trumpists cynically use this resentment to get power and then use that power to enrich their position. We will know in November if this tactic is going to continue to work. If it does we're in for a lot more nastiness supported by the "good people" of the Republican Party who know not what they do.
1
Just say "No" when you vote.
4
Yup. 100%
1
the republicans are nothing but crooks - all they do is steal.
6
This is an important point you make. The wealthy are supporting a man whose main appeal is to those in our country who believe in male, white supremacy and who fear those who are different. The wealthy are doing this so that this vile man will implement policies that will benefit them financially.
As in any deal with the Devil, the payment always come due. Just remember the wealthy in Germany who thought that Hitler would bring prosperity to their country after WW I.
6
Donald Trump is an inveterate liar (fact check for God's sake). Donald Trump is a cheat (ask any of his wives or small business vendors) Donald Trump is a self professed sexual predator (roll tape) Donald Trump is a thief if the Trump University accusations are to be believed. Knowing all this his allies sold their souls to the devil. They should not be surprised when they are damned.
1
Donohue and Trump to America: don't get old, sick, poor or non-white and everything will be OK. Bigly.
6
It's a kinder gentler slavery, -and it applies to poor white people too, so it can't be racist, right?
6
When you get to the pearly gates good God fearing Christians tell them about yiur weath
And when St Peter offers you fire resistant clothing for the next part of your journey i sugges taking it and wearing i
You will need it
2
And it is, of course, deregulation and tax cuts that are really putting the screws to Americans. Government is all the common man has. But zombie Republicans are marching to destroy it or put it solidly in the hands of the 0.01%.
7
Thank you, Mr. Krugman. We need more of this type of honesty, calling truth to power, from our media.
12
Lee Atwater is not an isolated example. There's also outright admission of Nixon's domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman, that: "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
Trump is cut from this same cloth. So are Sessions, Miller, Gorka, Bannon, Pence, their Fox News collaborators and scores of GOP strategists. I mean, you barely even need to tweak the quote above to see how it applies to the modern GOP! They're sending thieves, rapists and murderers, MS-13 is taking over, stealing our jobs, "**** hole countries," Sharia Law, thousands in NJ cheering on 9/11, "very fine people," it's a "war" on Christianity, they don't respect the troops/police/flag, protect our "heritage," millions of fraudulent votes, they're gonna take your guns, they're fake news, they want the terrorists to win, they're hiding the "real" birth certificate, tragedy actors, wire tapps, #MAGA, #WITCHUNT!!!! ...
Lies. Intentional and unambiguous lies.
19
After weeks of defending this deplorable act of separating families and using the kids as human hostages to force Democrats to fund his wall, Trump signs an executive order uniting them in concentration camps while they await trial.
Republicans today = Fascism in America
12
When those Republicans who didn't march in Charlottesville say "This isn't who we are", they are lying. They have no problem at all casting their votes for a president and Congressional representatives who would strip every brown-skinned person in this land of their civil rights.
A lot has been written about the cruelty of this "administration", of course most recently Trump's decision to put infants into internment camps, after stripping them from their mothers' arms. Of course it is unspeakably cruel. But the racist element hasn't been given enough attention. It is equally true that he would never have made such an order had all those children been white.
This is precisely why 45% of our citizens support this disgusting, racist man. He is who they are. They don't see human suffering from those who aren't white, because they don't see "those people" as human. Trump has told them Mexicans are "animals". He has told them that the KKK and neo-Nazis are some very fine people. They have never recoiled from any of these statements. And the vast majority of Trump voters are still in lockstep with him.
Tom Donahue is saying "this is not us" because this is all he can say, publicly. But we know what he, and every other Trump supporter stands for. They're not fooling any of us. If he, and other wealthy Republicans could only keep their wealth if Trump forced all brown-skinned Americans into camps, I know exactly which choice they would make.
4
Trump is 100% racist, and anyone who voted for him is either stupid or is also primarily racist. The honest, non-racist people really need to get out and VOTE in November.
3
Look at what this basket of deplorables is doing to the country. Stacking the Courts, spitting on the Constitution and cheating, through not allowing an opposition party's President to nominate the next SCOTUS. Thumbing the scales by gerrymandering districts, turning their backs on our Allies, filling up their Administration with corrupt incompetent sycophants, scorching the Earth of any Obama policy that remotely even resembled forward motion for the country. The environment? Fuhgetaboutit! These sad sack backwater POT clansmen want to turn the clock back to the good 'ol Jim Crow days and the KKK era. Yes, by all means, let's bring back the miners to slave away in an industry that is a foul stinking relic of the 19th Century. That'll do the economy good. Oh and BTW, women shouldn't have any rights to their own bodies. Those are OURS to own!
The profound debilitating backward stupidity and ignorance of this former Party known as the GOP, (now the POT) is utterly mindblowing.
12
Oh , Lord... not this leftist nonsense again. Krugman (again) can't even keep from sliding so far to the left that it becomes so much dribble.
Trying to equate the "n" word with balancing a budget is just flat GARBAGE WRITING!
Are you referring to Lee Atwater's direct quote? It's not leftist to point out the conservative movement's own admissions about how they use racism. Atwater isn't the only one. I know you don't want it to be true, neither do I; we both have to confront this about our country.
1
there a Nobel prize for stupidity? I'd like to nominate this gentleman...
Trump doesn't use the n-word, but he did support the Nazis in Charlottsville (Good people, on both sides, ...). That makes him the racist-in-chief. No dog whistle for him.
Trump's denigration of immigrants, particularly those darker ones from south of the US border, is also an appeal to racism. Good white people are loosing their jobs to these animals. They are all criminals.
At the very least, Trump has empowered the country's minority of racists. Shame on us!
18
From a practical viewpoint, conservatism and the Republican Party owned by it is a hybrid of a criminal organization and a cult.
It's an apparatus for turning the government into a wealth concentration machine for the .1% while providing a facade of 'values' and beliefs whose sole purpose is to conceal the looting they're doing and allow them to rationalize it all as a good thing.
It's a confidence scheme where even the perpetrators buy into their own lies. The racism is a tool - they can buy into it or not personally, but it's a tool they can't put down. It's too useful. As Socrates reminds us in his comment,
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
- LBJ, lamenting on the state of American politics in 1960
It would help if the mainstream media would stop treating Republicans as a legitimate party and call them out for the looting racist extremists they are. Trump is what they've always been.
17
Spot on. The Republican Party has fully morphed into the Trump white nationalist party. There is no longer a need for a window dressing. Trump’s inhumane cruel treatment of non-white immigrants and their children , whom he put in concentration camps , was done deliberately. It was done to see how far he could go without blowback. Trump’s use of the words vermin and infest were plagiarized from the Nazi playbook. Dehumanize your target and it makes it easier to put them in concentration camps.
For Tom Donahue to say that is not who we are is , to be generous, misguided, or , as I suspect , a crude attempt to cover up what the party now has become. Sorry , but the cover is off, the Republican Party is the party of xenophobia, racists, and elitists who are willing to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security to pay for the giant tax giveaway they received, and ,more gauling, to placate Trump by paying for his costly useless wet dream of a wall.
Trump has become the GOP, it now reflects him and him alone. Trump and Lee Atwater have replaced Reagan as the embodiment of the GOP’s conscience.
5
Nearly 30 years ago, I labelled this iteration of the Republicans "the new Nazis." It seemed farfetched then, but it isn't now.
4
I can't believe the number of people who are now trying to say this wasn't what they wanted, it isn't them, they have nothing to do with it. Sorry, folks. This IS you. You created it; you own it. You sound like the Germans saying they just wanted Hitler to give them jobs, not destroy the world.
7
But they have the chance to join us in starting to fix it come November. Unless Trump and his sycophants receive a total repudiation of their policies of racism. corruption and plutocracy, (all of which are supported by the chicken--- spineless Republicans in Congress) they'll only get worse in the next 2 years.
1
Love this new Paul w/o the gloves. You go man,
Yes, conservatism was always about racism & bigotry. Reagan at Phil.MS to kick off his campaign with a states rights speech (location of murder of freedom riders). Poppy Bush & Willie Horton. W at Bob Jones which outlawed interracial dating.
Dog whistles had to eventually lead to Trump's foghorn.
Cue the con intellectuals with a lying counter narrative. As it was, so will it ever be. As an example they have spent millions of dollars & words rebuilding Reagan's narrative as a non-racist non-arms trading for hostages scumbag into a saint.
2
The media are the messengers.
The POTUS seemingly relented yesterday.
Thanks, media, because I frankly was indeed unaware.
The immigration dilemmas had been placed in my snafu consciousness, and I'd hit the semi obliviousness of frustration with paradoxical entropy.
USA contradiction and dysfunctionality.
And the Chamber is not usually ignorant of our bi-polarity, or is it?
They are Orthodox Republicans, are they not?
Hopefully the GOP is not as dysfunctional as it appears.
DJT leads the GOP by the way--de facto leader.
Neither political party has a clue what to do.
As we flounder, seeking rational compromise as we ultimately must, the world realizes Uncle Sam is really a fruitcake without just like 'em all.
Dr. Krugman:
That's right, Tommy: you like bad company, you are one of them: a dehumanized racist.
1
There is another article in the Times today: "Why the U.S. Should Drop All Tariffs". You might want to read that in conjunction with this article because underneath the veneer, it is just as nasty.
Seemingly innocous, it is boilerplate libertarian brainwashing; that we should drop all trade barriers and engage in totally free trading. That would theoretically enable all parties to receive goods at the lowest price. Everybody benefits, huh?
After all, Ricardo Theory of Comparative Advantage posits that overall trade increases when both sides do what they do best. What could be wrong that, you may ask?
Plenty. Every time you see one of these articles about something that is "free", respond as loudly as you can - Nothing is Free. Somebody always pays.
Every time we close a factory, or a farm - somebody always pays. Many of these businesses are in small towns. Close the mill, and you close the town. Somebody always pays. Always.
Is free trade good, on balance? Yes, it promotes more trade. But the libertarians never want to take responsibility for what happens afterwards. When the mill shuts, and the workers - in despair - turn to addicition.
In economics, those are negative externalities: I screw up, and you pay. Somebody always pays.
But the libertarians hate government. The way they see it, you are on your own. A hand up to the worker that needs training or compensation to retool is a handout to them. That is cruel. Don't buy it.
1
Donald Trump’s cult of cruelty, chaos and corruption has stabbed its three pronged Devils pitch fork into the heart of the American soul. The opposite of empathy is narcissism. Donald Trump and his cabal of narcissists and sycophants have the same look in their eyes when they talk about the separation of immigrant families as a psychopath has as he is pulling the wings off of a fly, a dead fish sick grim of joy while they struggle to feign compassion.
Hate, fear and anger fill their hearts as they persecute the innocent for their own insecurities and personal gain, but this is not who we are, Americans are much better than this. We may be a very wealthy, powerful and greedy nation but we have always been a compassionate and loving nation, tough tried and true, but never cruel. If we wish to make American, America again, following the cult of Donald Trump is not the way to greatness, following Donald Trump is the way to hell.
7
interesting here. this guy had over 60 miillion voters: you wonder what the migration policy is in hell and if any of them will bargin or plead for asylum?
1
I hate to say it, but the United States is the same country it's always been. The undercurrent of incipient racism is more muted not, but it's coming to full boil once again, thanks to Mr. Trump. Republicans still find ways to rob their own citizens, all citizens. They find ways to imprison or socially cripple those whose pockets are too empty to pick.
I'd rather say "Some of us are better than this."
3
Donohue has been public scum for a long time, and deserves every bit of the opprobrium falling on other members of the Republican Party. Donohue and his business friends could at least have stood with the Democrats who supported a family-friendly immigration policy in recognition that a good labor supply is money in the bank for them. But instead, Donohue and his business friends stood with the racists and haters, incurring the hatred or at least dislike of decent people.
4
You are exactly correct Mr. Krugman ( in my view ). When will we move to liberate the low-income pool of underpaid and under supported, mostly non-voting and under represented Americans living on what can easily be viewed as a plantation. The US Chamber of Commerce is little more than an organization of plantation owners (1 % overseer's and 1/10 of 1% owners). I am constantly disappointed with your refusal to champion reparations through a basic income model. Freedom isn't freedom (or free) when poverty is necessarily built into the fabric of our economic system.
4
Many in the GOP are willing to compromise their beliefs in order to get the legislation they want and/or the profits they desire. That is why the evangelicals and the Chamber of Commerce voted for Trump. The problem is is that you have to buy the whole Trump package (yes, tic-tacs and all) when you do that. Paul is right, they knew what they were getting so when they no complain, it has no real resonance. This is what happens when you put your conscience on the back burner.
9
To add to this: the racism we all observe reflects status anxiety. Status anxiety that could be abated by somewhat more equal distribution of productivity games and reduction of policies that reduce fear (e.g., bankruptcy by illness). The only hope of changing that distribution in a democratic free-market economy is to increase, rather than reduce, union power. Sure union power can often be abusive, just as the power of capital can be. No matter, this is a fundamental driver of our increasing inequity.
This is why the immigration issue is complex.
Industry, particularly the agricultural industry, wants low-skilled workers with minimal rights to work hard jobs for low pay. So the perverse situation we now have, the indirect collusion of the US Chamber of Commerce with the well-intentioned advocats of open borders (Let's not kid ourselves, whether intended or not, allowing anyone who is wants to come here for refuge from violence, political or domestic, is advocating unlimited immigration).
And it all goes well, until the predictable consequences of a dishonest policy is expressed in the easily understood horror of kids taken from parents seeking a better future for them.
Almost every parent seeks a better life for their children. Most people, including those hardcore opponents of the "undocumented," can see that.
A full solution to this problem may not be possible -- in a world with limited resources and a growing population. But it can be improved.
4
I think Krugman hits the nail on the head. An interesting idea worth considering is what is to be done about the devil. Perhaps, I'm dreaming of course, the Pope excommunicates all United States citizens and withdraws all Bishops and Priests. The Logic: the removal of babies from refugee mothers is too emblematic of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. A grievous, heinous evil has been committed by the government and by extension the people of the United States. The remedy is available: the return of babies to mothers. So until this redemptive act takes place no communion is allowed; the US is Godless.
6
Buddhists with no god and Hindus with many gods would both surely agree about the despicable nature of Trump's policy of separating kids from parents.
2
American racism has been evolving. It started as Slavery and its institutionalized cruelty of separating families and institutionalized rape of black women. It continued with Jim Crow laws, segregation (separate but equal), and lynchings. Then it was housing discrimination. It then evolved to selective enforcement (why is crack cocaine so much worse than powdered cocaine?). Instead of poll taxes now we have stricter voter registration laws. All of these affect whites more than blacks though that isn't the goal. The win is that it more proportionately affects blacks and minorities. Now football players can't protest peacefully. Our racism is evolving and becoming more sophisticated. Next we will have our AI systems working the data, then it will really become more difficult to identify.
8
Just as a guess, wage slavery is an ultimate goal, with all sorts of workers pushed down to the most miserable conditions of work, living and pay, like Bob Cratchet working for Ebenezer Scrooge. When one is a wage slave rather than a chattel slave, one isn't property that must be taken care of, fed, sheltered, treated medically, etc in order to squeeze labor out of. One is a throwaway, with health, education, retirement and pay to cut until there's nothing left of them.
2
Brilliant article and thank you for exposing Tom. US chamber of Commerce is no longer an organization of integrity. They have sold their soul to the crooks like Koch, Mercer and others to support every initiative to destroy the basic foundation of our great nation and fatten their wallets. It is a shame and disgrace that the members keep their eyes closed on daily corruption scams by Trump and his cronies. Rather they help to bolster all misdeeds by funding the propaganda machine by Trump and the morally bankrupt Republican Party. It will destroy the organization in long tem.
14
Ouch, the truth hurts.
2
The racist appeal and the slash-the-safety-net appeal have cruelty in common. Trump is kidnapping kids and holding them hostage. The plutocrats want to drive poor, elderly folks out of their homes and onto the street, or force them to go hungry to keep a roof over their head.
7
Meanwhile, the Democrats proudly proclaim their platform "We're not Trump!!!"
Yeah, that's the West Michigan I live in the midst of. People so stupid they took that moronic slogan as excuse to not vote for Hillary.
And gave us into the hands of Trump. This monstrous evil is your fault.
I hope when you lay your head down, your ears ring endlessly with the sound of that terrorized child, crying out for her father.
3
That's more than good enough for me. I'll vote for the party who isn't led by a racist, lying, cruel, dictator-loving Russian-puppet cult of personality.
2
We're all dead in the short run in this land where the concerns of dead people and paper corporations trump those of living human beings.
3
Americans must adopt a zero tolerance for Republicans.
Enough is enough.
20
Plutocrats, racists, and the meritocracy like the Clintons. Don't forget the meritocracy, Prof. Krugman, who like to go to Davos and live well while dissolving banking laws like Glass-Stiegel. It is the top 20% who practice a clubby exclusionary way of life, while pointing fingers at the deplorables. The moral rot of our country extends to those innocents from the provinces who end up in the Ivy League only to be incorporated into a nexus of plutocrats, racists, and the people in smarty pants. Money and prestige change most people and not for the better. Many Trump voters are on to this. They are desperate for something better than what the the Democratic and Republican establishments have been shoveling our way. With Trump we can easily see the Emperor has no clothes. There are many more of us who live in scantily clad sanctimony. And we have contempt for the Chamber of Commerce!
1
For some of us this is just Regan and Bush Jr. redux, just on a lot of psychedelically infused caffeine ... pandora's box opened wide.
Buckle your seatbelt!
3
George W. Bush tried to dampen the wave of Xenophobia???
3
about time, to say it.
3
This is the same formula employed in the 20s and 30s by European fascists.
7
Right on, Paul.....RIGHT ON!!!!!
2
“Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, as opposed to the philosophical stance whose constituency is maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages — is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats.”
Hah! Here’s looking at you, David Brooks.
7
If you want more of the same, keep on voting Republican, folks! Watch the Republicans take away what little you have left (Medicare, Medicaid, pensions, unions, etc., etc.) and then vote in Donald Trump as your leader to blame it all on Democrats, Liberals, and Mexican "rapists and murderers." Enjoy the show, folks, whatever floats your boat. See ya at the next Trump rally with every one yelling, "Donald, Donald!".
4
That's right Paul, tell it like it is. Living on the other side of the pond I used to see the USA as our benefactor, having freed us of the Nazi yoke and helped us get back on our feet from the destruction the war had brought upon us. True, I learnt in school about America's dark days of slavery and lynchings but I was taught how that was days gone by, how the US was the champion of freedom, democracy, and equal rights. The US was the great melting pot, the land of equal opportunity.
But I now see that we have all been had. The US is scaring me. Over here, the last time children were separated from their parents was in the 1940s, yes in those camps. How did the US become a country where legislators think it's fine you get shot at schools, as despite the crocodile tears they don't do anything but the most cosmetic about it (metal detectors and arming teachers, yeah right). Where the elected despise the people, the poor are stripped by the rich, immigrants in search of a better life are locked up (did the English get locked up? or the Irish or the Italians?), and in today's news the police shoot kids in the back because they flee - flee because they are scared, and so would I be. Well, good luck with your America. I would like to see my friends in the States some day but I am having second thoughts, and I am not even black.
15
Of course Republicans are in favor of "huge funding cuts for Medicare and Medicaid". They're all about fiscal responsibility when it comes to Medicare. "We spend waaaay too much money on health care for old and poor people, and too much of it goes to Those People," thinks the average Republican. "Let's cut back on healthcare spending so that our dear leaders can buy more yachts and porn stars and votes in Congress."
5
Finally, Krugman is catching up to the commenters in the NYT. Prescience is in the comments.
6
There is one unforgivable sin to republicans - Somewhere the government is giving something to someone who isn't white. Everything they do follows from this.
5
Well said, thank you.
6
Paul is 100% correct. And, just as the racists vote against their economic interests, today they have the added dimension of supporting actual traitors because of their racism. The coincidence of Putin's objective and these racists hate is fascinating.
10
Bull's eye!
11
The “Ugliness States of America “ is how we’re now perceived from pole to melting pole.
17
One thing also worries me is that trump is trying to give Blacks some one to look down on (illegals, ie Hispanic) as poor whites did to them. Love is hard it takes work but hate is easy and tends to grow like the cancer it is.
exactly.
2
Reminds me when Hillary stood with Bill and Harvey Weinstein. Pardon me for being cynical when she claims to fight for women. Democrats and Paul "really, I won a Nobel" Krugman share the blame.
1
Wrong! And your statement has nothing to do with what his article says. Stupid.
Yes, let's all take another ride in Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine.
The past is the past; you move on. Either you've learned from your mistakes, or you're Donald Trump.
Excellent opinion piece but why not add climate change to the dystopian mix. Hitler rose to power when the capitalists in German realized that they needed something to defeat socialism. This is what fascism is all about: A small wealthy elite tricking a small violent minority into doing the dirty work. Big oil knows that a functioning political process will eventually lead to strong climate legislation. Thus, the political process needs to be blocked. Remember that Rex Tillerson was the former CEO of Exxon and had received a medal from Putin. And he was one of the sanest people in this government.
To the Donohue's of the world who declaim "this is not who we are" I say on the contrary. Words mean many things; but actions tell me who you are. So in rebuttal to their words I say this;
"Yes, yes it is. And you own this situation so change it if you do not like it, else just shut up and don't insult me by voicing any words of protest."
John~
American Net'Zen
3
U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the GOP...….Giving you "the Business" since 1912.
3
When the sexual predator is publicly exposed, they also say "This is not who I am".
6
News Item 3: Trump directed the Air Force to stand-up SPACE FORCE as a "separate but equal" 6th Branch of Military.
First mission: Commission the Duke boys as Space Cadets, launch The General Lee into very near Earth orbit, protect 'heritage' sites from asteroids, and design new uniforms for upcoming parade. Gold and white, of course. Incorporate a "T"? How about on the hoods?
1
In my mid twenties I was promoted to the manager of Facilities for a 52 branch bank, with 60 total Facilities. I had Architecture and Construction Engeering degrees and was much more qualified than the multiple middle age males that I replaced. One assignment that they gave VP’s was assembling teams to sign up new members to join the Chamber of Commerce. One quickly recruited me for his team! Smart move! In order to get contracts for work to maintain our facilities, you went through me. The bankers had one requirement that any contractor have a bank account. So I told all my good contractors and vendors go open up a $100 checking account, because any payments would be made through it. I also had them spread around town where they opened them up so each region got accounts.
I then was forced to go through my list of vendors and contractors and arm twist to joking the Chamber of Commerce. It was another $100. It was a lot of arm twisting, even RED Georgia. Of course, the VP whose team I was on ended up winning the membership drive, all on my membership drives.
To paraphrase Mary McGrory, every word of this is correct, including "the" and "an".
I mean Mary McCarthy. Sorry.
I am a Krugman fan! I agree with him 99% of the time, but, I am afraid that only people like I read his columns. The "deplorables" either can't read or don't buy the NYT anyway. It is, in the end, a thankless undertaking. We can only hope that Trumpism continues to infect only 30 to 35 percent of the electorate.
Democrats have to concentrate on the bread-and-butter issues not the cohen/manafort/Trump behavior. We have tried the latter and it's not working. It's either insanity or stupidity to repeat the same approach and expect a different outcome. even I am tired Don Lemon and Rachel Maddow beating the same repetitive drum. We need a younger white male moderate Governor or Senator or business leader to represent the party in the coming election. like it or not, That's what it will take to end the Trump reign. Either you want to win or you want to feel morally superior. it's crunch time.
4
"George W. Bush did a lot of terrible things, but give him this much credit: he tried to dampen the xenophobia that was trying to break out after 9/11, rather than fanning the flames."
Is this supposed to be a joke?
Starting a war with a third world Muslim country that had nothing to do with 911 was supposed to dampen xenophobia? How did that work out?
1
Note that the justifications for imperialism are strikingly similar to the justifications for slavery. In both cases, the justification is white supremacy. In both cases the supporters of slavery and imperialism allege that whites are superior to Blacks and it is just and proper for whites to rule over Blacks. Note that in the United States, we rejected white supremacy a long time ago. Now Trump is trying to bring it back, just as he is attempting to bring back the America First Foreign Policy that Americans rejected a long time ago. Trump is your basic throwback to a darker time for America and for the world.
This is one of Krugman’s best. Short and on point. Let truth win out! In the last election though, sexism against HRC played almost as big a role as racism so the Trumpistas had that going for them as well.
Everyone who voted for Trump in 2016 has to share the blame.
He never hid who or what he was, starting from his Chief Birther years to the disgusting things he said to start his campaign and the disgusting people he employed to run it (Cory Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, etc,, etc. ).
2
While Prof. Krugman is correct to call out Demagogue Trump for his racial politics, he fails to do the same to Progressive Dems who have paid so little attention to the grievences of working class whites. Their grievences are legitimate and not simply racist.
Economists have the reputation of being vague, mysterious and boring. Not here! Once again Dr. Krugman is right. And in clear, succint prose. Thank you for your wisdom.
1
There's a classic "Andy Capp" cartoon where he completely runs over another player in a soccer match. As the injured player is picked up off the field he is told, "Don't take it personally, he isn't against you, he's just for himself".
Racists don't know they're racists, they don't want less for minorities, they're just want more for themselves.
2
Republicans "share the blame"?
You must be kidding.
Republicans of at least the last 4-5 decades have consistently blamed Others.
They are the white guardians of a psuedo-christian mythology that was never true. They differ from the 19th century Democratic slavocracy in name only.
The Others are now the 21st century mudsills. There is little difference between Tom Donohue and James Henry Hammond.
"In fact, whites without a college degree are the biggest beneficiaries of the social safety net" - most likely these voters will not wake up and smell the coffee till the Grinch has taken the last crumb from little Cindy Lu Hu. They will get what they deserve but remain myopic in denial. They are incapable of self reflection. Uneducated white American voters have been scapegoating people of color for decades and no one has the courage to talk about it publicly. I will as I am one of them. I grew up watching my family working blue collar jobs in Ohio. I witnessed a narrow minded laziness combined with a sense of entitlement. No one wanted to evolve. No one wanted to take a risk to fail. No one wanted to pick up a book. No one wanted to leave town. No one wanted to open their minds to other cultures or ideas. Everyone wanted to watch TV, fix their hot rod, and expect a job to materialize out of no where that would pay them 4 times minimum wage with generous benefits while it was obvious times were changing. Their hate will reap their own problematic future. I will sit safely in the the comfort of my tech economy cocoon because I went out and took risk without a degree in anything. I was willing to develop new skills on my own. My journey has been hard but I am grateful and actually wish to give back. I am resentful uneducated white Americas have created Trump. I wish harm to no one but they brought this on themselves. Unfortunately in some manor we will all pay for it.
5
Racism and fundamentalist religious ideology must be the most dominant social biases we face as Americans.
What else might drive so many voters and citizens to forgo their own best self interest in order to support the republican party assault on the Constitution by denying equal rights to all in our country.
Republicans have written their plan for all to see: since the days of the New Deal they have preached a theology of conservatism which in practice transfers all the wealth of our country into the hands of the moneyed few, kills social security, medicare, medicaid, and basic government help to those unable to help themselves - and with foresight and malice, hurts all of our neighbors.
5
It's fascinating that Americans do not see that the attack on immigrants is really an attack on workers, ALL workers. It's an attack on tech, farmers, construction and everything in-between. The hob goblin of gangs is raised so that people who think anyone with dark skin is a gangster have a reason to fear them. Look who ICE is picking up for deportation; store owners, retirees, parents with American born children... oh and the occasional gangster. Its almost laughable that Joe Average doesn't understand MS13 was an American EXPORT to Central America. The children at the border make headlines but how many thousands of communities have been deprived of contributing members to society, educators and tax payers? How many green card holders have been picked up for deportation for minor infractions of the law? This isn't just racism. It's an effort to drive family farms and small business out of business. It's an effort to impoverish the average worker, to silence them, to make fear of "The Other" the barrier to workers uniting. This is a dark time and despite the faith of the Evangelicals that God has placed Trump on the throne as part of His mysterious plan it is clear that this is indeed the Devil's work. Read up - Jeremiah 5:21 "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear."
5
I've been writing Professor Krugman's oped piece in posts I do, on the Motley Fool, for two years now. I mean almost word for word. I use oligarch instead of plutocrat although a couple of people plutocrat would be more accurate.
I think one of the reasons the coalition holds together is so much of the racists are Boomers. Jobs and worker rights no longer matter to them and they can indulge their fascist fantasies. The plutocrats will be very careful on how they attack SS and Medicare.
2
Conservatism: a consortium of narcissism and greed that perpetuates inequality and is preserved by the rich buying government.
3
Saith Claude Rains, "I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in this place!" Watch Donohue collect his winnings next.
I am not sure that racism explains poor whites voting against their own interests. The recent referendum in Maine (among the whitest states in the US), poorer communities voted against Medicaid expansion, whereas wealthier communities voted for it. Could it be that low income people resent others getting "handouts," rather than racism at play here?
It all comes down to money, doesn’t it? The GOP is so ready to sell its soul for tax cuts, leading to self-aggrandizement and re-election. But there is Karma ahead. This GOP Congress will be remembered not for their tax cuts, but for enabling the most racist and corrupt President in modern history.
Legacy is meaningless to,those who have no integrity.
7
My head is really about to explode. I feel battered by the patent racism, cruelty and ignorance of these policies, or fake policies. We need real solutions, NOT A STUPID WALL. We need a Marshall Plan for the great Central American cultures we have disrupted so often. We need humane substance abuse programs for the Americans who are helping to keep the cartels in business. We need an end to the posturing demagoguery of uninformed and rapacious hate and greed and bigotry.
5
Trump has been backed off for day, but you know he'll be back with more of his illiterate, inarticulate, mangled speech tomorrow. Actually he'll be back tonight in Minnesota.
Because the one vice Trump doesn't have is drinking, he is not sitting around somewhere with some real adults having a scotch on the rocks and engaging in intelligent conversation on how to solve our problems. He doesn't engage in thoughtful reflection with grownups like that. Instead, like a heroin addict, he will be going to get his adulation fix from the gullible in Minnesota.
On a perpetual campaign, Trump revealed today t that he finds it extremely challenging to think being humane and tough on border security at the same time. Like many people with poor education and flagging cognitive abilities Trump's tiny mind much prefers thinking of issues in the "either or" mode rather than the "both and" logic.
The concrete and primitive thinking commander and chief is just today trying to wrap his mind around how he could be "strong" (one of his five favorite words) and humane ( a word he has not used in years if ever and doesn't really grasp what it might mean). He was forced into this challenging exercise of thinking by his wife and daughter and poor ratings. He even told us--as if we didn't know already -- he prefers "strong" to humane. He literally didn't know he had made this painfully clear since we've had to get to know him. He's such a simpleton.
3
All the Empires in History jumped into the Abyss of their accord. Why not America ? Bye bye...
"The love of money is the root of all evil."
1
Paul Krugman is spot on here. Conservatism in the US has not been a conservative political philosophy. Rather, it is a policy marriage between two classes of people: affluent to poor whites who want to privilege their race, and mega-rich to affluent whites who want to privilege their wealth. I would call this quite deplorable, but the person who rightly called these bigoted and greedy people deplorables was the one who did not become President.
So, here's to Donald J. Trump, King of the Deplorables! May his reign be short and dumped onto the heap of infamy.
4
Much as a localized infection deep in the skin rises to the surface to form a boil, Donald Trump is the manifestation of the disease that is the modern Republican Party. Our “mainstream” media is too repulsed and infatuated by our Miscreant-in-Chief to understand that Trump has not “taken over” the Republican Party. He is only saying out loud what Republicans have been whispering for half a century, and he is only being called on HIS lies only because they are more blatant and numerous.
3
I don't blame Trump voters. They wanted him and they deserve to get him good and hard.
It's interesting that Republicans are not concerned about keeping children in cages. Are they cruel...or did they grow up that way, too, so it's nothing special?
Once again, Dr K nails it.
I think it's clear at this point that Trump is really into #1.
What President Trump forgets, once upon a time this country was majority 'Red', now it's Major 'White'. History has now qualms about making it Majority 'Brown'.
The fact is that tax cuts are funds that never should have been confiscated and their return to their rightful owners IS NOT a taking from the rest of us because it wasn’t our money to spend to begin with. A counter to this is that as a result, spending must be cut. Again, this isn’t taking anything away from anyone; rather not finding their wants with the confiscated monies of others. And before you regurgitate the tripe that SS and Medicate are our funds which we contributed to over our working lives, know that Medicare payroll deductions only pay for 30% of the cost of that program and that the typical SS recipient gets all their money back within the first four years of receiving benefits.
Granted, it was "our" money to begin with...which we have had taken by the government...to pay for services that we want/need (e.g., national security, infrastructure). You don't get something for nothing, last I remember. Social Security (and now MEDICARE) were meant as a social safety net and do a good job (but could do better) to make our society, as a whole, better and healthier. Otherwise, you'd still wind up paying "your" money to take care of your fellow citizens, less efficiently, and less humanely.
3
My experience with a state-level Chamber of Commerce is identical to Mr. Krugman's. They have one goal - at all costs, by almost any means, advance the interests of well-heeled business owners.
Lying, cheating, complaining that state regulations need to be more "consistent" unless they want more flexibility (then the regs are "too rigid"), calling state regulatory employees "nazis" for enforcing regs enacted by the legislature, pushing for defunding of enforcement of regs they don't like (instead of repealing them, which requires honest legislative effort), deriding any attempt to balance environmental protection and the needs of all citizens for clean water and air with business needs - all of these tactics are the Chamber's playbook.
Sound familiar?
3
What has really been eye opening and disheartening to me lately, beyond the obvious republican policies, has been the large number of commenters in these pages who support these policies. It's turning my stomach. I never would have believed people capable of reading a paper like the Times could be so cruel and ignorant.
But then I look at the Supremes and decisions like Citizens United and realize stupidity is found at all levels of educated society.
Sad.
2
Thank you, Mr Krugman. Let's get the full, ugly truth out in the open. This is the scary side of our democracy --- that racists of the worst stripe too have a vote. They can collaborate and collude with others like them. Guided by the sociopathic and cunning, they can take over. And they have/ A little gerrymandering here, a little outright lying there (seasoned with noisy righteous "indignation"), and the country is in their hands. Do I ever understand the Good Germans now.
The difference between racists and elitists is, racists think that anyone with a different color of skin is inferior to them, while elitists think that pretty much everyone is inferior to them. Elitists are often also the worst racists, though it often remains hidden. In Trump's case it isn't hidden so much. Elitists often foment racism so that poor whites don't realize their pockets are being picked. Elitists in both parties exploit other issues to gin up their base while advancing economic policies that are counter to the voters. No wonder voter turnout is so low in most elections, as only the base of both parties shows up. Everyone else in the middle feels disenfranchised.. and they are. Whether it is Trump and the big business plutocrats who think the law only applies to the 'little people' or it is Hillary talking about the 'deplorables' in the middle America. I hope the Dems can wrest control of Congress this fall, but i really wish they would begin talking about real solutions rather than just being anti-Trump.
Been saying so since 1948, but precariat won't listen til cultural heterosis is a fait accomplis [2044-52]. Meanwhile, the Earth is laid waste.
3
This is the best column today. I hope some of Michael Bloomberg's millions go to messaging on this subject. There should be ads in every medium - TV, talk radio, newspapers, billboards, robocalls - whatever it takes to illustrate the hypocrisy of the GOP and its economic agenda. Racist whites needs to understand that that their party is not benefiting them.
3
"They aren’t themselves racists, or at least they aren’t crude racists."
Well, we didn't know they were racists. But it turns out...they were, all along.
I usually like Dr. Krugman's columns because not only he often presents his analysis and is willing to admit it when he got it wrong (such as the column he wrote right after the liar-in-chief claiming the crown given to him by Putin). He also uses simple works such as lies instead of untruths.
So these are the words in this column I love the most: "Sorry, Mr. Donohue, but it is who you are: you made a deal with the devil, empowering racism and cruelty so you could get deregulation and tax cuts. Now the devil is having his due, and you must share the blame.'
One more thing, people may ask where is the beef to say Putin gave the crown to the liar-in-chief. Well, if he can push birther conspiracy without a shred of evidence I certainly have at least "circumstantial evidence" to say that.
Cold War phase of the Civil War enters its 153rd year.
How else do you explain whiplashing from Cheney/Bush to Obama, and now back to Caligula I mean Trump?
Americans are still at each other's throats like we were in 1865, just different terms, different means. We need a peace conference amongst ourselves.
1
I've said it for 26 years now, "They" had slavery around here once, and "They" liked it!
Republican part basically became a party of white supremacists, Christian fundamentalists & bigots, lobbyists for big businesses and rich people, and, of course, gun lobby & NRA. There is not much difference between Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders. But it's Trump who actually represent the party to its true spirit and ideology, more than Cruz or anyone else in the party.
Now let's see how majority of American voters like the party in its actual form without much pretension, hypocrisy, and typical political lies that sometimes confuse and mislead many traditional GOP voters. We all are waiting for Nov 2018 to know if American actually deserve a sensible and able political leader (like Obama) to lead our country.
4
This IS who we are-- slavery, Japanese internment camps, turning away ships of Jewish refugees and sending them back to Germany, Jim Crow/segregation laws, backing dictators (Egypt, Iraq, House of Saud) and overthrowing elected officials (Iran)--the United States has always done heinous stuff but we eventually rise above and do the right thing and we will again, hopefully.
1
Krugman keeps using the term "racism" as if it's a weapon to bludgeon someone with. It's not. It's a made up term by sociologists. All humans alive are THE SAME RACE. Where we differ is our ethnicities. These ethnicities each follow what's IN THEIR own best ethno-tribal interest and they comprise members all doing the same. Krugman can't seem to understand that folks will defer to their OWN ethno-tribe when they can't trust anyone else. That is what is happening now in this country, yet Krugman is clueless. He still thinks it's about "racism". But you can't be "racist" towards members of your OWN "race". What he is describing is "ethnocentrism". This will always exist.
They aren't entirely insensate. They know when they've stepped on a political landmine. But happily they're still incompetent (the next Trump may not be). Can you imagine any sane Republican of the past arguing with Laura Bush on this issue? But to get to your point about the alliance, this is the old confluence of Dixiecrats and Plutocrats (Todd Gitlin's book on the Sixties should be required reading).
1
There is a fundamental dishonesty to everything the Republicans do. "It's morning in American!" That was the line that ushered in the beginning of the decline of the American middle class.
The basic message of the Republican party since Reagan can be summarized as follows: "The government does nothing but take money from people who deserve it and give it to people who don't deserve it." This formulation unites the plutocrats—who think their wealth proves they are among the deserving—with the racists—who find a way to explain their own lack of the wealth they believe they deserve by identifying some group of undeserving people who are stealing that wealth from them. I agree with Krugman, but I think the two sides of the Republican message are far more tightly intertwined that Krugman states. There really aren't two messages here, but one.
1
Ignoring the moral and ethical issues regarding the unspeakable treatment of the children for a moment, what happens when the unmentioned underbelly of our economy is turned away at the borders? Who will pick and pack our fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken and fish? Who will service the apartment and office buildings in which we find comfort and safety along our center city thoroughfares? Who will operate the food trucks that provide the quick meals to our office workers and commuters, rain or shine? While we who can afford to dine at the plethora of fine city restaurants, where will the wait and kitchen staff come from? Mar El Largo may well operate without missing a beat, but what about the rest of us? Do any members of this Administration or their political cohorts have any suggestions?
3
I have a great deal of alignment with Dr. K on his critique of the GOP and the current administrations. Yet, I am troubled by this column. Certainly there was an intentional appeal to racism in their strategy, as the Atwater quote describes. Certainly there is a malignant racist minority active in the GOP. However, to suggest that is the primary motive for how votes were cast is overly simplistic and frankly smacks of a superiority complex which can creep into this political conversation.
1
Thank you1 Too many editorial writers fail or refuse to recognize the fundamental source of Trump's power- pervasive racism. Yes, he uses thinly veiled euphemisms to describe his racial policies and attitudes, but his followers understand the underlying message. And yes, Congress allows him to do so, fearing political consequences if they do not. Keep speaking out. Hopefully some past Trump voters are listening. Trump's recent flip flop on separating families confirms that he is impacted by public opinion if expressed loudly enough and by a sufficiently large percentage of the population.
2
“This is not who we are,”. The midterm election will determine if this really is who we are. I certainly did not want to believe that this is "who we are" when Trump was elected in 2016. Since he has taken office, the unveiled racism, misogyny, and xenophobia have taken my breath away.
When I look at a map of red states and blue states in this country, I find it frightening. The clock is being turned back at warp speed, and it has momentum. The one bright ray of hope was the announcement that Mayor Bloomberg is pouring money into the Democratic Party. I hope it will be used wisely.
3
It's been that way for quite a while; the last Republican leader who fully accepted the New Deal was Gerald Ford, though Reagan also accepted Social Security and, I believe, Medicare.
Like Krugman, I tire of people saying "that's not who we are" with respect to Trump's imitation of Herod. It's certainly "who we were" when slavery and, subsequently, segregation were legal. And it is "who we are" for a sizable number of Trump's base.
For Trump, Latinos are an"infestation" who must be segregated from whites, presumably because Trump has bought the Anglos are superior delusion,which he calls "merit based immigration".
If we are fortunate, Trumps kiddie koncentration kamps will mark the start of the first civil rights movement of the 21st century.
1
Children separation is cruel and it is not "Making America Great Again". On the contrary, it is anti-American.
I am Brazilian and I have always admired America for its values, now I am horrified by Mr. Trump cruel, inhumane policy on ilegal immigration. Immigrants are people, Mr. Trump. Displaced people seeking to live in a country where work is valued, where life is valued, where goodness and solidarity are valued and praised. They want to "Make America Great Again".
1
“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket....give him someone to look down on and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” LBJ
What’s interesting is that the veneer Republicans had slapped together (dog whistles and such) held as long as it did. Johnson may have been a turning point for a Democratic Party that could attract minorities - despite Civil Rights legislation he started out a pretty standard Southern Democrat - but that still has been a slow turn.
I’d like to think that Trump could be the last battle of the civil war. For that to happen, though, one side needs to finally be 100% on the side of minorities and the poor. Rich Democrats need to be okay with their taxes going up and their kids not going to Harvard as a result of expanded opportunities for others. In short, it can’t be just talk. If we truly want to fight for equality let us fight for equality. I’m not so sure the Democrats are there yet.
1
"George W. Bush did a lot of terrible things, but give him this much credit: he tried to dampen the xenophobia that was trying to break out after 9/11, rather than fanning the flames."
Bunk. Dubya is largely responsible for where we are and holds the fate of too many displaced children, in the middle east mostly, on his heart and his head.
The Dalai Lama to Dubya after 9/11:
"...I personally believe we need to think seriously whether a violent reaction is the right thing to do and in the greater interest of the nation and the people in the long run. I believe violence will only increase the cycle of violence."
There were (at least) two paths we could have chosen after September 11; the enlightened, non-violent and thoughtful path, or the inhumane, tribal, factious and violent path. We chose the latter fifth century mindset, apparently.
1
"... fractious...." Splintered. Divided. My err, apologies.
Exactly. It never occurred to the likes of Donahue that their explicit Obama hatefest and by extension all manner of implicit hatred that flows from that would manifest itself in Donald Trump emerging from nowhere and proving to be better at being them than they are.
1
I agree with everything you say, Mr. Krugman -- but it has all been said a million times before. The question is, What are we to DO to remedy the situation? HOW do we liberals win the hearts and minds of the white working classes? Tell me. Tell us. Please.
3
I never said that the Obama family separation policy was the same as the Trump family separation. I make no defense of the Trump policy. However, Krugman starts his column talking about children being put into cages, which did occur during the Obama Administration. The pictures are available. http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/19/photos-obama-immigration-detention-fac...
All these efforts to talk about other distinctions between the Obama and Trump policies are efforts to distract from the issue of the cages, an issue which Dr. Krugman, not I, raises in his opening sentence for shock value. Either the use of the "cages" is not nearly as inhumane as the optics suggest or the Obama Administration cruelly and inhumanely caged little kids and all the liberals, including Paul Krugman, thought that was just fine. I'll take either explanation, but either one indicates that Trump is the not the only one capable of deep dishonesty and hypocrisy.
Sorry, but pictures published by the Daily Caller are not what I would consider incontrovertible evidence. Do you have another source?
Google "separation of children from illegal immigrant parents under obama" and see what comes up.
And do not forget that over 50% of Republican voters still believe that president Obama was not born in the U.S. And who but Trump built his base and perpetuated this falsehood on that lie. And even the press still does not hold Trump to account for those lying four years. Great article Paul Krugman. Would still like to see you and the press make that story a major issue, even today. It ought to be your objective to redeem Obama from the trump lie.
2
The solution is simple.
Vote OUT the GOP in November.
Vote OUT Trump in 2020 (assuming he's still there).
1
This is not who we are.
This not the time to talk about guns.
They have time to break treaties, families and middle class America.
1
Couldn’t agree more with mr. Krugman’s analysis .
I wish we could see some light at the end of this immensely long dark tunnel .
Midterm elections are the only hope we have to silence this cruel and diabolical administration.
1
I don't understand how tax cuts enable racism. Sorry. Voters like lower taxes because it means they will have more money. Democrats who criticize tax cuts are not getting the message.
Tom Donohue made a strong statement telling how he was outraged by the separation of immigrant children from their parents. He made this while the president was sticking to his guns and being cheered by the NFIB. Maybe there is a difference between business organizations.
Donohue said our policies should reflect what kind of a nation we are. This Democrat congratulates him for speaking out.
Krugman was way off on this one. - Bill Sullivan
Is it any wonder that Betsy Devos and the Republican establishment want to undermine public education? The last thing they need is for their intolerant base to understand the benighted origins of racism or to develop critical thinking skills. The survival of the Republican Party depends on the inability of whites without a college education to discern what is in their economic interest politically.
The Chamber is the U.S. equivalent of a Central Economic Planning Commission. Puppeteers pulling the strings of mindless, senseless politicians who cannot develop and economic message of their own. I knew a Chamber President back in the 1960's when they were principally trying to protect further erosion of industry influence on the government. With Reagan came the change to tear away at the safety net, and with it the civility long associated with the corporate boardroom. Now it's just another corrupted American institution.
1
The Chamber of Commerce is what it is, i.e. the PR and lobbying arm of Corporations and Business and they are basically a one trick pony. Why expect more?
How much money are you paid Krugman? How much of that money is given to the poor? You advocate for policies then maximize your deductions. Given your wealth, you should donate at least 90% of your income to the poor.
You were wrong about the economic consequences of President Trump. You are wrong about white Middle Class voters. The reason they support the GOP is because they understand and accept that they are not guaranteed success in America. America stands for rugged individualism. All they want is an equal opportunity. Issues and special designations of certain groups eliminate the opportunity for a chance to succeed. That is why 32 states as opposed to 18 (Hillary's states) voted for Trump.
Rugged individualism? Equality? Is that what you call yuuuge tax breaks for the top 1% of Americans while attempting to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, environmental protection? Getting rid of rules for banks put in place after they and other fraudsters in the stock market and mortgage industry caused the 2008 meltdown is your idea of "rugged individualism?
No special designations of certain groups? How about coal miners? We should protect the jobs of people working in an outmoded, unnecessary and environmentally dangerous industry while cutting Pell grants for college students?
Middle class voters? The MAJORITY of Americans voted for Hillary. If around 80,000 people in Michigan/Pennsylvania/Wisconsin had voted differently Trump would have even lost the absurdly outdated electoral college. As noted in a Washington Post article California has one electoral vote per 712,000 people while Wyoming gets one electoral vote per 195,000 people. That's democracy? I wonder what Trump and his supporters would be saying about the electoral college if things had been reversed and Trump won the popular vote by 2.5 million votes - as Hillary did - but lost the electoral college and thereby the presidential election due to the votes of 80,000 people in three states. Actually, I know the answer......."Its rigged."
Krugman is on point but even more frustrating is that the media, including the NYT, continues to be complicit by giving far more coverage to identity politics than the more impactful issues that affect everyone's economic bottom line.
It's not that racism isn't a newsworthy topic but ultimately the tax code has a far greater impact on people's lives than Trump's racist tweets. Yet, it is the tweets that invariably get more coverage.
Yes, a president who tweets racist statements is certainly shocking and newsworthy. Yet, the uncomfortable truth is that the media is largely responsible for creating Trump to begin with. Contrary to what Trump says, the NYT is not failing but rather succeeding, largely thanks to Trump!
And the left has also become complicit in this dysfunctional dynamic. Black Lives Matter is certainly correct in bringing attention to racial disparities of injustices. Yet, there is no logical reason why whites shouldn't also care about our over-zealous criminal justice system. There are plenty of casualties across the ethnic spectrum to alarm everyone. What would benefit society more, getting rid of police brutality period or just making sure police are equally brutal against whites and blacks?
So, yes, Krugman is on point but he left out the part about the media and the left being complicit. Perhaps, complicit is too strong a word. More appropriately, the media and the left have allowed themselves to be "played" by the right.
A "home run" opinion piece by Mr. Krugman. However he did not refer to the coalition between racists & plutocrats by its given name. It's called the Southern strategy and it has been a successful con of the racists by the plutocrats for around a half century. The racists gave the plutocrats their votes, and a significant part of their money through the policies their votes enabled while the plutocrats gave the racists mostly lip service. But now that's changing and racists, by now largely concentrated in the Republican Party, aren't satisfied with just lip service any more. Mr. Trump may have been one of the first to see and exploit this. He won't be the last.
1
But how could they have known he was going to not not do what he said he was going to do?
Paul,
You've got to feel for Ambassador Nikki Haley. At the time she announces we are withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council because other members are making a mockery of human rights, her boss has decided the US will snatch children away from their mothers. Her criticisms kinda lose their force. Why withdraw? We fit right in.
My advice to Ms. Haley? Don't go to any Mexican restaurants.
3
Along with North Korea and Iran.
1
"Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas". This is a fitting description of the plight of today's GOP. Thank you, Dr. K. for shedding light on this dangerous farce.
Paul’s approach has shifted from cataloguing Trump’s innumerable failings and flaws. At last he is turning to the next issue: the bought-and-paid-for flunkies of the GOP Congress and the propagandists.
The next step, Paul, is a bright light shone upon the wicked wealthies funding this operation.
1
"Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, as opposed to the philosophical stance whose constituency is maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages — is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats. It’s about people who want to do (2) empowering people who want to do (1), and vice versa."
All the treatises, columns, and speeches combined don't capture the existential moral squalor of modern conservatism as brilliantly succinctly as does Dr. Krugman in this one sentence.
it is again confirmed that Dr. Krugman is a national treasure. Where is this man's Pulitzer?
1
Be careful calling out Republicans and conservatives and Christians for their hypocrisy during this cage the children incident. People are saying this is not what true Republicans or Christians or conservatives are like. Yes it is what they are, and what they have always been. See what they will do to the defenseless (think Puerto Rico response versus Texas disaster responses). All the decent people can do is to try to shame them into doing something moral by pretending we believe they are not what they really are. They are very powerful. Don’t destroy their self-delusion that they are moral or patriotic or honorable. It’s all we have.
1
No Mr Donahue, this is exactly who we are.
The seizure of the children was a policy decision made by the President and Attorney General with the input of the most senior executives in our Federal government. These folks are not outliers. You've lent you predictable, perfunctory outrage to the chorus , and it's time to return to the next item on your agenda: funding candidates and "think tanks" which declare unions illegal.
And we know exactly who you are Mr. Donahue.
1
The term "conservative" really needs to be placed in quotation marks. The political thought that goes by that name today is in fact an American far-right extremism beyond anything we have ever seen before.
1
We sold ourselves to the world as a place that was the greatest. The myths of American exceptionalism abound. We have called ourselves land of the free and home of the brave. "The shining city on the hill". True for some but not for others. Instead, truth be told, how should we be represented? The place where greed and self interest holds sway at the expense of the others? The place where bigotry and racism still holds court with a large segment of the population? And what about our past around the world where we backed the Contra's that killed 30,000 Nicaraguans or our habit of backing dictators with horrific human rights records? We have been the leaders of producing greenhouse gases over the last 100 years that has helped to change the environment in horrific ways. What we have done to Native Americans is unconscionable. Are there great things that have taken place here? Yes. But today we are finally showing the world...actually yelling it from the highest office in the land to rural towns across all 50 states, what kind of human beings a large segment of Americans really are. It's not a pretty picture. As Mr. Krugman says, The devil is having his due and the seeds and fertilizer that the right has thrown on this deplorable part of the human condition is in full bloom. My guess is the Bannons, Millers, Ryans, and McConnells of the country are smiling in private with their compadres. They should be proud of this version of America. Just the way they like it. USA, USA, USA!!
Too bad speaking truth to power doesn’t do any good anymore, if it ever did.
Mr. Krugman serves the extremely useful role of pointing out the obvious.
Well done, again.
1
Tax cuts then, tax cuts now, tax cuts forever!
Trump's family-separation policy for illegal border crossers has stopped, as it should have. But criticizing a blight on the nation like Trump is the easy part.
The idea of open borders is empty intellectually and a disaster from the point of view of progressive social policy. As Mr. Krugman has written elsewhere, open borders are incompatible with a social safety net. An open border is as stupid as a wall that lets no one in.
National Academies of Science data ("The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration") show that current record immigration into the United States represents a wealth transfer, from the bottom to the top of our society, of about $500 billion annually. That combination of depressed wages and increased corporate profits sure isn't chicken feed.
Let's also recognize that mass migration to the United States is a safety valve for corrupt regimes in Mexico and other countries. Mass immigration is regressive for both American workers and feeder countries.
The answer is something cheap labor Republicans and cheap vote Democrats both hate: mandatory E-Verify to lessen the jobs magnet -- the data show that people are migrating for economic reasons, not fear of violence -- and tighten the labor market. That would be the most progressive, humane way to reform our immigration policy. Yet the leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties are conniving to ensure that E-Verify never becomes mandatory.
I agree, but with reservations. People concerned only for their own narrow issue often lie down with the devil to advance it. That's common to all political varieties, not just Chamber of Commerce types. I recall, for example, that when my group of liberals wanted to support Casey against the vicious Rick Santorum, one woman refused on the ground that Casey was personally opposed to abortion. Never mind that Santorum was a raving lunatic on the subject, and terrible about every other conceivable issue.
But I disagree with the common view that you seem to espouse, that the Republican base consists largely of racists.These are not generally people of clear logic, versed in distinguishing policies from personalities. For such people, hateful speech is often more a marker of sentiment about policies than an actual animus toward the apparent target. An aunt used to say that black people were prone to crime (obviously an ignorant remark), but in her next breath she would say that if a black person showed up at her door she would welcome that person in, bake a pie, and have a nice chat. I think we should forget about words like racism, except in extreme cases.
1
The US Chamber of Commerce should forced to change its name since it is nothing more than a right wing PAC for the GOP.
1
Trump is the Apex of republicanism. He is the cartoon of a republican. He was created by and belongs to the Republicans. Do not ever forget that.
1
Vote in November for a Democratic majorities in Congress.
7
I agree with your essential point that Conservatism is about income distribution and race. They want to keep the white race as the bearer of the golden ticket.
One point I'd like to make is that it is not right, or good,
or useful to say that separating families at the border is like Jim Crow, or even worse than Jim Crow. I spent my childhood in a small town in Alabama in the fifties and sixties. Blacks lived in a shanty town. Saturday was "n" day in the town, the one day that blacks were allowed to shop. No black person could try on clothes before buying them. When a black man was killed, there was no investigation. When the town was forced to integrate its public pool, they cemented it over. When public schools were forced to integrate, whites started "Christian" schools. Jeff Sessions knows this Alabama very well. I imagine his zero tolerance policy comes partly from a perverse nostalgia for this Alabama.
But my point is that Jim Crow went on for decades - a hundred year at least- and we all know what Jim Crow was before it was Jim Crow. Slavery and a long history of separating families at the slave auction block.
The separation of children from families is its own tragedy, its own travesty of human rights and American ideals.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been a key player in the Plutocrats' slow-motion coup d'etat of the United States government, beginning with Lewis Powell's notorious manifesto addressed to the Chamber in August of 1971. The Manifesto called for a highly organized, concentrated, and ruthless counter-revolution against the New Deal. Utilizing the the power of money to infiltrate every level of American society and government, Neoliberalism's ideological defense of the so-called "free enterprise system" infected universities, mass media, the courts, and legislatures. Our masters want freedom and liberty. They want the freedom to do whatever they want: prey upon the People, pollute, perpetrate fraud. They want the liberty to prosecute endless war for profit, and impose fake "austerity" upon the masses as a form of control. They want more and more and more. The mess we're in now is the result.
16
The Republican party and Trump belong to the " I got mine and the rest of you, good luck, thoughts and prayers.
11
Wish the humongous pension funds chiefs with moral backbone would band together to oust Mr. Tom Donohue. The Chamber of Commerce is extremely regressive, and instrumental in supporting gerrymandering, specifically in Michigan.
"Michigan Chamber of Commerce fights anti-gerrymandering proposal", https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2018/05/02/michigan-chambe...
7
Krugman's analysis leaves out an important fact: The plutocracy is bipartisan. There are plenty of Democrats, even liberals, who are billionaires benefiting from the country's kleptocratic tax policy. Just as Republicans do, these super-rich Dems prize their riches above all else. The remedy is for US citizens to elect politicians who recognize that wealth hoarding by the 10% is unsustainable.
12
10% or 1.0%? That's an order of magnitude and on that difference will depend winning elections or losing them, as the 10% have a disproportionately high voter turnout.
2
dubiousraves:
In the interest of honesty, change your pseudonym to "dubiousclaims." The Democratic Party has relied increasingly upon "plutocrats" precisely because white Americans favour the racist-plutocratic alliance, or perhaps you've forgotten the splendid success McGovern, Carter, Mondale, et al. enjoyed?
Your false equivalency becomes even more sordid in considering that this forced dependence –– Nixon through Bush vastly could and did outspend the Democrats on campaign propaganda (the MSM fecklessly gave the racist, serial rapist mountebank Drumpf some one billion dollars free coverage and a free pass in exchange for ratings) never compelled the Democrats to turn their back on their civil rights legacy. Far from it.
And thus you engage in the white "progressives'" terrible but typical moral and intellectual failure: the assume, nay, deny white racism's terrible enduring power–-it is America's core organizing ideology––for the demonstrably false "economics" argument. Your false equivalency is very much in keeping with this intellectual and moral failure.
In the words of one of those racist Republicans, but here rendered as simple fact, dubiousraves, "YOU LIE."
Those who would question Dr. Krugman's point have to ask themselves: Why does the GOP prioritize immigration and illegal immigration so highly in their agenda, if not over race? Few things rally the GOP base like it, despite it being a minor issue in pre-Trump times.
Compare it to real issues we have:
We've got 31 million without health insurance, but its the 11 million illegal immigrants (the vast majority of whom pay taxes and work hard for their families) who drive the GOP to the polls.
We've got $700,000 in net worth per family if split evenly, vs. the $100,000 the median (50th percentile) family has. The top 10% have over 80% of the stock; but it's the GOP base that argues for tax cuts for the 1% and corporations.
Families in the bottom 99% would be getting $7,100 more per year in income if we had the 1979 income distribution, yet the GOP faithful are busy arguing how addressing inequality is some type of sin (as if the upward shift of wealth was not).
Those are real issues, which tax hikes on the 1% used to fund health insurance and college/trade school for the 99% would address.
But Republicans know to keep immigration and phony trade wars in front of their gullible, racist base, rather than raise taxes on the rich and redistribute.
51
You should also ask youself what droves Democrats on these issues. Republicans typically increase their rolls and maximize their political power through locally-determined gerrymandering. Democrats typically do this through immigration (and associated birth rates). Historically, both parties have favored the import of desperate immigrants/cheap labor. In capitalism, a low wage workforce has great utility in reducing the cost of production cost by depressing labor costs (from immigrant laborers AND by reducing the bargaining power of the existing labor force). There's more to the statue of liberty than meets the eye.
2
The U.S. is the richest it's ever been, setting records since 2013. This system is a wealth maximizer, but since Republicans vote against their own economic interests in the hope of sticking it to non-whites, we don't redistribute the way we should.
In theory, lower labor costs should have a benefit: Lower cost products and services. Instead, we let prices stay high, profits go untaxed and the 1% leave everyone behind.
David, lower labor costs do not provide a NET benefit to labor (despite very real cost of living reductions.) Management loves it though...
Thank you Dr. Krugman for telling it like it is.
Especially on behalf of those of us who are both Democrats and businesspeople, who have been so vilified by our Republican business colleagues.
In summer 2016, I resigned from the business group, American Club of Geneva, because I saw the leaders were openly willing to traffic in racism and sexism in order to get a tax cut they most definitely did not need.
CoC, your strategy backfired. I now feel more than ever that my best interests lie with the Democrats, and will work as hard as I did during my business career to defeat you.
Because I am now more sure than ever that “What is good for the country, is good for GM”
47
I get a little tired of being told that I'm a welfare recipient or an ANTIFA punk because I don't support Trump. I'm a married, church-attending CPA with four children - oh, and I'm a Democrat.
1
Let me first say that I am a former long-time Republican who despises Trump and most of the things he does.
But, as ham handed as he has been on immigration, he has brought long-needed attention to an issue that both parties have swept under the rug. Just why on earth have we tolerated 11 million+ illegal immigrants in this country?
I am totally in favor of legal immigration, made up of people who have something to contribute to our economy and society and will readily assimilate.
If we need temporary workers to pick crops, for example, then we need to make them TEMPORARY, and make sure they do not overstay their visas. AND, we should change the laws that allow children born of non-citizens (i.e. to temporary workers, etc) to automatically become U.S. citizens just because they happened to be born on American soil.
If anything good comes of the Trump administration, I hope that it is a sane, humane, and enforceable immigration system. One that benefits our country and those who want to become come citizens legally and have the skills and ability to contribute to our society and economy.
10
You may have changed your label, but you are still a Republican.
And it's all premised upon racism, both actual, and as a tool to divide and profit.
The Republicans have always complained that there's need for immigration reform. But even when they've controlled Congress, they've never actually done anything about it.
In fact, the Republican Party serves the corporations, who love to hire under the minimum wage, and pay none of the relevant taxes. The Party is not going to do anything about immigration -- except continue to use it as a tool to get poor whites at the throats of poor minorities. Racism for profit, one short step short of indentured servitude; of economic slavery.
I am not sure why you expect anything 'humane" or "sane" from the Trump administration because there is little evidence that he cares about humaneness or logic.
The undocumented immigrants in the US overwhelmingly want to be legal immigrants - it is American policies and bureaucratic overload that get in their way.
The undocumented immigrants in the US contribute billions of dollars to our economy. The death rates of white Americans in many places are higher than birth rates and towns in the Midwest are dying from lack of population. The economy needs immigrants. They are incredibly hard working people who have an intense drive to contribute to our society. What are you afraid of?
the illegal immigrants were tolerated because they provided a 'safety valve' for times when unemployment was low: a large pool of people willing to work for less kept wages from rising in the US, while their meager remittances prop up the economy and failed governments of Mexico.
Dr. Krugman's thoughts and many of the comments seem to be correct. At least I like the idea that the conservative tax and economic policies are inimical to the needs and aspirations of the 95% who contribute to grow the economy. The middle class has been bamboolzed.
But what is it about outing the deception that cannot be effectively communicated and implemented by a political movement to effectively counteract the conservative ascendancy that has been in play since Reagan? In the preceding sentence, I could have used "Democrats" in place of political movement. As the largest organized opposition party, they're a the best position to use an alternative to the conservatives to get votes. So what have they done to remain so ineffective in promoting the most necessary reforms and progressive programs?
Yeah, some people might remind that Democratic candidates carry too much baggage, but we know now how Russian influence played in that. If Hillary Clinton had run as Little Red Riding Hood, and her message was that the wolf was in Grandma's bed, a social media campaign could impugn her as a juvenile delinquent for suggesting it. Has the medium become the message and we're doomed?
I don't care what labels a successful political opposition to the current junta wears or uses. I'd like to see one come forward and put the necessary and permanent changes in place.
15
The Democrats fear the label of liberal. They did not embrace Obama and his ACA program in 2010 and hid from the good things that could be accomplished and let Republicans control the narrative. Being neither conservative nor liberal is inherently bad, both have when considered in their true definitions have something good to offer. But when one is afraid to honestly discuss policies that would clearly benefit the majority out of fear of being labeled LIBERAL then the obvious inability to stand on principle comes back to bite you.
The Republicans have no hesitation to lie and deflect and play the fear of them or this or that to their advantage. The Democrats or anyone needs to stand up and clearly and consistently point out the lie and clearly state the alternative they offer. The Republicans offer nothing, no health care alternatives, no solution to immigration, trade, nothing other than deficits resulting from tax cuts made for the rich and corporations with the intent of being the excuse to cut every part of the budget that would benefit the 95% in the guise of being fiscally responsible.
Now they have completely sold their souls, turned a blind eye to the corruption of Trump and his advisors to further the gutting of the American dream.
I think there’s a two-word answer to your question: Fox News.
Every time I return to the US, I make a point of watching a bit of it. I’m appalled at the outright disinformation being peddled. It’s been doing it for 30 years, and the propaganda has been very successful — Fox has turned my mother from a Kennedy democrat to a Trump Republican. And she’s got the tactics down — having a political discussion with her results, on her side, in obfuscation, prevarication, deflection, and ad hominem attacks.
And, needless to say, Fox doesn’t air both sides of any debate. So, yap away, Democrats — talk as much as you want. Fox fans “know” the “truth,” and no amount of reality dose is going to get in.
I think the only antidote is a return to the Fairness Doctrine, the Reagan-instituted demise of which, not so coincidentally, occurred at the same time as the rise of Fox and (as your post says) the rise of the ugly republican.
1
With due respect to President Abraham Lincoln, let's look back at the roots of our American problem.
Every patriot who signed the Declaration of Independence was willing to trade the freedom of millions of African slaves for the freedom of the colonists from Britain. Those who wished to end slavery put expediency before honor.
The Native American genocide was conducted by the United States government in order to acquire land and expand its borders to provide economic opportunity to white people.
The Civil War was not fought to end slavery in the South. It was the culmination of decades of fighting about economic opportunity in the lands stolen from Native Americans. Free states did not want any more economic competition from slave labor. Lincoln, who personally abhorred slavery, publicly stated that slavery could remain in the southern states, if the Union was restored.
Northern politicians and many northern citizens opposed the 13th amendment because 4 million freed slaves would then flood the labor market and, possibly, endanger white employment.
Immigration policy in this country has always favored Europe, primarily western Europe. Only the need for more workers has boosted immigration numbers from other continents. Every economic downturn has come with a backlash against unfavorable immigrant groups.
Neither morality nor justice has been the litmus test for American society from the beginning. It has always been based on economic opportunity for whites.
37
Well stated. America has never been the country we think we lost to Trump. Her ideals were always far ahead of her reality.
You need to do your research on Lincoln. Regardless of what he had to say to get elected, his goal on slavery was always abolition.
1
The flaw in Mr. Krugman’s immigrant/tax analogy is the US Chamber of Commerce position on immigration. Like much of corporate America, they want porous borders and as many illegal immigrants as possible. Agribusiness, hotels, restaurants, construction, food processing, unskilled elder care and numerous other businesses depend on a flow of cheap illegal labor. Their lobbyists are working overtime to kill any policy that will curtail illegal immigration. They want a race to the bottom to keep wages low and pit unskilled workers against each other as workers compete for lower and lower wages, less workplace safety and weak unions. This puts Paul Krugman and all the others who don’t want to end illegal immigration on the same side as the Koch brothers, Toll Bros., ConAgra, Hormel, Tyson and all the other businesses that exploit cheap illegal immigrant labor. Spare me the hysterics of the current scene on the southern border. If you really care about working Americans, you will back strong legislation to stop illegal immigration.
4
The fact is that we all depend on undocumented immigrants, for our food, for our taxes, to stem a labor shortage and to pay into Social Security. Places that have taken in waves of immigrants have experienced revitalized economies and crime drops.
Also, I don't see too many conservatives challenging Trump's immigration policies, until recently, just a few. Maybe snatching babies doesn't poll well with everyone.
The best way to raise wages is increase minimum wage, something Republicans have refused to support.
Also immigration reform, with guest worker programs, and helping these countries (whose strife we have had so much to do with, from national policies to being consumers of their illicit drug trades, and as arms providers) would also be in our interests.
23
Not necessarily. We could, instead, back strong legislation to stop the brutal exploitation of undocumented workers. We could stop working them like slaves for starvation wages, stop drenching them with pesticides on the job, and establish safe ways to cross the desert border so they don't risk a horrible death by exposure and thirst. The average migrant farm worker in the United States has a life expectancy of 44 years. Addressing THAT obscenity will stop the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor.
"This puts Paul Krugman and all the others who don’t want to end illegal immigration..."
PK and Dems not FOR illegal immigration any more than those who are pro-choice are FOR abortion. If you can't understand even that minuscule level of nuance, maybe you're trying not to understand it.
2
Hit's the nail right on the head, as usual. However, let us not forget that there are a significant number of Democrats who are as bought off as the Republicans. They've got to go.
15
Well yes!!! I also fault the Democratic party for failing to shout these truths loud enough. The Clinton campaign, for example, could have and should have honed in on these facts with great intensity. Perhaps those who voted against their own best interest would have listened. Perhaps they will now listen. But if some of my friends who support the GOP are any example, the chances are slim. So sad!
7
I take issue with your fault finding. Clinton stated the dangers of Trump loud and clear, over and over again. She spoke more about jobs and the economy than any other candidate; she called Trump and the Rs out repeatedly, including in the nationally televised debates.
But what did the press cover? Her emails.
How quaint.
12
And yet for all those dangers Trump was elevated and pushed as a legitimate candidate by the Clinton campaign and the DNC because it was viewed as to be in her best interest to run against him in the General. Also seen in her best interest was running a thoroughly corrupt primary instead of letting the voters decide based on an even playing field. And now, here we are.
So if we're going to give credit to politicians and parties who do what's best for their country before they serve their own interests, let's leave Clinton and the Democratic party out of that conversation. They belong right next to the nightmare President they helped elect and his own irredeemable party of sociopaths.
Hillary Clinton should have lied, loudly and consistently. It worked for Trump.
1
Most voters might not want to go forward very much against racism. but they might go against Trump because he is going backward too much on this and other related issues.
2
Many sectors of US business have become dependent on low-wage illegal immigrant labor. If Trump followed through on his threat to deport all those who are not strictly legal, it would be an economic as well as humanitarian disaster. Donohue is not demonstrating humanity at this point, he is just speaking for the economic interests of Chamber members.
21
As a former Goldwater Republican who came to Washington in 1966 to work in the Public Health Service on air pollution control, it took me a few years to realize that the Republican policies were violently wrong. See https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
13
After the concerted efforts of Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson to drive the racists out of the Democratic Party worked, Goldwater and Nixon were more than happy to invite them to the GOP cause where the mixture was no less toxic. But I believe there is more to the new GOP coalition of anti-statist small government conservatives and the racists. Conservatism emphasizes individual freedom and reward for individual achievement over the notion of community responsibility and actions for leveling the playing field to ensure equal opportunity, which was Goldwater's justification for choosing state rights over civil rights. And while conservatives may talk the talk about individual rights, people always identify in some way with their group, be it race, religion, region, etc. Faced with the demands of groups to which you do not belong to get some of what you have and want to keep, the political party whose philosophy neatly folds into your anxiety is where you will find your home, and if authoritarian measures are what it takes to defend your patch, so be it. The nature of conservative ideology is such that it will always make a better connection for the aggrieved racists than the old Democratic coalition did. The modern Democratic party is in its own way no less ideologically focused than the modern/Trump GOP, but it has never been the magnet for the kind of crazy that dominates GOP. I place that squarely at the feet of conservatism.
15
Pardon the pun but fear and hate trump economic insecurity. The stark problem in America is the overwhelming numbers of Americans, into many millions, who feel rootless, untethered in a world they don’t understand or frankly want to be a part of. Arle Hochchild describes them as “strangers in their own land.” I can empathize with them. In fact I share some of their concerns. But I part company with them in finding solutions. These Americans hunger for simple answers, the black and white, but most disturbingly the strong leader. They want someone to tell them how to think and what to do. In short they prefer authoritarianism to democracy. It is no accident fundamentalists are willing to overlook the teachings of Christ to find words in the Bible to rationalize cruel and unjust actions in the name of God. So too did Germans and Southern slave owners and their compliant preachers. Truly a House divided.
24
I would also add that for those who watched Downtown Abbey. This is exactly what the characters were going through. Massive change during the industrial revolution. Many of the characters in that show yearn for a simpler time when they knew what to do. But there were also the younger characters that were up to the task of the new world along with all of its changes, challenges and progress. If we look back and see all the progress that has been made over the last 100 or so years history tells us that this horror is merely a blip in the line of progress. The things that have already been digested and are now being regurgitated and belched up by this horrible menace of an administration will be put back in the closet. Some things will be settled and some will just be buried for a while. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later.
3
The idea that Trump followers are poor or displaced innocents is common, but a myth. I live among many, and they are often middle class, even well off, manager level or even professional people, people who are comfortably retired, and such. The poor, the actual poor, are not involved much in politics; they tend to be busy trying to take buses to three part-time jobs or tending other people's children who do, and have little faith that politics would do a thing for them. They're probably right. But the lower middle class to the professionals does seem to have time and money, and a desire to dominate imaginary foes and evils. They believe that their beliefs should rule America, whether white supremacy or the Angry Jesus of the right, or tax cuts for themselves or slashed regulations to their gain. Some just like the marching around playing martyr or hero or soldier in the woods. But poor? Pitiful? No. Trump's doing better for the rich than anyone else, and the rich know that. The others don't even care as long as the poor do worse than they; they despise the poor. So the story of poor Trump fans, just needing love and money, is not true, and it obscures the nature of the foe we do face, smart enough, oh yes, and funded by billionaires. They are happy you're sorry for them. They always are, even as they crush the rest of us.
2
Prof. Krugman, I adore your columns and opinions, but this one seems to have been written under pressure from a deadline. Short, nothing really new.
That "deal with the Devil" used to be referred to as a "Faustian Bargain." That is, back in the day when educated folk actually read "Dr. Faustis" in undergrad. So when one referred to the GOP enablers of Trump as having made a "Faustian Bargain, many knew what you meant when you indicated that the Devil was going to get his due - HE is coming for their souls.
Be that as it may, whether the Devil shows up or not really doesn't matter. The names of these feckless Republicans who have enabled the empty vessel occupying the Oval Office (to fulfill the dark agenda of Shadow President Steve Bannon and his acolyte Stephen Miller) will live in infamy as the history is written after my time, for sure.
9
It’s “Dr. Faustus”, not “Faustis”
Business owners may get all the profit from the Trump tax plan but it will be hard to run a business without workers.
Mr. Donohue is also learning, hopefully, that if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
13
Even the Nazis apparently realized you couldn't run a supply chain for a war empire by using slave labor that as worked to death. Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and armaments minister after 1942, knew this.
If the Nazis knew this, why doesn't Trump (who seems to fashion himself the second coming of Hitler) and the collaborating GOP?
Sorry, Professor. You make no valid case for a connection between racism, conservative economic attitudes and illegal aliens being asked to either stop crossing the border or understanding that if they do, they cannot take their children to jail with them. Fact that you don't like or agree with these three attitudes or policies simply doesn't mean that they are part of the same recipe.
It is absolutely all about economics and who was included and excluded from certain parts of the American dream. This country was formed for white people. “All men” meant All WHITE men. That is exactly what is being sold to Trump voters. They like that idea. There are many white people who only want to share minimal resources with “others” if any at all. They do not know that people coming across the border are the least of their problems.
1
In the erudite comments section of the NYT you have to look closely for someone who, in mannered prose, might support separating children from parents and caging them. But if you're patient you will find them.
Please JPE, do continue. Are there any other circumstances you can think of in which caging children seems reasonable?
1
As Paul notes, for decades the Republican leadership have dog whistled highly racist messages while simultaneously enacting laws that hurt working class white people. The rage this engendered succeeded in unifying and turning out the vote for the GOP. By dropping the dog whistle and overtly appealing to and legitimizing their worst racist impulses Trump was able to co-opt the base. Ironically the GOP establishment is being terrorized by the monster they created.
14
At least Tom Donohue made a humane statement. This is more than the NRA or any other business organization has done.
That said, Donohue does need to go further as does the U.S. Chamber Board, to convince me that they are not all Johnny one notes, but I doubt they have the courage.
So long as they support the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress, they are part of the problem.
15
Could there be a silverlining behind these endless crisis and down right cruelty and inhumane treatment of migrants children at the border? A light at the end of the tunnel?
Has voters especially the poor wised up and begin to see lies, bait and switch, and canards dressed up as policies by the so-called conservatives and the GOP for what they really are?
Decades ago, California home to two former Republicans Presidents, Reagan and tricky Dick Nixon was a reliable red state.
Then, Pete Wilson Republican CA governor took ati-immgrants Hardline by supporting proposition 187 he won reelection, but that was the end of the Republican party in CA. Let's hope this ati-immgrants Hardline policy is too the demise of the GOP as national party.
9
RE: "these voters supported the GOP because it spoke to their racial animosity"
I don't think this is correct anymore. The people who voted racially are a small minority in their party. They're voting against the Liberal economic agenda of taking their jobs and giving them to China, India and the like. That's not racism, it's just economic self interest, which has always been the main motivator when it comes to voters.
It is true that Republicans like giving away their constituent's jobs just as much as Liberals, but they're better at covering it up.
6
At minimum it is white identity politics. Someone with a different color skin is taking my job or my money whether it be inside or outside of the US. As a died in the wool liberal I can attest that we are not about taking anyone's job, but we can recognize that helping people elsewhere to live a better life can provide many benefits for all Americans not the least of which is to reduce pressure at the border. Wake up America this is not a zero sum game as Trump would have you believe.
117
The "liberal economic agenda" is for strong unions, a living wage, healthcare for all, and education. If that isn't a working-class agenda, I don't know what is. "Liberals" didn't "give" jobs away. When the corporate entities were faced with paying their workers a wage that would keep them in the middle class, their shareholders didn't like their dividends dropping. They needed cheaper wages, so they shipped manufacturing overseas. China didn't come here and take our jobs. Corporate America gave them to China. If the Democrats are guilty of anything, it's losing the working class and not getting that message out.
32
Hey retired, the Criminal in the Oval Office is more worried about China jobs by protecting the Chinese spy telecomm company ZTE. Do you know this?
6
I suspect we will hear "That's not who we are" proclaimed loudly by many members of the GOP just after the Congress they control enacts their planned cuts of Medicare/Medicaid funding.
28
If this isn't who we are, then why are we waiting to invoke the 25th amendment?
12
History will not be kind to Donohue, and he won’t be the only one. I’m very disappointed in Susan Collins, for example; it’s nice when she complains about separating children from parents, but she’s a Senator, for heaven’s sake. A senator can do a lot more than just complain; she can vote her conscience (and do a lot of other things that an ordinary citizen can’t do). That is, if she still has a conscience; I’m beginning to wonder about that.
I hope Collins and her fellow congresspersons realize that it’s very late in the day to separate themselves from Trump’s cruel and disastrous policies (which are, not surprisingly, becoming less popular every time we see yet another crying child on the network news). You congresspersons have maybe one chance left to stand up and be counted. Or you can go down in history as an enabler, a collaborator, a participant in evil.
34
I live and vote in Maine. I have voted for Collins in the past and am now ashamed of that. Her silence and support of Trump (she sponsored Jeff Sessions for AG) and his agenda is preposterously out of line with the majority of Mainers. We have a lot of poorly educated rural folks who get their news from Fox and Rush and who have been left behind in a world of social and economic change. But she has sold the working folks down the river by supporting the Trump idea that this state will survive and prosper by limiting immigration (Maine is losing population) or trying to reopen our old pulp mills that have been sold for scrap. There is no future with the GOP for working Mainers and Collins is no Margaret Chase Smith.
7
Another brilliant, necessary column from Professor Krugman, who I believe is the most insightful commentator of our era on politics, economics and American society.
I respectfully suggest that the last sentence of the third paragraph be revised so that its meaning is more easily followed.
The sentence that precedes it is essential reading in our grim times: "Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, as opposed to the philosophical stance whose constituency is maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages — is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats."
21
Racists, plutocrats and status quo corporations.
Trump didn't create the cruelty of the Republican party, he just helped reveal it. And there's no going back. Their true nature is on display for the entire world to see - especially American voters.
29
There IS going back. It's called the elections of 2018 and 2020. We are the only ones who can turn this administration's horrific government back to the good side of the ledger.
4
There's no question "this" - separation of families and countless other cruelties and cruel policies - is Tom Donahue, the conservative movement, and the Republican party. And always has been.
Unfortunately, this is now all of us including the rest of us who failed to stop it. It was our responsibility, and through complacency or laziness or a million other excuses, we failed. It's still our responsibility. Maybe we'll do better in November.
7
The Modern Republican Party has made the choice between God and Mammon.
And God wasn’t chosen.
20
There was once a difference between Republicans in places like NJ (I think of Marge Roukema in Bergen County) and conservatives. Republicans sounded very much like the George Bailey character in Its a Wonderful Life. But no more. This moderate Republican is finally giving up on the party. The Party and its lobbyists have no interest in Americans or in a shared prosperity.
20
Surely the plutocrats who fund the Koch network know that the policies of those "conservatives" are harmful, but they're willing to trade them for reduced taxation and regulations. They have also acquiesced in paying for tactics that play on the fears and prejudices of voters. The Chamber of Commerce is only a fellow traveler in this perversion of democracy. It's what you might expect when you make the principle that money is speech into the law of the land.
22
Conservative economics and politics is about one thing and one thing only. Keeping all the power and all the money in the hands of the 1%, the elites, like Donald Trump, and the other wealthy donors who fund their political campaigns.
23
I agree with Paul Krugman on most of what he says. But he forgets one thing: the plutocrats, the oligarchy, is made up of Republicans AND Democrats.
Perhaps this is why we always fight over social issues and scandals like locking up children and we forget to talk about the money.
As I understand it, the top 10% of the wealthy now own 70%-75% of all the wealth in the country.
13
@Al Mostonest
So now we don't want any wealthy people in the Democratic party. Take your money and hop it Warren and Mikey. Talk about the myopia of the far left who can't see the wood for the trees.
7
No, I'm seeing the woods AND the trees... Things will remain the same under the Democrats, the rich will get richer and more powerful and the middle and working classes will get poorer and weaker. We will have social unrest at levels we have never experienced and people like Trump will be appealing to those disaffected and jaded. People in economic difficulty will not be assuaged by social niceties.
If we learned anything from Hillary's feckless campaign, it's that the economic status quo will no longer stand with a growing number of Americans.
@Al Mostonest
Yes I'm sure you'd like to eliminate our pluralistic political order and relatively open market economic system and substitute some crypto Marxist alternative but it isn't going to happen.
Apparently in your upside down view of the world all this economic suffering and consequent social unrest is going to cause its victims to embrace Trump and his fellow Republican billionaires. I'll just let your logic here speak for itself as a guide to your ability to see the wood for the trees.
First, they came for the children and .... then they came for us. That is the Faustian bargain where souls are sold for the "glitter of gold," but then, too late we learn that "all that glitters is not gold."
16
Paul Krugman: "The conservative economic agenda has never been popular, and it is objectively against the interests of working class voters, whatever their race. In fact, whites without a college degree are the biggest beneficiaries of the social safety net. Nonetheless, these voters supported the GOP because it spoke to their racial animosity."
Unfortunately, that one statement pretty well summarizes our past few national elections, and racial animosity will likely be the most important issue for many voters in 2018 and 2020. Trump's support remains remarkably high, particularly among Republicans, even though he is a pathological liar, an authoritarian and one who seems to have no morals. Beginning with his campaign for president, Trump has waged a not-so-subtle war against Muslims and immigrants coming from Central America and Mexico. That Nationalistic, America First stance appeals to a large segment of our population. My concern is that the predicted "Blue Wave" may become another "Red Wave."
25
The Republicans didn't all of a sudden come to the conclusion: "Hey there will be a big deficit we need to close. Now that the tax cuts are permanent, the only way to close it will be to cut Medicare and Social Security. Then we will go after Medicaid" . It was the plan all along. Well I am retired hospital RN. And before I retired I spoke with the new generations of RN's and Techs entering the field. They save absolutely nothing for retirement. The "pension" they get is a joke. And all the people who tripped over themselves to vote for Trump because their standard of living has fallen and their children will be worse off than they will be, what will their retirement look like? The answer is they will have to work until they are 75-80 and they will get next to nothing in Social Security. Because they income gap will make it impossible to save for retirement and they will have to rely 100% on Social Security and will also be forced to buy supplemental health insurance with that Social Security income. But American will be great again, right? And all the stocks you own in your non existent IRA. Those fantasy dividends will certainly fill the gap. By all means, keep voting Republican.
78
Actually, if we don’t vote Republicans out and deal with climate change, we may not survive to worry about pensions. As long as climate change deniers are running the country, we are in grave danger and endangering the planet.
3
It’s true.
The Republicans passed their giant tax giveaway for the wealthy (mostly) that will explode the deficit (as warned by economists like Paul Krugman) and their answer will be cuts to programs, like SS and Medicare (which most middle class folks rely on) and Medicaid (among the cuts to programs the poor rely on).
A majority of Trump supporters fall into those two categories. They voted against their own interests because he gave voice to their fears and prejudices (Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims - the “other”).
Welcome to Trump world - everything for him and his family, lots of stuff for the wealthy here and autocrats around the world - only but scraps for the rest of us. Of course there is always MAGA merchandise.
The former CEO of the Chamber Richard Lesher was a Republican , but led the Chamber in helping small business as well as supporting legislation that helped America prosper. Mr. Donohue has done nothing to help small business. instead he supports the initiatives you describe in this article. He is the tool of the autocrats.
43
Thank you for saying this, Mr. Krugman. I have been thinking it and saying much the same to my friends ever since Trump began making headway as a candidate. Trump did not so much make over the Republican Party; rather he revealed its true nature to itself and to others. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, I think the wealthiest in our nation have come to realize that they have more in common with Russian oligarchs than they do with ordinary Americans. Throw in the built-in scapegoating that comes with our country’s long history of racism, add a soupcon of evangelical religiosity, and that’s the party.
76
Good pundits cause us to look at things in a new way, and Mr. Krugman rarely fails to deliver. While it's been obvious that Republicans have focused on funneling wealth to the wealthy, and on garnering votes with racism, the interdependence between these two factions has never been explained so clearly. At least not for me. Thank you for shining a new light this political dynamic. It also gives hope because as racism diminishes, as seems to be the case with each generation, that system collapses.
51
Remember once upon a time, when we always managed to regale ourselves with the truism, of knowing...
of knowing the simple difference between right and wrong.
With whom should we consult?
What legal tome should be cited and studied?
Well, at this point, how about Leviticus 19:18?
"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself."
23
Lee Atwater also famously stated that "Republicans have a big tent." That, of course, was never true, but even if it had been, there are fewer and fewer people under it.
It has seemingly been lost on Republicans and other haters that their ham-handed attempts to keep out or disenfranchise people of color will defeat their purposes, and virtually guarantee that sooner rather than later, the GOP will face a voting majority that absolutely detests them.
23
"...sooner rather than later, the GOP will face a voting majority that absolutely detests them. "
And just when will this happen? I've been hearing this for years. The Republican defeat is just around the corner - and always will be.
7
Remember LOST THE POPULAR VOTE - by millions.
There are still lots of angry white men and women who are fearful of losing “their place”. Trump got them to come out and vote.
Unfortunately too many potential non-Trump voters stayed home. Hopefully they won’t this November. The future of our country depends on it because Trump is working very hard to get the angry (mosty white, mostly older) folks even angrier. It will hurt them but they will probably come out to vote as he instructs in November. Hate and fear often win out.
Non-Hispanic whites have the lowest birth rate in this country. It's coming.
I am always so grateful Dr. Krugman calls it as it is. This country is having the split between the 1%ers and 99%ers widening and as long as the rich get theirs everyone else and what matters to others can suffer. And the lack of proper education of our population with its lack of insightful thinking skills means folks will continue to be snookered into voting against their own best interests.
60
Can someone explain to me why people think we have a strong economy? We just had a massive tax cut, yet Q1 CAPEX Q to Q was the worst in a year, most of the repatriated money left the country in dividends, national debt rose double the rate GDP growth in real dollars...
In the last year, hourly earnings rose slower than CPI, and the savings rate plummeted. This is not a good sign at all for already strapped consumers, who currently average $30k per household in revolving debt, student loan and auto loans.
And for the real party piece, EBITDA has barely moved in three years but stock evaluations are up by roughly half.
47
Amen. As a teacher in the Midwest, I can tell you that wages are suppressed.
This is what we should be talking about as well as the migrant children. (The American people can focus on two issues at once if properly presented.)
Why isn't this comment a NYT pick?
Sal, these are the kinds of figures we need. Please get them published in every platform that you can.
Thank you.
Economics is more than politics; economics is more than law; economics is more than security and safety nets; economics is more than trade, defense allotments, healthcare, budget cuts, GDP, interest rates, inflation, fraud, privatization, pensions, and jobs.
Fundamentally, economics is the organization and distribution of goods and services that express certain values--economic choices big and small that define unseen the many details of our lives--economics is the activity that shapes our sense of security and community, defines our paradoxes and contradictions, our path to prosperity and wisdom.
That said, economically we are making many dreadful mistakes. Trump gets the simple stuff wrong, which means the US will not be able to keep pace.
Trade is a snapshot, a balance sheet--it does not express productivity, growth, jobs, or innovation. Think New Zealand: the country often runs large deficits in the balance of trade but is the 53rd largest national economy--because trade doesn't indicate goods and services sold for profit, only those received and shipped. The key to trade is not its balance, but its commodity pricing.
Tariffs are fiat pricing; they make things cost more. It just takes longer in a mature economy to notice. Trump sells economics that later becomes toxic.
19
Economics is one of the easiest ways to inflict abuse on communities while using a narrative that says the abuse is in their best interests. This is a favorite technique of Trump's. He argues if we settle our grievances, we will see greater prosperity, but his whole narrative depends upon blame, without it he has nothing to rail against.
So we see imaginary objects of blame and fear reoccur: the reappearance of Middle Eastern terrorists crossing the Southern border with children; their first reappearance since the travel ban. No evidence or details are presented--another favorite flaw of Trump's claims, they lack support or truth. We see blatant lies and smears. Canada's Trudeau is dishonest, claimed without proof (doesn't everyone have the same numbers?). Exactly how is the largest economy in the world, a victim?
Using economics to end training exercises with South Korea by claiming costs are too high unconditional surrenders to China's military hegemony. Refusing to carry out Russian sanctions voted by Congress means Putin thinks Trump's a joke. He's not alone!
32
I think Paul Krugman just said the same things succinctly and clearly.
The analogy with the slave trade is good. Indeed, one way people were enslaved in Africa (even by African chiefs) was as judicial punishment, which as the business grew was extended to minor transgressions. And in the Americas, the domestic slave trade led to the separation and sale of families. Hey, it was the law and property is sacred. The return to those practices now does not seem unthinkable. The slippery slope scarily comes to mind.
30
Thank you Professor Krugman for finally exposing the Chamber of Commerce under Tom Donahue for what it is. A political vehicle for the Far Right. I am watching from afar, in disbelief, as America implodes and rapidly spirals down the Conservative Agenda rabbit hole. The America I grew up in the 60's and 70's is so different from today. I am not naive about the real America when i was younger because there was inequality and there were recessions and Viet Nam but there was social progress being made. You could always get a decent paying job, tuition in a NY State School was $200 a semester, I could go on and on. The point is we had hope and that is gone.
72
The US Republic will survive this Trump era, citizens will exercise their democracy and remove the Republican Party from the presidency and control of Congress.
Citizens are disgusted with Trump and Republicans and will do in the voting booth what they have yet to do in public remove them from office which can't come soon enough.
Republicans are the proponents of slashing the safety net, providing corporate welfare, and using national resources to enrich themselves and their friends. They would almost certainly lose every election if they weren't so financially flush and adept at tricks and deceptions, such as elaborate gerrymandering and targeted misinformation. And there's also the Electoral College, which has now twice shut out the voters'-choice Democrat and put a problematic Republican in the White House. No wonder they decry the "Deep State"--pointing fingers at the Democrats distracts from the fact that dark conspiracies seem to be in the Republican interest.
52
Every time the Electoral College has over-ruled the Popular Vote, a Democratic candidate lost, starting with Andrew Jackson's loss to John Quincy Adams in 1824.
In 1876,Samuel Tilden lost to Rutherford B. Hayes despite actually winning the majority of the popular vote! Until 2000, this was easily the most contested Presidential election in our history.
Grover Cleveland's split terms were due to Benjamin Harrison winning in the EC in 1888.
And, of course, the elections of George W. Bush over Al Gore in 2000 and Trump in 2016 over Hillary Clinton.
With the possible exception of Adams (who wasn't a Republican), NONE of these Republican men were good Presidents or preferable to their opponents when seen through the lens of History (Trump's incompetence, of course, is current). And every "loser" was a Democrat.
But the EC was intentionally anti-Democratic to protect the landed interests of the South, terrified that the Northern cities of Boston, Hartford, New York, and Philadelphia would "rule" the new nation.
Deal with the Devil indeed!
You may have noticed that when Trump mentions the Electoral College, though it's seldom, he adds that "it's very difficult for a Republican to win!"
Paul Ryan wants to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Paul Ryan got through college because of Social Security survivor benefits after his father died when Paul was a teenager.
Paul Ryan will retire after 20 years of the House with a government pension and healthcare for the rest of his life.
444
May be we should ask lawmakers take the lead in balancing the budget by implementing an offset to their retirement benefits if they are recipients for other government retirement benefits including Social Security. Other public employees are already subject to rules that prevent "double dipping".
37
Yes, Paul Ryan would not be where he is today with the social safety net. What he's done as a public servant is known as "pulling the ladder up behind you".
2
Re: Paul Ryan's college education. I was unaware that hypocrisy was a major. I assume he received PhD?
4
One final point, please. The view that "flyover country" is a blight to the nation and that we actually need immigrants (desperately, in fact) to provide us with the riches of diversity, like their work ethic, integrity, authenticity, intelligence and other cultural products of aged societies, like the arts and cuisine, may seem like an easy fix. But in terms of SUSTAINABILITY, it is a terrible solution. Forget about the insane amount of pollution we now deposit in developing countries, the long-term social consequence of ignoring the Americanized center of the country, however 'culturally bereft', is likely bad for our nation and the world. Thomas Jefferson seemed to understand this in his appreciation for our geography and the virtue of working with the land. There seems to be a sound purpose in the creation of our senate, electoral college and other institutions that serve to (over)represent the country's proximal core, so it does not become more forsaken than it apparently is. IMO, our country needs to organize itself in a more bottom-up manner, i.e. more LOCAL representation, government, works projects, and commerce. And 'global thinking' that may underlie our homegrown actions should focus on the median, rather than mean, conditions here and elsewhere.
6
The founders gave two senators to each state regardless of population because they needed to get to a deal, favoring small and rural states only because they had to.
They established the electoral college because they did not want direct popular election of the president, a reason for its existence that has now gone away entirely.
21
Thanks, Bill. It's my understanding that the categorical, two votes per state formula, paired against a population-based one, was very much by design. Likewise, the formula for assigning electoral college delegates (which has a population-based variable AND a state-based constant) guarantees the representation, campaign targeting and development of rural areas of our country, among other things.
The folks in those parts of the country need to wake up, turn off the Fox Propaganda Network and figure out how they're going to be part of the 21st century.
You claim the problem is that "we" are "ignoring" them! I could mention all the things that "they" "ignore," but the fact is they don't want our attention. They, in fact, want us to disappear. Ain't gonna happen. We're the majority, we need to take control. No need to be unfair, but we need to take action. Starts in November.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
- LBJ, lamenting on the state of American politics in 1960
...and the official Republican Party platform from 1968 to 2018
Whited Sepulchers R Us
Nice GOPeople
395
@Socrates
''Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.'' -LBJ
The United States is a Socialist country ( if you poll any progressive policy which is in the majority), so republicans are irrelevant because there are far more Liberals.
All we have to do is show up at the polls and we can have every progressive policy enacted. Our choice.
70
I'd not make too big of an assumption about our fellow Dino's in the center and right of said center.
Even Pres. O. put Soc.Sec. up for negations.
And a large % in the last election decried a Medicare 4 All type of HealthCare along with free/less costly higher education. Only a small handful of D. politicians have backed a SinglePayer type plan. Many blocked the study or research of said plans in states all around America. Including Ca.
No, the last election showed that our Center is certainly not ready to enact every progressive policy. Slow, cautious, incremental, status-quo for our establishment.
Sigh...well, a step forward is still forward. Kinda.
Don't forget the impact of 24x7 lies promoted by Fox (Un) News. Time to seriously boycott their advertisers!
Krugman says it so clearly. But the lower middle class folks are not listening.
Democrats need to find a spokesman who can articulate this so that at least some of the folks being manipulated realize what has happened and continues to happen. Someone with the ability Obama had, but is white. (Being black is an insurmountable handicap, as we so disappointingly learned.)
Why is not the Democratic leadership promoting promising candidates to publicly test their ability to lead?
60
Tom Perez - DNC - Are you deaf or just strenuously ignoring these repeated & cogent appeals to action?!
I have to agree with Paul Krugman. If the children at the border being taken from their parents were white, then there would be an insurrection in this country. Sadly, most of Trump's supporters are still supporting him.
60
Mike, many people are likely to keep supporting Trump and the GOP as long as the US economy remains strong. I know people who voted for Trump because they believed Trump would lower their taxes. More money is the only issue they care about. Now, Trump in his hubris is apparently set to destroy the economic expansion with trade wars. Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat – “those whom God wishes to destroy he first drives mad.”
Vlade from Oregon asks the Doc to go back to economics, we are tired of politics; but when the first is driven by the second and the results are crowding the headlines the two can't really be separated. I think more to his point is the attention grabbing song and dance moves are covering for a sustained economic plan that amounts to war on the middle class. Politics is vaudeville. The dry numbers in the funding cuts are murder.
29
Lincoln mused in his second inaugural address that the civil war might have been God's punishment for the sin of slavery.
Perhaps the unravelling of our democracy under Trump is divine retribution for our 160-year failure to remedy slavery's child, racism.
29
Maybe, but the plutocrats - in the past only successful in failed states - now destroy democracies worldwide.
1
Stop weeping and DO something about it.
9
So it's racism+plutocrats=GOP. Isn't it really Racism + Evangelicals + Plutoctats + Economic insecure (and econometrically clueless) + Loyal republicans (my party, right or wrong) = GOP. Spell that out and it is the REPELant GOP.
While a simple argument is useful, many NY Times readers prefer the kind of depth and nuance that Dr. Krugman he has shown us many times. This article preaches largely to the choir.
10
Right on, Paul.
41
The plutocrats will never have enough money. At 68 years old I probably won't live to see the inevitable collapse/revolution but it won't be pretty. What kind of twisted minds would rather have a few more billions at the expense of so much human suffering.
48
Atta boy, Paul.
Name names!
15
Trump shattered the illusion that there was even a shred of difference between a Republican and a Democrat. As we have always known for decades, political party association only matters during elections. Once back in WashDC, the incumbent, be he/she nominally democrat or nominally republican, has but one objective.....protect the status quo. Create the illusion that the reason the incumbent accomplishes nothing except lining his/her own pockets is "the other guys" .... wink, wink. Appearantly, Dr. Krugman failed to pay attention. Trump accidently broke all the rules....and now "the Establishment" must take him out....by any means possible.
1
Wherever: your attitude enables the Republican racists and would-be destroyers of Medicare and Social Security to give tax cuts to the wealthiest donors.
Look at any vote in Congress, such as the Disclose Act to overturn Citizens United, or bills such as allowing younger people to join Medicare or others to expand access to quality health insurance.
The Republicans overwhelmingly vote one way, ie against the interest of the majority of people
Democrats overwhelmingly vote in support of what will help the majority.
There is a big difference between the parties.
Democrats created Medicare and Social Security over strong Republican objection: Democrats support raising the minimum wage (only minimum wage difference among Democrats is whether there should be geographic variations ); Democrats fought to protect overtime pay, Republicans oppose that....the list is extremely long.
Anyone sincerely interested can follow the votes here:
Thomas.gov
197
The illusion Trump shattered was the absurdity that there was a scintilla of similarity between the Democratic and Republican parties, a foolish notion paraded around by people like Nader who had no better argument on which to base a campaign. If Obama had been the status quo, McConnell would have refused to vote on his last Supreme Court nominee, would not have made preventing a second term his most important goal as soon as Obama became president and the Republicans would not have wasted countless hours voting to overturn ACA. Your comment is simply absurd. It is not Paul Krugman that has failed to pay attention. It is you and your ilk. Trump did not accidentally break all the rules -- he deliberately follows one rule which is to enrich himself, his family and his comrades in crime at the expense of the American people. It is the American people, the majority of whom never wanted him near the White House in the first place, who must take him out.
6
Not a shred of difference? How about the racism? How about the sexism? How about the gay bashing? Still the same?
5
If you learn the lessons of history, Trump and the GOP, are turning every entity of government into a tool of a racist totalitarian state that is structured to serve the .01 percent. They are doing nothing new. The only question is, are there are enough American patriots to stop them before we loose the right to vote.
19
Think about how Republicans get their power in elections: "Guns, Gays (anti-gay), God." Now toss in some racism/anti-immigration, protectionism for the white uneducated base, and then rip apart the environment because it represents the elite's preference for saving the spotted owl over jobs.
Then, they run on tax cuts. They were formerly the deficit hawks, but now they are the tax cut virtuosi. This is how they win elections. They don't help the majority of people with standard of living. No, they prefer tax cuts for the wealthy and squeezing the poor through cutting social programs.
They have their bully-in-chief, and they are thrilled...their Obama-bashing, Hillary-hating, left-loathing leader and the the tag-alongs of the moderate Republicans found it more loathsome to vote for Hillary than Trump. There you have it
57
@Srose,
Actually, most people don't realize but Republicans going back to Reagan have not been deficit hawks.
Reagan cut taxes and got 16 Million jobs and a huge increase in the deficit / debt. It’s the reason they put the debt clock in Manhattan.
Clinton raised taxes and got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan and balanced the budget, zero deficit.
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and we got 3 Million jobs. He took Clinton's zero deficit and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. And he also gave Obama the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. He gave us the "jobs killing" Obama-care and we got 11.5 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush. And 20 Million people got healthcare.
And now with Trump, Republicans have done it again, cut taxes and increased the deficit / debt. And I expect worse job creation than Obama.
So Republicans only claimed to be deficit hawks when it a Democrat is in office.
And they shouted the loudest when it was Obama fixing the mess that W. Bush created.
3
You're right, Independent. Reagan started the tax cut mischief, well before the deficit hawks in the 1990s. And W. took a surplus handed to him by Clinton and turned it into a massive deficit.
In terms of the 1990s, the Republicans were deficit hawks not so much out of prinicple, but out of a desire to hold down Clinton success.
"There is a special place in Hell..." I know I've heard that somewhere recently. Dr. K is right on-target. To the elite plutocrats, the evangelicals and working stiffs are just so many rubes to be bent out of shape as oxygen for oligarchs.
At best, the working and jobless classes (there is no longer a viable middle class) aren't helped by GOP tax overhaul. As for Trump's trade war of choice, the Party's enthusiastic downscale constituents will be hurt the most.
Credit where it's due: Reoublicans have honed "bait and switch" to an art form; the GOP is lavishly sponsored for deflecting voter rage from the targets where it belongs.
26
“... would endanger conservative economic policies, and those are evidently more important than human rights.”
Conservative economic policy... is the antithesis OF human rights. In short, it is whatever hare-brained policy or theory in which they wish to cloak the shoveling of ever-vaster mountains of the nation’s wealth into the pockets of the already rich. It is extremely short-sighted, willfully irrational, and deeply immoral. It is also profoundly de-stabilizing.
It’s about as “conservative” as a meticulously planned and executed bank robbery.
‘They’ must not only “share” the blame, they must be identified, rebuked, and REMOVED FROM OFFICE.
Infants being taken from their mothers. Children held indefinitely. Wounded veterans in debt up to their eyeballs because the “conservatives” are playing every game in the book to claw back at their benefits...
The GOP didn’t make any “deal*” with the Devil... to “empower” racism and cruelty in order to achieve their ‘benefit’ of deregulation and tax cuts... they WANT the racism. They WANT the cruelty.
(* except by DJ Trump’s definition of “deal” I suppose...)
GOP/Trump gotta go.
: ) L
18
Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, described the same phenomenon 160 years ago. She wrote that rich Southern whites bamboozled poorer whites into supporting slavery by making them think that they could look down in blacks.
45
We have achieved the same level of hate as back in the Great Old Days of Slave Trading. Making America a Great Untrustworthy Monster, somehow I think V. Putin is pleased that his puppet Donnie. Just observe how our Presidential Wrecking Ball of Values is undernining our economey, our planet, your health, our children's future.
15
Another day, another slur at the party I have supported since I became a US citizen. How does Krugman get away with endlessly recycling these manufactured charges? At least he didn't kick Richard Nixon around this time.
Let me set the record straight. Proportionately more Republicans then Democrats voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Nixon (yes, the same) integrated schools in the South and invented affirmative action as we know it. Inflation-adjusted entitlement expenditures grew 20 percent faster under Nixon than they had under President Johnson. Pres. Reagan and Bushes 41 and 43 had the power to rescind affirmative action but didn't take it.
No, the terrible racialization of American politics that we see today is due to the neo-McCarthyism of Democrats like Krugman. They call anyone who disagrees with them over social policy a racist. If they can't prove GOP policies are wrong, they take the low road and defame them.
Don't forget the electoral pot at the end of the rainbow for Democrats. As Mark Lilla pointed out in these columns, Democrats convinced themselves "that the Republican right is doomed to demographic extinction in the long run — which means liberals have only to wait for the country to fall into their laps." Seeing this, Democrats chose to divide and conquer. They turned race against race for their own electoral profit. The Big Lie that white America is racist and is the implacable enemy of the emerging majority is part of that strategy.
4
Comparing either party relative civil rights in the 1960s to coalitions they represent today is disingenuous at best.
The GOP southern strategy brought to fruition in the 1980s was no accident, as Mr Atwater freely admitted.
50
If social policies harm any group disproportionally (really disproportionately), they need to be looked at - especially when those groups have a long history of suppression.
2
In the 40s, 50s and 60s, southern Democrats were extremely powerful in the senate, and they were racist right-wingers who were Republican in all but name. That skews your cherry-picked statistics. There existed some progressive Republicans at one point, but there have been very, very few since Reagan...and that's a long time. You can tell yourself all the stories you want so that you can sleep at night, but the Republicans put Trump in office and every one of them who is running for office continues to enable him.
4
Dear Dr. Krugman!
Please start writing articles about the economy and where it goes. Everyone is fed up with politics.
You are brilliant economist, not politicion, you influenced nobody. Trump is the president. Please go back to economy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you.
4
Unfortunately, as Trump demonstrates every day, politics and economics are linked.
35
You may not have noticed, but the politics of racism and power our being used in the service of those who want to keep reshaping your economy, to continue widening the gap between haves and have nots, because money has captured the political system. The two are now inextricably linked, for the most evil of purposes. It is entirely appropriate for Professor Krugman to point this out.
3
Vlade,
Economics is politics, and vice versa.
Every political movement is driven by the desire for a better life, which is determined by economics.
Every economic policy requires political action to implement it.
When PK writes about the need for positive political action, he is advocating for the economic well-being of working people.
2
Mr. Donahue is not alone. Republicans in the House most notably the Speaker. Evangelicals. The Trump Cable News Channel. By any reasonable standard of judgment Trump is a massive embarrassment. The House now busy figuring out cuts in Medicaid and Social Security to finance the tax cut for the wealthy and corporations. Meanwhile, taking aim on inflicting financial pain on those with pre-existing medical conditions. This provision of Obamacare cannot stand. Why? I am not exactly sure.
If China does not blink on tariffs and decides to boycott Treasury Notes and Bonds the trade war might not be so easily won.
4
We are all going to end up sharing the blame for an 'America in Limbo', Mr. Krugman, if unwilling, incapable and unfit to deny that this presidency, and its administration, has served its term.
If we are fortunate, the Down-and-Out who voted for this anomalous president will never realize how close we came to losing our country, stuck in a cobweb of deceit, lies and despair, without a safety-net.
There are days when I feel a sense of pity for Trump who appears bent on self-destruction, but it is the portrait of Donohue, as described here, who leaves a malevolent chill in the air.
2
Do not ever pity a trump. Just vote for Democrats and help US take back our country.
While I agree with most of what Krugman is saying here, he misses the point with regard to the US Chamber of Commerce. It is essentially a big business and foreign multinational organization that represents only a small segment of the US. The fact these "fake" advocacy groups are major players in our politics is one of the main problems. Ignorant voters think such a high sounding name represents their local businesses when it is 40% funded by foreign entities. They, like business in general, are fundamentally transactional, while what is best for our country is long term and not transactional. It requires principled, long term thinking that leads to positive outcomes for a large majority of the people (a/k/a voters) and not justice Kennedy's corporate individuals.
2
I am very confused by our politics. I assume that most people are good-hearted. People jump into lakes, climb buildings, jump in front of things to save people they don't know. Now we have grandparents who say they don't care about children pulled from parents. I think it it more than racism that is moving people. We, all of us, are confused and fearful, I suppose. Nobody knows what is actually happening because everything is subject to an abstract polemic filter. Blue collars in Texas are Republicans and conservatives, same guys in Massachusetts may be Democrats. We are living in traditions that are are diverging and are doing so not clearly out of racism but I think more likely marketing, identity and habit. The term "liberal" is so hated by some that they consider it devil worship. (see related article about evangelicals). Conservatism is also robustly disparaged by liberals. Why would one choose one brand over the other? And why have we lost the ability to compromise? The current administration is likely taking advantage of our confusion to further its reckless actions. We, all of us, seem to be wandering around trying to figure out what common principles we really have left. We must find a road to common ground and soon.
11
The common ground to which you refer already exists. But it's not between working people and the oligarchy.
It's the common ground the working class has. Good jobs with decent pay and comfortable retirement. Easily accessible education and healthcare. Every working person wants those.
Unfortunately, too many are blinded by bigotry and demagoguery, which impel them to support the opposite of what they profess to want.
The solution is not compromise, which is akin to bargaining with a thief over how much he will be permitted to steal. There is no desirable halfway between good and evil.
The enlightened working class must be empowered to win a victory over the plutocracy and those it has misled or exploited by stoking their bigotry.
1
Mr. Trainor, I think you're right. In his short post, Dr. Krugman over simplifies. Yes, racism is part of the picture, particularly institutional racism (the kind that you don't have to be a bigot to get caught up in). But not all Trump supporters are racist--and a significant proportion of them did not support the decision to separate children from parents at the border. They do identify with or at least support Trump and/or the Republican Party as the lesser evil in a confused and confusing public square. They do want to believe in themselves, as individuals who stand on their own two feet, and are very suspicious of collectivist solutions to society's problems. They identify with the successful, and believe Trump is successful, because they have hope that they'll be successful themselves. In short, they believe in the American myth that you can make it on your own. It is a myth, but a darned powerful one!
Brilliant column. It is past time to call out these people for what they are, a cancer in the body politic, and Paul Krugman is leading the way when it comes to the mainstream media. There are others that I hue to more, but they look beyond our capitalist system for solutions.
3
I hope this single example will serve to expose this particularly pernicious fallacy every time it comes up.
Krugman writes, "...it is objectively against the interests of working class voters, whatever their race..."
Krugman cannot know that because he cannot know that because he doesn't seem interested, and apparently will not leave the extraordinarily narrow confines of his expertise, to find out what "the interests of working class voters" actually are.
I'm going to conjecture here, and if I'm wrong I'll admit it and apologize, that Krugman assumes that "the interests" of working class Americans comes down to more dough, or the equivalent of more dough. As a denizen of working class America, I can confidently state that if that's what Krugman believe, he's wrong as often as he's right. He knows what economics defines as "the interests", but he's ignorant as to the actual interest of working class Americans.
Rather than perpetual confusion (which is generally acknowledge to lead to high levels of stress, anxiety, and peevishness), he ought to for a moment forget how he's been programmed to think as an economist and go listen to some actual Americans in the middle.
This is a bit hyperbolic, but I'd frame it like this: "How much of your self-respect and the high regard of your neighbors would you sacrifice for X% more income?" I wonder what Dr. Krugman thinks that elasticity is for ordinary working Americans.
The category-4 hurricane that Donald Trump created has passed, but this Katrina moment will be a defining moment of his presidency.
Will he survive? Possibly. But his reputation won't.
Those opposed to this child separation policy can rejoice seeing it rescinded, but his staunchest supporters who defended the separation of refugee families are likely to find themselves in a very awkward position now that Pres. Trump has done an about-face. Figuratively speaking, he has spit in their faces.
4
The United States of Hypocrisy as mapped by Wikipedia:
Hypocrisy is the false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character or inclinations, especially with respect to religious and moral beliefs; hence hypocrisy may involve dissimulation, pretense, or a sham.
Hypocrisy is engaging in the same behavior for which one criticizes another. It is the failure to follow one's own stated moral rules and principles. Philosopher David Runciman: "Other kinds of hypocritical deception include claims to knowledge that one lacks, claims to a consistency that one cannot sustain, claims to a loyalty that one does not possess, claims to an identity that one does not hold". Political journalist Michael Gerson says that political hypocrisy is "the conscious use of a mask to fool the public and gain political benefit".
Hypocrisy is from the Greek hypokrisis, which means "jealous", "play-acting", "acting out", "dissembling", "coward". It is an amalgam of the Greek prefix hypo-, meaning "under", and the verb krinein, meaning "to sift or decide". The original meaning implied a deficiency in the ability to sift or decide.
The definition of hypocrisy is a fair description of this administration and a generous characterization of Trump but precise about his fellow-travelers.
The distance between truth and lies, between cruelty and compassion, between the profession of faith and its betrayal, is the true measure of our decay.
4
Those paying attention have long noticed that a primary feature of being a Republican is being a hypocrite. They have pandered to Christian evangelicals but do things that are the exact opposite of what Christianity is about. I don't think the Jesus I'm aware of would be very happy with their actions. Too many people who vote for Republicans misunderstand the Golden Rule. They think it's something we aspire to. But we don't have a choice about following it. We do unto others as we would have them do unto us, for good or ill. Today Trump and all those Republicans who have sold their souls to billionaires have wreaked nothing but ill on this country. I can only hope that karma is still the law of the universe and that they will soon lose the power they've foolishly been given, and this country will somehow right itself.
Then, if we are the country we claim to be, we will make health care a right, not a privilege. We will acknowledge the importance of education and make it readily available. We will be good stewards of the environment. We will not exploit people to enrich ourselves. We will remember the message of John F. Kennedy's book, A Nation of Immigrants. We will come to our senses and recognize that America First means making sure other nations are treated as if they were first as well. Finally we will never again fall victim to demagoguery. Since I'm now 75, I hope I live long enough to see all this come to pass. Our nation will be far better off when that happens.
37
It's not too difficult to figure out who the 2 GOP senators are and who have the power to stop this transgression into moral decline. Stopping it they won't. Their lack of patriotism and decency has brought much sadness and degradation upon our country. History will not be kind to them and rightfully so.
5
I used to be involved with local Chamber of Commerce organizations in cities where I lived. But then it hit me that the COC, at least nationally, was just a branch of the GOP. I wish more people would recognize the disconnect between the local "promote business in our town" folks and the national rightwing organization and quit.
18
America is in a very bad place. Even as people protested outside the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., "conservative" donors inside paid $100,000 to $250,000 for a fundraiser. The plutocrats don't really care about brown children in cages, only about the appearance. They don't care about a president who is a stooge of a hostile foreign power. They don't care if the cabinet is as corrupt as the president and his self-dealing family. They prefer it, because they then control these officials. They already bought and own the GOP in the House and Senate. They don't care that the president trashes America's allies and punishes them with punitive tariffs or may bring the international trading system crashing down. Meanwhile, Trump's racist and xenophobic base is mobilized by Ann Coulter and Corey Levandowsky among others on Fox News. All those who used to shout the "n" word now simply hate "illegal immigrants", it's the current acceptable fashion. They're all potential gangsters and rapists and criminals in Trump-speak. This base will never desert Trump or his hateful brand, even when Mueller proves with every detail that Trump and his family and associates were corrupt and treasonous. So where does this end? In economic collapse and civil conflict? Poor America, and poor world.
14
What is so sad is that this blatant act of ugliness -- of a man using the separation of infants from their parents to bargain for money for his promised wall -- will shortly be forgotten. Soon there will be another outcry for another act of stupidity, which 40% of the country will mindlessly support, and the rest of the country will increasingly get numb to the current state of affairs. That 40% of this country cannot see that this man in the WH would do nothing that does not benefit him personally, cares a fig for the good of the country, and shamelessly lies again and again and again to justify his blatant narcissism and thoughtless acts, is a national tragedy. It is as if we are sitting in a car driven by a mad and drunk driver and half the co-riders are encouraging the driver to be even more reckless. And we can do nothing but wait for the foreseeable crash. It really is a national tragedy.
19
Actually, since it is probably safe to assume that John McCain will not be voting in the near term, it only takes just one Republican to step up and form a 50-49 Senate majority with all 49 Democrats. This could serve to defeat a few of the many awful Trump nominations to the federal bench and send a message. Step right up Senators Flake, Corker, Sasse and put your votes where your furrowed brows are. Unfortunately, they haven't yet and almost certainly won't. (Of course, this assumes that all 49 Democrats hang together, including Manchin, Heitkamp, Donnelly, McCaskill, Jones, etc. Not always a sure thing.)
4
No, not even close to a sure thing.
Whatever good may be proposed, we can almost be certain that the DINOs will mess it all up.
Colonialism was often inherently racist. So is neo-colonialism. And we have a form of neocolonialism here at home, colonial exploitation turned inward. I guess one could call it feudalism. All hail the new barons, and a tip of the hat to their vassals in elected positions! And RIP, American Experiment.
3
How about we arrest, fine and jail those employers in Tom's organization who hire, employ and exploit such exploited workers? We can then give such law abiding workers limited amnesty, compassion and the full panoply of U.S. labor law protection: i.e. minimum wage, overtime, safe working conditions, etc.. Heck, the employers got a substantial Trump tax-break right? They can afford to comply with the law.
4
Donohue isn't alone in his hypocrisy. There are plenty more candidates amongst the Republican leadership...in fact, the ENTIRE Republican leadership.
7
you should mention that atwater's epiphany occurred when he was facing death from pancreatic cancer. sorry lee, too late.
2
You forgot the important link between the two, cruelty to the poor. I live in "liberal" Seattle. The cruelty and humiliation we heap on homeless people here shows this impulse to dehumanize the poor is more a universal American trait than the prerogative of just one party. Visitors from outside America are shocked at the kind of poverty we allow in such a rich country. It is easy to view the detentions as an extension of the white supremacy of Steven Miller and the Trump Administration, but also instructive to view it as on a continuum with our country's general disdain for our own poor people of all colors.
7
The mindset that undergirded slavery still exists. Amidst all the chaos, the supreme executive held that it was legitimate to forcibly separate families, parents from children, in the name of enforcing a "law", misdemeanor illegal entry into the United States. A significant minority of the population was / is OK with this. Therefore a significant minority hold that the most sacred of human bonds, parents to children, is in and of itself insignificant for "those people", the alien of brown skin that "infest" our country.
What then has really changed since 1865? How does this differ from treating people as property sans human rights? That significant minority must still be kept in check lest all our shared freedoms be threatened by their inhumanity.
With the election of Trump, why am I still shocked by this?
3
Racism is just the wedge the GOP uses to divide the overwhelming majority of Americans who suffer because of 'conservative' social and economic 'policy.' This is the same strategy the Southern 'aristocracy' utilized from the the Reconstruction era right up to the time the GOP acquired the Dixiecrat wing of the Democratic Party during the Kennedy and LBJ years, when the Voting rights and Civil Rights Acts were passed and the Great Society safety net programs were implemented.
So long as the GOP can see to it that working Americans are pitted against one another, and that the poorly educated, ill-informed, underpaid and underemployed are preoccupied with scapegoats instead of their own pressing problems and unmet needs, the GOP can thieve and thrive.
LBJ was a Texan and he knew the score: 'so long as you can convince the lowest white man that he's better than the very best black man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket, and he won't even mind it if he does notice.'
The scapegoater's net is now cast more widely - for 'black' you can fill in the blank with Muslim, Mexican, Haitian... it all works just fine. Just say 'X is ripping you off, and I alone can fix it.' You're golden. You can harken back to 'the good old days' of non-union factory workers and coal miners toiling for low pay, with no benefits and under brutal conditions. And it all just sounds swell, doesn't it?
Apparently to tens of millions of benighted American voters yes, it does.
7
The plantation owners kept slavery alive by convincing poor white people that they were superior to black people. After the civil war the wealthy continued race baiting to keep wages in check. As long as white men were being paid slightly more than black people who was going to push back against the economic inequality that was growing and would eventually lead to recessions and a depression. LBJ called it after the civil rights act was passed. He knew that the GOP would exploit racism to subdue the labor movement.
The only difference between Trump and his predecessors is that he dropped the pretence. Rather than being subtle about the racism that the GOP has long exploited and nurtured he went full board and his supporters loved it. The GOP does nothing to rein him in because they can't afford to. If they try to censor him they run the risk of others like him winning GOP elections and they might not be so amendable to the economic priorities that keep the wealthy in power.
The thing that the wealthy fear the most is for the 99% to join forces. As long as we're divided we're easier to control. If enough people figure out that they have more to gain by joining forces and forcing the wealthy from power their days are numbered and they know it. It's not minorities who are keeping us from universal healthcare, daycare, quality education, affordable housing, and a living wage. Wake up America, you've been duped.
21
"Sorry, Mr. Donohue, but it is who you are: you made a deal with the devil, empowering racism and cruelty so you could get deregulation and tax cuts. Now the devil is having his due, and you must share the blame."
Amen, Mr. Krugman. Amen. Hopefully GOP will pay for this cruelty at the polls. The party as it is constituted now (aka Trumpism in coalition with sycophants like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell) needs to die a horrible death - at the polls.
3
"whites without a college degree are the biggest beneficiaries of the social safety net." But they vote for candidates who habitually shrink the very such programs.
This is I think because of Democrats' identity politics, which working class whites hate. And they habitually vote Republican, against their own interests - "What's the Matter With Kansas"
In fact Bill Clinton had understood this and managed to (re)capture working & middle class white votes.
About identity politics, "soft" racism is practiced by most including well-off blacks & Hispanics. Covert gentrification and ignoring poor people's safety, like lead in Flint water and lead in the paint of many poor area houses are I thought a reflection of soft racism.
This soft racism should be fought but not militancy of black youths who terrorize many cities like Chicago-74% of the murders there remained unsolved without an arrest in 2016! This gives these perpetrators a free reign.
Although President Trump is unfit, as many think, he even lamented about high murder rate in cities Chicago.
I would say create jobs in inner-cities & pay US-born workers $15/hr. with federal subsidy. Extend that to rural white areas also.
I would also say cut payroll tax to 1% on the first $10K & to 2% on the second $10K. Preferably, lift the cap on it but cut it again to 1% beyond about $150K to be less unpalatable to the rich. Another federal income tax rate of 50% on over $15-20 million will be extremely beneficial but painless.
Truely amazing how the "conservatives" act pious and caring. However their real goal is feudalism. Sort of begs the question what do they do when they destroy their market because the mass in the market will no longer exist? You know what Lenin said, the last capitalist will sell the rope to the mob that hangs him. I believe he was right.
5
Atwater's death by brain tumor at age 40 was preceded by deathbed regrets. The film has heartbreaking footage of this boyishly handsome man turned by chemo and radiation into a feeble, bloated caricature of himself. On his deathbed, he called for a Bible, and sent telegrams of apology to those he had offended, even Willie Horton. "He said what he had done was bad and wrong," Rollins remembers. "He was scared to death of the afterlife."
"Boogie Man's" reincarnated?
Being quoted during one of his brain tumor rants?
What about the $125 trillion, real and notional US debt to 2035, federal employee obligations? How's that going to be funded by the elites who don't know their fiduciary dutes of care and reponsibility to funding third party beneficiary contracts from a female hygiene product?
I was a mining operator of 14 mines during the trials of Tony Boyle for the murders of the Jock Yablonski family. One of achievements of Tom Donohue and Richard Trumka -- pres of AFL-CIO -- in 2013 was the Guest Worker Program in Immigration.
When this columnist met with myself and sons in his office in 1986 the key topic was Susan Strange, the Mother of Political Economy, adherents in the US for our family's philanthropy.
Our next stop was a wonderful meeting with Katie Rudie Harrigan at Columbia.
And now Donohue is 80 and we're 32 years older ourselves since 1986 and reduced to this.
1
Forcefully and beautifully written, as ever, Paul. I've never seen a political party implode until now, but the GOP is doing its damnedest to be the definitive racist-orientated implosion. I applaud their suicide, all the way. Michael Bloomberg's hefty donation to Democratic party causes in the upcoming elections is another Wall Street marker worth attending to.
4
Someone has to talk about the magnitude of the immigration problem. Homeland is talking about 50,000 families in April and May alone. For all those bashing Trump, xenophobia and America First, it would seem we have a big numbers problem.
Let's put some of our exceptionalism to work and solve this predicament in the most humane way possible. Forget about politics for a nano second
1
Art, I haven't heard these numbers, nor do I know what they mean. Are you saying that 25,000 families a month are applying for legal asylum, as these families are? Are you saying that 25,000 families a month are crossing the border illegally? Who in Homeland Security is saying this, and how were these numbers arrived at? How many individuals are we talking about? 25,000 individuals a month doesn't sound like a big number.
The problem we're talking about here--separating children from asylum-seeking parents--was solved during the Obama administration. Parents were released with their children, under heavy case monitoring. 99 percent of these parents, including those who were eventually deported, showed up for their court hearings. Why not simply return to a much less expensive system that was working and was more humane? What is the logic behind refusing to allow asylum seekers to cross at ports of entry to pursue their cases legally? What is the logic behind building and staffing all these prisons to hold asylum seekers and their children?
12
Art,
The "problem" is not of such magnitude.
Net illegal immigration is at zero, and has been for quite some time. The number of undocumented aliens has stood at about 11 million.
And we have been talking about it.
The conclusion in light of the facts is obvious: Trump and the GOP are deliberately conflating the issue and stoking xenophobia in order to win points with their base.
Just look at the enormous contradiction in the GOP's positions. On the one hand, unemployment is way down and the economy is doing just fine, and on the other hand, undocumented workers are stealing jobs from Americans.
It's illogical, classic Doublethink. And the GOP base buys into it. Don't join them.
1
Paul, thank you for writing this sentence that should be engraved on every American voting booth: "Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, as opposed to the philosophical stance whose constituency is maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages — is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats."
3
When it comes to the question of morality I'm in complete agreement with the article but I think that there is a potential split with the plutocracy on one side and Trump and his base on the other. The plutocracy have benefited hugely from open trade policies and here is Trump every day looking more and more likely to end them. If he does will the coalition fracture? I seem to recall that Noam Chomsky once said that the Vietnam War ended when the ruling class realized it was no longer in their financial interest.
5
The few conservatives who decry our current state refuse to acknowledge that Trump and his ilk are what their process produces. They say they want a free market guru with conscience. Never gonna happen - the conservative process rules it out.
Guess what. Conscience comes from the notion of should and no one who uses the word should cares about money. Why? When we seek to compare the relative merit of two unrelated entities, we need a metric that connects them so they can be compared. That metric is invariably money. Money thus becomes the arbiter of merit.
They key is not in should, it is in should-not. Two people doing what they should do are differentiated by their abilities. However, when in a monetary transaction one does what one should not, and the other does not do it, the one who does it gets more money, and thus more merit.
So, when Paul Ryan places the destruction of the common good as a core value of his office, he supports a process in which the winner will be someone willing to do anything to get ahead.
When pundits say they believe government is always the problem, but they really want in office someone with a conscience, they're part of the problem, not part of the solution.
5
Lee Atwater always was a partisan, but as I remember Paul quoted him out of context. Yet it’s true that he believed that all was fair in political war, just as Paul Krugman does.
Donohue’s Chamber of Commerce didn’t make a deal with the devil, “empowering racism and cruelty” – heck, he just CONDEMNED a border enforcement policy that he regards as unacceptable, as I have. It made a deal with the only players who credibly promised economic policies that had a hope of reviving America from the economic doldrums – and Republicans are making good on that promise every day. But elements of the Republican Party are excessives, and Donohue has every right to criticize the excess, just as I do in this forum, while still supporting what is so clearly good. Heaven help any liberal who has the guts to criticize Democrats who are excessives.
But the gooiness of the tar with which Paul seeks to smear with barbarity EVERYONE who calls himself a Republican is proportional to the general success Republicans enjoy in implementing their policies. I’m wondering just HOW reactionary and hateful Paul’s characterization of Republicans will inevitably become when “official” unemployment drops below 4%, as now the Fed projects it will. One can only shiver at the spleen Paul will offer when a credible framework for verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula emerges, and when Trump casts his eye toward the Middle East and tells the Persian Imams “YOUR turn, now”.
1
I’d start calling Paul “gemli”, except that unlike gemli, Paul occasionally writes of something BESIDES his hatred of Republicans (VERY occasionally, these days).
But I might start calling him “Charles”.
2
I might start calling RL "Richard", but that would be almost as silly as his proposals.
By the way, Richard, aside from the fact you gleaned from (among other places) Paul's column, that Donohue doesn't like the child-sequestration policy, is there any actual fact in your 2-part post?
I also recommend (since you're one of the people who cares about words) that when you write "reactionary" you not use it to mean the opposite of what the dictionary says. But you already know that, so you won't pay attention.
I await the nasty reply! ...
Very well said, Mr. Zaslavsky. Thank you for continuing to speak out.
Of course I am grateful for all the writing by Paul Krugman, but I have been thinking about what drives Mexican and Central Americans through all the difficulties to the United
States. I would appreciate such thinking by Mr. Krugman.
1
Because we used to be the beacon of freedom, you know, Bring me your tired, huddled masses yearning to be free. That's why.
2
you dont know why people are trying to escape el salvador? seriously?
3
The media, including The New York Times, would do well to report front and center -- as news -- more of the kind of information that is in Krugman's column.
The Democrats, party of the many hopeless, indeed should step forward with a program addressing ISSUES; but I think they like deriding Trump more than working diligently to guide our country out of the dark.
My thought: Use Trump derogation as your platform and lose or COMMIT to a restorative policy of justice for all and, perhaps, win.
No "I will get health care for all passed; I will do this or do that." More like, "I personally will work to ensure separation of church and state, fairness in immigration practices, keeping Social Security intact for all, etc."
Also, "I will work to pass campaign funding reform and I will keep my promises to you even when my elected job is threatened."
You know, like a statesman or stateswoman.
I WANT HOPE!
9
Huge funding cuts for Medicare and Medicaid? Why isn't this front and center in the Democrats' campaigning for the midterms and on MSNBC, instead of the Mueller investigations or Stormy Daniels? Since Social Security and Medicare is a life and death issue for most retirees, this would break through the Fox News bubble. Come on Rachel Maddow! Who are you really working for?
34
Those two hypothetical senators aren't stepping up not because they could lose conservative economic policies but because they would be ostracised from the party, lose their committee assignments, their campaign funding, and their cushy retirement jobs on K Street. That's how republicans work, and it's a very effective strategy to keep the minions in line. It's what is behind their loyalty to trump. Get with the program or get on the iceberg and float away.
35
Trump still has to DO what he says he is going to do. There is a good possibility that his announcement is just to tamp down bad national and international press without having to actually follow through. I can hear the excuses now:
- We are having difficulty matching the children (especially the youngest ones) with the right parents;
- We can’t FIND the children;
- We don’t have enough personnel to reunite parents with their children at any pace other than a slow crawl.
MAYBE this is a battle won, but there is still a war to be won.
22
Trump has announced no plans to reunite the children with their parents. He doesn't care about them. There is also a good chance he won't actually stop separating children from their parents as his executive order had several loop holes you could drive a truck through. I know it's hard to believe Trump is as evil as he appears to be but he is.
You forgot “Hillary stole the children, and is keeping them locked up in the Pizzagate basement”.
The Atwater passage is chilling to me even though I read it years ago. The reason it was and is chilling is that it continues to depict our reality so well. Atwater is unknown to me, but to have thought in such a manner was monstrous.
25
Lee Atwater spawned Stephen Miller and Corey Lewandowski. All seeds from the same poison apple.
5
Atwater repented after he found out he had a brain tumor.
2
It was monstrous and Atwater made a public apology on his literal death bed.
3
Dr Krugman,
Thank you for making my need to comment more of an exercise and less of a need.
The latest John Ralston Saul lecture I have seen is Saul at his alma mater King's College, London titled the end of globalism citizenship vs populism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouoHlQdEA6Y
Back in the 1990s Paul Krugman was one of my and John Ralston Saul's favourite economists. The arrival of Bill Clinton in the White House and the triumph of neoliberalism deprived too many Canadians of our sense of citizenship. Saul's lecture which might be better titled Belonging is more about Saul's wife The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson and her belonging than those of us who accidentally born in Canada.
There are some things far more important than economics and the exploration of why 85% of new Canadians become citizens within 5 years and only 40% of new Americans become citizens in 5 years may tell us more than anything we can learn from the head of the Chamber of Commerce.
I hope that today's op-ed is just the beginning, your country needs a lot of fixing.
17
I'm a child of first generation Canadian Immigrant, my mother. I have dual citizenship, so that's a plus. I asked my mother once why her mother brought her to the US, as a child. My family, the Stoltze's owned a large logging firm in the 1920s, in Port Moody. After the crash of 1929, most of my families fortune was lost, as a result, they came here hoping to start a new.
It turned out to be a huge mistake, and not because my mother married a black man in the early to middle 1960s. This country treated him, as less than a man, right up until the day he died. He was a decorated WWII vet, he got NOTHING from them, he never received a pension, never used the GI Bill. I labored under the illusion that while we had come a long way from the racism that I grew up witnessing in the 1960s (I've been spit on by whites, when I was 10) racism is the governments way of separating us into classes, so that they can turn the poor against the poorer, whites against blacks, Mexicans against blacks, and middle class whites against everyone that threatens their assumed entitlement. That too, was a mistake.
My step dad gave me something that I've never forgotten, and that is the gift of being color blind, viewing life through the prism of growing up in an interracial family, at a time when racism, was a blatant as it is now, is something that no white man could have ever given me. My DAD walked with his head up, he was proud to be a citizen of the US, he hated the racism that came with it.
5
I agree with the comment and in general with Prof. Krugman.
I just want to add that my wife and I are just finishing the immigration process. I am American she German and over year and a half has passed since starting at the fiancee via step. Now we wait for a decision on a green card now that she is here we are married and have had a child together.
We had our interview which really offended my wife in the sense the the assumption is immigrants come here because they want to be here because the U.S. is better. Both of us would have stayed in Germany where I am a permanent resident if I could have found a suitable job. She came with me to the U.S. to keep our relationship and family together, not because the U.S. is better. We will return to Germany when I retire.
I think most immigrants would stay home if home was safe and provided opportunities. Perhaps we should help other countries become safer instead of promoting wars that tear apart societies like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, throwing away an attempt at bringing Iran into the normal world where countries become economically interdependent not isolated.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, like the National Rifle Association, has transmogrified into a symbol of American ugliness by politicizing and polarizing the nation with needlessly harmful rhetoric.
At 73, I remember when I inherited, at the age of 10, my uncle's .22 single shot rifle. I began reading the NRA's magazine, The National Rifleman where there were articles — mostly on gun safety and marksmanship — as well as a few on hunting. I learned a lot from those articles along with the trips to a rifle range in the mountains of Topanga Canyon north of Santa Monica.
I admit i was not too concerned about matter of economics at that age, though I was quickly paying attention to the plight of African-Americans in the Deep South — and New England.
And so, for so many decades, I saw the Chamber of Commerce in our city as a group working to improve the lives of small business owners. But as the phrase "shareholder value" became a measuring stick for the state of the economy at local, state and national levels, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce became a PR weapon to threaten candidates for office, legislators and governors with career ruination if they didn't give the now-infamous 1 percenters their desired tax cuts. Corporate American demanded deregulation and Alan Greenspan gave it to them in spades.
The plutocrats have won every battle using massive donations to willing politicians willing to carry water for their masters.
255
I would agree with your statement about the NRA. I too read their magazine, and it was about gun safety, hunting safety, it wasn't about keeping semi-automatic guns, that are designed for one thing killing people, that's a fact that has been demonstrated all to many times.
Now the NRA, uses the same lies, the Trumplican party does, which is to assert that the the democrats will take your guns, and you r right to own a gun away. The NRA and the Trumplican party, feed that narrative because they know, most of their supporters are in fact uneducated. (Those are census numbers, sorry, I didn't make them up). And therefore, don't pay attention to their civics class in high school. Wait, they don't teach civics anymore. So Trumplicans don't realize it takes an act of congress to take gun rights away. As with any constitutionally guaranteed right.
Take the Volstead act, most Trumplicans have no idea what that is, or tell them the 18th amendment and you get a glassy eyed look. Of course most of us know, that the Volstead Act, or the 19th amendment prohibition of alcohol. My point is, it took an act of congress, to both pass, and repeal the Volstead Act.
Our elected officials all 545 of them are to blame for the state of this union. Both sides of the isle have become money grubbing politicians, that really only care about themselves. Now the democrats aren't as bad as Trumplicans, nonetheless, any politician, that takes corporate money, is beholden to that company.
I heard a few minutes of Trump's news conference today, which was mostly incomprehensible; but he said one thing that I think illustrates a major misconception that affects him and his supporters. He said something to the effect of "you can be weak and get overrun, but if you're strong you don't have a heart." I interpret that to mean he believes that kindness shows weakness while cruelty demonstrates strength.
123
Glassyeyed,
It sounds as if Trump was given to read a few quotes from 'The Prince' by Machiavelli.
2
Thank you, PK! Trump is a few hours away from rousing his base with the predicable themes of Immigration, lower taxes, Hillary Clinton, coal, Robert Mueller and military might. His base has made a deal with our ugly past and the only thing to recuse us is the voting booth- and the Wheel'n and deal'n GOP know this.
11
The horror of this situation, as others have noted, is that a large number of Americans support this buffoon...in fact they think he is doing a bang up job. People like Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer continued to prey on women until their support evaporated. As long as Trump has the support of his cult he will continue to be Trump. Even if we as a nation are able to vote the bums out...how do we reconcile the 60 million or so Americans who think the way Trump thinks? Because if we cannot reconcile, then civil war is inevitable.
24
It's really going to get interesting when Trump finally follows his bliss, suspends civil rights and elections, declares martial law, and orders a whole bunch of *white* people rounded up and put in cages-- dissidents, protestors, members of what's loosely referred to as the "resistance"-- maybe even a Democratic pol or three. To borrow a phrase from Tolkien: "And then Night will come".
Think this is just fearmongering? As a wise person once said, back in the Nixon era: "'It can't happen here' has got to be number one on the list of famous last words'".
32
The House Un-American activities was run by the GOP, and the "communists" they claimed had "infiltrated" Hollywood, were in fact, democrats. That's when the TGP (Trumps Grand Party) called anyone that believed in worker rights, healthcare, etc, they were labeled communists. AND, the GOP did then what the Trumplican party does now, which is destroy lives, ruin carreers even the careers of republican politicians if they don't walk in lockstep. The GOP is now willing to elect, child molesters, felons, and now PIMPS, all so they can have people in congress who will do Trumps bidding. If not, he'll tweet something like, that persons a "bad person".
You would think that any sitting member of the GOP house or senate, would be absolutely against this kind of political hacking. These are in fact the very same tactics Hitler used, Hitler also liked his inner circle, (we call them cabinet members) in fighting. By the way, Trump has admitted his first wife verified it, that he had read books about Hitler, including Mein Kampf. And why not he's the son of a first generation German immigrant.
Thanks for the straight shooting Paul. To use an apt phase, you have truly called a spade a spade.
It's time we focused on the real issue with Trump and his supporters - the not-so-veiled support of white supremacy and maintenance of the wealth/privilege that goes along with that supremacy. It underlies everything they do.
If we just focus on stupid things being said, whether they consort with Russians, and whether something is a lie, we are just be feeding the beast. We need to focus on the policy implications of the actions taken, and actively support meaningful alternatives.
10
"Sorry, Mr. Donohue, ---but you must share the blame." How true, well said Dr. Krugman!
27
Yes, we must challenge all the politicians, business leaders, pastors, and media outlets that enable Trump with wink, wink, blink, blink - whether the winking and blinking is about economic stupidity and greed, racism, sexism, or xenophobia. PK is right to call out their deceitful rhetoric. Without them, we wouldn’t have a Trump.
2
Tom Donohue is pure evil and has been for decades. He interfered in the NC Senate race when Elizabeth Dole was running for re-election with a campaign calling her opponent Kay Hagan a "witch." A real witch. Donohue provided robocalls backing this up.
13
Donohue and his ilk own this, they were perfectly
willing to look away at the lyng racism and incompetence
as long as they got their tax cuts and the deregulation
policies
Donohue and his bunch own this.
deal with it
word
12
You're right on all counts, of course, but it's clear that you haven't read enough yet about Jim Crow, and that's a glaring weakness in an economist of your caliber. If in the next month or so you read "Slavery By Another Name," by Douglas Blackmon; "At the Hands of Persons Unknown," by Phillip Dray; and "The Half Has Never Been Told," by Edward Baptist; you be an even better economist, journalist, and commentator than you already are. Thank you for remaining a reality-grounded editorialist.
8
I have read "Slavery By a Different Name" its OUTSTANDING.
I think this is a bit too skeptical. There is a big difference between the various strands of the Republican Party. So far it has been papered over. It won't be forever.
I hope you are right that some Republicans will come to the rescue and assist in changing the direction that our country is heading. However, I am not confident that this will become a reality. For the past forty years, Republicans have been against anything and everything unless it was "Tax Cuts" which mainly benefitted the wealthiest. During President Obama's eight years in office, the Republican Party were totally obstructionist, refusing to cooperate with him on anything. Their political gain was more important than the health of this country. Now that we have Mr. Trump in the White House, Republicans are missing in action and not providing the necessary checks on him. In the mean time, every day that goes by there is an assault on democracy coming from the White House. Where are the honorable Republicans? We are waiting for you to extend a helping hand. Our democracy depends on it!!!
2
Thank you. I know some Republicans and now starting to say this isn't good or maybe even saying this isn't right. If they had a problem with the treatment of children they would have said so a long time ago. I think you are right tax cuts that can damage social programs is too important. They don't care much about human rights. What are they saying about the reported plan for the US to withdraw from the Human Rights Commission? Instead of worrying about human rights or children, they want their patrons to get rich, social programs to disappear, and what is coming into play now they want to keep their jobs (along with the nice benefits like better health care than they want for the rest of us.)
7
But they don't have to look to far in the past to see what happens when a POTUS screws with Social Security or Medicaid, since the largest number of people that collect money from the social safety net, are white, poor people predominately in red states. George W Bush can tell you what happens, you wind up being a one term president, and a shortened congressional career.
Seems like the conflict is between the ethics of our religious/ ethical / humanitarian roots and our unregulated capitalistic greed. Do we welcome the stranger, help the children, the widows, and the poor? Or is life all about making deals for ourselves? Are we all in this together? Or is it survival of the fittest? Do we try to make the world a little better or do we go shopping?
12
Shop! Use your $1.50/week tax cut to buy luxury goods.
2
What price tax cuts and deregulation indeed.
Our current moment was actively shaped over time and foreseeable.
I’m glad to see so many people up in arms about separating families; hope people remember it happened and ponder what it says about us, and what it may well portend, if we let it pass.
Will the Ds and their donors and base persistently and effectively make an issue of proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid? It’s easy enough to draw a line to the tax cut, subsequent spending increases, and the president’s campaign promises on the safety net. I’m sufficiently cynical about the Ds that I’ll believe it when I see it. Name calling won’t count.
People need to hear specifics about which government spending and which regulations are necessary or wise and the open democratic processes by which that’s determined. They need to hear that the Rs passed that tax bill in a hurry with insufficient open detailed hearings. That’s wrong. They need to hear that the Ds issued that Title IX Dear Colleague letter without going through open and detailed notice and comment rulemaking. That’s wrong and the Ds need to promise to do better. Don’t tell me it’s been proven people don’t care about proper open democratic processes where the government determines oh so carefully out in the open whether to pass a law and how to spend public money. Assume they’re not stupid and make the effort.
5
I have long thought that the Republican Party won elections by appealing to a Southern strategy of
racism and religious right ideas. These were slogans that were presented along with anti-liberal, anti-coastal, and anti-intellectual propaganda.
They combined this angry brew with their simplistic agenda of limited government meaning decimating the safety net, healthcare, non discretionary spending such as infrastructure and research and education, and also deregulating everything including vital environmental and climate laws.
They were able to partially succeed by dishonestly camouflaging their aims and pretending that their economic model of trickle down works. They are helped
by using obstruction and by our Constitution that favors in the Senate low population states and in the House
rural areas- both which lean heavily Republican.
8
This all saddens me so...the border situation, the attacks on the ACA, the whatever... The refrain of the theme song from "The Falcon and the Snowman" (although it meant something very different in the context of that movie) keeps repeating itself in my brain :
"This is not America"
I weep
9
From the Department of Hope: Despite the polls indicating that Trump has about 35-40% support from the US population, a lot of adults in this country who support him did not vote in 2016. Only 54% voted, and Trump got around half of that. Assuming that a significant percentage of the non-voters have now learned that voting actually does matter, there's a really good chance of Democrats taking the House this fall, and possibly the Senate as well. But of course, nothing can be assumed. But I have hope.
14
Trump Kinder Kamps. Now for the whole family. You can check in, but you can't check out. Thanks, GOP.
108
This is exactly right.
But there is more to say, and it is damning and depressing.
According to Gallup, Trump's approval rating is now 45% -- as high as it ever was. Despite all the awfulness and evil, he has not lost one bit in overall support since when he was elected. His support among Republicans is 90%; among Independents it is 42%.
All these Republican or Republican-leaning people share the blame for the vileness and evil of the Trump administration. 45% approval is a deeply depressing fact about America. America has become a very sick place.
362
It tells you who your people are and reveals their heart. You're absolutely right: America is a very sick place. I'm not sure it ever wasn't. You just used to have better leaders than this, but those people have ALWAYS been there... just look at your history.
Dominic, I'd like to say this is not the America I grew up in, but in actuality it is....racism and oppression just went underground for awhile. The light has now been directed at who we collectively are and it's not a pretty sight. However, when this evil is brought out of darkness and into the light......well, there has to be enough goodness left in this country to collectively turn us around. I pray our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren get a glimpse of what this country has stood for (on paper), but not in practice.
I think it was plenty sick when the hit squads killed the Kennedy's in the 1960's. It might even have gotten a little better since then. But not good enough to save it from itself.
"Now, many in the plutocrat wing of the GOP seem to be genuinely dismayed by where this is going. They aren’t themselves racists, or at least they aren’t crude racists."
Just don't try to move in down the street in their gated community. And don't hope to have your kids go to a school as well funded, staffed, and supported as their kids attend. And make sure that you buy something if you go to the coffee shop to wait for a friend. And be sure to shower before using the pool. They're "not racists" - they just sure don't want to have anything to do with people not a lot like them...
31
Indeed, the Chamber of Commerce is a wing o the Republican party. The CoC has supported Trump, our national bigot, from the beginning. How does one support naked racism. Trump was a birther from way back--everyone knows this. Yet, the CoC loves Trump and his terrible policies.
18
Bill Clinton imposes murderous economic sanction on Iraq that killed 500,000 children*, but I guess that's okay - just don't put children in cages.
Both parties have despicable human rights records - waste your time arguing which party is worse, if you have nothing better to do.
* our UN ambassador at the time announced that the deaths were "worth it".
5
I call this post an attempt to avoid facts through cognitive dissonance. It is the classic false equivalence argument designed to avoid having to state where Krugman's logic or conclusions went wrong. In attacking Bill Clinton 25 years ago, Ed W can feel better about supporting Mr. Trump.
13
Iraqis did suffer a lot under the sanctions regime, but the child mortality rate was not highly elevated throughout the 1990s and just before the invasion of Iraq.
Nor did the child mortality rate plummet after this invasion. Nevertheless, many people continue to be taken in by the sanctions myth.
7
The failure to provide credible links to support your controversial claims understandable - there is nothing out there to support your claims.
If Trump had ordered the sanctions, you'd be (rightfully) criticizing them instead of denying what Madeline Albright didn't even deny when she was asked that fateful question, "was the deaths of 500,000 children worth it?"
It's obvious. Trump has been getting Child Care advice from KIM. It's the most logical solution. Right, GOP ?????
11
From now on, whenever my European friends ask me about the fanaticism that infects the Republican Party, I will refer them to this excellent article. But whenever my American friends lament what Trump is doing to the Republican Party, my response will be the same as it always has been: he is exploiting racial and cultural divisions in order to enrich himself and his cronies. But there is another aspect to this story which goes unremarked in the article. After the last Bush presidency, the Democrats had the chance to make meaningful reforms both in government and banking that would have crushed the head of the serpent. Now the serpent is thriving once again, and democracy in America is fighting for survival.
16
It is exactly who you are.
10
That's exactly who they are. Every single person that's votes for any GOP candidate, is supporting and endorsing extreme racism, sexism and the abolishment of even a basic, life saving, safety net. Even those that claim to be moderates or " business " republicans are lying or delusional. They are merely enabling the fringe, the extremes, and the downright crazies. If you can't bring yourself to vote for a Democrat, fine. I understand. Just satay Home. Don't VOTE. Don't perpetuate this insane disaster. It's the least you can do. Seriously.
31
Mr Kruger appears to me to be arguing, not just that conservatism is evil, but so are conservatives. My best college friend was a down-the- line conservative. He grew up in a dirt poor neighborhood. His father supported a family of 6 - including a much-loved disabled son - by drriving a pie delivery truck. No one in his family went to college. After graduating, he sold insurance and then worked a car rental counter hoping to move up to management, which never happened. Eventually, he did fine in a real job.
Tom’s conservatism was all about moving up on your own and picking yourself up by your bootstraps. I would argue with him about social responsibility, but he would have none of it. Obviously, he was shaped by his experiences, and he’s hardly alone.
Labeling all conservatives as evil paints with too broad a brush. If Mr. Kruger knew Tom, he would have to revise his thinking and use a narrower brush.
4
Mr. Krugman does not paint all conservatives with this brush. He carefully points out how conservatives in government have the opportunity to curb our president, to establish moral and ethical boundaries for him that entirely meet conservative standards, that meet Tom's standards. They, along with the many Trump apologists, have refused to do so and now they own the Trump ugliness and deserve the brush.
10
The one-off example you cite appeals to the same argument used by the defeated 'Good Germans' after WWII and, ultimately, the prison guards at the concentration camps...'I was just being loyal to my country' or 'I was just following orders'.
Conservative Tom may think he was shaped by his circumstances, but in reality he was shaped by his interpretation of his circumstances -- just like everyone else. Tom may decide to let an outside influencer (Fox Entertainment News, the US Chamber of Commerce, Jerry Falwell Jr., for instance) tell him what he thinks about his circumstances, but that thinking eventually becomes calcified into 'belief' and Tom will use that belief as a referent to guide his actions.
Dr. Krugman's point is we are getting bad results as a society from the actions of people who are either the influencers of 'conservative' beliefs, or people who are influenced into holding those beliefs. Whether or not the people causing the bad results - tripling the national debt, kids in cages, no restraint on gun violence, flagrant ethical lapses and corruption by elected or appointed officials, etc., etc.- whether or not the people causing these results either directly by doing or indirectly by voting for, think they are doing the right thing is irrelevant. The bad results have to stop.
So, Tom is not off the hook.
"Ye shall know them by their fruits"
5
"Kruger"?
1
The GOP is more than just a coalition between plutocrats and racists. It's a coalition between plutocrats and three groups of voters the plutocrats have courted for decades:
- racists
- white religious fundamentalists
- white gun nuts.
But perhaps it is all about racism. All three groups went berserk in response to Obama's election.
Either way, Prof. Krugman is right: Tom Donohue, this is who you are.
34
It has always been a bitter wonder to me that of the perpetrators of the biggest and most injurious calamities to envelop the US, the 2008 financial meltdown and the Iraq War, the overwhelming majority were white and Republican.
161
And most welfare recipients. Life is weird.
8
Recipients of Corporate welfare, yes.
And male.
there should be no mercy for child-abusing Trump and his cabal of shameless sycophants. Call them what they are, evil child abusers, and hector them everywhere, in restaurants, on the streets, on planes, halls of Congress, everywhere.
17
There's a lesson here from the cynical Republican use of "wedge issues" (c.f. Karl Rove) in the past. Take "issues" like gay marriage or abortion, or immigration and ask 100 randomly selected people on the nearest Main Street this question:
- "Does this issue touch you PERSONALLY (i.e. in your day to day life)?
99 out of 100 will say "No". But, as Karl Rove found out, it's VERY likely that 55 out of a hundred will have a STRONG BIAS about the "issue"....and will vote the way Faux News suggests!
What the Democrats need is a way of finding wedge issues which work for the Democrats. Perhaps separating children and locking up children might be a start!
7
Thank you Mr. Krugman. Thank you.
23
The conservative economic agenda is not in the interests of anybody - rich or poor.
The wealthy who inherit or earn their wealth through hard work/luck often believe they did it all on their own bootstrapping their way to the mega bank account. Trump sounds like a poor orphan when he talks about his early days.
Taxes and government programs are characterized as stealing their hard earned dollars.
Wealth makes some people dumb, cheap and shortsighted. All well funded government brings many benefits that creat a stable society that allow the wealthy class to keep growing, such as (for the most part) fair laws, educated workforce, middle class with buying power, dependable power sources, up until now gov't financing of innovation and underlying health system - a short list of multiple benefits.
The irony is that Trump likes Putin's approach of condemning and appropriating the wealth of those who don't pay fealty to him. The Conservatives should be careful of the monster they created because paying taxes may turn out to be the better way to hang onto their money and freedom.
one other thing, GW Bush may have spoken out against blaming the muslim community as a whole for the actions of a few, but he also created the dept. of Homeland Security and borders fraught with suspicion and fear that has conditioned Americans to believe that the country is being threatened from outside. It has lead to more white power and belief that the US is for whites only.
22
The irony of the situation is unbearable. To be cynical the immigration crisis we see, people risking lives routinely to leave the drug capital of the world in Central America (Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala) for a better albeit difficult life in the U.S. We are supposed to be able to bring Democracy to Iraq but we can't even stop a hard drug infestation near our own borders with our supposedly superior military. Of course the extremely cheap labor, profiteering from the drug trade, and a lot of unnecessary suffering would be alleviated. It seems that no amount of cynicism is too much. We may fix the family separation at the border but the easily fixed causes of the massive exodus remain. Its hard to believe that this long term solution is never discussed
12
Speaking of euphemisms, yesterday President Trump claimed Canadians travelling to the United States to purchase goods -- and presumably services too -- in the United States were defrauding Canada Revenue Agency of import duties owing on those purchases by smuggling their American goods across the border into Canada. So nice of him to assist Canadian officials with collecting Canadian duties from returning Canadians. Huh?
Could someone in America please tell Mr. Trump he is not president of Canada. Shut up.
19
Private,
I live on the border. Please don't obfuscate. The American malls are empty and the American vehicles at our supermarket increase every day. Our dollar is worth 75 cents and only milk and a few dairy products are cheaper. I am 70 and it is hard for me to believe cigarettes are cheaper in Canada even as we try Canadians to stop smoking.
It is over 20 years since Three Dead Trolls and a Baggie recorded The War of 1812 where we burned the White House down and the old shoes at the Mall is also 20 years old.
I have been writing that we are the greatest threat to the GOP from before Trump ran for office as we are proof democracy and good government can work to the benefit of most.
We will see Trump and the GOP escalate their attacks on Canada and for me it shows we are doing many things correctly.
We will be continually attacked by the Trump GOP administration and I would be more concerned if they stopped.
4
Thanks to Krugman for saying so clearly what has been obvious to some of us for so long - the Republican Party is a coalition of the rich and the bigoted, or plutocrats and racists as he puts it. There is no “populism” there; if there were, they would be trying to expand medical care, social security, public transportation, and educational opportunities.
119
You might want to read up on populism. Focus on the parts about the strong leader going after the police, judges, news media and some population on which to blame problems.
1
In France, there is a nice term for designating people likeKristjen Nielsen: collabos. It means people who actively worked, helped and enabled nazi Germany during WWII in France: helping deportation of Jews, denouncing resistance fighters, collaborating in other ways... It doesn't matter whether they did it out of personnal conviction or career opportunism.
159
Yes
6
Mr. Krugman is correct on all counts. The Chamber of Commerce has been subtly changed over the last few decades and now, in its pro-business stance, has become overtly bigoted and its attitude. In the US now pro-business equates to lower taxes. But no one gives thought to how the lost revenue from taxes is going to be replaced. The Republicans were supposed to be deficit hawks, but that has now disappeared just as Cinderella's carriage did!
It appears every decade has its devil. The 1990s had Lee Atwater, Karl Rove came next (in the W administration, backed by Cheney then). His organization Americans for Prosperity, is now backed by the Koch brothers. Now, we have Bannon, followed by Steve Miller, Wilbur Ross (people forget he made a fortune in coal companies, never giving a thought to the workers' safety (look up Sago mines and ICO).
The Conservative congressmen all appear to play the moral card, with $$ in the pilot seat and God, as their busboy.
86
MRW, have you not realized by now that the Republicans never were deficit hawks? They only cared about power and rewarding the billionaire class.
3
I will believe Republican protestations that the child separations are simply because the parents broke the law when this happens to other lawbreakers. Let's start with the owners and executives of any business that employs even one undocumented alien. When the Republicans start arguing that those people's children should be shipped to tents in the desert, then I will start thinking they have consistent principles (although no morals).
59
Donohue knows talk is cheap so he hedges his bets to placate those who find the policy of separating children from their parents barbaric. It doesn't cost him a penny to spin that yarn and he is already assured that corporations will be raking in millions and millions of extra profits with the gift of the tax cuts, compliments of the U.S. taxpayers.
Now, if Mr. Donohue wants to contact Republican senators to strongly suggest they should refuse to support Trump's legislation or judicial appointments, that might be an honorable gesture. Actions speak louder than empty words.
11
Prof. Krugman,
The most salient point in your article is that Republicans favor conservative economic polities above human rights. Their view of capitalism is unfettered, dog eat dog, so why would they not look down upon human rights?
15
Another clearheaded, straightforward, big-picture analysis by PK. The hypocrisy of "It's no who we are'' is starting to apply to our entire country.
8
While painful, children and parents suffer no lasting consequences from temporary separation. It's a walk in the park compared with the poverty and oppression that refugees are fleeing from.
The child separation policy's real purpose is to attract outrage, and you're falling right for it. As long as Trump can keep people focused on identity politics he wins. Based on his record so far, he looks like a safe bet for 2020.
4
I am sorry but that is just wrong. I suspect you are not a parent. Talk to any child psychiatrist about the lasting damage such terror at an early age induces. To be taken away from your parents by menacing armed men who speak a foreign language, with no idea when or if you will ever see them again.
39
Talk to the "HIdden Children" during the Holocaust. They survived, but are people in their 70's, 80's and 90's, still traumatized.
I can still remember being a child at a party where I temporary was separated from my Mom. I was little, smaller than the food tables, and must have started to cry. A lady stopped to ask me who my Mom was and took me to her. I'm 65. I still remember.
1
Many lower class American kids are growing up without their parents due to economic hardship. How do you imagine your comment sounds to them?
America is being run by tyrants. America is being run by an egomaniac with low self esteem. America is being run by morally and ethically bankrupt people.
154
If that is so, where is the resistance?
As a long-term libertarian, it's not often that I agree with Dr. K but he has nailed it here. What he has not mentioned, however, is the root of much of the harmful policies of the current Republican Party is fear. Dr. K is correct in pointing out that conservative policies are rarely popular - who wouldn't like "free" benefits? Paid for by the "rich" (always conveniently someone else.."I'm not rich!"). And there aren't that many "plutocrats" to vote. So conservatives resort to other means to defend their position and their power. Gerrymandering. Media bias. Money (re: Citizens United). And Increasingly, alliances of convenience with other groups who don't necessarily share any of the core philosophy but are also fearful. Of change..be it the loss of their religion's primacy in society, the loss of jobs to globalization and automation, the loss of their status over those whose skin is darker or who speak a different language.
Now, unfortunately, those alliances have turned on the "philosophical" conservatives and their allies (the religious right, poorly-educated whites, the alt-right) are their masters. I don't see how this can be rectified in less than a generation.
17
random: Interesting thoughts. I hope that you see the Republicans are not a whit more libertarian than the Democrats, and are a far sight worse for the country.
4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_and_Daniel_Webster
The Devil and Daniel Webster
[ I do not think the title fits the story, however. I need to think further. Is Paul Krugman being Daniel Webster? ]
1
No. Tom Donahue is. Bigly.
1
“This is not who we are,” he says.
So the question for Mr. Donohue is what are you going to do about it, other than wring your hands.
For example a minimal acceptable response, "If this does not stop immediately, we are ending all support for Donald Trump."
277
To me the key problem is the use of propaganda by conservatives to poison American's minds and intimidate the mainstream news media. Once the Fairness doctrine was killed by Reagan, Republicans came to depend on propaganda more and more and were able to hide their corrupt alliances with big donors.
As Charlie Sykes revealed, in many parts of the country, right wing hate is all they hear, and studies, like the one by the Columbia Journalism review, show conservatives stick mainly to their preferred sources: Fox, Breitbart, Limbaugh, etc.
117
@Paul Rogers, thank you for joining the tiny chorus trying to remind people of the time before 24/7 right-wing propaganda was allowed on the public airwaves.
I would not say "Republicans came to depend on propaganda", but that they seized the opportunity to do more and more, while not abandoning their other activities such as founding "think tanks" to issue "position papers" with predetermined conclusions. That's also propaganda, but it didn't depend on the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine.
1
Control the narrative, control the minds. This is not lost upon republicans
2
Thank you for making clear a relationship that has always been muddied in my mind.
12
People have debated whether Trump is a racist, an argument he shuts down by repeating "I'm the least racist person" his interlocutor (and the world) will ever see. But let's just grant him that. Because it's irrelevant: he has used, exploited, and incited racism to get what he wants, whether attention, money, or votes--interchangeable commodities, it turns out, for him. The GOP saw their golden goose in his 'madness' starting with the birther lies. None of it is new, and it isn't "chaos."
25
Powerful and necessary essay, completely justified however sad or frightening. Yes, I am saddened and frightened by this administration and supporters.
31
While I agree that plutocrats and racists have been happy bedfellows in the GOP for decades, this analysis is a bit too simplistic. I don't think we should be dismissing white working class voters as one-dimensional xenophobes, voting against their class interests "because it spoke to their racial animosity."
Working class whites are those most likely to engage with immigrants (especially undocumented immigrants). This immediate and everyday contact will -- unfortunately and inevitably -- lead to friction. For the working class of the GOP base, topics like undocumented immigration are not abstract political debates: the immigrants are their neighbors and co-workers, their kids go to the same schools, and yes, citizens do sometimes lose jobs to immigrants willing to work for less.
Does this proximity to the topic excuse xenophobic rhetoric? Of course not. But let's be honest: working class communities have been taking an economic beating for decades, and having their opportunities curtailed by a big supply of immigrant labor doesn't help. Many middle/upper class folks would quickly dismount their moral high horses if immigrant families were moving in across the hall from their apartments, if their kids were learning less because the teacher is overwhelmed by too many ESL students, or if their jobs were threatened by lower-cost immigrant co-workers.
13
You fail to mention that the Obama Administration started the practice of putting children in cages. Are you just being dishonest in ignoring this, or just do you just think it is acceptable to put children in cages if Democrats are doing it?
6
@Charles
Regardless of whether the practice has been done previously, or who even who started the practice, it is being ratcheted up to extreme levels now. (in heartlessness and numbers)
Also, this administration is trying to conflate the idea of a migrant as opposed to a refugee. A refugee cannot have their child ripped away from them according to international law (which the U.S. signed a treaty in regards to) and a migrant shouldn't either purely from a moral stand point.
Furthermore this administration is effectively (by lack of resources) turning away ALL refugees, in a effort to put pressure on Congress (supposedly Democrats) to go along with any and all dictates from an authoritarian President.
I am sure we can all agree this is wrong on so many levels, and that regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, that this is not what America stands for.
Regards,
225
It is what Trump stands for.
Charles: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2018/jun/19/matt-schlapp...
15
Saying that today "surpasses the days of Jim Crow; it harks back to the slave trade" seems like a platitude that only helps Trump supporters sink further into their current views. Mr Krugman is a leading voice for the left, which makes his words important. I'd wish he'd be more careful - particularly in linking the Chamber of Commerce's interest in lower tax rates to border policies they've disavowed.
The border policy is terrible as-is and everyone knows it. No reason to exaggerate.
The border policy is indeed terrible, but not everyone sees that. Many members of congress and much of Trump's base actually support the policy, defending the practice as "just enforcing the law."
Krugman's point (which is not an exaggeration) is that Donohue should have known they were making a deal with the devil.
47
"Conservatism – the actually existing conservative movement, as opposed to the philosophical stance whose constituency is maybe five pundits on major op-ed pages — is all about a coalition between racists and plutocrats." What an emphatic subtweet.
12
As one who actually shares some of the philosophical stance, I have to agree with Dr. K.
10
Pulling the race card will only help getting Trump re-elected. Please understand.
3
@Jonas
I am not so sure friend. I will readily admit that the republican ''base'' is about 35% of the voting electorate, we have to keep in mind that his administration ''won'' (with help from foreign entities) only a plurality of 77k more votes across 3 states in an electoral college. Furthermore, there were more than 3,000,000 votes against.
Having said that, the signs are there that Liberals are signing up to vote in droves. (much more than conservatives) Those numbers are showing up in special elections in ''deep red'' enclaves, as Democrats are being elected. Women are being elected. Minorities are being elected.
I am more than hopeful that ''true'' Americans are going to have their say about and this and so much more. Keep the faith.
145
Yes, Funky, and there is something about that hard kernal of 35-37% Trump voters that rings a bell.....I know!... it's about the same as the share of the vote that the National Socialist German Workers Party got in the last free election in Germany, in 1932.
Coincidence? I think not. Seems that about that much of any population is wide open for authoritarian dictatorship at any time.
If the Party of the Republic (curious similarity with 'The Republican Fascist Party' -- Mussolini's party name, isn't it?) retains its majority in Congress this Fall, things are going to get even uglier.
Am I being extreme here? Ridiculous? Absurd? I hope so. I hope I am wrong. But I expected and blogged about Trump's forthcoming win right here in 2016 based on what I was hearing from my blue collar Pennsylvania family -- all of whom changed their party affiliation to vote for Trump in the primaries. This was when the Times and 538 was giving Hillary 85 and 90% chances of winning.
At that time all my friends said I was ridiculous, extreme, and absurd....right up until they were cancelling the Hillary victory parties on election night 2016.
Good luck in November, America. You're going to need it.
FunkyIrishman, you give me hope again. Clinging to every shard I can get. Thank you.
Many of us who have watched the great unraveling are working as hard as we can for those who cannot believe what is really happening. Perhaps we can yet save the country. It will take every voter who believes in the America they think they live in to vote Democratic.
Good luck to us all.
I'd take it one step further and say that this is who Americans are in the eyes of the world. We're cruel, greedy, uncaring, etc. How else could enough people have voted for a man who is blatantly unsuited to the office he now occupies? The European caricature of the ugly American is now true. Our leaders statements about the sanctity of all life, the equality of all people, and the importance of free speech, etc., can be ignored. We don't mean it. How can we? We have a party and a man in power who see nothing wrong with treating human beings like infestations.
The GOP has the power. If they weren't corrupt before (and I doubt that they weren't), they certainly are now. They are acting in their own interests which are not ours. They are not conservatives. They are common criminals who should be voted out of office and placed in prison. They are the boogeymen who haunt our dreams and destroy our lives.
598
The GOP guys (and they are mostly guys) are afraid of Trump, his tweets, and his media cronies. He knows how to belittle and those who would like to belittle don't have his nerve. Whatever he has, however, the man looks old and tired. His negativity is not healthy to have, especially at his age.
16
Dandy: One hopes.
5
And, one way out of this morass is to vote. Vote like you have never voted before. Take every family member.
7
Mr. Krugman you are not being cynical.
You are calling it as it is.
188
Pitting Black against White is the path to profit for the Ferengi party. The Black leadership shares part of the blame for this situation by aggressively promoting White collective guilt for Slavery reparations etc.) Isn't there enough real guilt to correct? Collective guilt is one of the greatest evils, especially in a modern world attempting a moral conscience.
Yes, Tom Walsh, "both sides do it". Yes, the (few) black leaders who promote reparations share guilt with the (larger number of) billionaires and (huge number of) lackeys who promote race hatred, bigoted religiosity, greed, and poverty (for the masses) by outright lying 24/7. Quite so.
4
Yes, it is who they are. For now. They have weighed the advantages of accessible health care for all against tax reform for the wealthy, climate change mitigation, justice for immigrants, the poor and sick and found them all wanting. They have signed onto xenophobia, racism, trauma capitalism and more guns than people. They are prostituting Christianity in the name of short term, narrow gains with Trump and church leader assurances of heavenly waivers to the gated community in the sky.
Ironically, they will reject the worst of this only, on balance, when there own interests are adversely affected. And given the chance they will revert because we are dealing with archetypes. Greed trumps goodness...tribe trumps humanity. GoP is a microcosm at this moment of the political evil that can be mustered by those who pray at the alter of 'Me First'.
Separating children from parents is evil. It is evil always and everywhere. Those who do it are performing an evil act. They are doing evil.
142
I agree with a lot of this, but I think the evangelicals are among those who have been exploited. If you believe that everything is part of God's plan, you can be convinced to do a lot of things that seem contrary to what Jesus taught.
When I was child growing up in a fundamentalist household, politics and our religion were separate. Our minister did not talk about voting; it would have been puzzling if he had.
Someone realized that this group could be politicized and we started down the slippery slope to where we are today. Faith is perverted and the traditional responsibilities of charity and loving your neighbor morph into the biblical rightness of enforcing the law.
If you believe the Rapture is at hand, you can ignore or deny anything.
Trump is not a believer but he is willing to exploit. It's a core value for him.
4
I ask this question in all sincerity: '' What is the greater racism. to say a derogatory word to a minority with malice in your heart, or to implement a policy (financial or otherwise) directed towards minorities that will diminish greatly their quality of life? (with or without malice)
I know, tough question.
Very much what this administration/President does/tweets is processed through a prism of making us look over there ---->, while said policies are implemented over here <----.
The republican party (whatever you want to call them, but the group that is controlling Congress) are continuing their march to privatize everything they can get their hands on, while locking in Socialism for the profits at the top for the 1%.
Pay attention now ...
463
Corporate socialism Is also called Fascism
2
Excellent comment except the two categories, voicing & supporting racism and implementing policy are not separate. One cannot exist without the other.
yes, lets not give a pass to the enablers, when they say "this is not who we are". This is indeed who they are.
322
Paul Krugman is holding back here. His description of the amoral behavior of Republican power brokers and the racist mindset of Trump voters could easily be reframed as a very frightening parallel with events in Germany in the 1930s. The Republican party of meanness is revealing itself to be the Republican party of crimes against humanity. And like rank and file Germans in the 1930s, Trump voters are doubling down by blaming the victims for the crimes committed against them. The America we thought we knew increasingly is looking like the Germany we defeated in1945.
680
Immoral, not amoral. Amoral means morality doesn't enter into it, isn't an issue.
3
Exactly. Read Arendt on the polemics of facsism. Hello, the Fox News-Trump symbiosis.
I am currently on vacation in Berlin. I find it ironic that I have temporarily escaped budding fascism by flying to Germany- the beacon of civilization. A sad state of affairs for the USA.
9
I agree with your sentiment yet disagree with your description of Prof. Krugman’s essay depicting “the amoral behavior of Republican power brokers,” as you put it. In my reading he made clear that the fundamental substrate is immoral behavior, subjugating children as well as the working class, be they white, black or brown.
1
Thank you Mr. Krugman. Your previous column reminds Americans what their country has stood for and what we are now at risk of losing. This column places the blame on how we got here squarely where it belongs; on the racists and plutocrats in the Republican party. Your words matter.
23
And they should get to share it FOREVER. Nothing less than voting for, and actively demanding, impeachment should be sufficient to clean these spineless creatures reputations. We didn't know officially ENDED yesterday.
8
The mask has indeed been ripped from the GOP - those who still inhabit the party can no longer pretend they don't know whom they are consorting with.
Inside-the-Beltway-itis has taken over the U.S. C of C, which fits with the fact we know the national organization does not actually support policies a large majority of its own CEO-level members support, and instead actively lobbies with A.L.E.C. against its own members regarding sick pay, and minimum wage:
https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/04/13075/top-gop-pollster-chamber-comm...
Sadly, this places the U.S. C of C leadership on a level with the leadership of the NRA, which likewise does not represent vast majorities of its membership, instead kow-towing to its biggest donors.
The secret of America's success has always been that Plutocrats restrained themselves - until the 'Greed is God' (um, er, 'Good') crowd took over and allied with Libertarians, to make our seat of government the highest concentration of psychopaths in the country:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/opinion/sunday/psychos-on-the-potomac...
What will be equally interesting will be when data is compiled showing if these same metrics apply to each of the 50 state capitals - and which capitals rank higher than others (?)
Resist the outrage fatigue !
49
Something else bears mention here, Dr. K., which is that we now have a plethora of examples where the country winds up with extreme policies out-of-touch with reality due to policy-makers who only care about what appeals to a majority of its own group, utterly discounting anything which would attract votes from across the aisle.
In such an environment, bullies actively promulgate policies which result in babies being taken from their parents crossing the southern border and held in cages with other such babies, all loomed over by a Watchtower - being done in the name of the American people by the U.S. Government.
15
This is akin to Democratic mega-donors who promote feel-good policies on identity politics and LGBT rights but pay their servants Schumer and Pelosi (and Clinton, had she been elected) to slow-walk any truly progressive agenda which might cost them a dime in extra taxes and wages. Similarly, when a CEO, as many now have, or Mr. Donohue, come out against forced separation, it is just free publicity for their "brand"; it costs them nothing and they get to feel all warm about their innate goodness.
8
It's people like you who helped put Trump in office.
2
America made a deal with the devil at inception. We had many chances to make things right. Instead, we whitewashed a lot of truths and indoctrinated generations in false beliefs.
https://www.rimaregas.com/2018/06/18/white-liberals-selfsoothing-sprinkl...
These false beliefs transcend political ideology. In fact, they are used, whether consciously or subconsciously, to maintain a status quo that cannot ever be maintained successfully. We've been going in concentric circles for centuries, trying to find a way to be a nation without having to face a reckoning.
This is America and Trump is the manifestation of centuries of festering. On this Juneteenth, it must be said that Abe Lincoln didn't free the slaves, nor was he anti-racist.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Republican party is the party of racism, classism and that it exhibits no redeemable value. But, let us not fool ourselves, for even a moment, that Republicans being as evil as they are, means that Liberals are guilt-free.
“In order for this to happen, your entire frame of reference will have to change, and you will be forced to surrender many things that you now scarcely know you have.”
James Baldwin
---
Trump and the GOP: More Jim Crow Than Nazi Germany
https://www.rimaregas.com/2018/06/19/trump-and-the-gop-more-jim-crow-tha...
26
Rima--if I understand you correctly does that mean that Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation was a total waste of time??
Sadly a handful of battleground states in the Mid-West decide presidential elections. You and I reside in solid blue states. Ideology has nothing to do with it. Whoever makes the most convincing sales pitch usually wins the White House.
1
No, Sharon
Read the post and Lincoln's quotes.
1
Rima,
Even for you this is a new low!
Long before your relatives immigrated here Americans fought a Great War! Families were divided. States even were divided. One in six of us were killed or wounded as a result! Empty legs and sleeves were a common sight at 4th of July parades fifty years after this war.
This war was fought over the power of our federal system which was at the time almost unique in the world. Change brought from without was the issue. The end of human slavery was that change.
Many who fought and died for the Union believed in the rights and dignity of all men. Many more believed, as did Lincoln, that our Union was worth saving.
If that result was imperfect as are we all and over 150 years later we are still working to prefect the vision of those who died or were maimed is to our Credit not our detriment! How dare you cast aspersions on those who fought in this noble undertaking and the President who died leading them!
To point out that there are few societies on earth where prejudice of some form does not exist is unnecessary. Your relatives saw that and came here. They understood that as bad as some Americans were and still are, that there were no Cossacks here then and are still none here today!
This is something that you have lost sight of in your hatred for some of your fellow Americans!
2
Whenever Republicans are faced with choosing between actions humane and cruel, they always pick the latter. Healthcare reform, tax reform, social welfare policies, environmental policies, you name it. The Republicans invariable pick the policies that hurt the most people. And now their president, Donald Trump, has taken that defining trait in the Republicans’ political genome and unleashed it upon children, justifying his actions by citing nonexistent statistics about immigrant inspired crime and nonexistent laws passed or not passed by Democrats. And that's all fine with Republicans, because those children, their victims, are helpless, brown and poor, such easy targets for the Republicans to persecute.
So let no one forget that this policy of persecution is exactly where Republican politics have been driving us for at least the last 40 years. It is McConnell's, Ryan's, McCain's and the rest of the Republican Party’s fault as much as it is Trump's.
1046
@mather
Excellent comment. It's tribalism, nationalism, sexism, racism and any other ism you want to fit into a small minded pursuit of the almighty dollar.
It even has ''In God we trust'' stamped on it.
28
Preach !
7
Whenever Republicans are faced with choosing between actions humane and cruel, they always pick the latter....
[ Over and over, remarkably correct for psychological reasons that are beyond my understanding. ]
8
Paul has hit the nail on the head. Call out this behavior and you will be considered someone who needs help and someone who is uncivil and rude. The truth exposed causes these hypocrites to attack. Let’s hope that the current sorry situation is so extreme that our once great Nation collectively turns a corner to return to its former greatness.
231
The present situation is already forgotten, the Kardashians said something funny. If you want some separation story staying power get someone in there with a camera and get pictures of these kids. America thinks in pictures like all children do.
"This is not who we are," has become a meaningless catchall phrase much like "thoughts and prayers." It is, of course, exactly who a whole lot of people are in this country, certainly the worst and the dimmest in the white house lead by our very stable genius.
Thanks for the history, professor. The hand wringing by your conservative colleagues perplexed by where all of this racism in their movement came from never fails to frustrate me.
711
@Runaway
Ding,Ding,Ding. You have won for the clearest and most precise comment as to why more and more people are losing faith in institutions/government. (especially a republican one)
There are way too many that give lip service to the issues (in times of absolute crisis) and yet when they have a chance to vote on legislation, they vote in lock step against.
Hypocrisy, and time for a change.
8
The US democracy was voting right only for property owning white men. It is going backwards in that founding position.