And don't forget repubs' outrageous corruption of the judicial appointment process, or that they had a plan to pack the lower federal courts by doubling or tripling the number of appellate judges, and substantially jacking up the number of district judges as well. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/opinion/conservatives-weaponize-federal-courts.html
They put it away for awhile, but if they win this election, they may well unleash it. Vote like your rights depend on it; they do.
1
My German citizen nanny easily obtained a US drivers license. With that license (showing a local US address) she could vote and serve on juries. Although she has long departed this country, she still receives jury duty notices at her last US address. Imagine: a foreigner deciding electoral outcomes and sending US citizens to jail. Again: no obstacle to getting a US drivers license, which effectively made her a US citizen eligible to influence US policy and justice. Yes, Paul, there is voter fraud.
1
"If we take one path, it will offer at least a chance for political redemption, for recovering America’s democratic values. If we take the other, we’ll be on the road to autocracy, with no obvious way to get off." Right. And the first path is voting Republican.
3
The road to “autocracy“ (rule by the 1%) in this country began decades ago, not just with the Trump presidency. Unfortunately most of our politicians have been dependent on wealthy and corporate donors for much too long, so we the people are easy for them to ignore. Regardless of the outcome of the elections, we need to start now to force the politicians to listen to the voice of the 99% on issues like healthcare, taxation, minimum wages, and gun control, not to mention education and the environment. This starts not just with campaign finance reform, but with fundamental reform of how campaigns are conducted. Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign starting the day he took office in 2017 would be illegal in most countries. Having money=speech was an invention of a Supreme Court bowing to the Koch Brothers’ view of the US constitution. Let us stop this nonsense now, and get the billionaires and their billions out of American politics!
17
If the rationalists, independents and dare I say, constitutionalists amongst us (including some Democrats) prevail in collectively 'pumping the brakes' on the Trump train, what's to prevent the minority/majority party from casting it as as 'rigged election'...thus enabling hotter heads out there to take unscripted action against the 'deep state?' To my surprise, I now gather that I too am part of the 'deep state of belief' that the Republic actually benefits from a bit a compromise - it's actually how this nation works. Octavio Paz wrote in Alternating Currents about revolt, rebellion and revolution. "Revolt is not so much confusion as a popular uprising. Rebellion ceases to be headstrong disobedience and becomes generous protest. Revolution is not a return to origins but the creation of the future." What doesn't seem 'revolutionary' (in light of Paz's definition) about the present moment and the prospect of single party rule?
Didn't you also predict the market would tank and never recover if Trump got elected??
3
@Gary Silverman
No ... ;-)
Not if he got elected, if his economic policies and trade wars are signed into law and implemented.
And not "never recover" but a "recession".
As you may know, none of his economic ideas has been signed into law until now, so he recently started doing something through executive action, but nothing compared to what he promised to do.
That being said, any comment on substance?
7
It is within the nature of Trump to exaggerate. A one vote margin in the House would unleash a claim of complete and total vindication for everything Trump. From his rant on the caravan to the Russian hoax Trump given a lasting seal of approval. We win you lose the maxim for Trump. The last nail in the GOP coffin.
The GOP could have and should have saved itself. No one to absorb blame but the Republican House and Senate for a failure to lead.
1
Once again cogent and insightful. Thanks. Please outline some of the main ideas for Medicare for All, especially that Medicare for All is not nationalization or socialization of health care. America's health care problems have never been the actual quality and availabilty of medical care. The problem is that health care insurance companies have controlled the cash flow and the financing of health. Health care insurance is socialism for profit. Another idea: why not start Medicare for all by enrolling only newborn babies? After five years, enroll one new age cohort (6-10, 55-60, say). Enrolling the entire population over, say, 25 years would allow America to adapt to the relatively modest economic dislocation caused by ending private health insurance.
3
Oh please. Democrats have been telling us that this (1980, 1984, 2988, 2000, 2004 and 2016) have been the last exits off the road to autocracy. You know--those authoritarian, fascistic Republicans and all.
You've long ago lost credibility. Next.
3
Another great article Paul. What most of America doesn't seem to see is that with the GOP and the White House in control of both Houses, the DoJ, and the Supreme Court, this is currently a one-party system with no checks and balances. And if you look at Mr. Trump's attacks on the press and the adoption of a single "news" carrier as his propaganda machine, his love-in with the sycophantic GOP, his back-handed support of active militias, his passive support of legal assault arms, his intolerance of minorities, his frenzied rallies and mantra-like moronic slogans, his abuse of power for personal and family gain, his aggressive and hostile attitude towards other nations, I really think America does need to worry more about a failing democracy than healthcare right at this juncture. I've never seen anything like it in modern US history, except maybe McCarthyism.
12
What does it tell NYT readers when their "paper of records" is silent, very silent on re-electing the very corrupt Democrat Menendez?
5
I voted in my small town (pop. <300), MN.
Had to give the poll workers my driver's license, and they interrogated me.
Really.
The worker had my license and, then, asked me to state my birth date and my address... all of which is on my license.
I'm 67 years old. I've lived in this town, at the same address, for 17 years. I've voted in every election. This was the first time I had to show an ID and recite identifying information to prove I am me.
"Show me your papers... answer my questions!"
I have relatives in Poland. Poland suffered under Nazi occupation and, later, under Soviet occupation. My relatives, in order to avoid arrest or harm, were frequently required to show identification and answer questions.
Remember. Never forget.
I hesitated to answer the poll worker, but, then, I threw up a stiff-armed Nazi salute and recited my birth date. Ah, but for my address, I would only recite my PO Box, and, when asked twice for the physical street address, I only told the worker that the PO Box was my official address, according to the US Postal Service.
(Meh, I thought. Both the PO box and physical street address are on my driver's license. Read it.) The worker sent me down the line; I was given a ballot and allowed to vote.
"Show me your papers... answer my questions!"
10
@Donna Nieckula
I'm hard core progressive/liberal. But, given all the noise Trump and the GOP have been making about non-voters voting, having to be able to tell them your address isn't a big deal in my mind. But they MUST accept PO Box #.
2
Paul loved the autocracy deal when his marvel of all living thibgs, Barack the Divider, was ruling America with decisions of which laws to enforce, which to ignore, and making up stuff as he went along. He even chaned one law 50 times on the fly.
Now that the original relationships obetween the executive, legislative, and judiciary parts of our federal system have been restored, Paul is all broken up about it.
Paul, Democats were all with Cesar Chavez in fighting off the illegal farm workers who were pushing down workers' wages. Were you with them then?
Now, Democrats want any ignorant and malleable dolt thay can cram into the American immigration system in order to dumb down voting ranks, a ''total 180'' from 25 years ago. Are you still with the Democrats?
Eew. What does that say about you, Paul?
4
The arrival of The Fourth Reich may only be a few hours away...
And, if it does arrive, this country will inevitably look just like Germany did in 1945. Utterly destroyed from top to bottom.
The German people wanted Adolph Hitler to run the show. And they got their wish. They got exactly what they were asking for. Only, they didn't fully realize what that was until it was too late.
Germans bought into the idea that they were the "Master Race". That simply by the virtue of their birth, they were superior to everyone else, much as Donald Trump's supporters do. Hitler sold it, and the German people bought into it. Hook, line, and sinker.
Will American's follow this exact same path? We will know in approximately 24 hours.
I think Mr. Krugman is spot on in his assessment that may be our last real chance to make a stand. But, I don't think it's merely our last chance to save our Democracy. I think it could very likely be our last chance to save this entire country and it's people.
And the reason I believe this, is because I believe that left unchecked, Donald Trump, caught in a Mobius strip of his own power and hubris, will almost certainly bring a World War to our doorstep. Just as certainly as Adolph Hitler did to his.
The very future of not only our country, but much of the world, may be decided right here, right now. In less than 24 hours.
Is it exciting? Yes! Is it also terrifying? Absolutely!
15
Dr. Krugman,
I hope that the results of today's election are that this country has gotten off that last exit off the road to autocracy, as I am terrified, at this point.
While I am concerned about healthcare and taxes, in light of the last week's Synagogue massacre, I am concerned for my personal safety, and the personal safety of other Jews in this country, as well as being deeply troubled, concerned and outright horrified that the President of the United States is fanning the flames of hatred towards any number of minorities, and is inciting and endorsing violence.
A man who failed to condemn torch bearing, Ku Klux Klan dressed marchers chanting "Replace the Jews" does not belong in the White House. A man who sought to lay blame on the Synagogue which had just lost eleven congregants to a mass murderer, whose anti-semitism had been stoked by the same man who sought to blame the Synagogue, has no business being the President of the United States.
I am still in shock that Trump could be President. When I had heard that Trump was the Republican nominee, I'd said to a freind :"The election is now a slam-dunk for Hillary Clinton", which is what I'd thought. The idea of Donald Trump being President was so ludicrous to me such that I thought it was impossible that he could could be President, yet here this country is, with a President who has reminded me of Adolph Hitler from day one, and reminds me more of Hitler every day.
12
Win, lose or draw today, tomorrow we start the 2020 campaign. My dad didn't fight the Nazis in WW2 so they could take over here.
14
Paul, don't dignify these people with the term white nationalists- they are white supremacists pure and simple (as long as the whites aren't Jewish of course).
4
Dr. Krugman is correct. We are in a dire situation, with our democracy at stake.
If trump wins or loses, he will create havoc. If he wins, it will be worse and will involve removing controls put into place by our founding fathers.
Trump has been signaling his intentions since the beginning of his ascendancy. His sick mind is unable to hide things - so if we are aware of this we can understand where he is headed. His recent attacks on birthright citizenship is a signal that he wants the power to nullify parts of the constitution. If from this election he keeps both the House and Senate, he will be able to move in that direction.
Another troubling aspect he's signalled is his control of the military. He has begun to use them for the most silly things - because he's practicing, and testing the pentagon's cooperation of his orders. Based on midterm results, he may weaken the pentagon's control and shift more authority to himself.
This is how hitler also started - by taking control of the German military slowly, first by "moving" them within Germany for inane reasons. Then, as everyone became more comfortable with his control over the military, he slowly used them to subjugate a subset, then more, and finally the entire nation.
trump's goal is just as hitlers, and will exercise marshal law. This is clear that he wants to be a "king" or dictator - with full authority to decide who is innocent, who is guilty, who is American, who is not, ... who lives, who dies.
It's serious!
13
please please please
vote these fascists in waiting out. Begging from Holland, sincerely yours, mitch
9
Dear Mr. Krugman, when you write : "... today’s Republicans are just like their fellow white nationalists in Hungary and Poland, who have maintained a democratic facade but have in reality established one-party authoritarian regimes." you have no idea what you are talking about. "One party authoritarian regimes" may be installed only in countries where the ruling parties have eliminated key freedoms - especially freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and succeed in destryoing all rival parties or reducing them to empty imitations of functioning opposition. From the very fact how closely disputed these elections are it is evident that America is in no danger of any of this.
You Sir, are just loosing your cool, and cry wolf where there isn't any. To say that "Tuesday’s elections may be the last chance to stop them [Republicans] from locking in permanent rule" is absurd to the point of being ridiculous.
3
If Dems win a majority of some half dozen or so seats, a few will have been close enough for a recount. The laws of states vary, but these suits can drag out. When Al Franken won by a few hundred in Minnesota, it took eight months before the last challenge was defeated.
Republicans will be able to contest these close ones, and with states and federal courts now stacked in their favor, it could be a long time, if ever the Democratic majority is acknowledged.
Trumps comment that throwing stones at his military would justify lethal response (since retracted) was meant to show that he has the capacity to such force if needed. Would he try to weather dealing with the House, or use this court leverage to fight it.
My guess he will not succumb. As of now the opposition party is not treated as a part of this United States of America. Compromise of any kind could break the image of his absolute power, which he just may not want to risk.
Autocrats, by definition, can never show their power is other than absolute.
2
I've been checking in on the news all day. Do you see those reports of turnout? God, I love Democracy. I feel so much better having lost many nights of sleep fighting for it. Thank you all!
3
Democrats believe in Democracy, Republicans believe in Republics, scratch that, Kingdoms.
8
@Sensei
Democrats believe in mob rule. Period. No "scratch that".
2
Yes, that’s a fork in the road. “When you come to a fork in the road, TAKE IT!” — and vote!
3
"Meanwhile, the reality is that ordinary voters are more easily moved by issues that have a direct impact on their well-being than by more abstract concerns about democracy and rule of law. And until very recently, mainstream news media berated Democrats for running on nothing but opposition to Trump (which was never true, but the media said it anyway), while tending to dismiss talk about Republican abuse of power as hysterical."
"Meanwhile, the reality is that ordinary voters are more easily moved by issues that have a direct impact on their well-being than by more abstract concerns about democracy and rule of law. "
One is put in mind of H.L. Mencken: -- “As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
The "inner soul" 0f some 40 million Americans and their gutless greedy GOP minders along with their Evangelical
christless hypocrites and a national propaganda network:
Is an artless stew of racism - ignorance -xenophobia -conspiracy theories and greed - LED by a serial liar and grifter devoid of any core ethics or moral values.
BUT -time and demography is not on their side!
4
The Democratic Party's conduct was disgraceful and went against the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence.
Senate Judiciary Committee Releases Summary of Investigation from Supreme Court Confirmation
414-Page Report Concludes No Evidence to Support Allegations Against Justice Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is releasing a summary report on the committee majority’s investigation of misconduct allegations presented during the confirmation process of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“The revelation of last minute allegations tested the committee in many ways. But these investigative efforts rose to the occasion and were critical to helping us obtain the truth. This was a serious and thorough investigation that left no stone unturned in our pursuit of the facts,” Grassley said. “In the end, there was no credible evidence to support the allegations against the nominee.”
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/senate-judiciary-committee-releases-summary-of-investigation-from-supreme-court-confirmation
Maybe not everybody is motivated by the threat to our democracy to vote for Democrats, but I sure as heck am. The travel writer and travel program host Rick Steves is also very concerned with the future of our democracy and put together a one-hour documentary on the rise of fascism in Europe. If you don't see parallels between the behavior of Mussolini and that of Trump, you're either not paying attention or you're in denial. Here's a link: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/fascism.
I am in my 70s, and I have never seen anything like what we're going though in this country right now. Mind you, I thought George W. Bush was the worst president in my lifetime, but his malfeasance fades in light of the disaster that is Donald W. Trump. Trump hasn't led us into a needless foreign war like Bush did, but he is getting close to turning what has been for sometime a cold version of the Civil War into a new hot version.
This election is a chance to stop or at least slow down this attack on American democracy by the narcissistic business failure (and his cronies) who occupies the White House despite receiving a minority of the popular vote. (Can someone please explain why this keeps happening?) I hope I wake up tomorrow not feeling like the day after the election two years ago.
9
@John Woods
Hear! Hear! I thought after returning from Vietnam and engaging in politics that Richard Nixon would turn out to be the worst president in my lifetime. What a naive idiot I was. Nixon had serious flaws, and was very bad for the country, and world, ultimately, but GW, was his equal, and Trump makes both look like "average" American presidents. This man is a serious danger to our nation and to our way of life. He's seduced a lot of voters, and that's unfortunate, because we are seriously endangered by their naivete regarding the ultimate consequences that can be realized by an individual with the failed psychology of Trump who is nothing short of personality disorder or, worse, sociopathy.
9
As a New Yorker, I haven't been a steady voter; the way things are structured in the state as well as the nation, I always figured I had very little effect. That changed, to some extent, with the Gore vs. Bush situation, when the Electoral College gave the presidency to the guy with fewer votes; I voted for Obama partly because it was a historic election and partly because, if the E C stuck its oar in again, I would at least be part of the larger "popular vote." And of course I had to vote for Hillary, and her "loss" still rankles, I'll admit. The Republicans are stealing the country out from under us (with the crafty help of the Russians, I'm sure), and our only recourse seems to be to vote against them at every opportunity.
3
My experience with voters, even with my closest and most educated friends, is that as Americans, isolated from real world political currents in societies, they are dangerously naive in regard to the intentions of some of their fellow human beings.
There are Americans, Americans in power, just as capable of the acts of Pinochet, the Argentine 1980s military junta, Franco, Mussolini, and, yes, even Hitler. More Americans need to become intimately familiar with the consequences of abnormal psychologies, for that is what we're dealing with. Trump isn't benign. He's cold, and he's calculating.
For some who know him to dismiss that with anecdotes about his warmness if as naive as believing that because Putin is capable of friendship he isn't inclined toward Authoritarian rule, sometimes violently so. Witnesses reported that Hitler could be charming and engaging. These people are sociopaths. They know the rules, how to use them to overcome us, and how to get us out of their way.
Americans need to wake up to the danger that some of their fellow Americans are capable of. That most of Trump's supporters are as naive as Trump opponents about the intent of the men and women they adulate is beside the point. Their naivete endangers us.
Trump and his adherents have to be stopped, absolutely. Any other outcome endangers us as surely as the historical avalanche of other nations into Authoritarian or, worse, Totalitarian government.
14
This possibility has concerned me for months, ever since the GOP decided to blatantly stand with Mr Trump in all things that matter, regardless.
So, what do we do if the R's retain Congress? If the military and Reserves stand with him, the idea of a rebellion is absurd. In the American Revolution, pretty much the only reserves that were effective was in Boston. In just about every other case, whenever they came up against the Redcoat formations, they broke and ran. In fact the only battles where the militia played an important role in the American victory was when the general planned on their breaking and running.
I can think of no situation in which a new rebellion will work. Protests? The governments have figured out how to handle them. So, what do we do?
Assuming decent leaders surprise us and come to the fore, what do we do? Some suggestions:
1. Get big money out of politics!
2. Cut off all foreseeable paths for Mr Trump to become a dictator. Protect our journalists. Protect Mueller. Etc
3. Go back to ensuring that the news truly is fair and balanced; like it was before Reagan turned them all loose.
4. All elections must have an "unalterable" means of verification; one that is unavailable to the web.
5. Perhaps a means for the people to recall POTUS?
6. Go back to ensuring that every kid in school is given a good, solid education in civics and ethics.
7. Add a "None of the Above" to every ballet selection
8. Eliminate the Electoral College?
3
I was predicting something close to anarchy and parts of the nation self-declaring autonomy from D.C. within a generation. Once the election results are in I might need to change it to a decade or less.
2
It’s Krugman who hasn’t been giving us what we badly need. Concrete ideas on health care and taxes, but also facing the main political force shaping our norms, namely ---who is paying for our campaigns? Krugman could stop ignoring the huge campaign finance issue, if he’s so worried about what’s threatening our democracy.
Other democracies have health care for all for generations, and also use more public funding in elections and limit private donations. This allows citizens to be better represented.
Per Wikipedia---- many countries actually ban US type privately paid campaign ads on their media that swamp our voters and need mega donor funding. They ban them to prevent special interests from dominating the political discussion. Imagine that! Any comment PK, while you’re getting down to basics?
Opposition to Trump? Krugman’s columns are usually a list of GOP/Trump outrages. But where are specific policy ideas on taxes, regulations, h/c financing, etc? Obviously avoided. Why?
And I don’t see where main media, besides Fox, ever dismissed concerns with Gop abuse as hysterical. What an exaggeration.
Krugman could have been helping to shape ‘the bigger story’ and educate voters all along, with specific, concrete proposals pro and con----using examples of other advanced democracies and also our own better past when the US middle class was strengthening not weakening. Stop ignoring this, while scolding others.
2
It's hard not to look at the results in other recent elections and not be pessimistic. Still, I'm encouraged by the turnout, the buzz, the commentary, and I think there is a chance to flip the House. What I worry about is, I feel like we have been here before. The last time, and the time before, we only found rebirth through war, like the fiery phoenix. Can't we do better than that? I have the stanza's of Vachel Lindsay again in my mind:
"And Bryan took the platform.
And he was introduced.
And he lifted his hand
And cast a new spell.
Progressive silence fell
In Springfield, in Illinois, around the world.
Then we heard these glacial boulders across the prairie rolled:
'The people have a right to make their own mistakes....
You shall not crucify mankind
Upon a cross of gold.'
And everybody heard him-
In the streets and State House yard.
And everybody heard him in Springfield, in Illinois,
Around and around and around the world,
That danced upon its axis
And like a darling broncho whirled."
2
There's no end point to democracy. Even after all Germany has been through, democracy came to the front once again.
How much down time do we need? For me, after talking to Mikhail, I needed weeks of downtime.
I can't easily come to grips with having the future of civilization at my disposal. But if it is placed there, I choose peace.
We must choose peace at most costs. President Carter had the formula correct. That formula, I believe, was a gift from God.
5
I cannot imagine being a Republican, especially in Georgia. In Orange County - in California - a voter's signature is checked against all permutations on record if there is a challenge. I am proud to live in a state that does everything it can to ensure my vote is counted. There needs to be national guidelines on voting, and they need to be enacted before the 2020 election. These guidelines should include doing away with the electoral college. The voice of the people should be respected by all.
I am ashamed to have Donald Trump as our President, he does not even try to support the ideals necessary to protect democracy. I wish all voters understood the value of democracy and everyone voted - you life could depend on it.
7
If only every other American were as smart, educated, sophisticated, erudite, empathetic, knowledgeable, socially aware, compassionate, charitable, worldly and intellectually curious as you are, we would see everything as you do and wouldn’t have made the error of having positions that differ from your superior opinions.
2
It is a plain fact that the more ambitious and adventurous young people who flock from rural areas to cities in the US generally lose political weight by doing so.
3
The original Cynics doubted people were as virtuous as they seem or say; they knew power--economic and political--corrupts. They went to extremes advocating a minimalist lifestyle to ward against corruption. Thoreau was one.
The Constitution is cynical in this sense--difusing power in the branches and levels of government and in procedures of research review and appeal.
But "cynic" has taken on new senses. (a) now suggesting acquiescence in the reality of corruption--as though it's inevitable that corruption always wins. And (b) suggesting most people are irrational-- prejudiced phobic God story deluded--so the smart ones have a right to bilk them. Witness Church luxury and predation.
The new class warfare seems to be old fashioned Cynics against the corrupt ones.
1
The US should allow the right to purge voters based on the whim of the ruling majority. After that it should quietly stop calling itself a democracy. Wait, that's already happened.
8
The threat of fascism is real, and if it comes to power in America the world is in mortal danger. Remember that Mussolini never had a single nuclear bomb, let alone the world's second-largest and best-maintained nuclear stockpile. Remember that he never had vials of Spanish flu, weaponized rabies, nerve gas, and anthrax in cold storage. Can you imagine how different the world would be if he did have these - and the rest of the world didn't?
I commute past DARPA headquarters every workday, and every day it reminds me of how much hard power America holds in its hands. Power that, for generations, existed fundamentally to protect freedom, or the idea of freedom. Power that evil desperately craves with licked lips. Power that absolutely cannot fall into the wrong hands.
This election won't change this particular calculus overnight. No bombs will be dropped if the House goes to the Democrats. But it likely is *the* inflection point for evil and its grasp of the United States.
It is a referendum on how aware we, the American people, are of our own self-destruction.
4
Trump's supporters like him because he says everyone can keep their guns. Historically, how many autocrats, once entrenched in power, have allowed gun ownership?
2
Jeez Paul, get a grip. Things will be ok even if you don't like the current administration. Leave your little blue-colored bubble for a while and you'll see that things really aren't so bad out there. I'll bet you'll feel a whole lot better tomorrow morning when the election results roll in. Of course, you'll still be claiming that we're on the precipice of some disaster or another to keep your loyal audience happy.
2
I know Americans think they have nothing to learn from the rest of the planet, but your voting system is (to put it mildly) insane. It is time you took the job of managing elections out of the hands of the two main parties and had a NON (not BI) partisan election commission. And nobody should have to register as Democrat or Republican or whatever. Districting should also be removed from the paws of politicians and handed off to an independant body. This flies in the face of the Constitution, some might say? Well amend the thing already.
8
This column is sheer over the top hysteria from a columnist I once respected.
The Democrats will likely gain a majority in the House, the GOP will keep their majority in the House, and the result will be a very familiar gridlock that American voters have become used to.
American democracy has survived a great deal, and it will survive Donald Trump. The question is, will it survive the total abandonment of all media outlets, including ones that used to be called NEWSpapers, of any pretenses to being about the news, rather than a specific socio-political agenda?
This column's overheated verbiage is why people in the Rust Belt who are working two jobs but still have to go to a food bank to feed their children, don't trust the media: especially those in which east coast elites run columns like this.
Before the 2016 election, a column in this paper stated that Americans had a choice between one party that didn't hide the fact that it was in Wall Street's pocket, and a party that was also in Wall Street's pocket, but wouldn't admit it.
You supported the bailout of Wall Street billionaires, remember, Prof. Krugman?
I never believed anything you said after that, and I still don't.
3
@elizabeth renant: Well, Putin isn’t in the pocket of Wall Street billionnaires, so why not give the reigns of the USA to him? Saves you the trouble of having to vote...
4
And Republicans are the ones who are paranoid???
2
Suggestion for you: Stop reading the opinion section. Because, opinions. Not news.
1
The sad truth is that gerrymandering was made possible by the massive Tea Party sweep of the 2010 midterms, allowing the now-insane Republican Party to take control of the voting apparatuses around the country.
And the absolutely crystal clear reason for the 2010 Republican sweep: the racist backlash against the first black president.
Will America's original sin ever quit diminishing us?
7
If you haven't voted yet, get off your duff. "To the polls, ye sons of freedom!"
Now as to WHOM you vote for, that's your business. But I beg you to think carefully, and ask yourself, "What sort of America do I want?" Hopeful, or afraid? Do you believe in the rule of law, America as a refuge for the oppressed and a free society, or are you a nativist, afraid of people who don't look or talk like you, resentful of the progress of minorities and those who have been left behind while the already wealthy and eternally greedy make your lives, and the lives of your children less secure?
It's still about hope. The politicians will always let us down. But you I still believe in.
Think. Get up. Vote. Today, nothing else matters.
3
Terrifying that it has come to this. John Meecham, the historian said recently “We have been here before” then he tries to communicate a positive message about a constructive outcome. All the while his affect is depressed and he looks plainly sad. The separation between his head and his heart is exactly what I am experiencing. We got through a catastrophic civil war
and we groped our way to an equitable end to the worst behaviors of the Robber Baron era.
I want to be optimistic but cannot take the emotional risk and am too exhausted to be morally outraged.
But—“One more time into the breach for Godvand King Harry.” If only we had a King Harry.
2
Only 60% of eligible voters actually voted in the last election. Of those who chose not to vote, 25% said they didn’t like any of the candidates, 15% said they were “not interested.”
Putin’s bots share some responsibility for public apathy and disgust, as do Republicans who spent 30 years vilifying Hillary Clinton. But the real culprits are politicians left and right who ignore the problems of ordinary folks while serving only their corporate masters.
Nearly 3 million more voted for Clinton, but Trump is president because of the anachronism of the Electoral College, designed to appease white voters in slave states by ensuring they would have greater say than voters in the more populous Northern states. (Don't believe me? Ask James Madison.)
Still, just 46% of the 60% who voted, 28% of eligible voters, wanted Trump. A tiny minority.
Trump still seems to have the indelible support of about 42% of likely voters: 58 million who have seen Trump’s unprecedented lies, his attacks on the free press, the independent judiciary, the intelligence community, free and fair elections, war heroes, women, immigrants and minorities, his praise for Nazis, his attacks on our staunchest allies and his embrace of mortal enemies who are actively attacking us – and they support him still.
Trump is not the problem. He is a cheap huckster, a con man. The problem is the 58 million other Benedict Arnolds. But they are a minority. History demands that we repudiate Trump and his supporters.
Vote!
3
Krugman complains that America is on the road to autocracy because in two Republican states the would-be absentee voters were told that they had to use the right color ink. To my surprise, a similar thing happened in NY this time.
We were instructed to use an instrument provided by the state to vote, though such instruction was not there last time. Is that a way to autocracy in NY, Paul?
2
I voted for Democracy today. I hope that Oprah is right and Democrats come out in numbers to large to mess with. This isn't just for America. This is for the future of Democracy in the world.
So, like, no pressure.
5
Perhaps one reason this very real danger as never made part of the campaign is that it is too abstract for many voters to grasp. They respond to issues that affect them personally. The health of a nation in general, and our democracy in particular, is somebody else's debate.
2
It may be (and along with Krugman, I hope it is) that Trump has awakened the sleeping giant of the American electorate. In being the impetus for the Resistance, he has done many cities, towns, and hopefully, states, a favor by provoking many folks to provide plentiful feedback to their elected representatives.
Let’s keep it up. It’s the first healthy political development in a long time.
1
Last evening, sitting in my kitchen in Brisbane, chatting wth my Aussie partner, I mentioned to him the thesis that the Civil War never ended. What local government in Germany would fly a nazi flag, or put up statues of Goring? But in the US, the symbols and heroes of the confederacy are accepted, celebrated, proudly displayed by whole swathes of the population. And here is 45, dog whistling no more, openly exhorting us to let loose the angels of our worser nature. And swathes of people are gleefully responding, happy to vent their rage and bigotry in the open.
No matter what happens in this election, that’s what worries me. The American experiment might truly be over. My partner actually suggested it: why doesn’t the US just split into two?
Why not?
48
Both sides are living a pink bubble of technology's making. Add fear to the bubble walls as well. We don't want to know. Our lives are filled with the false sentimentality and violence of network television, YouTube 4 minute dog clips, Facebook inanities, celebrity egos, and self absorbtion. They are training us to have a short attention span. And to buy things. The funny thing is that the bubbles are the same in many ways. The voters on the right are looking for a world that will never come again and the left is looking for a world of peace and justice that comes without work. Neither is going to get what they want.
1
@Candace Carlson: The capacity of technology to endow computers with the capacity to perceive and pursue happiness is entirely unproven.
1
No one seems to have pointed out the issues with an uninformed and uninvolved population. If "did not bother to vote" were a candidate, he'd win in a landslide.
A canvassed for our congressional candidate was impressed by the apathy of the average citizen.
2
@Hondo: Plenty of us vote anyway, even knowing that our votes cannot influence a structurally foregone conclusion.
1
Autocracy. Survival of Democracy.
It's a midterm election, for chrissakes. The nation will survive no matter which way congressional jackassery leans. Answer me this, Mr Krugman: Do you believe in open borders? Because Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama didn't. No modern President has or would.
1
@Teller: The insufferably vapid Ronald Reagan was responsible for not shutting the door on illegal immigration with a national ID system after the amnesty that took place during his administration.
1
I just spent about 30 minutes reading replies. What I learned is really important. Democrats are really mad at their leaders for becoming the other party of the rich, what I myself have called Republican lite. Working people, support for unions and organizing workers are not really addressed by the current Democratic Party. Readers feel that not only do the Democratic leaders not listen to their base but they attack it. I just hope Democratic leaders are reading these replies and other letters to opinion pieces. What happened to FDR's and Lyndon Johnson's laser like focus on the working poor and through their policies tried to address the fear and the insecurity of the middle class and the working poor? Anyway, it is time to get back to taking stock of what we can do to really address the problems of this huge group or it will go to Trump and worse, what comes after him.
2
@Harold Johnson: Hillary's biggest mistake was failure to show that she got wise to Wall Street while hobnobbing for dollars from it.
1
It is indeed a profound conflict of interest for, as you say, to have some supervise their own election. Most democracies have an arms-length agency or commission charged with doing this function. I am also not aware of other well functioning democracies where so much energy goes into discouraging people from voting.
1
@jd The "Federal Election Commission" is a bipartisan exercise to prevent formation of any new national political parties in the US.
1
One disturbing mini-trend seemed to surface when approaching a few young people to just say "remember to vote." Their reactions here in South Florida were "not going to matter," or one young African American man became very animated about supporting trump, but he couldn't vote because he had a felony conviction. Another young white woman was convinced that her vote wasn't going to matter, and another young woman felt that "there are other people" when asked about her future prospects in a climate changing world. "Maybe next year," she added trying to be more thoughtful it seemed.
Fairly astounding reponses from the new adults in how they perceive all this season's politics to be overwhelming. I know that a small sample is not an accurate picture of this generation's thoughts, feelings, or attitudes, but so far these were the only encounters that I personally had. I didn't feel personally rejected, but a quiet sadness at the ill informed and apathy that rang out very clearly. I listened and didn't comment on their views, only a question or two as to the course of the planet's and their
societal future.
Strange days ahead, indeed.q
1
What a shame I've dropped my basket after placing all my eggs in it. Perhaps I should have kept a few in reserve...
Paul, are there still literate Americans who don't understand that the roots of democracy are on fire?
We're already looking for real estate in southern Canada.
2
If the Democrats win Congress, I implore Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to step aside and allow more virile leaders to guide us. Dignified reservation is a losing strategy as demonstrated by constant Democrat losses since 2010.
I don't care how good you both think you are, and you are good, but we need real strength now.
1
In recent years, President Trump has been criticized for his leadership style and approach to campaigning, for his virulently racist comments, demonization of the media and their "fake news," inciting violence and his vicious verbal attacks upon political opponents.
Lost in all the "noise" of Trump's incessant Twitter storms, however, may be the very real and present danger posed by an alien species which has already invaded our country and our planet. As early as the 1950's, news reports documented the invasion of our planet by "Pod People" as well as the "Kanamits," who ostensibly wanted to "Serve Mankind" while enriching their own diet.
Clearly President Trump's initiation and backing of the United States Space Force, the U.S. military presence in space, is inadequate to combat the threat of invaders from outer space. While The Wall will protect our great nation from the invading caravans from Mexico and Latin America, the President must also act immediately to encase our planet in a Space Shield to thwart alien space invaders.
Yes, people, a vote for Republicans today will be a vote for Trumpism and the protection of our planet from invasion by the Pod People, Kanamits, and other alien species - who truly ARE alien beings. Build the Space Shield! Earth for Earth People! Make The Planet Great Again!
1
Hmmmm I must have blinked and missed the "good grace" shown by Democrats over the 2016 outcomes.
5
@CHM: They showed as much good grace as the Republicans after the 2008 elections.
3
"...Democrats aren’t saints, but they appear to believe in democracy, while their opponents don’t." Just more sour grapes from someone who still hasn't gotten over what happened in 2016. You aren't foreshadowing; you're just projecting again. A scared man uses scare tactics to admonish scare tactics.
4
How can there be any doubt which side is right? Democrats are for expanding rights to historically marginalized groups (blacks, gays, non-Christians, etc.). Republicans are for restricting their rights. Democrats are for helping the poor through government programs, from housing to food to healthcare. Republicans want to roll back those programs. Democrats are for keeping our air and water clean, preserving our natural environment, and preventing climate change, Republicans favor despoiling our pristine lands for coal mining and fracking. Democrats are for helping each other and especially those in need. Republicans say take care of yourself.
I could go on and on, but it's clear Democrats, liberals, progressives support policies that have the betterment of humanity in mind. Republicans, do not.
More Americans vote for Democrats than Republicans. Republicans know this, so they lie and cheat to win. Hopefully this starts to end tonight.
7
Dear Professor Krugman:
I hope your writing and your ideas helps convince some voters who cannot yet make up their minds...although one would think the decision is clear for this election cycle...to vote for Democrats in their jurisdictions.
1
Trump autocracy? This can only be written by someone who has never lived in Turkey, Russia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and other paragons of 'democracia popular'. Trump has been stymied by the courts in pretty much every direction he went, including his beloved wall - this despite controlling both chambers. So no need for hyperventilation.
19
@Kai
Commenter PB put it well:
"You don't think that it will happen here. The Jews didn't during WWIi. It can. I have seen it [as an American working in Kazakhstan]. This election...is about small d democracy vs authoritarianism. It is a short ride from fixing elections to a police state."
8
@Kai: Trump still has another 100 judicial vacancies to fill with Brett Kavanaugh types.
4
It is not just our liberal democracy that is on the line with this election. As the liberal democracy that is looked up to around the world, we are still the bellwether for this powerful form of government. A failure to reassert our national values of inclusion, opportunity and equality can have disastrous effects around the world.
6
@Richard Purington: Trump's entourage reads "tyrannical" where you wrote "liberal".
If it doesn't work, there is only one explanation to this autocratic regime: Americans deserve it.
5
I really don't understand how these politicians who gerrymander or suppress votes can consciously say they believe in democracy.
I'm a liberal, but if I took a job in a conservative area like Utah or Texas I'd accept that that was the general consensus of that area. I wouldn't try to remove voting booths from conservative areas and redistrict Salt Lake City so that the state was more liberal. That's crazy.
And if you're a politician at what cost do you want to win? Your Wikipedia page will have a section labeled "Controversy" that would outline voter suppression. Is that how you want to be remembered? Is that how you want your children to know you?
4
@M. Political victories are hollow when they don't win consent of the governed.
You’re certainly onto something with your last 2 articles centred on the peril to democracy that the nascent nationalist Trump party represents. Over 1000 readers opinions in the blink of an eye! But don’t despair. With over 300M guns in the hands of civilians and a track record of being prepared to use them for political aims (Civil War, Kent State, etc) the question is how much pain and sorrow has our inflammatory (and often dumbed down) media, baked in political apathy and poorly informed citizenry has history endowed us with? Only time will tell as neither you, I or anyone, can truly predict the future. Let us pray.... but after you vote!
@Carl Are you referring to the recent near-riot at Kent State provoked by a gun-rights front? National Guardsmen were the shooters when four students protesting the Vietnam War were killed.
1
In Georgia, it is not the modern world democracy. It is like a banana republic democracy! Or it just like Russian fake election, where Putin always wins. If it is a real election, that the republican governor candidate should rescue himself from his job. I never imagined that America will come down to this low, especially in "red" states. In countries like India, the entire elections (State or Federal) are held by an independent Election Commission's office, which directly reports to the President of that country.
2
Mr. Krugman,
It seems to me that the Republican pursuit of power is motivated by greed. Do you believe that the consumer can exercise any power through coordinated purchases or boycotts? And there is always the National Strike. Do you think these are effective means to check and balance a government gone wild?
2
As I recall, it was progressives who had such a hard time accepting the results of the 2016 presidential election. The Resistance is built on not accepting the results of the 2016 election. All of the Russian interference in the 2016 election was known to the Democrats, known to President Obama, well before the election, but Obama and the Democrats did nothing about it.
For some (obvious) reason, Krugman ignores the long history of Democrats interfering with honest elections, from Tammany Hall to Jersey City, Newark and other big cities in New Jersey, to Chicago. The Florida "hanging chad" ballots in 2000 were designed by Democrats. And why doesn't Krugman report on all of the problems in voting in big cities, almost all of which are run by Democrats?
Krugman still can't get over the fact that the presidential candidate he supported in 2016 could not even win the states that Barack Obama won. There is a reason the Constitution requires a candidate to do more than win 95% of the vote of certain large voting groups who are located in a few big cities. The Constitution requires a candidate to appeal to a sufficiently geographically diverse group of voters. But for all their talk about diversity, Democrats really hate the Constitutionally mandated diversity requirement. Democrats want to win based on a large number of non-diverse interest groups located in a relatively few non-diverse geographic locations. Oh well. Ironic that Obama could win where Hillary could not.
5
@Tony
In real life, progressives did absolutely NOTHING that would have amounted to a refusal of the 2016 election results, remember?
What Krugman is talking about here is not just vocal indignation about the fact that the candidate with the least popular votes nevertheless gets to go to the White House.
He's talking about the explicit and known, proven voter suppression and gerrymandering that results in a minority wining time and again elections.
Everybody knows that the way the GOP does its gerrymandering is such that it allows them to win a district. Diversity has absolutely nothing to do with it.
So no, unless you can come up with some examples, it's quite obvious that there's no equivalency at all here.
14
Take a look at the composition of the democratic candidates and then compare with republican and tell me which is more diverse.
Or are you just making things up because you can?
1
Re: "...if Republicans hold the House, ... they’ll finally repeal the Affordable Care Act."
But since the GOP have held both the House and the Senate as well as the White House since the 2016 election, why would they suddenly forge ahead with a vote to repeal the ACA if they haven't done so in the past two years?
3
@JLB
Because the only one who prevented it is now dead, remember?
Ryancare, which destroys the healthcare of a whopping 30 million Americans all while strongly accelerating cost increases once again, and destroying the pre-existing conditions protection that exists today thanks to the ACA, has ALREADY passed the GOP House, and if it weren't for John McCain, it would have passed the Senate too.
Of course, Ryancare is the exact opposite of what Trump had ran on, as a candidate, but he already completely flip-flopped and promised to sign it into law.
That's why it's SO important that Democrats win the Senate too.
4
@JLB They did. John McCain voted no.
1
Running purely in opposition to Trump is, in the end, the most important and patriotic position the Democrats could have chosen.
4
The greatest threat to our democracy is the Republican assault on voting rights. The vote is the very definition of democracy, and it is an early target of autocrats.
Maybe the most troubling weapon in the assault on voting rights is the use of misdirection, manipulation and untruth in political ads. Without clear and truthful information in the hands of voters, there is no valid election... something all parties and candidates need to do better with.
The GOP spent over thirty years unravelling the sanctity of the near-universal vote and perfecting dirty tricks. This election is a critical step in restoring ethical, inclusive, informed elections to the fabric of American democracy.
4
@Slidezone70
But as long as governments, particularly at the state level, control voter registration, even for federal elections (unlike in many other countries, including Canada) why will anything change anytime soon? Or ever? And don't get me started on the electoral college... (sorry, but this is the kind of thing you get, and are stuck with, when you genuflect to a document more than two centuries old).
1
Given all the vote suppression happening today, I'm afraid we may have missed the exit.
3
Today I voted for Democrats.
I expect them to rid the nation of the "Red" House if they win.
If they don't, they no longer have my support.
2
@Shakinspear
Which is precisely the kind of mentality that got us where we are today in the first place ...
You cannot just fight for what is right when enough Americans do so together with you, you have to fight UNTIL enough Americans stand with you in order for real legislative change to happen.
One of the big handicaps of progressives in this country is their political laziness. Time and again, they seem to imagine that you FIRST need a government FOR the people before they will jump on the bandwagon too and there will be a government BY the people.
That's not how a democracy works, remember? Change always happens ONLY when we engage and fight and keep at it until we succeed. And if not enough people voted for change this time, then you double down on your effort to convince more people next time, rather than to start turning against your own teammates and then go standing at the sidelines ...
2
@Ana Luisa
Well said!
To quote Chris Hedges: "I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists.”
Nothing here about "but only until the next election."
P.S. You are clearly a Samantha Bee fan!
@Ana Luisa
I've been "Standing By" Democrats for forty five years. The Democrat leadership is the weakest I have seen. I expect them to fight for me, not have Tea with the Tea Party.
Could the so-called "technical problem with the paper ballot reading machine in GEORGIA be intention by REPUBLICANS? Humidity was named as the problem effecting the paper and how it fed into the machines. Sound contrived to limit voting.
A systemic problem requires a systemic solution: Ranked Choice Voting. It's a game changer.
Having to always worry about "throwing away your vote" by actually choosing the person you feel is best fit for the job is so counterproductive, and ultimately leads to voter apathy, because all the choices are purely a product of estimations of who is "winnable", which only perpetuates stereotypes and status quo in self-fulfilling fashion.
I think this should be our top priority, though of course the monopolistic Republican/Democrat trust will resist, because it would give independents a fighting chance.
As it stands, I had to choose between a Democratic crook or a Republican Trump donor for NJ Senate this morning. I hate them both, yet in an eerie echo of the last presidential election, I just had to pick the least awful candidate for fear of "wasting" my vote and allowing the greater evil to win.
I hope you'll devote a column to this badly needed systemic fix.
3
Today I walked to vote to preserve American Democracy and halt the continued rise of hate and anger.
That means I voted for Democrats.
If they cooperate with Trump and allow him to continue as President, I will not support them in 2020 when it really counts.
1
So if it comes to that, who WOULD you vote for?
@Shakinspear
Wrong!!!
See Ana Luisa's comment above.
The USofA has never been a true peoples democracy (as eg. Switzerland) and the elite always knew it. But in the name of profit and the belief that money can buy everything and create any solution, we trusted in God and believed we can continue like this forever, keeping a dream alive which was dead already before we even started to enter the 21st century.
Well, the world has changed and we still believe we can run on the same system as we did for the last 70yrs.
Obviously Mr. Evil has just turned out to be a willing tool to establish this "system" and deliver to its "owners" even further and MAGA , continue to uphold the American dream 2.0.
Leaving the comfort zone will not be enough. Changing the system will be not happening with the tools in place.
What is the solution? There is none.
The change will be done from and by "outside" forces!
2
It seems to me, having poured over not just American but global history, that democracy is being unraveled at the seams. The systems that held the fabric of our institutions intact are flooded with corporate interest and money. There is no need to wait for the autocracy. It has already been here for quite some time.
I fear the worst... I fear that the only way to fix my beautiful country is war. Our divisions have never been properly dealt with but rather, they have been swept underneath the rug.
The racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-semitism and islamophobia are a real occurrence in the underbelly of America. There can be no meeting of the minds when one group wants to eliminate the rights of another. There can be no agreement when there are schools suggesting to pupils that climate change is not real or that our Civil War was about "states' rights". I am sick and tired of being told that all politics is dirty and it will never change. I am tired of being treated like a second-class citizen in a first world country that claims to be the "best in the world".
The real test for our nation will come in the next decades as climate change brings more natural disasters to both coasts. In the end, it will not be about urban/suburban vs rural values. It will be coastal vs midwest.
1
@Ellie
Agreed on all counts. Sadly.
For the first time in my life I was stalled (but not stopped) from voting because all of my middle names are on my DL but not on my voter registration i.d. I'm 53 and never has such a persnickety issue been challenged before. But I'm also white. I was left with the distinct impression that the documents and signatures that got me a ballot would not have been enough were I a different shade of human.
4
This is standard procedure in TX if the id’s don’t match exactly as voter registration info, at least in Harris Co where I live. I worked an election last year for my local MUD and it was part of the material we had to learn, but since 2016, I’ve had to initial a spot in the voter regis book bc mine don’t match (one has middle initial, one does not), and then sign and vote.
One can choose to initial a different box, and the state will send you a new voter registration card/update it to match your driver’s license and you won’t have to initial again—great if you use your driver’s license as your id for voting; otherwise, just initial that they don’t match exactly and go vote—you cannot be turned away for that.
2
Thank you Professor Krugman. Now a simple question for you: who do you think is in a position in 2020 to lead the country out of the abyss it has fallen?
An Obama type person won't do the job because even if he was an impeccably qualified man to lead the nation, he did much less and in some perverse sense set the stage for this clown show.
We need more radical action in the White House and Congress since we have lost so much. I vaguely recall something that went by the name of Siegel's paradox: when something goes down by X percent, it takes more than X percent on the upside to bring it to par. Here the calculus is similar but much more extreme.
I think Bernie Sanders is the only person visible to me right now who may offer the goods. We can have Kamala Harris on the VP slot. Bernie could commit not to run and have Kamala be the party's nominee in 2024. What do you think?
1
@Blunt
It's absurd to imagine that in a democracy, everything depends on one single person.
They only way to obtain a government for the people is to build a government by the people - ordinary citizens just like you and me, who simply fight against corruption and will certainly at least improve SOME things, and then some more after the next election, and so forth.
THAT is how radical change is achieved in a democracy, NOT because one or the other superman passes by and then changes everything overnight and then we no longer have to engage anymore.
There are no "good" to "offer". We either roll up our sleeves and work all together, or a corrupt minority of wealthiest citizens takes over the country and sells it out to their own wealthy buddies, Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Just look at how much Trump achieves: almost nothing at all. He's just there to do the PR work and make his voters believe that everything is fine, through daily lying tweets, which are then taken over by Fox News and vice versa.
You can certainly win elections by investing 100% in propaganda and doing nothing else, but you can't change the country and improve things for ordinary citizens that way. THAT only happens when we ALL engage, rather than waiting for The Ideal Candidate who, as Trump makes his voters believe, will do it all on his own and entertain them in the meanwhile.
1
It is not a paradox: assume you have 100 people and you then lower them by 50%. You now have 50 people. In order to return to the original number, you need to increase them by 100%.
Simple.
1
@Dsmith:
What I meant is that the percentage decrease is not equal to the percentage increase to get back to par. Your numbers show that too.
My bad on Siegel, I think that referred to a foreign exchange rate argument that had to do with Jensen’s Inequality.
1
Appreciate you so much, Paul. I believe your work is critically important to the survival of America's democracy. It feels like the potential for this country to become permanently unrecognizable--relative to the positivist if imperfect society so many of us grew up in--is gigantic. I'm already profoundly disoriented, and agree that today is last exit day.
7
While we aren't exactly 1930s Italy yet, the Republican Party is making every effort to continue the transition of the US into a nationalistic, hyper militarized, protectionist, institutionally racist/homophobic/transphobic, one party state. Can we just call fascism what it is at this point?
17
@David Dyte
I know it's a rhetorical question, but the answer, if there can even be one, is: No, apparently we can't.
We have seen that the Congressional republicans, with their strategy of appeasing Trump, have become his Weimar-Republicans.
8
The question is how do we galvanize the population that does not hear Mr. Krugman's clarion call?
I think: what could have been done in early 1930s Germany that would have short-circuited Hitler's rise. Somehow if it were possible to have transported the populations of Germany that were passive as the machinery gathered strength around them, into some sort of time travel to see what German in 1945 looked like, and comprehend all the suffering that took place. Would that have been persuasive? Would they have found a means to thwart Hitler? Would they have found away to not get pulled into the war machinery themselves? To not have participated in Kristallnacht? To have rang the alarms earlier on within and outside Germany? For surely there was a point in time when their humanity was still intact. Before they became them.
"Trump" is still reliant on flying below the radar as they put together their plans, but no one should be fooling themselves that this is innocent. He has told us he is a nationalist, which means Jews are a target. Which means African Americans are a target. Which means Hispanics are a target. Which means LGBT are a target. Which means Muslims are a target. Which means Asian Americans are a target. Which means anyone who is not white, straight, christian and willing to subordinate themselves to patriarchy are TARGETS. And when I say target, I don't just mean in terms of voting, civil rights or economic repression. White nationalist supremacists want us GONE.
6
It's not too early .... Paul Krugman for President in 2020!!
6
Paul as usual sees disaster or potential disaster where none actually exists. The US will never be run by a small minority of individuals, the constitution and states won't permit that. And we are a republic, not a true democracy. That means our freedoms are more important than democracy. Pretty simple when you understand the constitution and respect it.
3
Tell that to the Trump 35%
I live in a small town in upstate NY. This morning, it took me approximately 5 minutes to vote. The only person ahead of me in line was my husband. I realize we can't duplicate this in all districts, but why do we have to make it so hard for people to vote? (That was rhetorical - I think we all know why.)
Our democracy is at risk - but not from a caravan! Take the hundreds of millions of dollars we'll spend on sending troops to the border and spend it on modernizing voting systems and deploying enough personnel and equipment so everyone can vote with minimal hassle.
5
It should have been a priority of this administration at the outset, but the circus atmosphere of this White House left no room for doing their JOB of working with states to secure Our election systems. And frankly, I do not believe they wanted to set about repairing the breaches. All of the Republicans have shown their hand to all of America with gerrymandering and voter suppression. I thank God for the 1st Amendment. And the fearless trumpeting voices that have opened my eyes.
The levels of debauchery that We have seen, learned of, and sunk to, should never be forgotten and steps put in place to ensure this never happens again. We can start by following Oregon's example of automatic voter registration.
Justice John Roberts did democracy and Americans a great disservice and opened the door to the wolves in sheep's clothing by his gutting of the Voters Rights Act. Wonder if his head is still buried in the sand, and muttering his mantra of, "there is no racism in America..."
Yes, we have a Constitution, a document that has proven to be very durable and capable of withstanding onslaughts in our checkered past. But let us assume the GOP keeps control of government. The Constitution is only as good as the person or persons willing and able to speak up in its defense and convince others to join him or them.
Is there anyone in any of our three branches willing or able to confront the current occupant of the Oval Office and the extremist, incompetent but very loyal enablers Stephen Miller has put in place?
I fear we will find out.
5
@Michael: Only forbearance in the abuse of distorted representation has kept the US as together as it, so far.
2
Quote: "...the survival of American democracy is on the ballot."
That is hilarious. Neoliberals have zero faith in our democracy - specifically the Balance of Powers as designed by the Framers of the Constitution.
As the NY Times reported, Trump almost always gets stopped in the courts:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/us/politics/trump-legal-defeats.html?_r=0
Some autocrat! I'm quaking in my boots.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
Look who is in the SCOTUS now. And the number of far right judges packed in in the last couple of years.
I am grateful for a free press and for writers like Professor Krugman on this election day. Truth matters.
10
First off, I've lived in autocracies: Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia in descending order of craptitude. Trust me, America, you wouldn't like it. Especially with a very stable genius running yours.
Now let me ask Mr Krugman: Why hasn't the FBI or some local cop just locked him up yet? He's been accused of/admitted to/boasted of committing multiple sex crimes, has provably lied about hundreds of things since... um, pick your milestone, has lied about serious matters of national security and then willfully and gleefully compromised it by keeping on using his hackable iPhone, has shared classified intel with adversarial foreign leaders, has blatantly encouraged hate crimes against innocent Americans, has put foxes in charge of every vulnerable gov't henhouse from EPA to Education, and, as a so-called businessman, stiffed his suppliers, ripped off people with his ridiculous university, done some dodgy real estate deals ... and one or two other things.
Just what does the citrus king have to do to earn a cellblock residency?
9
@Paul: Nobody knows better than Trump how to make resort to legal process utterly futile.
1
@Paul...baffling, isn't it. This isn't the country I, and so much of the population, was raised to believe it was. I was always sure that this couldn't happen here, that an obscenely ignorant tyrant would be given free rein by the people. But it's happened. And now we know that "American Exceptionalism" was a farce from the beginning. We're lazy, and a nation of cowards, too politically lackadaisical to do much more than post in Op Ed forums, and too afraid to take to the streets and do what's necessary.
It seems to me that a key piece has been the (deliberate?) under-education/miseducation/amnesia about what actually makes a democracy a democracy - it seems that people no longer are aware why separation of powers is crucial and how it's being broken down, why stopping the 'tyranny of the majority' is also beneficial for the majority in the long term, why religion being separate from state is NOT an attack on religion but a necessity, why respect for diversity of opinion contributes to peace, and so much more. There also is a gap in current education - (even at the college level with the assault on liberal arts) in basic logical reasoning. People don't understand WHY our democracy - as flawed as its execution has been - was a very, very rare and special place in human history. They don't understand why it works. It seems like this could be pointed out in detail - democrats could do a re-education campaign with the format: example in another country of how a lack of a democratic right led to an unacceptable result, then a video of Trump showing how he is trying to create the same situation, connecting the logical dots for the untrained. Emphasize all the while that the values the 'common people' think they are protecting by voting for Trump - such as freedom - are actually being trampled.
4
Dr. Krugman, your analysis is excellent, but you have possibly ignored the elephant in the room. A three hundred year old two-party federated republic with its present constitutional structure is somewhat antiquated. The constitution and possibly the entire election process need some serious overhaul, including an independent federal election commission in charge of redistricting and enforcing strict electoral code of conduct to take care of the dog-while political messages. Campaign and election financing, term limits should be strictly enforced that will possibly help other political parties to thrive. The present federal model was a great advancement at the time it was framed, but unfortunately many new 9and possibly 3rd world) democracies have better safeguard in their election system. When the opinion of the majority is not reflected in the electoral outcome, there are some serious structural flaws that need to be addressed ASAP.
8
@DK: Such a concise and bang-on analysis, I don't know where to start. The problem is that virtually all Americans (and please correct me if I'm wrong) venerate the constitution and the founders to the point where even a mild, let alone serious, overhaul of your election processes would be tantamount to an attack on baseball, god and apple pie (not necessarily in that order). Even venerable progressives such as Krugman, Chomsky, Michael Moore, Ta-Nehisi Coates, etc. consider it beyond the pale to voice even the faintest criticism of the (apparently) awesomest manmade creation in the history of the universe. (Sorry for the sarcasm, but, you know...)
If an election with this level of political interference was being run anywhere else the US would be expressing outrage and demanding intervention to put things right.
Australia is far from perfect but we do at least run elections much better than you do. The key is that there is a statutory body, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) that sets the boundaries between electorates and administers the actual election.
The AEC sets the electoral boundaries by simply following a stratightforward set of rules around demographics. Urban electorates all have essentially the same number of voters. Rural electorates can have somewhat fewer in order to contain the size of electorates in the sparsely populated outback areas. (Even so some electorates are the size of a small country).
The AEC runs the election (on a Saturday), it sets up the polling stations, it hires temporary employees to count the votes (overseen by party scrutineers) and it is the AEC that declares the result.
The political parties play no part in any of this. Our elections are fought over any number of issues, but the mechanics haven't been an issue for many years now.
10
You are also a parliamentary system with more than two parties, right? I think a lot of our baggage is from this evolved two-party system, which is NOT explicit in the Constitution. We also are a compromise between state and federal rights. Unfortunately, smaller states have mush greater representation
And to me, THAT is a problem.
1
This age of Trump proves how fragile this democracy is. Our fear is that Trump Republicans will not be as completely repudiated as necessary to revive hope for our democracy.
5
I think Brian Kemp has committed a felony against the State. What he has done is not just a "conflict of interest", it is both a State crime - and very definitely a violation of federal law which guarantees the right to vote to every qualified citizen.
9
Yes, and where is the outrage??
1
@Vivien Hessel
On MSNBC. And in this Comments section. Beyond that, nada. This is America, circa 2018.
Dr Krugman
This morning there are further reports about the hacking. Apparently, what happened is that some group(unnamed) was looking for points of poor security in the portals and found one. The FBI and Dept of Homeland Security were notified of the weakness and they in turn notified Kemp's office at the state of Georgia.
Kemp then took that info and turned it into a campaign ad that implied the Democrats were trying to breach the voter base. Somewhat like the police arresting a locksmith for changing your door locks!!
6
Things could get worse (alot worse!) before they get better............or not!
1
We seem to be dividing along urban/suburban vs rural/exurb lines with the latter holding way more power than they have any right to. Something has to give and my guess is that certain States will increasingly go their own way. California is a good example. My State, or should I say country, is tethered to the USA more my expediency than by desire. That sentiment is likely to become more prevalent. I expect to see a brash new era of Federal-State conflict.
3
If Republicans won the popular vote by five or six points but Democrats got majorities in the House, we'd be hearing about the monumental injustice of it all from all the usual suspects. Now that they've gerrymandered an advantage that means they can win by losing by five or six points, we aren't hearing a thing. I did have one Republican tell me that the Democrats are too corrupt to be allowed to hold power, which would have been funny if it wasn't so appalling.
5
@Yvonne Strong: Evangelists hold that people who do not fear punishment by God after death are untrustworthy. Many people believe that, and con artists thrive on it.
1
I want to thank Paul Krugman for making these important warnings that the Democratic establishment is unwilling to make. Obama, thank goodness he is out there at least, makes a few good quips but no real warnings. However, I’m still not too worried, because I don’t think America is like Poland or Hungry, or Russia. I think that here minority rule will be untenable and that authoritarianism will be out of reach. I just don’t think American’s will stand for outright authoritarian rule. (It will stand for surreptitious versions of it against marginalized groups such as the Drug War and mass incarceration.) But I guess the real worry here is that someone (i.e. the GOP) might attempt it, and all the bad things that would ensue if they did. For example, a million people will march on Washington and they will not stop at the White House fence, they will not stop for gas and clubs, they will not stop for bullets. This I think would happen. I want a T-shirt that says “Stop the Totalitarians” above a spangled elephant with a line through it. I hope that will be enough.
6
The whole thing stinks. Maybe the extreme nature of this example (and the odiousness of this candidate) will be enough to make legislators finally think twice about the role of secretaries of state overseeing elections that include their own state-wide races. The only circumstance where a secretary of state should not have to choose between his job and being on the ballot is when he runs for reelection as secretary of state (and in that event he should be able to recuse himself from any decisions that affect his own race).
4
I always look forward to Mr. Krugman's opinions, but I don't think many realize just how appealing Trump "still" is to tens of millions out there, and to discount their voices will just set Dems and anti-Trumpers up for another huge disappointment if the election results aren't overwhelming today.
I know the reasons people support Trump. On a purely visceral level they truly believe he's speaking for “them” and carrying out “their” agenda on immigration, tax cuts, deregulation, making allies pay more, tearing up bad trade deals....etc. The problem is they're not understanding the implications of his actions, which are terribly thought out and bumbled in execution, and what looks great in headlines doesn't reveal the true repercussions/cost. To Trumpers, be careful what you wish for, because what feels good today can give you huge indigestion tomorrow.
5
yes , as usual Prof.Krugman has nailed it on the head. The lies and misinformation that have been unleashed by Donald Trump and the compliance with those rants of rhetoric by the republican party ,only affirms their over all desire to destroy the one man-one vote philosophy of our country. The passage of the tax bill is a prime example of the devious nature of their push towards autocracy. Aside from putting more money in the hands of the 1% , the tax plan was really a Trojan horse carrying the desire to cut middle class entitlements by deliberately exploding the debt and then falsely claiming the entitlements were the cause. This philosophy of finding scapegoats to hide their ultimate goals, has been tethered to the racial white nationalists growth in confidence of their own misguided thoughts. This direction chosen by{ no, believed in } Donald Trump and adhered to by the republican lemmings in congress will eventually destroy America . As I write this response , we are seeing a mid term election that may be the most important one in decades It is IMPERATIVE that the democrats turn out in huge numbers , because the ballot box is the only savior.
3
If Dems do not take the house this is how the next two years shape up.
1. GOP realizes there are no consequences for their actions and continues to dehumanize the other including Dems. People on the right become immune to violence perpetrated on others.
2. Voting becomes much more difficult and more tilted. GOP becomes more corrupt and more people give up on voting b/c it is hard, the system is corrupt and it won't make a difference.
3. With the public disengaged journalists start to get beat up and mysteriously killed (falling off buildings), news organizations start top shut down out of fear. Social safety net goes.
4. People protest the removal of social safety net, corruption and missing people/dead journalists. GOP passes law tightly restricting protests giving police carte blanche to get violent, people die protesting and fear is ramped up.
5. 2020 Trump is reelected. More protests. Protest leaders and others once considered untouchable in the business community, Unions, news organizations, and politics disappear over night.
6. Feeling hopeless small groups of anti-fascists begin armed resistance. Trump fights back with concentrations camps and executions.
7. 2024 Trump dissolves the house and Senate suspends the Constitution and announces his son Don Jr. should succeed him.
8. 2026 Trump dies of heart failure. The party chooses Don Jr. to lead the nation thru mourning. He becomes President for life.
5
Today I think all Americans should read the Gettysburg Address especially this Part:
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
And from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address:
This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.
7
Those of us who already despair of a totalitarian technocratic future, where capitalism just continues to refine how much it can extract out of workers while giving as little possible in return, without any risk of full-scale destabilization in the process (i.e. the current norm), will nevertheless go out to vote today, as hopeless as that feels, to give Fascism one, last punch in the nose before it takes over entirely.
Maybe we'll get lucky; maybe we'll wake up tomorrow with a fully Democratic House and Senate, and tossing the rest of the criminals out of our government can occupy the next two years.
But probably not.
Many of us will just be turning off the channel if this ends as badly as it seems it will. Migration to anywhere else in the world, with the exception, perhaps, of South Sudan, will be considered an escape to freedom.
Those of us who stay will eventually be rounded up in pens, and shot, so that the few at the top (most of them NOT Jewish, by the way, to clarify for all the psychotics out there) can pretend to feel powerful for a year or two, before the human species expires entirely.
But what a fun year or two for them it will be! Sitting on top of a mountain of electronic numbers, with death all around them.
I can't think of a better time.
1
If we fall into autocracy, it will be because a sizeable portion of the electorate placed us there. This country has been an experiment in democratic self-rule, and the experiment has yielded many good things. People overseas, such as Putin, hate that and want to see an assertive electorate that resists self-interested strongmen fail. In 2016, the US electorate failed, on many levels. If this nation backs itself into an inescapable authoritarian corner, these irresponsible voters will collectively have to take the blame for that on their own, shameful shoulders.
1
Just who is paying for all those trips on AF 1 to Trump's rallies?
Are we subsidizing the end to democracy as we knew it ?
5
We are, and yes
1
I always enjoy reading Paul Krugman's columns because they always evoke feelings of anxiety, trepidation and suspense, much like a good, scary campfire story. But rest assured, his predictions never come true, like his famous post-election declaration that the world-wide economy would sink into a depression and never recover. Now that's scary!
3
Paul, I agree, that if left unchecked the Republicans may never again permit a fair election. If Dems get the House it may also be time to consider the transition of power that should come if Trump loses in 2020. That is often the critical time in the slide toward authoritarianism. Trump has lots of heavily armed 2nd amendment types and has in the past invoked them to overrule elections. I dont think that "arm the liberals" campaigns are needed, given that our police forces and military are likely to enforce our laws, at least the first time someone refuses to step down. Appeals to the good intentions of the Trump base are clearly of little use, this will be a naked display of power grabbing and we can only hope that law enforcement plays the role it should.
2
"It’s not hyperbole to say that if the G.O.P. holds the line on Tuesday, it may be the last even halfway fair elections we’ll ever have."
Holy moley! Krugman is even more pessimistic than I am. I asked a friend the other day, "What specifically should the Germans have done in the early and mid-1930's, when they realized what was happening? He did not dispute my dark view of our state.
3
You'll be called hysterical for the end of your column, but you've been right all along on this. That we are self-interested parties is obvious, but what's not so obvious is that our self-interest, and our ability to choose what we want for ourselves and our children hinges on that last argument. I'm praying for most of us to take the long view when we vote. It's not all about our emotions and money.
3
I am a Chinese immigrant, who had lived in Europe (France) for three years before coming to US. When I first came to US, I was surprised by the almost non-existent international coverage in the news. Even the national news was a smaller portion compared to the local news. Europe, even China, was much more international in almost every aspect. The American education has failed its citizens. People here cannot grasp anything outside their tangible tiny world. I don't think the majority people can comprehend the concept of globalization, trade, democracy ......
14
@Shell W. Where else in the world is the local news about the latest bevy of shootings?
2
My greater fear is that if the Dems to take control of the house, the level of acrimony by the rank and file Trump supporters will be:
(you fill that in). Some of the man in the street TV commenters sound like we have crossed the line past civil street demonstrations.
I'm an Independent and I have no stomach for continued ugly rhetoric. I want my democracy back.
1
@Guitarman
Worrying about the acrimony of people who wear flags and shout "Lock Her Up" is NOT our problem.
Allowing confirmed Trump stooges to continue leadership of both houses of Congress IS OUR PROBLEM.
Solve the problem by voting for Democrats.
2
@Guitarman......Ignore the rhetoric and pay attention to the facts.
1
One gross injustice that the Republicans continue to support is rejecting any attempt of the 700,000 citizens residing in the District of Columbia from gaining voting representation in Congress, either by becoming a state or some other method. When the Democrats are in the majority, our "shadow" senator and Congresswoman can vote in committee.
Think about it. If DC (heavily Democratic) had voting representation, the Senate would have already put breaks on this administration. By 2020, DC will most likely have more citizens residing there than 4 states. And then, there is the issue of 4 states with more than 20 million (one of those states (California) has near 40 million), which are clearly underrepresented. If these clear injustices were fixed, there is no way that the Republicans would hold the Congress. Therein lies the problem. So I am not surprised that the Republicans act shamelessly on redistricting, voter suppression, etc. It seems to be part of their make-up.
4
@William: The responsibility to vet federal judicial and executive appointees and treaty commitments with other nations are some of the most important functions of government, and they are left to the most farcically malapportioned fake deliberative body on Earth here in the USA.
There are now two news sources in the US. The NY Times and the NY Post are on one side of the divide, Fox News is on the other.
For a while, Fox News was wrong more often than not. But then a strange thing happened.
The liberal media shifted left. Standards of journalistic integrity were compromised.
Some might cite the inability of the NY Times to report both sides of the story on illegal immigration. Say, not only stories about illegal immigrants making good in the US, but also stories about the jobs that illegal immigrants took from American workers. They did publish such stories years ago, but this trend was forgotten.
Perhaps the watershed moment came with the trial of Bill Cosby. The New Yorker published 60 accusations of accusers who had not brought charges before the statutes of limitations had expired.
It appeared that Cosby was prosecuted in the media, not in the courts.
Then came the Me Too movement which shamed men based on accusations that were never checked by legal process.
Finally, the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh was turned into a trial for attempted rape, and when the evidence failed to meet the standard of "more likely than not," Democrats voted along party lines to deny confirmation.
Isn't denial of due process also a step towards autocracy? Isn't giving amnesty to illegal immigrants by executive order a step towards autocracy?
Isn't denial of freedom to speak about overpopulation without charges of racism a step towards autocracy?
2
@Jake Wagner: At least few if any coal mining jobs were lost to illegal immigrants.
People who want to ban contraception as well as abortion don't want to hear anything about overpopulation, or the effects of human activities on climate. They're on your team.
I have yet to get a straight answer to "What is an establishment of religion?" from any "Federalist Society" judicial droid.
@Jake Wagner.....Some might cite the inability of the NY Times to report both sides of the story on illegal immigration.
You mean like reporting that when Obama left office illegal immigration into the U.S. was at a 40 year low.
I kind of like facts so maybe you could tell us when if ever illegal immigrants were granted amnesty by executive order.
As for due process - Kavanaugh was not on trial (where something might be taken away). This was about giving him something, like a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court; and as for real due process what happened to Merrick Garland? Not holding hearings was a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
2
What another farce today's voting experience turned out to be. The electronic ballot scanning machines broke down so the line backed up 1/2 hour long just to put one's marked ballot through a slot to be fed to the machines later by staffers when they work again. This system has nothing whatsoever to impress anyone with its integrity.
2
I just want to thank Dr. Krugman, for not just his sagacious articles over the years but for the new feature of taking the time to reply to the readers' comments in the "NYT Replies" section of the Comments. I believe this is a first in the Times, having an op-ed writer replying to readers' comments, and it is enhances the discussion.
5
Can we agree that if its in the Constitution, then it was ratified by at least 2/3 of congress or 2/3 of staates, and that if its in the Constitution, it is not extreme?
The Party of Trump is against most of the Constitution. They are against the separation of church and state, against the separation of powers, declaring the Democrats treasonous for not clapping for Trump's speech. They call the entire judiciary "broken."
The preamble calls for Justice and Tranquility. The right calls for law and order which are necessary but not sufficient to create Justice and Tranquility.
It calls for defence through local militias not a global offense with troops stationed in, or attacking, almost every country in the world.
It calls for promoting the general welfare, not the particular welfare of the mega-rich who own capital for a living against the interests of workers who actually create the wealth, and the jobs because they are also the consumers.
It calls for Liberty For All ( 14th and 19th Amendments) not just those that can afford lawyers and lobbyists.
It calls for Posterity, not the next quarterly report.
The corporate establishment is almost as extreme. Both parties have used bipartisan legislation to throw open our borders to global corporations (based anywhere) which they are turning into citizens! They have created a neoliberal/neoconservative world order, that puts machines above humans
The least extreme is the left, trying to implement the Constitution. Read it!
PAUL KRUGMAN Is correct in his dire warnings against the authoritarian GOPpers who have no regard for any law except the whim of Trump. I curse them for having permitted him to be their candidate in 2016, given his history of 3,500+ lawsuits and counting. Being aware of that logjam, the GOPpers have plenty of evidence that Trump would do precisely the same thing in the government. His wrongful ascent to the presidency is NOT because he won the popular vote--which he lost to the tune of some 2.8 million votes, but rather because he won the votes in the electoral college--70+ votes. That's NOT how elections are supposed to work with such a tiny number of voices silencing the express will of We The People. I'm following Ben Franklin's admonition to be a pessimist, today especially. I'm ready for rotten news and will be delighted truly if there is good news--that the dictatorship has been ended. That there is a chance that our democracy will be restored. Trump has borrowed a very dark page from Hitler's Mein Kampf Vol 1. where he talks about the huge lie--tell it often enough and people believe it--and you yourself will come to believe it. He used that against the Jews. Trump violates the law constantly with his every utterance that is an incitement to violence. Never mind that he tells 4.5 lies per day. Trump must be called to account for his constant incitement to violence. If the Democrats prevail, he may well have much to answer for. VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
1
@John Jones: Trump would be locked up if the US "justice" system actually adjudicated cases.
So Paul, are you paranoid, or do you think that people are just out to get you?
Your histrionics lead very to the kind of hysteria on the Left that we see from the Right. Pushing the Democratic Party further left is merely a prescription for the kind of electoral disaster that the Democrats had in 1968. The exit off the road to autocracy requires centerist candidates. Just watch how badly Larry Hogan a Republican Centerist in Maryland clobbers former NAACP President Ben Jealous today.
If Democrats don't wake up and smell the coffee, we will have another four years of The Donald in 2020.
1
@George in the Swamp: Nobody else projects like you Trump androids.
How are you today, Mr. Crow?
Thank you, alive and doing very well. And please, call me Jim.
3
I pray that Paul Krugman is not being Chicken Little here, because if he is it may already be too late.
Democracy is definitely what's at risk here, but Trump is making the issue the loss of white power. LBJ spoke about the danger of angry white men becoming racists in 1966:
"Racism -- whether it comes packaged in the Nazi's brown shirt or a three-button suit -- destroys the moral fiber of a nation. It poisons public life. So I would urge every American to ask himself before he goes to the polls on Tuesday: Do I want to cast my vote on the basis of fear? Do I want to follow the merchants of bigotry?"
We have to ask the same question of ourselves today. Republicans are choosing racist fear, while Democrats are trying to save democracy.
2
When the U.S.A was at war with fascism in Europe our President said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Now that fascism has slinked into the U.S. our so called president has only fear to give US.
Fear of brown babies.
Fear of scared mothers.
Fear of dark skinned laborers.
Fear of the future.
Fear of each other.
Fear of ourselves.
We must put a Congress in to check his undemocratic tendencies. To check his abuse of the Constitution. To check his lies. To check his crazy. To check his inhumanity.
To check his very base base.
Vote today like your life and the lives of your children depend on it. Because they do.
6
"Authoritarianism"? Isn't it time to start using the "f" word? Republicans have embraced the "white supremacists" and "white nationalists" in this country and "one party authoritarian regimes" of "white nationalists" in Hungary and Poland.
Why are you -- and other NYT commentators and journalists -- so afraid of using the "f" word? You have been talking about the rising fascist tide for quite a while. And still you won't use the best descriptive term for fascism (which is "fascism" by the way).
2
What will we do? ORGANIZE
2
As a minority brought up in a two-parent, financially sound,
"middle" income family, I've never really responded to the 'what we'll do FOR you' pitch from either party.
I was raised to do myself.
However, I am quite tuned in to what the right in America is ever more overtly evincing that it would like to do TO me. Oh yes, and I am quite responsive to 'that'.
I suggest Democrats tailor their messaging towards that tack. RING THE BLOODY ALARM(already)!
Sound for battle.
3
I agree. I've been to Poland recently and everything appears normal, except a lone protest with a Fascism banner. The economy is good. Just don't bring up certain topics. You'll get uncomfortable silence. The news is vapid. The people have just stopped paying attention. There is no way to change things that aren't unacceptably dangerous. I can't escape the sense that I have seen our future. The first stages aren't so bad. But the way it ends up!
3
The two most interesting articles in the paper today are the one concerning the recent voting results in Poland which are very encouraging and the one on the Hispanics who are tracing their roots to allow them to emigrate to Spain! If I were younger I might be trying to return to the country of my ancestors even though they came to this country in the 17th and 18th century. And I will be encouraging my grandchildren to emigrate if things don't improve.
Ever wonder why the big push by so many to legalize pot? Probably because it is supposed to be relaxing as well as relieving pain and doesn't cause weight gain like wine, beer and liquor! And if anything is desperately needed in this country by the majority of citizens it is stress relief.
Jus
The GOP has been steadfast in its attempts to suppress the vote since Nixon. It would truly be refreshing if they just said
those amendments to the constitution were nice in theory but we don't think people of color or immigrants should be entitled to vote. Donald Trump said the process was rigged and he would not accept the results unless of course he " won", Well, even after he won he still said there was voter fraud despite not a whit of evidence. Now we have Kemp, Secretary of State while simultaneously running for Governor going all out to suppress the minority vote and when spanked by the courts claims voter fraud and " hacking". Seriously! Funny every single intelligence and law enforcement agency in America said the Russians hacked our last Presidential election but Mr Kemp and the majority of the GOP are silent about that because Donald Trump says he believes Putin! But seriously, to quote our President, Ms Abrams isn't qualified anyway, would that be because of her Yale law degree? Her business background? Her successful career as an elected official? . No, it's really all about the color of her skin and her gender. Wake up America!
1
Dr Krugman: Thank you so much for answering these comments live on the NYT. It contributes to the sense that this is a momentous occasion, which it is, for better or worse, and I suspect for the better.
1
The biggest political charade is that we are still a functioning Democracy. We are not anymore. Haven't been for some time.
Corporatism is just another word for Fascism.
1
Your President's endless distractions; increasingly divisive, offensive language and fear-mongering along racial lines indeed smacks of fascism. Unfortunately, Mr. Krugman's column barely scratches the surface of how easy it will be for fascism to slip in and take over in America. The Republican party has made clear where they stand on the issue- with Trump.
It is easy to make the 'fascist' call or comparisons to previous and current dictators- but this is not said lightly.
We are seeing every indicator from our overseas locations, watching in shock and horror at every offensive remark and unfriendly, undemocratic act he takes- affecting the lives of those far beyond your borders.
His mind-numbingly disregard for the rule of law, morality and human decency and penchant for reversing anything that former President Obama achieved during his administration barely begins to define where one can start to argue the point- he is exhausting us; robbing us all of oxygen. Almost hourly, he unloads more to offend and denigrate his office, only diminishing America's standing in the eyes of the world.
But he was elected- by persons eager to welcome authoritarianism, it would appear.
My largest concern with your 2016 election was how so many simply did not vote. That was equally responsible for the state your nation is now in- and now the rest of the world must endure the prospect of a nuclear-armed nation run by a narcissistic racist testing the waters of authoritarian control.
1
Your President's endless distractions; increasingly divisive, offensive language and fear-mongering along racial lines indeed smacks of fascism. Unfortunately, Mr. Krugman's column barely scratches the surface of how easy it will be for fascism to slip in and take over in America.
It is easy to make the 'fascist' call or comparisons to previous and current dictators- but this is not said lightly.
We are seeing every indicator from our overseas locations, watching in shock and horror at every offensive remark and unfriendly, undemocratic act he takes- affecting the lives of those far beyond your borders.
His mind-numbingly disregard for the rule of law, morality and human decency and penchant for reversing anything that former President Obama achieved during his administration barely begins to define where one can start to argue the point- he is exhausting us; robbing us all of oxygen. Almost hourly, he unloads more to offend and denigrate his office, only diminishing America's standing in the eyes of the world.
But he was elected- by persons eager to welcome authoritarianism, it would appear.
My largest concern with your 2016 election was how so many simply did not vote. That was equally responsible for the state your nation is now in- and now the rest of the world must endure the prospect of a nuclear-armed nation run by a narcissistic racist testing the waters of authoritarian control. The Republican party has made clear where they stand on that issue- with Trump.
PAUL KRUGMAN - Thank you again and again!
Could the so-called "technical problem with the paper ballot reading machine in GEORGIA have anything to do with an intention by REPUBLICANS? Humidity was named as the problem but something sounds like enough water in that paper to be FISHY.
Regardless of what happens with the midterms today Trump will clean house tomorrow, or the next day, or the next; Sessions and Rosenstein and Muller will be squashed. And even if the evidence against POTUS makes it to congress, or the public - the Senate has made clear its intentions to fall in line when the shock collar that is Trump's twitter finger is activated.
The GOP has had a plan in place to take over our government since Newt Gingrich broke American politics (How Newt Gingrich Destroyed American Politics - The Atlantic). That's a great article explaining how the stage was set for Trump to succeed.
Republicans have known for a while that we are at a tipping point with regards to diversity in the American electorate. Privileged, wealthy, white older men are now in the minority and if they don't take complete control now and change the laws they will loose power forever. This simply is not acceptable.
Trump has promised to appoint as many conservative judges as he can. And he's made good on that, and Kavanaugh is in place to make sure any evidence against Trump never sees the light of day. As of today the United States Senate has confirmed 84 Article III judges, including 2 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 29 judges for the United States Courts of Appeals and 53 judges for the United States District Courts.
If Trump isn't checked today the democracy we have taken for granted is gone-baby-gone.
2
Plato defined five types of republic, in order of virtue: aristocracy, timocracy, oligarcy, democracy, and tyranny. It is fashionable nowadays to either contrast democracy with a republic (a contradiction in terms) as the tea party might, or to conflate autocracy with any type of republic but democracy, as a pundit might.
This is a handy shorthand for a busy and young electorate, but we should remember our history and endeavor to speak with clarity. Words do matter.
In the abstract, the future also lies in where tax revenue goes
and how equitably it is collected. Paul K has advocated deficit
spending, just as the GOP is doing, but he wants it for education, health care and infrastructure....our real future.
Wages are a different matter, need to be addressed by the
corporations and 1%. So.....spend into debt when needed,
but tax intelligently to balance that spending.
2
@Poesy
Pres. Trump's approach to taxation has been a total WIN for workers. There's no rational way to attack this success,and even Paul will admit that.
Mr. Krugman,
always enjoy reading your opinions, everything that I am reading about the mid term elections emphasizes the blatantly and callous gerrymandering in the past 15 yrs or more by the GOP of the country's voting districts, so that could keep them in power for many years, the Democrats would have to not only win the popular vote, but they would need to be above 10 percentage points according to several predictions by fivethirtyeight, what are your thoughts about this ?
2
Hitler was appointed Chancellor because he was the leader of the largest party (but a plurality, not a majority) in Germany. A compliant legislature then gave him the right to rule by decree. Trump did not win the popular vote the spineless majority in congress supports his lawless impulses. Doesn't anyone see the parallels?
6
@Cassandra Yes, here is a recent article by a leading Holocaust historian that compares today's US to Nazi Germany with great similarities: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian
The trends, national and international, are ominous. Unfortunately, with history not being taught in schools to guard us against repeating what happened during the '20s and '30s in the last century, we are rushing headlong into another "dark valley" of authoritarianism. It started when democracy (and its failure to benefit the vast majority) became a questionable way to govern. The unlimited flow of dark money in politics is a leading source of inequality and whatever happens today will only slow the tide unless real reform is undertaken.
3
Well, a real democracy wouldn't allow a runaway president to screw us all, for lack of sensible regulations and 'checks and balances' from the other two branches of government. You mentioned Poland and Hungary, lost democracies to 'little tyrants', so insecure about themselves that they are afraid even of their own shadows, and abhor criticism however constructive, thereby belittling the intelligence and freedom of their citizens. Malevolent Trump is trying the same thing here, in these United States, with the full support of a deranged republican party...whose dereliction of duty is appalling. Ought we allow the end (hold on absolute power...to abuse it) justify the means (lie, insult, and instill fear and hate, as a matter of course?). As it stands this very minute, we do not have a real democracy, a pluto-kleptocracy instead.
2
Ever read Hannah Arendt? Ever hear of Goebels? The key here is brainwashing. And the brainwashing machine of Fox, Limbaugh, Alex Jones, robocalks, Facebook, Twitter, fake news, innuendo, scurrilous ads and web sites, etc is run by a handful of disturbed billionaires who define reality for about 40% of Americans. And now run the GOP that is elected by this machine. Oligarchy is here for the 40%.
11
Our Mid-Terms Election Day 2018 is here. Voting from coast to coast, we are witnessing America's manifest destiny in action. President Barack Hussein Obama ginned up all of us patriotic Americans to vote when he told us in Florida that "The character of this country is on the ballot!". We're seeing our countrymen -- who didn't bother to vote in the 2016 Presidential Election (that crowned Donald Trump the Carney-Barker President) -- rushing to the polls today.
We who have lived long enough to witness what happened to our world -- when a dictatorship was voted in by Germany 85 years ago -- are taking Obama's words to heart and how. Our 44th President stumped for Democratic candidates and told us -- in his inimitable clarion voice --"Don't Boo! Vote!". And that is what we are doing today. As you say, Dr. Paul, Mid-term Elections are American democracy's "last exit off the road to autocracy". We're giving this exit of our 45th presidency our all.
3
I do hope the Democrats win, but I hope even more that they will return to their roots and again become the party of unions, working class people and the common man, the party of LBJ, FDR and Truman. If Democrats keep on being controlled by moneyed neoliberals like Clinton, Pelosi and Schumer, I can see even more grief and danger in the near future. There's no point in winning if you're returning to the status quo that got you into trouble in the first place.
3
Today we're voting from coast to coast during Mid-terms Election Daqy 2018. Amerrica's glorious manifest destiny in action. President Barack Hussein Obama ginned up patriotic Americans to vote when he told us in Florida that "The character of this country is on the ballot!". We're seeing our countrymen -- who didn't bother to vote in the 2016 Presidential Election (that crowned Donald Trump the Carney-Barker President) -- rushing to the polls today.
We who have lived long enough to witness what happened to our world -- 85 years ago -- are taking Obama's words to heart and how. Our 44th President stumped for Democratic candidates and told us -- in his inimitable voice --"Don't Boo! Vote!". And that is what we're doing today. As you say, Dr. Paul, Mid-term Elections are American democracy's "last exit off the road to autocracy". We're giving this exit of our 45th presidency our all.
1
Two parties, and a small number of people within those two parties, essentially control who the candidates are and limit participatory process, which serves to leaving the majority of citizenry wondering why they should bother.
In other first world democracies, there are typically traditional governing parties on the left and right of center, but also other options further to the left and right for voters to look at.
In Canada, as one example, both the two traditional governing parties, the Liberal's and Conservatives, have been almost completely and deservedly obliterated on occasion by angry electorates. That's forced them to periodically cleanse and re-invent themselves before the electorate allows them back into their traditional, dominating roles. In Canada, on the left, the primary alternative option is the New Democrats while the right wing has had it's own outlets on occasion.
In America, voters are stuck in the Republican/Democrat divide with no third or fourth party options given consideration.
That's worked for a long time but now appears to be very unhealthy with party chiefs unresponsive and the electorate demoralized about the political system.
2
@Bobby Clobber
Right on, Bobby. Having been an independent voter ("No Party Preference" in California) for over 25 years, I vote for ballot propositions and local candidates every election, but rarely for candidates for state offices, which are generally occupied by professional politicians who move from one office to another as they are termed out of an existing office.
Following two terms in the Assembly, two in the State Senate, perhaps an interim lobbying job, we offer a quaint system of boards, commissions, and other opportunities for their fellow politicos to ensure them (and later, themselves) a life-long career of good paying jobs with great benefits in or related to the state government.
The two party system is not working well for us.
1
Given that autocracy is well entrenched and we cannot longer respect or depend on American Democracy to function, we will appreciate guidance for proper responses by the oppressed majority to what is increasingly amounting to tyranny.Suggestions, Mr. Krugman?
1
Want Democracy? ALWAYS vote ONLY for those candidates with the LEAST financial backing and the LEAST advertising. ALWAYS. It's the only way today to get money out of politics.
2
The more that Democrats are elected the braver and more progressive those Democrats will feel empowered to be.
2
Youth.Unless the majority of young people participate in this election,things won't change.
3
The unfortunate role of "mainstream media" in all this, as noted by Mr Krugman, is really no surprise to someone who has read Eric Alterman's book "WHAT Liberal Media?" That the New York Times would be regarded as a "liberal" outpost says less about the Times than it does about the media landscape in which a fairly conservative organ like the Times would be seen as "liberal". Vox and Daily Kos are definitely liberal; are they "mainstream media"?
4
"Everything we’ve seen says that Republicans will do anything they can to take and hold power.."
Check.
"..the reality is that ordinary voters are more easily moved by issues that have a direct impact on their well-being than by more abstract concerns about democracy and rule of law."
Check.
"..until very recently, mainstream news media .. dismiss talk about Republican abuse of power as hysterical."
Check.
Professor Krugman, "The Survival of Democracy" is ready for its test flight. A toast to fair winds and following seas.
1
Prof Krugman here channels Timothy Snyder, the eminent Holocaust historian, who warns in "On Tyranny" (a book inspired by Trump's election), that you never know when you've voted in your last free and fair election. If the Ds don't take at least the House, Nov 6 2018 is frighteningly likely to be my last.
This is the story of our time. It's unfortunate that we've had to rely on "opinion" writers such as Krugman here, and Jen Rubin at the Washington Post, to tell it. The failure of the reporting side of the Times to get this story has been deeply frustrating and depressing. I can only hope that tomorrow morning I'm not feeling that failure was a tragedy.
8
Last Exit Off the Road to Autocracy, Well yeah, but it's the choir being preached to here. Krugman and I have had our differences even if he is not aware of this. His cruel invective towards Sanders supporters could have lost him his job except the NYTs was down on Sanders across the board, and oublquicly Clinton. Last election, the Times could not do anything right.
I'd like to read Krugman writing on the media.
1
Watching the faces of my fellow Americans in the crowds behind Trump, I am shocked and disappointed. They laugh and cheer as this man lies, boasts, fantasizes, demeans and simply babbles nonsense. What is wrong with them?
10
@Randomonium
I have studied there faces and feel like I am in a pre-school class where someone has been awarded a prize. I wonder if they think about how they look to their family and friends. Are they so desperate for their fifteen minutes of fame. Yesterday display of Fox News would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. Well hopefully we can turn the tide today and bring our democracy back. Maybe we should have a recap democratic rally where our new elected officials keep us informed on the issues they are addressing. This would b our fact checking to keep the liar in check. .
1
@Randomonium
The answer is Fox News.
Watch it consistently for a couple of weeks, and you'll notice that they've created a totally "alternative facts" universe over there.
It's a narrative woven together through constant interactions between GOP lies and FN pundits' lies, and that creates the illusion of having politicians who "get it" (after all, they're saying the same thing as your favorite pundits and news channel!).
This has been two decades in the making, and the worst victims, the people that FN and the GOP are betraying most, are their own voters.
1
So true, Trump has taken over the GOP and if they keep the House there will be no check on presidential overreach which is his authoritarian style of governing. The new Attorney General and Sec of Defense lackeys to Trump will use their positions to expand his power. The end of the Mueller investigation, burying the Mueller report , House arrest for Hillary and a war with Iran to rally the country around Trump no doubt based on lies which Trump does daily. Two more justices will start to unravel The New Deal as desired by the GOP for 50 years , social security medicare and medicaid will cut and possibly privatized and use of vouchers. More tax cuts for the rich who will totally control government to enrich Trump and his class despite Trump's claim to be the little guy . Trump has been a millionaire since he was 8 years old has never reported to anyone and has been a racist all his life . Dictatorships are only good for the dictators their families and cronies and dissidents are dispatched with by jail or violence that is not democracy we take for granted it could end.
5
I have imaginary, conservative Republican friends (ICRF) with whom I have make-believe debates. As an old-fashioned Democrat, I win most of these arguments.
“America was never greater, more democratic, more pointed in the right direction,” my invisible friend says.
“It has become a flawed democracy, falling out of the top 20, tied for 21st place with Italy,” I answer.
“Says who?”
“A conservative financial news magazine in England.”
He steps on my statement with, “Fake News.”
I tiptoe into the silence that follows with: “Look what happened to Venezuela, or what is happening right now in Hungary and Poland, or what happened in Germany in the 1930s. These were democracies run by smart people.”
“So you’re a Globalist,” the ICRF says. His eyes hide in darkness below his eyebrows.
“Yes,” I say. “The Great Wall of China was a mistake. It kept out an invasion of new ideas; it became a roadblock to the future.”
“We need a wall to keep out the invaders who want to destroy our democracy,” he says.
“Flawed democracy, in part because you want to make immigration almost impossible.”
“Good idea,” the ICRF says.
“The Statue of Liberty doesn’t think so.”
He fades from my mind, but not before telling me that the figure in New York harbor is a dated, old idea, a gift from France that no longer works.
I think I won this argument, but I’m not sure.
I feel a tap on my shoulder, another ICRF. She wants to talk about why Trump is the hero of women across America.
4
If people vote for fascism and we end up with it, those same people will end up not liking it and try to get rid of it. It will just be harder and more people will get hurt if it comes to that.
3
a lot of voters don't go in thinking about the survival and health of our democracy.
especially on the right, they are primarily one issue voters motivated by a hatred of progress, religious intolerance, gun obsession, racism, sexual insecurity and obsessive nosiness, extreme selfishness when it comes to taxes, and abortion, with a few other issues bringing up the rear.
on the right, they mainly don't like to be told what to do, while telling everyone else what to do and how to live.
bottom line: freedom means I can do whatever I want and nothing I don't want, but you have to do what I say. this is an adult/infant dynamic.
2
@[email protected]
I totally agree. The question now, is how to respond?
It's all on the line this time: "the survival of American democracy," nuclear war, voting rights for women and blacks, economic prosperity, and your personal freedom all depend on your voting (D) this time. No hyperbole, no partisanship here, just good old fashioned common sense. The world will end unless you vote (D).
My only question is, Where was everyone when we had an ACTUAL madman in the White House, who waged an unjust and unprovoked war against Iraq (with support from Hillary, of course)? We slaughtered hundreds of thousands of humans, wasted trillions of dollars, and gave birth to ISIS but it was ok because W. Bush was the kind of guy most people wanted to have a beer with.
Where was everyone when we had an ACTUAL tyrant who tortured captives, spied on Americans unconstitutionally, and gave huge tax cuts to the rich while he was at it?
As I recall, the NY Times was generally pretty supportive of W. Bush and his Iraq War...certainly Tom Friedman...and the NY Times really put the hate on Wikileaks and Edward Snowden as if they were security problems, not heroes protecting our rights by exposing the truth.
Just remember, it's all on the line this time! We gotta get that madman who made peace with North Korea out of the White House...get rid of that obscene man who finally stood up to China...because otherwise we'll become a fascist nation...no hyperbole here...
1
This would be funny but for the tragedy. In other essays, like John Ganz's of July 24, the NY Times excoriates Donald Trump and his politics of fear. Now, here is Paul Krugman, mongering fear.
Mr. Krugman is sure the Republicans will not take defeat well. This, after the Democrats blatantly rejected the results of the 2016 elections.
Is this what hypocrisy looks like? (Yes.)
2
Trump's claim that the positive economic situation of today is only because of HIS actions is akin to a relay race, where the runner in the last lap claims that he, and only he, won the race!
The other previous lap runner, (Obama et al!) delivered the baton to him in a winning position and his last lap only had to maintain the trend that was well ahead!
Hey, liars can do anything better than anyone else!
1
Republicans hate freedom and want to turn America into an authoritarian state.
1
@Walter
1. Some GOP politicians and leaders and pundits certainly believe that "the people" are too stupid to govern and that you need a propaganda machine to keep them fired up all while doing what they would reject if they would know that this is what you're doing.
2. Some GOP politicians and pundits disagree, but find it safer for their own careers to just play along, hoping that the tide will turn, sooner or later.
3. Most GOP voters radically reject authoritarianism, but are living in a fake news bubble created by the first two categories, and as a consequence imagine that it's Democrats rather than the GOP who incarnate totalitarianism ...
The only solution is to engage in real, respectful debates with category 3, so that they can open their ideas and actively turn the GOP into a party of values again.
Because in order to thrive, a democracy needs at least two serious political parties.
Too many don't even know what "autocracy" is. Why should they? Their own president does not know what "democracy" is.
2
Believing in democracy is not trying to overthrow the current president because you don’t like his policies or getting the media shills to say the election was won by the Russians.
1
Just autocracy?
How about the almost certainly emerging . .
Kleptocracy.
Cash grab.
Crony capitalism.
White christian theocracy.
Scorched earth.
Warfare (shooting of innocents).
Military parades.
Parading uniformed militias.
Undrinkable water, un-breathable air, rising oceans.
I'm sorry, I'm getting that sinking feeling as I read this column, and just had to stop. In fact, the past 2 years have been so overwhelmingly awful, that I don't even read the NYT anymore beyond the headlines.
Everyone--please drag your friends, relatives, neighbors, and any other acquaintances to the polls and help us get this thing back on track.
1
Our "But(t) ugly"....democracy has been dying for years. The Dems better come out swinging, win or lose.
I did vote. I expressed in my ballot how i despise trump and his policies and the fact that the he and the gop are together taking the nation off the cliff. It is scary and disgusting that a horribly corrupt, racist,sexist, islamophobic, xenophobic person, who says all the things he does Is allowed to run in an election, and what he says is even broadcast by the media. If 45 or even 35 percent vote for him or any of his spineless party candidates, something is very wrong.
3
Will you at least admit that some of my points are valid?
What are we teaching our children by how we vote? That's what worries me most. Our 8-18 yr. olds are certainly aware of what this president has been saying if there's been a TV on in the house these past two years. If they hear parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles talking favorably about him, that signals to children that his personal immorality, his bullying behavior toward individuals he names, his racist and misogynist rhetoric, his refusal to take personal responsibility for wrongdoing or failure but automatic blaming of others, his conspiracy talk, his casual lying and disregard for facts is all good and admirable and how "winners" win in life. Heaven help us all if those lessons are learned by the next generation.
1
When Sky thunders, either it cheers Republicans, or it roars for a Russian cyber attack. Watch out how Sky reacts with America on the election day. It might love democracy, who knows?
1
Christ! Trump supporters and Republicans (both read as right wing extremist, aka fascists) cannot stand the truth. Krugman is right, democracy is on the ballot Tuesday.
1
"Voting restrictions are almost entirely a Republican thing. As always, Democrats aren’t saints, but they appear to believe in democracy, while their opponents don’t"
"For the survival of American democracy is on the ballot."
Yes. Yes to both ideas. Republicans hate democracy as much as they hate the truth. Republicans love power and money. Republicans will tell any lie to obtain power and money. Trump has taken that a step farther and lies just for fun. Republicans love him for it.
We are, in fact, at war. This is, so far, a somewhat "civil" war, and mostly a cold war. But it is a war. We have a constitutional crisis that began when the republican senate refused to advise on Obama's pick for the supreme court, abdicating their duty as US Senators. With the election of Trump and republican control of congress, the destruction of democratic institutions such as the free press is ongoing and the turn towards fascism is speeding up. Another national election in 2020 is not assured if the fascist white supremacists consolidate power on Tuesday.
So, if you prefer that this war not go hot, and that America not become the newest fascist state, better get to the polls and vote as though your democracy depended on it, because it surely does.
If you love the truth and you love democracy, then you had better...
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS WITHOUT EXCEPTION!!!
1
I keep coming back to the question of how so many people can support an obvious huckster and liar like trump. I understand supporting the Republican party, but not supporting a man so seriously unqualified and incapable of being president. The shock I felt on election night 2016 has not worn off.
2
Let's see if voting makes fascism go away. Tens of millions of voters love it. THEY LOOOOOOVE IT! Many of them, by the way, are also heavily armed. The armed forces and the police, you ask? Unfortunately, you're going to find lots of Trumpers in that bunch, as well. But, hey, may as well give it a try. Go vote!
3
Every son and daughter of a WWII veteran should be appalled by the rise of Fascism here in the United States. I only hope and pray that, tomorrow, the Blue Wave will be a tidal wave that washes American Fascists, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Lindsey Graham and, of course, Donald Trump back into the swamp from which they arose.
2
Will Dems. ever learn to fight instead of just letting the GOP lie and cheat into "winning"? CNN, Delta, etc. should relocate if that criminal in Georgia claims himself the winner.
3
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT:
"Will We Stop Trump
Before It’s Too Late?"
"Fascism poses a more serious threat now than
at any time since the end of World War II."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/opinion/sunday/trump-fascism-madeleine-albright.html
2
Paul is right. Fascists check in but they don't check out, not voluntarily - from Mussolini to Erdogan and everyone in between including Hitler, Putin, Chavez, Mugabe, you name it. You've seen McConnell and Grassley and Kemp and Kobach and Trump and Pence and Ryan in action. You think that crew will go quietly? We have to win tomorrow because if we don't, it is the last time we will have the chance, but then we have to make the victory good on January 3. Trump in particular knows that without the power, his goose is cooked; jail awaits him. No doubt that concentrates his mind. And whatever else you might say about Trump, he is bold. Put nothing past him. Nothing.
3
How inspiring it will be if Latino turnout and youthful turnout jointly are what rescue us from this rapid descent into slavery and dictatorship!
2
@Sunspot
Very well said!
After all, it's because cultivating values and strong moral character is so heavily present among today's African-American community that Obama and the Democrats managed to massively win the 2008 elections.
Because Michelle and Barack didn't merely win on policy. They also won because they're such an amazingly strong moral leaders. Exactly the kind of leaders African-Americans in this country have been proven to create time and again.
Their vote, together with that of Latinos/as and young people remains crucial to keep this democracy thriving.
1
Why are you sitting there reading this? GO VOTE!
The Dems will surely take The Housr, and many State Houses. Trump and his criminal empire will surely be convicted.
Or we all shall parish.
1
Are we losing Mr. Krugman?
What does he mean when he says “white nationalists”? In Poland literally everybody is Caucasian, so the use of the
adjective “white” is completely senseless!
The drama king could the next time use the term ”human nationalists”…
1
@Kenan Porobic
Except that for those "nationalists", Jews, Roma, Muslims etc. aren't considered to be "White", remember?
If not, here's what will help you refresh your memory:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Revival_of_Poland
@Ana Luisa
I am just saying that Krugman is trying to make comparison to America at any price so he tangled himself in trap. You comment would suggest that those people are neither racists nor nationalists but just religious zealots...
Before ballots are even cast by the majority of voters, Paul Krugman has decided to hurl Molotov cocktails, creating greater dissent and fomenting further divide. Enough!. After the shameless treatment of Justice Kavanaugh and incessant cries for impeachment, Democrat party integrity is firmly on the ballot. Seeking only power while letting leftist Bernie Sanders set the agenda exposes an invertebrate Party barren of ideas as it wanders aimlessly after having willfully discarded a moral compass.
Mr. Krugman’s latest diatribe provides the perfect illustration of this hypocrisy in yet another “believe what I say not what I do” hoax as he trumpets saving democracy while his cohorts trumpet the tactics of Stalin-ism. Hiding behind a false façade of decency when none has been forthcoming is the height of absurdity.
1
In Mr. Krugman’s world autocracy is only on the right. Central control by the kindly “ people like us” crowd of retrogressively “Progressive “ fellow travelers in his world spells freedom. Of course he thinks he’s part of the “ crowd”. Be careful for what you wish for Mr. Krugman. The Progressive centrally controlled “freedom” you are striving for may end up imprisoning you.
1
@Indy 2000
In all other Western countries, it produced the exact opposite results.
So what are you so afraid of, actually?
Thanks. In addition to getting off the road to autocracy we must get off the road to:
* Inequality
* Injustice
* Instability (Global Pollution, Social, and Political)
* Insatiability (Greed)
See
https://www.legalreader.com/elections-why-you-should-care/
2
@louis v. lombardo Amen. Your insights are important. I would add or highlight another factor.
-- We, as a nation, must responsibly embrace and respect diversity.
-- We must think critically and engage in respectful and exploratory conversations about the way of the world face-to-face with our families, neighbors and fellow human beings.
-- We must demand that the people we elect to lead us, explore and discuss challenges using more powerful tools than Twitter and Facebook. Again, our country and the American People must embrace and cultivate the value of critical thinking. We must stop reducing the complex challenges of life to an algorithm or 120 TXT characters.
A sign I saw recently sums it all up:
Voting is like driving....to move forward , choose D
.....to go backward, choose R
If you don't do it my way the sky will fall! Rather childish by Krugman.
1
@bill t
Except that the "way" he's defending here is democracy, as enshrined in the US Constitution, remember?
That's not just Krugman's way, it's America's way.
So either you put America first, or you put the wealthiest 1% first and tell horrible bedtime stories to half of the country so that they won't notice and reelect you ...
41% approve of the Grifter in Chief.
Some of my relatives have a cult following for the dictator in training.
The only hope is for a severe recession to chip away at the cult.
Our Country will never be the same.
1
Paul Krugman is to be praise for replying to the comments to his opinion piece. Note to those commentators who tend to attack the Times and the rest of the mainstream media: If the Times' intent is to hide or to slant the truth in its news coverage (like Fox News), ask yourself why the Times publishes Krugman's pieces and comments sections.
paul---since when do our elections depend on the outright number of votes?---you know better than this---this was never an isuse in the past-only since dems failed to actually win elections!---
1
krugman is a riot. while hillary calls for incivility, holder says "kick 'em" , and the mainstream dem party encourages their followers to harass politicians at restaurants, he says this- "And even if Democrats do climb that tilted slope, anyone expecting Republicans to accept the result with good grace hasn’t been paying attention." uh huh. you mean like how graceful the Dem party has been? uh huh.
krugman is a world-class hack now. it's shocking how partisan he is. what happened to this once respected scientist? and i am still waiting for the economic meltdown and fascism he predicted 2 years ago. but go on, mr. krugman- keep on telling us what you think, and how fascism is around the corner. the hysteria here is jaw dropping.
1
Even if we despise or like we should not vote for or enable fascism, racism and hate. Whoever we support should pass a minimum test. We should all vote
As interesting as what Paul says, it's also interesting what Paul doesn't mention.
Climate change: It's here and getting worse. Our planet Earth lifeboat is leaking and sinking, and neither side is bothering to plug the holes because both sides are fighting over who controls the rudder. Granted, more Democratic control over the federal government and over environmental policy is a necessary but not sufficient condition to keep the lifeboat afloat.
Deficit and debt. The latest Federal tax cuts added some $150-200B to the annual deficit, and yes Republicans will use that to go after Social Security and Medicare. But, even Krugman himself, during Obama's cleanup of the 2008 Republican financial mess, argued at that time the "deficits don't matter".
I too could have one helluva party if I could pass my lavish spending on to kids and grandkids, which is exactly what we're doing, and not have to worry about it. Unfortunately, Dems haven't exactly distinguished themselves on this issue.
Trump's extremely dangerous unraveling of nuclear arms control accords, ranging from the nuclear enforcement agreement w/Iran to our earlier medium-range missile treaty w/Russia, plus what is now only a temporary accord w/North Korea, could result in even quicker destruction of human civilization and planetary ecocide (in hours with a nuclear exchange) than would ever be possible due to climate change (decades or centuries).
Vote as if your life depended on it. It does.
2
Front and center the issue of autocracy is in the hands of the US Supreme , unless there is a loud determined response in this election to resoundingly challenge the privileges and egregious undemocratic decisions fostered by five members of the court, for the last decade. Their reputations and honor go unchallenged by the press in the media and simply settle for analyzing their decisions like good school children.
It is now the time to challenge their reputations by demanding that they disclose their personal financial interests, that hey hold through trusts, foundations and family members. many of which are on federal or state payrolls or occupy partnerships with private firms. The truth is that many of our conservative and one very liberal one, make more money many, many times than their pay as Supreme Court judges. They are the antecedents of the Trump model that mixes public and private interests with no scrutiny. None of these business dealings have been disclosed to the public nor accounting to the private fortunes that have been made while serving on the COURT. The idea of thinking the court sacrosanct and not aligned to specific interests that serve their personal interest is a misconception. It has with the last 5 yearsreducing the rights of citizens to exercise their right to vote and for 'individual ' redress before the court and by sabotaging the 14th amendment.
Generally, things don’t turn out as bad as they are predicted to be, so perhaps we can take some solace in that. However, the drift toward the ultra-conservative right in America and other countries is certainly not to be ignored. This cannot end well. History has shown us that.
2
My side is good, the other side is evil.
17
@Jack McCoy
I'm sorry, but totalitarianism IS evil.
That it happens to be the other side that is tilting towards it is very sad, but nevertheless a fact.
What you cannot do, however, is to start imagining that by definition voters or politicians belonging to the other side are "evil" persons. THAT is when an unacceptable, democratic line is crossed.
But it's precisely because this is what Fox News and the GOP have been systematically doing for two decades now that their party is tilting towards totalitarianism. So what they're doing is certainly evil, as measured by any objective standard.
And the only way to avoid this is to AT LEAST keep real, respectful debates among ordinary citizens going.
So with that, any concrete ideas/arguments/objections?
10
@Jack McCoy - Boom. Exactly.
2
@Jack McCoy
Jack, look at the facts. Don't try to say both sides are the same; they are not.
9
Paul Krugman is right. It is the practice of democracy itself that is on the ballot today. And it is the practice of democracy itself that is in peril around the world. I've found much inspiration in the past week in visiting the JFK Library and Museum in Boston, watching the videos of one of the greatest thinkers of my lifetime articulating the reasons for our aspirations to do what is right, informed by the wisest words that come down to us through Isaiah, the wisest Greek philosophers and poets and the wisest actions taken by our forebears that are part of our democratic legacy today. After the polling results today, it will continue to be our task to uphold democratic principles here and around the world. May we live up to our pledge as articulated by John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address in 1961, "to pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the success of liberty". We are "unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." After today's election, regardless of its outcome, we will carry on to further advance these principles through our democratic actions. Let us write new chapters in Profiles in Courage guided by our consciences to do what is right.
1
@Margaret Well said. People should research the thinking of Paul Wellstone too. We face complex challenges but we can emerge on the other end of the tunnel wiser and more enlightened.
I wonder if there is some "reasonable" balance between robust capitalism and forging a true democracy? Is there some inherent incompatibility between the two or is it always 'hit & miss" and throw them both up against the wall and let (whatever) play out?
It never ceases to amaze me how little Republicans care about fair play in our democracy. It is so fundamental to what we purport to be as a nation, yet they brazenly keep their fellow Americans from voting by every means available.
They will rail against someone cheating in, say, a sports game but think it is totally OK to keep someone from voting if they are brown and to gerrymander themselves into minority power. No one man, one vote for them!
@Yuri Asian's friend, the retired judge, has it right when he said too many Americans don't want equality, but superiority.
Yes, we are in an existential crisis in America. I shudder to think how difficult it will be to wrest our nation from their greedy, power-grubbing hands and put it firmly on the path to democracy rather than autocracy.
1
Is Krugman deaf to his own words? If we win, those evil Republicans will reject our victory and fight against us but if we lose those evil Republicans will use the tools of government to advance their agenda. Most people accept that in general politicians are corrupt and self serving and serving of their sponsors. It is true of both Democrats and Republicans. How many leaders rose to power 40 years ago and have grasped that power refusing to relinquish is until they are carried out senile from old age. The same could probably be said for newspaper columnists. Drunk on their self vision of grandeur. It would be good if we admitted, if the Democrats lose it is not because of the Republicans but because their failure to promote an agenda which an overwhelming majority of Americans can support. It is not that the Republicans are so strongly supported but that the Democrats are widely opposed.
3
Those that are still Trump supporters I ask,
1. "If your kid was a bully, called his classmates names, pushed girls around and called them ugly, cheated on tests, and used disruptive language in the classroom, would YOU approve of it?" Then why do you approve the POTUS doing the same?
2. Since the POTUS has displayed such a wide variety of BAD behaviors, tell me again WHY do you want to reward that? Would you do the same with a kid or pet?
David
1
@drdavidc8
Trump fights back, he doesn't bully. Bullies pick on people weaker than them and avoid fights with stronger foes. That does not describe the President. Did you miss Kathy Griffin holding up a mock up of his severed head? Or the endless rants on the mainstream media proclaiming his unfitness for office? Expect him to politely demur to respond to those kinds of attacks? That would make him a chump, not a bully.
1
Paul Krugman should not be so bleak. If we wake up tomorrow where Democrats have the majority in the House and the Senate, we will be better off.
If we wake up tomorrow and Democrats, have won the House but not the Senate, we will still have hope for 2020.
If we wake up tomorrow and Democrats have no power at the national level, we are in deep trouble. But never presume that the American people are beaten. We will rise again.
3
Just imagine, only 10 years ago, the Democrats had control of the Presidency and both Houses of Congress. And what did the POTUS do to maintain this paradise? What did the Democratic congressional leadership do to maintain it? How did the Democrats manage to lose control over statehouses and state legislatures?
How do you account for such a dramatic shift in the outcomes? You don't. You rant about autocracy, although it's the American people who have voted to make the dramatic changes we have witnessed. You tremble at the thought of autocracy, although you have managed to be OK with plutocracy as long as it is Democratic plutocrats in charge.
Goldwater promised a choice, not an echo: T-Rump has delivered on that promise. You might not like the choice, but then it's your burden to change it. What is the alternative, a congeries of self-styled victims, a "whinocracy?" In the 1960s the left chanted "all power to the people;" now "liberals" are hysterical about "populism."
When identity politics supplanted economic and working class issues as the focus of left-wing politics, when the left promoted accidents of birth above common values and aspirations, it created the conditions for its demise. The death of the traditional Left can be seen in Europe as well. In Germany the SPD is in a deep hole; In France, the Socialist candidate couldn't get to the presidential run-off.
What precisely do you stand for and claim to represent, Dr. Krugman? Revulsion is not enough.
1
@San Ta
What Obama and the Democrats did in 2009 and 2010 was turning around Bush's -8% GDP and an economy that was shedding 700,000 jobs a month, and create decade-long historic job growth and economic growth.
Then they passed Romneycare, covering 20 million more Americans and saving an additional 40,000 American lives a year (soon, that will be half a million American lives saved).
They also stood up for more equality for minorities that were still discriminated against, ON TOP of strongly improving the economy and jobs and healthcare.
And they successfully launched the very first international climate change agreement, laying the foundation for a sustainable solution for the biggest challenge we're facing during this entire century.
At the same time, they didn't incite any violence, didn't use racism and hate-speech against one or the other party of the American people or foreigners, actively welcomed ALL religions at the White House, strongly improved America's reputation abroad, ended the war in Iraq, killed Bin Laden, laid the foundation of the demise of ISIS, founded the Consumer Protection Bureau that already shifted hundreds of millions from big banks to Main Street, regulated Main Street, increased taxes on the wealthiest, increased gender equality and respect for all Americans in the military, and most of all, have proven to be THE party of values by leading through example.
THAT is what they stand for.
If you reject all this, what are you standing for ... ?
2
Whatever the result tonight, wether it is what polls show or Republicans end up keeping the House the future is bleak for America. The price for giving away money to the rich will eventually be paid. And by 2020 Mexico will also have an autocrat doing its thing. You know, dividing people and messing up the economy. So by then your autocrat will be ponting to the south and saying "I told you so". Vote for me. The cycle will then be complete thanks to these populist forces popping all over the world.
1
The train has already left the station. On the Economist's democracy index, there are 19 fully functioning democracies in the world. The USA is not one of them! That's a national disgrace.
The troops thing, hope that is just a campaign stunt because, if it is, Trump can end it tomorrow. If he doesn't he opens the US up to a dizinformzione action in Spanish speaking America (most of the hemisphere) that posits the stationing of the 101st airborne Division (15,000 is about division strength, putting it as airborne, or Marine, just part of the propaganda) is ACTUALLY meant to be ready for an incursion to secure US "interests"- the factories in north Mexico.
When the "communist" becomes Prez down there in December.
That propaganda makes more sense in a way than the given story, you need a division of Marines to stop 5,000 homeless...
What with all the smoke, ash and dust filling TV screens in the election aftermath, including the end to the Mueller Investigation, Trump could get away with shutting the campaign stunt down. It would be a smart move...
...but, of course, the big Q is: is the President smart?
I'm sitting in a Los Angeles area coffee shop next to a table full of oldish white men discussing their official voter information pamphlets using Ann Coulter's "DEMONIC" as some sort of instructional text.
It's incredibly discouraging to watch people dig themselves into self-protective, angry positions aimed at demeaning others. How do you have a conversation with people who're carrying around a book entitled "Demonic"?
But it really feels like the right often refuses to engage with reason, repairing instead to angry memes, racist dogwhistles, and trashfire lies that only obfuscate. Back in Genesis the snake has no creative power--only lies and distortions. Then and now, he never got us much of anywhere good.
75
The retreat from fact based problem-solving is not just illiterate it is anti-literate. I do not mean this tritely —I feel your pain. Donald creates false images then manipulates us into the response he wants.
The other side has “liberal” positions but they have to be identified an issue sat a time. If they have had an ill child they are proponents of Medicare for all. If they are ranchers they become advocates for environmental protection when their farm or ranch is at issue
5
@Alison Siewert Don't dis the snake. He led us to the knowledge of good and evil. And bt for him, we'd all be walking around naked -- and with current obesity levels, that's not pretty.
3
@rich That's very funny, but he still only has smoke and mirrors and nothing substantial with which to do his work. Like certain other liars we know, no matter what your theology. Mendacity is so very limited.
Still, I totally appreciate your humor. Pristine groundling characters would've struggled less with looked better in their vulnerable buff...Eegad, not sure I want to imagine us as we are dressed as they were (not).
Thankfully that's still to come, if you believe it...we're in the Now But Not Yet. Whew!
1
The UN won't even consider overseeing US elections because the voting system does not meet the standards necessary for ensuring a "free and fair" election - and that is using the same criteria the US insists must be used to "certify" the election results of other countries for which the US is trying to demonstrate "free and fair" elections. in particular, the US has such a hodge-podge of rules and regulations that no one can compare "free and fair" results when comparing all the counties in the US. There is no over-riding federal standard so counties are free to do what ever they want, with minimal state oversight. And then you have such obviously corrupt practices such as that in Georgia.
1) Automatic voter registration/update via school enrollment records in High School/College/Community College at age 18, or when applying for a driver's license or receiving any other state issued identification by any state agency.
2) 100% vote by mail. Ballots automatically mailed to every registered voter, and no postage required to return your ballot.
Oregon has been vote by mail for over 20 years. Higher participation rates, no lines, and swift results.
We were blind to the dangers of autocracy . We believed that our institutions were too strong and perfect .We had a certain amount of hubris about our politics . In reality we are a great country, the best in the world . But we are not perfect and democracy is always fragile . I emigrated from Castro`s Cuba more than fifty years ago and I knew . Because I emigrated from a country under a tyrannical dictatorship I was very concerned from the moment this man made his entrance in the political arena . I knew the power of hate and the power of a shameless demagogue . I believed that we always in the end do the right thing after trying everything else as Churchill famously said . We will find out later today if he was right .
2
The "exit" Dr. Krugman speaks of only leads to a roadside rest area. We'll get an hour's respite, maybe, but then we'll be back headed down the same dark highway.
The reactionary tide won't subside just because the Dems take the House. Dems took the House and Senate in 2006, and the Oval Office in 2008 after the chaos of the Bush years, but then a Tsunami hit.
It's gone from bad to worse, and it will get worse even still.
Today's migrant caravan consists of folks from Honduras fleeing a drought emergency that has left 2.8 million Central Americans hungry. Tomorrow's caravan will be folks from our Gulf coast fleeing rising water, and folks from the desert southwest fleeing no-water.
In 1936, California recruited LAPD officers to keep the "Bum Brigade" aka: "Okies" out of the state. It took FDR to put a stop to it. Multiply the number of migrants many times and watch the frothy Christian sentiment suddenly disappear even though these huddled masses look just like "us."
The fork in the road was a stolen election in 2000. But it was more likely 1980 when Americans elected a man who like Trump, colluded with a hostile foreign power, revolutionary Iran, but unlike Trump knew how to read his lines: Ronald Reagan.
2
All I can do is give my most sage knowledge in this.
Yes, America is in trouble, and yes it could end soon, meaning sates go their own way.
I'll ask my own questions:
1) Has anyone been honest?
2) If honest, then do you believe the rest of us are all just failing due to a personal moral failure?
3) Are even the top economists in the world willing to reconsider their position in light of the views of sociologists?
I agree, but will put it a little differently:
A free US will not survive 8 years of Trump.
The only way to avoid 8 years of Trump is to have a fair election in 2020.
The only way to have a fair election in 2020 is to win TODAY!
I have seen how this story ends badly. Unfortunately, for most Americans, this is all conceptual. They do not understand the visceral combination of hatred, fear, and loathing that comes with a modern police state.
Not so many years ago, I worked in Kazakhstan during Nasarbayev's "President for Life" election, or what we would call a dictatorship. I had been eating with co-workers after the polls closed, and asked how the "election" went. "Nasarbayev got 95% of the vote", was the answer. They weren't joking. "And they are looking for the other five percent," came the follow on reply. Nasarbayev, like Putin, was/is an old KGB officer.
His goons came looking for some of those people to a facility that I managed. They wanted to "question" them. I agreed, but instructed our HR manager to remain in the office, along with other admin help, during the questioning . The goons came and went, but were not happy; either with me (an American expat manager), or the fact that they could not break my guys (and some were women) faces wide open, right were they worked. After all, they don't want complaints; bad for business. They want plausible deniability. And, after all, there always was tomorrow.
You don't think that it will happen here. The Jews didn't during WWIi. It can. I have seen it. This election is not about big D Democrat vs Republicans. It is about small d democracy vs authoritarianism. It is a short ride from fixing elections to a police state. Vote. Please.
176
@PB Right plot-line, but wrong characters. The side seeking total control of media, schooling, economy and thought are Democrats, large D. Try being a conservative in certain companies... if you can get hired. Try walking around in a MAGA hat... if you're ready to fight. Try finding any resonant views on CBS, NBC and other established media if you're a Republican -- slim chance.
Your lived history can't happen here because history is not a literally recurring record of events. But if it happens here, it would be under the leadership of radical leftists, not Republican populists.
2
Election forensic analysis (https://tinyurl.com/y7joyd7k) is now being employed to see if election results reflect the actual votes cast in an election. Post-election polls ask voters how they voted. That information is then compared with the election results. If the two don't match it becomes a prima facie case of fraud.
And what has this forensic analysis revealed? Something very ominous. Whenever and wherever a discrepancy has been found between election results and the polls, that discrepancy has always favored the Republican party. Investigators are now calling this "the red shift."
I am afraid when the Polish “white” nationalists tried to kick the Russians out of country, that Mr. Krugman was fully supportive of their efforts…
I am praying to all Gods available to not make me puke or die internal death like I did on the night of 2016 election.
I am not sure.. but my hopes are high on my fellow Americans.
2
This is a Nobel Prize winner warning you about the end of democracy in America. As smart as you are, maybe this guy is smarter.
2
“the survival of American democracy is on the ballot.”
Isn’t Krugman the guy who predicted in a Times piece a “worldwide global recession” that “would have no end in sight” the day after Trump’s election?
And now we are two years in with a turbo charged economy and the lowest unemployment in 60 years?
Some people never learn...
1
@Jay Lincoln
You seem to be someone like that.
This story is now two years old already, and instead of having discovered what Krugman truly wrote, you're still stuck in the fake news myth about it.
How come ... ?
What Krugman said is that IF Trumps puts his economic ideas into practice, a recession will follow.
Two years later, Trump did almost nothing of what he promised to do. No wall, no mass deportation of illegals, no withdrawing from NATO, no destroying of NAFTA, and only very recently a beginning of a trade war with the rest of the world.
On a legislative level, it's even worse/better, as the GOP only passed one major piece of legislation, and it simply gave huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. That, of course, won't plunge the country immediately into a recession either.
Conclusion: with Trump and the GOP having passed NO economic legislation at all, the result is obviously that as ALL graphs show, we've seen no dent in the Obama economy at all either. The unemployment rate continues to go down at the exact same pace, and annual GDP growth is on track to be the same 2% as it has been for years already now.
And remember, if you want to debate the extent to which the GOP is anti-democratic or not, IF you want us to learn something, the best is not to switch to a different topic and stick to ad hominem attacks, but to stay on topic and give some serious arguments showing why the idea that the GOP today is anti-democratic would be wrong, no ... ?
Krugman desperately hopes that none of you ever read The Road To Serfdom.
Absolutely right on Professor. Unlike your colleague David Brooks who in his article today is blaming and begging Democrats to save his derrière!
We are actually worse off since the Affordable Care Act. We buy our own health care and our premiums have gone through the roof, with less selection and less coverage. Not sure why Democrats are promoting a law that made things worse.
1
Regardless of today’s outcome, the polls show some 40% of Americans approve of Trump and, by extension, his GOP enablers and the drift towards authoritarianism. Even if the Democrats do score victories today and especially win control of the House, this can no way be deemed ‘the last exit’ - just a temporary detour on the road to who knows where.
2
"In fact, it’s not hyperbole to say that if the G.O.P. holds the line on Tuesday, it may be the last even halfway fair elections we’ll ever have."
Well Paul Krugman, I don't remember you objecting to the stolen presidential election of 2004. Yeah, Kerry won Ohio; there's overwhelming evidence that the vote counting was hacked.
We are going to get what we deserve.
Either a kleptocratic federal government with often large pockets of democracy at the state and local level …
Or a readjustment of the cancer that’s been actually spreading for decades with money controlling politics (in this case both sides DO do it) and disenfranchising and cynicalizing voters.
It has always been a lie that true capitalism leads to any sort of moral or democratic outcome. Now we’re seeing the fruits.
2
Ruspublicans don`t believe in an open and inclusive society and go so far as to be capable of anti social behavior, some almost sociopathic in how far they take their beliefs of dog eat dog mindset. With this mindset many of us aren`t seen as worthy citizens but dog food. They, like the Confederates before them, hold to a stratification of the people below them. The only society is the society of the controllers. Certain members of the controlled group are allowed to move up when needed and seen as worthy while others will never be allowed to transcind their place due to race, religion or philosophy. There are those that are alright with their position in the strata as long as they get to be the top dog in their pound ( the trumpists ) and there are those that grovel their way up and those willing to use force. This is not the Democratic Republic our founders envisioned nor what Lincoln envisioned with his "of the people, by the people, for the people" nor FDR with his Four Freedoms speech but it is what we will get if we don`t exercise our duty as citizens and vote to maintain this Democratic Republic. This one election will not set everything right but it can be the start. It will take many elections to steer our ship of state to a safe harbor where we can prosper as a caring inclusive Society.
2
It is an election. We the People of these United States have had well over 100 of them, every two year since the founding of the Republic. Yes, like any election it is important, so GET OUT AND VOTE!!
The Republic, however, has survived great leaders, average leaders, and poor leaders. It has survived honest men and crooks. It has survived patriots and poltroons. It will survive and go on no matter the results of this one as well. It may do better, it may do worse, and many of us may well disagree what better or worse even is, but it will go on.
What a sad albeit true commentary. Under Trump we are no longer a democracy. We are no longer on the road to autocracy; we have reached its end, and opponents of democracy like Kemp in Georgia can tweak the right to vote with no pushback from Republican party leaders. Truly sad. Trump and his Republicans believe that " all is fair in love and war (and especially in politics)" and the only thing that counts is winning. Fairness to your neighbor no longer counts because if your neighbor disagrees with you he has become "an enemy of the people". If Democrats lose in today's election, it may well be the death knell of the America that once was a golden beacon to the world.
2
HELP! Voting in Georgia is a nightmare of confusion/voter suppression. Many Atlanta neighbors who requested absentee ballots never received them. Then they engaged in early voting, thinking there was no risk in doing so. Yet poll workers assert that anyone who requested an absentee ballot must sign an affidavit declaring that they do not have nor will they use that ballot, now or in future.
Under Brian Kemp’s watch, how many of these votes will be counted? Assuming their photo ID wasn’t flagged by the system prior to voting, will their votes be crossed-checked with absentee rolls and summarily tossed?
Most of these folks did not talk to poll workers or sign affidavits.
I did receive an absentee ballot, but decided to vote early after reading that votes could be cancelled if the absentee ballot signature isn't identical to the original voter registration signature. It took confused poll workers 25 minutes to determine how to scan my photo ID and “cancel” my surrendered absentee ballot. I’m still fear my vote might not be counted.
The real election fraud are these vote-stalling and vote-cancelling tactics. Even if Georgia elects a Democratic governor, if there’s another Republican Secretary of State at the helm, how do we regain our rights? How do we verify our vote is correct and counted? Forget foreign interference, we can’t ensure voting integrity at the county or state level.
2
My brother is an evangelical, born again. Voted for Trump. Still supports him. The religious right is in many ways no different than the other fanatical, myth-based belief systems worldwide. Capitalism is myth-based as well. Where are the innovators for a fact-based, non-exploitive society?
4
Professor Krugman is the perfect example of what happens when idealogy blinds someone. I don't like the term stay in your lane but the Professor has been chronically wrong on almost all things politics. He is a very smart economist but that just hasn't translated to anything else. That being said good luck to all the candidates running today.
1
@EMaybe blindly following an egocentric, megalomaniac is better?!
With Kemp supervising his own reelection, the Democrats should have asked the UN to send observers to Georgia (also to No. Dakota, Ohio, Texas, Florida etc.)i It's disgraceful that voter supression together with gerrymandering has become
so salient in this election, turning a former Democracy into a Facistic Banana Republic. Shame on American citizens for allowing this to happen!
2
Too many people of my acquaintance tell me "my vote doesn't count anyway, so why bother."
They just don't believe the voter matters any more.
They have forgotten. Vote today with a ballot or know that your children and grandchildren may have to vote with a gun.
2
A sad state of affairs that an election can't be won on the "avoid autocracy" message alone. You'd think eternal corruption of American democracy would be enough incentive.
VOTE!
1
For what it is worth. I have been watching a series about Catherine the Great and about the Romanov dynasty. The paranoia, the fear and the retaliation against "enemies" was sounding too familiar. When our Constitution is drawered, when our Congress does not debate, when a Senate majority leader assumes powers that force the blood from our governance, then we have problems. We have problems. There were no rules for behavior in Congress or the WH or the Judiciary. There was a reliance on thinking, consideration, expectations. trump has barreled through these with his own brand, and that is what we have, his brand. America is not a brand, nor should it be lead by a brand or any person complicit in maintaining the brand.
1
As one of the wisest and most respected Minnesota Senator once stated: "Politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. Politics is what we do. Politics is what we do, politics is what we create, by what we work for, by what we hope for and what we dare to imagine." Paul Wellstone.
I for one sincerely hope that American Citizens takes this election seriously and make the effort to Vote. This effort is not just in our own best interest... It's critical to the well-being and sanctity of coming generations.
2
The US electoral system is truly amazing. That Kemp thing in Georgia is hard to understand...someone running for office who oversees the election. That's banana republic stuff! And parties controlling districting! I've never heard the word "gerrymandeering" more than in this election.
Maybe it's not feasible, or the American way, but in Canada the electoral process is overseen by a non partisan body called "Elections Canada". This way there is non political uniformity across the country in determining the size and boundaries of each district which we call "ridings". Another example of the boring Canadian way.
7
No more excuses, people. Weather is bad, it doesn't make a difference, don't know candidates running, etc. We are citizens of a country and we need to do our part. That means not only voting, but also educating ourselves. Most local newspapers print who the candidates are, what questions are on the ballot and what they mean. My local paper, The Boston Globe, has been putting forth this information for many months. We also have to do our part as citizens and put some effort into voting. We can't be discouraged. This election is too important to sit out.
4
While it may be reasonable to expect some sort of "blue wave", much depends on what Democrats do with their new found majority. If they elect Nancy Pelosi as Speaker we'll probably see a "red wave" in 2020 and Trump getting a second term. While the Democratic party has clearly changed since 2016, congressional leadership has remained stagnant. It's time for change but it will take more than just a "blue wave" at the ballot box.
2
RE: "gerrymandering and other factors have severely tilted the playing field"
This is a question I have been asking, but for which there doesn't seem to be a known answer, for some time now:
By what percentage do Democrats need to win in order to have a winnable majority?
I guess the answer depends on the race, but in a number of districts and at the national level it is clearly something greater than 50.1% of the vote.
@Marie: The US obviously fails at the essential basic process of democracy: conducting fair elections.
1
Democrats actually need to win overall by about a 12 to 15 point margin to expect to gain enough seats to take the House.
sparsely populated rural districts with primarily elderly white voters swing significantly more weight than urban and suburban areas with denser, more diverse populations. this is a consequence of Republicans winning state houses where voting rules are cooked up, as well as the holdover of the constitutional convention where the basis of federal representation was designed to make sure slave holding would be protected.
Republicans may also hold onto burned out lightbulbs, hoping that one day, if they pray hard enough, the bulbs will work again. meanwhile, we're being crushed under the weight of 154 years worth of expired lightbulbs.
1
I agree that there is no choice but to embrace the Democratic party and I have no real problem with that - except that they are so terrible at being a political party. The Republicans are the modern equivalent of Attila the Hun, but they do have discipline. The Democrats are just hopeless in general - they are like teens wandering around a public library or something.
When will this mystical third party emerge? Strong leadership based on common sense and humanity and education. I hope the new wave of politicians can head in that direction and not be subverted by the chain of command within the national party.
3
@Dave H: The Republican Party attracts voters obsessed with single issues. The Democratic Party attracts voters with multiple issues. The former is a much simpler collection of people to satisfy.
2
Your fellow columnist speaks today of the voters in Poland who have united and taken on the nationalists at the mayoral level. Whatever happens today,whether Democrats take back the House or not, we must take on our own nationalists at all levels of government as if the future of our country depends on it. One mayor at a time if that's what it takes.
4
I just want to say thank you for speaking the truth about this election, Mr. Krugman. So few people realize what is really at stake.
8
We need to get the money out of politics. We don't have to spend tens of billions of dollars for a midterm, or twice as much for a presidential election.
But the media do profit from the exercise, so the call for mandatory public campaign financing is muted.
All those politicians who are self-serving and corrupt will find other interests once the money is gone.
Politics is a civic function and elections should be entirely funded by the taxpayers. We can do that but it will be over the objections of the rich and powerful and the well-connected.
10
@Occupy Government
In real life, the Democrats' wealthy donors actively support passing campaign finance reform that ends the SC Citizens United ruling and once again strongly limits donations, remember?
It's absurd to believe that by definition, wealth makes you anti-democratic or a bad person.
As soon as "we the people" give the Democrats the power to control DC (= more than 60 Senators, a clear majority in the House, and the White House), they will pass such a law, and that alone will be a HUGE step forward to a thriving democracy again.
VOTE!!
I was having a similar conversation this morning. Democrats winning presents a dubious prize. The political risks are epic compared to the margin for practical gain. Democrats stand to lose more in victory than in defeat.
At the same time though, the consequences of defeat are much worse than the risks of victory. We're forced to accept a damaging strategy. People like to bash on Democrats for always taking a nearsighted approach to politics. This is sometimes true.
However, please acknowledge how Democratic strategy is consistent forked by hostile intentions. Ideally, Republicans will never offer Democrats a good decision. At least for now, that's why Republicans represent the party of greater evil. Their designs are not in our best interest.
7
I want to add that, as a french citizen living in the USA ( and a US citizen ) I vote in France at the French consulate . I welcome americans to come see how we vote one day of french elections in a consulate.
2
Dear Paul, should republicans win, you imply the end of democracy and with ever more people marginalized, I could even foresee civil war over the next decade. What are your thoughts on that?
3
As Dr. Krugman says, it not just tax cuts or health coverage that are on the ballot. Our environment and planet, Social Security & Medicare, fact-based media, civil and reproductive rights, and, yes, American democracy. Republicans ceased working for the American electorate long ago and their treasonous behavior will continue unabated if we don't win one chamber of Congress.
12
I am french and a US citizen . Even if I was asked to abandon my french nationality , France accepts dual citizenship ,so I can vote in France .I have to say that I don't have the same proud feeling of citizenry at voting in the US and I find the electoral process tedious and unprofessional. Even illegal .Anyone knows how we vote in France ? I hate those stickers "I voted " shipped in the ballot.And the cookies ambiance at the voting place ,a public school that does not have the same republican attachment than a public school in France open on sunday or a city hall. There was so much confusion when I voted first time last presidential elections. I saw my vote go between several hands then I asked where it was going in the urn, the lady tried to put it in and it was full ,could not so she said "will put it later " . !!!! No ID verification. The multiple choices of voting is too complicated for low education people. I had to do a research on internet to know who is who and what .People I never heard of and will never again .I cannot believe that judges and chief of police are elected . It is clearly a sign that justice and police are tied to politics . Not professional people.The vote for policies regarding ecology, health, taxes are not publicly discussed or argumented before so that the voters could be prepared . I read 3 or 4 international news papers in the US and Europe everyday and I did not know the details of these policies and some seemed very confused or confusing .
2
For several decades I have told anyone who would listen to me that we were moving towards serfdom.
Todays vote will confirm or deny my observation.
6
The most charitable take I can come up with - counter to Prof Krugman - is that Republicans feel they can manage and run the economy (military, judiciary, education, government, ... ) better then the plebians, whom Democrats represent never mind populism, can.
1
It's like watching Hungary in the news all over again. It's the same thing just a different day.
The only thing the midterms will determine is how fast corruption will spread leading to higher inequality, more frequent violence, and a bloody mess of a 2020 election.
The only thing that will save the United States is the two term rule for a sitting president, however, the damage dealt by the GOP will have lasting impact.
4
A conservative Supreme court invalidated most NewDeal legislation in Roosevelt’s first term. He tried to “pack the court” by legislation and Congress rebuffed him.
After his landslide victory in 1936 the oldest , most conservative justices volunntarily resigned giving Roosevelt his more liberal court. The pundits learned “ the court reads the election returns”. Let us hope the Roberts court respects that precedent.
3
@Thomas, Robert's loyalty is to the Federalist Society who appointed him to this position. Same with Gorsich and Kavanaugh, the newest justices. Their loyalty to the United States-- its judicial history and inventiveness-- is very questionable. The Federalist Society is no different than the Grover Norquist loyalty oath, or the most activist Evangelicals to whom elected officials swear fealty, or the NRA which repubs brag about their 100% report card. Patriotism cannot be divided between these organizations and our nation as a total-- and most of the GOP puts the USA as a very second choice for their passion.
5
Thank you for keeping me sane. Knowing I'm not alone is so important at this time.
4
As an exhortation to vote, this opinion is not bad, but maybe a day late? Content-wise a bit light, but I'd like to know how it's possible to send the troops to the border. I though the US Army could not be deployed domestically, that there's the national guard for that, plus the border patrol or homeland security, etc. Please explain before Herr Trump starts thinking about imposing martial law.
My other comment is that making an example of Poland and Hungary doesn't carry much weight, seems somehow like a personal cause. Most Americans don't know anything about those countries, don't know where they are and don't care a whit what happens there. (BTW, those countries have national healthcare, gun control, paid maternity leave policies, public daycare, emissions restrictions and a few other things NYT readers and dem voters can just dream about).
1
Happily, I am absolutely certain about the result tomorrow - the Democrats are going to win a big majority in the House, they will win at least 50 seats in the Senate, hopefully 51, and they will win a slew of governorships and state-level positions which will allow them to work against the GOP gerrymander when the redistricting process starts in 2020. However, this column in written in consideration of a very different result, so let's talk about that.
Yet again, a New York Times opinion columnist has written that Donald Trump's presidency is a threat to American democracy and that a Republican victory in the House and Senate tomorrow could mean the end of democracy in the United States. Krugman is telling America that Trump is a real threat to the Constitution and to the Republic.
So what if the Republicans do win the House and the Senate tomorrow? What then? Maybe Krugman is candid in not speculating what should happen if this imminent disaster comes to threaten the existence of the United States, but if he is going to spend his time warning of catastrophe, shouldn't he be spending some time coming up with a plan for what to do if it happens?
Not in The Times. For two years now the columnists and editors of this paper have made it clear that the op-ed section is not a place for concrete suggestions of what readers should do, even in the face of fascists coming to rule in America. No, meek compliance is the implicit suggestion of their silence. That's how fascism wins.
3
This article includes "power" 6 times. Associating it with Trump, Kemp, Republicans, as a party, and prognosticating what will happen if...In another lifetime I remember the almost anomatopoeiac-cadanced-mantra "Power to the People!" And as today's election activities unfold, within a viral-virile WE-THEY culture which enables, indeed feeds, seeds and fosters, violating a diverse range of created, selected, targeted "the other(s)-" peoples, ideas, values, norms, ethics- from a historical THEN, to NOW, where are the powers to undo the daily harms? Temporary as well as more permanent harms. To life and limb. To psyches and souls. within families. Neighborhoods.In various types of temporary and more anchored communities. Where is the measurable empowerment to take on toxic complacency? To shame, at the very least, those complicit in harming so many? Where is the People's Power to root-OUT personal unaccountability amongst elected and selected policymakers? At all levels! Where are the sources of powers and energies necessary to risk "fail[ing] better?" "THEY have the power is a semantic-cop-out. Suitable for choosing to cope, adapt and function with the toxic support of willful blindness. About what IS, which all of US have, and continue, to enable. Daily. As well as willful deafness.Saudia starved to death a very young Yemenite child last week. See NYT. With photos.A father powerless to help.A world media used their powers for DAYS to report on 1 Saudi dismembering. Power?
11
"Last Exit Off the Road to Autocracy" calls to mind another choice offered by Robert Frost in his iconic "The Road Not Taken".
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, ....
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Frost spoke truth to the power of small things and made them into truths for all time.
America's most beloved poet, late in his life he was chosen to speak at JFK's inauguration.
There are perhaps few American poets as timeless, as American. A spokesperson for America's social fabric, its warps and wefts.
Robert Frost would never have taken the road to autocracy. Nor should we. And that will make all the difference...
1
"For I have promises to keep
And miles to go befor I sleep."
It's going to be a long day's night.......
Not for me. I am apolitical since 1972, or maybe the Carter election in '75. Anyway, I won't lose any sleep over these bozos (Firesign Theater, I Think We're All Bozos on This [Campaign] Bus). Sun will rise and set tomorrow, I'll be bored and, therefore, waste time reading the Comments section of the NYT. Nothing will change, emoters will emote and get their knickers in a bunch. I still have to do my daily chores and live another day. None of these politicians, whatever their stripes, put bread on our table. The sooner people realize this, the better. That's why I unregistered from the Democratic Party, and am now an independent voter.
"Remember, Donald Trump claimed — falsely, of course — that millions of immigrants voted illegally in an election he won. Imagine what he’ll say if he loses."
If he loses, the first thing the Democratically-controlled House should do is mount a full investigation into electoral fraud, 2016 through 2018.
I'm sure it will be most enlightening.
1
The right wing has always been more susceptible to authoritarianism, but the Trump era stands out for the level and speed of the capitulation to a highly contagious, parasitic virus with a multitude of ominous symptoms including but not limited to anti democratic impulses, demonizing of "others", extreme grandiosity, willful blindness, and contempt for norms, ethics, intellect and sustainability.
What's truly frightening is not just that the GOP has voluntarily leapt into a devil's bargain with an entirely fraudulent and incompetent presidential manque, but that to survive the onslaught and protect their own ill gotten gains, they have allowed their flock to sign over their hearts and minds to a whirling dervish of insanity. So, yes, this election is important, but it certainly won't be the end of a struggle for the soul of the country.
2
I usually say: "Never underestimate the stupidity off the average American."
To that, today, I will add: "Never underestimate the stupidity, avarice, ignorance, bigotry, and VOTER APATHY of the average American."
I expect by midnight tonight PST we will have completely debased and embarrassed ourselves as a nation and a society.
2
In our country, there are three branches of government. If there is anyone who can point this out, it is the press. Can the Times please give as much coverage to the courts and congress as they do to our headlining executive? He gets his power from the media, and it's a vicious reinforcing cycle. Is there nothing good or exciting that our courts and congress are doing, that compares to the headline grabbing behavior of our president? This time around, please give them back the power and coverage that they deserve.
4
Poland and Hungary former kingdoms, then crushed by Bolsheviks, Nazis, Communists and showed sparks in both country of rebellion and the wish for a more democratic state. Kossuth in Hungary had to leave his country when the Russians came in the first time in 1848, and later in 1956, until at last 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Yet the impulse when things become problematic and refugees helped exacerabate the return to Orban, who was the founder of Fidesz, after the wall fell. Too easy to return to autocracy. We have no such excuses yet Trump has pulled back the years to return to more savage feelings from our past as we continue to struggle as those countries do in finding a more correct path to democracy. Young people have flocked to the polls. The press even with the curses for it by the president continues with its work. We must remember our better selves as we vote to strive for a more secure union.
25
@Katalina Please explain why it's "too easy to return to autocracy". How is it easy?
@Not Convinced You vote Republican or for Trump. See? Easy.
1
“It’s not the people who vote that count, it’s the people who count the votes” we are tip toeing through the graveyard of American Democracy.
1
Did you intend that to be jocular, as in the dead voting in Chicago and in other places where a machine rules the votes?
At the end of this column, Krugman tells us "the survival of American democracy is on the ballot." If the Democrats do take at least the House, then we voters who did that for them have to keep prodding them.
Why? Because what Krugman calls "American democracy" is really "American oligarchy", and the Democrats are culpable in it, though not to the same degree as the Republicans, who have clearly gone off the rails.
We need to roll back our oligarchy, raise taxes on corporations and the 1%, help unions regain membership, and restore our middle class.
These midterms are vital, but they are only the first step in what promises to be a very long, difficult, and possibly dangerous task. Why dangerous? Because fascism is no longer at the gates of our country, it is here.
1155
@Vesuviano Democracy is like physical fitness; you are never "done." Requires lifelong effort on the part of the majority--this means keeping well-informed and participation--voting, reporting, running for office, and volunteering for good candidates. This is a lifelong endeavor for every citizen who wants to NOT live under an autocracy.
119
@EarthCitizen
Yep, it is the Long Game and then some. The enemies of democracy know that and are willing to engage -- Charles Koch and his compatriots have been at it for 40+ years.
88
@Vesuviano
For sure the status quo as of, say, 2009 won't be good enough. And as I always say, Democrats aren't saints; plenty of them played along with big money. But the D party now is a lot more progressive than it used to be, so this could still be turned around.
242
None of this would be happening without the influence of the right-wing propaganda machine.
Fox and the rest of that machine consistently misrepresent progressive views, ignore republican cheating, downplay trump's ignorance and maleficence, and otherwise engage in half-truths, innuendo, emotional manipulation, and outright lies - including the lie that mainstream media are completely unreliable - that cause their victims to be dangerously ignorant of what's actually happening in our country.
I honestly don't see the solution to the problem of right-wing propaganda in this country.
@Keith Lewis
The solution is double:
1. engage in much more real, respectful debates with GOP voters than we do today.
"Real" means that we accept that at any moment during the conversation, we can be wrong too, and that that may even be the case for something we deeply held to be true. So "real" means accepting that the purpose of the debate is to get closer to the truth, together.
"Respectful" means never attacking the messenger and systematically discussing the message only - EVEN when it's hard, so even when your partner doesn't respect this basic debate rule, which cannot but happen frequently with GOP voters as their leaders constantly tell them to demonize anybody who doesn't adhere to their worldview or doubts the truth of what they consider to be facts.
2. if you're a conservative: tell your leaders to become a real conservative party again, because that is what the country needs right now. That means a party confident enough in the value of conservatism as a philosophy to have the guts to fully embrace real, respectful debates and proven truths. Refuse to vote for them as long as they switch to demagoguery instead, and vote for centrist Democrats, who won't do anything that goes against conservative philosophy, all while fighting hard to keep politics decent and to cultivate real debates and the acknowledgment of our common humanity first.
We will only have a government for the people if it's a government by the people, in other words, when we engage!
@Keith Lewis, agree. The site of Hannity running up to the stage for a love-fest with trump last night made me sick. Can you imagine if a liberal pundit behaved like that? But there are two steps the dems can take, and honestly had Obama been a more robust and experienced leader, he would have started with these: reconstitute a Fairness Doctrine for our era and get it passed.Then let's refang the FCC and sick them on the politicians and media who are abusing it. Make it much less political than they have been for 20 years or so.
@Ana Luisa
I'm all for respectful debates. The problem is debating someone when you can't even agree on what the basic facts that you're starting with are. The right-wing propaganda machine has filled their victims' heads with falsehoods, and those victims refuse to even consider the possibility that those lies aren't facts. How do you debate someone like that?
We are all just human with the normal foibles. Why do so many of us ignore voting? Disgust? I have always sensed that there is a sense the system of government is rigged. American is about making money, not about improving lives or creating a cohesive society. In our ultra competitive society Randian society its about "winning" too often at any cost even if it means trashing our beloved Constitution while waving the flag.
30
@MED
I think most non-voters are just whipped people - it's too complicated for them to figure out, they are too lazy or scared, or they don't want to think about it - are too busy earning money, feeding the dog, putting the kids to bed after dinner, etc., etc.
Democracy requires time, energy, and commitment to knowing what the real racts are. MOST Americans are, sadly, not up to the challenge.
1
Trump whipping up mobs at his rallies may be completely cynical and no more to him than an ego boost. The crowds, however, seem quite sincere. Trump has unleashed their darkest nature and blessed it with permission from the presidency. They love that, and I wonder what it takes to get the djin rack in the bottle. This election won't change them, no conceivable landslide would. I'm afraid we have to fail, they have to fail, before this turns around. In that sense it might be better if they win big so they have no-one else to blame. Democrats can't score a big enough win to fix Trump's mess but they can win enough to receive all the blame for our in Trump World.
21
@Some Dude They'll always find someone else to blame. They will never take the blame.
2
Historians will note that these past few decades, and the next few, will mark the success or failure of American democracy. Governments exist within a kind of multidimensional space, defined by many variables such as the educational level of the population, the level of national wealth, the national amount and type of natural resources and, of course, the historical "inertia" of a nation's values and past behavior. Within this multidimensional space lie certain regions conducive to democracy, while other regions are conducive to tyranny. Right now, we are barely in the space of democracy, headed on a trajectory toward tyranny. And, only by fully understanding what are the conditions conducive to democracy--and working to create and maintain those conditions--will we halt this march toward tyranny and start moving back to the hallowed region of democracy. We need intellectuals of good heart to get more involved with politics.
2
Often, there's not a lot of affinity between economists and philosophers, as economists tend to believe that they're scientists and prefer to ignore that many of their premisses are merely opinions shared by many people, rather than scientifically proven statements, whereas philosophers adore to look for precisely that kind of commonly accepted opinions in order to show that in the end, they're just opinions. On the other hand, for economists much of what philosophers do is too "conceptual" and doesn't contain enough numbers to be able to deal with the "real world", so they tend to kindly ignore them.
In this case, however, I do think that we have to go down to philosophical choices in order to understand what is happening (full disclosure: I'm a philosopher).
Many Western countries have conservative political parties who don't need any fake news at all to win elections, and who don't systematically pander to the wealthiest citizens all while destroying access to healthcare, social security and education for as many ordinary citizens as possible, as the GOP is doing today.
So what happened to the GOP?
What happened is called "neo-conservatism". In 1976, Irving Kristol, its founding father, wrote in the WSJ that conservatives cannot possibly win elections based on debates and arguments, and need "sentiment" instead. That's when the GOP lost its intellectual integrity and sincere interest in ordinary citizens, and started to openly adopt anti-democratic strategies.
4
In other words, half a century after American philosophy declared the entire history of philosophy to be too "abstract" to still take it seriously, American conservative intellectuals now produced articles declaring that conservatism (and the country as a whole) can only be "healthy" IF intellectuals stay "at the margins" of society, as Kristol wrote, rather than taking center stage and participating in public debates about politics.
You cannot possibly detach this anti-intellectualism from the GOP's turn towards a totalitarian approach of governing and elections.
For one or the other reason (imho, because of the demise of philosophy a a whole, in America), neoconservatives (who fully took over the GOP in 2000, and whom Trump strongly criticized during the primaries, before he flip-flopped and turned into their most efficient mouthpiece once he entered the WH) lost all confidence in conservatism as a philosophy to mobilize enough ordinary citizens to still win elections, and decided that their only chance left was to elevate anti-intellectualism (and then of course also anti-science) into its voter base's most important "gut feeling", which then allows them to discard all centrist/leftist objections against their policies without having to refute any of them.
THAT's where it all started.
If this analysis is correct, it means that things will only improve once conservatives start training as philosophers again, so that they are no longer afraid of debates and facts ...
1
@Ana Luisa: Economists have an amazing incapacity to understand Ohm's Law as applied to the transmission of energy by money.
Perhaps a history lesson of this country's abuses of power would be helpful in raising awareness of the threat to democracy.
2
@Linda Goetz Me: Treason to elect a Republican US president has been no vice ever since Nixon torpedoed LBJ's Vietnam peace negotiations.
I think you underestimate this moment’s “ordinary voters.” Those big House numbers you estimate are built by ordinary voters — often women, btw — and “democracy” is very much on most people’s minds.
20
Trump is the kind of man Tom Paine warned us about:
" Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions."
7
@McCamy Taylor: We owe separation of church and state to Tom Paine. He died scorned as an atheist.
Vote in 2018 or you might not get to in 2020.
5
Vote.....vote the autocrats OUT of office; the autocrats are the
campaign financiers who control Congressional GOP candidates;
and some Democratic candidates as well;
Vote for Democrats who will overthrow Citizens United which
is the tool of the GOP financiers....
which allows only .02 percent of all citizens to control our lives.
GET RID OF CITIZENS UNITED...vote for all Democrats...even if
you don't like them....this is the only way to get rid of this impending autocracy..
1
When Krugman refers to 'American democratic values" does he mean
1. Shouting down and disrupting a nationally televised Congressional hearing and claiming that the "protesters" are exercising their democratic rights?
2. "Activists" should harrass,threaten and silence others who disagree?
3. reelecting Senator Menendez who is a "poster boy" for corruption and ethical violations?
3
@jck
There you go again.
How can you possibly justify massive corruption by the entire Republican party simply by pointing to some minor accidents that happened with a handful of progressive protesters ... ?
Where has you guys' sense of decency and real leadership gone ... ?
Since when is it okay to ask our highest level leaders to systematically behave as the most irregular bunch of teenage protesters ... ?
Do you realize that if you don't urgently ask your party's leaders to uphold the high values that this country has always stood for again, all while continuing to elect them, then you're co-responsible for the destruction of America's greatness ... ?
Protesters from both sides have always tended to be loud, remember?
That's no excuse AT ALL for attacking America's institutions by suppressing voters, doubling deficits only to give your wealthiest donors one more handout (Obama CUT Bush's $1.4 trillion deficit by two thirds, remember?), systematically attacking the media that disagree with your behavior and talking about them in violent terms of war, and inventing racist threats all while denying the real threats that even according to the current Pentagon (and the rest of the entire world) we ARE facing today, such as climate change.
Time to have the guts to face reality again, dear Republicans, rather than hide behind false excuses and narratives ... !
I like the verb "to bothsides" that Krugman has used. I'll borrow it for future use, if he doesn't mind. That is, if there will be a "bothsides" at all.
2
The Republican Party is the enemy of democracy, humanity, and Planet Earth. That is just the simple truth. Vote like your life depends on it because it does.
5
I agree with Dr. Krugman
Wow, Paul! So great to see your direct responses to our comments! You hear us and perhaps that is all we ask.
And when they came for me, no one was left to protect me.....
We are at a crossroads. The Republican Party has longed for single-party, authoritarian, "Christian" theocratic rule for many years. We must resist.
4
Let's not overlook the role of journalists in keeping the balance in view. Even if the Russian-leaning Republicans win all the houses and SCOTUS the truth always remains. Even old white nationalists can eventually be convinced they are being conned and fleeced when the facts are exposed. Plus, many of the ugliest old fools will die while young minority voters live on, and on. History has recorded the fall of every dictatorship. Once the game is known, and over, all the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put Humpty Trumpy together again.
1
If they manage to ever take power, maybe Democrats should try a little "voter suppression" of their own. Although I'm not sure what kind of system you could put in place to keep wealthy old white people from voting. Ideas welcome.
@Rob Lewis
1. "Wealthy old white people" such as George soros are actively funding the campaigns of politicians trying to end unlimited donations and to increase access to healthcare and education and decent jobs, remember? Let's not fall into the trap of reverse racism, that won't help us move forward at all.
2. ANY type of voter suppression weakens a democracy, and the only way to obtain real, radical, non-violent, lasting, democratic change is to work hard to build a strong democracy, where ALL citizens vote.
That's because there are no silver bullets. The reason why a democracy is the strongest type of government is precisely because when progress is made, it is supported by and defended by the vast majority of ordinary citizens.
Take away the democratic character of lawmaking, and all that you obtain is a weak, authoritarian state, where nothing guarantees that the government is still working for the people, and a corrupt minority can easily divert it to enrich itself. THAT is what happens when barely 40% of those eligible to vote, vote, as has been the case for almost a decade now.
If we want something, we will have to go and get it.There are no shortcuts.
Millions were purged? Really?
In the end, a surprise Republican victory, where they maintain a grip on both the House and Senate, would be a blessing in disguise. The descent into autocracy would, I believe, lead to liberal states breaking away and making a new nation, and a new birth of real freedom, cutting away the racist states for good, like the cancer they are. There is no way for these two nations to live side by side and proclaim themselves the "United" States. That is just a marketing farce.
2
Look what's happening in Texas. The Border Patrol will hold a "crowd control" exercise in El Paso today. This is right out of Putin's playbook. Someone check Trump's cell phone. Vladimir must have called him last night during the celebration of the state media "Fox fascism" network.
Unfortunately the key to push back lays in pushing back on corporations. However, families are separated and not collective groups. People are individual consumers and pressed to the max by their debt and consumption patterns. We should punish the corporations for their support of the GOP and their fascist tendencies. But most people can't do that. They have let themselves become slaves and have no ability to reduce their consumption. Additionally, punishing the corporation will decrease employment and most people cannot afford to even be temporarily out of work without having to live in the street. That was the plan all along and very few people were able to see this was the case. Instead, they buried their heads in escapist TV and entertainment because reality was so depressing.
The next downturn is coming and necessarily has to because the economy is a Ponsi scheme as it was designed to be. I have little hope that this time the people will wake from their brainwash. I suspect they will become more fascist and I expect them to turn to blaming the other more strongly than they already do.
You know, if the Democrats did try to hack into the Georgia electoral register (as kemp whines about) then it would be to protect voters not delete them as kemp would have done.
Nasty little man.
2
Our kids are watching.
43
Thank you Mr. Krugman. And how terrific that you are taking the time to answer each comment. Like you, I fear that if the Democrats do not take back at least one of the branches of government, our bid for democracy may be over. Mr. Trump has already intimated that he may cancel elections in the future, and that -- amazingly -- seems to sit well with a sufficient number of Republican power-mongers to come to pass. And never has a government with totalitarian aspirations had so much information about its citizenry, thanks to social media. The Stasi had to count on informants. In today's world, we are all open books.
2
I think the concept of truth itself is on the ballot. Trumpism’s life blood is alternative reality, that the world as it actually is doesn’t matter; that self-interested perception is everything.
A world in which truth is acknowledged and matters, versus one in which lies are either believed or shrugged off, that is what is on the ballot
2
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I appreciate your courageous voice in deftly summarizing what is at stake politically in America today. However, I believe we are, electorally, well past the last exit on the road to authoritarian rule. We passed it in 2016.
Democracy is indeed on the ballot. So many pundits agree with you. I agree with you. And, which party is actively trying to suppress the vote? And why would anyone in their right mind vote for that party? Isn't that alone enough to prevent a vote of support? That is not even mentioning the atrocious support that one party provides for our nation's leader, who sees no value to immigrants, is leading us to autocracy and away from democracy, uses deceit almost as a normal practice to demean all who do not agree with him - even from his party - and singles out minorities and women for special treatment. No one disputes the emergence of Trump's party, no longer the Republican Party with traditional conservative values. And no one disputes the fact that most Republican leaders and their flock have fallen in line behind Trump despite his deplorable behavior, persona, and total lack of core values. Make America.....what? Certainly not Great Again.
1
We need a government that -- first and foremost -- protects our political process, our democratic process of citizen participation and involvement in transparent self-government.
All these attacks on the environment by cutting the EPA budget and rolling back clean air and water regulations, attacks on young people and future generations by cutting taxes and running up deficits -- not to mention student debt, attacks on the First Amendment by ceaselessly hurling unfair, unfounded, untrue claims of dishonesty at the free media (which aren't anywhere near free as they need to be) in an effort to blunt their pointed and accurate descriptions of the President's misconduct, the rollback of bank and financial service regulations, and attacks on women, minorities and immigrants in order to magnify the "Us v. Them" fragmenting of an already-divided population, are all classic, textbook examples of authoritarian power grabs.
Republicans seek authoritative power through division, Democrats must seek inclusive power through democracy.
1
The first amendment guarantees freedom to speak and publish; there is no guarantee for freedom from criticism, which is also an expression of first amendment rights, and the farthest thing from an attack on the first amendment. The attacks on free speech are more likely to come from the far left, which I would not not hold the mainstream left responsible for. More disturbing are the attacks on free speech at the campus level, which portend a darker future for mainstream views of free speech.
As long as we allow our elected leaders (and their media mouthpieces) to not deal with real people, but to objectify, label and denigrate our fellow citizens and their positions, the more unlikely we'll be to move our politics forward.
We've allowed ourselves to carve out positions that are not tangible, they are ideological without a basis in the real world...
As voters it's our job to not allow ourselves to argue and fight and be drawn into this as combatants with each other. The more we are distracted, the more we become disoriented and latch onto the intangibles.
To be clear, there are bad actors in this conversation- there are those who will use our distraction and attention span deficit to twist our government to their ends. A light needs to be shined on them and we have to demand it...
2
Autocracy is when the President announces he will bypass congress and rule with his "phone and a pen."
3
Trump has really done a perverse service to America.
He has shown that there is no real decency, no character in the Republican Party. He has shown the evangelical right to be hypocritical immoral liars, who pretend on Sunday to honor the Christian Bible, then during the rest of the week they honor Trump and his immoral, greedy ways.
He has given us all a lesson in the fragility of democracy and the startlingly easy way many good men and women are corrupted. The Times showed that he and his father stole hundreds of millions of dollars in tax fraud, and the right just doesn't care, as long as he can rig the Supreme Court with patriarchs who will curtail women's reproductive rights.
I now understand Russia and its bizarre pretend democracy with pretend media and pretend independent courts, for he is trying to do the same here.
But I am no genius, what is obvious to me is obvious to the rest of America, so I am confident that if the Democrats lose then we get what we deserve.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
5
Autocracy is already here.
2
If the Democrats do not at least regain control of the House, the harm to our democracy will likely be fatal. Right wing fanatics - the Trumpian GOP - will call for a Constitutional Convention with the goal of refashioning our government according to their white nationalist ideals and autocratic instincts. Rebellion will be inevitable and true chaos could ensue. Yes, it really is that important that people vote and vote Democrat.
1
Have you any idea how difficult it would be to call such a convention?
Professor. Indeed. It is a frightening time. We have become a nation of idiots. Beholding to right wing radio and TV pundits and seemingly unable to form a cohesive counter narrative.
I for one hope tomorrow will be a repudiation of all things Trump, but I fear it will not. The flag-wearing and waving cult of personality will continue, until we are destroyed. The GOP will be to blame, yet, somehow, the Democrats will get the credit.
Fingers crossed.
1
We need a psychologist to help us understand and counteract the Trump supporters who are voting against their own self-interest.
So why isn’t Mr. Krugman protesting autocracy in CA (courtesy of the Democratic Party)? After all, one party rule in CA yields high taxes, unaffordable housing, poor K-12 schools, homeless in every city and town, high energy prices, 3-4 million illegal aliens, etc.
2
@Steve: In case you haven't noticed, there are 39 million people in California. That's more than one in 10 Americans. Perhaps housing is unaffordable because everyone wants to live here. There are only three things you can do in that case - pack them tighter, spread them out, or price them out.
Imagine how the "problems" in California would spread to the rest of the country if they all left!
@Steve
Because it's a Democratic autocracy Steve. The dems have Californians right where they want them, poor through high taxation and utterly dependent on the government to get anything done. Clog the state with illegals, protect them for their votes and they expand their base. The rich there pay their dues to the dems, claim to be dems, but act like republicans. If California weren't such a naturally beautiful state, people with any brains wouldn't be living there.
After WWII, the United States led the de-nazification process of Germany. No one assumed that the Germans could accomplish this by themselves, which, of course, was entirely reasonable given the full set circumstances surrounding war crimes and a total breakdown democratic processes.
Assuming U.S. democracy survives on November 6, 2018, are we capable of self-administering a national de-trumpification process? If not, then who is going to help us?
3
sadly.... very sadly...the dog-whistles will motivate violence today....
1
Does everyone know that Trump makes money of his MAGA hats? $8 per hat. Apparently he copyrighted the MAGA slogan in 2013. I guess I should have known. It actually adds up to quite a bit of money. The hats are made in America at least.
John Olive showed a piece with a separated child with completely mixed up anger and mental health issues post separation. That would have been the ad I would have gone with in the DNC. Two Democrat chances for Senator positions in Missouri, and the DNC did not give up much money for either, with one of them a very close race. All the power, from optics to actual control, are heavily Republican, from the Supreme Court, to the Presidency, to the Federal and state legislature, the federal and state appellate courts, and the propaganda machines of the right. The unsteadier we get, the more fascists will crow.
Trump's governing principle is "Who's gonna stop me?"
1
@jrh0
Definitely not the Democrats. He's already done them.
When I choose to watch the news on TV I go with the PBS News Hour. Only because I do not have to suffer through scads of commercials telling me about drugs and the warnings of what may happen.
Last night I found myself screaming at my large screen TV while the multiple images of our current president spewed forth from the screen.
Lyndon Johnson sent me to Vietnam in 1968. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are responsible for one of my friends sons being killed in Iraq. I never screamed at them.
1
@John Taylor
Your tv screen was much smaller then wasn't it? Maybe that's why.
The United States is certainly not immune from the disease of building and keeping an authoritarian state. Look only to American history as recent as the 1800s when men in power would not acquiesce to suffrage for fear of losing exclusive control. We are in fact, in real danger of moving backwards.
Back in the 1960s, I got the best public school education in civics available to prosperous American people, in Scarsdale, New York. I understand perfectly why the present coup d'état was begun at the level of local school boards to knock out key elements of education.
8
Regardless of outcome America needs thought leaders to wake our citizens to the utter necessity of some kind of constitutional convention. We tend to over venerate the constitution. It is viewed by many as the Arc of the Covenant as several constitutional scholars have observed. Unfortunately the right wing has gotten a hold of this idea and has lined up 28 states out of the 34 needed to hold such a convention. But their purpose is to strip more Americans of their rights than to expand them. Instead, these rights where majority rule is more firmly established need to be the goal. Rethinking the US Senate and abolishing the electoral college are just starters. The list of reforms is long. We are the least democratic governmental system of all western democracies. Are you willing to lead the charge at the New York Times, Dr. Krugman?
1
Listen, is no one concerned about the news coming from early voters in Texas and Georgia who voted for democrats watched the screen flip their vote to the republican side and went to send? There is not paper trail, and the voting machines are owned by Republicans. Kemp purged a million Democrats from the system, He is now blaming the democrats for any election problems. How can the Democrats win with such corruption against them? And the Democrats do not stand up to the cheating. The Republicans are blatantly committing voter fraud. And the news outlets are afraid of the right wing accusing them of being liberal. So many Democrats are going to lose when they actually get more votes because the Republicans are controlling the voting machines. We already have fascism. Kemp is openly rigging the election in his own favor, how can Stacy Abrams hope to win, she will lose even if no one votes for Kemp, that is my fear. And Kemp does not care, he knows no one will challenge him. Kemp should be in jail. Who will stop these cheaters?
7
Yes, there is a dark void on the other side of Tuesday. The founders may have finally met their match, their grand experiment destroyed by a cult.
1
Fake News, President Trump is the best thing that has or ever will happen to the US of A. Remember Caesar took over the Roman Republic after 200 years and built the Roman Empire
I suppose it depends on what you think of Nero and Caligula.
The Republicans play hard ball - the Dems play “why can’t we be friends patty-cake”. Now the Dem establishment is extolling their virtue in taking the “high road”.
The “high road” is for people who aren’t enraged at the Republican chicanery .
1
@Ed Watters
No it isn't.
You either fight for democracy, which by definition needs real, respectful debates based on proven facts, or you're not interested in democracy and prefer to grab power the easiest way: through lying, cheating, bribing and corruption.
You can perfectly express your anger in a constructive, respectful, democratic way, remember?
And the only way to obtain a thriving democracy is to learn how to do so, and to refuse to give up fundamental values.
As Michelle Obama just said: this isn't just about winning elections, it's also about staying true to who we are, both as individuals and as a country.
Democracy is never and end goal, it is the very means through which real, radical, lasting, non-violent change that benefits the entire country is achieved.
Put it aside, as the GOP is doing, and the price to pay is that you're not serving the country at all, and only working for a handful of wealthy oligarchs.
There IS no middle road here.
Look at how Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, and even Barack Obama obtained huge victories both for ordinary citizens and democracy: it was through the force of their values and character.
The power built on cheating and bribing is by definition unstable, and sooner or later always implodes. That's not what America needs. America needs REAL, lasting progress. And that will only happen if we all engage, and use our anger to continue to build a more perfect union, rather than to give in to the divisiveness.
2
Let's not forget that the GOP is so intellectually dim and corrupt at this point in time that it is still in lockstep denial about the need to do anything at all about global warming and climate change.
2
Vote for Democrats all down the ballot. It's our only hope. And it's just the start.
4
'As always, Democrats aren’t saints, but they appear to believe in democracy, while their opponents don’t'
That's what it boils down to. When we have two choices, and a party belonging to a deranged, racist, corrupt,xenophobic, islamophobic, and failed leader donald trump, who has david duke, white nationalists and white supremacists among his supporters, and whose divisiveness is destroying america-is one of the choice,The other the democratic party is a party that will defend health care coverage for pre-existing conditions, medicare, medicaid and social security, and america's democracy and free press, and take america in the right direction. Why would educated women and men, blacks,latinos and naturalized immigrant citizens vote for a man and a party that attacks them all the time ? 60 percent of the nation hates donald trump. It is a no-brainer. Vote for democrats down the line.
4
When an oligarch -take your pick - say, one of the Koch brothers lifts his hand to vote, how many votes does that count for? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? A million? Democracy is dead in the USA.
2
Please stop the hysterics and histrionics, Paul. We are having a free and fair election today, and will have another one in two years, regardless of today’s outcome. The people’s will is being reflected regardless of whether you agree with them.
3
@DRS
No, that's not how a democracy works.
First of all, when you have massive voter suppression of ONE type of voters, you obviously don't have "free and fair elections" anymore.
Secondly, when one political party systematically lies to its voters, and then builds a propaganda machine they call "news" in order to turn those lies into "alternative facts", all while declaring all other media the enemy of the people simply because they disagree with your narrative, the quantity and quality of free, real, respectful debates among citizens and among politicians is being reduced dramatically too, and without such debates, a democracy cannot possibly thrive.
Conclusion: it's not because YOU still feel free to go voting that somehow that's enough to have elections that "reflect the will of the people", as the previous elections have already shown. Much more is needed to obtain a real democracy, where we do have a government for the people because it's a government BY the people. So Paul is perfectly right here. It's pundit's job to warn us when a democracy is losing steam and risks getting undermined by a corrupt minority.
2
If all voting Americans read Nancy MacLean's Democracy in Chains, the country might have a chance. As it is, your rich rightwing manipulate your poor to vote against their best interests, and it's not clear how much more your democracy can be twisted to serve those rich before its autocracy instead.
3
We're close, but this doesn't seem like a reasonable off ramp. This is not a viable exit from autocracy.
Autocracy happens when most of the people like it over the results of democracy. We past that exit a while ago.
We're sufficiently divided such that most people stopped voting in their best interests a long time ago, because nobody was speaking in their best interests. I include Obama in this group unfortunately. Obama spoke based upon good wishes and 1950s america. I don't hate him for it, in fact I like him for it, but being wrong is not going to push this nation forward.
What is right? Ask the people. Don't whip up their fears! Just ask them politely and respond. All we need right now are reasonable politicians that go back to the old school and listen to people. That is all.
1
Let us remember, two columns by Mr. Krugman, during the Presidential Campaign
1. Trump Is Right on Economics
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/opinion/paul-krugman-trump-is-right-on-economics.html
2. Sanders over the Edge
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/opinion/sanders-over-the-edge.html
In politics, it's the economy that matters.
If you accept "It is the economy stupid" - Clinton Campaign- no other US economist did more to attack the the economic plans of the candidate that every poll showed had the best chance to beat Trump - to more endorse the economic plan of Mr. Trump
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_sanders-5565.html
Considering the many anti-democratic barriers in place, not to mention the Republican ownership of the voting machines, 7% may not be enough.
I read that 10% is needed.
1
At age 67, I give up. I will not live to see all the changes anyway, so, though I did vote, I really am disgusted. As a former Republican who believe in civic virtue, it is hard to imagine how we went so far off the path of good government.
2
@Terry McKenna
In real life, if you engage and vote and convince others to vote, you will have blocked the GOP from destroying Obamacare entirely.
Concretely, that means that you will have made it possible for 7 million people to still have access to healthcare, and for 20,000 Americans a year to survive whereas otherwise, they would have died.
That's HUGE change (as I hope you agree), and it's on only ONE issue.
It's an illusion to believe that a democracy is installed once and for all. That is never the case. There will always come demagogues trying to cheat their way to the top, and then ordinary citizens like you and me have to step in and correct the course the country has taken.
Conservatism and liberalism are two valid, respectful political philosophies. As many European countries show, both parties can form outstanding governments serving their people well.
What the GOP is doing today is putting aside all confidence in conservatism as a philosophy, to win elections, and to make up an "alternative facts" universe instead, just to be able to cling to power.
THAT will only change when REAL conservatives like you, who still remember that "civic virtue" IS what made America great, step up and take your party back.
A democracy vitally needs different political philosophies, and as a consequence a real, decent, strong conservative party.
The only way to obtain it is for ordinary citizens to build it ... !
Yes you can!! ;-)
@Ana Luisa i suspect that you don't know how little ours resembles democracy. our voting districts are drawn with precision so that in many cases, one party wins more votes but the other wins more legislators.
It is not up to me anyway. I am in the last few chapters - my 40 year old son and those like him will have to figure it out.
I will continue to hold our leaders in both parties responsible for our current situation. We havr been suffering from a long burn in the form of Repub erosion of integrety, service to the Constitution and the people of thks country. Big money sits at the head of the table and the rest of us habe bren delegated to eat the left overs on the back porch. All the while entrenched Dem leadership has secured thier place at the big money trough while giving lip service and tepid responses to the attack on our country and our rights. DT, a con man came in and beat the R's at thier own game and dropped any pretense as to the Wh Natlst low key driven agenda used by the right. He has made it the center of his policies without any shame or consequence. The 2016 race was lost due to a sleeping electorate, an entitled Dem candidate and a press that did not do its job calling out the truth. I own my complicity in regards to letting someone else worry about our Democrocy because we would never let our country be anything like it is now. Add Fox propoganda, Russian help and a large group of citizens groomed to hate and accept lies, denial and no real resistance by Dem leaders puts us on the brink of losing our hard earned freedoms to greed and hate. Blood that has been spilled in defence of our freedoms will have been spilled in vain. I am sick from this egregious attack on us from inside. I won't sit by and let it happen without a fight. My kids will know that I fight for truth and them.
2
One reason Trump has gotten this far is because he acts like the quintessential primitive dominant male. This appeals to a primitive segment. Another is his deep abiding racism.
2
People are going down, especially white rural folks feel the decay. Politicians do not know a cure, and especially republicans are just quack doctors. So the small-town folks run with those, who at least acknowledge their feelings.
When do you prophets in your ivory towers stop lecturing about more and more liberalism and start listening to the small people lecturing about their values and hopes of belonging to something persistent and secured. When do you come up with something like small street economics and robust local existence support objectives ?
Making the precariat feeling ignored is not a good precondition for gaining their support.
1
"... the elections are nonetheless a fork in the road." And the great Yogi Berra said, "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." And that quote was reputed to be connected to another great Yogi quote, "If you don't know where you're going, you might wind up someplace else." Well, Yogi, you've never been more right on both counts: we don't know where we are going so either fork will do. This country... And I say say that, I realize it's a country only in name only. And that name, given our current state, may be the most ironic of all country names in history: "United." What a joke. In fact, maybe it was named by someone who suffered from dyslexia, untied not united..
1
Rather than try to come up with a comment, I pass this along from a friend in Belfast, Northern Ireland:
"From this side of the pond, the US looks even more divided than NI! We have a good number of nutters here but there appears to be a vast number over there.
...
The political pundits on TV this evening, are all of the opinion that the US is going to end up semi- paralyzed, with no clear majority for either side."
His comments about Trump aren't printable.
2
Complacency is a bad thing. The state of US now is so similar to how Erdogan’s dictatorship has started in Turkey. I hope Americans have the courage to stop the process by voting and opposing to the following:
1. Electoral college
2. Citizens united
3. Corrupt supreme courth
1
I have a Vote, but Today... I feel very little Voice. I care enough to Know and know enough to Care. As a long-retired Family Therapist and Protestant Pastor, I believe our “President” is a
diagnosable Sociopathic Personality Disorder. Meanwhile, his
“Office”. is dominated by his Ego-filled presentations to his Chosen Red audiences. My Gratitude to Dr, Krugman for his lucid
Presence in this Dire Day.
1
Sometimes the sanest reaction to an insane situation....
is Insanity.
1
As is so often the case, Professor Krugman hits the nail on the head. His point — that this is our last chance to at least impede the autocratic juggernaut, is as far from hyperbole as today’s Republican “leadership” is from a commitment to democracy. Trump believes in his DNA that anyone who wields power is entitled to control anything he can get his very dirty hands on. Right now those hands are tightly wrapped around the throat of the Constitution, which he does not seem to have read, but by reputation is a nuisance and an impediment. The limits on his power, after being installed (not chosen) as our ostensible leader, he is testing in all ways. Perhaps he is as shocked as the rest of us at how toothless our system’s presumed restraints turn out to be. As much as the founders tried to cover all bases to protect against abuse, the Constitution requires our leaders to exercise self-restraint. After a sham election in 2016, we are now seeing what happens when a criminal, with much to hide, is installed in this position. To his delight he finds that he can manipulate — con — enough of the public to silence the rule of law. If he says what his supporters want hear, no one can stop him. He just doesn’t have to bother. So far, he seems to be correct. Trained early by Roy Cohn, Cohn’s corruption made sense to him. This is our last chance to assert that we will not tolerate criminals turning our Constitution into an empty, rhetorical device they can bend to their will.
2
It took 100 years for Rome to fall. America is in year 38.
1
@T-Bone. Yes, the United States was perfect before Ronald Reagan took office, and now has gone down the toilet. Oh please, I lived through the stagflation of 1970's, and had a brother who did not return home from Vietnam, so no, The Fall did not start in 1980.
Does anybody else out there get at least a little tired of this all was great until 1980 meme?
Trump poses a greater threat to the American way of life than a few thousand potential refugees approaching from the south.This is the last chance for Americans of every background to reject Trump and his corruption of American values. Impeachment by ballot. The American way.
3
"For the survival of American democracy is on the ballot."
And you say Trump and the Republicans are campaigning on fear? Please. Hyperbole, much?
3
Mr Krugman, you have thought seriously about politics for a long while. Most of us only touch it every few years.
What is your opinion of the possibility of your Autocracy idea actually turning to a form of fascism?
Is it really that long of a step from one to the other with a person leading that nation that is not anchored to the truth...
2
"...mainstream news media berated Democrats for running on nothing but opposition to Trump..."
What's the difference; running against the Republican Party currently in office is running against Trump? NONE!
As we see, #45 is already preparing his minions, should the Dems hopefully win this election. He'll simply claim the Dems stole it, blame the media, blame hacking, blame whoever. He'll foment civil war, without a moment's thought. He's never accepted blame for anything. Excellent column, Dr. Krugman.
3
We are on the verge of a "Shock and Awe" hostile takeover of this nation if tomorrow brings us a monopoly undemocratic unconstitutional Republican power government that only represents Republicans. Vote out the "Red" Party. I'd rather be a liberal Socialist than a Russian satellite communist nation that takes our rights, and governed without my being heard.
1
Mr Krugman
I am glad that I took the time to read your opinion piece today about what is at stake in today's US midterm elections.
Your evocation of the Republicans' opposition to providing medical insurance for victims of 'pre-existing conditions' (myopia? hemophilia?) sent chills up my spine.
Without naming any particular GOP personalities, this cold reality confirms the eugenicist agenda underlying contemporary Republican policies.
Americans -- a vote against the Republican Party is a vote against survival of the fittest! I am sure that the GOP includes medical 'advisors' who plead for the 'salutary' effects of 'weeding out' 'deficient' genes and such....
1
Tom Friedman made the same case in his last OP-ED. Tom has been as we say around the block. Funny, when I first read his piece he used the word "deranged' to describe the POTUS. I guess that was too harsh in retrospect because when I looked the piece up again it was changed. Now it is "disturbed." Well, Paul, if we catalog the speech and flip flops and belly flops of Trump I think a panel could well find a deranged mind. He is our Howard Beale if you all remember Network. He will lead us to a darker and darker place and the world ( the autocrats) will rub their hands greedily. I have voted. Now I wait and hope. We are ready for whatever.
2
The gravitas of this moment needs recognition. I am very fearful that if the GOP wins, Trump will think he has a mandate for fascism. We have to take back this nation and ensure government of the people. by the people shall not perish from this earth.
4
Healthcare? That's the best the Democrats have to offer as their weapon of choice against Donald Trump? Whatever happened to impeachment and the refugee caravan?? I thought the Democrats wanted revenge for the electoral debacle of 2016.
Dr Krugman is right when he says Democrats aren't saints. Democrats still come across as wimps and sore losers.
1
No check on Trump will speak volumes on America. No check and the nation will join the all the failed states throughout history.
2
The hearts and minds of those that would vote for abuse of military, repression of voters and outright lies and deseit need to be opened to freedom and equality, lest they too suffer and parish.
The Trump GOP is blind to its own evil. Education and truth will set them free.
1
Wonderful picture of Trump's right hand, with a "cortical thumb", indicative of left cerebral dysfunction. In most right handed people, the left cerebral hemisphere is the site of language, both understanding and expression.
Is a brain disorder the cause of Trump's poor judgement?
If so, what is the cause, and is there a treatment.
1
“Imagine what he’ll do if he loses(Trump) and what his supporters will do in response”. Talk about dog whistles and fear mongering Paul. You and the rest of your neo liberal brethren just don’t get it, those deplorables left behind by the genius of globalization, off shoring and disruptive business models conjured up by today’s best and brightest in Silicon Valley are still in most cases capable of finding their way to a voting both and considering the fact that so many are still unemployed they don’t have a lot else on their agenda. If the Democrats ever want to regain power they must start acting like Democrats not an increasingly lighter version of Republicans. The most basic part of a new agenda should be creating good paying jobs for citizens without a four year degree, it’s not hard, Roosevelt did it using the vehicle known as the W.P.A., there are still many splendid examples of the good work done during that era by men and women without an advanced degree. What there must be is the will to first raise taxes and I see no will to do that from any quarter, or at least force the ones with the money, starting with those oh so sensitive to social issues executives at Apple, Ebay and the rest to stop seeking offshore hides holes for the trillions they generate and start putting their money where their mouth is, they are just as bad as Trump and his tax gift for the one percent. We had better start caring for all our citizens or it’s going to get a lot uglier.
3
If Democrats don't at least win the house I would leave the country except for the fact there seems no place left to go.
1
About Norma Gauster - one of my fellow commenters - who is concerned about the face we (Americans) are showing to the world in our "representative democracy, a Christian nation tolerant of differences, not perfect, but trying to amend our faults..."
From the git go - we are not a "Christian nation." If anything, judging by the philosophical bent of our founding fathers - George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson - who were deists, Master Masons who believed in a supreme being, the architect of the Universe, but not necessarily in the putative son of God who is walking by our side, with us day and night, sticking his nose into all of our private affairs, our lord and master and savior who is going to make everything peachy when we get his special recipe for Apple Brown Betty in the sky. God created the world and then he forgot about it, according to them. It was up to humans to run the place.
Maybe Jesus is not going to make everything right in America. And maybe that same Jesus has become the poster-child for all this Republican, "Silent" - which ain't so silent anymore - "Majority," "Christian conservatives" - who ain't so conservative now - "Thousand Points of (no public funding) Light," and this big mess we're in with Mr. Faith and Family Values, Mr. Old Time Religion (if that's what they want), Mr. Morals and Ethics in a big way -- our Malefactor in Chief, Oligarch Donald Trump.
Just go out and vote these old reprobates out of office...
2
This is a clear picture of what we liberals see. This is the world I want to live in. It’s not the world that my family in rural South Dakota see. For them, this is a godless apocalyptic time in which the survival of the Real America is at stake. Their fear is so intense that I’ve been told many times that, “The ends justify the means.” Gerrymandering, voter suppression, voter roll purges -- whatever it takes to protect America from the liberals is more than justified. They want Republicans to do whatever it takes to control the country. They are shameless.
1
There is nothing in this piece that qualifies as opinion. Why are the journalists on the news pages not reporting it this way. The facts don't lie. Republicans may still lie and cheat their way to many election victories around the country. But anything about that gets stuck here on the opinion pages. Don't look for it on the news pages. Over there you get statements like "Voter rights advocates say voter fraud is almost nonexistent." It's not voter rights advocates who say that. It's fact. But according to reporters there are two sides to every story, even when there aren't.
2
First of all, I think that Gabriella Demczuk's photo included in the top of Mr. Krugman's column was so sharp and crisp that it really identified how old president Trump's hands were. These might be the only real things about him.
Secondly, everyone, Please Vote today.
How foolish so many US citizens, including you, are, Mr. Krugman. Couldn't you see that perpetual support of the status quo would lead to this? In the last presidential election, you and the Times supported another candidate that focused on profit, continued militarism and a side-long glance at the reduced incomes of the middle and working classes. An honorable, truly devoted man ran as possible Democratic choice, but you chose to ignore him, knowing full well he represented the obverse to the scoundrel he would be opposing in the election. Now we are paying the price.
Unless those influential in the Democratic Party and those knowledgeable, such as you, supports and emphasize an agenda and candidate that truly represents the needs of the people, and you and they know well what they are, the country will move to fascism.
Paul--As I was reading your column I was thinking of Ross Douthat's column yesterday about Trump's Gift to the Democrats wherein he calls Democrats "Hysterical" for worrying that the end of democracy may be near. So you must be one of those hystericals that Ross was referring to. I wonder how Ross would be reacting if the Democratic Secretaries of State were working overtime to limit voting by the white male working class who statistically prefer Trump. Imagine if tens of thousands of them all of a sudden disappeared from the voter rolls. Ask him for me, would ya?
1
It is hard to blame Americans who cannot believe that Trump and his Party represent a threat to our democracy and Republic. I believe however that is absolutely true. It was also hard to imagine that we would ever have a President who was utterly dishonest, a long time con man, a sex offender, a racist, a sociopath devoid of empathy. And that this President would publically insist that the Department of Justice be devoted to his personal legal protection and the persecution of his political opponents. And that he would repeatedly extort his followers to violence, with the results which we have recently witnessed. And that, unbelievably, the Party of Lincoln would surrender to him almost completely.
Given what has already come to pass, I think that the ruin of our democracy and its replacement by a government akin to that of Russia is absolutely plausible, failing a massive repudiation of the Republican Party tomorrow. God spare us.
1
Poland's current regime touts Trump as a beacon of democracy and Poland's chief ally. On global occasions, our deplorable clown of a president Andrzej Duda is overjoyed whenever he has a chance to get a pic with Trump somewhere near an elevator or in a corridor. Fortunately, after the last local elections, there is more and more hope that Poland is going toward getting rid of the ruling Law and Justice.
2
The “President” has done more partisan work this past month than any work for the country. How many tax dollars have been used for flying him and his coterie on Air Force One to all the political rallies?
2
Simple questions. Why does Congress not intervene in Georgia and why do the generals not simply refuse Trumps illegal and unconstitutional orders. This whole voting and immigrant thing is so insane. Something is really off-the-rails in this country.
5
I prefer our oligarchy to a potential autocracy with Trump.
Elections, wherever they are held, happen along similar lines. Even in India, where elections for some state assemblies are around the corner, our own ‘Donald’ Modi is playing many tricks. His Hindu right wing brigade, which is often described as ‘fringe’ by the MSM with an intention to shield Modi, started raking up religiously sensitive issues such as Ayodhya dispute Sabarimala verdict.
The Modi dispensation started a concerted effort to destroy democratic institutions such as judiciary, investigative agencies, the RBI and the election commission. The recent months witnessed unprecedented scenes, where the heads of these institutions publicly expressed their displeasure over the efforts that are being made to undermine the institutions they represent. The arbitrary arrests of human rights activists, gag orders on the academia from being critical of the ruling dispensation and killing of atheists have resulted in a corrosion of democracy.
The neo-liberal Modi regime is obsessed with only two things: rake up the religious emotions to hoodwink the commoners with an intention to distract their attention away from bread and butter issues and promote the interests of their tycoon cronies by giving them ease of doing business including the ‘ease of default’ on loans.
The people, however, appear to be oblivious of these happenings. So, elections are all about manipulating the cognitive map of the people with an aim to promote the interests of the rich and the elite.
Yes, it's shocking, I tell you, shocking that republicans will do anything to maintain their hold on power. Does anyone here KNOW any republicans personally? They always know best, and they don't want any sass about it. And might makes right, right? They have openly championed One Party Rule since Newt, and made it clear back in the 80's that corporate backing was accepted, cash preferred, but cushy jobs after government service was acceptable too. Then they made it legal. And the Democrats played along...........much to our dismay. Uninspiring half efforts at all the things other developed western democracies had has left a lot of people disillusioned and cynical. Who on The Left, other than Bernie, has come out with an inspirational message to bring in all the X'ers, Millenials, Conservative Minorities (soon to become major players demographically, but really the future of the country) ???? No one so far, President Obama gave it a good try, which turned out to be miles beyond Bush's best, but in the end was 'shackled' by the RW congress. We're in deep sewage here with a strong tide against us, with no one to lead. Hold on tight.
Thank you for Paul Krugman's articles. Viewed from here ( i.e with passion but detachment) his extreme concern seems justified and his analysis, as always, is peerless.
2
"If we take the other, we’ll be on the road to autocracy, with no obvious way to get off."
If you look at the comments I have been making (Assuming the NYT's has a way for you to rear a particular persons comments over time) you will see that I have been harping on the "New Dark Age".
As long as people reject the lessons of The Enlightenment they will continue to head down the autocracy road. We are not at the fork, the fork was passed a long time ago.
Sure, people could stop and turn around and head back to the fork, but that would take an extra ordinary set of events to have that happen.
I suspect that either we will be living over the next 3 decades in:
1. An Autocratic State.
2. A Police State as a small subset of people rebel violently.
3. We have all out Civil War between the two world views.
The 4th possibility of the people being enlightened and heading back to the fork, is just not going to happen. To bad, as although it was far from perfect, America was a nice place compared to everything else.
I weep for the little kids at the Thanksgiving table this year as they know not what they have lost.
'In any other democracy, letting a man supervise his own election would be inconceivable.'
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
1
Thank you for writing the only article that matters this election season.
2
This vote is for our hearts and souls.
1
Dead on. If the American Nationalist White Peoples Party wins, the Muller investigation is dead and buried, They will continue to pack the courts and dismantle civil rights and the social safety net.
If they lose they'll cry foul.
When their policies fail because they are built on fantasy numbers and figures they will blame the "other." This will mostly be groups that have no real political power like immigrants.
I just finished canvasing for Nate McMurray in the NY 27. Amazing how many people will vote for a guy on bail and charged with 13 counts of fraud etc Insane. And they call this draining the swamp
I want to believe that most Americans are good people and can see the threat that the new American nationalist White Peoples Party poses.
If rump is successful nobody wins including his base. Why can't they figure that out?
2
I am just plain scared.
What has happened?
Here and Everywhere.
Where is one to go.
What is one to think.
Mr Krugman covered numerous topics.
The economics professor made no mention of the economy.
A few comments contrasting predictions of 363 days ago to today's economic conditions would have been appreciated.
2
75,000 voters in Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin and Ohio served us this Presidency, and I’m praying that many millions of our better angels show up across the country today.
1
This article appears to be a near hysterical statement that the democracies of the US, Hungary, and Poland are in danger. The facts he uses to base his accusations do not add up. Hungary needs to protect its borders as the native population is not reproducing itself at a fast enough rate to maintain the Hungarian nationhood and culture, for example.
A lot of autocracy this and oligarchy that being thrown around here. What surprises me is that no one has mentioned the blatant creep toward theocracy we've been experiencing?
This eerie infatuation between evangelicals and Trump has to be about more than abortion and sticking it to the gays. From Jeff Sessions and his religious freedom fetish, to cake bakers who impose themselves into the sex lives of their customers, the right is positioning itself for the unveiling of its own version of Shariah.
And they've actually found a guy who would believe them if they deigned to bestow divinity upon him. Why not Donald I, God King? It's only a title after all. And if he's flattered enough to hand over the United States government to Jesus, then well worth it.
Who are the "ordinary" voters Paul? The uneducated hoi polloi who lack your higher-minded concerns and instead care about issues that determine whether they can pay their mortgage/rent, or afford to send their children to college, etc.?
It is snobbery like this that drove many people to vote for Trump in the first place. Democrats just don't get it and they probably never will.
1
@Wolfran. Snobbery or blood sport along with gullibility that drove many to Trump? However keep in mind who prevailed in the popular vote. Had gerrymandering not affected the outcome of the electoral vote Trump would still be stiffing contractors, suppliers and the government.
Couldn’t agree more this independent is voting straight democrat this cycle to ensure my children get the same free nation I have enjoyed
2
The phony columnists always warn about "the historic elections and the last opportunity"
Why?
If you think about voting for the third party, then this is the worst moment!
That's why over the last 100 years the people had to choose between the Democrats and the Republicans, because if they didn't, the world as we know would cease to exist!
Who would say that even the male characters could be the drama queens!
Spot-on, as ever. The GOP has done the math, and understands that abandoning democracy is their path to the future -- their vision of an autocratic, theocratic apartheid one-party state is what they're working toward (and, lest people pin it on Trump's lapel, this is something they've been doing for decades).
The hope, of course, is that the Democrats understand that if the GOP is going all-in with antidemocratic politicking, then the Dems need to fully embrace and expand democracy for them to have a future.
That means listening to what voters actually want, and not avoiding what the Dems consider "controversial" because the GOP has been framing acceptable discourse for so long.
The stakes couldn't be higher. 2012 was America's last "normal" election. 2016, far from being an aberration, is reflective of the GOP's departure from reason. What 2018 turns out to be remains to be seen, but 2020 will be even more frightening.
Either American democracy survives the 21st century, or the GOP does -- but, as it stands, one of them isn't coming out of this century intact.
1
Thank you Mr Krugman, for putting my thoughts and emotions into words. I have shared your article with my grown children, so they may understand my passion in this election.
2
Yes, democracy is on the ballot. But in the Age of Trump where hyperbolic speak is the norm, finding that truthful message is like trying to find Waldo.
Yet, Krugman has spoken an absolute truth. There are people in this Administration and within the Republican Party who are anti-democratic. They view the interests of capitalists as being at odds with the interests of democratic rule in a zero-sum sort of game. Peter Thiel is chief among these, but there are many others who see politics not as left and right or Democratic and Republican, but oligarchic v. redistributive democracy.
Democracy is seen as a negative value because it is "the mob", organizing themselves politically to take government offices and use the government as a means to coerce wealth from the wealthy to be redistributed to the masses. The horror of it all!
It is long past the time that we realize that we are not all working off of the same paradigm of government. Republicans and their oligarchic money constituents are doing everything in their power to repress democratic practices, whether in the voting booth or in a jury box. Democrats still believe in the idea of democratic practice. So Krugman is right, this issue hangs in the balance with today's election.
3
As per his usual, Mr. Krugman is right on the money to warn of dire consequences for our Democracy if Republicans are still maintaining control over all levers of Congressional power when we wake up tomorrow morning. Their anti-Democratic instincts follow the playbook and pathways of other emerging autocracies in all of history, but particularly during our extended lifetimes from the 20th century. I’m not a historian, but Timothy Snyder is a good one.
Go read his short summary on this awful process: ‘On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century’ codifying the autocrats game plan, and what supporters of a democratic republic can and should do to counteract the slide into an authoritarian swamp. Parallels with the Trumpist reality of our time is so precisely descriptive it will will curl your toes!
3
PK, it is *not* hard to fault the Dems' judgment for failing to make the threat to democracy, and the advance of bigotry,
Dems look small and cautious, over-calculating. Only Barack Obama has broken through to the high moral ground that now stands so empty.
Go ahead and challenge the party PK. It's not disloyal. In fact when you write such ominous warnings, it's inconceivable that you do not also insist on Democratic leadership to assert core American values.
We're voting our deep stories of who we are, not simply the services and income we want.
1
Americans do not like one party rule. The Republicans will be defeated one way or the other. The uglier it gets, the more the Republicans will grind themselves into the dust. The man they nominated and miraculously elected as president is the apotheosis of what Republicanism has become, an effort to create levels of inequality never seen before in history and without any other apparent purpose than the aggrandizement of hapless men.
1
These apocalyptic observations are entirely true. Worst threat to democracy in living memory, says my father who is 96 years old, fought in WW2, and remembers the 1930s when the family was semi-homeless after losing all their money in a bank failure.
3
the economist (failed) does not properly understand the word autocrat, or deliberately misuses it. Trump's words and tweets are absurd, but he for small government not in any way acting as a dictator. Let's be fair and honest and balance, eh.
1
Today is the day I get to tell Republicans and especially their President what I and the majority of Americans think of them. Shame on all of them.
4
Thank you Dr. Krugman for this article. I totally agree with you, and have been having all of these fears from most of Mr. Trump's campaign to today. But there is just one thing I don't understand. Why doesn't the media call the Republicans what they are: CHEATERS. They are cheaters plain and simple. Kemp is cheating. gerrymandering is cheating, secret cabals with fait accompli health plans is cheating and autocratic in the highest degree. I feel that if what the Republicans are doing is labeled as cheating, the general public just might look at that party in a different light.
4
The Elephant in the corner is killing us. The US is not democracy. Autocracy, or perhaps Plutocracy, looms by design. We are a Federal Republic, with a strong central government, controlled by a minority of voters. This is simply our constitutional lot. There are many countries which are true democracies. If democracy is what you want, you have a choice. Move, or work to fix it here. I prefer to attempt to fix it
2
Last exit indeed.
If we just add the perspective of looking like an alien from space at the historical evolution of this floating "blue dot", we'll perceive it as a swaying wave of back and forth tragedies.
Go into a tragedy, suffer the heavy casualties and destruction, back to rebuild.
We don't learn.
Check "It can't happen here?" in Google.
Empires come and go. Maybe we are heavily active elaborating the next tragedy.
Luckily, climate change extinction may take care once and for all.
The frogs boiling are not unique in their reaction.
1
The American democracy is at stake and that is why Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstien must IMMEDIATELY obtain an send to Congress what ever parts of the Mueller report are ready. Tonight might be the last night that it may be possible.
When the Republicans lose the House, Trump will fire Rosenstien and bury the evidence with the help of the GOP lame ducks.
1
Such a silly thing to say and write. Especially when it is very unlikely you get the outcome you want today. What good does it do to say the sky is falling, when it really isn't? Think it gives Dems a better or worse chance in 2020 to do that? Voters have a now known quantity in Trump and the economy is doing better by anyone's estimate. Credit Obama if you want doesn't matter. House stays Republican by 3 seats and Senate gains at least 4. Sky won't fall unless you bring it down on yourself.
A shift in power towards the Democrats will not automatically make things better overnight. It will be a start; but, Trumpist resentment and anger will not just go away. It is their fuel, their reason for existence, and a cancer that will gnaw at the vitals of the United States until a cure is found and Trump will have two more years to pour salt in the wound.
Democrats must remember that the core of our democracy is that the elected govern in the name of all of the people and not a particular base. There are root causes for all that anger and resentment. Reach out to the Red. Bring them to Blue. Whatever it takes, no matter how long.
3
Imagine a country led by one political party who stifles the voices of opposition party members. Imagine a leader who has little opposition from his own party members and as a result is able to issue decrees from on high with little consequence. Imagine a high court, a court stacked with like-minded lackeys and good old boys, who will constantly curry favor with the imperial leader.
No, this is not some banana republic or Eastern European country prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, nor is is Russia with its very own despot.
I could very well be ours should we allow a despotic charlatan to grab unfettered power.
Vote wisely this election day.
2
President Trump is a disrupter, but a necessary one. The party leadership of both parties has been dominated by corporate interests. However, the angry lurch of the left towards a progressive and socialist redistributionist agenda is as much a risk to democracy as the right selling fear of immigrants to further their nationalist perspective on climate and world security. Neither political party demonstrate equanimity and the media is a purveyor of bias and purposeful deception including Klugman. Krugman maybe right about the importance of this election but for the wrong reasons. A hope citizens don't give his side a clear win but rather vote for moderation, repudiating extremists on both sides.
1
Good points but you overstate the threat from the Dems and understate what’s clear and present
In the GOP's view, if the ends justify the means what are the ENDS? And, how would those ENDS make America great?
1
"Meanwhile, the reality is that ordinary voters are more easily moved by issues that have a direct impact on their well-being than by more abstract concerns about democracy and rule of law."
Therein lies the problem:
Too many [of us] fail to realize those issues directly impacting our lives are a direct result of those rules-of-law borne from Democratic processes; rights, legislation; executive orders; court rulings- the U.S. Constitution.
Anyone really paying attention realizes these matters are not abstract musings reserved for the likes of Dr. Krugman or other scholars.
A stupid self-centered constituency is what Republicans hope and prey on.
I just pray there are more thinking people voting today- than not.
We know exactly what Trump's supporters will do if the Republicans lose. Within the past couple of weeks we have seen the MAGA bomber, we have seen Pittsburgh, and we have seen Tallahassee. Anyone who is missing the trends, the patterns, and the underlying rhetorical gasoline that is driving the Trump machine is being willfully ignorant - to their detriment.
2
@Jason Shap
Pittsburgh is what happens when Leftist Leaders like Farrakhan are allowed to spew their vile rhetoric and still take pictures with Democratic Political Leaders like Obama and Keith Ellison. Comparing Jews to termites came out of Farrakhans's mouth, not Trump's. So what should we expect when the blue wave crashes. More exterminations from the left?
You're absolutely right about Kemp in Georgia! The idea that we live in a country with TRUE representative democracy is hogwash. Still, for someone who used to believe that a SEMBLANCE of decency existed somewhere along the line, it's hard to accept that a candidate for high office in this country is also the one responsible for overseeing how that election is conducted - that just revolts me to the max. In fact, REGARDLESS of whatever positions he may or may not hold, any decent person should vote against him ON PRINCIPLE. I know it's easy to say such a encompassing statement such as that but honestly this Georgia thing has really stuck in my craw. While the state isn't as Red as it was and is turning Pink if not Blue, I can't believe that our Constitution doesn't outlaw such a campaign from taking place which, alas, it does not. I'd say relying on the Founding Fathers to solve all our present problems by what they provided us is not possible. How could they ever expected the vile and undemocratic extents that politicians are resorting to in their gluttonous quest for power and money, it's gone beyond all previous proportions and on a larger scale the issues that divide us today are as large as they were when we fought our Civil War. Could some replay of that event be someone on the horizon? After all, men have been hanged for less than the conduct that these renegade Republicans have resorted to in order to convolute our system of government.
2
Everything you say rings true. But what is the way out of this? 42% of Americans approve of Trump's flamboyant and unapologetic jingoism and racism, and that's too large a minority to sustain a liberal democracy.
Not even Law and Justice in Poland got 42% of the vote (they got 35%), and neither did You-Know-How in 1932 (he got 33%) - who only went on to win 43% of the national vote in 1933, after his Machtergreifung was complete.
Unless Trump's approval ratings fall dramatically, there is no reason to believe or hope that America will come to its senses.
1
"survival of American democracy is on the ballot" True enough, but this downward spiral, as I now look back in time but not realizing it, began with Reagan to Trump! U.S. is no longer a functional democracy but a criminal and corrupt corporate 1% state masquerading as a democracy, but for sure, this is the last exit! Our eyes are fully open, there are NO excuses this time!
1
In discussions with my Republican neighbors it is clear to me that they are more comfortable with strong father models rather than nurturing female models---to put it bluntly---they lean towards fascism. Even when they admit to Trump's obvious vulgarity and moral depravity---they do not use these terms---deep down, they are attracted to a strong man standing on a balcony. I know there are studies of this---particularly on different parenting styles, etc. that develop these tendencies---but, it does make it difficult to discuss politics between two people---one looking up to a balcony, the other one mingling on the theater floor.
1
President Donald Trump has repeatedly, and falsely, claimed millions voted illegally. Yet examination after examination of voter fraud claims reveal fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is nearly non-existent, and much of the problems associated with alleged fraud relates to unintentional mistakes by voters or election administrators. Election officials and leaders of the president’s own party also agree fraud is not widespread.
1
"Last exit"
Again, the end is nighish again. We'll get there, eventually--if (heh) the gods tarry. In the meantime, keep sending your donations. End-time date setting, as late-nite radio addicts will tell you, is an evolving science.
Only two weeks ago "the clear and present danger" was the 1.5 degree inferno awaiting us. But, listening to Krugman's candidates, it seems to have disappeared. Thucydides, describing the plague, discovered an even greater one. People gradually lost their ability to fear--and their morals.
Only some GOP women are beginning to realize that pro-life isn’t truly part of the GOP platform. Pro-fetus, anti— women, children, social services, education, medical care and taxes form the balance and on balance the GOP is not pro life.
The last exit was in 2016. Despite a huge turnout voting against republicans in this election, they will take this election too...by fraud, voter suppression or any other means. Since Gingrich started his scorched earth policy the GOP has not told the truth or played by any rules. The only consequence of their lies so far has been success.
If you think Mr. Krugman is engaging in hyperbole when he says our very democracy is at stake, remember just last week when trump said he was going to repeal the 14th amendment to our constitution through an executive order. Should the GOP hold the majorities, trump will immediately repeal every amendment to the constitution except the 2nd. And he'll greatly limit that right to only those who can prove their loyalty to him and who are willing to use those guns to murder liberals.
Autocracy? White Nationalism? This is the same type of hyperbolic, alarmist nonsense that prompted Krugman to predict, on the eve of Trump's election:
"It really does look like 'President Donald Trump' and markets are plunging. If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is 'never',"
And thus the problem with Progressives--the sky is always falling--when they're losing.
And just one quick point about sending troops to the border--in advance of the advancing hordes: should we wait for them to crash our border--before we send troops? Or would it be prudent to send them ahead of time--so as to prepare for their arrival?
Krugman is quick to accuse the Trump Administration of playing politics on the border--when it is perfectly obvious--the caravans are not a result of some contemporaneous calamity in Central America. These caravans are perfectly timed--to dirty-up Republicans in advance of the election. In a word--they are the result of a political stunt--financed by left-wing activists.
2
Two years ago in a fit of enthusiasm I told my 11 yr old daughter "Tonight you will either witness the first woman president of the United States or the last president of the United States." How I wish I could take those words back.
2
Taking democracy for granted is the biggest error the so-called moderate Americans had made. Establishing democracy is an everlasting fight.
1
Cue the conservative opposition, ready to tell us that this is all overblown, that Krugman is exaggerating, and the same thing was said of many elections in the past, and.....
I WISH that were true. I really do.
1
Add NC to the list of States moving away from Democracy. Besides the usual Gerrymandering, there's the packing of the courts and changing the State Constitution to take power away from the Governor.
4
One of the mysteries of the constant stream of big political lies is how easy, how nonchalant they seem to be accepted by the media and the 40% or so of the voting public. Maybe not a mystery when delving into the mechanisms of the conservative media outlets, but how willing that some mostly ordinary citizens can't get enough of this pure propaganda.
At the current time, these looming Midterm elections have a near direct parallel to moments in history's past. The European 1930's has become the most common one we compare to our current crisis. But we don't really have to go abroad to find an even more appropriate example.
Almost exactly one hundred years ago, President Woodrow Wilson enacted laws that have a greater similarity to today's America.
In March, 1916 Wilson sent the U.S. Army under General John J. Pershing into Northern Mexico, unsuccessfully searching out the Mexican revolutionary General, Francisco "Poncho" Villa for a real invasion, entering the small border town of Columbus, New Mexico and fought U.S. Troops.
Both sides declared victory.
But Wilson had bigger problems with the Great War in Europe. He made great use of censorship of the press and suspended free speech that could find individuals being arrested and newspapers even shut down for any violation of the new order. He also had earlier, formally segregated the federal government.
We must always stay vigilant against curbing Civil Liberties in favor of our security. We may lose it completely.
2
Let me offer a more optimistic long-term scenario: ultimately, today's Republican party will be defeated. It has no constructive vision to offer and will ultimately fail as it runs out of scapegoats while facing a backlash against its fear-based demagoguery. European countries have faced this phenomenon periodically albeit not in a two-party system, it tends to become pretty clear rather quickly that those parties that stoke fear-based resentment as their central message are rather impotent in offering actual solutions to address the needs of their constituents. Our government is a case in point. Granted, one should hope for a quick defeat at the polls to minimize the damage along the way.
4
I think there's also a strong possibility that there are already no more exits off the road. People capable of getting into power the way these republicans have (over the course of the last 30 years, never mind the 2016 election) are probably going to be just as good at staying in power. The elections have a good chance of turning out the way they want, and if they don't, I'm sure we'll all be impressed with what Mitch McConnell et al. mannage to do otherwise.
I'm actually worried that the GOP has decided on a plan to hurl accusations of voter fraud if Democrats win anywhere. If Abrams wins in Georgia, I'm betting Kemp will refuse to concede, claim voter fraud, demand a recount, and refuse to certify Abrams. Anywhere Democrats win, I'm expecting Trump to say the results are "fake." Fox News will help him and the GOP along -- their goal will be to plant doubt in the minds of voters.
3
The article about the Chinese tech industry in today's paper reminds me of the old sweatshops of the Industrial Revolution. The rat-race has only intensified as it has grown more sophisticated.
"... gerrymandering and other factors." It is the "other factors" that are more important.
An unlevel playing field is a feature of even a "fair" system whenever it is based on legislative districts, as it is the House of Representatives. Ask the citizens of any parliamentary democracy. It is theoretically possible to have a majority of representatives with just over one-quarter of the total votes. It all depends on how the various factions have distributed themselves across the districts. (A gerrymander is an artificial and intentional redistribution that is indefensible anywhere.)
It is unfortunate that progressives in the US have chosen to cluster together geographically, as though attempting to huddle for mutual reassurance and to avoid contact with the unsavory masses. This has the effect that they are electorally unassailable in the leading metropolitan areas, particularly on the coasts, and relatively powerless elsewhere. That is a burden that they have to bear in exchange for cultural dominance, but it provides much raw material for engrossing byplay between elections in the media that reflect their values.
1
@ERP
In real life, there is no progressive conspiracy, you know.
ALL big cities all over the world tend to vote more to the left and be less racist than rural parts of no matter what country. That's because if you live together, day in day out, with hundreds of thousands of people, from many different backgrounds, languages and religions, you start to see our common humanity first, rather than imagining that what is different/disagrees must be an enemy.
So you can't win those cities so easily, as a politician, by pandering to racism.
That means that you have to run on real achievements and policies.
And once that's the case, you can't afford anymore to systematically pass bills that shift the wealth of the city/country to the wealthiest 1%, because people are paying attention, you see?
As to the "masses": on most issues, a clear majority of the American people agrees with the Democratic platform (and on many, even a majority of GOP voters agrees, such as certain types of gun control, no cuts to social security or Medicaid, more affordable healthcare, the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bills in Congress, etc.).
So that's where the masses are. It's because the GOP knows this that they are using gerrymandering distortions in order to nevertheless still be able to win elections.
Cultural dominance: what Democrats support is freedom of religion (and culture). Not bills that impose ONE culture/religion on all citizens, as the GOP claims to want.
8
I agree. Trump's Mussolini Project is on the line.. But if we vote to Keep the Republic (Franklin's language) I worry that the Democrats will get lost in the impeachment weeds. Unless Mueller establishes conclusively that Putin owns the Trumps, no effort at impeachment is warranted, even if the Congress exposes massive corruption. Why? Because the Senate won't remove Trump from the Presidency, even if they should.
My view:
1) Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Protect Mueller and publicly investigate corruption. Don't imitate Gowdy, however and turn investigations into a circus.
2) Check the President as the Constitution intends. Stop Executive power grabs, particularly the misuse of the military and halt Trump's rush towards war with Iran. Force a vote to authorize (or end) military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan as the Constitution requires.
3) Work with Trump on infrastructure and, if possible, immigration (where the motto is Don't Trust AND Verify. Push a real middle class tax cut among sales taxes? equity loans? a drop in middle class tax rates? paid for by really cutting somewhere.
4) Hardest of all, Work with the Republican minority where possible; be civil.
4
@Frank McNeil
Well stated Frank. Impeachment is a very bad idea unless Trump's acts are egregious. Some reasonable steps could be taken like keeping Nunes of the Intelligence committee if he is reelected. He can serve somewhere else.
@stever
Thanks. Nunes and Intelligence don't rhyme but each party gets to choose its committee members. If the next Republican leaders want to obstruct the committee's work, which is likely, they will keep Nunes there so he can tattle to the White House.
@Frank McNeil
Thanks for the info Frank .
While I’m not unmindful of the significance of today’s election I’m always concerned about the use of sky is falling metaphors in general. The republicans have used a generational strategy to arrive at this point and countering it won’t happen overnight. It also assumes that everyone on the republican side supports autocracy and despite Trump many don’t see it that way. Yes I think it will be bad if the democrats don’t take at least one house of congress and find a way to check Trump inspired Republican excesses. But worse than that is the idea that only now can we resist tyranny, that this is some kind of final opportunity. Believing that leads to despair and the loss of agency. I think we are made of sterner stuff than that and hyperbole about the world is ending rarely leads to any effective actions.
4
If the Democrats manage to gain control of congress and stop the Trump train, they and the American people will be left with the long-term threat to American democracy; the concentration of resources in the hands of fewer and fewer people.
Forget the vast differences in wealth for a moment. Democracy and the right to vote will ring hollow if for-profit corporations have monopolies on housing, food, health care and education. That's where we're headed, and we're almost there.
"Tax the rich" won't fix it. They'll retain control of these things and raise the prices to pay the tax. Instead, control of these necessary resources must be wrested from them, through a combination of distributed corporate ownership (break them up, forcing them to compete), individual ownership and co-ops, and socialism (free college, roads, medicare, etc.)
Trump is busy delivering our resources to the oligarchy. Once he is stopped, they must be clawed back for democracy to remain meaningful. And this has to happen while the stigma of 'socialism, communism' is being hurled at them by the far right and their corporate sponsors.
The Democrats have their work cut out for them. Hopefully it starts tomorrow.
4
So scary.
"Voting restrictions are almost entirely a Republican thing." Key word there is almost. Here in our Democratic stronghold of New York, I as someone who would prefer not to be associated with the Democratic (or Republican) party, was shut out of the various primaries this summer where I would have eagerly voted for Cynthia Nixon and Zephyr Teachout in their respective races. Not to mention the presidential primaries in the 2016 where I was shut out of the Bernie Sanders euphoria as Hillary proceeded on her way to her vaunted popular vote majority. In either case had it been a matter of going down to the DMV for an I.D. I think I would have done it, notwithstanding the insurmountable obstacle we are told it ordinarily presents for those targeted by the dastardly Republicans in less progressive precincts than ours.
1
Edwin, so you just gave up?!
As to primaries, they should be decided by those who belong to the parties in question. You could easily have joined the party, cast your vote for you preferred candidate, and participated.
Instead, you threw in the towel.
What you are referring to has nothing in common with the rampant voter suppression the Republicans have engineered across the country!
In Georgia, there's a Catch-22:
“the ID bureaucracy is often absurdly unwieldy; for example, the vital statistics office“ where one goes to get the records needed for “an ID *requires* an ID at the entrance”!
White Privilege also repeatedly rears its ugly head:
Georgia has worked to “limit early voting on Sundays when black churches run Souls to the Polls”
There are “various county efforts to close polling stations accessible by public transit”, which affect poor and minorities far more.
“counties closed more than 200 polling stations on Kemp’s watch...”
In North Dakota, voter ID laws require street addresses, thus preventing Native Americans from voting who live on reservations without them,
or
“Kansas, where white officials in majority-Hispanic Dodge City moved the only polling place out of town,
or
21 other states where Republican officials have prioritized eliminating voter fraud over maximizing voter participation”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/03/georgia-republicans-democrats-2018-voter-supression-222183
1
BRAVO!
After reading so many comments here, I agree with them most of the times. I feel strongly that we have a very good chance to elect more Democrats to congress this time. Due to the importance of this mid-term election, I spent time searching my current Republican congressman did for Houston. I found nothing. Apparently, once they got elected, they disappeared from our eye sights and never been seen again. So I volunteered for Beto campaign, and hopefully he will become the first Democratic senator from Texas.
8
Scary.
1
This election is THE most important since I was first able to vote in 1964. We have reached a "fork in the road" where we either choose the Constitution and its "rule of law" or the autocracy of Donald Trump and his rubber-stamp Republican Congress. Trump has violated the Constitution in so many ways with no opposition starting with his disregard for its "emoluments clause" that has allowed him and his family to enrich themselves; continually attacked the 1st amendment and its guarantee of "freedom of the press" by calling them "the enemy of the people," "scum," and "fake news" to the point where a prominent journalist for the Washington Post and an American resident was assassinated by one of Trump's biggest allies and financial supporters (Saudi Arabia) with no discernible punishment; recently proposed abrogating the 14th amendment's guarantee of "birthright citizenship;" has relentlessly worked to undermine the very agencies--the Justice Department and the F.B.I.--responsible for enforcing our "rule of law;" and mercilessly attacked the Special Counsel investigation by Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election that has convicted many of his top campaign aides. Tomorrow Americans will choose in which direction the country goes--with the Constitution or with Trump.The Senate is THE big prize where continued Trump control will see an end to the Mueller investigation with the firing of Jeff Sessions and a mortal blow to "law and order."
3
I’d think of it as more of a U-Turn. At least, a chance to correct
“ the Great Mistake “. No, we can’t go back and pick-up President Obama, unfortunately. But, we can get OFF “ the Highway to Hell “. Vote, or we will be speed bumps.
Seriously.
2
Very well said. The 5-6 point national systematic suppression that the GOP has built in thus far via gerrymandering and voter suppression will hopefully be overcome today. I'm hoping for a 10+ point landslide, based on turnout, that might even overcome the structural disadvantages built into the Senate. Perhaps that best possible outcome will be a state legislature-level landslide, which could dismantle gerrymandered districts and voter suppression laws in many purple states, returning us to a (more) level playing field. It was also heartening that SCOTUS rejected the citizenship question on the 2020 census, which would have suppressed population count. Of course, this is all wishful thinking, after a long string of defeats. Democracy is truly on the line today.
9
The survival of the country is indeed on the line. Yet not as much as the survival of the Democratic Party.
Loose once more and tens of millions will be looking for a new organization to both effectively communicate what we stand for and, ruthlessly, win elections.
4
@Astroman
You can't always stand at the sidelines yelling "not enough!" to those who are fighting in the mud, each time the succeed in getting one step further.
When one of both parties decides to start its own propaganda machine, and its president literally says, during an interview, that he's calling the media "the enemy of the people" so that when they criticize him his voters won't believe them, to then create one controversy after the other, 24/7, so that ALL "messages" in the media are about him, it is IMPOSSIBLE to draw media attention to you just by sticking to the facts and science-based, popular policies and policy proposals.
So once one party gets THIS low, it's CITIZENS who have to wake up and start engaging and vote, rather than waiting for some very charismatic candidate to come by which makes them feel so good listening to him that letting yourself be fired up by a rally is simultaneously very good "entertainment".
There is no time for entertainment anymore.
Either we, as ordinary citizens, take our country back and systematically start voting for Democrats until the GOP learned its lesson and because a real political party again, or we decide to see this as a far-away game between two political parties, and then we'll lose a LOT of America's greatness.
4
"NIMBY," or "Not in my back yard," has long been a rallying cry of opposition to placing undesirable things in one's neighborhood. Well, here's a news flash: autocracy, or Donald Trump's version of it anyway, is already in your back yard, and it's not content to stay there.
If Republicans maintain control of Congress, autocracy, along with numerous other undesirable limits on your rights, will move to your front yard, and there probably won't be much, if anything, that you can do about it.
Voting, for many, was a hard-fought right. Act like it and vote today, because it may be the last chance you get cry "NIMBY," and to build that virtual exit ramp in your front yard.
6
Krugman is wrong about autocracy. The US is more threaten by becoming an oligarchy.
The wealthy finance candidates that make tax policy. Tax breaks for individuals as well as businesses increase the wealth, and ergo the power.
The wealthy fund pseudo scientific studies to support their interests—fossil fuels, cigarettes, global warming, etc.
The wealthy fund pseudo organizations as means to sponsor campaigns and candidates that gives the image of being grassroots groups.
And both parties are susceptible to the influence of the oligarchy.
4
@doughboy: Yep. We've got to stop the Republicans today, and reform or replace the Democrats tomorrow.
@doughboy Don't the two go hand-in-hand? The recent tax cuts were not supported by majority of Americans, but were pushed through anyway without public hearings. A government that implements policies designed to favor the few over the majority is by definition undemocratic. A plutocracy requires an autocracy, otherwise it can be opposed by the will of the people.
1
We also have a serious problem of *kakistocracy*.
That a Democratic victory is even in doubt speaks volumes about how bad things are in American politics. The genius of the Republican Strategy has been to:
1. Use patriotism and identity to convince fervent supporters that government shouldn't work for them - while ensuring that it works for large corporations.
2. Use racism and ideology to convince people that the government should not spend any money to help them help themselves - while ensuring it spends money or gives money back to the "right" constituencies.
3. Use fear of immigrants 700 miles away to embolden people to vote against their interests in droves in a mid term election that doesn't usually motivate much interest.
And then it suddenly hit me. Trump's expert salesmanship is the coup d'état. He echoes what the GOP has been peddling for decades in a language and form that reels people in and keeps them there. His con is to repeat back America's worst instincts in a way that gives people affirmation and also starts to dehumanize and delegitimize dissenting voices.
Democrats meanwhile continue talking policy and technical public services, with different factions of the party picking up their favourite bits.
Looked at this way, Democrats don't stand a chance.
12
Thank you, Dr. Krugman, for your clarity and courage. Your words are today’s clarion call, and I will do my part. I have voted for and will be continuing to canvass to get out the vote in NY-19, where I live, for Congressional candidate Antonio Delgado and the entire Democratic slate.
7
I was born and raised in the apartheid south of the 50s, 60s, 70s... well it's never really stopped. Just look at their monuments.
New move same as the old move after reconstruction. Rich white people used scared white people to terrorize an entire region. Then erected monuments to racist traitors.
We were more afraid of white racists in Montgomery during the civil rights era than Dr. King and his friends. Wow, new feeling same as the old feeling.
Oh in 1972 when I left forever the klan house was just a few miles outside of town on Wares Ferry Rd. But to make sure the Federal judges got the message about desegregation those fine people had just finished a brand new high school in 1970. Then named it Jefferson Davis High as a CONFEDERATE MONUMENT to a racist traitor. So all of my black friends had to go to either Robert E. Lee High a CONFEDERATE MONUMENT to a racist traitor or Jeff Davis another RACIST MONUMENT.
So the new south is the same as the old south. At least that's the way those fine folks on the racist republican side want it. Hell they even put their racist slave owning traitors on the side of Stone Mountain, Ga. Finished that one in 1970.
Ain't much changed since.
Remember your three Rs
Repeal
and
Replace
ALL
Republicans
Dave
USAF Retired
Roll Tide Roll
P.S. Most people would say I'm a Caucasian. I know EVERYONE IS HUMAN. What's the difference????
Caucasian is like some tired brand name or new phantom menace. Needs better marketing.
21
@David Bone: I also grew up in the segregated South, and left. It was evident to me, even as a kid, that the Civil War never really ended for white southerners. You no doubt remember the admonition, "Save your Confederate money, boys, the South will rise again!"
Well, the South has indeed risen. Nixon's southern strategy, convincing Dixiecrats that the Democrats were going to come down to the South and register all the black people to vote, resulted in a massive political shift. White southerners who vowed they would never vote for the party of Lincoln, now vow they will never vote for the party of LBJ.
And now the South has completed its victory: it has taken complete control of the Republican Party, and at least for now, the country. Nixon's southern strategy has backfired--they gained the South, and lost their party in the process.
p.s., I too am white.
Taking up for Democrats in this context is confounding. Why are Democrats not taking a flamethrower to Republican gerrymandering? Defending health care is important, but taking drastic steps to avoid a slide into autocracy through consistent GOP gerrymandering would be heroic. Your headline says it all - and gerrymandering gets us closer to autocracy the longer we allow it.
15
Yes, taking back the House would be a good beginning and a stopgap but the American citizen I fear is either too stupid, ignorant,or apathetic to consistently make good choices. There is a plethora of problems in this nation,and the world that have been ignored,or caused by design. The voters in this country ,it seems, can't make up their minds and frankly, most of them have no idea of "our" history as a nation. It would be nice to be optimistic for the near and far future but the evidence points in the opposite direction. The reality is that people can't see us for who we are. If you can't see the defects, how do you fix them? Here's hoping the results tomorrow provide some hope.
8
@Tim Lynch Trump squeaked through the 2016 election, losing the popular vote, and his polling numbers dropped off considerably since then. In his first two years has polled lower than any President in modern history. This tells me that the voters are not as ignorant as you claim. My bigger fear is that our Democracy may become increasingly unrepresentative -- as we have seen there are many ways in which the popular will of the people can be undermined: gerrymandering, voter suppression, unlimited dark money in elections, and the fundamental structure of representation in the Senate, in which rural States are over-represented, and the electoral college. A few Supreme Court rulings is all it would take to lock in place a system that allows minority rule in America.
GOP politicians ( and their corporate sponsors) like Kemp and Kobach and others of their ilk are determined to win elections, by any means necessary, period. “Fair and square” has nothing to do with it.
12
@Susan I do believe that the Dems also have corporate sponsors, some of them silicon valley rich who do not have the interests of the whole country in mind only increasing their own wealth and influence.
America's democracy is certainly under attack. Part of that attack is a lengthy and plotted campaign that is based on some of the issues that separated North and South for centuries. The rights of the individual are sacrosanct, we're told. Those rights include freedom from interference with property, whether slaves, or profits, or inheritance. In this mind-boggling world-view, any effort by a group that curtails such rights is bad. Thus, government is the problem, as Reagan said. Another part of the attack on democracy is the mindless erosion caused by the short-termism of politicians and voters alike. Shiny objects and red meat! However, whatever happens today, there is always hope. We can’t predict the outcomes of global warming, inundation by rising oceans, flows of climate refugees, and the growing geopolitical power of China. These cannot yet be integrated into a reliable model for our future. And even if all that goes relatively smoothly, and modern slave-masters win out in America, we cannot predict the human spirit—it will not remain under any tyrant’s heel forever. This is a year of significant centenary celebrations: women’s suffrage; the fall of old empires with the end of the Great War. When we vote, remember the women who suffered to get that vote. Remember the blacks who died for that right. And whatever happens, keep those memories alive.
5
"If we take the other, we’ll be on the road to autocracy, with no obvious way to get off."
I don't want autocracy. The law should apply to everyone: from the President to every immigration. All should obey the law.
And everyone should be considered innocent until proven guilty, not tried in a witch hunt in a kangaroo court with vague allegations.
That's why I've already voted Republican.
3
The Republican version of these values are epitomized, of course, by Trump's pardon of Sheriff Arpaio, who defied the courts and refused to give citizens equal
protection under the law.
16
@Jim If you are such a fan of "innocent until proven guilty", what do you think about Trumps claim to lock Hillary Clinton up?
1
If the Democrats win Congress, pass legislation making Election Day a national holiday. Let's see if Republicans go along with it. Won't that indicate a lot?
8
Dear American voters, this is your last chance to stop this Great Country from becoming a plutocracy married to a theocracy .
GOP and various so called Christian religions are ready to pull the rug of democracy from under your feet , if they win this election.
I know my message will not be read by the voters I would like to address.
The NYT readers don’t give a hoot about my writing, since their intellect lies at a different level from average Americans , whose knowledge of politics and social issues is often so limited ( euphemism...) .
At any rate I fully agree with mr. Krugman analysis , we are at a watershed critical moment in our democracy.
Let’s hope for the best and let’s keep our fingers and toes crossed...
7
''The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties, and we will not see its luster diminished.'' - Ronald Reagan
I'm no fan of Reagan, Reaganism or the Reagan Restoration, but it's fascinating to see those who express adulation for the Great Salesman stray from his rhetoric. Now we have white supremacists shamelessly raising strawmen and red herrings to suppress voting by millions of citizens. And they are not just the overt extremists like Kris Kobach, Brian Kemp, Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump - they are riddled throughout today's Republican Party and embedded in many elections departments of state and county governments.
Democracy in the United States - fading in the rear-view mirror. Dying from rampant greed and lust for power and control. What's the shorthand term for that?
6
Absolutely correct! If Dems win the House, GOP might possibly react with all out bare-knuckled autocracy (i.e., declare the results invalid, and give Trump his martial law - their long term goal anyway). If Dems lose, it won't be immediate all out autocracy, but the noose will tighten so much - further voter suppression - that by 2020 or beyond we will be much like Hungary or Putin's Russia or Xi's China.
10
"Last Exit Off the Road to Autocracy" Really? This is utter nonsense and a sign of how even Nobelists are spreading paranoia.
Trump has been talking about his wall for three years and not even one stone has been placed. You may agree or disagree with the wall, but it is hardly a sign of autocracy.
What I see is a rude and boorish president, but with some good ideas, who has been hemmed in by the Democrats from the get go. If you decided to WORK with him instead of constantly abusing him, you and the country and the world would get somewhere.
Do consider taking a month long vacation from Trump abuse.
6
@Ludwig: If the Democrats pull this one off, then the Republicans will have to work with them... you know, just like they did when Obama was the president and they controlled Congress. When they can't agree, and things end up before the Supreme Court, you can hope that Merrick Garland votes for cooperation instead of conflict.
1
@Ludwig
I'd say taking babies away from their mothers, and health care away from the sick is quite a bit beyond "rude and boorish". So too are endless lies and racism. The man is a menace.
VOTE!
1
@Ludwig Thanks but if you don't mind I will not be taking a month or two off. I think Trump's policies are terrible for America, and I feel it is my obligation as a voter to say so. I also don't think it is appropriate for Trump supporters to keep telling people like me that it is our job to shut up. In a Democracy you express your views, and like it or not politicians just have to deal with it, it is part of the job description.
And if your argument is that Trump just sounds bad but is incapable of actually implementing what he proposes -- that actually is not very reassuring.
How do these millions of "illegals" get through Trump's air-tight security, manage to vote without any form of registration or acceptable ID and then slip silently into the night, leaving nothing behind but a dubious ballot? Like everything Trump says it's ridiculously self-negating.
6
Republican election treachery has a Southern odor to it, and it's not magnolias. Literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation, violence, murder. Back in the day they were Southern Democrats, or more correctly, Dixiecrats. They bolted en masse to the Republican Party after Dems passed the Civil Rights Act. Nixon, Goldwater and Reagan picked up the scent and ran thinly disguised racist campaigns. The Republican "Southern Strategy" is now a defining feature of the GOP. Trump has expanded racism to denigrate hispanic citizens as well.
4
The trend toward the right is inexorable throughout the western world and all the Krugmans in a the world can't stop it
1
@Mike Livingston Well voters certainly can stop it. If you poll Americans on policies alone, and leave party affiliation out of it, America turns out to somewhat left of center. Conservatives are over-represented because they live in rural States where their vote counts more.
Remember that the 1950s were followed by the 1960s. The Joe McCarthys of the world were soon forgotten. America is far more liberal today than it was 100 years ago, and the long-term trend has always been towards greater participation in our politics and society, punctuated by temporary backlash when folks feel threatened by too much change. This too shall pass.
The millions of eligible voters who will either waste
a vote or not vote, including, esp.,
younger voters who couldn't get it together to register and vote, they are the ones
who will have determined how far off the rails we careen. Their
indifference won't help push back the trumpican authoritarian zeal to extend obstacles underlying participation in the zones of the country they now control.
The chaos that ensues if the same type of delegitimizing
rhetorical tactics from 2016 are recycled more broadly will not be pretty. Although that's worrisome, what's more problematic is the likelihood of a large number of very close races that are contested, recounted, etc. all done in a frenzied atmosphere with provisional ballots aplenty. Il duce
et al are surely licking their chops with these in mind.
Did I mention voting machine software malfunctions yet?
This would really get out of hand if things are even closer (re the House) than appears to be the case tonight (only turnout - not projections - decides things).
There are many very close races and all bets are off to correct behavior if control of the House is not clear by early Wed.
Then there will be the east coast stormy
weather which will provide a suitable backdrop of biblical in nature anger manifested from heaven on high and directed to those who know exactly what they do.
It will be very interesting to monitor the levels of intimidation in TX+GA+FL especially.
A mean ugly mess for sure.
Seen from this side of the Atlantic, it is difficult when following your mid term election to understand that US has so low percentages of voters participating. Why is it so? In NW Europe typically more than 80 percent vote. It appears that the two parties try to mobilise their base, but with say 50 percent voting it looks like a very large problem for your democracy. What are children learning in scools about the constution and your society in general and how a democracy functions and the importance of participation?
I would think the best hope for the democrats in the longer perspective would be to focus even much harder on getting this silent majory to take interest and vote. Have the New York Times tried to really find out why about 50 percent of the population do not care?
133
@Ole J Jensen
Part of the answer is that we make voting so much harder -- registration is difficult, elections are on a work day, and so on. Was talking with European colleagues yesterday (hey, my occupation is overrun with immigrants!), and they were marveling at how hard it is to vote in America.
249
@Ole J Jensen: I feel many Americans are either/or and lazy, complacent, undereducated. I've also met enough people who simply choose not to vote for no better reason than they just don't feel the need, or it's not their responsibility, or what does it matter. It makes one steam. All of the above is a problem. I always feel something about two horrific world wars on European territory has something to do with Europe's responsible citizenry. Maybe Americans need to lose it all and go through the hades of such wars on this soil to bring back their sense of responsibility.
27
@Ole J Jensen
A large fraction of ordinary Americans have concluded that it makes no difference. Democrat or Republican, the wealthy will have their candidate in the White House
Reposting a former post on why voter turnout is low
NY | Pending Approval
I was up in Syracuse NY (whose economy I study) talking to blue collar workers, asking if they intended to vote
Worker 1: Democrat, M, retired, Union member, former GM employee in the Fisher plant on GM Circle (long gone) No: I don' like anyone of them
Worker 2: Welder, Democrat M,, Union Member, employed, No, I don't like any of the candidates
Worker 3: Democrat, M, Working in a hospital No, they all are the same (implied working for the rich)
Worker 4: Democrat, F, BS, graphic arts, working at minimum wage for a non profit organization (after laid off from once well paying jobs from TV stations to Museums): Yes
Worker 5 : Republican, M, worker in supplying automotive parts: Yes. Trump is an idiot, but he gets the job done
========
Some comments
1. None cited difficulties in registration
2. The fundamental problem is that the rich, via
campaign contributions, control who can run
3. To see an example see how financed the career
of the leader of Democratic Party in the Senate
Charles Schumer,
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00001093&cycle=Career
16
I fear that these are the last years of the Republic.
My friends, get out while you can. When the crunch comes it will be too late.
God save the United States of America.
God help us all.
6
The GOP has lost every popular vote but one over the last thirty years?
2
Tomorrow will decide the fate of our nation for decades.
Will we be a welcoming country, giving refuge to asylum seekers, or will we be a country that strips children from their mothers' arms and puts them in cages?
Will we be a nation that respects the rule of law, or one in which the Constitution is ignored by the party in power so that they may pack the Supreme Court with their cronies?
Will we be a nation that ensures equal rights for all, or one that seeks to strip minorities of their right to vote, and refuses to let them participate as equal citizens?
Will we be a nation that believes that sexual assault is a serious crime and should be prosecuted, or one that believes that sexual assault is a joke?
Will we be a country where every religious and ethnic minority group may feel safe, may feel like a part of the fabric of this nation, or will we be a country that continues to target them, as hate crimes skyrocket?
Will we be a country that is trying to claw its way back to a position of respect and leadership in the world, or will our nation continue to be a laughingstock?
And will we let the vicious, unfit man in the White House continue his reign of terror unchecked, or will we show him that no one is above the law?
We'll have our answer to all these questions very soon. But understand this - the millions who love Trump will not go quietly. They want the kind of racist, backward version of America I described. It is our job to make sure they never get it.
3
Paul Krugman predicts Democrat landslide.
Slip that little piece of information into the Sanitizer 2000 and we get an accurate prediction of what will happen.
The opposite of Krugman’s prediction, of course.
4
Ain't schadenfreude wonderful? How wonderful to see the Left suffer as Republicans suffered under Obama. Note there is not a single word in Krugman's article or in the comments section about Trump's successes. Their angst is all about power. And not having it.
3
@Bob It's really more than that. I expect a conservative to occupy the White House about 1/2 the time, given the politics of our country. This is the norm. What is not the norm is a President who trusts Putin more than his own intelligence agency, who calls the Press the enemy of the people, who explains to us that even neo-Nazis can be fine people, and who has suggested "2nd Amendment solutions" if he were to lose. You may not have agreed with Obama, but he was a fairly steady hand and certainly did not make a career out of trashing democratic norms.
1
Also note that donald trump has called women and educated men, minorities-blacks, latinos, and asians, his and the nation's enemies, because they are fighting his authoritarianism, abuse and waste. Posting 15,000 US troops, at a cost of hundreds of millions, to stop 700 unarmed men, women and children from entering the country, to influence an election, is complete madness and a criminal waste. It has severely damaged the reputation of the US forces in the public eye. There has not been a more divisive person in america's history than donald trump.
1
There is a lot more on the balance Dr Krugman...
Wether we like it or not, many look at these elections with trepidation, because it is a fork in the road for the whole world.
Environmental destruction, political upheaval, economic power in the hands of the fewer, racial hatred, and many more nightmare scenarios down the road of Trumpism aided by the GOP's cowardice and the selfishness of too many Americans.
Praying for a not-apocalyptical outcome...
1
The crucial vote was two years ago, when Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein voters elected Trump. You would think electing W 16 years earlier would have been a lesson to them. Now we have a Stolen Republican Supreme Court for the rest of our lives. Thanks to liberals.
2
I’m trying to imagine what an un-tilted slope would look like.
Not just racism and ignorance driving this, surely? What about homophobia, so-called 'Christian values', the fear and hatred of those who are different plus cruelty and meanness?
3
Trump and his supporters should move to one of the dictatorships that the refugees in the caravan are fleeing--those countries are already the way Trump is trying to make America. No healthcare, rule of thugs, not laws, the rich eat the poor....
2
Let's be clear checks and balances are on the line
The current GOP led Congress has abandoned
this crucial role and let Trump run amok.
If Dems take Control we will learn how much
money the Russians and others have pumped
into his various enterprises to keep him afloat
if you don't vote you don't count
Erastus Corning
2
@bill b
I hope you're quoting an Erastus Corning other than the one who was Mayor-for-Life in Albany, NY. The Albany Erastus Corning never worried about the vote. The local political machine followed Stalin's philosophy: "It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
1
Democracy and rule of law in America has been compromised by Citizens United and the practice of police profiling of African American males. These two issues stand-out before president Trump was elected.
Citizens United was a Republican promoted Constitutional case that permitted third parties to fund political campaigns without breaching campaign contributions under federal law. The case effectively surrendered American democracy to financial interests that could afford to buy votes in support of legislative changes drafted by lobbyist's law firms that are handsomely paid to serve America's elites that control much of America's industrial crown jewels.
Black male profiling by police is a result of erosion of the rule of law by those commissioned to uphold the law. It reflects a stereotypical image of Black men that is a subtle form of institutionalized discrimination.
A current example of profiling is the scare campaign that president Trump invented to profile migrants walking through Mexico toward the U.S. border, seeking refugee status.
Obama's fiscal policy programs are the basis of the current Goldilocks Economy. Tax Reform is a rouse to reward corporations and wealthier residents with tax breaks they don't need, that will increase inter-generational public debt.
America is stronger than any political party. Sooner or later the truth will end this political circus. And Americans can restore their unalienable "Rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
3
Moderate Republicans should bear in mind a Democratic House has some power to hold Trump accountable, but with only 10 GOP Senate seats up for election this year the Democrats have no power to pass any law that the Senate can't block. For the House vote blue, for the rest vote your concience.
Support the student walk-out.
Take a personal day off work if you can.
Support efforts to make Election Day a national holiday.
We get the government we deserve, and we deserve better than this.
9
It's no exaggeration to say that this is the biggest election of our lifetime. As Paul Krugman has pointed out, our very democracy is on the line, and healthcare may not be enough to save it. If we survive this debacle, we need to take a close look at why countries fall prey to demagogues who become autocrats.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer, which will have at its base a "survival algorithm. This will provide us with irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity. See RevolutionOfReason.com
3
I’ve heard for the last 5 elections that each is the biggest of our lifetime. Either they keep getting bigger or it’s just more liberal hysteria.
1
There was a report that the Republican leadership was meeting with Trump to prepare him for the loss of at least one house of Congress. I truly fear his and the Republican reaction to any loss in Congress. This is a man and now a party which believes that force is everything, that they can ignore the law and get away with it, that people are objects to be used and then thrown away. I fear that they will not honor a Democratic electoral win, will not concede power in Congress, but will instead encourage their followers to literally engage in a civil war. If Trump refuses to honor election results and sends troops to a blue state or states, what will the army do? Do the armed services belong to us or him? Is it a coincidence that he has sent troops to Texas and California? Mass marches may be met with armed force. Are we reliant on corporate America to rein him in? It may be time to make sure I and my family have plane tickets to get out.
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Without a doubt, today’s election is critical.
The road to autocracy took years to build. The gerrymandering and voter suppresion required takeovers of state legislatures and state houses. The plutocrats have been working towards this point for 20 years.
Regardless of the outcome of this election, the fight to save this country from Oligarchy has just begun.
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This article clear illustrates the 'extremes' situation that exists in our country today. Mr. Krugman makes the Autocratic case well. However, our fellow Republican citizens see this election clearly as a choice between Democracy and Socialism / Communism. They adamantly believe a Bernie / Kamala lead party means communism and economic ruin.
The two sides are finding it harder and harder to peacefully coexist and accept election results. Somehow we must find a way to recover the middle... perhaps the Libertarians will save us one day?
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@JT
The way to build common ground is and has always been fact-checking and proven truths.
Kamala Harris belongs to a party that has just turned a -8% GDP and a 700,000 jobs lost a month into a decade-long economic growth, with one of the longest periods of job growth in recent history.
That means that they have PROVEN to know how to lead a capitalist economy to prosperity (an annual average 2% GDP growth being "prosperity", for Western fully developed economies - now we need bills to spread the wealth produced by hard-working Americans more equally, but that's no longer economics, that's a purely political decision).
The reason why Krugman is right here is because the GOP has developed a propaganda machine that is spreading fake news 24/7, including the idea that Democrats would be communists or capable of ruining the economy.
Once you do that, you create "alternative facts" worlds where you can put your voters inside a bubble and in the meanwhile use your power in DC only to advance your own career.
Add to that GOP voter suppression and gerrymandering, and you end up with a situation where systematically only a minority of voters sees their candidate go to DC, and even worse, where those candidates make promises they will never keep and those voters won't even realize that, because of all the propaganda.
The solution is not any middle between facts and fiction. The solutions is FACTS. And then we can have real debates about issues again.
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JT, I don't think the Libertarians will save us. The Libertarians would like to get rid of taxes, along with public schools, libraries, roads, Medicare, social security, the 40 hour work week, the EPA, and the National Weather Service, to name just a few.
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@Ana Luisa I refuse to call a boy a girl and a girl a boy. He and She are the only acceptable words to describe humans. I am not a climate change denier just because I do not think financial ruin of my economy is the answer to a global issue.... etc etc... I am voting straight ticket republican (even though I am a reistered democrat). This leftist fear mongering has gotten way out of hand.
The republican party is at a point of no return. They will never be part of what we used to call a democracy. At 64 yrs old, I don't think that I'll live long enough to see the two parties work together. Donald Trump has seen to it.
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Yes, gerrymandering and other legal means of rigging the system to guarantee the outcome are fundamental issues. But, we've been rigging the financial and educational system for decades now. Out government does everything possible to ensure that wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.
Joseph Stiglitz is giving speeches in other countries telling them to beware of following in our footsteps. I refuse to accept the idea that we can't recover more fairness in our system. The U.S. has become a cautionary tale, and I and my fellow baby-boomers must admit that we watched it happen. Indeed, we made it happen.
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Agreed. The Economist said it best when it warned that unless the Democrats win the House and reimpose the congressional oversight on Trump that Republicans abandoned, "America will truly be in grave trouble." As for those soyabean farmers now suffering the effects of Trump's trade war with China, they'd better be prepared to eat tofu because they're going to have a lot of it.
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When historians pick over this period, they will note that it was the Democrats who believed in centralized power, and the Democrats who several times nominated a charismatic outsider to the White House, believing that having one man in the right place could advance their agenda. Meanwhile the Republicans used federalism to their advantage and took over the country.
Democracy is probably not in danger. The Democratic Party may be one cough away from life support.
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Autocracy comes when the opposition party finds something, however minor, to compromise on with the ruling party, I think. (Anyway this was what had happened in Japan and could.) Crisis comes when Democrats compromise on immigration policy for example.
@Aki
You're confounding a dictatorship and a democracy.
In a democracy, ALL bills are by definition compromises. They are the result of negotiations and public debates among people who disagree.
In a dictatorship, a minority imposes its will on the people, through corruption and bribing and propaganda. No real debates is possible anymore, as journalists are considered to be "the enemy of the people", so the only "news" people get access to is what state media, who fully support the leaders, tell them to believe, with no means to fact-check or investigate independently.
As soon as you allow real debates to happen, you'll notice that no two persons ever fully agree on any issue.
Conclusion: either you have a democracy, which means fierce but respectful debates, and then inevitably a compromise solution, or you have a dictatorship, with no real debates and only a fake opposition.
As to immigration: a lot of sensible solutions already exist. They are part of the many bipartisan comprehensive immigration reforms written for more than a decade in Congress already now. The only reason why it isn't the law of the land yet (= why the southern border isn't REALLY strengthened yet, as each of these bills would do), is because time and again a handful of Republicans block it - including Trump.
So the ONLY way to finally have real immigration reform, is to VOTE ... !!
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I think Dr. Krugman is correct when he says that he fears the aftermath either way. So do I.
Trump being the charlatan he is will certainly go on a witch hunt if the Republicans lose --claiming whatever it is liars claim when they lose. And as Krugman says, if the Republicans win, it is another two year window of opportunity for these most undemocratic of elected sycophants to further manipulate our less than robust electoral system.
Whatever sickness has overtaken us won't be purged entirely tomorrow and the body politic may not be strong enough to endure the fever much longer.
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The Democrats have been running a good race, focusing on issues and needs of their own states and districts. No complaints there. They have to be pragmatic. They know, of course, what Dr. Krugman, what I, and what thousands of Americans know. That is that our democracy can not sustain itself without morality and ethics. The Republican Party has been inching itself toward what I view as corruption of national ideals for a number of years. Trump has given them permission to go for it once and for all. Trump and his GOP Congress are mere reflections of each other in a warped and cracked mirror. They feed off of each other and then off of us for their sustenance.
We will find out tomorrow what our fate will be for at the very least the next two years. God knows, we Democrats are trying. But, you know, when it comes right down to it Trump, his Cabinet, and his buddies at the Capitol are doing what too many of his followers want them to do. And those supporters will continue to vote for racism, bigotry, the coming together of Church and State, or, lest we forget, money, lots of it. Let's just hope there are more of us whom I think are on the right side of history than they.
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Trump has no better and cheaper healthcare plan than the ACA. Despite promising to repeal and replace the ACA, and a majority in both Houses of Congress, there is no Trumpcare plan. Trump’s healthcare agenda, includes getting rid of the individual mandate, and allowing health insurance companies to exclude pre existing health conditions.
No new border wall, and Mexico will not pay for it. Lots of noise about dangerous asylum seekers, as Trump uses their plight, to continue his anti immigration dog whistling to his base.
New infrastructure proposals are like much of Trump’s promises. A mirage where there is no actual plan, or funding for major, much needed infrastructure.
Trump’s only legislative success was to give an unfunded $1,500 billion tax cut, heavily skewed to those who don’t need it. His fellow mega rich elites have done very well. The rest of the population, not so much.
As an outside observer, I cringe when I hear Trump’s anti immigration calls. He knows both documented and undocumented immigrants, are much more law abiding than native born Americans, yet he persists in lying about this and most issues.
An international nuclear treaty with Iran, which Iran was abiding by, was too much for Trump.
A tariff war based on spite, will not end well for US consumers, and many US producers.
Hopefully a New Democrat controlled House, may be able to be more of a check on Trump’s impulsive and chaotic presidency. I shudder what may happen, if Trump still controls Congress.
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Nate Silver's piece in 538 has calmed my nerves a bit, but I agree with Professor Krugman that things will be ugly one way or the other. Democrats, unfortunately, tend to be enamored by their own idealism, which means they'll be utterly demoralized if they lose tomorrow, or will be singing hymns to the Rainbow Nation if they win. But what they will need to do is hunker down and build a true resistance if they lose, and pull out all the legal tools at their disposal to bring down Trump if they win. Either way, there is still a big fight to come.
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Our Founding Fathers had a very low opinion of the capacity of average Americans to effectively govern themselves and did everything they could to keep real political power in the hands of aristocrats, men of intellect, religious skeptics and property owners like themselves. When the country elected Trump, it effectively proved the Founding Fathers thesis that the American people cannot be trusted to do the right thing except when under the strict guidance of wise leadership. The need, as always, is for wise leaders.
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Agreed on all counts.
Our democracy and personal freedom are in danger on many fronts, and the Trumpist GOP seems ready to nail the door shut on small d democracy. That said, it began quite a while ago.
The roots of this slow motion creep toward authoritarianism began with the "War on Drugs" and that was long before many of today's Republicans were old enough to vote. More than a few Democrats bought in to political decisions that brought us the high incarceration rate we now have. More than a few of both parties participated in turning the criminal justice system into a for profit treadmill designed to keep people down and in debt to a system designed for anything but rehabilitation and restoration of citizens.
We have seen the steady criminalization of dissent, protest and one wonders how much further it will go. The Orwellian "free speech zones" that exist around nominating convention cities, the arrest of journalists like Amy Goodman in Minnesota during the convention, the use of Fusion Centers against Occupy Wall Street, etc give one more than a little cause for concern. This does not look, sound or feel like the America of my long ago Baby Boomer era civics class.
We need a different Congress to put a leash on the worst instincts of Trump & Company, but only if they reverse many things that happened before Trump ever took office. Trump is not the problem as much as he is the symptom of a sick democracy that looks like a plutocracy.
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Our two premier economists, Krugman and Stiglitz, are railing against the slide to autocracy that began several decades ago. And, while it seems more than obvious to most of us, many American voters ignore the threats.
My own take is that those who follow Trump into the hole the conservatives have dug for us are either corrupt or simply of limited capacity. The pro wrestling, Reality Show fans included.
Fox and Sinclair spread the lies and encourage the corrupt of us to git while the gittin is good. As Krugman points out here, if we don't stop it now we will be like Poland and Hungary, along with Trump's ally Russia. What is promising is that many prominent conservatives, Boot and Kristol as examples, are voting blue.
The climb back will be long even if we are successful today. We better get started.
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Your northern neighbours - and doubtless, hundreds of millions of others around the globe - are holding their breath and crossing all fingers and toes in hopes that decency and common sense will prevail in American voters.
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Will you be ending your column if the Republicans hold the Senate and House?
I can’t disagree with a word you wrote, but all of us who love this nation will have to keep trying, against worse power grabs, to bring kindness and good governance to our communities, states, and even the federal government.
Kemp has made a mockery of democracy in georgia. He is one of the candidates, and he is purging voter rolls, and making baseless claims of hacking against his opponent when he is the one controlling the states levers, along with his party.
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A cause for some optimism: Yesterday we learned that the military is refusing to do some of the tasks Trump has ordered at the borders. The Pentagon is displeased with sending troops there to begin with, and has let the DHS know they will not have their people building a new wall or putting up tent cities; they will not be involved in arrests or firing on refugees unless there is a crisis that can't be handled any other way. Unlike the president they will be adhering to the law.
This should be heartening to all of us; we still have sane leadership in the military who will not let this president become a dictator, using our forces for his own political ends.
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The only good thing to come out of a Democratic failure to take either the House or the Senate today is that in a very short period of time Trump’s supporters will be abandoned (he will convince them that they don’t need rallies anymore) as they will no longer be needed by Trump, and Republicans will begin immediately to dismantle Medicare, Medicare and Social Security and will kill the ACA once and for all. This will happen within mere days or even hours. An emergency session of Congress will be called. I say this is a good thing because that will be the thing that finally—too late, but finally— shakes Trump supporters out of their stupor. Trump and Republicans will no longer need to pretend they care about the “deplorables”. Once they are stripped of healthcare and the social programs they love to hate, Trump supporters will be up in arms. And they won’t hesitate to revolt. So ironic that it may be Trump supporters who end up saving us.
If this one fails, another referendum on democracy will be a long time coming. It isn't the only form of government which the people get to keep if they deserve it.
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I found one of the hardest things to accept in this dangerous time is that so much of our populace believe lies over truth and deny facts over hubris. Could it be possible our education system has fallen so low under GOP guidelines that Trump's followers lack knowledge and IQ?
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"As always, Democrats aren’t saints, but they appear to believe in democracy, while their opponents don’t."
This needs to be repeated constantly and shouted from the rooftops. The GOP knows its ideas do not have majority support and that in a real democracy, they would lose "bigly." So they are chipping away at our democratic institutions bit by bit.
Anyone who cares about maintaining our democracy must vote Democrat Tuesday.
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It’s happening right before our eyes. The outright lying, the hypocrisy, the lack of empathy or shame- these have always been characteristics of DJT; now they are what define the Republican Party. Combine all of that with the fact that humans are just so horrible at admitting when they’re wrong, and the result is a bit scary.
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"...it’s not hyperbole to say that if the G.O.P. holds the line on Tuesday, it may be the last even halfway fair elections we’ll ever have."
It's worse than that. It may be the last election we have, period. Consider the following scenario: In the Fall of 2020, with the Presidential election looming, Trump orders a major attack-- perhaps nuclear-- on a purported enemy. Iran, North Korea, China... take your pick. At the same time he announces the suspension of the democratic process and a declaration of martial law due to the fact that the US is now at war. The election is indefinitely postponed. The borders are sealed. Civil liberties are suspended. Militarized law enforcement units and elements of the military and National Guard, aided by deputized, armed citizen's militias, swiftly begin systematic arrests of dissidents and alleged "subversives", including some members of Congress and certain journalists, using lists of names secretly compiled over the previous several years. Fox News is declared official state media. Habeas corpus and the Constitution having been nullified, those arrested are incarcerated indefinitely in purpose-built "temporary" facilities in the desert West and elsewhere. Trump declares himself President pro tem. The US is now, in effect, a military dictatorship.
Given present tendencies displayed by Trump and his loyal Republican supporters, nothing I have described here is beyond the realm of possibility.
You have no idea how much I hope I'm wrong.
4
There is no greater threat to America than its own citizenry. The element in the liberal democracy equation that counts most.
The citizenry's primary power is its vote. It has a profound effect on the nature of a democratic nation whether implicitly exercised or not. Either way the consequences ripple through the fabric of a democracy.
A no vote (low turnout) generally means the more authoritarian forces in a nation prevail - as authoritarian inclined citizens are more inertly driven to vote.
That is why the darker authoritarian forces use a variety of means to suppress or misdirect votes.
Corollary to find those darker authoritarian forces look for who is engineering suppression/misdirection.
Obviously the major purveyors of suppression/misdirection in this supposedly liberal democracy are incorporated in the GOP. Ergo: who represents the darker authoritarian forces here is the GOP.
Now just for the record and hear me well - I generally favor the "progressive" side - but because I find that side's models most often work better for us all.
But not because of ideology and NOT ALWAYS. We need diversity!
We need Conservatives, Progressives, and in between to fight it out honestly in the marketplace of ideas. Use the scientific method - let truth, reality, and best fit win!
The GOP is neither Conservative nor Progressive. It's authoritarian theocratic plutocratic!
A poison to common people, truth, modernity.
We MUST purge the poison from our system NOW!
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