To lie is to knowingly state a falsehood. Donald Trump doesn't lie because he doesn't know what is true and what is not.
You grant him too much, Professor Krugman.
7
"Our democracy is still very much in danger."
I agree, but without Trump and Trumpsters we would be asleep.
Trump, with all his insanity, has woken up the nation, with fear.
Prof. Krugman, democracy does not run on "autopilot".
We, the American people, have to stay involved, all the time.
Yes, we need to vote, but we also need to keep debate going.
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" (Att. Jefferson)
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12
The timing of facts often matters as much as the facts themselves. Why didn't the New York Times write the truth about Fred Trump's dodgy dealings and puncture Donald Trump's image as a self made billionaire before the 2016 election? Why 18 months later? There are surely others truths waiting to come out, and they won't matter nearly as much if we read them after he's out of office.
11
There are two parts to a lie: the liar and the lied to. Usually the half-life of a lie is determined by skepticism. The more outlandish and improbable the shorter a lie's longevity.
If a lie thrives and grows, it becomes a myth, a legend, a story. Longer still and it becomes history, a rock of truth.
The life of a lie isn't determined by the liar. If a lie is greeted with derision and disgust, even the most chronic dissembler will cease and desist. If they keep dishing microwaved falsehoods, listeners will vote with their feet and seek more nourishing fare elsewhere.
But if a whopper titillates listeners with a twang of truthiness, it'll grow exponentially and bite deep into the minds of those for whom the lie is a key or password that unlocks the purpose of life. The lie becomes the membership card that assures a warm welcome for newcomers among believers.
Trump's lies exceed all metrics for outlandish and improbable and should have a half-life that's as abbreviated as a fruit fly. But they don't. Trump's lies work 24/7 and never retire, no matter how tired and old. 10 years on and Obama's still Muslim and Kenyan. Hillary's still guilty of emailing while Colin Powell. Trump's a billionaire who did it his way. North Korea is the 53rd state. Putin's a teddy bear. Hating Blacks and Hispanics isn't racism, just smart.
Trump's lies are laughable.
That he has an amen choir that clamors to hear them, isn't.
29
Democrats organize to deny free elections in Arizona, Florida, and oter places, based on th rousing success of the theft of the Minnesote Senate seat in 2008.
What do Democrat apologists at Slate and other pseudo-independent sites say? ''It's all Trump. He's doing all this!''
When Democrats connive to deny free elections to voters, people WILL emember this. Like Bible verses, progressive hate-trainers like Paul only refer to the term ''virtue'' as a hammer to use on their political opponents.
1
“You’re a hero if and only if you serve The Leader’s interests.”
One of the true hallmarks of Authoritarianism.
It’s official. We have a fascist, wannabe dictator in the White House!
However, it doesn’t really matter. He is ONE. The true calamity is Congress - the coequal branch of government - that has stood by and done NOTHING! They are MANY.
Forget the Russian investigation. That’s about how Trump got to be President. The crisis is the astonishing crimes he commits, and the unconstitutional behavior he demonstrates daily, with complete impunity!
It’s open and direct - and requires immediate action!
22
Miriam Adelson? You have got to be kidding.
How about a California firefighter instead?
25
Even more disturbing than the neo-fascist leader in the White House and his Republican collaborators in Congress, is their credulous and bigoted voter base. The fact that they were willing to elect two representatives who are currently under indictment for multiple crimes is one more indicator that the members of this base are perfectly comfortable with corruption when ethics conflict with tribal loyalty.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/07/politics/duncan-hunter-chris-collins-bob-menendez/index.html
19
America. Masters. Slaves. I give you this nutshell because centuries from now, it will be the title of a chapter in the Hitchhikers Guide update. There will be a paragraph about how America came apart after realizing that an African American community organizer from Chicago was a better president than most of the white boys in the Oval Office. How could this be true? Reality must be mistaken. For the G.O.P. this was like the Sun rising in the west and setting in the east. That would cause many to go insane, unable to trust any reality or truth. Unhinged.
15
Until a few years ago I was a lifelong Republican or so I thought. My voting patterns did not always reflect that. I left the GOP in disgust as the rhetoric denigrating President Obama reached absurd levels. So often now I witness more and more people proclaim themselves to be "ex-Republicans". Many, were what were usually called moderate Republicans. Are there really any real Republicans left or just a mob of trumpites and like minded grifters. They appear to have forsaken any sense of integrity, decency or empathy for their fellow citizens. All focus seems to be on "winning", whatever it takes. Yet there is little to indicate what they are intent on winning. They have lost their way in the process and trump manipulates that to his own selfish ends. Can someone just flip on the lights of reality or must we watch as this tragedy plays out again from the gates of Moscow to the haunts of the Fuhrer bunker???
20
Check Pew research. For decades the great majority of America's white Christians have supported the GOP, rather than GOD. It's just what these people do. The point their bony self-righteous fingers at others and vote for war, vote for jailing people like no other country on earth (did you know that? Its hardly in the news), vote for callous disregard of the environmental (the Garden of Eden), and vote to bash the poor as they grovel before the rich.
The Christian problem is perhaps the greatest problem in America. Because it is these Christians who keep the GOP alive. Without them we could have been rid of this curse long ago.
19
Oh to be back in the time when the Beatles were shocking our parents with their long hair. James Bond movies were racy. And those "hippies" were protesting the Viet Nam War. We thought THOSE times were turbulent. (sigh)
10
Maybe Trump is just another step in our trip down the same road the Soviets travelled thirty years ago: lie, lie, lie...and at some point the veneer just wears off, and the scam falls apart. The days passed when Soviet citizens said things like "we pretend to work and the government pretends to pay us," expecting the listener to laugh, or at least to smile: all that remained was a stare of people who had moved on, amazed that anyone would waste their lives living with such stupidity. If we're lucky, someday soon, younger Americans will just walk by the desiccated body of these two parties and wonder how Americans could put up with the stupidity of our tax system, our retirement system, our health system, our voting system, our public building system, of our habit of plundering much of the world to control its resources for our consumption, and of our racist self-delusion. I hope that, unlike the Soviets, we don't wind up with an American Putin...oh my goodness, what have I said?!
15
Thanks, PK; keep it up.
9
The GOP (Greedy Onerous Persons) has gone to POT (The Party of Trump)
10
What virtue is there is truth when there is no sanction for falsehood ?
Take the current CNN spat. While Sarah Huckabee Sanders may be compelled to shade the truth in White House Briefings she has no such excuse for tweeting the Infowars video regarding Jim Acosta.
Yet once Sarah leaves her current post she will be welcomed to promote her inevitable book on the same 'fake-news' channels which with the White House is currently at war. Then she will get lucrative punditry gigs, quite possibly on CNN.
Why wouldn't you lie ?
3
While I know this is an inconveneint truth; "this rejection of objective facts" is the definition of ALL RELIGION. Once you've been "softened" up with religion, it's not a big stretch to be able to believe just about anything including: Nazis are good people...
When we as a species finally cast off all of our beliefs from 2000 year old goat herders maybe we will start insisting on more "objective facts" without using faith as a guiding principle...
11
He "lies a lot?
You meant it's his most frequent activity from dawn to 3 in the morning?
8
Professor Krugman tells us Republicans' addiction to conspiracy theories have been around long before Trump. The claim that global warming is a giant hoax, says Krugman, is notable example. Fair enough. But Professor Krugman is being kind.
One need only read Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style in American Politics to gain a fuller understanding of the conspiracy theories propagated by Republicans in the 1950's, with McCarthy and Robert Welch, founder of the John Birch Society, being two important examples.
Hofstadter argued these conspiracy theories were produced by a "style of mind," one that he labeled "paranoid" because it captured "the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that characterized their arguments.
For Hofstadter it was the use of "paranoid uses of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant." Sound familiar?
4
Bill Compton: No offense Sookie, but humans are shockingly susceptible to just about every form of thought manipulation.
3
Yes, I admit it — I’m part of a vast left-wing conspiracy, composed of scientists mostly, created specifically to dupe righteous Americans into....funding more science. And then, gasp, teaching their children about it!
Stop us, before we have ideas again!
19
Thank you for clarifying the nauseating terms Trump uses: "fake news." Truthfully, it is not false news. It is not an attack on the veracity or the truth of that which is being reported. It is, by Trump's definition alone, news that he feels hurts him. How ironic is it that the one cry for truth that such a term as "fake news" would imply is used entirely incorrectly and falsely?
Do you ever notice how Trump never defends his charge of "fake news" with reality, logic, or any kind of verifiable proof to buffer his assertions?
Just think about the falsehoods he propogates in the context of the early warning signs of fascism:
1) Powerful and continuing nationalism (Trump proclaims himself a nationalist)
2) Disdain for human rights (his expressed love for dictators)
3) Identification of enermies as a unifying cause (the media, the Democrats, the coastals)
4) Supremacy of the military (Trump's desire for parades)
5) Controlled mass media (renouncing CNN press pass)
6) Obsession with national security(ever-ballooning defense budgets)
7) Religion and government intertwined (promise to bring back Christmas, destroy politically correct speech)
8) Corporate power protected (corporate tax cuts, a buoyed stock market)
9) Labor power suppressed (stripping regulations)
10) Disdain for intellectuals and the arts (the left)
11) Obsession with crime and punishment (black lives)
12) Rampant cronyism and corruption (the swamp)
13) Fraudulent elections (his cry whenever he loses)
7
He has a diagnosable mental disorder. Not sure of the specifics, but megalomania seems a good guess. Profoundly dangerous in any case. The women of 2018 are the cure to the collective trauma this disturbed person has inducted. They have him figured out, and it appears, thank goodness, that they will save us.
6
The right's flaw and strength is its ruthlessness. The left's is its compassion.
5
Thanks for saying this, Paul. Almost nobody is pointing out that Trump is simply reaping what the Republican Party has sown.
When the Civil Rights Act was signed, the former Confederate States were overwhelmingly Democratic. A few years later, they were all Republican. Why? Because Republicans realized that they could use racism to win over the states. From Nixon's "southern strategy" through Reagan's "Chicago Welfare Queen", etc., racism has been a fundamental "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" component of the Republican platform. Add in a systematic campaign of gerrymandering and voter suppression, tacitly and sometimes overtly supporting a massive anti-reality propaganda machine, and an ever-growing slavish service of large corporations and the super-rich, and you end up with the skewed environment Trump took advantage of.
I remember when Trump first started blathering on the campaign trail. Everybody was shocked - but the shock wasn't at what he was saying, rather it was that he violated the subtlety rule by being so blatant and explicit about the racism, misogyny, alienopdhobia, and counter-factual reality claims. That was thought to be politically fatal, but it turned out to simply expose the rot engendered by 40 years of Republican subversion of democratic principles.
Trump isn't the problem per se, the Republican Party is the problem. Trump is merely the end product.
12
I am pleased to see such a respected individual put to print that none of this is politics as usual, and that we are in fact dealing with nothing less than the creeping installation of an authoritarian, GOP regime. Given that as the starting point, is it not nieve in the extreme to believe that you will oust them playing by a set of "rules" they ignore? And if you come to that reasonable conclusion, then what?
4
@Walter
As Saul Alinsky has shown, democracy is not an end goal, it is a means.
It is a peaceful way to accept huge conflicts in a given society, and huge special interests trying to grab and corrupt the government, and a peaceful way to solve those conflicts so that over time, society as a whole starts to thrive.
It's dictatorships that inevitably destroy society and generate full-blown violence, because they give up striving for the greater good and instead allow a small group of people to control the majority, through a combination of fear, corruption and elimination of civil rights and freedom.
In a democracy, however, the Constitution is such that each and every citizen has the legal power to engage in real debates with those who disagree, and as such to inform himself, AND to vote out the politicians who adopt a kind of behavior that he rejects (constantly lying, for instance) or a vision for the future that he disagrees with.
As long as the GOP doesn't amend the Constitution, that power is ours. All that we have to do is start using it, and convincing the 50% of the American people who still don't vote of why it's crucial that they do, and the GOP will be a minority party again.
The GOP is only "authoritarian" today in the sense that when given a choice, it rejects freedom of the press and suppresses voters etc. The US Constitution however is not authoritarian at all. So all that is needed is that we reclaim our power and vote those abusers out.
5
I am pleased to see such a respected individual put to print that none of this is politics as usual, and we are dealing with nothing less than the creeping installation of an authoritarian, GOP regime. Given that as the starting point, is it not nieve in the extreme to believe that you will oust them playing by a set of "rules" they ignore? And if you come to that reasonable conclusion, then what?
2
I’m wondering how many campaign contribution dollars that Medal of Freedom is going to buy. I’m guessing a lot.
2
Hello Paul,
Great articles. I just want to point that Adelson's impact goes further to the US -Palestinian issue. Remember when Newt claimed absurdly that Palestinian are not a people after Adelson gave Newt $25 million.
3
Ignoring Trump presents a dilemma for journalists as long as he remains the President of the United States.
1
He has a diagnosable mental disorder. Not sure of the specifics, but megalomania seems a good guess. Profoundly dangerous in any case. The women of 2018 are the cure to the collective trauma this disturbed person has induced. They have him figured out, and it appears, thank goodness, that they will save us.
2
If the next president respects the truth and those norms that existed before Trump, will the country return to its former state after Trump, say, in 2020? Or is the damage done by Trump and those Republicans who toe his line irreversible or at least very long to heal? I think the latter. I think that the next president, Democrat as I hope or Republican and not Trump, will have the responsibility for restoring Truth with a capital 'T.' Whether this next president accepts this responsibility and delivers on it will determine the tenor of the country for a generation. And a follow-on to the tenor will be our influence on the world stage and consequently, our ability to excel, remain prosperous and remain an ally in keeping the world safe.
2
I think Republican accusations of Democratic misdeeds are revealing. They accuse the Democrats of doing these things possibly because that is what they are doing and assume the other side must be as well.
1
After reading Dark Money and Democracy in Chains, the problem with the GOP and climate denial goes much deeper than just the GOP and Trump. The Koch network of billionaires have bought the GOP, they have had big money contracts with Fox commentators such as Glen Beck and probably have contracts with Sean Hannity to spout their talking points. It is a really serious problem exacerbated by Citizens United.
8
Before this is all over the term "Trump" will come to mean a seriously deranged individual.
6
There's almost a refreshing honesty in Trump's dishonesty. Past Republican leaders have been self-righteous liars, professing deep religious beliefs to soften lies carefully crafted to be believable. Trump, on the other hand, makes no such bones, he lies because he has a cohort dumb enough to believe him. He tells them that he's lying, and they believe him anyway.
He lies for fun and profit, and convinces his cohort that 'everybody does it.'
One must hope that at least a few of the Republican cult will be turned off by such lying, or at least the obviousness of it. We've seen some: Steve Schmidt, Joe Scarborough, etc. But not nearly as many as should have been.
2
You mean there's no 'Medal of Freedom' for casino operation. DT, more than anyone, understands how difficult it is to operate one profitably.
2
Our democracy will continue to be danger as long as Trump and his cronies are in office. They see nothing but power and money as worthwhile.
Ms. Adelson does not appear to deserve a medal of anything, but she will get one because Trump deems it useful to his re-election campaign.
Meanwhile Republicans will continue to preach undemocratic ideas, just as Rubio did.
ALL votes must be counted and the process must be transparent. Otherwise, we will lose our democracy and end up in an autocracy.
2
It’s bad enough that Trump is dangerous to our democracy, but dangerous and cornered is really scary. In what “scale tipping” form will he lash out? Could it get to the point that we’re trying to control a mad king? He’s Mr. Miffed in Europe for WWI observations until he meets Putin with a smile and arm pat. Now he’s trying to purify his administration with sycophant minions. Honestly, I am humiliated for my country. May the forces of decency and integrity prevail over this dark hour in our history.
5
Truth and virtue are oxymoron terms for Trump and those GOP congressman who live in their own reality, with no ethical boundaries.
2
What scares me more than trump and the republican lies is their wholesaleing of the courts to the Federalist society. Their goal is to change the laws of the land such that the government has little if no role in regulating commerce. Environmental laws and consumer protections will be erased. Public services will be curtailed. There is no constitutional right to health care,education or social security or privacy. Discrimination by private businesses is not unconstitutional. We will be ruled by rich white men just like the 17th century.
6
Trump's goal is to be a feared leader. Every tweet and negative comment is designed to instill fear and anger among the populace. He has said it before, (quoted by Bob Woodward), fear is power. Every angry response to him only fuels his deepest desires. I did my residency with someone whose MO was similar. Rule by fear. When I showed no outward emotion, and almost a cavalier response to his outbursts, he backed off. Once I had his number, the fear he tried to establish was met every time with confidence. By then end of my program, I was respected and he was like silly putty in the back window of a car during August in Arizona. The best way to defeat Trump's antagonism is to confidently react not to his nonsense, but with real ideas and principles totally ignoring what he said. Bullies can be challenged and they are often so fearful themselves, that once they start backing down, their fall comes shortly thereafter.
4
So blatantly ingenuous - Trump awarding Presidential Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson whose spouse bankrolls him. Maybe she deserves it. Won't cast judgment. But surely there are others who do not pose such an obvious conflict of interest.
2
The "widespread voter fraud" concept is ridiculous on its face. America has the opposite problem- not *enough* people vote. It's hilarious to think that there are millions - or thousands or hundreds - of people willing to risk a jail term to vote. But this is straight out of the right wing playbook and they have been hammering it for decades. And it works. It is intended to turn people against democratic institutions which helps the right wing disproportionately because they don't believe in them, either.
The irony is that the very people who fell for trump's rhetoric about returning government to the people enabled exactly the opposite. Folks, you've been trumped.
2
Mr. Krugman, I read your op-eds & articles all the time. I would like to see an updated report on the taxpayer money being spent on trump's rally travel this early in his term, the money spent on golfing weekends, Melania's trips to New York to get her hair done & lunch with the society ladies she misses. trump is spending taxpayer money but has no infrastructure plan, no healthcare plan...nothing up campaigning for 2020. I fully believe he will declare all elections in 2020 null & void & fraudulent if he is not re-elected. He is trying to lay the foundation now with Florida. Why does he insist on doing things that are against the people of the country? What is his plan for us? Giving a Medal of Freedom to donors is not the purpose of the Medal & is again disrespecting the citizens who have won the Medal in the past. Such a sad excuse for a human being is trump.
2
Donald Trump is flying all over the red states campaigning; don't tax payers cover every minute that Air Force One is in the air ? Is this legal? These visits aren't presidential appearances, they are blatant 2020 campaign visits.
3
Delusion is an unshakable belief in something untrue . An example would be Trump belief that the crowd in his inauguration was bigger than in Obama`s . Delusions and hallucinations ( to hear or see things that are not there ) are manifestations of mental illness . The refusal to use those 2 words ( mental illness ) makes the mainstream media and political opponents enablers of Trump . It is obvious that the President is not well . I don`t mean to say that the followers are delusional . They will eventually accept that the emperor has no clothes . But when Trump is taken in a straightjacket to a waiting ambulance , he will continue to say that his crowd was bigger .
1
NPR can not call trump or anything Trump says a “
Lie”. On Monday NPR was reduced to saying the president’s tweets had “so many falsehoods” that, we NPR, will not report the tweet. Mr. Krugmam, is censoring a tweet better than calling what the president said: another lying tweet, or, here’s the latest lying tweet, known to be a repeated lie, from the president?
How does anyone get an objective viewpoint into the conversation?
NPR needs Democracy Now! news on for some perspective and some truth and virtue!
1
Although the lies have to be fact checked and identified as such, the press should focus on the impact of those lies, nasty twitter rants, and ill conceived actions so the public realizes we are not just dealing with a pathological liar intent on deceiving the public for his own interest, but a leader whose actions are aimed at destroying our institutions, system of government and our standing on the world stage as a defender of democracy and protector of the downtrodden.
This is not a fake reality show meant to entertain the base, which Trump feels at home with, it's the future of Americans and American values that is at stake.
2
"Leader" in title alone. No other evidence exists.
3
Trump is the culmination of modern Republicanism beginning with Joe McCarthy.
Who was Reagan but McCarthy with a smile?
Trump has merely restored the hateful sneer to complete the cycle.
2
RE: "I don’t know how many people heard about Trump’s decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson,"
Over the years I've wondered what if I was called to be honored at the White House by a president I disagreed with such as George Bush or Ronald Reagan. OK, I admit that is next to impossible in happening, but as a thought experiment for testing my objectivity it works. I decided that you are being honored by the office, not the man, so that, yes, I would go. And I'd probably even feel honored by the man who is, after all, president.
However I have reached a turning point with this president who I simply don't disagree with but who I feel dishonors almost everything anout this country while wrapping himself in the flag and ad hominem attacks on others. Trump's treatment of military veterans and families and his decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Adelson marks the point where I would, in good conscience decline an "honor" from President Trump as no honor at all. In fact I would find such a thing to be a mark of dishonor among people of good character. Therefore I can also no longer blame those who decline an invitation to the White House under this president.
2
I think today's US political class doesn't have to account for glaring credibility gaps. We see the rise of demagogues and autocrats. They thrive on the return of the political "cult of personality" in media that produces endless infotainment, "froth and bubble" (didn't end well in the '20s & '30s).
As Trump says, the public can revile him or praise him it doesn't matter as long as they are printing his name everywhere. If this type of autocratic politics succeeds there is no democracy.
What today's government (not just this president) is proving is that US democratic (small d) institutions were hollowed out and/or dismantled over time, and the paper thin veneer leftover for a media show is now falling like a house of card as demagogues and autocrats test democracy's boundaries.
2
Thank you for pointing out that the Republicans have been more discretely doing much of what Trump does for decades. Trump is the natural result of what the Republican Party has been all about for a long time. Trump and the current Republican Party do it shamelessly, more extremely, and all out in the open. Sadly, a large part of the American public now lives in an alternative universe that was created by the right-wing propaganda machine, and they are either don't know what is going on or they simply don't care.
57
One look at this vulgar conman Trump. A picture is worth a thousand words.
3
As in Nazi Germany when the oath of loyalty was to Hitler instead of the republic, this is where we are with our own new autocrat. When James Comey refused to pledge to the president over the nation it was clear that this wasn’t a going to be an administration concerned about the welfare of a nation opposed to the power a man, and his party, could wield. He is not going peacefully into the night.
7
Psychology Today puts it this way: “Psychopathy is among the most difficult disorders to spot. The psychopath can appear normal, even charming. Underneath, he lacks conscience and empathy, making him manipulative, volatile and often (but by no means always) criminal.”
On criminal psychologist Robert Hare’s famous Psychopath Test you get zero for No, 1 for Partial and 2 for Yes.
Glibness and Superficial Charm - 2, Grandiose Sense of Self-worth - 2, Pathological Lying - 2, Cunning/manipulative - 2, Lack of Remorse - 2, Emotional Shallowness - 2, Callousness and Lack of Empathy - 2, Unwillingness to Accept Responsibility for Actions - 2, a Tendency to Boredom - 2, a Parasitic Lifestyle - 2, a Lack of Realistic Long-term Goals - 2, Impulsivity - 2, Irresponsibility - 2, Lack of Behavioural Control - 2, Behavioural Problems in Early Life - 2, Juvenile Delinquency - 1, Criminal Versatility - 0, a History of “Revocation of Conditional Release” (ie Broken Parole) - 0, Multiple Marriages - 2, and Promiscuous Sexual Behaviour - 2.
So Trump scores 35, and of course if your father is one of New York’s richest landlords you can punch your second grade music teacher in the eye, but you don’t need to rob old ladies (though Trump University comes close). Hare says: “A friend of mine, a psychiatrist, once said: ‘Bob, when I meet someone who scores 35 or 36, I know these people really are different. The ones we consider to be alien are the ones at the upper end.”
8
Will it be called the post post-truth era or just the post-Trump era? When the age of Trump has passed will we look back and see it merely as a time when a traitor tried to destroy a country? Will 40% of the country look back and ask themselves how they were so easily conned? Will those who fail to acknowledge the fraud simply be left in the dust when the country moves on? These are all important questions, but they are all moot if we don't first focus on ending the age of Trump. Keeping a list of all the ways that Trump has been trying to destroy our democracy is important, if only for being a list of what needs to be fixed after he's gone. But now that the midterms are over, it is time to go on offense. Because what Trump wants no longer matters. We don't need to convince the gaslit that they've been gaslit. We are the majority. We can use the power that we've been given to make sure the Trump era ends by resignation, impeachment or the 2020 election. If we don't, all we'll have left is lamenting about the good old days. That's the danger of articles like these. We need to focus on moving forward. And we need to be asking everyone to contribute their efforts. Our democracy is still at risk.
3
Our Republic as skewed as it is in favor of the Republicans actually reacted very nicely to the party of Trump. He and they was repudiated. It was a rout. I'm encouraged by the response. The Democratic process embedded in our Republic showed a healthy pulse.
3
I remember in the 1950’s, TV was the thing and programs were censored by official monitors for ‘decency’ in content. Gradually indecency was given increasing public liberty to bare itself at will. Pandora’s Box, it’s lid loosened then finally tossed away. Only those around my age or older can comprehend this huge revolutionary change in ‘private’ information access and the social order.
Private guilt and public shame was made publicly irrelevant because it could be observed and discussed openly without self incrimination. The GOP politically weaponized indecency i.e. “Everybody wants to win no matter how, so go for it”. Yet we all know persons in our lives that act better than others so interpersonal judging is normal. Whether its correct or incorrect?
The good thing is that ‘we’ imperfect persons now are becoming wiser in understanding better: How messaging Vs motives differ. Defensiveness is a posture not an action. Acts to advance themselves are narrowing among Republicans. Message: Vote Repub! Public Motive: Lower Taxes! or Party Motive: More Government Privatization? It is no accident that Republicans depend heavily on scripted public events, they simply are unable to argue issues reasonably. But Republicans are better at messaging because such need not be of merit but only have appeal. Gov.. is not a business, its an inherent public investment. Thus the GOP will decline in influence due to its profit motives based on public info irrelevancy!
2
I still try to differentiate Trump supporters from Republicans, like people loyal to the GOP I have know, worked with, and remained friends with over the years.
this is increasingly difficult for a couple of reasons: first, more traditional Republicans, even some in politics, have quit the party. but, more importantly, Republicans (aka Trump supporters) live in an alternative universe, believe in alternative facts, and exisit in a bubble of like-minded peers, heavily influenced by their own specialized media which is itself disconnected from ordinary reality.
in this environment, it is all to easy for any nutty ideas to gain currency, and for the embers of any underlying prejudices to be fanned into the flames of hatred, opening the gates of Armageddon.
it's happened before. Trump is a symptom, not the disease, just as the opioid epidemic overlapping with his core support base is a symptom of a greater social illness.
8
@[email protected]
Republicans who aren't Trump supporters, who vote, are now Democrats. No need to differentiate. That's how a 2 party system works.
The president could not have gotten this far without people who believe or at least want to believe him.
At one extreme are people like the president who know better, but will say anything to win. At the other end are fact-based voters who are not swayed by lying or conspiracy theories. But there must be a large, gullible middle who think maybe politicians really do know more about science than scientists. This "intelligent design" group deals differently with facts they do not like, and they are an eager audience for attacks on reality. Trump has tapped into this but it was there for him to exploit. How ironic he frets over fake news when it got him where he is.
5
It is now often impossible to engage in productive civic discourse of any type, simply because every institution, no matter how scrupulous their research or reporting, is above the charge of conspiracy and self-dealing. The painful irony is that these allegations come from those who themselves are the most conspiratorial and self-serving.
4
I have no knowledge of Miriam Adelson or what she has done to be rewarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perhaps they have thermometers on the wall (like the old fund raiser ones) and when someone's donations reach a certain level a family member gets a medal. If you think this is bad wait for 2019. Those Medals of Freedom are going to be flying out of Trump's hands to adorn the necks of spouses and mothers.
3
Three years ago, no one could have imagined that you would be writing a column like this... about this country. Writing about the vast right-wing conspiracy to secure tax-breaks and deregulation for the rich?? Sure, we could have imagined that but not about the degree of lying that approaches that of a full autocracy by both a U.S. President, a supportive GOP, and a major television network to maintain their power.
5
@B.R.
And yet, it was EXACTLY what the GOP was doing at the time too. Fox News idem.
The only difference today is that they control DC.
All that Trump has done and continues to do is retweeting Fox News lines. He clearly didn't build this himself.
And it's BECAUSE we didn't massively discuss this problem three years ago that so many people voted for the GOP or decided to stay home during the last two elections.
4
Maybe the news media can get together and agree to open their news reports with "President Trump today said something" and then go on to the next story. I like to believe that the majority of Americans still believe in the truth but feel overwhelmed by the tsunami of lies from Trump, Fox and the GOP. When something big happened in the world we automatically turned on CNN to see what happened because they were "The Source". I just hope that Trumpism is a bad case of diarrhea that we'll get out of our system.
6
Ayn Rand said that "truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it." By supporting President Trump, Americans are seeking truth; those who oppose him seek that which is false. Therefore, President Trump is not for all men; for those who do seek him, there is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Thank you.
@Southern Boy
What Krugman is talking about here is OBJECTIVELY PROVEN truth.
That's the opposite of what you're claiming, which is SUBJECTIVELY DECLARED truth.
The question is: how come you gave up objective truth and now decided to blindly adhere to no matter what the government subjectively asks you to believe.
Any ideas?
Thank you.
10
religious indoctrination primes people to believe on faith what ordinary reason deems impossible. and, it makes you one of the good guys and insures you're not one of the doomed infidels.
btw, I am now accepting investors in my new winery which will turn ordinary tap water into wine without the need for grapes or those pesky immigrants who harvest them. now's the time to get in on the ground floor! opportunity of a lifetime! plus - be your best friend.
By the way, objectively proven truths are so much more trustworthy and stable in time and useful to make predictions about the future, contrary to subjectively declared truths (= what Plato called "opinion", or "doxa" in ancient Greek), BECAUSE of how they were proven to be true.
"Objective" means that no matter whom can do the same experiment all over again, and EVEN when he doesn't believe that the outcome will be as predicted by an objectively proven truth, or even when he doesn't care about whether the outcome is true at all (= doesn't "seek" the truth), the outcome will always be the same, as predicted.
It's because such a proof is independent of who is doing the experiment, that it is "objectively" true.
The problem with subjectively declared truths is that there's no way to find out whether a prediction will work or not, or to find out who's actually right, the person that subjectively declares x to be true, or another person who subjectively declares that it's not true.
That's why it's not very wise to reject objectively proven truths, and to blindly follow certain subjectively declared truths, you see?
And it's certainly not very wise to take the words of one or the other politician and then starting to imagine that by definition what he says must be true ... . If you think it is, what would your arguments be? Thank you.
Thank you for interpreting for the public exactly what "fake" means like some High Priest and praises for tendentiously separating truth from heresy.
Not in this article, but I think it's incorrect when Trump is called a symptom of what had been going on in the GOP before he became president. That can lend him some cause-and-effect sympathy. More accurate to say that he is a more obviously malignant active agent who has subjugated the others.
3
@Spence
Trump has subjugated Mitch McConnell?
1
@Bob
Of course he didn't. When McConnell and Ryan proposed Ryancare, which by destroying the healthcare of 30 million Americans all while raising costs for the rest of us did the EXACT opposite of what Trump had promised as candidate, he not only immediately fully supported it, he even prematurely threw out a celebration party in the Rose Garden when it passed the House (something that is normally only done when a bill passes both houses and is signed into law).
There is NOTHING that was part of his campaign agenda and that at the time distinguished him from the GOP establishment candidates that Trump has managed to get passed in the GOP Congress and signed into law. Not one single thing.
- no wall
- no Obamacare replacement with something better (the tax cuts for the wealthiest even destroy the healthcare of 13 million Americans already, all while increasing premiums by 30%)
- no massive deportation of all illegal aliens, whether they committed a crime or not (not even comprehensive immigration reform which would allow him to at least start strengthening the southern border)
- agreeing to strongly cut social security and medicare
Etc.
The deal between the GOPe and Trump was perfectly clear: they allow him to sit in the WH if he promises to not meddle with lawmaking, allows the GOPe cabinet to do whatever it wants, and spends his days watching Fox News and retweeting their lines so that the base continues to be fired up all while ignoring what the GOP is doing.
Krugman overlooks one of the most costly and outrageous actions of the Republicans courting of evangelicals. The prominent, now forgotten, attacks on Stem cell embryonic research. The Republicans reduced funding for it on the grounds that the scientists using this route to fight cancer, major forms of brain and nerve tissue damage were destroying babies. Obama put an end to this in 2012 but don't be surprised if the party and Trump revive it.
4
I've always found the "vast left-wing conspiracy" to be extremely ineffective.
3
The very people who decry "participation trophies," have seemingly no issue with corporate handouts and cronyism. There is no critique of undeserved compensation and accolades if you are in the tribe, or if you are a part of the GOP royalty. The base loathes to criticize the group they aspire to join, or is it the group they have subjugated themselves to?
They decry elitism, but that only applies to intellectual elitism, or the success of those not in the tribe. The elitism of wealth (by whites or those that uphold the GOP social hierarchy) is not seen as elitism, that is simply the natural order. Elitism in their minds is the uppity movement of any group that transgresses against the white-male-Christian pyramid. Elitism has nothing to do with greatness or excelling or being the best, it has everything to do with suppression. In this view, an uneducated bigot is still great. A white collar criminal is still great. But the black entrepreneur who succeeds against all odds through education and hard work, is elitist.
I marvel at the cognitive dissonance and lack of objective truth, and the capacity for a person like Miriam Adelson to actually accept an award like this knowing she does not deserve it and how it tarnishes the greatness of those who came before her. But I guess it's not called a participation trophy if you buy it.
4
Our democracy is still very much in danger......
9
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/opinion/lweb03krugman.html Almost ten years ago, I responded here to a Krugman column about the long history of Republican appeals to racism ("Bigger than Bush, 1/2/09). My closing paragraph: "The savage irony will come next year when G.O.P. leaders complain that we can’t afford to address the most basic needs of America’s poor — for health care, education, food, heat and shelter. They’ll count on no one mentioning the trillions they had us collectively borrow to finance tax cuts for rich white people. And unlike Mr. Krugman, the major networks and most newspapers won’t even hold G.O.P. leaders accountable for their hypocrisy. It’s not decades of Republican racism that appall me. It’s a mainstream media so cowed they let them get away with it." We still have a mainstream media so locked into it's "Oh the rancor/A pox on both their houses" frame that it treats Trump as some outlier and usurper -- not the man who cruised through 2016 primaries. The man who represents the direct result of a party that left facts and compassion by the wayside long ago, in favor of relativism and resentment of Those Others.
10
Once upon a time I had to do a survey of absentee ballots in all fifty states. The secretary of states sent me booklets containing their voting laws.
What a mish-mash of statutes. It would be impossible to shuffle them all together like a deck of cards.
So, as to why one state is easier to recount than another; mix bureaucracy with politics and you have America.
3
The Gaming Commision is not a conspiracy theory. Both republicans and democrats have had plenty of time to raise the minimum wage for "continuous learners."
At this point I consider it abuse, Krugman, by both parties.
1
Yes, "abandoning the whole notion of objective facts" poses real problems for debate and democracy. Is that hyperbole or is it really that bad?
I found this broadcast interview/transcript with Harvard's Yochai Benkler enlightening.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-ol-patt-morrison-yochai-benkler-20181107-htmlstory.html
Benkler conducted a multi-year study of online communication and media stories, posts, tweets, etc. and broke them down by political orientation, left/right. His words:
"We analyzed millions of stories and we looked at their text, and we looked at how they linked to each other and how they were tweeted and how they were shared on Facebook for three years, from 2015 to 2018.
Nothing came out more clearly than that the right wing was unique, distinct, insular, and that left media and center left and center media were all part of the same ecosystem."
On the right, he found that crazy, baseless stories propagated and thrived much more than on the left. He attributes that to crazy stories being ratified and endorsed by right-wing institutions and leaders like Fox, Limbaugh, Hannity.
In left and center media, he found that baseless stories definitely arise, but they get knocked down by people and institutions respected in that "media ecosystem"-- because, as most people here will appreciate, the stories are baseless, and that still matters in the left/center media world.
It's empirical evidence of our divide: fact-based vs. propaganda.
9
I agree with Professor Krugman's comments, but would like to emphasize that is important that in resisting the Trumpification of America we resist the urge to act, think or feel like Trumpsters. As Krugman says they are assaulting reason and the very notion of truth itself. These must be defended with all of the strength we can muster, but we must not be tempted to reflexively oppose every utterance and position just because it comes from a loathsome source. We need reasoned positions on issues like health care, immigration, the environment and economic growth - and these positions should take into account the legitimate fears and concerns of those susceptible to Trump's demagoguery.
2
@W. H. Butler We already have reasoned positions, but they require reasoned debate on them. I don't see much of that in our different political realities, where simply branding a position as socialist or commie is seen as sufficient counterargument.
It's getting back to a shared reality that is paramount. Not sure how that is done when profits are to be made not doing it, and any attention on the effects of those profits is misdirected.
2
wow! I wasn't sure this day would ever come. Short and sweet. kfl
Do you ever get tired of writing these reflections on Trump and Trumpism? I certainly hope not. Occasionally, I get a little weary of all the anti-Trump op-eds, but they must not stop. They provide encouragement to those of us who still believe in the American ethic, but more important they provide an education—albeit in slow motion—for many in the Trump base. That base is a tough group, but they are being worn down by you and your fellow writers at the NYT, and by so many other members of the national media. Don’t let up.
10
@Huge Grizzly
They actually aren't anti-Trump, they are against the corruption that the GOP has installed as an operating principle first in their media (Fox News) and leadership, to then let it trickle down to their rank and file members and eventually voters. And now that they entirely control DC, you find it on all levels of the government, including the highest office.
All that Trump does is copy-pasting Fox News lies, because all that he's interested in is power, and it's retweeting fake news that allows him to get high approval ratings among his base, all while having to sign no bills into law at all.
In the meanwhile, his GOP cabinet can sell out the country to the highest globalist bidder on Wall Street without anybody noticing it.
1
@Ana Luisa
Living in Belgium you shouldn't be that pessimistic.
With every action, trump shows just how unfit he is to be president. His refusal to attend ceremonies commemorating Americans who gave their lives for our country just shows where his true alligance rests. he is a facist and shows that with every action. he is a disgrace to this country and the free world. How long will repubs continue to support him?
4
republicans have not honored Democracy for many decades. They would not accept the elections of Bill Clinton twice or Barack Obama twice.
When republicans pledged to each other in that basement of the D.C. steak house that they would give no victories to the newly sworn in President they were also pledging to give no victories to the America people as President Obama went about the labors of digging US out of the hole the last republican president had dug US into. That should have been called what it was: Sedition.
republicans are in full fledged fascist mode; with authoritarianism their flag. When racism is added to fascism we get nazis. That is the direction the republican party will take the Nation. Yes, our democracy is in grave danger; witness the surge in votes from their very base base.
11
Political slogans rule in a soundbite era. People discover enemies in catchy phrases. Propaganda subjugates truth and virtue. A TV celebrity and real estate developer can hijack part of a legendary Ronald Reagan speech and put a red hat on almost half of the voters in the United States: “Make America Great Again.”
Nationalist exceptionalism returned to our daily lives because Donald Trump turned this borrowed catchphrase from a dog whistle into a bullhorn that painted opponents as un-American when he ran for and became the president.
Marketing genius only requires half-truths, with the similitude of half a hole. A dollop of reality quickly develops the strength of a commandment. In the hands of a weak mind, it can develop into the sound of bullets.
Political slogans embrace propaganda, misinformation, and deception. Occasionally, in the words of a famous ad man from the previous century, Leo Burnett, they “reach for the stars.” They touch the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
When they do, a political slogan can become a platform that people believe in and follow. So here’s mine, for both Democrats and Republican, two words.
SAVE DEMOCRACY.
1
@Temple Emmet Williams: Would you consider changing the word "save" to "evolve"?
1
@Steve Bolger Good question. I think the word "evolves" falls outside the realm of "slogan." It has too many tendrils, possibilities, definitions. It possesses grey areas. "Save" does not. I understand that "evolve" has discussion built into it, but slogans do not require thinking. They require immediate action (or rejection).
1
@Temple Emmet Williams: I think "evolve" suggests ongoing refinement indefinitely. We probably don't want to save what is manifestly unfair in the present scheme of representation.
1
In “1984,” still the leading work of fiction warning against authoritarian government, the Enemy of the People—Big Brother’s nonexistent nemesis—is named Emmanuel Goldstein. Today’s creepy anti-Semitic parallel is right-wing extremists singling out George Soros as the leader of every imagined conspiracy. As this column points out, Arizona’s Republican Party demanding to know what communication election officials had with Mr. Soros. Apparently his efforts to promote democracy, including voting, are anathema to the increasingly fascist G.O.P.
6
@SKG: Authoritarians project themselves onto others to justify being badder than they are to defend themselves and their tribe against "the others". To understand them, one must master tautological reasoning.
Paul underestimates the role of billionaires like the Adelsons, the Kochs, the Wilks, the Uihleins, the Mercers, the Spencers, who not only donate to further a corrupted GOP Congress and stack the Supreme Court, but deploy a highly successful and widespread disinformation machine that is “reality” for almost half of America. A machine involving Fox News, Trump’s Twitters, Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and the Spencers’ media machine.
66
@John Brews ..✅✅: One is impressed by how effectively their immune system functions against unwanted viruses.
2
@John Brews ..✅✅
The comment does not seem to consider the bulk of the trump base's education level. They seem to be clinging to the statements of the leader and dismissing the reality. Consider the impact of tariffs on farmers and manufacturers et al. The base acknowledges that tariffs hurt their business or raise costs etc but they still vote for t regardless. They don't seem to tie this together.
1
@John Brews ..✅✅
And the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute, the Hoover Institution, the Heartland Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and other organizations set up for the purpose of making right-wing capitalist or libertarian ideas intellectually accepted and adopted as law.
3
Stripped of itsvchrome Republican philosophy considers property as the primary value and democracy as a way that other people can take legally take the stuff of those who have earned to those who do not. Though loathe to admit it even to themsvellves many of my wealthy Republican friends, not a bigot among them, simply don't accept democratic decision-making as morally legitimate.
@eben spinoza: Why do they consent to be governed?
the NYT (or someone) should run a weekly (or daily) list of lies, half truths, and misrepresentations spoken by Trump, Sanders and others, along with supporting actual facts
1
Consider adding the Washington Post “fact-checker” to your reading list.
The Republican Party has been a cult for decades now, having slipped the surly bonds of reason to touch the face of fraud, fiction, fantasy, fear, fascism and fundamentalism.
It's a place where religious anti-Christs cheerfully gather to rip healthcare and safety nets away from the poor, the sick and the fallen.
It's a political meth lab where Republican drug dealers peddle trickle-down fraud to GOP-junkie voters in exchange for a big bucket of delicious racism, liberal loathing and the greatest healthcare rip-off in the world.
Republistan is that safe space where science, economics, voting rights, fair play, infrastructure, morality and the environment can all be safely rejected in exchange for 'winning' (stealing) elections by cheating from morning til night in the name of the Lord and Savior.
'God', Guns and Greed - what more does a Grand Old Psychopath need to drive a country off a cliff ?
So what if nonstop lies and conspiracies form the modern bedrock of Republican thinking.
Fox News, hate radio and the alt-fact internet are doing their hypnotic, patriotic best to bake the truth in its finest Orwellian Down-Is-Up cookware for the foaming right-wing masses who demand fresh drivel to sustain their distemper.
The Administration of Burnt Facts and its Confederate President are rallying the crazed troops with a clarion call for a lump of coal in every Christmas stocking as they prepare to tear down the union.
Joy to the 2018 GOP world - the anti-Christ has risen !
526
@Socrates
One of your better ones and "sirley" spot on.
15
You sound like you write satire for a living. That was just an amazing display of Jonathan Swiftian writing. I was laughing the whole way through from your superb use of metaphors.
It seriously sounds like something Jon Stewart, Lewis Black or Stephen Colbert would write.
I would follow your comments if I could.
Your type of rhetorical skills are what is needed in the next Democratic presidential candidate to take on Trump.
11
@Socrates...OK Socrates, you win the internet today with this comment. Spot on and well done.....Bravo, Sir!
9
President Trump´s revolting tweets to French president Emmanuel Macron today Tuesday Nov 13 as France mourns the memory of the dreadful massacres in Paris on Nov 13 2015 horribly insult America´s oldest ally and disgust the entire civilized world.
10
Professor, there is no rest for the weary. I'm hopeful that your tirelessness will endure and prevail. My personal ability to stay focused on the dangers of Trump vacillates between "let them eat cake" to please God save the stupid. Maybe, your fortitude is contagious but not yet as I'm personally disgusted by GOP hypocrisy.
1
First, you gerrymander.
Second, you restrict voting rights with lies about voter fraud and illegal immigrants.
Third, you reject vote tallies that don't favor you, citing conspiracies.
Fourth, you establish a dictatorship to save the nation.
2
sounds like a Fifth Column action.
Blasphemy is now defined as disagreeing with dear leader.
1
It makes me so sad that so many people support Trump and the evil Republican party. Are there really so many evil people in the United States? Truth is Truth. Evil is Evil.
3
Most GOP voters are good, decent Americans.
The problem is the tons of money that a handful of wealthy globalists have thrown at GOP campaigns and Fox News, and the fact that Fox News has created a completely "alternative facts" universe for its audience, where white is black and black is white, for 2 decades now already.
Start watching it and you'll be amazed at what they give their audience as "news" over there. Then imagine what your worldview would be this is your only source of information, or the only one you came to trust, and THAT is how people end up believing the GOP and Trump.
By the way, most of the time Trump doesn't invent his own lies. He's watching Fox News all the time, and mostly just copy-pastes their lines into tweets, which then gives his supporters the feeling that "he gets it" ...
The best way to get us out of this disaster is to remember that we are all human beings first, and that we all love the truth and making America a better place, including most GOP voters out there ... so that we can then connect with them on a purely human basis, and then together engage in real, respectful debates (knowing that they have been made to believe that WE are truly evil, so will react in a quite hostile way in the beginning ...) trying to get closer to the truth.
IF we all start doing this, within a couple of years the GOP won't exist anymore, and then a REAL conservative party, confident enough in conservatism as a philosophy to not lie, may arise again.
27
Lying. Cheating. Stealing.
Brought to you by the party of 'family values'.
3
Apparently the Republicans thought George Orwell’s 1984 was an instruction manual. So sad that they have abandoned the idea of a free marketplace of ideas
161
I try to read a variety of news sources to stay informed. The New York Times of course, The Washington Post, USA Today paper, The Economist, The New Yorker, My local news paper, The Atlantic and The National Review.
Dr. Krugman what do you read and what would you recommend?
2
The fact that Trump still enjoys 40% level support indicates that many people find authoritarianism "comforting." The same can be said about the rise of authoritarianism worldwide. Yes. The country is still in danger and so is the world. Lest we forget; wars almost inevitably come with the rise of authoritarianism and nationalism.
8
Americans have always lived in a divided country. Remember the Civil War which never really ended. Before that they were called "know-nothings". The forces of reason and decency may win temporarily. but the hatred and xenophobia will still exist.
3
There are two parts to a lie: the liar and the lied to.
Usually the half-life of a lie is determined by skepticism. The more outlandish and improbable the shorter a lie's longevity. If a lie thrives and grows, it becomes a myth, a legend, a story. Longer still and it becomes history, a rock of truth.
The life of a lie isn't determined by the liar. If a lie is greeted with derision and disgust, even the most chronic dissembler will cease and desist. If they keep dishing microwaved falsehoods, listeners will vote with their feet and seek more nourishing fare elsewhere.
But if a whopper titillates listeners with a twang of truthiness, it'll grow exponentially and bite deep into the minds of those for whom the lie is a key or password that unlocks the purpose of life. The lie becomes the membership card that assures a warm welcome for newcomers among believers.
Trump's lies exceed all metrics for outlandish and improbable and should have a half-life that's as abbreviated as a fruit fly. But they don't. Trump's lies work 24/7 and never retire, no matter how tired and old. 10 years on and Obama's still Muslim and Kenyan. Hillary's still guilty of emailing while Colin Powell. Trump's a billionaire who did it his way. North Korea is the 53rd state. Putin's a teddy bear. Hating Blacks and Hispanics isn't racism, just smart.
Trump's lies are laughable. That he has an amen choir that clamors to hear them, isn't.
13
This “party” is becoming as evil to our society and its interests as its amoral Leader. We know well that the Fake President lacks any truth, humanity, or virtue, and Republicans continue to be anxious to emulate his noxious qualities. Trump already occupies the bottom of the malevolence barrel, with his sycophants fast descending to keep him company there. MAGA.
3
If the normal Republican practice, now embodied by President Pinocchio, is to lie, where is the Republican party and the country headed? Are Americans becoming numb to lies? We cannot let the lies go unrebutted or they will bury us. The last election was a wake up call: to throw out the liars.
2
you have to be able to recognize a lie as a lie.
if you have no frame of reference, or live in an echo chamber, or have limited exposure to the truth, how could you tell?
of course Obama is a Kenyan Muslim: I heard somebody say that on tv, so it has to be true, right?
then, there's the grain of truth: there is a guy called Obama and that is not in dispute. when the grifter sells the rube the Brooklyn Bridge, it is not the existence of the bridge itself that forms the con, but it is the grain of truth that makes it believeable.
Krugman works for a University with an endowment larger than the GDP of many nations. The Princeton Endowment could easily give free tuition to all students from its income alone. Is Paul screaming about the penury of the Princeton Endowment ? Of course not, and everyone understands that Paul knows where his bread is buttered. Maybe Paul could teach Limousine Liberalism 101.
What do Soros and Adelson have in common?
When the WH constructs propaganda, alters videotape, overtly incites violence against opponents who are sent bombs, celebrates racist police behavior, demonizes refugees, and makes demands about ending elections should one be a bit more forthcoming about what Trump and the GOP are doing?
If the GOP denies being a fascist organization with fealty to Trump if the deny being racists but Fascists and Racists think that they are, well how long will it take for Dr. K and the NYT et al to denounce them?
Trump trolls, it’s his only form of discourse. Every word he says or tweets, every action he takes, is deliberately intended to provoke anger. He lies to offend; truth and reality are meaningless in that context.
This may look like an attack on America but it’s really an attack on civilization, itself.
6
Paul clarifies the position of the current Republican Party as authoritarian and dismissive of facts. This approach does place our democracy in some danger of becoming less effective as a means to govern our country. I see the current administration as a worst case scenario that we need to use as a learning experience. I am constantly amazed at the foresight of our founding fathers. The idea of creating a system of checks and balances throughout the sections of our government has given us a chance to vote for change and hopefully move the country in a more positive direction.
2
This is so critical. its not that Trump started the lying. It's that he is being obnoxious about the lying. Reagan, Gingrich, W were inveterate liars about everything from supply side economics, to climate change to marriage equality and in MOST CASES their willingness to make any military sacrifice of their own (Reagan, W, Cheney, Trump). Its not the ideology that's changed - its the packaging.
3
@Nick
blatant, Nick, he is blatant. in this technology driven culture, every one has a smartphone, an iPhone, a something which records in audio and video. it is always and it is inescapable. trump must keep all this twirling or else he has no presence. no presence is not the same as focus or intelligence. trump gets checked, and counter-checked, and all one requires is to read, and read, and read every bloody paper, here and in other countries. the pathetic display for veterans in France was caught and shown across countries - no cries of fake news since it came from other nations. this means focus and energy for Americans because those fellows in buckled shoes and perukes, standing at the table to sign away their lives were not playing around.
One has to wonder how these folks interact with their wives, husbands, children and parents. It is all a lie and they don't seem to care. Just how low can humans go with this epidemic of prevarication. And the folks that follow the orange genius have to have some sort of anomaly to follow like lemming. This part of the country has definitely hit the wall.
1
AnnaS's urging that Trump be ignored more, quoted less -- what did he mean? how will latest malign idiocy play out? -- by media & all of us is on point. Why is the graphic for this thoughtful op-ed a picture of Trump holding forth at a rally? How many pictures of the narcissist are in each day's edition? How satisfying can we suppose that is to the narcissist who is most interested in his " ratings"? Stop showing pictures of him to glory in. And since he has single handedly diminished any international influence the US presidency has had, he should be treated by us as the world's leaders are now beginning to treat him: an annoyance, a fly to be swatted, to be avoided rather than accorded the legitimacy that photos and quotes give him, as if he were a real president.
2
Amen Mr. Krugman. I grew up in an ultra right-wing, Jim Crow environment and I know from personal experience and long observation and study that what you say is true. America is still in danger from these far-right extremists.
8
"in their world, there are no neutral facts"
"this rejection of objective facts"
I understand the inclination to put things this way, especially after our living for a couple years with a President who lies spontaneously and habitually, and whose default position is to misrepresent and deceive. But I think it would be more accurate to say that while many Republicans realize what is true, what the facts are, they don't value the truth as much as they value power. Trump is astonishingly ignorant, and he's probably sociopathic, but even he knows that there are neutral facts. He just doesn't think they are relevant to the game he's playing. He's not playing the truth-telling game. Exxon knew perfectly well that there were facts about climate change that, if they were disseminated, would hurt its bottom line, so it did everything it could to suppress and contradict them. But they knew they were facts, and for that very reason were dangerous. Cheney knew there was no threat from Iraq of a "mushroom cloud," but lying about it allowed the defense industries whose interests he represented to make billions. It's actually more condemnatory of Republicans to bring out their intentional, self-serving lying rather than to present them as so deranged that they don't believe that facts exist. They're not some twisted strain of French post-modernism; they're corrupt.
9
Today we read in another news source that Trump has coined the term "Presidential harassment". Are we going to see him end his tweets with #TrumpToo now? Personally, I'd rather see a #TimesUpTrump hashtag.
3
Virtue! Is it something we all still strive to achieve? It means so many different things depending on your perspective. Mr. Krugman, you are right. This ideal has been sucked from our collective consciousness as a country by greedy selfish people, and yes mostly from the R side of the aisle. But we let it happen and we are the only ones that can get it back. Strive for virtue, in whatever form you see it, and lift up and take this country from those who only see it as a cash cow to milk for their own benefit!
1
This has had many antecedents: "We are an empire now and empires create their own reality" was an alleged quote of Karl Rove by Ron Suskind. We definitely have an authoritarian leader which looks much like Orwells Big Brother in 1984. The question is aside from voting democrat what is to be done. What programs and approach should the democrats take to preserve and strengthen our democracy. Lets hope we have more time than it seems.
1
At this point any reasonable individual should assume that if Mr. Trump said it, it's a lie. That's the turn that needs to happen. You don't assume someone's words have credibility just because they're president. If someone utters more lies than truths, the only rational thing to do is assume that whatever they say is a lie until proven otherwise. So when Trump says something, is should be reported on the assumption that it's untrue, the same way you report propaganda from say the the official Chinese news or Pravda. for example:
"The election for senate in Florida was close enough to trigger a recount. Of course Mr Trump falsely claimed election fraud, as expected."
1
@conesnail: Trump's Evangelical base firmly believes that even the laws of physics can be bent by magic words and force of will. Trump is good at repeating lies until people are numbed enough to believe them true.
2
@conesnail And yoy dont think Brenda Snipes is corrupt
When the measure of everything you value is done only on a balance sheet of dollars and cents, you have no system for considering ideas, values, principles that are not monetary. In Trumpworld, someone's value to the country is only a number. Long after Trump has left the scene, so many young people will have learned that life is only about winners and losers whose status is determined only by what's in their bank accounts. As Trump would tweet, "So Sad." (He has the BEST words!)
2
It's fascinating how the GOP, that so stridently preens itself on its firm grasp of "objective truth" (patriotism, God, family values, free markets, and on an on) has so thoroughly embraced the complete relativity of facts. I always thought relativism was a stone to be hurled at us leftists.
2
@roberthill100 and wellit should be considering their past preformances! How soon you forget!
"They don’t 'really believe' anything..." You could have stopped right there.
A number of observers have recently pointed out the complete nihilism of the modern Republican party. Today's Republicans relish destruction for the sake of destroying, cruelty simply to be cruel, breaking laws just to break laws. There are no other objectives.
I've struggled for years over the irrationality and self-destructiveness of many wingnut views, especially climate change denial. The Kochs and big oil don't have all that much to gain, and much to lose, by funding denial. If anything, it's a massively lucrative lost opportunity to develop better energy sources and create many jobs.
But now I get it: these people and their dangerous, loud-mouthed, torch-bearing minions get their orgiastic pleasure in causing death, pain, and destruction on anything and anyone they can. There's nothing else.
3
What type of voter dismisses the blatant lies about President Obama being born in another country and therefore is illegitimate? This is how Trump introduced himself to the nation as a presidential candidate.
It should have been a FULL STOP if you are a voter who cares about character and morality. Instead, we have voters who are willing to make a deal with the devil to get what? Tax cuts for the 1%? Outlawing abortion? Advancing a white supremacy nation?
All of what is going on is directly tied to Trumps original sin about Obama. In plain sight he revealed himself to be an immoral liar. Our nation should not have been subjected to the 6000 lies since. So it’s not about Trump really, it’s about American voters that accept blatant immoral behavior in their leader(s).
8
Throughout my life, I've normally been able to see the gray areas of most issues nestled somewhere between the black and the white. While deeply disappointed over the election of Donald Trump, I tried to understand why other people, many of whom must have been decent folk, might have voted for him. Were they so frustrated with business as usual in Washington that they were willing to overlook Trump's many faults when he told them only he could clean the place up? Were they so terrified of people coming along to take their places that they were able to forgive Trump's hate filled rhetoric, even though they weren't hateful themselves? I thought it might be possible.
Over the past two years, with all the evidence clearly before us, my ability to see the gray, to give people the benefit of the doubt, is now totally gone. Anyone who doesn't recognize that we are in the midst of a battle between good and evil, plainly the right and the wrong, is a fool of the greatest proportion. Anyone who hasn't chosen the obvious side of morality and decency must be considered to imbue their very opposites. I will never again try to "understand" anyone who continues to support the wickedness that is Donald Trump; they do not deserve my consideration.
5
@woodswoman: I think too many people believed that the behavior the Republicans projected onto Hillary wasn't just their own MO.
1
@woodswoman
For the next two months watch nothing but Fox News, and read nothing but Alice in Wonderland, and you may have a better understanding of where these people are coming from.
1
@Ohio MD,
I have tried watching that network, but ended up becoming so incensed I couldn't bear to continue. Besides, I didn't want to add to their ratings.
But you're right, theirs is one of the most accurate gauges of the prejudice and propaganda we're up against, and it's important to know. Maybe if I imbibed, as they say, a bit of the dram first - would that be forgivable?
November 13, 2018
More to ours is the age of chaos and greed in the types of arrogance that produced Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and as well Volkswagen engineering false positives on its Autos production and the for the top or bottom prize was the failure for Facebook and Company to not understand Data Base protections and offer competency in user operational safety.
Then we have America's political class unable to demonstrate its maturity of democracy's values in the very contest for the presidential selection debates - that is entirely a failure to know its guiding values and the Age that is identifiable to its honor and values to offer and as well enforce by codes of conduct for every generation upcoming to embrace. Not the poor soul Donald J. Trump that is barbaric and unfit to lead the culture we can and should expect to share both domestic and internationally.
jja
1
@Joseph John Amato: Trump is a Batista, not a Castro.
Mrs. Adelson bought a Medal of Freedom. That has to be a first.
6
@John Terrell Freedom to fleece the unwary with any kind of addiction. Gambling is a biggie.
Dr Krugman you are spot on. The Republican Party has bet on taking over the old Democrats southern white male power base. They use lying conspiracy theories and scapegoating to maintain their power. Gerrymandering the electoral voting system and race lies to the working class and evangelicals spell the possibility of a permanent authoritarian state and the end of democracy.
If Republicans and Trump stop Mueller and there is no accountability and Trump is reflected it’s all over. Done and dusted.
It’s a slow moving Watergate on steroids.
You are one of the few who sees how serious things are. Please keep writing. We all need you!
4
People in power do not give it up; it must be taken away. Truth takes a back seat to power every time. However, when all the votes have been counted and even if Gillum, Nelson, and Abrams all lose, there will be one unalterable and undeniable truth, which is that Trump did not advance GOP power. As evidenced by the House and Governorship election results, he likely hurt it.
In 2020, there will be 21 Senate GOP seats up for election. Mitch McConnell is much smarter and more politically experienced than Trump, and he wants to maintain his position as majority leader more than he wants Trump reelected. He knows that Trump is damaged goods beyond repair. He also knows that Mitt Romney will be a force with which he must make an alliance unless he wants the GOP Senate majority to bifurcate. McConnell will make it very clear to his caucus that the GOP Senators must distance themselves from Trump if they want to retain the majority in 2020.
It may well be that the GOP has so defiled itself with its abating and enabling of Trump that the stain will not wash off; and in 2020, Democrats may regain both the Senate and the White House. McConnell will do whatever he can. He is smart enough to know that the GOP's maintaining its absurd falsity and Trump sycophancy is a losing proposition.
In January, Trump may find himself marooned on an island of his own making. He can howl and bully all he wants, but it may be viewed by most as the ravings of a mad political impotent.
1
@M.i. Estner: Money transmits power through the whole economic system.
I don't understand how Trump can be allowed to keep decimating the country in so many ways. All of us who have careers, know that if we performed as he does in our chosen field, we would have been fired and shunned long ago. I find it frightening that no one and nothing seems to be able to stop his irrational, and yes, insane, behavior. Mr. Krugman, please keep writing about this evil man.
2
Current information on the Iran nuclear deal indicate that they are complying with the treaty as agreed by several nations including our allies in Europe. Intel on the North Korea deal made by Trump and Kim indicate North Korea is not doing much to disarm in fact adding to their nuclear arsenal. It seems Obama made a better realistic deal as our showman tv president made a spectacle in Singapore with poor results as Kim as played his lover Trump for the buffoon he is. Trump attacks victims of a disaster in California because they vote blue. Trump has not accepted his role as president and attacks the free press as the enemy of the people shows his desire to be our first dictator. The democratic House will soon wake up Trump to the fact he is not accepted as such and his lackey Attorney General and complicit terrified GOP congressmen will not protect him from Mueller report. January will reveal what a corrupt incompetent and nasty TV president we have and 2020 could be his Waterloo.
@REBCO: Trump's character judgment is warped. The Iranian public doesn't wasn't to have to invest in nuclear weapons. The North Korean public is three generations culled for and steeped in the militaristic megalomania of the Kim dynasty.
1
Thank you for this column.
Another point: notice how Trump slumped in his chair in France. He knew he was outclassed by Macron and behaved like the kid who goes to class unprepared and is afraid to be called on.
Then he came back to the US and lashed out on Twitter. He is too cowardly to say these things directly to people.
1
as far as I can tell this is typical American CEO behavior. You know, where you have to wash the boss's car or fetch her dry cleaning to keep your job.
The Republicans and Trump only get away with it because it's what their supporters want. They know exactly who and what they are voting for and when Trump is gone those citizens will still be around and still be voting and still be supporting a mean and bigoted and dishonest world view.
All the noise about election fraud may have some roots. I remember in 2000 after Scalia ordered the Florida recounts to end and, in effect, caused Bush to win Florida and the Presidency, Gore had still an option to appeal to the full court. He did not and no one understood the reason. It was postulated that Gore understood that a prolonged fight, which he probably would lose, would be bad for the nation. I suspected then that Gore was informed of an inconvenient truth that most political operatives understand, which is that many elections are not on the level. However, the worst thing that could happen to America would be for the voting public to lose faith in the electoral system. And that is why Gore backed off.
Now we have Trump whose behavior has given many pause to wonder whether he does support democracy or the Constitution or whether he is trying to become a despot in the manner of his seeming idols like Putin, etc. Irrespective of whether elections are on the level, he does want people to lose faith in the system.
It seems all part of his determination to effect a distrust by Americans of all our institutions. He has decried against, e.g., the CIA, the State Department, the FBI, the Judiciary, the Free Press. To what end is he doing this?
Some have said he looks like a man who is trying to accomplish a bloodless, singular coup. If it walks, talks, and acts like a despot, maybe . . . .
@M.i. Estner: I recall a collection of beefy Republican Congressional aides beating on the doors of Florida vote counting venues in the 2000 vote-counting process.
Truth and virtue in the age of Trump is like drops of rain on a warm California day in November. Nothing there, unfortunately. And the fires rage on.
1
Since the Republican Party has switched from a policy of neoliberal free trade economic policies to encouraging protectionism, I've been looking into the history of protectionism and the use of tariffs and quotas. I keep coming across the phrase "import substitution industrialization." While I have a general idea of the effects of ISI policies, I don't see a good way to apply them to the United States today. Is there a way the US could benefit from these policies today? When do nations stop benefiting from ISI policies?
Virtue is an interesting concept; few us have it today, yesterday, or tomorrow. For those of us you are virtuous, or at least aspire to it, we look to our leaders for inspiration. Trump inspires. Thank you.
@Southern Boy Meaning, as an example of how NOT to be virtuous?
2
It might be useful for you to recall that inspiration isn’t the only thing in the world, that the Right still endlessly screams against Obama’s being inspirational for many, and that anyway, it shouldn’t be necessary to remind somebody who wears the South on their sleeve that it is not to worldly leaders to whom Christians should turn for inspiration.
Especially not when they’re born-rich greedheads with a long, long history of crummy personal behavior, a propensity for telling astonishing whoppers, and a disdain for the Constitution.
You’re welcome.
4
@Southern Boy: Where does one learn the virtues of con-artistry?
2
It is hard to add to Krugman,s clarity of thought and analysis.Still I will try.Finally the midterm elections are over and by and large men and women patriotic and thoughtful made a difference and affirmed democratic institutions under assault.However, the loss of some thoughtful candidates to forces of ignorance misinformation and fanaticism was distressing.Witness the loss of Clair McCaskills voice or those of others Corker Flake etc.The exercise almost daily of the president during the campaign was one of incitement misinformation and lies.It may have served him in Missouri Indiana or Florida but resulted in a majority of Americans rejecting him and his policies.
I look with anticipation and satisfaction to the coming congress and the check and balance it will provide.
2
I hope that the Democrats who have taken the house pause and consider their processes for ruling with justice, fairness, and bipartisanship. The Democrats must set an example of how a good governing body works, or all the efforts of millions of voters will be in vain.
2
@Shayladane
They've already done this for more than a decade now, so there's no reason to fear that all of a sudden they'll start using fake news and lies and cheating too.
What is needed now to stop the GOP disaster is for CITIZENS to wake up and go voting.
The GOP has been refusing to respect a democratic way of governing for years already, whereas the Democrats have constantly responded in a purely democratic way. Each time we imagine that the Democrats now still have to do this or that before we'll vote for them, is a moment where democracy loses and the corrupt GOP gets an ever bigger grip on this country and its institutions.
No more excuses, VOTE!
3
@Ana Luisa I voted, of course! I just don't want any hotheads to give us more of the same. I am a proud Democrat!
I see some hope in this column. They say that one should never waste a good crisis, and perhaps the crisis of Trump is no different. As this column points out, Trump did not single-handedly create the current environment, but he has done a smashing job of bringing it out into the open. As we saw in the elections, there is already a significant swing back, not just to Democrats, but to democracy itself and to respect for fundamental American values.
Mark Sanford’s column today is an interesting contrast. He faults his rival in the primaries for blaming him for the Republican party’s loss in South Carolina, but then he himself goes on to essentially blame Trump. He encourages the GOP to look within itself, expecting to find some benevolent roots. I hope that he reads and understands this column to see the true arc of the Republican Party, not the one that he wishes for.
Mr. Krugman - please continue to highlight these issue, and where there is cause for optimism about the future, highlight that as well.
1
Dr. Krugman is right to identify the GOP denial of global warming as a massive problem. In effect, the Republican Party is holding the US hostage as it recklessly steers our national economy down a dead-end fossil fueled road for a few more years of carbon-based profits. Meanwhile, our economic competitors around the world are beginning to accelerate toward the zero-emissions future we all need to reach sooner rather than later.
Realistically, our government should be doing far more to support wind and solar power, and it should be far more actively involved in helping our transportation sector in its efforts to develop electric and hydrogen-based power.
Lastly, while it is extremely controversial and would be complicated and expensive, I think that the US government should take the lead and begin building the first commercial-scale Generation IV nuclear plants based on reactor designs that, while orders of magnitude safer than existing plants, are capable of generating commercial quantities of hydrogen even while using high-level radioactive waste from old nuclear plants as fuel. The 25 billion Trump wants to spend on his wall would make a good down-payment for all of this.
1
Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with a Trump supporter here at the NYT (comment section on the article discussing whether the media should boycott Trump's press conferences in response to Trump's decision concerning Acosta or not).
If I remember well, his name was "Aristotle Gluteus Maximus".
He wrote that Trump was right to attack Ryan April rather than to try to answer her question, because her question "imposed" a certain definition of "nationalism" onto a sitting US president, whereas HE is the president, so he gets to decide what "nationalism" means.
What the GOP is doing here is de facto teaching its voters to completely change the way they think about presidential press conferences.
In a democracy, the media's job is (among other things) to ask critical questions, in other words to explicitly criticize ideas or actions taken by the president and his party, so that a real political debate WITH those who govern can take place.
The GOP however now taught its voters that respecting the presidency, as a reporter, means doing the exact opposite: avoiding any question that criticizes the president, and only asking questions that he himself likes to answer because those answers will help increase his "ratings" or popularity.
Trump himself just told CNN that they are not allowed to criticize the president BECAUSE their ratings would be low (a lie).
So yes, the GOP is now actively undermining the democratic character of the way the country is governed.
11
@Ana Luisa
I have often mused aloud (as as many others) what would happen if the main stream media (the ones doing actual journalism, other than the parrot talking heads pushing the propaganda) just walked out ?
I guess the question then is whether if a lie is told, can it be heard without an audience? ( It would ultimately be by those that would seek out that lie and disregard its implication, but just rah rah out of tribe)
However, I believe that those that casually tune in, or those that sit on the fence (unbelievable that it may seem) would not be persuaded in the aftermath.
Of course, there are multiple ways at looking at it, and many would counter that we need the press to rise up, counter and just pose the question more loudly.
I guess I am old school - just vote them out.
2
@FunkyIrishman
One of the main reasons why freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution of any democracy is precisely because in order to obtain a thriving society, you need a government that takes fact-based decisions. You can win elections through lies, but you can't improve things when your policies themselves are based on lies.
One of the fundamental tasks of the media is to constantly question the government's claims and statements.
To imagine that when a government lies on a daily basis, the media better give up and look away is naive, imho. Fox News won't stop spreading its lies so people will end up learning them anyhow, it's just that in this case those who are paid to do fact-checking won't be doing their job anymore. So it would mean giving only more power to liars and cheaters.
And yes, I fully agree that the only really democratic solution is to vote them out.
But that won't happen as long as the media don't take another crucial task seriously: informing people of HOW real, lasting, non-violent progress is made in a democracy. Which means showing why compromising with those who disagree, in Congress, is a GOOD thing, and crucial in any democracy. It means celebrating each and every step forward into the direction of our ideals, rather than focusing merely on the distance between what was just accomplished and those ideals and then wonder what effect this distance will have on that politician's career etc.
We need ALL citizens to vote ...
2
Recently I watched a CBS News interview with a team member of Rick Scott’s. This spokesperson said there was widespread voter shenanigans on the part of the Democrats.....and the reporter left it at that! No inquiry of evidence, no follow up questions supporting the basis of these allegations, nothing. So the viewing public, in their harried runaround world of trying to keep up, only sees these small tidbits of information. Many of them walk away with a false sense of reality. Republicans leveling unsubstantiated claims is nothing new. What needs to change is how the neutral press handles it. Now that is Fake News via soft reporting.
13
Trump is a direct and present danger to our democracy. Republican Leaders in the House and Senate are aiding and abetting in this crime.
Citizens who voted for Trump and/or his Republican enablers are complicit in our downfall.
3
@Jordan
Republicans aren't merely "enablers".
They invented these anti-truth techniques and fake news propaganda long before Trump even became a candidate.
People have to understand that the only reason why the GOP nominated Trump as its presidential candidate is because it was ALREADY rotten to the core, and that the only reason why so many conservatives votes for Republicans anyhow is because for more than a decade already, Fox News had built a completely "alternative facts" universe, where Obama was a muslim hating America and together with the Democratic party actively destroying it out of pure hatred. Obamacare, which saves an additional HALF A MILLION American lives (many of them being white males) a decade, was told to be "Armageddon", the Iran deal that stopped Iran's nuclear weapons industry for a decade was told to be enabling Iran to build nuclear weapons, the Paris Climate Agreement was told to be very bad for the US, etc.
All that Trump did was copy-pasting Fox News lines, and that's it. After a decade of indoctrination, it gave the FN audience the impression that he really "gets it", and that's why they voted for him. He would have been nowhere today if it weren't for Fox News and the constant lying of most GOP elected officials for more than a decade already.
This isn't about Trump alone, the situation is FAR FAR worse. And that's why it's a real threat to our democracy.
1
We can blame Trump for his authoritarian impulses and the GOP for their complicity and naked pursue of power. What alarms me is that there is a desire for a sizable portion of the country willing and ready to accept authoritarian rule.
The big question is why so many of our fellow citizens feel that living under a dictator in a police state is preferable to a democratic republic?
8
@Clem Samuels
That answer might be found in Trump's recent proudly stated declaration that he is a "nationalist".
Clearly by wrapping his bigotry and racism in the American flag, while touting how great he has made the economy and the danger of immigrant hordes appeals to many who don't recognize the danger he poses to our Democracy.
At least, that's the way I see it.
4
@Clem Samuels
Authoritarianism is why. Authoritarians are not all heads of state, or even necessarily in charge of anything. Most are followers. Few actually become leaders.
Those that are followers of Trump and GOP ARE authoritarians. Make no mistake.
2
@Clem Samuels Every time a Democrat has complained that our democracy is under attack by these forces of lies and minority rule, a Republican chimes in that this isn't a democracy but a "democratic republic." Now, it turns out that they aren't in favor of that either.
Let’s review history. In the 2016 Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton won the Popular Vote. Trump won the Presidency because he acquired a larger number of Electoral Votes. He achieved this goal through gerrymandering, widespread racism and misogyny that somehow inspired a number of Republican Voters to vote against their own best interests. Too many American Citizens relied on Facebook and Twitter for information throughout the election. Social Media in its current state has little to do with responsible journalism. In addition, Vladimir Putin and his henchmen, along with the Saudi’s and many greedy oil oligarchs likely interfered in the 2016 election.
Trump is NOT a Leader. He is a Narcissistic Bully who throughout his life has been able to lie, cheat, bully and buy almost anything and everything his heart or insatiable ego desires. The challenges this country and the world face are complex. Climate Change is real. Wake up America. Look in the mirror. We must all get to work and change our ways. If we don’t, the results will be disastrous for this country, our fellow world citizens and the planet and ecosystems that support our survival as a species. We have the capability to transform the travesty that is currently unfolding. Going forward… we… all of us… Democrats, Republicans and Independent must disempower the Trumps of the world. We must do this for our children and coming generations.
8
We must stop ducking out on our own silly squabbling and refusals to actually show up and vote, actually.
The gerrymandering would not have mattered if we had. Stop pretending.
I've been going crazy for the past two years trying to figure out who are these Trump supporters, and how can they keep saying that 2 + 2 is 5, when it's obviously 4?
You have now given me an answer that I think will bring me some measure of peace.
"Trump and his allies don’t accept the very notion of objective facts. “Fake news” doesn’t mean actual false reporting; it means any report that hurts Trump, no matter how solidly verified."
Brilliant! Thank you!
5
"You have to be truly delusional to see the Republicans’ response to their party’s midterm setback as anything but an attempted power grab by a would-be authoritarian movement, which rejects any opposition or even criticism as illegitimate. Our democracy is still very much in danger."
Yup. "Truly delusional" is a pretty good description of the Trumpublican base...their voters. Watching Fox fake news and listening to Limbaugh and reading Breitbart or Drudge...fact free zones. I've said over and over in my comments to the NY Times that republicans hate the truth. Now, to be fair, they only hate the truth when it's disadvantageous to them. When it's to their advantage, they are "okay" with the truth.
That said, one fact is certainly also true, Republicans hate democracy. So yeah, they don't want every vote counted. They only want their votes counted. They only want their voters allowed to vote. As long as republicans feel that way and make up a sizeable minority in this country, democracy here really is in trouble. We will have to fight them tooth and nail every step of the way to defend truth, justice, and democracy.
The mid-terms were one battle, although a large one, in the war. And yes, we are at war. People who believe in truth and democracy allied against those who don't.
I voted against all republicans in the last Tuesday. I hope you did also. Until the deplorables change their ways...I plan to vote against them over and over again.
6
Given the current levels of hysteria surrounding this administration, I’m already dreading 2020. I dont even want to imagine the kind of wild untruths that will e trotted out, and anyone running against Trrump and the GOP will be blood-soaked within a week. Is there a way that any candidate can go head to head with this man and start to restore any truth or dignity to this country? For the first time in 60 years, I’m honestlybafraid. Of what the government of my country will do to make my life harder.
4
Of course Trump and the republicans will claim your assertion that they lie is a lie.
5
Today's scorched-earth, no-compromise, prevarication-predicated politics started with Newt Gingrich, carried over with George W. Bush and his fact-free fandango in Iraq, was picked up with relish by the Tea Party, and has emerged with a full-throated roar in Trump and the present GOP.
Hopefully, two years of a Democratic House of Representatives will convince a vast majority of Americans that truth still matters, and the GOP will, after 2020, dissolve into two parties, one representing Trumpian liars and another representing fact-based conservatives. Our country needs at least two legitimate political parties, but legitimacy should depend on the ability both to understand what constitutes a fact and to reject lies.
2
@Bill
I think most Americans agree that truth still matters, so that's not the problem here.
GOP voters accept that their politicians are lying for one reason only: Fox News has told them that Democrats and Obama have been doing this for eight long years and continu to do so on a daily basis. Once you believe this kind of stuff, you start imagining that unfortunately, DC has become so corrupt that the only thing you can still hope for is that at least your own side will come up with the best lies, so that it continues to win elections.
The other 65% of the country clearly care a lot about truth too. The problem here, however, is political ignorance: people imagine that if radical legislative change doesn't happen overnight but rather gradually, election after election, then it must be that the people they elected and who told us that they wanted the radical change we want too, actually were totally dishonest and corrupt. In that case, why still go voting ... ?
The only way to obtain a REAL democracy, with a REAL majority of the American people controlling DC, is for politicians and especially the media to finally start focusing on this second problem too, rather than merely sticking to the first and systematically debunk GOP lies.
In Fox News era, the media urgently need to come up with a new framework for all of their articles: instead of focusing on what a statement/vote means for a politicians' career, focus on what it means for the American people!
3
We can expect to see previously awarded Metals of Freedom listed on eBay and Facebook Want Ads now that their value has tanked.
2
"You have to be truly delusional to see the Republicans’ response to their party’s midterm setback as anything but an attempted power grab by a would-be authoritarian movement, "
Krugman is upset the Republican Party didn't raise the white flag over the mid-terms - hence, they are would-be dictators.
He cannot fathom how anyone can see things differently and he has shown this time and time again.
Folks complaining about their health insurance costs going up under Obama Care - they're liars.
Folks in certain urban areas complaining that the rates of violent crimes are on the rise - FBI stats say the overall crime rates are going down hence they're liars (and Krugman apparently doesn't get the concept of non-stationary statistics).
Someone complains they were the victims of criminal actions by illegal immigrants - hey, you'd probably have been a victim anyway regardless of legal or illegal and anyway they're racist!
The pattern will repeat itself. Let's keep track.
Where is trump and the California fires? Oh yeah, Democratic governor. They’re on their own.
Well said Doctor Krugman. My only picky point is that “some Republicans” should replace the blanket “Republicans” whenlisting their goofy proclamations. BTW. Enough with handing out medals unless they are intended to recognize uncommon valor. Writing checks doesn’t meet that test. Being an entertaining sports figure doesn’t meet that test.
2
Truth is not a virtue in the Age of Trump.
2
Fake, faux, false, falsehoods, lies, prevarication, fabrication whatever word you wish to use, anything but the truth is uttered by Trump. To Trump the truth is whatever he says it is. He doesn't know what the truth is, has no passing acquaintance with it. It does not matter to this nefarious man who has no moral compass whatsoever. He lies, and then lies about the lies he told. You cannot keep up with it. The Republicans who lost their souls to power a long time ago, found the perfect leader in Trump.
He has the perfect authoritarian appeal to those wishing to impose their views on others. He found support amongst the white nationalists, the racists, the misogynists, the xenophobes, and the sacrilegious evangelicals looking to outlaw abortion, and gay marriage. Republicans have embraced them all.
It is no surprise that a Party which has used gerrymandering and voter suppression and used whatever means they deemed necessary to maintain power has no problem with lying, cheating, or (in my opinion) Russian interference in elections as long as they stay in power.
They now have the courts in their pocket - all the way from the lowest to the highest, and that ( IMHO) poses the greatest danger to this democracy. With the Senate still in their control, they will be appointing all the judges, which will affect this country far into the future. While I am glad we took the House, we still have very little real power, I hope it is used wisely.
3
Been thinking about the future DJTrump Presidential Library. It will be the only library in the nation with no books.
I’m sure it will be at Mar a Lago.
May construction start soon!
3
May it be destroyed by Global Warming. The perfect irony.
1
The U. S. has allowed intentional criminal behaviour by financial and political leaders for several decades. It has now become a kleptocracy with no morals, soon to probably be a major war.
Where to start: Nixon working with a foreign power to take the Presidency, Reagan/Bush 1 and Iran/Contra, Cheney/Bush the Lessor and Iraq, the 2008 Financial crisis. No one went to prison. No holds barred.
The U. S. has no moral standing in this world. You can’t even hold your own accountable, you send your greed and war in service to your corporatism while surrendering your humanity. For a buck!
Pox on your house until you sober up!
2
What does Trump have on Mitch McConnell?
1
So apparently President Obama handed this award out more than 100 times, including many of the Hollywood Elite. Maya Angelou is understandable, but Streep and De Niro? Come on man!
Mrs. Adelson is and has been a very big supporter of Israel, where she was born.
@hawk The award is meant to recognize people who have made a "meritorious contribution to . . . cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." You might not like their politics, but you can't deny that Streep and De Niro meet that standard.
3
@hawk
While being a supporter of Israel is very admirable, it hardly ranks in the Parthenon of American culture like the contributions of Maya Angelou, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro.
Another thing.
President Obama never handed out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to someone just because they made a contribution to his campaign.
2
The only truth and virtue in the Age of Trump is the Almighty Dollar (aka "In God We Trust").
1
Empathy is one of the most powerful human emotions. Trump's supporters stand by their man because they empathize with him.
I agree with the general thrust of this column, but I feel I have to address the starting point.
I am definitely surprised by Miriam Adelson getting a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Given the checks that the Adelsons have written to the Republicans, and many of their policy positions, I am not happy about it.
However... I can't deny that the Adelsons have been major charitable donors here and there, and their donations have directly impacted my family. Some years back, they gave a $2m charitable donation to Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, a Boston-area organization devoted to providing a proper Jewish education to non-normative children who either need assistance in a mainstream setting or need their religious education in a substantially separate environment.
I have two children who have taken part in Gateways education, and my wife works for the organization. In a very real sense, their donation has made a positive difference for my family. I do not know the current status of their giving to Gateways, but they have before.
I don't approve of their political donations, and I am not OK with most of their political priorities, but I cannot deny that they have made charitable donations that have made a difference.
1
Just as the guillotine is named for Guillotin and "mesmerizing" is named for Mesmer, it seems plausible that the future word for "lying" will be Trumping and that a lie will be called a trump, as in "Don't trump to me, son."
4
When Trump mouthpiece Rudy Giuliani said, with a straight face, that 'truth isn't truth,' it was a marker of how far down the rabbit hole we are.
1
Truth, virtue, Trump? All in the same sentence? How?
3
All free thinking patriots and foreigners who want America to be well again please boycott all of the adelsohns casinos. The world over. If every dem who travels to Vegas stays away that alone will make a huge difference.
5
The danger has not passed. Only a third of the job is done with democrats taking over the house. the senate and white house remain. only when trumpism is roundly rejected in all 50 states, and republicans are rooted out of places like orange county in california, can we declare democracy and free speech in america to be safe. the current trump threat is the biggest since the mccarthyism of the 50s. the white supremacists are celebrating their racist leader trump saying 'i am a nationalist', and implying that anti-semitic racists carrying torches in charlottesville are 'fine people'. trump and they just want to keep brown people out so they don't 'take over whites'. when trump says 'i am not a racist', the white nationalists don't believe him either. they think he 'just says it for practical reasons'. when trump visited california in 2016 he called protesters 'thugs from across the border' and went on to say 'we should allow in more europeans'. he demonized brown people through his entire mid-term campaign. the white supremacists, and trump, want the wall built, and the daca kids deported, because they are brown.
3
"Ev'rywhere I hear the sound
Of marching charging feet, boy
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For fighting in the street, boy."
Miriam Adelson should not accept this award. It is meaningless like Trump’s Purple Heart someone gave him. Or his wife’s Genius visa. This has to stop.
1
The truth is that 63 million of my fellow Americans including 58% of the white American majority voted for Trump knowing precisely who he was regarding corruption, cowardice, cruelty, fabrication, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia and immorality. Trump is more akin to a pimple or pustule or boil or blister. Trump is a symptom of the real America. Trump is not the cause.
6
Of all the women in this nation, the only one making the Medal of Freedom list was Republican mega-donor Miriam Adelson. Hard to guess the reason: https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topindivs.php .
There has, to no one's surprise, never been gender equity in the award, but Trump appears on track to hit a modern low: https://www.bustle.com/articles/196645-how-many-women-have-won-the-presidential-medal-of-freedom-obama-celebrates-them-with-the-honor .
1
You forgot about George Tenet receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom for falling on his sword and taking the blame for 9/11 away from George Bush.
Is Miriam Adelson the philanthropist behind Trump's move to cut all humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and to apply maximum pressure on Iran which may lead to WWIII?
1
One can see America becoming that glowing symbol of the "state Lie" North Korea.
When all truth must serve dear leader, you have North Korea.
When all opposition to the dear leader is fake news, you have North Korea.
When children are removed from their parents to serve the state, you have North Korea.
When the answer to the failure of the state to reduce gun deaths is a chant on more guns, you have North Korea.
When the leadership of the state questions counting every vote, you have North Korea.
When you have several media outlets that serve only the interests of the "only party of truth", you have North Korea.
America is now in the grip of an existential danger, a cabal who wish to overthrow the Constitution and the rule of law, by appointing unvetted persons to high judicial posts, blocking the lawful president from filling a SCOTUS seat, pushing an unfit candidate through the process despite his lies, you know you have North Korea.
America is truly a caravan traveling across the strange land, it is either heading towards a shining city or North Korea.
4
Doesn't he have a different tie?
1
Last week my aunt died. The last of mother’s sisters who were 1920’s born. My brother and I were assigned as pallbearers. The funeral was on November 6th, election day. (We both had voted early)
I drove from Houston, he from Nashville. We met in Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas the land of our birth. Luckily, for he and I, our father moved the family to Houston in 1956.
All our relatives and their friends in this border town are devout Trumpkins. As we stood outside the funeral home waiting for the casket to be moved to the hearse, the banter between the other pallbearers was telling. I’m certain that the natives knew that brother and I were democrats.
I love my relatives but can’t figure how they can be so blind to what is happening in our country with king cracker in the White House. It seems that their minds are made-up and can’t be bothered by the facts.
I don’t know how we can ever turn their gaze from supporting racism, hatred and bigotry. This will be a very long and continuing fight to save this country from fascism. We may never be able to save these lost lambs and bring them back into the fold of humanity and reason.
Our country is full of these lost lambs. I’m just so grateful that Dad moved us to Houston. I can’t image what might have become of us had he not.
Thanks Dad. If you were still alive, I’d hug you. You moved us from the dark and into the light. What a blessing you gave us.
10
@Neil I disagree that they're "lost lambs." They're dangerous, and they're dumb. Trying to think of an animal, a predator, that nasty and dumb, but I can't come up with one.
The disease is metastasizing. The Christian Journal.net (CJN) purports that Kissinger thinks that Trump is a true hero. Snopes says that that's false, that the report is a fake. Then CJN claims that Snopes is on Soros' payroll.
Trumpster Roger Stone ("deny, deny!") boasts that he played his first political trick when he was six: he was for JFK and went to school claiming that Nixon would make kids go to school on Saturday.
George Lakoff of Berkeley has Trump figured out: Trump 'frames' everything so that his opponents have to squirm in his frame ('crooked Hillary', etc). The media must re-frame: first spread the truth, then show Trump lying, and then state the truth, in a so-called "truth sandwich".
2
This is all part and parcel of the GOP's rejection of the "Reality based community" and Karl Rove's "...we create reality now" ethos of the American right wing. Anyone who questions them, criticizes them, etc., is a traitor, and American hater. Remember in the leadup to the Iraq war and all of Bush's lies and the Republicans party's thuggery to get there, the implied promise that, anyone who didn't vote to give Bush that authority would be clobbered in their next election, that anyone who didn't go along with it "hates America", "Hates the troops", "Loves the terrorists", "Didn't 'get' 9/11" (despite Iraq having nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11)...The GOP has operated this way for decades now, including the hypocritical harassment of Pres. Clinton in their attempt to undo his legal election by any means possible. And yet, we know now that those who opposed the Iraq war and who were calling Bush out for his lying, were right. And how many lost their lives to that disaster because the country capitulated to the GOP's playbook? It is happening again under Trump, only this time we are losing our soul and it is being replaced by Trump's corroded, rotten, decomposed stink of a soul, but by the same means, namely boogey-man lying fear tactics. I wish their base wold wake up to the fact that they do that for one reason: THEY think their base is so stupid they'll buy it.
3
“He’s not a war hero. … I like people who weren’t captured.” John McCain may be the last of a long line of heroes for a while. I hope others emerge.
Old, rich, white men are on their way out. They were never that great. Money is greatly coveted and has great power. Women and other minorities are taking over. They are winning!!!
What does he mean anyway... ? Is everyone who goes to war a hero? How does one avoid capture?
Trump is such a bully, but I cannot fathom he has not encountered a bigger bully to challenge. Life, typically, seeks out such a challenge. "A man reaps what he sows".
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
1
Propaganda, outrageous behaviour, lies and ultra nationalism has been seen before, in 1930's Germany. It did not end well for them.
3
A lie is still a lie even in an administration that is headed by a pathological liar . Truth and virtue requires us not to see the nefarious and insidious behavior of Donald Trump as “the new normal”. There is nothing normal about it and there is nothing acceptable about Donald Trump’s behavior now or ever .
Truth and virtue requires us to recognize that a fraud is still a fraud regardless of the avalanche of lies that Donald Trump purveys .
2
Trump failed to honor WW1 veterans. A commander who cannot respect the soldiers under his command is a disgrace and embarrassment.
Revoke his citizenship, and deport him back to the country of his immigrant mother, Scotland.
1
Those who died in the horrid war because of the the stupidity of politicians much like Trump himself had a lot more to suffer than getting their hair wet. They now lie in graves that must be honored not only for the giving of their lives, but in remembrance that we can not let stupid politicians do anything like it again. Trump can not honor these fallen and has no idea of their sacrifice. How can he think that he can represent our country if he can not even show up among the leaders of the world for something that occurs only once in a century, this anniversary of the fallen?
Today's NYT contains an article on Fake News as an incarnation of Disinformation, a long-time KGB tactic. Trump's war on truth is a sobering reminder of how people are misled and deceived.
1
Yes, the only danger of reacting to his daily 'crazy', is that we become callous to the outrage. But what is the alternative?
Keeping our mouth shut and our pens inactive is surrender. Sadly, his daily bout with bombastic vilification must be at the very least called out. As much as I loathe this comparison, it was inaction/restraint that allowed Hitler to continue.
Obama had a supreme court vacancy stolen by ALL (including McCain, Flake, Corker) republicans. McConnell is as disgusting as Trump, and possibly as beholden to Russian lucre as Trump. Truth is factual, thus republicans avoid the truth.
1
Modern Republicans are "true believers". True believers are a dangerous lot. They process information differently. Fact and reason do not matter. Everything that represents a threat to their ideology must be stopped at all costs. It is a warlike mentality that non-Republicans don't possess, for the most part. Since their ideology is the highest calling for them, they have no moral qualms about dishonesty, violence, bigotry, etc., so as long as it is done in the name of preservation of their worldview.
Non-Republicans cannot fight this head on, since they are not motivated by an equal ideological force. While a few are aware of these fundamental differences in approach, most of country is ignorant of these differences that live below the political facade. These are the true differences between conservatives and everyone else, at a fundamental personality level. Authoritarianism is at the political right's core. It cannot be corrected for. It is mostly biological.
The public must be educated on identifying the roots of authoritarianism if our democracy is going to have a fighting chance.
3
Also on the Medal of Freedom list is Alan Page, former NFL defensive lineman and, more recently and importantly, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice. While Mr. Page is eminently qualified for this honor, I would suggest that he refuse to attend as long as the current occupant is in charge and, in particular, as long as Ms. Adelson is also on the honoree list. The inclusion of Ms. Adelson is absolutely a reward for her (and her husband's) donations to the RepubliCONs. This diminishes the award to something approaching a bribe. Yes, ambassadorships have been handed out for some time as a reward for donations, but those have to go through at least some semblance of review and are not for life. To maintain the integrity of this award, I would ask all those who are honorees this year to refuse to attend until his disrespectfulness is no longer the occupant.
3
If Mrs Adelson had one iota of integrity, she would thank the president and decline the medal.
p.
1
"Trump’s decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Miriam Adelson, wife of casino owner and Trump megadonor Sheldon Adelson."
Purely pay-to-play. "Follow the money" is the best advice where the current GOP is concerned. I hope Mueller took it.
1
I’ll give Trump credit for one thing.
He’s moved the GOP beyond its traditional dog whistle to outright open racism.
Trump has destroyed the GOP in the suburbs. The GOP is now a rural party where ignorance and racism are worn as badges of honor.
6
With Big Brother Trump's seizure of what is now the Ministry of Truth (formerly the Department of Justice or DOJ), we will soon know the meaning of "Freedom is Slavery." In the new alt-right white nationalist reality "Truth is Fake" as in "Fake News" and "Virtue is Vice" as in having the Minister of Truth, Matthew Whitaker, investigated by the F.B.I. for his active participation promoting a company that fleeced consumers. And, of course, he will end the "witch hunt" by Robert Mueller and even "Lock him up," prosecute and muzzle journalists, and allow immigrants to be incarcerated and separated from their children. Meanwhile Big Brother will award The Medal of Freedom to those armed patriots rushing to protect the border from a disease carrying caravan of criminals, those who attack "enemy of the people" journalists, and the brave men who challenge women who dare accuse them of sexual assault. In the new "Age of Trump" we will know that "Ignorance is Strength" and "Heroes and Criminals."
1
Krugman peddling religion again. In a god-less world, Paul, everything is relative to the self-identifier, one man's fact is another man's fiction, and as a person can be a thief one day and a do-gooder the next, is it still the same person? Still, for many who witnessed the conflagration in epistemology in the last half century, Krugman's attempt to back-paddle is akin to an arsonist crying for a fire extinguisher. The Right is playing chicken with the Left here. You want to play the game of nihilism? Ok, let's destroy even the ground we're standing on. The Right is, of course, being cynical here--they can always retreat to the safe harbor of revealed truth. The Left burned those bridges long ago, and is now in the grips of crippling existential Angst, trying to prop up a collapsing world, while the Right kicks at the remaining timbers to bring the whole house down. The only facts are political useful facts. Politics is might and might is right. Truths, as Darwin taught us, are means to survival. The camouflage of Nature is not a lie. Nonetheless, medieval theologian must be laughing in their graves to see Darwinists resurrect their categories. Just so you know, Paul, ontology is on the next rung after semantics.
I believe that the Adelsons are the reason for the Republican tax overhaul last year. Giving them more enabled more campaign contributions. Maybe after getting her medal she can book a stay at a Trump hotel and then Trump can put Sheldon on the cabinet.
1
I am thankful President Macron undressed Trump for using the word nationalism in front of the world. Macron was diplomatic contrasting it with patriotism for we all know Trump is not an American Patriot but a thinly disquised white nationalist.
The disrespect shown by Trump and Putin by not walking along with every other foreign leader while the bells tolled, arriving late and making a point of greeting each other warmly was an affront to the US Allies but more importantly to the American people and sacrifices made by all wars.
Trump held never ending rallies or revivals like Elmer Gantry pre Midterms rain or shine rather than conduct responsibilities of a President. It comes as no surprise his total disinterest in commemorating soldiers who fell 100 years ago in Paris weekend because they can't vote. His failure to participate in peace talks this week is also no surprise, it is not related to financial gain for those who benefit from wars.
The Republican Party claims to be the party of Lincoln they ignore his philosophy....with malice towards none and Charity for all. Pox on all Republicans
4
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
Plus ca change.
The slippery slop towards totalitarianism in US politics is an echo from early 20th century European politics. And that didn't end well for millions upon millions.
1
1984 and nothing but doublespeak from the “Leader” , Orwell would be gratified.
1
We have entered a realm of government by Twilight Zone, where the alternate reality of Donald Trump is being force fed to gullible Republicans, who are hungrily lapping it up because they care only about their power. What’s real is being labeled as fake, and what’s fake is being treated as real.
Meanwhile, on the world stage and in America’s homes, an increasing number of people are questioning the president’s sanity, and beginning to manifest Trump Fatigue. He offends so many, so often, that at some point, he will hit your own hot button if he hasn’t done so already, and you will lose faith not only in Trump, but in our system of government.
The world, to paraphrase what Lincoln prophesied in a different time, may little note nor long remember what Trump said here, but it will never forget what he did here. We won’t be able to, because the damage will continue long after he is gone, having reached every doorstep in every town and city in America.
2
Under DJT, anything and everything under the aegis of the executive is for sale, preferably having the proceeds personally going to the trump...
Excellent, especially being explicit about clinical insanity. This is what pathological narcissism looks like and does, complete with paranoia. We have a major mental health issue at work in the Presidency, for which there are Constitutional remedies but they can't work in a hyperpartisan political atmosphere demoralizing the majority party in the Senate. For many of Trump's untruths, "lies" is not technically correct because he believes them—they are what he insanely wants to be true. His elaborate personal cosmetics are the costume he has chosen to reflect his sense of self—like the cliché Napoleon outfits. His posturing for photojournalism is advertising, and Ms. Adelman is a bauble of his delusional grandeur.
1
And the incredible: even the Evangelists are part of this scheme.
I used to be part of the Baptist church: Not anymore, Now I pray to the Lord as Jesus mandated "In y bedroom with the doors closed: no feeble intermediaries"; not "public worship" to be part of those called "believers"... a crowd in need of a leader to direct them to the abysm.
Freedom is a process in life that nobody teaches. To leave a group, be it religion, professional, etc. is "to lose part of their spirit and life" for the immense majority.
4
Perfect photo of Trump staring into the teleprompter. He ALWAYS does that when reading off the teleprompter because he has to say things he can't come up with on his own (and doesn't really believe anyway). Whenever he turns away and looks straight ahead he is ad libbing, like following up phony condolences about Charlottesville violence to then say "There's blame on both sides". For a guy who made his reputation on a TV show, he's terrible at reading a script in front of a camera.
2
Some of us expect to be ignorant yet free; to protect our civilization and society without regard for information, i.e the truth:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was & never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents, there is no safe deport for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information.
Where the press is free and every man able to read all is safe."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Yancey, January 6. 1816.
1
The first step toward removal of this cowardly, whining con man is the last election. But I'm with Krugman. We're in a very, very precarious place now as a nation. This guy has no restraints, and the humiliation he piled on our nation and our veterans in Paris because he's "pouting" tells me that he could well do anything to relieve his anger and anxiety. Going to war? Further harming those little kids and their moms? Or declaring some kind of marshall law under a pretense of security.
2
The teapot dome scandal looks quaint in comparison to the shenanigans of the Trump administration.
@Ross Payne Watergate looks quaint in comparison to forty-five's unending shenanigans.
Trump has been surrounded his entire life by "yes" people who are on his payroll.
They never disagree with him.
They never reveal their embarrassment of him.
They never reveal their disrespect of him.
They never correct his falsehoods.
They will always praise him, no matter what.
Until his checks start to bounce.
1
I just ordered two copies of "Whose Boat Is This Boat?" It was written by Stephen Colbert and his staff. 100% of the proceeds go to hurricane relief funds. Now that is what I call positive, bold, creative service to humanity! Thank you Paul Krugman for your insight and warnings to us to stand up to this person who dares call himself a leader!
That what a dictator craves the most, the ability to shape the reality of his followers.
1
Truly delusional applies to to Don Quixote seeing reality through an myth overlay. King Arthur myth. But it also applies to god story myth--sold and bought as a top three virtue Faith. Thumpies are riding an old marketing scam.
1
This is the fruit that unfettered capitalism bears.
Thank you, Dr. Krugman, for this essential warning. The "both sides" has now even been turned into a verb--when people "bothsides," they render a false equivalency. My rant, again and again: Everything may be traced to this source of the problem with Trump: Top behavioral health specialists' observations (see Dr. Lee's edited book "Dangerous Case of Donald Trump") about Trump's ample behavioral features of a dangerous mental (behavioral) disorder. The personality disorder cluster is "ego syntonic" in that it's ingrained into the disordered person's sense of being, so that person has no awareness or insight into it. The only problem such people complain about is other people having problems with them. For those who are wealthy and/or well-connected, their typical involvement in crime is convicted later (if at all) than those who aren't. Meantime, they are also highly behaviorally toxic people who can wreak havoc upon most anybody close to them, like family members and colleagues, as well as make a mess for people in general. Sound familiar? The most compassionate way of managing their clueless behavior is behavioral quarantine, either through court-ordered psychiatric monitoring or if convicted, through imprisonment (latter nicknamed "jail therapy"). Now we have someone like that having duped and conspired with like-minded people to gain just enough votes for access to the presidency. The sooner he is quarantined, the better--a.s.a.p.!
2
Oh Please, please stop Hillary from running again, I cannot stand her! Her hubris is still active. She now says she will be a hard liberal leftist, new strategy, just to win, not that she would try to serve regular people or anything. Elizabeth Warren, yes, Bernie, yes, yes. Hillary would just keep serving wall street, she still does not get it that because of the Democrats taking legal bribes wages have stagnated and so on. Great she has such ambitions for herself, if only she were a boxer or a movie star or something that did not affect everyday people who she cannot stand. Cold is her heart. A friend of mine has a sister who is a producer for a major news station and the sister is friends with Hillary. My friend is the gentlest and kindest man and never says a bad word about anyone. He got to see Hillary a fair amount and talk to her, He confided to me after the election, that he tried so hard to like her, but he could not, of course he voted for her, but he said she is not warm, or very human, and even if you ask her about her grandchild, she talks like a robot. She does not have a warm bone in her body and has zero charisma. And I never believed she believed a word she was saying. I will truly give up the ship if she tries to run! Yes the Democrats are way better than the zombie GOP but oh not ego driven Hillary!
1
@cheerful dramatist While I seriously doubt HRC "talks like a robot" about her grandchildren, and believe that she does have "a warm bone in her body," I agree that she should stay as far away from the 2020 race as possible. Richard Nixon somehow managed to rebrand himself in order to win in 1968, but fifty years ago we had no 24/7 news, no cell phones, no direct mailers, and few ways to see candidates outside of their campaign rallies. Do. Not. Run. Again.
3
@kathleen cairns Well you are probably right, As long as she stays away I will call her the warmest, kindest, person in the world. I just thought it strange I could hardly listen to her speak because she did not seem to believe what she was saying. And if you could have seen the anguish on my friend's face when he said he could not make himself like her and he goes out of his way to like some of the most difficult people. But he did say that it was her manner that was so distant and cold and I have to admit, he said she probably did care for her grand children but was unable to express it. And let us face it being married to Bill and being a woman in politics must have made it really hard to not hide all emotion.
1
@cheerful dramatist
You worry about Hillary serving Wall Street when this president is the walking definition of corporate greed, nepotism, and moral turpitude?
1
Somehow, in some way, we have got to find our way back to the Fairness Doctrine of the FCC that Reagan 'disappeared' and the rise of cable which gave us FOX. FOX is 100% Republican run propaganda, just as RT is Putin's propaganda arm. We can't find our way out of this mess without stopping the lies that spew 24/7. It's there that our divisions have been cemented into a hard and enveloping philosophy ' "Republicans = Good; Democrats = Very, Very Bad and Un-patriotic.
How do we find our way back to sanity? Get rid of FOX. Somehow. Rupert Murdoch is destroying America for his own desire for more and more wealth.
Giving the Medal of Freedom award to Adelson brought a snort of derision from me. Yeah, we know what it's all about. And it's disgraceful as is almost every thing Trump does. Such as not doing his presidential duties in France - or even at Arlington yesterday. The guy seems terrified of a little rain (his hair might get wet) and will not honor our war dead but hey! That's ok! We love him!
Somehow....somehow, we have got to roundly, soundly defeat every R in 2020. Every. Single. One. We're not out of the woods with these midterms. The next two years will be very dangerous for American democracy.
4
So I agree with your assessment 100%. I think that people like to believe that when they get so called first hand news from someone reportedly " on scene " they are getting the truth. We now know that is not necessarily the truth. It also seems that if a news outlet make a mistake it is doomed forever by some to not be worthy of believing any more. Just like if you are arguing a point and you make a mistake while arguing , even if you correct urself you will loose the argument. These people are predisposed in the back of they're brain not to believe you in the first place and just need an excuse not to believe you. This happened with many things, global warming with scientist in England and vaccine use with autism to name just a few. We are also finding out that the repubs now have a whole entity like the Russians just for disinformation other that fox.
I would like to point to your headline you missed one word that would have been perfect, I think at least " DER " leader would be more appropriate no/yes ?
Truth and Virtue are two words ( among many others ) that "t" does not understand, nor does he care to. They would just get in the way of his constant lying. Every day with his behavior he is trying to lead us down the path of destruction and dictatorship. His supporters must have their heads in the sand. Hopefully they will wake up before it's too late. Just imagine when he isn't re-elected, he will demand the votes be re-counted over and over again......just the opposite of what he's trying to do now.
1
You have to wonder what type of person Ms. Adelson is to accept such a highly undeserved honor. Who actually feels good about something so inappropriate.
Republicans.
2
Trump is much more than a politician with his own definition of facts and truth. He is a criminal. Everything he says and does is intended to consolidate power and maximize the potential for personal financial gain. He has surrounded himself with like minded grifters who are robbing US taxpayers blind, whether it be through tax cuts for themselves, unauthorized "business expenses", or bribes from lobbyists and foreign governments. The Republican Congress is a willing participant in crime, and justifies it all with lies and conspiracy theories. And, all the while, the Republican Base is oblivious to the truth, because they are blinded by ignorance, greed, bigotry, and religious doctrine.
Ignorance is a problem, but only part of the problem.
1
It's funny to me now to realize this, but the Republicans are practicing exactly as Michel Foucault warned us they could. Power can exercise itself over the reality people imagine for themselves. Human primates who are safe and well fed, but scared or stressed, are quite capable of losing site of material reality. As Chomsky has told us for decades, the rich and the powerful can manufacture consent to whatever reality suits their purposes. No wonder the bankers, military contractors, and politicians call Chomsky and Foucault crazy.
Dr. Miriam Adelson, whom I admire for her devoted support of Israel, truly deserves a Medal of Freedom, but it should have been one presented to her by Prime Minister Netanyahu on behalf of the State of Israel.
As to the one just presented to her by President Trump, that should have been awarded to her by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan on behalf of the Republican Party.
Meaning no offense at all to Dr. Adelson, but fair is fair.
1
While the Republican Party at the national level has been a toxic shell hiding toxic people and policies, it is worse under Trump because he lacks the guile and the Party imposes no constraints so long as they can cut taxes and secure special advantages.
But under Trump all the meanness, greed and hypocrisy have morphed into a movement we can truly call Trumpism. Destroying Trumpism must become a central goal of democratic lovers in the United States.
As Cato the Elder ended every speech with the epigram "Cathage must be destroyed," opponents of this scourge manifested in Donald Trump must proclaim over and over, "Trumpism must be destroyed."
You are not kidding; republicans are all out to discredit the facts, and the truth, if inconvenient to their narrow interests; and it includes the continuing assault of power...to abuse it. Although Trump is superlatively 'good' at lying, it came natural to him, 'second nature' as they say, for decades, along with his cheating of course. But since his assault of the presidency, he is just the emboldened voice of the republican party, a white supremacist ideology that supported Trump's hysteric Birtherism with 'gusto'. And now, with Trump's assault on journalists when asking him tough questions, we have reached a new low in politics, "kill the messenger". No morals, no shame, and certainly no scruples. Given the republican cowards are in Trump's back pocket now, it behooves the newly elected democratic House to stop Trump's ravenous tramplings on decency, common sense, and morals.
1
I wonder how former recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom feel about Miriam Adelson being awarded the same award? And I wonder how most Americans feel about having trump occupy the same office as President Obama. I know how I feel - sick to my stomach.
Nobody on the Left will question a word that Krugman writes, nobody on the Right will accept a word he writes, and nothing will change either in the slightest. A rational actor will thus minimize their cost by clicking over to dilbert.com and going to work wearing a rueful smile ... but a smile nonetheless.
1
Political reporting, like modern American politics itself, is merely a form of entertainment. Keep the sheep bleating about emotional hot button topics, and they won't realize they're being fleeced.
The right prefers xenophobia and law & order; the left prefers racism and sexism; either way--just chew toys for the gaspers.
Truth to power is a fantasy; hilarious, but widely shared on all sides.
Good luck America.
@ZOPZK55, If Trump does, he’ll of had a good model to follow: Bill Clinton.
Once you allow for the existence of spectra, even sotto voce and buried deep in your op-ed--"Democrats, being human, sometimes have biased views and engage in motivated reasoning. But they haven’t abandoned the whole notion of objective facts and nonpolitical goodness"--you've lost the political contest.
I think George Soros should sue and his constant persecution and defamation of character by Trump and the GOP will be the basis plus I would prosecute them for putting him directly into the crosshairs of the violent crazies or fringe of Trump supporters. Trump encourages them and should be prosecuted for endangering the life of this man.
Trump is destroying democracy and I still think he is setting us up for 2020 when he won't step down from the presidency even when he loses it. He will call the election process a fraud, despite having to do so for each state but he is whacked out so he will, and then declare martial law and not leave our WH.
Trump terrorizing America and Americans has to stop and with or without the Mueller report he needs to be impeached and removed and we have a laundry list of transgressions that will get this job done.
Carl Rove, in 2004:
The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore." He continued "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
As reported by Suskind, Ron (2004-10-17). Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush. The New York Times Magazine.
Absolutely disgusting that Miriam Adelson would be awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom. Forget for a moment that the Adelson's are megadonors to Trump and the GOP. The fact is that most of their charitable contributions are to Israel. Why should we care what they give to Israel? Why would they be honored in this country for sending money to a another country?
2
President Macron is more American than Trump and the Republicans.
1
Re the Adelson medal miasma - an Australian parallel. Worth a smile.
Back in the day of 2015, newbie Prime Minister,. the radically conservative Tony Abbott, suddenly re-introduced ye olde worlde Knighthoods, starting with a crowning clownship.
From the deepest corridors of Canberra he duly dubbed Queen Elizabeth's long-serving and princely husband as now to be "Sir Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh".
Didn't go down well with everyday Aussies - TA was soon a very ex-PM. Just mention "Sir Prince Phil". and it's eye-rolls and crazy laughter.
The idiocy hangs round his reputation like a rotting doom.
Ditto DT and the Adelson medal for "contribution".
I yearn for the day when we will be free again...of Donald Trump.
When Trump says, “thank you for your service,” he means your service to him, not the military.
1
“Our democracy is very much in danger” opines Mr Krugman. This would come as no surprise to regular readers of the NYT. I would like to hear from Mr Krugman and other NYT columnists and the Editorial Board their proposed action plan to save American democracy. What can be done to terminate the Trump era and restore the soul of America?
Trump’s encounter with Jim Acosta reflects this same kind of thinking.
When Trump demands “respect for the office of the presidency,” he’s insisting others show respect that he himself did not show to President Obama. It’s a “respect for the office” that Trump didn’t practice when he invited the Russians to visit the Oval Office. And it’s a “respect for the office” that contradicts Trump’s constant derision of “political correctness.”
Trump wants “respect” that he has refused to give. He wants “political correctness” that he himself does not practice.
Follow protocol? Respect the office? Just Trump’s way of saying “bow down to The Leader.” Even when The Leader openly mocks your colleagues and responds to truth with lies.
Those who lie and scheme to one up the next guy become embedded in that culture. As pointed out by Mr Krugman this culture is dramatically skewed toward today's Republicans. They behave this way, so Democrats must also lie and cheat. How else could they win anything?
None of this is new. I remember a year before the election, how Trump told an evangelical meeting that Hillary Clinton had no religious life. Fact checkers from the media determined that, in reality, she was highly active in the Methodlst Church. But Trump could still claim that he was telling the truth because evangelicals think Methodists are heretics whose religious activity means nothing.
Most of this flew over the head of the NYTimes, which never understands religious issues.
As for the phony award: I remember seeing a TV movie based on Balzac's COUSIN BETTE, in which a low-ranking government bureaucrat agrees to let a higher official sleep with his wife in exchange for a medal of the Legion of Honor. Using honors as bribes apparently isn't new either.
2
The Miriam Adelson story reminds me of a quote from the movie The Great McGinty. This is a quote from the political boss of the town: "If it were not for graft, you could not attract a better class of person to politics". In this case, Trump takes on the role of The Boss, and graft is his favorite motive for being in politics.
1
So, I guess whenever we have a close election the GOP play is to whine that the election was rigged by the liberals and to try to stop the vote count.
If you want to see ‘asymmetry’ wait for the 2020 trumpie re-election. The voters will show you some asymmetry then...
1
If Miriam Adelson has even a tiny shred of respect for our country and what it is supposed to stand for, she will decline the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
4
@Ken
It's hard to imagine that anyone who supports Donald Trump has a shred of respect for our country.
3
Nothing but a few really cheap shots by mr Krugman here.
Not that this is peculiar of his, you can read across the whole opinion page to see how slim and narrow arguments there are, last 2-3 days ( an article on voting reform was pulled out of front page, down into the list of old articles, only to be highlighted, up in the page, by today 11/12 almost 2 days after being published. That speaks volume of the quality of articles, recently ).
Right into the matter, Krugman objects that Trump and his accolates are denying the truth by calling for fraud in Florida's vote.
That's not truth, for Two reasons.
First since the difference in votes is under 0,5%, the floridian law requires a recount. The floridian law, not Trump.
Second, being the recount just going on, nobody, not Dems, no Republicans, Not Trump know IF the vote result is in favor of Dems or not. If it were, their call for fraud could have some ground, if in favor of Reps, well, they were shooting in their own foot.
The point is that Trump and his supporter aren't denying a truth, because actually there isn't already a truth to comment on ( the count of votes).
So the whole point of mr. Krugman is baseless, the same goes with mrs. Adelson which has been a philantropist as much as the recepients of medal by Obama, and are you serious in saying nobody awarded by Obama was his donor?? What about his VP Biden? Doesn't rise any highbrow, he wa his VP? No conflict of interest there??
Alright, they got the Krugman's pass..
1
@Alex p Donald Trump tweeted voter fraud, Florida's Governor Rick Scott claimed voter fraud on T.V. all without proof. All they need to do is say that and the Republican rank and file think there is confirmed voter fraud by the Democrats in Florida. All without proof. The fact that the recounts are automatic are ignored by these two supposed leaders. In regards to your comment about Joe Biden, he did NOT donate 20 milliion dollars to President Obama's campaign, he has given his life to public service. That is a weak case of WhatAboutIsm. Liars are driving the bus; either off a cliff or into a deer.
2
@Alex p
You seem to be ill-informed.
Yes, Floridian law forces the government of Florida to do a recount.
Trump however tweets that they should NOT do that recount - whereas not doing so is illegal.
He also tweeted that ballots coming in after Nov. 6 must be ignored, whereas the state's law allows them to be taken into account until the 14th.
And he tweeted that the Florida government should take the results on election night as the only valid results, whereas we all know that the ballots counted on election night showed the GOP winning both the governorship and the Senate seat.
Moreover, by doing so Trump is asking Florida to NOT take the votes of its military on duty abroad into account. How can you EVER defend not taking the votes of our military into account ... ??
Finally, Trump claims that the ballots that are coming in after Nov. 6th are NOT true votes but frauds, even though there's no evidence nor proof whatsoever of this kind of claim, and of course, a US president is supposed to inform us of the proven truth, NOT to spread lies.
So with that, could you please explain HOW anyone could defend such presidential lies?
1
@Lionel &Ana Louise
sometimes i think i should write with capslocked characters.
I'm not defending Trump, i'm saying very very clearly that the whole point of fraud is BASELESS FROM THE START, there is no truth denied.
There is no truth at all, BECAUSE the recounting is still on.Whatever mr Trump of floridian republicans are saying is only political speech, and they are entitled to say that as much as the nytimes was entitled to publish many article on electoral fraud ( mainly voting machine which can be hacked, CAN BE, not they were or are ).
@Ana Louise
No, mr Trump is not the president of Truth, he's a politician, not a scientist, neither was any other POTUS, people are not voting for a truth-teller, otherwise ALL the POTUS would have been scientists. They have their ideas, those can be shared or not, voted, and yes contested because the system of balance work ( that means also there is no fascism system actually running or all the protesters would have been exiled. THAT was how fascism worked in Italy, get your history straight).
@Lionel
so, you think Biden's medal was ok, because he is a politician, many others could say the same thing about Hatch ( and i've red comments against him on the nytimes ). However there is no rules to exclude mrs. Adelson who is a Republican donor AND a PHILANTROPIST. You can disagree with that, but not taking a high moral stand, since Obama broke a big conflict of interest awarding his VP , when BOTH IN CHARGE.
1
Trump doesn't lie. He is delusional. He creates his own reality.
2
This trend had been cranked up to 11 under Trump but it isn't new. "I don't believe the Liberal Media" bumper stickers have been around for years. 9 years ago the GOP with one voice denounced a public health policy developed by the Heritage Foundation and first implemented by a self-described "severely conservative" Republican governor as Stalinist. Mainstream "conservative" media personalities cynically promoted the racist conspiracy theory that Obama was a Kenya- born Islamist fifth columnist. The GOP and its backers have for years adopted dezinformatsiya along with white identity politics and voter suppression in order to maintain political dominance as a minority.
1
A summary of the most conspicuous aspects of “Trump” are no doubt:
- Crude, rude and vulgar personality
- Corrupt
- Cheater
- Liar
Trumps tenuous hold on reality, is probably best illustrated by his (recently again) assertion that he is the “Best President Ever”. Otherwise, that and the above personality traits cannot possibly be considered compatible.
2
You’re a hero if and only if you serve Krugman’s interests. Oh, and that of The Times, too!
@Nreb
No, that's not what Krugman is arguing here.
John McCain and that Muslim lieutenant have been OFFICIALLY recognized by the US as war heroes.
Yet Trump begged to differ and to ferociously attack and disrespect them, only because politically they disagree with his own political stances.
ANY patriot should condemn this kind of behavior in the strongest possible terms.
If you disagree with that idea, what would your arguments be ... ?
2
Perhaps Mr. Trump should start a new chant at his next rally. “Lock Her Up “ could become “Lie, Cheat, Steal”. It is the only platform the Republican Party needs.
1
I have filed one comment in which I state that filing comments, as good as even the best here already are, is an exercise in futility. Krugman and the Times should keep us informed about our government but we ourselves should not simply be repeating over and over again all we have already written about Trump. The Times could give us more in other areas where we might offer something new, renewable energy for example.
But now I have found something good elsewhere in the Times, which might raise your spirits a little and give you reason to comment - except there is no comment section.
Read and enjoy:
Opinion
A Saudi Murder Becomes a Gift to Iran
The assassination of a journalist has further hurt the Trump administration’s frail strategy of buddying with Saudi Arabia to restrain Iran’s expanding influence.
By Vali R. Nasr
Professor Nasr, a scholar of Middle East politics and diplomacy, is the author of “The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future.”
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
1
I worry that this full throated attack on legitimate institutions is just setting the stage for riots, violence upon the inevitable release of the Mueller indictments.
Don't forget the near riots that stopped the vote count in Miami-Dade 2000.
2
Mr Krugman: Only a certain theological category can explain these people: EVIL.
2
Reality has a well-known liberal bias. Like sunlight to vampires, so truth to Republicans.
When they chose a grade B movie actor to become their standard bearer and role model, they were already choosing fantasy over fact.
The Republican Party has become a cult. Let’s hope they can be stopped before they turn America into Jonestown.
3
As my mother, the late Miss Scarlett, used to say, "There is no defense against an accomplished liar." Happily, she didn't live to see the old saying in action and in the White House.
3
Wanna bet it was no more difficult or time-consuming to get to the cemetery than to most of Trump's recent Dear Leader rallies?
The only difference was who was expected to give/receive the appreciation.
1
The Republicans have exhausted the use of Hillary's name as "the guilty one" and now moved on to George Soros. How long Soros will play the part of whipping boy depends on the base.
1
Paul,
Two words.
Marc Rich.
,dave
When trying to decipher the far-Right’s propaganda machine, it’s always instructive to surf over to Fox News’ site and see what pablum they’re feeding their loyalists. Today’s headline is about the Florida recount, with a sidebar video, “Hannity says what’s happening in Florida is a disgrace.” I guess if you think, “One person, one vote” is a disgrace then that makes sense enough.
Looking through all the headlines, I don’t see anything about Miriam Adelson’s Medal of Freedom. There is, however, an interesting op-ed piece by Steve Hilton entitled, “Trump is right, French president Macron completely wrong about nationalism.”
Rather than saying anything about the “patriotism” of Dear Leader not even showing up for the ceremony because it was raining, the Trumpist response is to create a useful distraction from what is arguably one of the most embarrassing and insulting moments for any proud American to have witnessed.
My grandfather fought in WWI, in France, and eventually died years later from lung damage sustained from inhaling clorine gas in the war. And Trump can’t be bothered to endure a little rain to honor him and the millions of others who gave their lives for our freedom? Fox News, where ARE you on this?!
6
"In Trumpworld, which is now indistinguishable from G.O.P.world ..."
I think that you might have gotten this backwards, GOPWorld has become indistinguishable from TrumpWorld as Trump has taken over the Republican party and remade it in his own image.
2
2020. Medal of Honor to (drumroll): George Soros!
1
first new law to be sent to the senate is the requirement for alll national candidates (house, senate, and exec) hand over their taxes for the last 10 years/
We can no longer rely on convention and must force compliance for our own saety
2
I am getting old, and I keep thinking that I can't be meant to die in a Trumpian country. The little things are particularly painful. Yes, the medal for the wife of that bloated capitalist waste of space. The trip to Paris to honor American dead and peace in Europe, where the dead are snubbed along with European leaders marching on the Champs Elysees, but Putin the murderer gets a friendly salute. The failure to even go to Arlington on Veterans Day, despite those campaign & rally proclamations of love for the troops. Worst of all, ignorant Repub voters don't even notice this. They just like that Trump insults people who are smarter than they are, and that he won't scold them if they use the "N" word.
2
What’s going on in America right now is that our herd as it thunders on in its obfuscation and ignorance is approaching the drop-off in the cliff. All Americans need to understand that because of this anomaly in our thought process we humans may be approaching our end. Donald Trump and his crew are the causal agents driving this stampede.
www.InquiryAbraham.com
2
When Trump descended on the Trump Tower escalator, and in the weeks after, I placed my faith in the fundamental notion that he was too obvious a loser and charlatan for the establishment Republicans to seriously get dominated by such a pathetic excuse for a human being. I was wrong. And, even though I learned how wrong I was long ago, I am still gobsmacked by their craven capitulation to the dumbest, most crooked, most self-centered, person in the whole country, if not the world. Is is really worth it to them? I believe they think it is.
2
For this voter and actual tax payer, Trump and his Republicans have come to represent amorality and evil.
Not crazy stuff, but the kind of stuff that the Allies fought against in two wars... fascism, authoritarianism, etc.
They, Trump and his white nationalist cadre of Republican supporters, is the enemy of democracy right here inside the borders of our nation.
2
Maybe now that Miriam Adelson has the clout of the Presidential Medal of Freedom she'll be able to convince the Nobel Peace Prize committee to give Trump the one he thinks he deserves?
To my dearest president,
Stay out of our elections.
Like most things you comment on, this ain't your lane.
It's Our Lane.
Sincerely,
George Gallo
1
What we are talking about here is ethics. Or the complete absence of ethics.
Americans need to realize and accept what it is that we have created. Almost every single institution of power and authority is now run by unethical men (a few women, but mostly men).
Every day Americans have to interact with an insurance company, a medical establishment, their boss, the CEO, some tech company, their so-called elected representative, almost anyone in a position of authority, responsibility, and power, and when they do, they are dealing with an unethical man. Either directly, or through others who are simply carrying out their unethical plans.
Lack of ethics is now core to the American sense of being. It's Reaganism, purified, condensed, and extracted to its purest essence.
Just take care of yourself. Always. No matter how much damage it does to others. You are not your brothers keeper. Focus, always, on profit, and only profit.
The culture Reagan created of "greed is good". It's now here, personified by a fascist con man who somehow took over the Presidency. And he is just the top unethical commander in chief. There are armies of true believing unethical sociopaths, just as evil, self-centered, greedy, and damaging as Trump, everywhere.
Ethics. That's what we are talking about here. The lack of ethics.
As Rushworth Kidder, the great ethicist said "we will not survive the 21st century with the ethics of the 20th century."
2
This article clearly shows that Krugman lives in an alternate universe which is why democrats lost the presidential election to adventurer Trump. It was Hillary's election and she should have won but she lost because she is the one that ignored the FACTS while Trump did not. The insistence of Democrats that Hillary won the popular vote just compounds the error. Instead of campaigning across the nation and appealing to a diversity of voters Hillary chose to mainly campaign in California and New York, states she won anyways. It doesn't matter if Hillary gets 51% of California populace or 100%. While Hillary will have a huge "popular vote" win, she won't win the election unless she also campaigns for minority states. This forces presidential to craft a message of compromise that includes all Americans of this vast country. Learn or the only thing you will learn is to get beaten up by Trump.
@Jo Jamabalaya
So ... what is it? Did Hillary lose the electoral vote because she ignored facts, or because she didn't campaign in swing states enough ...?
As to Trump: he actually worked with Steve Bannon's data firm to ILLEGALLY collect Facebook data of people in swing votes, so that targeted ads could then be sent to them. 70,000 people were approached this way, without knowing that the GOP illegally stole their data, and those 70,000 are responsible for tilting the electoral college in Trump's favor.
Hillary decided to stick to legal ways of campaigning instead.
She also decided to campaign on facts and facts alone.
What Krugman is denouncing here, however, isn't about the 2016 election (when will you guys get over the fact that you lost the popular vote ... ?;-)), it's about the fact that the GOP is SYSTEMATICALLY lying to its own voters.
So with that, any comments on substance?
2
@Jo Jamabalaya
You do realize Hillary not only campaigned in places other than New York and California, but also won 21 states.
And just what do you mean by "minority states"? -- Is that where Trump supporters are because after all, they are in the minority.
2
“He’s not a war hero. … I like people who weren’t captured.”
How he could get elected after a crack like that still amazes
8
Remember when Ivanka tried to change the word “complicit” into something positive to suit her purposes?
Remember when Melania Trump tried to turn her husband’s foul and insulting language about women into “just locker room talk?”
Well Donald Trump has just degraded our language once more by equating “political campaign contributions” with “philanthropy” and thus deserving of the “Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
This family deforms and demeans everything and everyone it touches.
7
Donald Trump will be remembered by historians for grinning like a fool at Putin when other world leaders scowled. He will be remembered as a coward so afraid that the rain would muss his comb-over that he cancelled plans to honor America's World War I dead. Most of all, he will be remembered as a chronic liar, without conviction and without conscience, who cared more about his personal coffers than for making a contribution to his country.
5
Thanks. Truth and virtue have long been left behind by the Republican party - since at least the 1971 Lewis Powell memo.
See
https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
2
Pay for play, it is nothing new.
This isn't normal politics, it is politics in America on its way to becoming a Fascist state.
1
Trump must also be busy - checking on the fraudulent voting activity of the committee that selects the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The great and heroic meeting with North Korea's Dear Leader was a sure prize winner and they must have awarded it to someone else. Rigged.
Would that we could find "truth and virtue" in all our politicians and, dare I say, those who write about them....and who lack the same.
Pundits don't likely use kettles anymore, black or not. But they sure are good at coloring the kettles of those with whom they disagree.
Many readers remain wondrous how this liberal cabal of loquacious pundits got promoted to Chief Umpire in the game of politics when they blindly call a pitch outside for libs and a strike against dems.
1
Thank you for a brilliant article. The republicans have indeed dealt with all opposition, for a long time, as if they are illegitimate and unworthy; and believed they are entitled to rule.
As a strategy, it has worked for them. We let them get away with it. They can label opposition as a tightly wound, united front of nihilists, socialists, abortion-on-demandists, open borderists, apologists for criminals, unionists, feminists, vegetarians. If you are not a republican, then you are a criminal. That they must be in charge of everything - is a non-negotiable demand.
Local and regional America outside the coasts, pretty much agrees with them.
What then, of the effete democrats? They are completely unable to paint republicans for what they are. I.e., a storm troopers with a fanatical devotion to antisemitism, racism, anti-choice, segregation and slavery, anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-poor, anti-working class; and pro-robbery by rich, pro-pollution, pro-destruction of every pillar of civic society cash grabbers.
That a society that labels itself civil, would vote for any republican, is stuff that will bother historians a 1000 years from now. Why, they will wonder, did a nation that put a man on the moon, vote in favor of science-deniers, theocrats, and garden variety hoodlums just so that they could produce an ethnic national state?
1
Trump Trump Trump. Paul, write something original!
@rose6
You see, that's the problem with GOP voters today: now that your nominee is president, you're so afraid of having real, respectful debates that your deepest wish is for those who disagree with the president to simply shut up or start talking about everything but a sitting US president.
What is it that you are so afraid of?
If you disagree with Krugman here, for instance, why don't you try to give some arguments showing where you believe he's wrong?
Debates are crucial in any democracy. By refusing to have them, you're weakening not only the greatness of this country, but also the GOP's voter base itself, you see?
If all that you can answer to criticism of a sitting president is your observation here (which, I suppose you'll admit, is THE perfect answer lacking any form of originality ... ;-)), what will you say once Democrats take over DC again to convince your fellow Americans to vote for the GOP instead ... ?
1
Volunteer to be a part of the solution is what I have found to keep me sane in these troubled times. I can no longer take the constant complaining from friends and colleagues about the current state of affairs when many of them are doing nothing to be the change they want to see in the world.
Speak up and defend those who need defending in your corner of the country and globe. Volunteer to educate others in a field in which you have expertise. Donate to worthy organizations if you have the means to do so. Be kind to strangers and try each day to do one good deed, no matter how small.
Engage people with different backgrounds and opinions and try to meet them halfway. Make kindness a priority - we are our brothers keepers. Being a positive force when you are faced with mendacity, evil, and tragedy in the world is not demonstrating weakness, it is showing compassion even for those who some may judge unworthy of it. Be compassionate and kind anyway.
4
Hungary and US,
Hungarians, these days, are under a dictatorship. This happened under the ELECTED tenure of Victor Orban and his right-wing ideologues. They have taken over what was once one of Europe's shining examples of democracy.
This is super shameful; Americans, and many others, died for Hungary's freedom in WW II. It's scary that the United States is on the same trajectory as Hungary; the same tricks are being used to make the USA a dictatorship under Trump!
The Trump administration is packing the courts, undermining the free press, setting otherwise sensible people against one another over trumped up conflicts, and packing the government with un-elected officials, appointees of the President, who don't respect either the actual law of the land nor the conventional practices in democratic government.
The midterm elections were somewhat encouraging; we now have a lower house of Congress which will, under Democratic leadership, challenge the worst acts of this administration.
But the midterms were also worrying; the Senate was returned with an even larger majority of the President's party and the same goose-stepping "yes men" as were running the Senate during the first two years of the would-be tyrant's administration. I am afraid we are in for a tough two years in the run-up to the 2020 elections. Sensible Republicans, like Rep. Mark Sanford and others, along with Democrats need to mobilize even further and keep up the pressure on, let me say it, REGIME CHANGE.
2
It is tempting to agree with Krugman's dark musings here, but the truth is a bit less horrible than what he portrays. The source of current Republican thinking, as extensively documented in a recent book (Network Propaganda. Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics, by Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts), is a self-reinforcing media network based on Limbaugh and Fox News. Within that world, and only within that particular world, the goal of presenting "information" is to advance or confirm a particular identity. To be acceptable to that network and its adherents, any public figure must subscribe to its doctrines--drink the kool aid. When they do, they get the network's support; when they don't, they get slandered, libeled, and otherwise scorned and denigrated.
This approach to public life has been very powerful, largely I think because it was innovative and very well done within the context of post-WW2 public life. Triumphant evil often is. But the Limbaugh-Fox News network is not America, and probably not even a majority of Republicans.
6
@Keithofrpi
Krugman is saying the exact same thing.
The reason why this is highly problematic is because those are the people who are know controlling the entire country.
1
california’s forest fire and salt deduction limit. have burned away trump and the gop in california. Trump’s response to tragedy in california was to blame ‘poor forest management’ and threaten not to help california fight the fire that has claimed at least 60 lives and displaced 250,000. The forest land belongs to the federal government. It is trump’s responsibility to manage it. He does not care about california. The gop rsised taxes in california by limiting the salt deduction. Home prices and property taxes are very high in california and many thousands face higher taxes. Trump and the gop not only dont care but they want horrible things to happen to california. They dont care about the rural communities hit by these fires and by drought in california. 2020 is not far away. What is left of the gop in california, in orange county and rural areas will get swept away. Trump and the gop do not care for them
7
@observer: Yes. And trump and the gop care nothing for 99% of our citizens. They "care" only for the very, VERY rich (who donate to them), and the very, VERY racist/violent make their list of "Some Very Fine People." Does the gop never think what would happen if they were left with only those people on their list? If everyone else was wiped out by their Fascist policies, and they were left with their handful of very, VERY rich, and very, VERY racist/violent?
2
Trump and the GOP are trying to undermine the legitimacy of the mid-term elections. What will they do in 2020 if (when) Trump loses his re-election bid? Dr. Krugman is right: our democracy is still in grave danger.
6
It's not a symmetric situation at all indeed. And it's certainly not a difference in degree, it's what philosophers technically call a "difference in nature".
When water turns to vapor or to ice, for instance, there's a difference in degree but not in nature, as it's still water. Between water and oil, however, there's a difference in nature: what defines water and oil is different.
The exact same thing is going on here. What the GOP is doing, and what Democrats aren't doing AT ALL, is to abandon a definition of truth where truth is objectively verifiable, and to replace it with "what someone in power tells us to be true", which indeed then amounts to "what will help those in power to stay in power, IF people believe it to be true".
They don't claim to have invented this new definition though. Fox News has been claiming since it exists that this is exactly the way Democrats govern, and that if Republicans still want to win elections (read: if conservatives in this country still want to see their values translated into laws), then the only solution is to "go low" too, as you don't bring a diplomat to what has become a mean, cruel street fight.
Of course, this narrative is entirely part of the GOP decision to abandon intellectual debate and behaving in a morally responsible way in the first place.
It means rejecting the idea that a democracy is the best of all governments BECAUSE real debates is what makes us strongest. And THAT is what neoconservatism has decided to do.
4
The stock market has been having a giddy time of things lately with Trump’s tax cuts for business and the rich, his abandonment of environmental controls and regulations on business and banking practices.
But now that the November election is over and has offered us clear signs that the party is over, the stock market is plainly running for the hills.
Thank you Dow Jones for providing us with the collapse we plainly needed and deserved.
Please keep up the good work.
There is still a long way down we need to go.
5
Democracy, the functioning variety, wasn't a hallmark of feudalism, was it?
The difference between Trump and a Democrat is that this is SOP for Trump, while Democrats are embarrassed to do this sort of thing; Clinton waited till his last day in office to do a sleazy pardon for a rich guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich
you are with me or against me,i.e. my enemy: this is at the core of fascism. our democracy is certainly in danger
7
When trump complains about electoral corruption it means he is losing or fears losing. In fact, the electoral corruption is entirely on the GOP side-voter suppression and gerrymandering in states like Georgia, Florida and North Carolina where republicans control the state apparatus. The GOP has just lost a senate seat in Arizona partly because of Trump's unpopularity with suburban women. The Democrats wrested three seats from the GOP in Orange county, CA. The remaining four are very competitive as well. Trump tweeted that California's wildfires were due to 'bad forest management'. He is an idiot and totally incompetent. He panics everytime a crisis hits and blames somebody or the other.A president's job is to deal with crises and calm the nation when faced with one. Trump has consistently failed, whether it was Haiti, Texas,or California. When Georgia was hit with a hurricane and Pittsburgh by white racist extremism, he tried to promote himself. This is a man who puts himself above country.
7
Keep it up professor. They may cart you off to jail in the end -- that happens to truth-tellers in these Fascist states -- but it is well worth it. You are serving humanity.
5
As someone who works with large groups in the US that include American military veterans, a common admission is that the Trumpolini has proven himself a self-styled dictator who disdains our vets as mere cannon fodder, uninteresting because their lives and trauma only distract from his personal adulation. I'm hearing it. He's exposed as the despicable, Mussolini wannabe that he is. He's going down. Let's hope his junta of cabinet parasites and grifters from DeVoss and her war criminal brother, and on down the chain, pay for their crimes (in spite of the installation of pukemaster justice Barfo Kavanaugh). All the way from the Pledge of Allegiance dens of boy scouts and rotary clubs, the tide is turning and integrity and justice are clawing back righteousness in America. May God bless America, and send these fascists back to the fetid cesspool they came from.
12
We all know about the lack of truth, ethic, empathy, etc. When are you going to stop wasting yours and our time telling us what we already know. Write about something substantive and economic which is your forte. Everyone is saying what you are.
1
@Bruce Kirschenbaum
Speaking the truth is never a waste of time.
1
Interesting piece on the same day as the "cultural Marxism" article. So we can call this stuff Cultural Fascism.
1
It's lightly raining.
Trump: Cancel everything!
Three broken ribs.
RBG: "Sorry I'm late."
11
Thank you Dr Krugman for writing so eloquently about this coward of a man who does not deserve one thought of any decent human. But,unfortunately we have to live with his daily lies and his racism and thuggery on daily basis. Let us hope and pray that by November of 2020 he will be exposed for what he is a con man, a thief and a traitor and he will end up living for the rest of his miserable life in where he rightfully belongs, behind bars.
5
Conspiracy theories, what makes someone buy into all that mental trash? I don’t know because, well, I try to inform myself and basically trust the other guy until he/she proves to be otherwise.
Gotta ask yourself though, should conspiracy theorists sleep with their shoes on?
Rick Scott of Florida knows voter fraud when he sees it. His company committed what was the largest Medicare fraud on record. In all fairness he was said to have been utterly unaware of this thievery. But he knew the right thing to do and despite the personal pain it was to cause him he left the company with a couple of hundred million in his pocket. . Yes Rick Scott knows the right thing to do!
7
Thank you for continuing to point out the failure of much of the mainstream media’s both-sides-do-it-the-same approach to journalism.
5
Paul,
Excellent article again!
"What all of this means is that what’s going on in America right now isn’t politics as usual."
Actually, Paul, it is politics as usual. Just politics outside your experience domain. The kind of politics you are seeing is standard corporate politics among, especially, the East Coast Corporate structure where diversity is fairly low, like the Republican Party.
In EC Corporations, as an employee, you better be "loyal" to your boss or else. Loyal means:
If your boss lies, you better back up his lie if queried.
If you discover your boss is completely incompetent and was hired because his Dad was VP, you better sing his competency both to him, and, to others who are his regular info sources.
If you discover your boss is having an affair on his wife, you better lie to his wife at parties if she asks either directly, or indirectly about her husband.
If you have had a great idea, and, have just shared that idea with the boss, you must agree when he says: "That's where I was headed all along!".
When the boss asks for all of your presentation slides on a new strategy proposed by you, you have to give the slides to him so he can present at the management team meeting, not you.
And, when the boss get's promoted for his amazing work, you have to congratulate him, even though you know that he cannot even type. (every admin in America can type, but, not your boss).
So, Paul, what you see is not new to us in Corporate America. Normal.
4
The Republican base's rejection of objective facts reaches far beyond their insistence that global warming is a giant hoax.
In their worldview, science itself is a vast conspiracy that undermines their creation myth, the literal truth of the Old Testament (tellingly, these bible literalists are only somewhat more familiar than atheists with the New Testament and Jesus’s teachings).
This “science is broken” narrative is subsequently used instrumentally by capital and corporate interests to expand their wealth and power, much to the detriment of the planet and its inhabitants.
2
@Matt
Actually, most atheists seem to be MORE familiar with the Bible in general than most Evangelicals. Familiarity with the Bible is a large contributor to becoming an atheist in the first place.
95% of cognizant Americans don't know who the Adelsons are and don't care, and that's the problem...
Democracy requires civic engagement and with a good deal of voters self absorbed on social media and dumbed down by the drivel on most broadcast media, outrage and engagement, and thus Democracy wilts...
3
@Kenneth
right, it's the meeedias fault.
Not the incurious dupes who sit in front of fox listening to lies so obvious (death panels) as to be laughable
@Kenneth
"95% of cognizant Americans don't know who the Adelsons are and don't care..."
Sorry. I don't know where you get your facts, but you might want to double check first because there are more aware Americans than you probably dare think.
After all, the MAJORITY of us didn't vote for Donald Trump.
Mr Trump will only be President for 2 or 6 more years. But the new media—with the power it has assumed allowing it to editorialize and purportedly fact-check in “news” stories and to editorialize in “news” stories by calling them “news analysis,” will remain. How will this new media regain its integrity? How will it regain the confidence of the half of this country that disagrees with its new, arrogant (here is what you must believe) approach to news? If the new media, which is responsible for much of the divisiveness in the country, does not go back to clearly distinguishing news stories from editorials, the divisiveness will get much, much worse.
1
No matter what Trump says, the opposite is most likely the truth.
7
This ties in closely with the Editorial Board’s column ”Trump Dreams Up Another Immigrant Crisis.” They argue that federal asylum law is unambiguous, yet Trump seeks to circumvent it. Almost naively they write:
“The president can’t, with the stroke of a pen, disregard people with credible asylum claims who don’t present themselves at a port of entry.”
Nonsense. He tried it before and he’ll try it again. The same disregard for those laws is consistent with Republicans’ assault on voting results and their selective castigation of federal and state laws governing voting procedures.
You write “... his assault on truth goes deeper than the frequency of his lies, because Trump and his allies don’t accept the very notion of objective facts.”
It’s not just objective facts, it’s facts embedded in the fabric of the laws they took oaths to uphold.
“You have to be truly delusional to see the Republicans’ response to their party’s midterm setback as anything but an attempted power grab by a would-be authoritarian movement, which rejects any opposition or even criticism as illegitimate.”
The problem is this - it doesn’t matter. Delusional or not, Trump and the Republicans will continue their move towards authoritarianism until Congress and the courts stop them in their tracks.
We’re teetering on the brink her. Perhaps the new House will apply some brakes on these assaults on the democratic process.
Wake up, America!!
2
The US has turned itself over to charlatans by respecting claims to know what God thinks in legislation. It is de-facto endorsement of fantasy and belief without foundation.
5
The helicopters used by the president are fully IFR equipped. The pilots are chosen for their experience. Weather simply was not a factor. Trump couldn't care less about the war dead, he can't make a buck from them.
5
Prediction: before Trump leaves office, he'll award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ivanka and Don, Jr.
Sounds crazy, but would you bet against it?
5
Rejection of objective truth was also a deliberate strategy of the Nazis in the 1930s, and was excellently documented the recently published "The Death of Democracy", by Benjamin Carter Hett. I consider this book to be essential reading for our times.
Krugman is right. Our democracy is still very much in danger. Trump by himself isn't frightening. That so many of our citizens so eagerly have embraced him is.
5
The media has to get over the "both sides do it" mentality. Not true. One side, the GOP, has gone over the edge with its conspiracy theories, and its blind trust in its gutless "leader."
2
Of course the GOP doesn't care about objective truth. Moreover, we see they have no actual political beliefs either. There is only a goal: maintain minority white male "Christian" supremacy at all costs. Everything else is just well-organized tactics based on various military principles like "take no prisoners", "all's fair in war" and "kindness is weakness". What concerns me is the present lack of leadership in the Democratic party. Time for Nancy and Chuck to step aside and make room for some younger faces. How about Beto as Speaker of the House? Fat chance huh? Maybe start a Democratic "Think Tank" to put out some progressive "propaganda", i.e. truth. There really needs to be partisan voices pushing back so vulnerable politicians can sit out the fight. A progressive NRA maybe. With some authority to hold news conferences and speak for everyone. We don't abandon our principles, just keep organizing and use GOP tactics against them. Otherwise, the truth is getting drowned out. I fear the day when only Fox News is present at White House press conferences.
1
@Martin Veintraub, I think the day that only Fox is present at WH press conferences will be a very good day indeed. MSM needs to assert its first amendment power and boycott these sham events of the liar in chief, and/or his mouthpiece Sarah. Both equally disreputable. The absence of legitimate media might just shine a spotlight on what Fox has willfully become.
I guess in TrumpWorld heroism is defined by who gives the most money to Mr Trump. This man has no sense of real leadership or sacrifice. I wonder if, seriously, he can imagine how a war hero might have given his life for our country? I doubt if he can. I doubt if he cares.
On Veterans Day he wants to deny service men's and women's absentee ballots for the state of Florida. What kind of President does that? When firefighters are fighting the worst fire in California, he has only criticism and threats. This is not the behavior of a leader but of a whiny coward and spoilsport because the state didn't vote for him. Really? And we have to abide by two more years of this?
2
The unseen paradox
The more time we give him and the more time to make money via commercials
So instead of news we assemble panels to discuss all of his sins all the while it’s free advertising for him.
Bigger audience more money for the media .Moneywise everyone benefits.
His base loves it the other half get too emotional to react wisely
Welcome to the best fake culture of the world
Even honor is now for sale. Love he renounced long ago.
1
Paul omits not just financial support by the Adelsons but total control of the GOP and the White House by a gaggle of grasping billionaires: the Adelsons the Mercers the Kochs the Uihleins the Wilks the Spencers.
Their control is more sinister than buying up Congressional vassals to stack the Supreme Court — their control is exerted over 40% of voters for whom reality is DEFINED by Fox News, Sinclair media, evangelical radio, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Trump’s Twitter, and disinformation spread on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and scurrilous web sites.
Because of their control over voters, the GOP has become the supine vassals of these dubiously motivated billionaires, a de facto Oligarchy.
3
This week we saw the result of standing up to a tin-pot dictator: Getting thrown out of the room. Every reporter, at every news conference, should stand up in solidarity with Jim Acosta and say: "We will object vocally to every instance the the President speaks a lie." Simple, provable, and unarguable. This is possibly the most dangerous week of this ascendant tyrant's rule, so far. It should be seen as a turning point. I know it's a terribly difficult thing to do, but should they find the courage, I do not believe that the American people will long stand for a press room completely filled with Fox sycophants.
2
@Sera
Very true. And just a natural progression for a president who knows nothing of the U.S. Constitution--let alone the 1st Amendment.
Trump has redefined so many terms and norms that it’s hard to know where to start.
The concept of “truth” as we knew it is gone. Truth is now what Trump says it is. “Prove me wrong.” And by the time you do, he has moved on to the next falsehood and the first is forgotten. And if he is cornered with a real truth, he’ll smply deny he said the first falsehood and blame it on the “fake” news media.
“Fraud” has apparently been redefined as a thing that must have happened when the other guy wins or even tries to win. Fraud can also only be committed by the other guy, never Trump’s guy.
A “hero” is now someone who blindly agrees with Trump or gives him money. Even people traditionally viewed as heroes, like veterans and firefighters, now find themselves pilloried by Trump if they express a word of criticism of him or happen to toil in a blue state.
“Media” has now been redefined as Fox News.
“Immigrants” has now been redefined to be “rapists and terrorists who want to steal your jobs.”
And in the next edition of the Trump dictionary, certain words will no longer be included at all, specifically Trust, Dignity, Civility, Humility, Ethics and Empathy.
1
When loyalty trumps integrity then corruption reigns.
The Medal of Freedom now carries the same honor and prestige as a diploma from Trump University. Everything he and his Republicans touch is diminished.
4
Trump’s award of America’s highest civilian honor not just to the wife of his biggest donor but also to Elvis Presley would seem the ultimate in self-parody but for our president’s total lack of self awareness.
As the King himself was wont to sing:
Well, they said you was high classed,
Well, that was just a lie,
. . .
You ain’t nothing but a hound dog,
Cryin’ all the time,
You an’t never caught a rabbit
And you ain’t no friend of mine.
5
I often look at the people to whom have placed their trust in Trump.
Many are lifelong GOP members and consider themselves to be 'Christian' and God-fearing devotees.
Trump has not shown these qualities in any way.
For the life of me, I just don't get the appeal.
However, this is the person people have chosen to 'lead' them and many have indicated it's what their ministers tell them to do.
I have to wonder, have they decided to give their
conscience a lifelong sentence into oblivion?
Or are they just willing and willful people who will are faithful to everything that HAVE NOT been taught in the Bible.
2
Yes, your democracy is in danger ; a situation that is fostering trouble in Europe. Our only hope lies in those European leaders who no longer 'connect' with Trump (evident in Paris during the WW1 commemoration). But these leaders, intellectually, culturally and ethically superior to Trump, are being weakened at home for being decent, democratic and simply doing their best for their respective countries while respecting their neighbours.
12
@Jeremy,
How about the leaders of the rest of the world? Or do only European (ie; white) leaders count? You do realize that Europe is no longer the center of the world, right?
1
To paraphrase Leon Trotsky: Trump and the GOP (and their credulous supporters) may not be interested in truth, but truth is interested in them. And she won't be in a good mood when she shows up.
19
@C. Keller
You are too optimistic! Bias is human nature, when it comes to our own interest. So you can't wait for truth to be here, you need to fight for it.
1
You're right. I didn't mean to imply that we should sit on our hands until the bottom falls out of our democracy .. just that the bottom will fall out (truth will out) if we continue on this course. Onward and upward!
The United States has often had Observers in place overseas for elections important to our 'interests', and we make sure that the elections in far off places go right for whole Nations.
Yet we have this severe problem with one party here in the US that has consistently worked to make elections more difficult to access and have applied no end of tricks and illicit court decisions and outright, blatant cheating (see: Kemp, Gov.).
Truth and honesty went out the window in the year 2000, we had brief resurgence for 8 years under President Obama, yet the Republicans played lockstep Vote No and 60 some votes to kill the ACA when the Nation was starving for Jobs that the Repubs would not let the funding for go through in the way of Infrastructure Rebuilding.
McConnell kept such motions from being voted on thus they never saw the light of day, and millions of Americans are still being hurt by his actions of inaction.
And yet they had run on the platform of jobs, Jobs, JOBS, and then pivoted to attack anything Obama, claiming that as their mandate of the vote. In essence Trump is just doing what Republicans have been doing all along: They Lie!
And they lie about lying, and project the idea that everybody lies at the same extent that they do.
Money can buy a lot, but the Truth has no price tag and is free for all comers.
Republicans started down that road with "I am Not a Crook" Nixon and the Moral Majority, being neither and Bush/Cheney's War on Terrorism all of which were lies.
7
The republicans are so entitled. If things don't go their way, even after voter suppression and gerrymandering, they will resort to conspiracy theories and outright lies to get what they think is theirs.
9
"You’re a hero if and only if you serve The Leader’s interests."
We don't have a leader. We have a wanna be tyrant who is causing great harm to our democratic institutions and to our standing in the world for generations to come. This is not hyperbolic language but a true representation of this risk of this catastrophe of an administration.
I hope all who stand with him are recorded forever in history as then henchmen they chose to be.
8
@ZigZag
Thanks for your perspective. We can't say it enough!
By the way, I call them "goose-stepping yes men"; Hannah Arendt on the banality of evil gives the lesson.
1
“In our society, we have things that you might use your intelligence on, like politics, but people really can’t get involved in them in a very serious way—so what they do is they put their minds into other things, such as sports. You’re trained to be obedient; you don’t have an interesting job; there’s no work around for you that’s creative; in the cultural environment you’re a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry stuff; political and social life are out of your range, they’re in the hands of the rich folk. So what’s left? Well one thing that’s left is sports—so you put a lot of the intelligence and the thought and the self-confidence into that. And I suppose that’s also one of the basic functions it serves in the society in general: it occupies the population, and keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter.” -Noam Chomsky
In sports you also learn to believe in an alternate reality that is extremely important and can adjust the statistics to make whatever "psychic" guess you want about the player, team, or championship.
Our nation is primed for authoritarian rule. We are controlled by: television addiction , sports addiction, drug and alcohol and pharmaceutical addiction, poliltical party addiction and religious group affiliation addiction.
2
Is it any wonder that an authoritarian white nationalist political party would have no use for traditional notions of truth and virtue?
As long as the two major political parties are authoritarian white nationalist and, well, NOT white nationalist and pro-democratic, the Democratic Party's tent should be a pretty big one.
I may have my policy preferences, but I'm happy to have them debated among all the folks who agree on basic truths, science, democracy and reason.
It seems white suburban women have realized that the Republican is an authoritarian white nationalist party. Hopefully the word will get out to any other remaining non-deplorables still under the false belief that the Republican party is a conservative one. It's not; it seeks the end of the American republic.
3
@Sam I Am
Love your perspective! We can't say it often enough.
Most sensible analysis, both right and left, agrees Trump's war on truth is a continual eye-roll. Who listens to this stuff? It's true Republicans in close races are attempting to use every lever of power to distort political outcomes. Trump is obviously backing them. But who believes their transparent dishonesty? Calling your own election fraudulent seems counter productive to me.
In the same way no one has forgiven Florida over eight years of disastrous policy ending in the worst foreign attack on American soil, two failed wars, the second largest recession in US history, and the loss of the middle class, I don't think anyone feels more comfortable when Florida elections turn into a one sided political spitting contest.
Meanwhile, the counting clerk will tell you counting ballots takes time when you have to verify every single signature. Sit down, relax, and let working professionals do their jobs.
1
Aside from painting with a broad brush about the many millions of good Americans who voted R in the recent two election cycles, here are some counter points:
"the baseless Republican cries of voting fraud"
- two heavily Democratic counties in FL (with a rich history of election controversy) do not report their totals for many days after everyone else does (including Hurricane affected counties), then one of the counties 'finds' numerous boxes of additional ballots...if the shoe was on the other foot D's would be claiming a heavily R county was trying to skew the 'will of the people'
“Fake news” doesn’t mean actual false reporting
- Articles such as the NY Times's one about Ambassador Nikki Haley supposedly ordering $52,701 worth of curtains for her official residence undermine that claim
"A genuine hero like John McCain, who was critical of Trump, gets dismissed as a failure"
- Fair criticism; however, a list a mile long could be published of the many times those on the Left have said awful things about the military and servicemen/women. Hence, this criticism carries little weight with the right.
"Democrats, being human, sometimes have biased views and engage in motivated reasoning. But they haven’t abandoned the whole notion of objective facts and nonpolitical goodness; Republicans have."
- Anyone spending 5 minutes on Facebook would quickly come to the conclusion that all sides have basically abandoned the notion of objective political fact
The problem with the Republicans is that everything they touch is defiled. Trump simply leads the crowd. A medal designed to reward courage and decency becomes a trinket to acknowledge contributions to the leader. How can prior recipients ever look at their medals again? Gerrymandering becomes the Republicans right, actual voting is fraud, fraud. In those gerrymandered states, why vote? Respect and fair treatment of those who are different is shouted down by racist taunts. Those who are different are afraid. This must be stopped, our decency and peace is at risk. Huge rallies and protests are called for, voting is an absolute necessity. Remember that even the seats that were won in the recent elections were won by narrow margins. There is so much hard work required, the Congressional Democrats who will try to inject facts and law back into our government are at risk, they need our support.
1
The Russian operatives who helped elect Trump had some insight into his vices and the depth of his corruption and corruptibility. They may have been mildly surprised by Trump's "winning" the election, but it isn't hard to imagine that they also knew that if he were elected, the divisions in our country would surely deepen. After all, they have been studying American behavior for years, and understand that many Americans can be gullible, persuadable, and intellectually lazy, much like Trump. It is astonishing and disheartening to watch some in our dysfunctional Congress deny claims of collusion and their efforts to shred Mueller's investigation. Wealth, prestige, and privilege are producers of power. If unchecked, power will corrupt. We see its distortions in the President and his allies.
1
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is normally given "for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." Like everything Trump touches, the medal has now been tarnished and stained. What a slap in the face to the many remarkable and accomplished Americans who received past medals. Miriam Adelson has done nothing for the country. All she did is give money to Trump. She should refuse the medal, but she won't. Like all wealthy women, when she sees a bauble she likes, she buys it.
5
GOP voters perfectly know that Trump lies, and they love it.
Why? For more than a decade already, Fox News has told them that Democrats lie and cheat and disrespect America's institutions etc. THAT, unfortunately, they have started to believe as being true. It reinforced their idea of DC being entirely corrupt and untrustworthy, all while blaming Democrats more than Republicans.
And it's precisely this Fox narrative that has prepared the GOP base and started to make them want a "street fighter" as nominee. And lying and cheating as much as your opponents isn't a sin/vice when you have to live on the streets and those are actually the rules of the game.
Of course, GOP voters continue to long for a more virtuous politics, so they continue to be angry and frustrated when they see that it's not the case at all. But then ... FN and the GOP come up with migrant invasion myths in order to canalize all that anger, which allows them to once again use it for their own political benefit.
What this means is that the GOP has become utterly cynical and immoral.
When did this start? When neoconservatism took over the party. Irving Kristol, its Founding Father (and a former Marxist), wrote in th WSJ that in a "healthy" society, intellectuals necessarily remain at its "margins" rather than participating in public debate. Why? Because conservatives cannot but lose elections once they do. THAT's when the GOP lost confidence in conservatism as a philosophy and needed lies to win elections.
1
I remember, nearly a decade ago, that I tuned in to Rush Limbaugh's radio program to listen to "the other side". The thing that stunned me about his show was his (and his audience's) continuing rejection of the idea that anyone did anything for altruistic motives. As an example, DACA was implemented so Democrats could more votes, not to relieve human suffering. Because they are so selfish themselves, they believe that everyone else is, too. In their world, every political action is for selfish reasons so it is very justifiable to give a medal to someone who has lined your pockets.
4
Some folks ask "where is the outrage". There is plenty of outrage but what can we do about it? I voted, participated in a peaceful protest here in town, and emailed our two Senators and said that I did not vote for a single Republican this year and that they must rein in Trump. What else can I do?
1
I agree with BobAz definition of virtue. It was summarized in latin by the phrase: "in media stat virtus" virtue is in the middle ( way fairly distant from Both vices ). Artistotles wrote an entire book over it: Nicomachean Ethics, it's a 400 pages full of couple of vices and their middle "virtues", by definition as much as by examples. IT's a fine book, very easy to follow, i recommend it to everyone, not the least to reconnect with the real meaning of words.
BUT, virtue and hero was not a Greek invention. Greek heroes were mostly people extremely hazardous, impatient, irascible in their behaviour and action, who used their words for their narrow political purpose.
It was the philosophy of Stoicism, led by roman Seneca, upon which is based all nytimes op newsroom's philosophy, who made the connection, and with just cause. Romans were conquerors ( Greek were not, they were mainly defenders of their "polis" cities ) and as such they elevated warriors characteristics ( see above ) over the greek moral standards.
They put in the higher place not the knowledge, as greek philosophers did, but honour, which is personal reputation accorded by people. They had "triumph" celebration after conquest, exhibiting people in chains (Cleopatra did kill herself for this reason). Stoicism held also that one mustn't fear death, and that death is preferable to a life without such honor. Not exactly a compassionate doctrine, i must say, or a truth-seeker'one either.
1
Mr. Krugman's observations reflect the current sad state of humanity. Throughout history we have always had despotic leaders and their followers but multiple factors including technology and complex economic issues have converged to allow such selfish people to gain control of political systems around the world. A large number of people lack critical thinking skills and are easily manipulated by appeals to their baser emotions. Media outlets that thrive on the promotion of propaganda, along with social media that encourages mob mentality share much of the blame. Will appeals to reason by the majority ever be enough to counter these forces and maintain representational government?
12
@Bill
No. Dr. Krugman's observations say nothing about the current state of humanity. They say something about the state of the GOP-Trump party.
2
Thank you Dr. Krugman in particular for
"...it’s essential to realize and acknowledge that this is not a symmetric, both-sides-do-it situation".
It sometimes seems that in an effort to "play fair" liberals give both flat-earthers and spherical-earthers equal time in a debate. This is both inappropriate and self-defeating. If our opponents are unwilling to accept facts as facts there is little use in arguing with them. Our only recourse is to stand up and fight - the alternative is to accept The Dear Leader as our alternative to democracy.
18
@Gary A.
With all respect, I couldn't disagree more.
When a political propaganda machine such as Fox News makes 35% of the country believe that the earth is flat, and when the rest of the media filter most of their political analysis through the lens of "will this hurt or benefit this politician's chances to win the next elections?" (which has as a consequence that spherical-earthers start imagining that nobody actually cares about the earth at all, and then stay home during the next elections, so that the flat-earthers end up controlling the entire country), then the debate of the day IS that between flat-earthers and spherical-earthers.
Science is science, and politics is politics.
When a political party that controls the country has only won elections based on lies, it doesn't matter that science has proven them wrong longtime ago already, we as a society need to go through that debate again, so that everyone can once again see for herself that indeed, in real life the earth isn't flat at all.
And as soon as that party has half of the Senate, they deserve equal debate time anyhow.
That's because in a democracy, we obtain peaceful solutions of conflicts ONLY because instead of fighting, we debate.
That's why it's so outrageous that a US president shuts down a journalist just because he disagrees with him. What you're proposing is the exact same thing, bot in the other direction. You can't allow something like this in a democracy, in neither direction.
1
It is amazing how more Americans don't realize just how close to a authoritarian state we are, when the signs are all there.
Starting with the fact that until the recent midterm elections, this country was effectively controlled by one party that oversaw all three branches of government and a president whose sheer lust for absolute power often stood in direct contradiction to the U.S. Constitution, which is why he prefers rule by Executive Order instead of legislation, and is threatened by Democracy which he sees as a challenge to his personal will.
And the recent dismissal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a perfect example of what happens when personal loyalties go awry.
As a bona fide Trump supporter, Sessions was rewarded with his post, but as soon as he recused himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation he quickly became persona non grata and his fate was sealed.
This is something that has happened so repeatedly within the short course of Trump's administration, that it's no surprise someone like Miriam Adelson would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Brett Kavanaugh would get a seat on the Supreme Court, or Matt Whitaker would be tapped to become acting Attorney General.
Saying "YES" means a lot to this president.
And while having Democrats in the House may restore the viability of our checks and balances system, we're not out of deep water yet.
25
@N. Smith
We live in different worlds - I live in the rural south. What I see is a large population that YEARNS for a totalitarian government - Christian Sharia Law, in fact. I was witness at the polls to an elderly white man literally screaming about the Democrats being possessed by demons, and we needed GOD in the GOVERNMENT to get rid of them.
In other words, to a lot of "red America", authoritarianism is a feature, not a bug.
1
President Trump has redefined truth, what it means to be true in the 21st century. Embrace it. Thank you.
1
@Southern Boy8: Truth is not redefinable, and we literally cannot "embrace" a subjective, relativist concept of truth because our moment-to-moment functioning, as well as communication itself, depends upon the objectivity of truth.
12
@Southern Boy I may misunderstand, but I do not think Paul Krugman wants us to embrace, i.e. agree with, Trump's statements.
@Southern Boy
I don't think so.
I you believe he redefined truth, then what would his new definition be, concretely?
The entire world is laughing with his attempt to sell lies as being "alternative facts".
I can understand that Trump supporters just see this as entertainment and as a consequence love it, but at best the GOP will have been able to control DC for a couple of years thanks to its willingness to take betraying its own voter base with lies to a whole new level. In the end, as I'm sure you know too, the truth always prevails ...
1
The Con Don has shown a majority of Americans what the worst of humanity looks like and they do not approve.
Good Job, Good People of America. WE THE PEOPLE are better than this and WE will work tirelessly to purge The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren OUT of OUR governments at all levels.
Arizona just sent a centrist democratic woman to OUR U.S. Senate. The news doesn't get much better than that and shows how WE really feel. WE love OUR country - the one The Con Don is trying to destroy. He'll have to come through us and that ain't going to happen.
Now not. Not ever.
27
Taking democracy for granted allows people like Trump to use it to their benefit, teaching immorality as a suitable attitude.
30
The Republican party has been captured for decades by dark money oligarchs, including Adelson, who don't want the 'little" people to vote. In the Koch's mindset only the rich deserve to run the government because, after all, they are the "makers." The front men for this are guys like Gingrich and the dead Atwater who wanted to win at all costs. Hence the end of truth and the beginning of the culture wars. The fake president just rode this wave to its ultimate apotheosis.
32
@Joe Smith: Trump just bestowed a presidential medal on Adelson's wife in appreciation of all the enablement. Casino moguls play to human idiocy and narcissism like no others.
Trump blamed the california forest fires which have taken 44 lives, on bad forest management. It is obviously false, appalling and outrageous when 250,000 people have been displaced from their homes, thousands have lost their homes and many thousands of firefighters are fighting the fires. Trump is, and has always been, unfit to lead the nation.He is insane
29
@observer. Forest management esp. in the West is a complicated issue and has been back as far in my mind as John McPhee's article about the canyons behind L.A. It is haard for people to accept the idea that frequent small fires are better than infrequent disastrous ones. There are multiple stakeholders: developers, loggers, conservationists, recreational interests, and the government which is supposed to look after the interests of future generations. Of course Trump is not helping, but we need to get beyond finding someone to blame and take more serious responsibility, which is easier for me to say being out here in the wet East.
@observer: Trump must have missed the grass fires on the prairie last summer. Grass grows where tall trees are felled.
@observer
To Trump, "good forest management" = clearcutting all of it for the profit to big timber.
We've already seen this story before in the rise and fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
History will view President Donald J. Trump with the same level of revulsion and disdain.
Does he have his followers? Did Senator McCarthy?
This is the United States of America, Mr. President, and you will not succeed any more than did Senator McCarthy in dividing us.
27
@Didier
To this far away observer, he looks to be making a pretty decent fist of it so far. And that's on the back of the fissures in society that were already well established, particularly in recent decades, between the haves and the have nots.
If and to what extent you recover, remains to be seen.
5
"this is not a symmetric, both-sides-do-it situation"; the difference in degree is huge. Saying both sides do it is like saying that someone who steals a pack of cigarettes and someone who rapes are both criminals.
15
We like to imagine that Trump is the whole problem, and that this newspaper speaks truth to power. But in this country, if we REALLY spoke truth to power, the church would cease to exist. Wall Street would cease to exist. Maybe the whole gov't would cease to exist. The problem is a lot deeper than Trump, who is only the biggest tumor in an entire country which has had malignant, metastasizing cancer for a long time.
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@Stephanie Wood
I don't think that's a helpful point of view. We don't have to be Utopia. Modern democracies with a decent social safety net aren't paragons of truth and justice, but they're the best societies in human history. We need to fight the people trying to destroy that, not throw up our hands in disgust with everything.
390
@Stephanie Wood: Belief in God is something primitive we can shed, but the dismal science of economics will be with us for as long as people wish to make mutually-beneficial exchanges.
17
@Stephanie Wood
Dr. K. is right.
Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, which is a behavior typical to many progressives, has also helped to land us where we are now.
51
It is so very appropriate that Mr. Krugman's article is entitled "Truth and Virtue......), and is focused on some of his many egregious lies. Yes, he lied when he said that President Obama wasn't born in the United States, and he most probably cheats on his taxes and on his wives, and on and on and on. Almost everyday we hear and read stories of the hundreds of lies that come from his lips to our ears, and we seem to just accept this behavior because he's, well, just Trump. But this behavior is disgraceful and should show us how wrong and dangerous it is that he is our president.
Many, many Americans do not know that he was an abject coward when the call came years ago for him to aid his country, which he says today he loves so much and salutes everyone wearing a uniform to show his love of country. Today he is our president and the commander in chief of our armed forces, although he's never worn a uniform.
And yet he not only has never served in any of our armed forces, but was afraid to do so and became a draft dodger during the Vienam era. Someone else was sent in his place.
Today he is the only person who can, on his own, send atomic bombs flying towards a country he considers to be our enemy. It's his decision. God help us!
15
On Veteran's Day his attitude was apparently "they're not heros. I like people who weren't killed."
25
It's not just that they believe the Democratic Party, as a body, is illegitimate. They believe the different constituencies that make up the Democratic Party -- minorities, feminists, city dwellers, educated professionals, young people -- are illegitimate and should not be allowed to hold power.
If we tried to join their side, they wouldn't take us. Or they'd only take us if we agreed to a subordinate position. We won't.
17
To put Trump’s actions into perspective, ask yourself one question: ‘What does Putin want.’ An America with not political will, check. An American that doesn’t back it’s european allies, check. A broke America, check. A nationalist movement that weakens our democracy, check. Trumps propaganda, check. A weakened EU, check. The list goes on and on. Divided country, check.
16
and it's so odd how little people in little towns love Trump. In the middle of nowhere, not realizing that he's a stooge of the people who torment them. He's over a barrel with the Russians and thinks the oligarchs will bail him out. I believe he's in too deep for that. The rich know when to cut bait.
4
Take Ms. Conway's remarks the other day about the doctored film they released showing the interaction between the intern and the news reporter. She said that "the film wasn't doctored. It was sped up, like they do all the time in sports."
Actually, no, they do the exact opposite. It's called slow motion, so that people can better see what transpired in the play. In this case they wanted to make the reporter out to be more aggressive, rather than simply defending.
Frankly, I had to watch the doctored film a gazillion times before I saw that. What's wrong with me? Why can't I just go along? I don't understand it. It seemed that the President was being disrespectful, didn't want to answer the question being posed and took an extreme discourteous method to end the interaction. What's wrong with me? I don't understand it. The news reporter looked like he was just doing his job. I was interested in hearing the answer. What's wrong with me?
Now here goes the Democrats, that liberal Pelosi leading the charge. They want to see his tax returns and look in to his business and political dealings. They're over reaching. Why can't they just go along? The President is above the law and should be able to filch foreigners, as well as Americans. I mean, they say everyone does it. So, he got half a million $dollars from China to undo a ban on a Chinese Company. I mean, how does anyone really know that they wanted something in return. It was just coincidence. Why can't I just go along?
9
@Reuben Ryder: The whole Trump entourage seems to be in competition with each other to see who can convince the US public of the most preposterous delusion.
1
@Steve Bolge Let's hold a contest every day, kind of like a "Queen for a Day" kind of thing. Then, at the end of the year, we could choose which comment was the most outrageous. "Truth is not the Truth" seems to be the front runner this year, so far. Lies do not qualify. It must be a delusion, not just a lie.
Extremism in the defense of know-nothing is their virtue. That Trump so openly flaunts his disdain of learning and understanding the truth, he is their greatest weapon against the modern state that in its complexity can survive only on knowledge of grounded facts, science and reason. Trump is their big slurp of paranoia and delusion that reaffirms their place in the red village. Better to swallow know-nothing and call it great than to accept any responsibility for discerning truth from fiction. How convenient, the Trump, Inc. store of learning, the Jim Jones brand nationalized.
8
@Lou Nelms: Belief in God teaches that even the laws of physics can be altered by sheer force of will.
What is the essential ingredient, other than human weakness which all of us share? Fox News and the relentless social and mainstream media drumbeat of the wingnut right, driven at its core by profit.
I ask this as a serious question, both psychological and economic: is this the inevitable fate of capitalist societies? To be undone by unrestrained greed?
12
@Michael: Contentment has become unavailable at any price.
Ok, from now on, the Democrat politicians, local and national, both established and newcomers, MUST take a road so high, it’ll give the Republicans nosebleeds. Absolutely NO lies or equivocation, no fudging numbers or facts or other information. If you have skeletons in your closet, bring them out and either, or both, show them to the light of day and let it be known that you repudiate that behavior. Explain honestly, truthfully, and, If needed, apologize sincerely and, whenever possible, make amends thoroughly. The new Democrats elected, must be purer than Cesar’s wife, they must bring complete, if possible, honesty back to the American government. The public is sick, sick, sick of the lies and obfuscation that the GOP has wallowed in for the past two, at least, years. And, we don’t need to be more confused about anything about what to believe. The Democrats must show that they are clean. Truthiness is funny for Colbert, but not in real life. If that means dumping big money lobbyists, then do so, or if you really need their money, then tell them straight out you’ll take their cash, but will follow your own conscience. Maybe the politicians must bite the bullet and reach out to their supporters for small money help. Maybe if they’re honest, that small money help will come. Please, Democrat politicians, NO MORE LIES. Please.
9
@Kri: Humans divide on how to handle mistakes. The wise repair the damage and learn from errors, the foolish double-down in denial of their own imperfection.
So yes, Trump is an evil leader. But throughout history there are always evil despots waiting to seize the opportunity. For me it's the supporters of these evil men, who fall for their con out of fear and ignorance who the most blameworthy.
14
@Henry Crawford: People like Trump validate their cronies.
We’re all still processing the meaning of last week’s elections. It seems that in normal political terms the Democrats won big—they gained control of the House, defended a precarious Senate balance, and made giant inroads in many state governments. It’s what they needed to do. But from another perspective, the election was a terrible defeat for America. Given the depravity of the Trumpist party, the Democrats should have received 90% of the votes. That they didn’t was not the fault of Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton or any other favorite scapegoat Democrat. It’s the fault of millions of Americans who have become so spellbound by demonizing propaganda that they have surrendered their fealty to common decency and objective truth.
12
Not a single word comes out of Trump's mouth is true. He uttered close to 6,000 lies and counting.
5
There is a difference between good Truth and Virtue and bad Truth and Virtue.
During the 8 Obama years, we saw only good Truth and Virtue - with just a few minor (very minor) exceptions - spying on reporters, prosecuting government employees who leaked, sending drones to kill people around the world.
This was seen as good Truth and Virtue by the media.
During the Trump years (just 2 so far, mercifully), we have seen plummeting unemployment rates among blacks (a sign of racism on the part of Trump), we have seen plummeting unemployment rates among women (a sign of misogyny on the part of Trump), and we have seen plummeting public opinion of journalists, though none have been spied upon (a sign of tyranny on the part of Trump).
How brave of Paul Krugman to point out the change.
2
@Maurice Gatien: Obama might just now be taking office as a mature figure if he hadn't taken the bait to take down Hillary in 2008. He was played and set up to dangle in the wind. He should have let the lady go first.
I know this will be hard, but the entirety of the news media (excluding the Fox pundits, of course) should stop reporting on Trump's outrageousness and his Twitter feed. It plays right into his hands and gives him the stage and seeming importance that he doesn't deserve. I get so tired of hearing it, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one becoming "immune" to articles about his unworthiness, lying, and lack of care for anything other than himself.
You're preaching to the choir here since most readers, or TV watchers, are already in their respective corners in their opinions. Make it real as to Republican policy and its effects in the point of your articles. Why things aren't or may not work as presented - even report the good where you can find it. Something has to give here and it shouldn't be giving this man a spotlight that he doesn't deserve. Make him actually accountable, in real time, for his words and actions without all of the pettiness.
25
@Interested Reader Why do we have to provide accommodations for Trump to fit the Office of the Presidency? Why can't he just do his job correctly and allow the press to do their job? We shouldn't have to make so many accommodations. If people can't stand to read his Twitter feeds, then he needs to be fired.
3
@Interested Reader
Disagree. For sure, we need to talk about real policy; I'll be doing a lot more of that in the months ahead. But it's also important to remind everyone that we're not having a good-faith, serious discussion. My view is that Trump's Twitter is actually a gift: we get constant reminders of the snakes that actually infest his head, which helps correct the media's temptation to engage in bothsidesism.
195
@Interested Reader
My personal decision has been not to watch or hear him speak; I read what he's said and done so I can know what he's up to, but only that.
It's unrealistic to expect the media not to cover him; it's also dangerous. If Trump were to be ignored, I dread to think what he might do to get our attention; after all, to him, it's the reason for getting up each day. It obviously doesn't matter whether our response is positive or negative, it only matters that we are watching. This is not a complex man, merely a narcissist fraught with insecurity, but he is vicious, and what sanity he has appears to be deteriorating. He needs careful scrutiny, and it's our reporters and journalists who must do it for us, clearly his own party isn't.
14
If you’re a Republican or Trump Groupy (no Webster for that word) our recent election proves that Truth, Fact, Honesty, Fairness, Integrity and a host of other words that describe someone of real worth are NOT a part of their vocabulary. Let’s stop trying to convince THEM of Truth. Deaf, Dumb & Blind people need to be approached with a much different Genre. It’s called REALITY!
" Did you know that the state G.O.P. has filed a freedom of information request for information on interactions between election officials and, you guessed it, George Soros?"
And if there were none, then this is a non-event, right Krugman ?
On the other hand, ifthere were substantive interactions betwween Soros or any of his funded activist organizations then the entire process needs judicial review.
And you would be OK with that.
In fact - insistent upon it - because you are all about honesty. Right ?
Llies about the economics of Obamacare, lies about the favorable impact of jobs moving to Mexico from Ohio, lies about the economic fallacies embedded in the Paris agreement - you were fine with them.
Why so concerned now that a Republican is spinning things ??
@Objectivist Right--and that's why the Republicans, in pursuit of possible "truth," should also file FOIA requests on interactions of local election officials with Bigfoot, Darth Vader, the Transformers, and the TeleTubbies. You never know what damning "news" about the Democrats lurks out there until you conduct an "investigation"--ask Devin Nunes.
3
Actually, I've forgotten that freedom was just another word...
As we fall, though, freedom may become the only word we utter more than any other.
2
Well said Mr. Krugman. The media across the board needs to be more forthright and diligent in pointing out the lies and dishonest behaviors of Trump and the GOP. They need to be stopped. Only persistent truth will do that.
5
The Republican party first identified with Christianity but has now become its own religion. It is not a political party but is a religion. In other words, to even call it a party is "false equivalency."
5
The vast majority knows that trump lies and that he lacks morality. It doesn’t matter either way because he will not win in 2020. So why not take away his oxygen by presenting ideas, plans, hard evidence based constructs to confront the economic, social and cultural solution to change.
Or is it just easier to whine, contort, and generally act just as juvenile as our POTUS?
I’m an independent and I wish there were some voices out there that support good fiscal policy (yes that includes low corporate taxes) and equitable common sense social policy ( an empathetic yet sensible immigration policy for this millennium, not 1700s) that can once again make me feel good about our country’s virtue.
2
@Len, what makes you support low corporate taxes? On what economic basis did you conclude that this supports good fiscal policy? The reason the GOP ran like heck from the tax overhaul during the midterms is that they know that much of the public is aware of exactly what the corporations have done with their extra money, and it certainly has not been sharing it with the most of us. Much of the public is aware of what these giveaways will do to our deficit as well. So why are you still a believer?
@Len
"Or is it just easier to whine, contort, and generally act just as juvenile as our POTUS?"
I fail to see how expressing opposition to Trump's authoritarianism and willful stupidity qualifies as "whining," "contorting" and "generally acting just as juvenile as our POTUS," unless you are of the opinion that we should all just put up and shut up, which is strange coming from somebody claiming to be an "independent."
Somebody has to be the grown-ups, since it ain't Trump and his supporters and the spineless Republicans in Congress.
Is anyone truly surprised that the billionaire class only cares about the billionaire class? If you are surprised, why?
For me, I always understood that the greed is good class (billionaires) was all about, as you might guess, greed and that their greed was never good for the working class.
1
Now that Democrats have gained some power, they need to use it effectively, proposing ideas that Americans can clearly see will benefit them. I believe it's important, however, to bear in mind how talk radio, Fox and their ilk will try to denigrate them every step of the way. Thus, Democrats need to take these forms of media on and regularly debunk, undermine, belittle and mock them for their lies and deceit. Unfortunately, Fox, etc. has grained significant power in the past decade, most of it virtually unchallenged.
For example, Professor Krugman mentions John Kerry as a war hero in his piece today, but one of the more disturbing things that I recall about the entire episode of swift boating is that Kerry never really stood up and fiercely denounced it. Democrats need to do that now as they take on Trump, the Republicans, Fox and talk radio, but somehow in a manner that does explains, not alienates, prospective voters in the future.
2
Exactly right, on all counts. Paul Krugman ends his column with a dire warning that everything we are watching isn't just about truth, facts, or science being challenged, it is about the steady slide toward a totalitarian state. Last night I watched the news as an MSNBC reporter in Florida was taunted by a pro-Trump crowd. One man yelled "fake news" repeatedly. Others yelled and fumed in anger and exasperation, because their state was following the procedures for a recount demanded by law. It feels like our country is at war with itself, and as if Putin/Trump have succeeded in isolating our nation from our European allies, and from reason. It is also disheartening to have to wonder what will become of the extremely effective, lawful, Mueller investigation. I would love to see a hand recount of the Nelson/Scott race. I can't help wondering if Scott and Trump are desperately trying to hide something big. I believe in justice, and I believe in America, but I feel a relentless wave of anxiety growing and growing. It is exhausting, and it is real.
5
Too much talk about Trump. Why not just ignore him whenever possible —- alas, not often enough? Why do we have to hear about his tweets? Why not just ignore the whole beastly crew, and cover only what he and they do, not what they say? I know it’s hard to resist pointing out over and over how awful he is; and it sells papers and makes journalistic careers. But apart from that much of the coverage is not only pointless but exactly what the man and his supporters want. Quit doing it!
42
@AnnaS
Unfortunately, he is the leader of a lot of people. And we have to fight the constant temptation to normalize him. During the first year of his administration, every halfway presidential thing he did was met with shouts of "Today, he became president!"
And when it comes to ongoing attempts to steal the elections, reminding people who he and his party are doesn't seem like a waste to me.
164
@Paul Krugman
Exactly, and your op-eds are among the most outspoken rebuttals out there, so thank you so much for continuing to remind us that what the GOP is doing here is NOT normal and has to be denounced until it stops!
32
@Paul Krugman
Ignoring his words would make him less of a leader
There is no truth nor virtue in Trump. But his unsubstantiated claims of fraud in Florida's election may laughably backfire. If Republicans win the recounts for governor and senator, will he still be ranting about fraud, of will the recounts suddenly become legit?
4
The oligarchy and the religious right both found their political home with the Republican Party decades ago.
1
Again an excellent column! The issue of truthfulness, however, took a very significant leap last week when the White House and Press Secretary’s Huckabee Sanders released a severely and deliberately edited video of an altercation with a member of the press in order to justify removing his press credentials. I am shocked that this did not receive more attention and a larger challenge from the media. This is a step beyond falsehood: this kind of thing is outright criminal.
4
Let's not assume everything Mr. Trump and his ilk do is based on the logical analysis of what is best for them. Mr. Trump frequently says and does things that are not in his own best interests. I think he does those things because of a lack of self control and some personality distortions. Mr. Trump will go on TV and tell reporters that he fired Mr. Comey over the Russia investigation to list just one example. Logic has not found a home in today's White House, it's an ugly, annoying stepchild at best.
We like to say that he lies, but it’s more complicated.
Some lies are, I agree, just gross exxagerations. Some are unkept campaign promises. Some are willful efforts to mislead or distract. Some, I asumme are criminal falsehoods.
The most inexplicable are the ones that can be easily fact-chechecked, and serve no purpose.
In any case, we know he lies so we don’t have to wonder about it anymore.
The party of Trump and its supporters have elevated lying to a virtue. Any strategy that confirms a Supreme Court Judge sympathetic to anti-abortion laws is good. Sacrificing one's personal integrity to lie for the cause is heroic.
THAT is Trump. Climate science, supported by decades of research and producing reams of data in evidence, he calls a hoax. Voting he calls fraudulent, but provides zero evidence. Wow!
2
The Republican Party and its acolytes is simply put, the party of Narcissists. They look in the mirror everyday and tell themselves that they are righteous, they are beautiful and their Truth is the only Truth. There is no arguing with them because when you do, they deflect through false equivalencies and can not accept facts that do not support their belief.
1
Since the so-called Gingrich Revolution, the Republican Party has abandoned actual policy and governance in favor of egregiously dishonest propaganda and shameless pandering.
Trump -- and Trumpism -- is the inexorable result after a generation of the Republicans' political debauchery.
1
I am a progressive public policy advocate, former public interest attorney, former newspaper reporter, and political junkie who champions a progressive political agenda.
As an American citizen, I am sick and tired of hearing rational Americans whine about Donald Trump’s authoritarian behavior. Trump is an inexperienced politician who seeks to compensate by replicating the domination he exercised over his Trump business empire in the executive branch. For Trump to pull this off, the truth must be negotiable.
Our Constitution is considered one of the greatest founding canons in history because it has proved flexible enough to address every contingency America has faced from the American Civil War to women’s suffrage. Does it provide us with sufficient guidance on how to check a President who believes truth is not an unassailable fact but a negotiable factor to be accepted or discarded depending on how it affects his professional or personal agenda?
It does. It’s called the implied power of congressional oversight of the executive branch. Rational Americans who are justifiably alarmed by President Trump’s often dangerous behavior must contact their U.S. congressional delegation by telephone, by email, and by letter to request oversight of this President. So, rational Americans, please stop whining and become active!
5
One day he will no longer be president.
All the people he has denigrated and demeaned will remember. The people who have made uncomfortable moral compromises and choices in search of power and control will blame him, not themselves.
He will die lonely, alone and despised.
1
@CSadler, I agree with your last sentence but would add "and rich." for him, and for his heirs, that will be enough. it's all that matters to them.
Reap what you sow. Arguably, this contempt for facts and truth originated in postmodernist questioning of Enlightenment rationality. "Many postmodernists appear to deny that an objective reality exists..." "Postmodernist philosophers in general reject the concept of truth......argue that truth is always contingent on historical and social context rather than being absolute and universal.."
For example, if the left can claim that one's sex is a "social construct" then the door is wide open for the right. Reap what you sow. Two can play at this game.
People need to organize. Join a group like the ACLU, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, the Sierra Club or any progressive group you believe in. If you already belong to one, join another one. I know that we all have limits on our finances, but membership to one of these groups is probably less than $10 a month. Come up with the money by boycotting Walmart or some other company that advertises on Fox News or donates heavily to the GOP. I don't know what good this will do; one donation by the Koch Brothers can exceed hundreds of thousands of donations by ordinary people. But we need to do more than posting things on social media and expecting anything to improve.
56
@Dave
Indeed. Organized action is key. The nasty right got so far in America in part because it was tightly organized, although I think it's now paying a price because its apparatchiks are so intellectually inbred. For what it's worth, Democrats did so well in the House partly because they surmounted the old cliches and in fact were far more focused and disciplined than the GOP.
111
@Paul Krugman: Trump's crony empire lives on his table-scraps. There are careers in right-wing dissimulation, if one is so inclined.
3
@Dave Donate money to viable Democratic opponents to GOP candidates. The Sierra club is all very well and good but they aren't going to win elections. Give to individual candidates or to the various umbrella campaign committees.
4
It seems Gov. Scott wants us all to believe that a missing crossed T, and an undotted I amount to voter fraud. And further that timelines established in state laws are sufficient to turn large #s of votes "illegal". (One must wonder at the 'one size fits all' of requiring a county containing 20% of FL's population to finish its count at the same time as counties with less than 1%, why didn't the law attempt to establish, say, time needed to count 10,000 vote blocks, then tailor dates due accordingly?)
Seems to me the 14th Amendment trumps all that hooha. While state law may be determinative for STATE OFFICES, like Governor, the entire country has an interest in a Senate race. And the controlling legal principle is an actual vote from a real voter must be counted. Beyond which the idea that a percent or two of actual votes must be eliminated for the threat of fraud that amounts to less than a 10 thousandth of a percent is clearly a scam that tilts the balance of justice way beyond belief.
Finally, I'd say, the virulence of the GOP reaction suggests they know of, and fear the public revelation through HAND COUNT, something they had counted on to succeed. Again...
2
It's probably more in danger now that the election results favor Democrats. They've known for years that demographics were going to favor Democrats and their own policies harmed their only reliable voting blocs. The only thing left for the GOP was to make things up.
It will not surprise me at all if 2020's election is suspended
2
Adelson is one of the rich people who are pushing the country toward the Trump catastrophe. That said the Democrats are a dizzy bunch of conspirators. Their mainstream has been taken over by neo cons of foul odor. Gorbachev was particularly somber on his 87th birthday. Its not just Trump and Bolton its Pelosi and Schumer.
Every day young and old Americans alike are being taught the ways in which one can be successful and get away with meanness, lying and cheating. In the unlikely event that politics return back to normal, the damage of a lower morality would still last for decades.
When the economy eventually turns and means become scarcer again, the uglification of America will become even more apparent. Vulnerable people and our environment are in for rough times.
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@Brewing Monk
I completely agree with you...!
I think the US system is strong enough to survive Trump...even if he is re-elected.
However, I fear the PERMANENT damage caused by his behavior you mentioned. Young people will learn from Trump what it takes to get ahead (lying etc), and act accordingly. The moral fiber of America will never be the same.
Perhaps, I am naïve to think that it was not always like this (bad behavior leading to "success")
7
@Maison It ways existed to some extent but it took a Trump administration to make it seem both normal and OK. No difference between heading the gov't or being a mafia boss. No sense of shame. It's just business.
5
@Brewing Monk While I agree wth your observation, I think your ordering is incorrect.
Americans are being taught loyalty to team first, for example, with kids through after-school sports, through lifelong allegiance to their university's football or basketball team, through idolizing professional athletes as celebrities. After a decade+ as a pro, athletes are still identified by their college team; where else does that happen?
Then the groundwork is set that allows for meanness, lying and cheating in the name of competition and winning.
As an adjunct thought, how are Americans young and old being pervasively taught across the years to compromise for the common good? They aren't.
2
Paul Krugman's assertion that our democracy is still very much at risk is valid. The 2020 election could result in the blue wave many of us were hoping for this year. But if it materializes, will the 40% of Americans who are loyal Trump supporters accept the results?
12
How do we learn about truth and virtue? One important way is through the liberal arts. We read great literature, and find in those stories ambiguities and depth of human experience that go beyond simplistic black and white thinking. We study history to see connections to our own time, as well as the history of religion, and how various cultures sought truth and virtue in the divine. And critically, we study philosophy, much of it devoted to understanding logic, rhetoric (and rhetorical fallacies), and the nature of knowledge.
Unfortunately, many Republicans seek to reduce education to mere job training. Liberal arts are considered frivolous. While job training is indeed critical, such efforts by Republicans also serve other purposes: they help corporations that support the Republican Party, and they keep people from learning about ways to see the world beyond conspiracy theories and rhetorical fallacies.
One can argue that pre-WWII Germany and Austria - paragons of literature and philosophy - were coopted by similar forces threatening America now. While that may be true to a certain extent, some of history's most outspoken anti-fascists were artists and thinkers. Perhaps we need to reconsider the importance and value of a liberal arts education in our society, as we wrestle with questions of truth, virtue, and epistemology.
373
@jrinsc
Great comment. (I would throw in cursive writing as well, which develops young minds a little patience and the power of words)
It's a dichotomy that the youngest generation is the one we are counting on to save us ? Aye ?
66
@jrinsc Great comment. I was just thinking that yesterday, but you beat me to the comment board. Despite my highly technical education, I was so lucky to take some great courses in philosophy and sociology etc. They have served me well.
Our rush to STEM educations has consequences!
84
@jrinsc Wholeheartedly agree. And we need to include what was called "Civics" education, in my time: the study of how our Democracy works, the value of our vote and the basic structure of checks and balances of our government so young people can recognize when things go out of balance. Without that knowledge, you have no idea when a subtle action will have far reaching results that move the country toward autocracy.
102
I would like to see the term 'conservative' to be no longer used in regards to the Republican party. There is nothing conservative about them. They have shown no respect for any of the institutions of our system of government. They have done all in their power to destroy norms that were developed during our nations life time. In fact they act as a subversive force to all of our democratic institutions. They can no longer be viewed as 'the loyal opposition'. Those days are over and the Democratic party should start acting like it and acting on it.
477
@Harley I completely agree with you that there needs to be a way to distinguish Trumpians from old school conservatives (ah the good old days when Republincans insisted on fiscal responsibility, keeping government out of people's lives, and policies that support small business). When a party morphs from what it was into something new if needs a different name. I have a few suggestions...
17
@Harley Well said, and absolutely accurate.
6
@Harley - As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, whatever conservatives claim the word means, in practice conservatism means protecting and enhancing the wealh and power of the currently wealthy and powerful. Trump only cares about his own wealth and power. But Republicans generally are devoted to preserving the wealth and power of the Kochs, the Adelsons, the Mercers, Freiss, and the rest of the libertarian billionaire boys club.
14
I'm becoming more convinced every day that our only real defense against voter suppression, the environment, illegal executive orders, falsehoods to numerous to count, etc., is our federal judges, and only them.
Here in Georgia, as Florida, recounts, and provisional ballots are being ruled on by judges and they seem to always favor the voter, not the government. Then the XL pipeline put on hold, and the government being ordered to return the children to their parents. The list goes on, our firewall is our judicial system, and organizations like the ACLU.
They are the defenders of our Democracy,
528
@cherrylog754
Don’t get ahead of yourself. Trump and McConnell will soon dispense with that independent federal judiciary. Can’t have judges refusing to toe the party line, now can we?
119
@cherrylog754. But we have a new acting Attorney General who believes that the federal judiciary is a “lesser branch” of government and should not be the ultimate arbiter of what is or is not constitutional. And a GOP Senate that methodically blocked confirmation of Obama-appointed judges and under Trump has been methodically packing the vacancies—including those of the Supreme Court—with far right and highly partisan judges.
Our judicial firewall is under siege, and if Trump, the GOP and some of their biggest donors have their way, the federal judiciary will be transformed into nothing more than a rubber stamp for whatever furthers the power and agenda of our current president and the party supporting him.
Of all the many things Trump and his cronies are doing to undermine our democracy, their concerted erosion of the federal judiciary’s integrity and independence is the most terrifying.
136
@cherrylog754
In case you haven't noticed Trump and the Republicans are busily appointing judges who share their views.
54
Like other commenters here I am a bit afraid that Trump will declare martial law if he's not reelected in 2020. Some have thought he won't be renominated, but from this point at least it looks like the GOP has so sold its soul in pursuit of its long-term goals of gutting the safety net and gripping absolute power that I don't have a lot of hope they'll correct their path by nominating someone else. It does seem as if quite a few people are waking up to how badly voting has been rigged by gerrymandering and the efforts to suppress minority votes in general, but it remains to be seen if enough can be done to repair this situation before the 2020 election.
16
@Georgia Lockwood
Can you (or anyone) tell us what the mechanism is for assuring the transfer of control is after a presidential election? Suppose Trump is voted out in 2020 but claims the tally is fraudulent and refuses to release his hold on chief executive power? I know this sounds like I'm doing a Chicken Little routine, but I'm concerned that Trump's attacks on the main stream media, on voting rights, on voting accounting, and on the Justice Department have the ultimate goal of Trump permanence .
2
@Georgia Lockwood
From the beginning of his "presidency," I have believed 45 would not leave the WH if he is not re-elected in 2020. And I have always believed he would declare martial law. Perhaps he would just rely on his base, which probably owns most of the guns. Regardless, even if he wins in 2020, I think he will refuse to leave in 2024, declaring himself King or dictator, or whatever.
1
Virtue. There's an interesting word to use while discussing Donald Trump. The ancient Greeks, the ones who invented democracy, had a lot to say about virtue. Their thoughts on leading an excellent life, striving to be virtuous, it's all Greek to Trump. The things he values - wealth and fame - and the things he has been willing to do to achieve them, reveal a complete lack of virtue. The man is pure vice. Through and through.
1090
@Rob Aristotle, 2300+ years ago, defined moral virtue as "a disposition to behave in the right manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess, which are vices."
The ancient Greeks had many views on virtue, including whether or not there was plenty to go around -- as long as commitment to the common good prevailed and no one was piggy -- or whether it was finite and gaining or losing it was a zero-sum game, where for one to win, someone else must lose. It's clear in which Trump believes.
Aristotle also knew the realities of his day, and ours: "The inferior always seeks equality and justice; those who dominate them take no thought for it."
36
@Rob We've heard the word "evil" used infinitum. I don't like the term because it's used so much in a religious context, but M Webster defines it "morally reprehensible". There are certain acts that are evil, but I see a consistent lack of morals in his acts & speech, so therefore, he is evil ... textbook. Is he as evil as Hitler? Of course not, but he is not good. He's a horrible person.
3
@Rob
brief, eloquent, perfect. Thank you Rob. Can you get me a job in BC? I love it there and I am leaving.
5
Talking with Trump supporters is like talking to someone that lives in a fact free world. They somehow don't comprehend the lies of Trump and refuse to believe he is lying. That is an insurmountable problem.
23
Yes, the advent of Trump combined with the GOP means we are indeed there. At the extreme end of extremism where reality can be whatever they need it to be at the moment. In other words where reality no longer exists. Where actual verifiable dyed in the wool facts are only as good as their benefit to the party. And no, the other guys are not even within light years of that extremism.
The political right for all intent and purpose has embraced an avenue of deception so absurd and surreal that it is literally the antithesis of democracy.
As I see it though a glimmer of hope exists because the election imo made it very clear that Alice in Wonderland politics and actions are not acceptable practices as determined by the majority of sane citizens. Providing we do not become complacent we can over the next few years restore democracy back to a respectable place. Reason honor and respect for humanity no matter what side of any border will prevail simply because that is still who the majority of us are.
13
Mr. Krugman is preaching to the choir. We need a deluge of editorials and articles that appeal to the independents who, for the most part, dislike Trump's behavior but generally think his policies are helping the country. The Republican Party is particularly vulnerable when it comes to the economy, if explained in laymen's terms. The Tax Cut is akin to borrowing everything you can and spending it for immediate gratification with no plans to repay it except by declaring bankruptcy, which the U.S. government cannot do for obvious reasons. Everyone can understand that, can't they?
43
@Sledge
Only months after the Tax Cut, the Republicans were trying to pass a balanced-budget amendment. Talk about Orwellian doublethink.
@Sledge
I can think of no policies that are "helping the country" but rather, a full scale erosion and elimination of democracy at the Republican Party's behest. Their negligence at what has happened in our country since Trump was placed as the puppet head and vile mouthpiece has impacted the entire planet in ways too many to count. The scary part is that his supporters buy into the blatant lies and continue to support the beginnings of authoritarianism. Nothing, not even factual evidence, can convince these people otherwise, even members of my own family who somehow cling to the false thinking that trump is doing well in the office of President. Scary times indeed, the wake up alarm has sounded for months now.
@Sledge
you can't have an editorial swinging independent voters, because at its heart this article as many of Krugman states the same thing over and over:
"Democrats, being human, sometimes have biased views and engage in motivated reasoning. But they haven’t abandoned the whole notion of objective facts and nonpolitical goodness; Republicans have."
Dems are no better but that qualifies Reps as worse ( because he says so, dismissing Dems as humans sometimes failing, thus Reps are failed humans, which is another way of saying Deplorables). And this is not a convincing argument, because it's based on his moral perception, since thre is no real coparision between for example Adelson' medal of freedom and Biden'one awarded as VP by his POTUS, Obama, while both were in charge!
This article is good only to pander Dems and confirm their bias.
1
We seem to be in a parallel universe here in which the large number of people who voted for Trump and will do so again in 2020 neither understand nor care about what is discussed here. There was some time after the 2016 election at which political commentators though some of the Trump base might be concerned about issues like nuclear proliferation in North Korea or offending France and Britain. Now it is clear that issues like protecting male rights from #MeToo and repelling the dangers of the caravan are all that this group, which includes almost half of US citizens, cares about. Thoughtful people warned Trump that he should talk about the tax cuts, economy, trade wars, etc, but he is well aware that these issues are not of any concern to his very large base. Yet MSNBC natters on about climate change, support for NATO, and all sorts of other issues that are not of any interest to the bulk of voters in this country. Yes, we are in severe danger of going the way of Venezuela, but all this logical discussion is of no consequence.
8
@WHM So we shouldn't be talking about climate change? I don't care if Trump voters don't believe in it, I care that it seems to be accelerating in a very scary way.
30
@WHM I attended an environmental college. Climate change is real. We had the best visiting scientists from around the world giving lectures. It can't be ignored. Putting your head in the sand won't stop it. We have to take measures NOW.
17
@WHM
Why be so defeatist about 2020? The evangelicals will have no reason to vote for Trump in 2020. They already got what they wanted: a Supreme Court majority that is likely to overturn Roe vs Wade. His deal withe evangelicals was always just that, a quid-pro-quo deal.
2
The problem has grown much beyond critiques of Trump’s personal behavior or critiques of Republican conspiracy theories. Such commentary is just what he’s looking for. They keep him as the center of attention. The much more serious problem for this country is the effect these sorts of behaviors have on a large portion of the population. It is beyond just disagreement with the opposition. The nature of reality in American society is changing. Unless some politician or national leader can figure out how to stop this slide into a brutal fantasyland, we’re in big,big trouble.
22
@Iamcynic1
We're not in "big, big trouble" because of how the electorate votes. Tuesday's results prove this. We're in trouble because of corruption in the WH and the threat they pose to democracy.
1
The 'Age of Trump' is something to behold...and to carefully consider. Not just because of what Trump is but also because of what Trump reflects.
In a past 'Age of Republicanism,' GOP candidates and officials told subtle lies about the economy, borderline lies about tax cuts, infrastructure plans and social programs, and they turned to deniable-surrogates to tell more egregious lies of ad hominem attacks, character assassination, amorality, etc.
The 'Age of Republicanism' sought to present an appearance of a reasonable person who could subtly mislead the public. And the public was often misled. Voting for what proved to be, to the public's detriment, to the country's detriment.
However the present 'Age of Trump' establishes new norms for the GOP and their voters. Trump proved Republican candidates and elected officials need not be gentle with their lies. They need not establish deniability for amoral attacks. To the contrary, the more frequent they lie, the more egregious they lie, the more morally destitute their lies, the better. Trump proved to Republicans that truth, facts, evidence, virtue do not matter...at least to their voters.
And that brings us back to the Trump/GOP audience. We used to believe they voted Republican often because they were misled. We now know with certainty that they knowingly vote for people who lie to them. They choose lies over truth. They are not misled by Trump or the GOP.
Republican voters experience schadenfreude from their own demise.
20
Every day, it’s something new. Paul, no mention of Trump’s tweet bashing California for the wildfires? I never thought we’d have a sitting president who publicly ridicules officials and first responders, and most of all actually threaten to withhold federal aid, in the middle of a natural disaster and crisis unfolding in the US, which has killed dozens, wounded hundreds, and displaced many more Americans. This is leadership?
Why does 40% accept this behavior as normal? If the unemployment rate is low and stock market high, do we just ignore everything else about our government and politicians?
92
@Joe Arena It is absurd isn't it that such blatant deception by elected officials can be tolerated let alone not considered criminal.
2
@Joe Arena
When someone lies 170 times a week, you can't respond to everything.
About the 40%: partisanship is quite a drug, especially when it goes along with state media that give many people a false view of the world. Herbert Hoover got 40% of the vote in 1932, and he didn't even have Fox News.
72
Some Trump fans say their greatest satisfaction comes from thwarting liberals—even liberals who try to achieve liberal benefits for people as a whole.
9
Lying for Trump is a means of business and presenting himself, and it has been hard-wired into his brain for so long it's as natural as breathing.
But, a perplexing paradox: A sizable number of his "supporters" know he is not just a chronic, but incessant liar. But they don't care and admit as much. [The GOP members of Congress really don't care, as long as there's a Trump base to keep him (and them) in power.]
It's hard to believe, but that's where we stand.
20
None of this is a surprise at all. Trump is a poster child for the Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Hence, the ONLY standard he uses to judge anything is how it impacts him personally; all else is irrelevant to him. Thus, donations to Trump & support for every word of his mouth matter more than doing right for the American people.
He is able to get away with this due to the unwavering support from GOP leaders who put party ahead of country. As long as they can win the next election, they are more than happy to ignore or rationalize away Trump's steady stream of wrongful policies, outrageous lies, & malicious attempts to divide the nation.
I do not expect Trump to change his ways, nor do I expect that any GOP leaders will discover a sense of integrity or human decency. All those who aspire to a higher standard of government must work tirelessly to decisively defeat these scoundrels in 2020.
29
The one good thing about Trump is he's becoming so awful that the electorate pushed back. Prior to him Republicans were just as bad but had a polished veneer. Anyone who even asked about WMDs were called traitors, Bush/Cheney knew how to silence critics. Reagan and Bush, Sr. were like grampa's, hard to challenge. Trump is so off the wall that anyone with an ounce of reason or cares about more than SCOTUS overturning women's rights or tax cuts running up the deficit understands how swallowing up decency has consequences.
So as horrid as he is, midterms set a record for participation, and that's a great thing. His desperation is showing so it'll be bumpy but his no holds barred ride is over. The House is undergoing a makeover and they will set a higher bar.
It's likely Trump needed another influx of cash to pay lawyers and with Russian and Saudi money under scrutiny just now, sold the nation's honor to the Mrs. Adelson.
13
@Kathy
Amidst all the election confusion something interesting happened. Georgia's 6th district, which voted Republican in the most expensive Congressional election in history last year, voted Democrat this time as a backlash to Trump.
1
Conspiracies theories make stupid people feel smart. That's why so many Trump voters believe them. The more convoluted the theories are, the smarter the Trumpsters feel for having "figured it out." Never mind that they weren't lies to begin with and there was nothing there to figure out. But they like the feeling of having stumbled upon an alternative explanation, so they want to play it up as if it's a real discovery and brag about it. It's really quite sad.
11
Superb column by Paul Krugman. The use of outrageous fictional statements without a scintilla of evidence to support them to serve the agenda of the powerful is ancient, as is the scapegoating of the "other" or "infidel". The ritual of sending a goat into the wilderness to purify the sins of the people, an outlandish tale to be sure, gave us the word "scapegoat". Now other humans have replaced the actual animal, and the bleating is done in malicious stentorian tones by men.
Authoritarian regimes that replace representational democracy could not succeed without the voters that fall for the fictions, and voluntarily hand over power to those with no morality. the anti-golden rule people I call them. That is the eternal human tragedy, the triumph of hate, greed, ignorance and superstition.
What must a child think being taught ethics in school and seeing adults behaving in such destructive ways in the world?
16
The GOP has no other choice.
Every state they control winds up ruined, like Kansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
As for the federal level, remember the Great Recession, that happened under GOP control also.
Their policies haven’t worked in the past and they won’t work in the future.
PS- 9/11 was on their watch too.
15
The mess that the Republicans and Trump have created can only be settled by some type of revolution. There is no way to fight these people cleanly. The constitution, our existing laws, ethics, and honesty mean nothing to these people. Trumps red state enthusiasts won't pipe down and the majority of the people are being handled by a minority of voters. It's just wrong, so bitter protests will arise. I don't see any other way around these dark times.
2
The values espoused by the architects of our governmental structure and processes may be stressed these days but to call for "revolution" is very much an over-reaction. Nothing but bad things come from violent thinking and action. Be very careful of what you wish for.
Hopefully this current election will set us back on the path of facts. Hopefully we are one step closer to ending trump’s reign of charade and deception. Hopefully the Democrats will remember We, the People and the First Amendment as they regain their power. Hopefully a new and improved opposition party will rise from the ashes of the GOP. And hopefully the next trump will never rise.
34
@MLE53
We now have a chance for that outcome. But only a chance. We're in much better shape than we were a week ago, but in vastly worse shape than anyone could have imagined in, say, 2000.
79
@Paul Krugman Paul, don't you think that the media, and it's penchant for reporting the sensational vs actual facts and news is also somewhat responsibe for the rise of Trump?
13
Liberals generally like and trust people until given reasons or facts not to.
Conservatives are generally wary of people and tend to see the darker sides of human nature. They generally want proof up front before they can trust.
Perhaps conservatives have less trouble with political shenanigans because they have less trouble being dismissive of people they do not like anyway. If you generally distrust people fighting fire with fire makes sense.
Conservatives seem to be more individualistic than liberals, self interest before the common good. Perhaps it is easy to use dirty politics to protect "my interests" from assault by those "others".
Conservatives tend to look for authority, be it strong leaders or religious dogma. Liberals can tolerate conflicting thoughts in their head until they decide.
Conservatives value order and want to get in line, With liberals it is like Will Rogers said "I don't belong to an organized political party, I'm a Democrat".
4
Addiction to conspiracy theories has been with us since the very founding of this country. For religious and political conservatives only a vast conspiracy can explain the degenerate state of the world -- as they see it.
Richard Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" has never been equaled in its exploration of the paranoid right. Sean Wilentz's "Forward" to the 2008 edition could have been written yesterday and is a wonderful essay in itself.
Sadly, some things never change.
3
What Krugman is saying is that Republicans under Trump are really not much different than before. So the pretend the evolution, the basis of modern biology, is controversial; or that we can ignore rising sea levels or the threat from lagoons of pig manure. So what do we do?
The press needs to rethink presenting Republican flacks as if they are presenting a valid point of view. They are not.
9
"The Leader". Scary words, Dr. Paul, that harken back to the 1930s in a dictatorship that blew up the world. "Truth isn't truth", said "The Leader's" personal lawyer. "Alternative facts" are lies, too. "The Leader" lies like a rug. Bush and Cheney lied like rugs, too, and sold America down the river. Lying is a character flaw in politicians and despots. We are witnessing the downfall of democracy under president Trump. O.K., Mrs. Sheldon Adelson was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her support of Republican causes. Do-Re-Mi. "Fake News" is the lying press in Trump's narrowed eyes. Wolves -- Trump's "very fine people" -- are beginning to gobble up "conspiracy theorists". Democrats haven't yet given up on objective facts. Democracy is in danger. Objectively speaking, Americans are looking forward to many more rainy "Bad Hair" days ahead for Trump.
5
I doubt Pres. Trump would read more than five comments after a Krugman (or anything in Times) editorial. Mr Trump has lowered our status in the world. This was clearly evident when in Paris the other day. The respect he was given was given because he is the president of a very admired country, but in spite of what he has done or said. I'm proud our country will be able to withstand such a miserable person as is our president.
5
A good read. The most disturbing part of the lies and rejection of facts are the voters who vote against their own interest. In a local race in FL voters voted for a man who does not live in their district and failed to show up for several debates. They had a great alternative - local boy who grew up in the district; left to go to college, law school, and the military; and he lives in the district. His one flaw was the D after his name.
9
Mr. Trump would not be in office if it were not for people who more or less ignore his behaviors so as to get laws that they want. He would not be in office if there were not enough people to attend his rallies, defend his behaviors and positions and vote for him.
Mr. Trump is politically a disaster for this country. But he could not do it without the help of his supporters and the feckless GOP congress.
Focus on the supporters.
9
I took a hard look at the photos from his trip overseas this weekend. Trump is really disturbed. We keep hoping that he will behave like a normal person, but that is never going to happen. He is not a normal person. There is something so very wrong with him and we drive ourselves crazy when we hope he will behave in a moral, truthful, empathic, caring manner. He is incapable of being what we hope he will be. He will never ever be remotely Presidential. He will never ever be right in his mind. There is something very wrong with him.
Let’s stop being shocked. He is so predictable. Expect the absolute worst because that is what is going to happen. We should hold on to anger and outrage as that is a natural human response to his humanity and his behavior. But we waste energy being shocked or surprised. it is too hard on the nervous system. He is exactly who we see with our own eyes. I repeat. He is not normal.
10
In a very poor use of the presidential pardon power, Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich. Clinton was widely and justifiably criticized for pardoning Rich. But then, along came Reality TV president Donal J. Trump who has used the pardon to thumb his nose at political opponents and as a demonstration of his power to frustrate the justice system and prove to everyone that it is, he, Donald Trump who determines what is and isn't justice.
Now, he is poisoning the presidential power to award the Medal of Freedom by giving the award to people who clearly don't deserve it (Ms. Adelson a partisan political donor) and people for whom the medal is meaningless (Elvis Presley and Babe Ruth). Both men were hugely successful in their chosen fields, but neither one distinguished himself in a way that would warrant a Medal of Freedom. To Trump everything is Reality TV; it's all part of a gigantic clown show in which he shows the world how powerful he is by making idiotic gestures that diminish the Medal of Freedom and the use of the pardon power. And it doesn't stop there.
Perhaps one day a Republican president with judgment as poor as that of Trump will first issue the 45th president a pardon followed by a Medal of Freedom finally accomplishing what Trump is already trying to do -- making both presidential pardons and the Medal of Freedom nothing more than jokes in very bad taste.
6
I read recently that people who strongly believe in conspiracy theories suffer from high anxiety. Seems to me the same can be said about the entire GOP.
4
Perhaps the greatest threat to our democracy is that we now have a large segment of our society, the Trump loyalists, who no longer value facts, honesty and integrity. They choose to ignore Trump's countless examples of dishonesty and his never-ending demagoguery. We all have reason to be concerned about the future of our country.
11
Absolutely right, but we still have to wonder how Trump is allowed to lie so often and so brazenly, and still hold an approval rating far above what it should be. But the answer is clear: the right wing media, led by Fox News, fully embraces the principle of partisan reporting which favors him. Just recently, Chris Wallace denounced Jim Acosta as "disgraceful" for daring to challenge Trump over a typically outrageous lie in a news conference. But he found nothing wrong with his colleagues Hannity and Pirro appearing onstage with Trump at a campaign rally. Getting Trump out of office remains the top priority. But draining the right wing media swamp of such partisan liars is essential for the long term health of American democracy.
11
The main danger of our democracy is the GOP's assault on democratic institutions. This dangerous practice, led by Trump, could end in a lack of trust in the system. If the lack of trust is massive enough, the USA is up for grabs.
It is not that hard to end over 200 years of a Republic. The Romans had one for over 400 years and. it ended badly. I just hope that Donald does not mean Augustus in Latin.
2
@Aurace Rengifo
Good -- and true -- comment. But we're well past "could end in a lack of trust".
(Incidentally, "Donald" in Latin refers to a well-known body part, symbolized in Trump's new Medal of Freedom Award design by a copper circle.)
Trump is a businessman. Accusing him of lying and ignoring objective fact is way over his head. You've got to appeal to his salesman side and get him on something he understands like 'truth in advertising'. Remember there's no such thing as bad publicity.
1
The most generous interpretation of both Trumps' and Republicans mindset towards governing these days is held in the line "They don’t “really believe” anything, except that they should get what they want." They are all like petulant, spoiled, children stomping their feet and crying not fair when things don't go their way. And yet, amazingly, 40% of the American public goes right along.
4
Politics in this country has always been full of lies and distortions of the truth. What's different now is that Trump's base is willing to accept the truth of anything that supports their preconceived beliefs and reject anything that is inconsistent with those beliefs. Trump and the Republicans are just exploiting this to the fullest.
2
Donald Trump's behavior in the last few weeks is bizarre even for Donald Trump
Trump spent Veteran's Day inside the White House. On Veteran's Day, presidents have traditionally visited wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital or laid a wreath at Arlington Cemetery. Not Trump.
To many, Trump abandoning traditional duties is bizarre. Why go to Paris for remembrance of the end of WWI - if you aren't going to take part in the remembrance ceremonies?
I think Trump is really scared of the Mueller probe - where indictments are pending.
But beyond that, I think Donald Trump is sick & tired of being president. He ran as a lark so he had a big stage to insult Barack Obama - but reportedly told his friends he would be "out by October" - meaning out of the campaign after the first primaries. He never expected to be successful.
Trump's never been interested in history or foreign policy. He's now trapped in the most demanding job in the world - a job that has destroyed the health of a number of past presidents. Trump's never been one to study, prepare or work hard. At 72, overweight & inactive, he bit off way more than he can chew with the presidency.
My belief is from now on, a fed up, tired, angry, worried & depressed Trump is only going to do what he feels like doing - and we can all just stuff it.
I think Trump hates this job & since he knows he won't run in 2020, there are no consequences for not showing up if he doesn't want to do something.
This is going to be weird.
5
@fast/furious - I agree that Trump is not likely to run in 2020, for a variety of reasons. But he has already started gathering campaign money.
What happens to all that money if he doesn't run? Is his 2020 campaign just another way to rip off Americans?
Wouldn't surprise me.
2
The sheer scale of this President's grift and intellectual dishonesty staggers me. Trump's approach to government has more in common with Don Corleone than it does George Washington...or indeed any of the 44 Presidents preceding him. Daily, Donald J. Trump demonstrates that corruption begets corruption.
4
In Wisconsin Scott Walker was decisively voted out of office so the plan now that his been set in motion by the Republicans is to curtail the powers of Governor. Tony Evers. They are being very evasive about what they have in mind and met last week in private. Reminds me when North Carolina Republicans took away most of the power of the Democratic governor. This really makes me sick. I was feeling happy that maybe Wisconsin will come out from under this terrible grey cloud we’ve been under for eight years but instead I’ve seen much of the rest of the nation go the same direction.
3
Donald Trump's Harvesting of America stops when adults respond as adults...and that begins with the Media responding as if his tweets weren't as "newsworthy" as what DT is doing behind the smokescreen of his tweets. Report the Real News...not just the staged strategic lies. I see the media beginning to do that, -- and I think it is the way to proceed. The majority of Americans hate this man for the right reasons and the majority of Americans want him gone. DT doesn't know when to stop or to quit, so let's yank the rug out from under him once and for all because the majority of Americans want nothing more to do with him. DT has had two years to prove himself and it is not the majority of American's fault that DT took his "cup of sand" and made a complete fool of himself, and far worse. The majority of Americans know that Politics is a dirty business, always was a dirty business, but DT is too dirty and too obscene for even that world. To hate him openly by reporting the truth of what he is really doing behind-the-scenes is not only justified, but it is he duty of everyone with the intelligence to see the truth. DT doesn't have any rights any more. His lies prove that. And that is exactly how he needs to be treated because he is the Enemy of the American People.
4
By now, Trump’s fundamental dishonesty is universally accepted by both Democrats and Republicans. The only difference is that Republicans are more than happy to accept Trump’s lies as a condition of remaining in power. This is why you’ll see Republicans twisting themselves in knots trying to come up with a whatabout, a bothsides, a strawman, or simply a wave and run. They will do anything to shield themselves from the knowledge, the fact, that the leader of their party is a liar and a fraud.
It’s exhausting defending the truth from Trump’s lies. It must be double exhausting spending your day trying to believe them.
3
I have a Trump-supporting friend. We can no longer talk about him or our friendship will end. He's an atheist, as am I, but he worships Donald Trump the way an evangelical worships Jesus. Before we stopped discussing politics he told me he knew Trump was a liar and that he said crazy things, but as long as the stock market was up (my friend is worth $4 million) he didn't care. I said, "So you give Trump credit for the stock market rise. Will you blame him when the market goes down?" He looked like a dog being shown a card trick. He was mute for a while, then said, "It all depends." This is what we're up against in America.
9
'What's going on in America right now isn't politics as usual.' No, it's definitely not. It's simply and straightforwardly anti-American.
Beyond anything Joe McCarthy ever dreamed possible. But, believe it or not, those were the better old days when at least some semblance of bipartisanship allowed and ultimately brought
this false, cowardly, despicable and treasonous behavior to an end. Yes, Mr. Krugman, it's way too early for anyone opposing this juggernaut to take a bow, but almost too late for everyone to stand up against it. Where are the pillars of our country when we need them the most? You know who you are.
1
Vietnam and Iraq were the outcome of lying government with morally challenged leaders from both parties. The moral character of a leader is vital. Character is destiny. And without moral underpinning the corruption of power is an existential danger. Krugman is absolutely correct to note that democracy is in peril.
4
Every Trump-focused column like this one (and there have been thousands in the New York Times since inauguration day 2017, and dozens just since last week's midterm election), which dodges the palpable lack of a credible opposition to this arrogant and incompetent president -the worst ever in US history- strengthens his base and perpetuates his disastrous misconduct in the most powerful position in the world.
When will this madness end?
How difficult is it to do what any forthright, informed and concerned citizen in any democracy is supposed to be able to do?
Articulate an honest credible strategy for winning back power, and tangibly correcting the damaging and reckless policies suffered.
4
Comments of Sage and Keith Johnson hit the mark. This is a call to every caring, freedom loving person out there. We cannot be complacent in the face of injustice. We are called on to live our lives with a direction to making the world a better place for all. It needs to be about much more than 'ME', sitting back, or throwing up our arms. Learn the truth, and act based on that knowledge. We cannot afford to waste our time here.
Do not go gently into this Dark Age
Do not go gently into this dark age,
Of loss of justice, decency and right:
Write - ignite to kindle virtuous rage.
Though rogues testify a path to bondage
Their words die at the dawning of the light:
Detest, protest, contest their language.
That the good are scarce is an old message
And until they act, right gives way to might,
As falsehoods swagger on the twilit stage.
Hold out for heroes, for their advantage
Come the night’s end and the morning’s sight,
As rights are freed that lies took hostage.
Then those who wrest the best from damage
Can sense the kind old sun grow warm and bright
And verity itself glow fierce with homage.
10
@Keith Johnson
You should actually read the poem you allude to: the first line is: 'Do not go gentle (sic)into that good night'. The danger of trying to seem smarter than you are is that you may end up looking like a clown.
While you're at it, you might study the elements of meter.
It's more than a little ironic that the party that despises postmodernism in all of its forms should embrace its moral and epistemological relativism so wholeheartedly.
2
Republicans have been shedding any claim to values and morals for several years and are now down to their core values of hypocrisy, lying and cheating. Some of the ones they have left behind in the dust are honor, charity, valor, fairness, integrity, honesty and patriotism. Why do you think there are so many ex-Republicans? And I dare any Trump supporters to contradict me on that.
2
Buckle up. When both the Mueller report and the Democratic leadership in the House produce evidence of Trump's impeachable behavior, and on multiple fronts, the man is going to go berserk.
4
I think it would be interesting if Krugman could make two lists, One list would be all the GOP’s history of contravening the US Constitution and the other list with the Democrats.
1
I’ve said it from the beginning of Trump that he is simply a mainstream Republican without the dog whistle. Instead of pretending he is a rational human in polite company he can’t br bothered to put up the facade of a Mitch McConnell who he pretty much shares a similar world view with.
The sooner the rest of us realise this simple fact the better, we must make the Republicans own Trump and his enablers in their party lock stock and barrel. Pretending that their are rational objective people in the current Republican Party is a fools errand. The positive to all this mess is that like their leader they are a 100 percent predictiable.
2
What does everyone expect?
We have, at the helm of our ship-of-state, a child who has never worked an honest day in his life. Born with a gazillion dollars in the bank, catered-to, fawned-over and so utterly privileged that he likely believes that the sun actually revolves around him.
And what are his "accomplishments" so far as our leader?
A tax give-away to the wealthy and corporations. (Any republican president was going to pull that off with control of the congress.). Internment camps for children and hyper-ridiculous language regarding refugees and immigrants. (Any two-bit tyrant can come up with that.). A tariff war. (Which is beyond ridiculous.)
And that's about it. No infrastructure reform, no real immigration reform, no education reform, no coherent economic policy. I could go on.
And the most bitter pill to swallow in all of this is the fact that people admire and support such a person. I'm very afraid.
12
The formerly prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom has become just another political bauble under Trump. I'm surprised he didn't try to give it to himself. Or his mini-me, Ivanka.
I hope Mrs. Adelson has the intelligence to reflect that her 'honor' was bestowed by a man who refused to offer his respects to real American heroes because he didn't want his make-up to wash off in the rain.
Laugh at him. It's what he hates and fears the most. Do it for your country.
8
For a long time it has been unpatriotic to inconvenience wealth.
Ask not why there is poverty, but why the wealthy don't have more.
That has been the special message of the president's party for as long as I can remember.
Its such a stupid, obvious, twisting of reality, you'd think we'd have figured it out by now.
1
Remember the story of the boy who cried "Wolf"? Soon the villagers lost all confidence in his cries and did not turn out when a real wolf appeared.
When will the general public ignore his words as mere noise? At least some GOP leaders now seem to be ignoring his calls of voter fraud.
1
I can't vouch for Miriam Adelson's good deeds, but the idea that there is "no heroism... no good works, except those that serve Trump" is not only absurd - it's an insult to every Medal of Honor awardee under this Presidency and, by extension, an insult to every military veteran in the country. It is sad that Krugman can't even refrain from this kind of petty and annoying, hyper-partisan hyperbole at a moment when we have just paused to honor all veterans on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
@Schumpeter's Disciple
Trump couldn't even be bothered to visit Arlington National Cemetery on Veteran's Day and is giving the wife of a major GOP donor the Medal of Honor for dubious "accomplishments," and you're complaining about Dr. Krugman's criticisms? Good grief.
@eheck - Good grief, you missed my point. Look, I may think it was self-serving for Pres. Obama to award the Medal of Freedom to his own VP Joe Biden, but I don't irrationally extrapolate from that and say EVERYONE he recognized during his Presidency (including Medal of Honor recipients who showed enormous valor in battle) was picked for entirely self-serving reasons. So yes, Krugman is making a ridiculous generalization that demeans all Trump awardees and insults all veterans.
I agree Trump should have done more to commemorate Veterans Day here after he returned from doing so in Paris yesterday.
I totally aggree with the overall perspective on Trump and the GOP. But I do not think that their assault is best described as attempting a redefinition of truth as "any assertion that helps Trump". Of course, Trump still means what everybody else means when they call an assertion true: that it corresponds to the facts. The assault is not on truth itself, but on the idea that for many subjects there are experts that are more qualified than others to know the truth about those subjects. Its an assault on expertise, not on truth.
2
The professor's perception and warning is entirely correct. We are on the road to not just fascism, but totalitarianism. We've been here before and unfolding before us are the familiar signs and marks of progression.
First truth became so-called and subjective. This delinking of truth from truth prepared the way for the subjective theory of value. Values become whatever benefits those in power.
The road ahead comes into view and we know where we're going.
Once truth and value becomes subjective then good and evil also are subjective. Moral standards are unnecessary and we are ruled by emotion; there is no moral judgement.
There is no law, no justice, and crimes cannot be punished. We are now in the realm of power rules.
Authoritarianism becomes totalitarianism with its coerced ideology. Thought that does not support the arbitrary values decreed by power are punished.
Now we clearly see the work camps at the end of the road.
41
Economics has a story-telling side that Paul focuses on to balance the numbers and formulas of the discipline. These stories are important for politics--for the authority behind the numbers.
Politics, after all, determines the process and path of money. I see this when people pounce on children selling bottled water to earn money for summer camp, and authorities shut the children down. Even this story as I tell it says the state has gone too far, is too intrusive--yet in ballot counting, which in GA will determine support for small businesses and expanding healthcare, supporting rural hospitals, and reducing student debt, I will tell a different story, of the lady whose ballot was returned in the official state-provided envelope, as "undeliverable."
Economist Paul Craig talks about how these stories influence political and economic behavior. In Trump's time, the stories have as much impact as the numbers. Think of his recent lies: a 10% middle class tax cut was waiting, tariffs (a tax!) would save jobs, corporate tax cuts would boost wages, the Fed is wrong (raising rates 2.5 cents on $10). His oppositional-defiant stories result in negative effects on markets.
14
The award of this medal to Mrs Adelson was astounding. It devalues the meaning of the award and if existing recipients are ticked they should be.
36
Trump is always looking for the angle that benefits him. That's his modus operandi. His use of the term "the best deal" is directly related to not that which benefits the country but him. Either from the money he will get or the the loyalty he will obtain. Now he has transferred that behavior to a craven Republican party who see it as a way to stay in power.
20
The wonder is that Trump's approval ratings remain as high as they do. It suggests that truth and genuine virtue aren't held as widely shared values necessary to sustain a democratic republic. This problem will remain after Trump has exited. What then? What happens when there emerges a more effective version of Trump?
35
@donald.richards
Trump's approval rating ping pongs back and forth between about 36% and 42% which is probably a rough count of those with what can loosely be called right wing authoritarian or totalitarian instincts which are a stew of racism, misogyny, nativism, nationalism, conservatism and a lot of other ism's. I suspect this is replicated in most societies.
15
@John: Yup, the “basket of deplorables”. Hillary was right. And she was too nice about them. I bet she and her family received scores of death threats from these “very fine people”.
Unfortunately our “leader” is outdoing himself daily. I never would have thought our European allies or is it ex allies are seriously talking about creating their own military. Meanwhile the GOP Congress does zilch while getting paid well with great benefits.
29
The more frightening thought than what Trump and his party are doing is that so many of our fellow Americans either don’t recognize the consequences of their actions or more sinesterly embrace those actions, knowing the consequences.
I was appalled to hear a family member express support for Trump’s tax bill, not on any of the purported reasons given by Trump and the GOP of creating jobs or improving the economy, but rather on the joy of seeing east and west coast liberals being penalized with a heavier tax burden.
This is where Trump’s America is today!
They truly don’t care even (or especially) if you do!
55
This is a little off topic, but since you mention the heavier tax burden placed on people in states on the West and East Coasts, I thought I would point out that those of us in the Northeast and the West Coast do still have a few tricks up our sleeves. On the advice of my accountant, I am making all of my 2018 and 2019 charitable contributions before the end of this year. For my situation, that will mean that I can once again itemize my deductions, despite the cap that Republicans placed on state and local taxes and charitable contributions of $10,000. In my case that means that I will get a tax deduction of approximately 10% of my charitable contributions. It's not a huge amount, but it's something.
11
Yep. I made my 2018 contributions on December 30, 2017 for the same reason.
2
@Joe T - "the joy of seeing east and west coast liberals being penalized"
Spite, punishment, vindictiveness seems to be among the strongest of the Republican Christian virtues. You are not the first to have heard or commented on the mean spiritedness infused in what passes as Republican positions or policies. It is easy to find in the support for Republicans and things that they support aren’t simply because they are “for” things but to make other suffer, punish them for some transgression of being “liberal”, “from there”, “gay”, “female”, “not Republican Christian”, etc. You even hear it in their “pro-life” stances some of it comes from the position that pregnancy, childbirth, and child raising are a deserved punishment for a wanton lifestyle.
I remember the interviews with Trump supporters during the 2016 campaign when it was pointed out how Trump or Republican policies could hurt them they were OK with that as long they believed it would upset or hurt them liberals. Some of those were right here in the NYTimes comments section.
Of course, what your family member forgets is how many non-liberals live on the east and west coasts. Get outside the cities and the same rural dynamic holds where there are lots of "red" districts. And we’ve seen in California districts and other places even where their taxes went up because of where they live they still voted Republican.
The danger to our Democracy lies with the current Republican Party, not just with Trump. The most dangerous person in that party is McConnell. He gives protection from criminal charges to all Republican office holders./
111
@tom, we have to start with his wife Elaine Chao and her father "In at least a dozen interviews with Chinese and Chinese-American media outlets since her nomination, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has appeared beside her shipping magnate father, whose company carries goods between the United States and Asia, and who has given Chao and her husband at least $5 million in the past 10 years.
In many of the videos, James Chao is introduced as founder and chairman of the Foremost Group shipping company, and, in discussing a 2016 biography about his life, speaks proudly of his daughter’s role as secretary of transportation, as she sits beaming by his side."
23
@tom I have always felt disgusted by McConnell's habitual and transparent lies. My reaction grew stronger as he shamelessly justified not even interviewing Judge Garland on the flimsy ground that an election was due at the end of 2016. McConnell's agenda is to make the US a totalitarian one-party country ruled by a Republican minority through voter suppression and gerrymandering, supported by a diminished and neutered Supreme Court.
I never thought I would live to see this.
1
I think the most dangerous person is not McConnell, but the Republican voter. And there are, still, millions of them.
As an aside, props to Ms McSally in Arizona for not protesting the full electoral count and acceding to the final result. I’ve read that she took a good amount of heat from state and national G.O.P. figures for ... doing the fair and (lower-case) democratic right thing. No surprise there, I suppose.
52
And she may be going to be appointed to McCain's old Senate seat when interim John Kyle steps aside. A very soft landing for McSally.
Just another in the endless instances of Republicans catering to their rich donors. Tax cut, anyone? The Republicans never, ever propose any programs that benefit the average Americans and plan to do away with the valuable social programs that the Democrats have managed to cobble together over many years. It is amazing that so many voters fail to recognize their true intent. There would seem to be a lot of boneheads out there.
37
I am perhaps as guilty as you, but I'm trying to change my habits and part of the reason for the depth of the resistance of poor white working-class people to the Democratic party and their glee in the destruction of trump is that we continue to call them names like "bonehead".
In Plato's "Phaedrus." there are several interesting arguments against the practice for writing. Call it the "disembodied word" not directly connected to a living, speaking human being.
In Ancient Greece, you had to defend your ideas in the flesh (they wore togas) and stand before men who knew you and had fought with you in the ranks. You had to bear your wounds and speak as a living human being in the moment. They held themselves to a very high standard.
One can only imagine Trump saying the things he says in this manner, relying on his physical courage, way with words, grasp of the facts, rhetorical skills, the power of reason, his personal reputation, and the aura of a lifetime of service to country, society, and humanity –– standing out there for everyone to see.
But, alas, no... Instead, we have the King's New Clothes, threadbare to the point of parading everything we never wanted to see, only to have the crowds of children screaming that the king is naked and the crowds of mothers trying to shush them lest the king get angry and the "men" in the crowd bearing MAGA hats.
Macron makes a plea for political ethics and Trump thinks its an attack against his presidential person. Perhaps it is.
29
@Al Mostonest
since Solon and his invective to re-conquer Salamin island, i can't honestly sign any high moral standard for every simgle politician of ancient Greece.
If you mean otherwise that Greeks evolved into high moral standard people, i could not sign that either since the return of Democracy after the government of the Thirty Tyrants executed Socrates in 399 BC, that is in the middle of the classical age for Greek.
After that Alexander razed many cities of Greece to extend his reign , 330 BC around.
It think you should dig deeper into history of classical Greece.
The philosophical history of Greece is another and distinct thing, such as is the philosophical history of America.
Please put the merit where is due, and not overextend its profit.
1
@Al
I wonder how long it will be before the ancient world (and all of its values) are wiped away by the Texas school book depository? (another reason that it is imperative to turn Texas blue as soon as possible)
Alas, the world is just biding their time (2 more years) and crossing fingers that America can come back to its senses and remove republicans (and in particular this President) from the world stage.
Exit stage ...left.
2
@Alex p. I'm impressed with your grasp of Ancient Greek trivia, but I made no claim as to their high moral standard. The Ancient Greeks were men, after all. Unless, of course, you give some due to the hardness of life in those days, the rudimentary nature of doing just about anything, and the basic necessity of any leader to stand out there in front of other men and to deliver. And, of course, going to war entailed walking or riding. If you've read Ron Chernow's "Grant," you might note the many hours the general spent in the saddle over four years. Even among the morally fallible Greeks, Trump would have had difficulty sustaining his "drive-by" snarkiness and absurd conspiracies.
This excellent can all be summarized in a two words:
White Power!
That's the end game. A white, patriarchal, christian, society, run by an aristocratic wealthy elite. That's what the GOP leadership wants. That's what the GOP base wants.
The desire for this result, which is the way things used to be when America was truly great according to the GOP, overpowers truth and virtue. Stuff like truth and virtue gets in the way when you are on an authoritarian power grab.
No dictatorial, oppressive regime in history has ever been the least bit concerned with truth and virtue. They all had that in common. Some were communists, some fascists, some had no political framework except total one man rule authoritarianism. But none of them had any use for the truth and the virtue it requires.
This is where Donald Trump has taken the GOP and the GOP gleefully followed him in their quest for power. They all say that they don't like Trump's style, but they like his results. That's exactly what I'm talking about.
52
The GOP became a religious organization in the late 1990s, early 2000's and what we now see the is result of religious fervency in their politics. We have separation of church and state for a reason, but now one of the parties has morphed into a religion. Not good.
53
Krugman says, "Democrats sometimes have biased views and engage in motivated reasoning"? Does he just like their bias more, or are there differences?
Some blame this ambiguity of truth and virtue on feminism, post-modernism, or Kuhnian philosophy of science. But doing so misses important distinctions.
Lets differentiate Cold Hard Facts (which can be determined to be true or false, such as that Krugman is an economist, Idaho lies north of the equator), from Constructed Facts (terrorism is due to poverty).
Let's also differentiate factors that persuade us due to Deep Psychological and Social factors (results of gender, education, upbringing) from more Objective Factors (changing temperatures of the oceans, size of a crowd).
All people make occasional mistakes about cold hard facts, and a simple "Oops, I made a mistake" is a reasonable response.
Constructed facts are related to definition, perspective, and hypothesis. They may seem flaky, but these are what actually underlie science, culture and civilization -- striving to get these right -- are they useful, do they approximate our lived predictable reality?. These require more than a true or false.
Understanding the deep factors that get us to see the world as we do is of a fundamentally different order -- allowing us to question the very grounds of our reasoning -- leading to humility and appreciation of our fragile humanity, not to a license to lie.
Consider what Trump/Republicans are doing in light of these.
17
So is the statement that U.S. Steel is reopening eight plants, for instance, a “constructed fact” in that world of yours?
Because to the untutored eye, given the company’s one-eye-on-the-SEC-fueled denial of any such plans, it looks like what children would call a lie.
Or at least an alternative fact.
1
@David Miller
Such a statement is a claim of a Cold Hard Fact, that is either true or false. There is no ambiguity to such a claim.
1
Krugman is correct, but the Republican response to the midterms is not "an attempted power grab by a would-be authoritarian movement, which rejects any opposition or even criticism as illegitimate." Rather, it is an effort to retain power by an increasingly authoritarian and minority Republican party that adopted its anti-democracy strategy decades ago. Regardless of its source and current figurehead, the Republicans have become increasingly and dangerously untethered, unhinged, undemocratic and un-American. Republicans, as currently constituted, self-defined, and led will not and almost certainly can not change their approach and image.
43
@Mike Boma Both yours and Paul's views share much in common. Don't fall into the trap of accentuating differences, the current Republican playbook; accentuating those differences until they include stereotypes and lies. Find common ground! Your view is still yet another characteristic and historic feature of the GOP march toward misogyny, racism, xenophobia, an authoritarian political economy that limits civil liberties, and sets some crimes and classes above the law.
I see the role of race in its rise. We are all right. One major feature of the truth is truth can accommodate differences and is many faceted. Lies are limited and rigid. Like Trump's latest: Democratic wins made the stock market indexes decline.
10
@Mike Boma
Oh, for God's sake, don't gild the lily.
There are two levels to the Republican Party.
The upper level -- Trump, his apparatus, legislators, cabinet, et al are simply thieves. They are stealing from the public in every respect that you can possibly imagine. "Privatize" indeed... funnel the money to oligarchs and oligarch-wannabes who pass their cuts back in the form of donations, key "jobs", etc.
The second level is comprised of Morlocks (look it up, Trumpians). These mindless knuckledraggers are awarded the rights to bigotry, hate, having their disgusting crudities and lack of taste praised, etc. They would like to think that they are benefiting financially from Republican larceny (they are not... stupidity is the keystone of Republican support. Pet pigs, basicallty, when needed... bacon when not).
I have met many heroes in my life. After being medevaced from Vietnam in 1968, I worked as a corporal, in Okinawa's transit facility, where Marines were deployed to combat units, and returned after their tour was over.
They didn't get to stay "home" when it rained. They didn't get to walk away from an op because their feet hurt, or they were having a bad day. No, they trusted their leaders and served as best they could in an insane war.
Courage is a funny thing, it really doesn't show in a lot of faces, as some of the most courageous people on earth did their time, and tried to return home to have some sort of a life. But never forget how so many died, or were emotionally hammered, so that America could have free and fair elections.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
117
@Hugh Massengill
Thank you for your courage, sir, and for your gift of seeing true courage in others. I didn't serve in the armed forces, so I rely on the words of people who did to give me some inkling of what it was like. I am grateful for the truth, as awful as it sometimes is..My father served in the Pacific on an LSI ship, which became a hospital ship when the wounded started coming back from the beaches. He told us some of the things he saw, and had to do. I though he was a brave man, but you wouldn't know it without spending some time with him. Good luck to you.
12
Why do many people support Trump and his lies? Is it because his views coincide with their prejudices? Partly. It may also be that the folks on the other side have their own prejudices but don't or can't realize it. To overcome this divide requires both sides to listen to the better angels of our nature - it did not happen in 1860 and is not happening now.
12
@bob ranalli Come now, this "requires both sides" is just rampant nonsense.
"Both sides" are demonstrable NOT the same in their inclination to listen to their "better angels"; one side, the Republicans, certainly have more, and louder, Devils whispering in their ears...
@bob ranalli: Disagree. Bothsidesism doesn’t apply here. That’s the crux of Paul Krugman’s argument and I agree with him. Listening to lies and giving them consideration as if they were on a par with facts, enables them. You have to reject them like the Biblical Jesus rejected Satan whispering in his ear.
Here’s a question about vote by mail. The results from WA and OR and CO came in fairly early. I am wondering why Arizona took so much longer? Is it because they did both VBM and polling places? NJ gave voters the option to vote by mail this year. It was easy, gave you time to read the ballot and fill it in correctly, and the mailman picked it up from my mailbox. Seems to me that is what every state should be considering.
28
@ACS, from what I understand, in Arizona, if you mail your ballot and it is post marked election day or earlier, it is counted. That means that ballots could keep rolling in for up to a week, depending on where you mail your ballot from.
10
@ I will be the first to admit that Florida is another country. Ironically, I voted by mail in Florida yet votes are still being counted. I don't understand it. I didn't have to show a drivers' license to vote by mail, yet if you go to a polling place, you have to prove who you are. It is crazy and every election, Florida shows its ineptness.
One thing that has been clearly exposed in these midterm elections is the weakness of our whole electoral process. We should all agree on a more transparent method of tallying votes, which means we should abandon electronic ballots, machine counting and any part of the system that can be easily manipulated. Otherwise, no one will be able to trust the result. I can already hear the howling about 'cheating' when Trump comes up short in 2020.
35
@LeGEE I would imagine that having to wait for several weeks to count all the votes would be a problem. In addition, it is not any more difficult to destroy paper ballots that to destroy electronic ones.
1
@LeGEE
Current systems can also be hacked in SUPPORT of candidates, as was almost certainly the case in 2016 by Trump's good buddies in East Putinistan.
Try to remember that with the imposition of Citizen's United, much of Trump's base is already paid for by right wing oligarchs. It's perhaps the best example of high-level marketing -- money = superior marketing and higher quantity of marketing... if you don't understand this fact you don't understand the very essence of America. It works, unfortunately, and the bad guys taken full advantage of it. Unlike the good guys, they could care less whether their claims are true.
Others getting a medal of freedom include retiring Senator Hatch. He fits right in with his support for hampering the DEA in combating opioid addiction and protecting so-called natural substances from FDA regulation.
I would note there have been no national medal of science awards since Trump took office, consistent with his lack of interest in science.
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@Evan
It's really a debasement of the award, just as Trump debases the presidency. These awards during the Trump era will have asterisks next to them. If I were Miriam Adelson, I would reject it; in the long run, for her children, it tarnishes the family name. After all, it was bought. But then I consider her husband and realize that their family name is already tarnished. So what does she have to lose? Her soul, perhaps, but ... like the Adelsons would care?
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@Evan
Ohhhh, I wish you hadn't said that. The path from "fake news" to "fake science" is likely to be very short and very slippery.
1
"Our democracy is still very much in danger."
Maybe the author is right, maybe not so much!
How many times the American democracy has been declared in danger by the opposition parties?
It did happen with Lincoln and FD Roosevelt and lately with W Bush, just to cite the major examples.
The point is that maybe part of the American electorate just love the political personality and simply do not care so much about his speech coherence or truth. They just wish he fulfills his electoral promises. It's populism, isn't it?
Finally, if the American democracy did survive the abusive regime of the W Bush years, it will surely pass through this more bizarre than authoritarian Trump term, notwithstanding the obvious casualties of his administration.
3
@renarapa. It is not lost on me that you are writing from Belgium. "Neutral". The events of 1914 do serve as a history lesson for the world. Whether it be a foreign power or the danger from within, best for those who love democracy to protect it at the first signs of danger. Facing down authoritarians is never an easy task when it comes to knowing when and how massively to react. I am not yet convinced that (Trump) this too shall pass.
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@Mark. The historical comparisons are sound if made between things/events comparable.
The 1914 European situation is far away from the current American political status.
4
@renarapa This Administration represents a new kind of assault on Democracy. As soon as the GOP made it clear that they would block any initiative proposed by President Obama, Senator McConnell signaled loud and clear that partisanship was more important than governing. He further paved the way by refusing Merrick Garland his due. And until the new Congress is installed next year, the party of lies and obfuscation still control all houses of government. Yes, there have been signs of this previously, but never, I believe, was it meant so fervently and meanly by those in power.
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Any progressive college liberal arts class for at least the last 20 years has taught students that the political, social, gendered world is created and framed by words..."privileged binaries" per critical theory. The trick was to assert the set of terms that you wanted. Therefore - identity politics and culture wars. The Republicans just said OK if that's the playbook - game on and the blowback is "fake news."
5
@David
I have been teaching college philosophy courses for over 20 years, and one of my most fervent goals is to convince students that there are objective facts. I'm not denying that there are truth relativists among college faculty, but there are many among us who insist on drawing a line between nuanced consideration of cultural influence and wholesale rejection of the bare possibility of facts.
5
That's very amusing, that you blame progressives and liberals for the outright election fraud, gerrymandering, and denial of reality practiced by the republican party. Well, I'm not going to let you use that dirty trick without pointing it out. You can't reframe our current political crisis with lies.
1
That’s a gross generalization. The vast majority of college liberal arts classes are taught with nuance and without the framing you claim. The culture wars argument is just designed to cover up your own duplicity and the misdeeds of the people you support.
1
The Democratic response, when the next Democrat is elected president, should be to give the medal to Soros. Watch the Republicans go ballistic as a result. The reality is the Republicans have rigged the voting system , not the actual votes themselves. They know it. It takes actual work to gerrymander. It's not a passive process. And because the Democrats win the total vote by 7% the process to win has to be done with precision accuracy. That leads to close votes. Give it time.....the house of cards Republicans are building that will lead to big time cuts in programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security will be wildly unpopular. Infrastructure (remember Trump's campaign promise to spend $1 Trillion on infrastructure ?) cannot be done without massive cuts. Or taxes will have to rise. The base (no money for nursing homes, drug treatment or mental health treatment- all massively underfunded now) will then have to decide what they want. More overdoses, more suicides, more mass killers, and more elderly living at home requiring the children to care for them, no infrastructure rebuilding, or higher taxes. The Republicans have already decided it won't be the wealthy who pay for any of this. So once the base is on the hook.....they can blame Hillary all they want. But it is Trump that has made sure they will come up empty handed.
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Paul adeptly explains why the White House can deny using a obviously doctored video tape, lie about the position and person of the “young intern” (who is a deputy press assistant who earns $130,000) who tried to snatch the mike from the reporter. The White House then framed the action as if she were struck on the arm. White House personnel denied the facts and the truth.
That's important to understand: the White House, Trump, Sanders, Conway, every cabinet head, every loyal supporter of Trump's will blame, shout conspiracies, inflict pain, demagogue, manipulate, flag wrap crimes, to justify power and greed at any cost—the full range of global assaults perfected by the Russians who Trump much admires—lying is too small and simple an allegation to describe the enormous arsenal with which Trump attacks truth by a million cuts, whether ballot counting, footballing, race baiting, women hating, or paying for silence about sex he denied, whether crowd sizing or fire fighting, terrorizing, rebuilding after disasters, or border protecting, the loss of truth is more than collateral damage; its destruction and erasure from human transactions is the whole pillar of purpose for Trump's team.
Paul understands the old paradigm's approach of one-lie-at-a-time fails to express the new context: that lying is the universal ontology underneath the epistemology of Trump's oppositional-defiant approach to government and moral order. Lying shares his divine order with power and greed.
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A revised close: "For Trump, lying is a divine virtue, along with power and greed."
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@Walter Rhett You hit the nail right on the head.....so sad but true! When will courageous men and women simply stand up and shout out "enough, leave us".
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Remember Walter, our side, the side of the angels, sticks to the truth as best we can. I did a search for the identity of that person identified as a White House intern, and could find no identifier other than as an intern. You did not include any source to verify that she actually is a deputy press assistant earning $130,000. If you have one, please respond with it now, and if not, think about including a source for extraordinary claims that you make. The other side will seize on the smallest discrepancy to claim a global conspiracy.
What is defining elections in the US are close calls between the two parties in too many states. This is gambling, the business which Adelsohn and Trump master so well. The two party
system with high cost campaigns is taking us down the cliff, perhaps slowly but, however, steadily.
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@berale8
Well Adelson yes, Trump not so much.
"They don’t “really believe” anything, except that they should get what they want. Any vote count that might favor a Democrat is bad for them; therefore it’s fraudulent, no evidence needed."
Dr. Krugman, thank you for your honesty in reporting on the moral side of GOP corruption, not just the "merely" economic.
You are so right: democracy is on the line in Trump's war on truth
i did see that bit about the Adelsons and groan. Now high achievement is defined by how much money flows from casino revenue into Trump's campaign coffers.
Is there no institution, ceremony, commemoration or remembrance he president won't soil by his behavior and choice?
Apparently not. Trump wishes to run by fiat, not policy. in his quest to achieve defined outcomes (only he should win) he's using every weapon on the fascist's toolbox, from claiming liberals are stealing elections to insisting he's the only one who can fix things.
Its ironic that boorish behavior stole the show at the WWI centennial, not recognition that the global political climate is ominously reflecting a repeat of the forces that led up to that war.
.
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In the weeks prior to the election, ads on Arizona TV were essentially limited to ones about the Sinema/McSally battle. That's all we saw. I don't know how much money was spent in the end, but it must have been a staggering amount. It was raw inundation. I suspect that if Democrats hadn't spent the money, Sinema would have lost. And I know it was an important race, even globally, because the BBC is headlining the outcome.
The BBC is also headlining the California wildfires. With all the problems America faces today, climate change is truly an existential one, and not just for America. Maybe we should try the same kind of ad barrage for that? It's too bad no one is willing to pay for it -- at least for now, anyway.
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@Blue Moon
Any claim of symmetry, "both sides do it", is clearly untrue. The Republican position on climate change, a truly existential problem, is based on misunderstanding and lies, and is truly a crime against humanity. For the last 15 years, I have not been able to understand any vote for republicans on this basis. Their choices will certainly impoverish our grandchildren, and have a significant chance of devastating our entire civilization.
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@HM
People care mainly about the economy and jobs. Climate change is still nebulous to many, those who aren't directly affected by the worst storms; they still have food to eat. We're not so good planning for the long-term.
My point is that Democrats spent so much money on the Arizona Senate race. Would they retake the Senate? Highly unlikely. Impeach Trump? Highly unlikely. Get a lot of progressive legislation through because some GOP Senators would vote with them? Highly unlikely. So why? For a moral victory. Just to show people that they could do it.
I agree that Democrats acknowledge and are working to combat climate change, while the GOP denies and dismisses it: they lie about it. Essentially the GOP has given up on it and is just living for the day.
The carbon tax is the best idea, economically. We need to create jobs through construction of a new national power grid for wind and solar. Maybe more nuclear? But it will be economically disruptive. Trump gives voters the sugar high of immediate gratification with low unemployment and a booming stock market; others get to clean up his mess down the road. It's inherently tough for Democrats being the adults in the room. We need something like a constitutional amendment to force politicians to *continually* act to mitigate climate change in spite of the persistent flux with administrations.
We need *money*, every day, for PSAs to drive the point home! This is not just a moral victory: it's for keeps.
Beautiful, truth-full column. Thank you, Paul Krugman. You neatly encapsulate the nature of the crisis we are in. On the outcome, hinges the survival of the American democratic system.
A few decades ago, Venezuela was the most prosperous, thriving and predictably run of all Latin American societies.
I urge people to study the parallels. Read about Chavez and Chavism on Wikipedia.
Vigilance and rapid reaction are essential. We took an important step forward in this recent election. But votes are still being counted -- and all votes must be counted.
We are not out of the woods yet. Remain fully prepared to react to developments as they unfold.
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We need a solution to Trump. The media and a lot of sane voices are voicing these concerns but a lot of people or at least a substantial number is not buying the arguments. So we have to find ways to not only counter Trump but to convince the people now backing him to open their eyes to the reality. I am sure America can do this in a very organised way. Pull in all likeminded
people ,organisations, corporations and political parties to do this vigorously and urgently. The outcome will be there to see. All people cannot be fooled all the time.
24
@Venugopal, appreciate your optimism. Sadly it hasn’t worked for us. During the Obama years, despite full majority. Pelosi didn’t do anything about holding the previous bush administration answerable for two unfounded and unfunded wars. Zero. Those wars alone cost us not just lives but untold economic toll. Watch and see, even after house majority the democrats led by Pelosi will do plain nothing when it comes to investigating trump forget about impeachment. The reason being role of big money who not only influence republicans but also pull strings of their democratic puppets. The democrats will do nothing to counter Trump. They have been impotent against NRA, guns are still blazing everybody week killing ordinary Americans.
1
I was fooled by Democrats for many decades, and now I know that they aren't much better than the GOP. I still vote for my Dem enemies, but hope I will see a third party in my lifetime that actually represents the poor and the taxpaying classes instead of the parasite class of rich donors. When Obama gave the green light to Monsanto, I knew that even the Dems were bought and paid for.
1
This piece is incredibly important.
We all need to be out expressing alarm.
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"The same worldview explains Republicans’ addiction to conspiracy theories. "
This article sounds paranoid and well, conspiratorial. The problem is, that I'm terrified that Dr. Krugman is absolutely correct. This is going to destroy our democracy from within. The problem is not Trump or even the GOP. The problem is we have a large portion of our fellow citizens who buy the noisome narratives pushed by Trump the GOP and Fox et al. No democracy can function if 30-40% of the citizenry give up their willingness to think critically and reason about politics and replace it with a reactionary emotionally based zombism that swallows whole the latest fabrications from the disinformation factories. In the long run democracy must be based on citizens voting their own best interests. If they vote instead to keep at bay the imaginary terrors created by the powers that lie, then democracy will fail. It has been said before, but it bears repeating, this is what happened in 1932. It is human to think, "well yes, bad things have happened before,but that was different it can't happen to us." I'm sure the good citizens of Germany thought something similar all those years ago.
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Let's not forget that when Bush and Cheney were pushing their Saddam Hussein fantasy Bush aides were caught saying that reality "is what we say it is" Maybe if Obama tried to hold Bush/Cheney and their surrogates accountable for their lying us into the Iraq war people would not have been so susceptible to Trump lies After all what was Saddam and WMD's but a conspiracy theory that preyed on existing fears because of 9/11 that led to disastrous consequences on multiple levels
This didn't start with Trump Cheney got away with outing Valerie Plame as a CIA operative because he was mad at her husband for debunking his conspiracy theory about yellow cake uranium Nigeria and Saddam
Nothing Trump has done so far was as bad as that as well as lying us into war
In addition Trump is being increasingly seen as a mentally ill pathologically lying narcissistic buffoon while Cheney was seen as having gravitas
Trump just insulted all troops by avoiding going to a WWI cemetery in France for USA soldiers because it was raining He didn't even go to Arlington today preferring to take the day off
Trump seems to be becoming to be seen more as a caricature of an authoritarian than a real authoritarian
I think that Trump will turn out to be the Democrat's best advertisement for a changing of the guard in 2020 as his buffoonery can only increase
Real authoritarians don't get scared off by the threat of rain giving them a bad hair day resulting in insulting their troops
33
Dear Martin from,Oregon—The problem then, in the lead-up to the Iraq war, was the same as now. The majority of our citizens seemed to find informing themselves too boring. The IAEA’s inspectors were giving the results of their work on television, begging for more time to complete their work. The fact that they hadn’t found the WMD didn’t sit well with those drumming up the invasion. Those who watched the procedure the inspectors were following didn’t have to be experts to know what the administration was up to. Too few objected. After all, there was no draft to fear. Those who had family in the military were a tiny minority. And the war was going to be over soon. We’re still mired in the Middle East—now involved further in Yemen. An informed public is what we need. Difficult when we spend hours on the internet, our main source of news. If war comes, a volunteer army won’t be adequate. Or are we counting on nuclear weapons?
2
Thanks, people keep forgetting that we had a much worse gov't at the beginning of this century. I was starting to think that everyone had amnesia.
2
The idea of buying a Medal of Honor would make most people cringe. Apparently not the super rich,
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@Don
"I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier," - Donald Trump. August 2, 2016
america's deficit is 21 trillion today.trump and the republicans-reagan and dubya included, are to blame for the mountain of debt. the stock market dropped 600 points today because of the worries about the rising deficit, and traders should be worried.
63
The rich will profit no matter what happens, the system is rigged in their favor, and you and I will go bankrupt bailing out banks and Wall Street. They will buy our houses cheap when we get evicted.
Well spoken. I am tired of all the false analogies. There is a huge moral difference in the behavior and programs of the democrats and republicans. The d's stand for the common people, the good of all, while the rs lie and cheat with their oligarchic goals.
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@Marylee I totally disagree and I am a liberal and a registered Democrat. There is no moral difference between the two parties. There is only political difference, and this is all that counts. Dems have their own conspiracy theories, some as crazy as anything by the GOP. The Republicans have an evil genius in George Soros, the Dems in Sheldon Adelson. The GOP peddled the birther nonsense, the Dems - the idea that Trump is mentally ill (ask any psychiatrist whether they think it’s ethical or even possible to diagnose somebody in absentia).Conservatives deny climate change, liberals - the necessity of GMOs. And who are the “common people” the Dems supposedly protect? Last time I checked, blue-collar workers were in Trump’s corner. This self-righteous liberal nonsense is getting to be not just unpleasant but dangerous. I vote D because I want more funding for science and less erratic foreign policy, not because I care for politicians’ morality and ethics.
1
@Marylee
I agree with your sentiment. But your statement: "The d's stand for the common people,..." refers to an older, long gone democratic party. Part of the reason for 45 is that the d's ignored the people to go after corporate money over the last decades. Though not the start, Clinton's welfare reform, NAFTA, Commodities Act, etc all promised the people a benefit that never materialized... When your belief is that both sides sold you out, what does it matter for whom you vote other than for the maximum disruption? And W's lies were never called out and penalized, so what is the cost of lying further, especially if it achieves your ends?
1
Reality check, please. Maybe this was true in 1932. But if the democrats still stand for the common people, then why are blue states the most unequal? With the greatest number of homeless people? Why is their agenda always to raise taxes on the middle class? We have been drinking their brand of Kool Aid, which is almost as poisonous as the GOP's, for decades now. When are we going to get a third party that really represents us?
1
Paul is correct. The typical response to this problem appears always to revolve around impeachment as a way to rid us of Trump, as if that is going to solve the problem. Would that life were that simple. Unfortunately, the odds of impeachment are slim, given the overt obstruction from Republicans in the Senate. So what to do?
There is another way, and that lies in creating a situation where Trump resigns; just gives up. So why would he leave, and how would you engineer such a thing? Just keep coming with the facts, and continue to work the facts up the chain towards Trump, slowly turning up the heat with each passing week. The applicable metaphor for this is "Boil the Frog".
In the Boil the Frog metaphor, turning up the heat right away (e.g. impeachment) allows the frog to jump from the pan (acquittal in the Senate). But turning up the heat slowly and surely, drip by drip, with each passing day, boils the frog which, by the way, is not Trump but the Republican Party and its assault on the truth.
Real facts are stubborn things; they don't change, and they resonate with the vast majority of the country which is not part of the Republican cult. At some point, the mountain of facts begins to land perilously close to home (e.g. Don Jr. and perjury). Trump will buckle, and along with him, so will the Republican Party.
The Republican Party has to understand that facts mean something. Boil the Frog.
56
@PB -- Have a few liberal billionaires buy him out, golden parachute style. He doesn't have the $3 billion he claims, but he might leave for it or something like it. If he is as mercenary as assumed, it should work.
17
@Mark Thomason but the Presidency affords and allows him a shield against any and all legal jeopardy. He loses that political immunity if he resigns. Plus, we just get Trump TV (which we have now), and his followers still as sycophantic and motivated as ever.
@Mark Thomason I think T's calculation is that he can have the money and the military parades!
The Republican version of truth serves Republican interests and the Democratic version of truth serves Democratic interests. Clearly, Trump goes further -- he lacks integrity beyond compare. But others are pretty much all of a piece. If you take a typical political argument, it is not going to favor the other side.
2
@michjas Your first sentence is not true. While Democrats do present their policy positions in the best possible light, they are faithful to a notion of objectivity and rationality. They believe in science. They believe in democracy. I would be embarrassed to be a Republican today - because the leaders of the Party are devoted to little but power for themselves.
51
@Ned Roberts One does not 'believe' in science--I do understand what you are saying but somehow the authoritarian/right-wing memes of the age have crept in and we need to stop these in their tracks by using language with precision. Science is an area of human knowledge in which 'belief' does not apply. Recognition of the fact that we 'breathe', that gravity is a force etc etc....recognition that these are facts is not 'belief.'
Moreover, the principle of separation of church and state distinguished the US from other nations in the 18th century. This ought to mean today the separation of 'belief' from a social realm called science which is governed by a search for facts.
27
@Ned Roberts
You have made a typical political argument, and it doesn't favor the other side.
In my state, we finally elected Tony Evers, a Democrat, to be our next governor. Immediately Republican party leaders started making noise they would start working to limit the new governor's powers. Some of the powers on their hit list were given willingly to Scott Walker. Just one more example to support your point that Republicans only care about grabbing and keeping power by any means possible. No reaching across the aisle for these guys. Including one of the most crooked gerrymanders ever, Wisconsin Republicans have used an amazing bag of dirty tricks to keep their jobs. Mr. Evers will have a tough slog here.
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@Peggy Sherman they did the same thing to Roy cooper gov of North Carolina limiting his power on appointing state judges and state commissions. He had to take the legislature to court.
5
Needed to be said. Thanks for saying it, Paul.
25
Trump claims to support the military and veterans, but he did not go to Arlington cemetery today on Veterans Day. Other presidents laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veteran's Day, even in the rain, but Trump did not leave the White House. Instead, he tweeted that the mail-in votes coming from the soldiers stationed away from home should not be counted in the Florida election, even though state law says they count the mail-in votes from the military that arrive by Friday.
If Trump thinks he has the military's support, why is he afraid to have the soldiers' votes counted? If he wants to honor veteran's, why did he stay home from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier today?
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I think Paul Krugman is preparing us for the day in 2020 when Mr. Trump finds himself behind in the Electoral College and begins the 'massive fraud' routine. One encouraging indication that we may survive what's headed our way is the recent polling of the military in the wake the 'border stunt', showing diminishing respect for, and disillusionment with, the president ..... we may need them to dislodge a defeated incumbent barricaded in the White House and to hold off his deluded "base" marching on D.C. with torches and AR-15s. Is there anything in what we've come to know about Donald Trump that indicates he will accept a legitimate loss gracefully and relinquish power? Anything?
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@JKL Trump is unlikely to be a candidate for President in 2020. He will have resigned in disgrace before then, and the ruins of the Republican Party will find someone who is a little less obviously merely a tool of the Oligarchs.
4
@JKL I disagree only with the likelihood T will run in 2020. T has failed at everything: business, marriage, friendship; his only 'success' is pretending to be a success on TV. He has always quit as soon as failure begins to manifest itself and then have his 'team' go in and limit the cost of failure to him...shifting it as much as possible onto his 'underlings'. He is failing as President which is making him angry and bored so he's not showing up. As the failures multiply, watch for his shifting of blame and a 'decision' to spend time with his family (whadda shark pool, as they say in Queens!)
5
@JKL You express precisely my deepest fears, but I like the glimmer of hope you provide. How horrible, though, to think that we may be forced to rely on the military to save us all from Republican attempts to seize power in defiance of the Constitution.
4
The fundamental problem of democracy is that voters get what they want and deserve.
But is there a system that is less worse?
8
@SKK Democracy is the worst system of government ever created, except for all the others.
1
When have we had a democracy in the US? It's always been about excluding slaves, or women, or minorities, or native Americans from their own country. We've always had an oligarchy in this country. At times it was a slightly less malevolent one.
@SKK
This was never what the voters wanted, and it is not what they deserve.
I agree entirely with Mr. Krugman that the war on truth "is an attempted power grab by a would-be authoritarian movement." A new dystopian novel called "America 2034: Utopia Rising," which takes place in the fifth term of President for Life Donald Trump describes, in gory, dark a terrifying humor, the nightmarish Putin-style kleptocracy that would evolve if Trump actually got the dissent-free government that he proposes, between the lines of his threats and lies.
I also find this "both parties do it" argument a dangerous and intellectually dishonest one. Someone just suggested this on my facebook post of this column, to which I replied: "Through the centuries, many Presidents and world leaders have disagreed with their media when it criticized them. Only the dictators and fascists have labelled that media the "enemy of the people."
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While I broadly agree, I think there may be a simpler way to envision the Republican acceptance of lies.
Though first it must be noted that if they watch only Fox News, or other such sources, they will never know that "millions of fraudulent voters" is untrue as reported by study after study. This particular untruth has a pretty thin veneer; Kobach just got the kabash and he was the dean of the fraudulent voter school.
The thin veneer is that Republicans don't actually believe, on a deep level, the stuff they say. But they need the phony story for interpersonal "plausible deniability" in order to comfortably fool themselves.
In the future, an evolutionary version of the Fairness Doctrine probably has to be emplaced.
26
@Nelly
I think that most Republican's do believe something. The religious right, in a Faustian deal, believe strongly that they have gotten what they want. The white males believe that they too can be a real male like Donald Trump, and the Nazis, Fascists, and racists believe that they have a supporter even if not a "true" supporter in the Republican Party. Then there is the NRA. I think that these people really do believe. I also think that Donald Trump truly believes in Donald Trump, and that the rest of the world and anyone not like him is out to get him. Delusion is a horrible way to run a country.
I couldn’t agree more, these are dangerous times.
12
Why has everyone forgotten the Bush years? Those were pretty perilous times.
"Our democracy is still very much in danger."
No, Paul, it's not. Trump can hand out all the Medals of Freedom he wants. The Constitution is not under any threat to be changed by Republicans.
"Trump, of course, lies a lot..."
Paul, I would love to see an article from you about who leaked Dr. Ford's name to the media. No one seems interested, especially the political party that always sounds so earnest about privacy. Do you think you would ever get the truth out of anyone from the Democratic Party on that?
"But they haven’t abandoned the whole notion of objective facts and nonpolitical goodness..."
That theory is DOA based on Democrats' behavior during the Kavanaugh hearings, Paul.
"What all of this means is that what’s going on in America right now isn’t politics as usual."
What, in your opinion, is "politics as usual"? It looks the same as it does every day - two lying, corrupt and power-obsessed political parties and their sycophants in the media touting the virtues of their side and the evil of the other side. Same junk, different day...
6
@hm1342
Right now, there is a big difference between the two parties when it comes to truth and objective facts. The two parties are not equal in "lying, corrupt, and power-obsessed." When Trump won the election, did I hear any Democrat scream " voter fraud," or "millions of illegal voters." No, that was Trump saying he didn't really lose the popular vote because of voter fraud and millions of illegals voting. He had to lie even though he won the electoral votes and got elected President of the United States.
@hm1342 This comment, like the Republican lies and propaganda it mimics, is totally divorced from reality.
It's actually sad, since this kind of attitude is firmly entrenched with upwards of one-third of the country. And unless truth and facts begins to sink in with these fellow citizens, I question whether our democracy can long survive.
@Frederick Williams: "This comment, like the Republican lies and propaganda it mimics, is totally divorced from reality."
No, Frederick, it's simply my opinion.
"It's actually sad, since this kind of attitude is firmly entrenched with upwards of one-third of the country."
It's actually sad that you think I am a Trump supporter.
"And unless truth and facts begins to sink in with these fellow citizens, I question whether our democracy can long survive."
I question our political process in general and I think that there is a base of rot in American society. Both parties are taking advantage of that and each has their loyal base of supporters who only care about their own agenda. I, too, question whether our great experiment in governance will survive. I do know this: if all you can see if virtue in your side and evil in the other, you're part of the problem.
Paul is exactly right. Let's face the harsh fact that Republicans have become detached from reality. They won't even accept the truth when you point it out to them, as I have attempted on many occasions. We have an epistemic crisis in the country caused mostly by Republican ideologues and Republican propagandists.
As explained in an article by David Roberts for Vox last year (link below):
"As long as Republican politicians are frightened by the base, the base is frightened by scary conspiracies in right-wing media, and right-wing media makes more money the more frightened everyone is, Trump appears to be safe."
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/2/16588964/america-epistemic-crisis
18
Democrats are also detached from reality. Try San Francisco or Montclair on for size. Two scary sci fi horror movies at work. It's just that our politics here are local. But toxic in a different sort of way. Ask homeless people how they got there. The world of the democrats isn't utopia. They would have no moral conscience at all if they hadn't co-opted people like Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Abrams, Ai-jen Poo. In another country, all those folks would belong to a third party, probably a Labor Party.
@Stephanie Wood
"Democrats are also detached from reality. Try San Francisco or Montclair on for size."
What about them? Is that all you could come up with? Of course "The world of democrats isn't utopia." Nobody said it was.
Greater demand for real estate in desirable regions means higher home prices, making it unaffordable to many. The wrong solution to that is to make a region (e.g., the conservative South) undesirable with backward economic policies (e.g., low minimum wage and less worker power) and regressive social positions (e.g., anti-elitism, racism, anti-pluralism).
Even the Medal of Freedom has now also been debased in this age of Trump. I'm not sure what Mrs. Adelson does at home apart from fund Trump and his GOP cohorts (and anyone willing to do favors for her husband), but she does seem to make quite a name for herself and her very conservative interests in Israel. It seems now that medals and honors are merely transactional and it doesn't matter if any actual service was provided here in the USA. What a scam. Next up: Medals of Honor and Bronze Stars to former KGB agents and North Korean military dignitaries.
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Well, if you look at some of the people who've won Nobel prizes, you can see how naively we have all misjudged people.
Dr. Krugman, I know that few if any Trump addicts will read this, but it is very comforting to me to read your analyses, to know that someone really has deep insight into what Trump represents. One very minor exception, I do believe that it is more accurate to say that Trump lies than to say he has a different standard of truth. More accurate to say that he lacks moral values than to say he has a self-centred standard of virtue. I suppose it's semantical, but however one says it, from all I've ever read you've described sociopathy, with more than a fringe of paranoia. The individuals involved in this are locked in a defense of their power, the boundaries of which they patrol relentlessly, and seek to expand them. I suppose they scare themselves with the thought that the other side is doing it to them. But doing an FOI on communications between election officials and George Soros is plain crazy. Who is going to give the public a standard of sanity so that we all don't lose our minds? Your articles go a long way towards doing so.
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I always thought that had Sec'y Clinton won the Presidency, she would not have been allowed to govern, due to lies, hysteria, obstructionism. Miriam Adelson: really? Thanks, Dr Krugman, for bringing this little reported bit to our attention.
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George Orwell missed the date used in the title of his book by 34 years. How do you wrap your head around the fact that the world's greatest democracy is seriously in danger of degernating into the actual world set in his famous novel, 1984. In the next few years we will find out if the checks and balances set in our Constitution, some 240 years ago, are strong enough to survive their strongest test since the Civil War.
Stay tuned, it is going to be quite a ride!
Phil Gardner
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Well, everyone who wails and laments the horror of Trump should stop the wailing and lamentation and find some action to take so that, in 2020, we will have a better election for President. For me that means doing whatever I can to convince legislators in my home state - Michigan - to sign on the National Popular Vote Compact. Getting this approved would change the fundamental nature of how Presidential campaigns are run.
That's OK for me, a retired, living on SOCSEC 78 year old. But if you can find SOMETHING to do, do it, and urge your friends to do it as well. Giving in to morose sulking won't help, and it just makes the Trumpists happy.
At the very least, find out who your local, state, and national representatives are and let them know how you feel whenever Trump lies...which means about every day! And write to Republicans as well.
Urge your friends to do the same. Actual USPS mail is best.
But do take action, and you will feel better.
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The fact remains, even after the midterm brawl, that the party in power must voluntarily relinquish the majority in the house, and that all of these election results must be certified at several levels of local and then federal government. Think secretaries of state in the several states and the FEC and sitting Republicans in the congress at the federal level. It's not readily apparent to me, for one, that this election is over until Ms. Pelosi takes her seat as Speaker. And yes, Professor K, when the Medal of Freedom is up for sale, we are in big trouble.
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@David It certainly puts a tarnish on the Medal of Freedom.
Dr. K, it seems to me that American voters sensed the authoritarian power grab and in the recent mid-term elections rejected the direction the country was taking.
E.g., restoring the Separation of Powers Doctrine of the Constitution, the sustaining check against the overwrought power of any of our three branches of government, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary.
The new House Majority will restore a Democratic Chair in each of the Committees in the House of Representatives and will be able to focus on and define a post-Trump agenda.
The new Committees majorities can hear from experts and interests on the problems which threaten the short and long- term well-being of American families: such as easing the dislocation of the fossil fuel industries as they evolve to technologies that will reduce emissions and scrub the saturated atmosphere of excess carbon dioxide, increasing the availability and lower the cost of prescription drugs and medical equipment, and increasing access to healthcare and public education.
In the near term, I recommend that we invest in improving the safety and efficiency of our highways and logistics systems by testing and competing new electric transport systems like the 300 mph superconducting Maglev transport standard proposed by the late Senator Moynihan.
I also recommend that we develop and test a Maglev space launch and space-based solar system to produce very cheap electric power to power the new future for the Earth.
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@james Jordan Americans haven't fully caught on yet. If they had, the recent election would have seen no Republicans get elected to anything! Nothing. Nada. It's a crying shame that the Senate is still in Trump/GOP hands. Was McCain the last of the Republicans of integrity? Seems that way.
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In this context, special kudos are due to Ms. McSally, who defied the wishes of the GOP and graciously congratulated Ms. Sinema on winning a hard-fought victory. More kudos for wishing the senator-elect "every success in representing the people of Arizona."
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@Peter Czipott Yes, Ms. McSally does seem to be a class act. Sadly a rarity in GOP circles these days.
@Peter Czipott Please recall that Ms. McSaly repeatedly claimed she voted many times to protect the ACA when in objective fact she did not. There is no reason for any of us to suppose she means anything she says, including "Congratulations!"
The risk that our republic would be seriously damaged was always my biggest fear with Trump. While serious, many of his misguided actions are reversible. But to damage the republic is to compromise our democracy. Historically, the Roman republic was compromised by the Caesars. I am hoping we can avoid a similar fate. The current election results were encouraging, but the outcome in 2020 remains as the ultimate test.
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@how-right
There is no sharper delineation as that between the educated and the uneducated.
Underneath their facade, the GOP is working toward being the party that runs the nation. They will fight against potential SCOTUS rendering of gerrymandering as being patently anti voter and party centric. They will continue their support of Trump as their autocratic leadership in an effort to take control of our government. They will stop defending democratic principles and the tenets of our Republic.
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"Our democracy is still very much in danger." This is very true, and frankly I'm not sure that the midterm results will reverse the trends. There is that possibility, but I would give it only one in three odds. There is a huge apparatus at work.
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I think I'm very ready, along with a majority of Americans, to hear Mr. Mueller's report.
And if he's got any indictments ready to go, oh please, show the world.
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Today you love Mueller's investigation. Tomorrow you won't.
There should be no doubt in anyones mind that Trump is not the deliverer, but then he did gain the presidency by declaring that the emperor had no clothes, that it was the establishments own lie that lost them the election in 2016. It will only be by truth and virtue from that same establishment that this ship has any chance of righting itself, nothing will change by simply pointing out that this political usurper can play the game with the best of them which is what we are seeing now. Could be that the office itself needs to be restored, made more pristine to where it will attract the real leadership once again, nothing less will stand in the way of a second term for this operator behind the big microphone now.
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