Sign me up for the revolution.
29
Bingo! Your headline explains just about every single move Republicans make or have made. Unfortunately a lot of them believe they are mandated by God and so they think everyone else is wrong and their cult has the absolute truth.
49
This has been going on since early 2009 w/Obama presidency!
22
You wonder if it will ever dawn on all the 2nd Amendment Firsters, as I call them, that the tyrant they imagined would necessitate they mount an armed defense against, is in fact the very man they (with another tyrant's help), put into office.
25
What a hypocrite PK ,who has tried to thwart a duly elected president on a daily basis not
Accepting the results of the election ??
3
Dems bring chop stix to a fight.
GOP bring a dirty arsenal.
5
Hasn't it been evident for some time that they don't believe in the Constitution, rule of law, and human rights as well?
https://theintercept.com/2018/01/09/dark-side-fbi-dea-illegal-searches-secret-evidence/
https://www.propublica.org/article/problems-with-fbi-clinton-email-investigation-went-well-beyond-comey
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/border-facilities/593239/
17
The central creed of the Republican Party is: "We and we alone have the legitimate right to rule this country. Therefore, anyone who will not vote for us shall not be allowed to vote at all; if you do manage to win despite our completely justified suppression and intimidation, that election is illegitimate, and we will do everything in our power to prevent you from governing as you were elected to do."
This is the credo of fascism. The politicians of the Republican Party--from your local dogcatcher to the President of the United States--are willingly serving the fascist cause. Not everyone who votes Republican may be a fascist, but if you vote for the fascist, you own the fascism.
35
Mr. K..When the far left has shoved their candidate down our throats we have lost..i.e. McGovern, Dukakis, Mondale..I get the sense that the elite White liberals are trying to shove Warren down our throats..Stop it!
2
Krugman has, again, forced us to face the facts about Biden. But, instead Biden's minions attack Senator Warren.
4
The question for the election in 2020 - WHO CAN BEAT TRUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!
2
Paul, your rhetoric sounds like Rush Limbaugh.
1
Reading this and Will Bunch's commentary today makes the rage rise in my throat once again, like bile. I wonder how long before this country explodes. https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/brett-kavanaugh-deborah-ramirez-fbi-impeachment-20190917.html
3
Nonsense. No one in USA believes in democracy. How can any one reading NYT seriously think that people writing here (or commenting) are democrats in heart, Krugman one of best examples of this travesty? They (the liberals) are democrats only as far as they win, as soon as they lose, they call all sort of shots to overthrow the legally elected folks. Look at what is being done to DT ! NYT is lynching him for 3y now, every single day, in manners unheard of. And you think that NYT and its ilk stand by any sort of democracy ?!
5
So it looks like World War III ends up not being nuclear. It ends up being cyber and covert. And we are in the thick of it.
Democracies around the world are being attacked by autocracies that need to stamp out the example of participatory government to protect their power. Republicans are complicit in the 'decapitation' of the worlds most powerful democracy of which they are nominally citizens. They are traitors to their country as sure as a Nazi supporter would be during WW2. If the U.S. falls, so goes the world.
WW3 is now. It is secret, unseen, and a pivotal moment in world history.
15
Does Krugman have tenure as a Times Opinion columnist?
He must, otherwise the Times would certainly replace his mindnumbing strongly partisan rants poorly disguised as enlightening Opinions and replace them with a thought provoking columnist by a fresh new writer.
5
Nothing about republicans even comes close to beliefs related to democracy. Republican version of democracy is them, unquestioningly, in charge of everything because they are entitled to rule. Their ethnic nationalism parallels their desire to set all rules, benefit first from everything, enjoy endless rights to steal and pillage everything others have, with no one looking over their shoulders. It is corrupted form of 'might is right' and they will do whatever it takes (start ethnic wars) to that end. And as if that is not enough, they want a medieval theocracy.
Then again, very little about democrats comes close to beliefs about democracy. Their fake egalitarianism - which is obsessed with guaranteeing equality in outcomes (never mind equality in opportunities), parallels their class-envy. Nothing can happen unless absolutely every objection, no matter how trivial and dangerous, is addressed. "No outcome" is preferred over anything less than "perfect outcome," - which too would be one thing if democrats agreed on what that was.
Democracy is not for the weak willed, spineless, compromise seeking, mealy mouthed, mediocrity-justifying fools that are democrats. Representative democracy requires a strongly elitist society; an educated, civic-engaged population - one we do not have. Democrats are self-absorbed, denying of most realities, deriving joy from their self-pity and sad sackery, and addicted to poverty porn.
But I will take the dem hell over republican heaven.
4
Democracy is like cricket. Both games have rules, and the rules must be observed faithfully. Cricket is called a gentleman's game. So is democracy, a gentleman's game, if the rules are followed. How could anyone justify Mitch McConnell's actions - not tabling Bills to outlaw crazy folks from buying high-powered guns? Judge Garland's nomination? Trump high-jacking Justice Dept?
All the rules of democracy and Constitution have been thrown out.
**********
Same story in a new Oil country Guyana. Story of Oil and Constitution. No Confidence Motion passed since Dec last year; Constitution stipulates elections within 3-months. Now 9-months later, president Granger refuses to call elections. First he said NCM is not valid, because 34, not 33 (votes) is majority of 65 (whole parliament). Highest Court ruled NCM is valid. Still Granger would not relent. Now he says Elections Board has the power to take however long it needs (two or more years) to finalize Voters List. Constitution and Court Rulings mean nothing to would-be dictators. Collusion between Elections Board and Mr Granger is palpable and demonstrable.
Mr Granger will leave nothing to chance - he wants to put a FIX into the system so his party will be guaranteed victory whenever the election is held.
Democracy as a rule-based system of govt is on trial in both USA and Guyana. Political actors have to be reasonable and play fair. Or else Law of the Jungle takes over.
3
Mr Krugman, what are the best options to confront this abomination, given the Repuplican gerrymandering and court packing? What has worked in the past to block fascism and totalitarianism?
6
Finally, and article that describes what is happening with the republican pushback as Captain McConnel's Block. I would add back stabbing Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham as co-captains. All three need to go. Another 6 years of these Trumpians would really hurt this country.
6
Against the criminals on the other side, Biden is much too soft and utopian.
12
In case you missed it...two amazing conversation on Morning Joe today...
One with the writer of The Atlantic Magazine George Packer who's article you can find here...
When the Culture War Comes for the Kids
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/10/when-the-culture-war-comes-for-the-kids/596668/
And another with my favorite documentary filmmaker Ken Burns who's new series Country Music will be on PBS in October...
Both of them carry the same message to unify our country and that's exactly what we need to do.
Here two links...
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/the-darwinian-struggle-for-good-public-school-education-69144133652
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/ken-burns-traces-the-evolution-of-america-s-music-69136453782
2
Edsall explained two weeks ago what drives the Republicans.
The only question is how do we beat it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/opinion/trump-white-voters.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Read and learn.
2
Democracy in the US is d-e-a-d.... I can smell the stench of cowardly politicians who refuse to stand up to our new dictator along with the rules of law rotting away. Unfortunate that the masses don't realize how bad it is, but some day they'll wake up and wonder how all the gangrene got there.
There's no way back, and is it worth it knowing how bad the underlying rot is?
8
You have a president (one person) with awesome power. You have a supreme court (nine persons) with awesome power. Why does it surprise you all that abuses of power are in your national DNA? Bloviate all you want about Donkey vs. Elephant, but your ancient constitution is a huge part of the problem (and don't get me started on the electoral college). Neither party is willing to acknowledge this, let alone do anything about it, so same old, same old. Live with it.
6
Paul Krugman is just a partisan hack, spreading his own half-truths and lies. None of the "new" allegations are new. Mark Stier wouldn't talk to the Times and the victim of the new allegation doesn't remember the event in questions and refused to cooperate. Please see the quote from the WSJ below that includes additional data Krugman refuses to acknowledge.
"Check out the 414-page report on the various allegations against Justice Kavanaugh by the Senate Judiciary Committee, then led by GOP Senator Chuck Grassley. The committee notes it contacted Ms. Ramirez’s legal team hours after the story broke. Ms. Ramirez’s attorney refused seven requests to provide supporting material.
“Despite the refusal of Ramirez’s legal team to assist the Committee in its investigation,” the Senate report notes, “Committee investigators attempted to investigate her claims to the greatest extent possible, and interviewed seven witnesses regarding the allegation.” In the end, the committee found “no verifiable evidence to support Ramirez’s allegations.”
The Times piece laments that the FBI in a supplemental background check didn’t interview a list of individuals supplied by Ms. Ramirez’s legal team who “may” have had corroborating evidence. But the FBI interviewed Ms. Ramirez, two alleged eyewitnesses and a friend of Ms. Ramirez’s from college, and also turned up no substantiating evidence. A third alleged eyewitness declined an interview."
4
The conservative movement in America is no longer a political movement it is a mental illness - The same mental illness we see taking over in the Middle East - where one group truly believes God is guiding only them- making the rest of us nothing but sinful infidels- to be dealt with anyway we God loving people decide - that is why it was so easy for Sarah Huckabee to lie every single day to us -we were not worthy in her opinion of the truth - she and her kind are born again and the rest of us or not -
7
As a former Republican who worked for the nomination of Goldwater in 1964, I learned the hard way that Republican policies were harmful to us all. See
https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
6
North Carolina is a SLAVE state and didn't vote for Our INDEPENDENCE from England, Seems the GOP is still looking for a king and some people to own.
4
Once upon a time, long, long ago, it may have been possible for someone like BIden to work across the aisle for the common good. Even those of us without memory impairment have trouble remembering such a time, and many of today’s voters were not yet born. But it certainly is not the case today and anyone who thinks it is, against all the evidence, is not qualified to hold office.
4
Talk about Nobel price worthy projection. We are where we are because the left refused to accept the results of 2016 election. That would be NOT BELIEVING in democracy. No?
2
That is not only false, but absurd! Democrats did not contest the 2016 presidential election, but proof exists the Russians meddled and may very well have affected the outcome. Only republicans seem to contest this fact, substantiated by every intelligence agency in this country.
11
Frankly it all boils down to the stupid, uninformed, and apathetic. Every one of my acquaintances who supports or accepts Trump, many of them people of color, don't' have a clue. Many cite Fox News talking points or are enthralled with junk conspiracy theories. Most don't know how government works, the true moral and legal emphasis of our constitution, the harbinger of climate change, or the danger of money and corporations running the country. We have been in democratic decline for forty years. The Republican Party has gone power hungry in the fear that demographics will make them irrelevant. I want to be optimistic, but with so many out of touch with reality and basic civil resposibility, it doesn't look good.
8
Vladimir Putin has suggested a Constitutional Congress 2.0 to clear these matters up.
3
As a Democratic voter I'm beginning to look at virtually any extremely negative comments or any divisive comments as nothing more than Russian trolls once again.
What Democrat or Independent for that matter would ever take even the slightest chance of another 4 of donald and his crew?
This is not a "single issue" election. This is not a multi issue election. This is an election to save the country. No more, no less.
7
There is no Republican Party! There IS NO Republican Party. There is phony real estate salesman holding a handful of politicians by the throat and a herd of angry, disaffected white people by the shorts. Today, Lewandowski said one thing that is true. Trump’s election was historic. Never in the history of the republic has one morally bankrupt little man been able to pull the red cap over so many unsuspecting, uneducated, and misguided eyes. Many, in this case, equals 78,000, not the 3,000,000 more that voted for her. Shooting somebody and getting away with it isn’t funny anymore, is it? So, now what. Congressional democrats couldn’t organize a profit making bake sale. The courts that are going to hand down rulings forcing Trump co-conspirators to squeal are full of Trump appointed judges. That “hearing” today was the worst show since Caddy Shack II. So, we cut them down at the Ballot Box? That’s the answer? Really? There are a dozen ways that can go wrong, and, given past performance, if it can, it will. Here’s a thought...ignorance, superstition, anger, greed, xenophobia, and racism are the new America...No? You need to get out more. I live in the armpit that is flyover country...all I have to do is look around me!
5
in a word, yes.
There is no longer any ability to work with Republicans. They are obstructionists, through and through. They are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to win elections. They are willing to cast all norms aside and destroy our democracy to retain their power.
Want to win the election? Lie and say you will work across the aisle with these vipers. Once in power, use their own tactics against them, then kick them to the curb.
It's past time to reclaim our democracy.
3
Until Trump happened, I don't believe I was fully aware of how committed to and passionate about democracy I am. Nor fully aware of its fragility. Democracy in peril is (also) an existential threat. This should be the main "issue" in the Democratic debates. Sadly, it's not even a choice on anyone's drop-down menu of issues we'd like to see debated.
4
My deceased father, a lifelong republican, would not recognize this Republican Party. But having said that, he was an early FOX News watcher, so if he were still alive I’m not so sure he would’ve avoided the right wing indoctrination. I wonder if he would be cognizant of the hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump? I wonder if he would be bothered by Trump’s alienation of our decades’ old allies, while deferring to Putin and speaking glowingly of Kim Jong Un’s love letters (Trump’s own words)? I wonder what this retired Army veteran would think about the money being taken (unconstitutionally, I might add) from the military budget to pay for a wall that, time-and-time again, Trump promised Mexico would pay for? I wonder what he would think about the unsurpassed turnover in Trump’s administration? I wonder what he would think about the fact the republicans passed s bill allowing religious institutions to inject themselves into the political process, in clear violation of the separation of church and state? I wonder what my father, the proud military man would think about the dismantling of NATO? I wonder most about whether my dad would acknowledge the hundreds of lies told by this president and as a result, actually try to do something about it?!
6
How did Trump win given the videos that came out and the things he said? People didn't care anywhere near as much as anticipated. We are saying Democrats have no chance against a man like that, because they talk about far left issues? So voters are more turned off by medicare for all than everything Trump does on a daily basis? Well, if true, that's a sad statement for humanity. Hillary was a moderate, "sensible" candidate. Few voters really liked her, she lost, end of story. The whole middle ground thing is nonsense. Politicians are supposed to be opinionated and shoot for the stars. Middle ground means unenthusiastic about anything. Come election day, voters want inspiration, not watered down positions. People thought Trump had no chance given his outlandish statements. And what did we learn? That Democrats should do the opposite?? Take few strong stances?? I'd rather lose the election and keep my dignity by voting for someone who actually cares about this nation. If that isolates "suburban" or "average" voters, then maybe we need demolish some subdivisions and improve our education system. Or just wait 50 years. People get smarter, ya know.
1
My confidence is in the awakening of our women. We need a mother's love and sensibility right now or our nation will not survive. We need women voting and a woman for president. So many of my misogynist friends don't understand the peril we are in or the solutions we need. It's age old and we need some care to bring the household around. All of the female candidates are viable. Vote for one.
8
Mitch McConnell gets it.
The Russians didn't help Trump win the election.
They helped the Republican win the election.
They didn't interfere with the primaries at all. We could have ended up with Comrade President Bush or Comrade President Cruz or Comrade President Romney but instead we ended up with Comrade President Trump.
Hence we're now stuck with the corrupt McConnell/Trump administration.
6
Republican's do not believe in democracy which is evidenced by Mitch McConnell's not protecting American elections since he is getting money from Russian Oligarchs for elections and aluminum plants and Chuck Grassley who obstructed the investigation into Bret Kavanaugh by instructing the FBI not to investigate many witnesses making the entire Christine Blasey Ford hearing a sham.
8
The GOP is enshrining its hold on power and malfeasance in government. Brett Kavanaugh and FBI Director Christopher Wray's time at Yale Law School overlapped. Wray was the Exec Editor of the Yale Law Journal; Kavanaugh a member. Wray sprung Chris Christie free from Bridgegate and his firm reps for Trump's real estate empire and the NRA. DoJ A.G. Barr and Kavanaugh worked for Kirkland & Ellis. Conservative ideologically, the firm represented Jeffery Epstein, Russian oligarchs, Alpha Bank, BP Oil in the Deep Water horizon spill. Other alumni: just fired Nat'l Security Adviser John Bolton, disgraced Sec. of Labor Alexander Acosta, Sec of Health & Human Services Alex Azar, controversial Appellate court judge Robert Bork, Clinton-era Special Counsel Kenneth Starr, and Assistant AG of the Justice Dept. Criminal Division Brian Benczkowski who represented Alfa Bank up thru his nomination hearings. Alfa Bank, a Russian criminal cartel-controlled led by Mikhail Fridman, has ties to Putin and Manafort. Barr received dividends from Vector Group, suspected of laundering money via NY real estate and Trump Org holdings. Vector Group CEO Howard Lorber introduced Trump to the Moscow real estate market in the 1990’s. Barr, worth $20 million has money in Deutsch Bank; a bank fined for illicit practices and rumored to be a conduit for Russian money laundering. Oversight? Rule of law?
The very people holding the reigns of power and investigative responsibility are mired in corruption.
10
Republicans are blinded by power. They close off their senses thinking the ends justify the means.
The means have become more and more dysfunctional to the tenants of democracy in favor of the manipulation and control of dictatorship, run by a fearful minority.
Keep demanding paper ballots for the elections as back up!! If they can steal another election they will.
5
@Barney Feinberg
The ends are protection and enrichment of the Plutocracy. Those become self-referential, self-fulfilling and the prevailing dogma under the guise of "efficiency" and "free markets" when they are neither.
Unfortunately, Democrats have bought into this rubbish for way too long.
1
The Cheney GOP Doctrine of imperial power for the president has taken hold. The coup dʻetat has succeeded. The USA is an oligarchy just like its Russain comrades. We have taken no steps to secure the 2020 election. Thank you, Moscow Mitch
10
Jeez, VP Biden once again gets to bear the full brunt of criticisms leveled at a much larger problem! In this case Democrats underestimating republicans disdain for what amounts to the US Constitution. I wonder if it ever occurred to Mr. Krugman that exercising calculated restraint in political discourse might be strategic. Some politicians know the value of dialing back their public positions as a shorter term tactic that supports their long game. We have seen Booker, Castro and others with less savvy use such maneuvers to their detriment. So I guess we can look forward to a pile-on-Biden default whenever subjects come up that are in fact so much broader than him as a single candidate. The reality is that singling him out like this on this particular subject underscores how his amicable demeanor perplexes those less experienced in the ways of politics. Unless you actually believe VP Biden thinks McConnell or any of the other thugs working to keep tRUMP in place are going to roll over and play nice if he gets elected. In which case you are the one oblivious to how continuing to value and strive for amicable relations could actually help his administration govern more effectively, bringing out the best in those around him, not going low when others go low. And you must think Speaker Pelosi is even worse, given her steady symbolic reach across the aisle passing legislation to the Senate that won't even get to the floor. She and Biden show amicable AND productive is possible.
2
"Even if Biden can win, is he too oblivious to govern effectively?"
Yes he is. Republicans would be guaranteed to mop the floor with him, and he still wouldn't get it.
2
Krugman explains today's reality in clear, succinct terms. This reassures me that my outlook is not as weird as I feared.
Accepting this view of Republican behavior enables me to consider the chaotic news without grinding my teeth.
Time for the Serenity Prayer -- along with a firm resolve to change what I can.
5
If there is any good to come out of the Trump debacle, I believe it will be the great wake up call it has given to everyone who is not a republican drone. Trump has burst through walls of decorum to blatantly display what has been at the core of republican politics for decades, racism, anti-democratic exercise of power, corruption and influence peddling.
Not that the republicans are constrained by intellectual consistency or fears of hypocrisy, but they certainly have lost any claim they may have had to any sort of moral high ground. Whatever the next Democratic administration proposes, the republicans will whine about their moral superiority and love of country, but we can now see those cries for the smokescreen they have always been. They don't love freedom, they don't love America, at least not in any sense beyond a sound bite, they love money and power and despise anyone who might serve as a check on their acquisition of either.
4
How to fight Republicans? The time has come to draft Hillary for 2020
@Steve
I hope that's not a serious comment. The reason we lost in 2016 is because the DNC railroaded the process to make sure that Hillary won the nomination. Republicans have an irrational hatred for the Clintons. She was obviously a thousand times more qualified than Trump for the office but because Republicans hate her so much, many held their noses and voted Trump. If Bernie had been the nominee of the Democratic Party, Trump would not be president.
4
Watching Lewandowsky?
100% Correct!
1
For the past two years, the Democrats have been attempting to overturn a presidential election.
And in Krugman's foggy, addled, liberal mind it's the Republicans who don't believe in democracy?
Good Grief!
1
@George Orwell
No, Liberal Democrats had nothing to do with it. Zhirinovsky is just a paid clown.
It was United Russia.
All of this reprehensible and undemocratic behavior is, at its core, driven by the intense fear of most white Americans at their looming minority status. This fear and subsequent animosity toward playing by the rules has consolidated in the GOP and turned it into a party that pursues any and all ideas that will slow the white population's decline. That's pretty much their only unifying party principle. It's as simple as that.
The complicated part will be what to do with the pieces once this pogrom is over.
2
I have an important question to ask. It is not about Democracy, Constitution or Rule of Law. I wonder about rules of English: since Mitch McConnell had openly stolen Supreme Court seat can I call him a thief?
5
The Republicans have been Running in Empty since the Reagan Era, at least.
Richard Nixon was their last intellectual. Though of course also a racist and anti-Semite, as all Republicans have proven to be.
The clowns in power now, across the board, need to be packed back into their clown car, and the car then needs to be pushed of a cliff.
Nothing else will work.
It’s not very hard to pack a clown car; just takes a lot of pushing and shoving.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Center suffers from insufficient upper body strength.
So it will take a Warren, a Sanders or a Harris to do the job right.
4
Congress should never have turned over their Sargent at Arms post to the Justice Department.
Wait a minute, Paul! You mean minority rule is NOT Democracy? Who knew?
1
The GOP represents white privilege/supremacy, straight male patriarchy, conservative religion, and big money. They have no solutions and they are old, but they are wily and relentless cheaters. They are desperate to solidify control over the country before their numbers dwindle further. With the climate crisis looming, and Trump exascerbating it, this is it, really the fight to the finish.
6
Granted, the GOP frat boys and Team Trump (now more or less the same thing) play by their own rules, and the idea of compromise in the current atmosphere is delusional. Even if Biden or some other Democrat defeats Trump, which at the present moment looks unlikely, they will accomplish nothing if the Senate remains in GOP hands. Moreover, Republicans are within sight of controlling the judiciary, so any progressive legislation that makes it through the Senate runs the risk of being struck down by conservative judges.
So what is the way forward for Democrats? On this Mr. Krugman is less than clear. Obviously, we must “be prepared for confrontation,” but beyond that we need to figure out a way to break out of the current partisan stalemate. I would suggest that defeating Trump, flipping the Senate, and keeping RBG alive (not necessarily in that order) should be our priorities. On the state level, every effort should be made to undo GOP-biased gerrymandering. While elections cannot be won without an enthusiastic base, the current efforts to energize that base seem to me wrongheaded and likelier than not to backfire. Beating the dead horse of Kavanaugh’s college blackouts a year after his confirmation is a measure of our desperation. That sort of thing will turn off far more of the centrist voters we need on our side than it will gain us in progressive votes.
1
This column has evoked some amazing (as in really, are you serious?) responses. Many comments condemn Joe Biden who said he wants to work across the aisle. No way, they say; no way to work with Republicans, they'll just trample on your good intentions. If not work across the aisle, what alternative is there? A good political cartoon answering that question shows two people, their backs to each other and their arms folded in mutual defiance. I don't know what Biden could accomplish with his optimism but I do know that two sides at loggerheads isn't the solution. A column like this just isn't helpful. It supports political paralysis with its pessimism without offering a direction to overcome it.
2
To save our democracy, we need to do the same thing nationally that we did here in California: get a Democratic supermajority that makes the GOP completely irrelevant. I thank God that has happened in California because just about all that GOP did when it had a voice here was try to tear apart the government it was supposed to be running.
It's not a perfect form of government, but it has a basic dedication to democratic principles, a belief that the people and the government can and should work for the common good and change things for the better, and a reasonably sane fiscal policy (with a budget surplus and a rainy day fund). This is orders of magnitude better than anything the GOP has offered in the last decade or is likely to offer in the foreseeable future.
5
Today's Republicans in Washington D.C. learned their lesson and tactics from the Democrats during the Obama administration. What went around has come around. Paul you should not be surprised that both can and will play by the same rules.
1
Totally nonsensical equivalence!
Dear Mr. Krugman:
I beg to differ. I think Joe Biden very much “gets it”. In fact he gets it better that anyone except maybe Amy and Pete. They understand that to win this election the D-Candidate must keep all the blues and win back the purples that Obama won and Hillary lost. The UAW is queasy about “Medicare for All”. How do Bernie and Elizabeth respond to that? (They don’t). These are the facts. Moreover, Joe Biden understands that you need to attract independent and Republican voters. The Electoral College, our system at present, is uppermost in his thoughts. Winning the popular vote in N.Y.C. and L.A. even by huge margins is not enough. My first vote in a Presidential election was for George McGovern. I was passionate and even campaigned for him. It was wonderful being so idealistic. But we can’t afford that now. We are in a bad place. Every day under this regime another environmental law is being deregulated. Immigrants are treated as criminals and children caged by our government. Our alliances are in tatters and our president worships dictators. This is no time to fool around. This is not a “change” election. This election is existential.
94
@Lynne Hmm and all three of them are funded by corporations and what to corporations do? They give so much money to these 3 amigos' campaign chests and so much money for ha ha private expenses that guess what these corporations feel that they get to call the shots and oddly they are not interested in the voters need only to have their needs to make more and more money. And so the sometimes reluctant politician does what they are told and really cannot do anything for the working and middle class but vote against their best interests for their rich donors.
19
@Lynne - agreed! the Dems had better focus on winning the Electoral College - there will be no opportunity to "not reach across the aisle" if they dont win and cannot take back the Senate. Biden may be old and prone to gaffes that are embarrassing but he is far smarter, more knowledgeable and far more ethical than Trump. Shame on Castro for the attack in the Houston debate
17
@Lynne I go back to McGovern too. I understand what you are saying, that we need a more moderate candidate to get elected. Unfortunately, Biden seems to have forgotten the Obama years, when the only position taken by the republicans was obstruction of everything. He seems to think he can work with them. This is not your father's GOP, they do not work with, only against.
29
Thanks for saying the bold things about Republicans time after time!
1
The problem has gotten so bad that I have a hard time thinking of Republicans as true patriots. How can they be when they do not believe in democracy?
What I'd find amusing (were it not potentially so tragic for the non-USA world) is that many Americans, perhaps a majority but perhaps not, believe that the current USA "situation," as superbly elucidated by Krugman and others, is an aberration in the history of a country they feel has, broadly speaking, been a positive force in the world for most of its history. I will not make any attempt (as it would bear little if any fruit) to disabuse you/them of this naive notion.
I don't know if Biden is that naive. It may be a tactical position to attract the uninformed middle independent voters who may very well decide the election. Even if that's his current position, we know he's smart enough to adapt his position to new information, so unlike what we have now. The absolute Main Thing is that we cannot afford another Trump term. It may be too late to save our republic but we must try. I agree with Krugman that Republicans do not want nor do they respect democracy -- they are only interested in power. But right now all polls show Biden handily beating Trump in key states AND leads in Texas. Anyone who blankly says "I'm not voting for Biden" either because he's too old or he's not "pure" enough or cause he makes gaffs doesn't really understand the dire state that out country is in. We are facing an existential threat, the first step to fix this is to get Trump Out! After that we can debate the details, as the Professor has said, they all want to move our country forward and compared to Trump, there is no contest. If Biden is on the ballot it's your civic responsibility to vote for him because if you don't, we're DONE!. If Warren starts to lead in the polls like Biden, then I'd personally like her, but it's not about me -- it's about nominating someone who will give us a chance to resurrect the country.
2
How does a would-be dictator take over a democracy? You are seeing it in action. If you want the full picture, read KILLING DEMOCRACY ...it's a short book only on Amazon. Unlike other historical dying democracy books, this one is a play book for how to do it. If Trump read books, this would be his favorite.
3
The GOP are always going to be better at scorched earth politics.
1. They don't actually want government to function well
2. They only need 40% of the population to hold the Senate, and 47% to hold the House / Presidency
3. Their coalition is largely single-issue blocks, and none of those issues is 'fairness' (tax cuts, guns, racism, theocracy, )
4. They have built a media ecosystem around a false sense of victimhood and tearing down objectivity. The MSM may on some issues be left-leaning, but in all cases they are at least trying to be objective.
We just aren't going to do better than the GOP at fighting dirty. You don't fight fire with fire if your opponent is a sociopath with a flame thrower. We need to try to restore norms and faith in government, because that is what Democrats believe is good for society.
1
Bravo! Precisely. The argument that compromise is possible with Republicans is wrong. Compromise is not possible until the majority of Republicans return to supporting democracy. Any Democrat that argues that he can compromise with Republicans or that his history of doing so proves that he can should be rejected by Democrats.
4
@Bill
Bill, IMHO, the one thing that is certain is that:
You can't compromise (or be a moderate, or 'middle of the roader', or dullard) with EMPIRE.
All EMPIREs, including this last one on earth, which has installed faux-Emperor Trump to act as their "useful idiot", puppet, pigeon, and Oswaldesque stooge, is just beginning to sense how he will be treated by history, and by his actual UHNWIs and their bank and corporate puppeteers.
1
I am probably one of many reading Levitsky's and Daniel Ziblatt's "How Democracies Die." I am concerned that in the area of elections alone, we are at risk. No matter our party affiliations, gerrymandering, voter suppression, the decisions to not hold Republican primaries in certain states, and current Democratic Party restrictions on who can stand as a Democratic candidate all contribute to weakening the electoral process. Add to this the elements of extreme partisanship, as practiced by obstructionist, Mitch McConnell, and we are on the way to checking off some of the criteria identified by Levitsky and Ziblatt that lead to authoritarianism.
4
I started to watch the Corey Lewandowski hearing this afternoon. The Republicans made a mockery of the hearing.
Dr. Krugman is correct, the Republicans really don't believe in democracy.
6
@JD Ripper
It was horrifying to watch
1
Krugman is right in his diagnosis. The GOP has atrophied in ways that are deep and likely irreversible. For the most part they have effected a political decision: the country has changed demographically (more ethnically and racially diverse), changes which--if democratically reflected--go increasingly against the corporatist annexation of the economy (via decades of outsourcing, eroding labor and unions, and seeking to dismantle the social contract shoring up Medicare, Social Security and Public Education--which, more recently, denies hard fact-based science). Republicans--what they've become--show resentment toward America society. And they are digging in, with only one salient goal--hoard what money and political control they can attain via more and more tax cuts--while building firewalls around the shifting logic of wealth accumulation and inequality. In this regard they now appear like the post-socialist "Oligarchs" (Russia) and "Princelings" (China) who seized social and public resources for the benefit of a big-monied class--with a polity that gives them protection. In essence--Feudalist. We in the US will only get out of this downward spiral by a political process that shrinks and marginalizes the GOP to total irrelevance, a radically revised democracy. A new ethically motivated "conservatism" might emerge from GOP shambles, but but not out of the current morass that is now the GOP. GOP=DOA
3
At his slowest and foggiest, Biden is quicker and more clear-headed than most of us would be on a high-pressure stage. The real problem is his lack of clarity on Who is Doing What to Whom: Trump is the outcome of a long-term Republican Party strategy, though they had a smoother tool in mind. Perhaps he needs to read Nancy Maclean’s book on how democracy has been put in chains.
2
Don't believe in Democracy? Modern Republicans have disdain for it! They disdain everyone who isn't in their privileged clubs. What they believe is that only the will of the 1% counts in elections, that America is for them alone, and let the rest of us eat cake.
1
I am just shocked by how fast Mitch McConnell reacted to the article about Justice Brett K and he didn't seem moved by the shootings and the necessity of gun control (no speech). This said one thing: Republicans just care about the power no matter how they get it. They don't care about American people.
6
In North Carolina "...the Democratic leader had advised members that they didn’t need to be present because, he says, he was assured [by Republicans] there would be no votes that morning."
Because Republicans will lie to your face, we can never believe what a Republican says any longer.
6
Democracy and the sanctity of it's institutions requires all of us working together. Yes, there is competition, push/pull, but at the heart of it, if you are not uniting the country and trying to make it stronger, if you are not practicing and respecting democratic principles, then you are weakening them. Anger is meant to alert people to a problem and bring them to the table for a solution. In most of America, I'd wager many people on the local level are working together and solving their community problems, but at the higher levels, the obstructionists and their cheerleaders are destroying our faith that our leaders give a fig about democracy. Winning, self interest, dirty tricks and hubris supplants democratic ideals.
1
I watch MSNBC most nights, if for nothing else but to catch up on the latest crazy by Republicans.
I am increasingly discouraged when a guest, and sometimes a host, admits to being somehow shocked by the latest crazy from Republicans.
Do they not get it that the Republican Party in its current form is lawless, hateful of all others not white and not wealthy, and anti-democratic? This list is not exhaustive.
You must understand your opponent in order to win. Let’s start with at least an understanding of the threat posed by Republicans to our country.
As for Democratic candidates promising to reach across the aisle after an election, are we at the point where this just enables more Republican crazy?
3
Democracy does not exist. The government is not run by the will of the people but of the lobbies. Our elected representatives do not listen to us but vote on behalf of the lobbies. Find me a person anywhere who would like to maintain this health care system, give 40B to Israel, or continue with current gun laws. It is all about the Benjamins.
1
Republicans start with the assumption that the bottom 80% of the population is lazy and entitled and the only way for the capitalist system to work them to maximum capacity is to instill fear in them that they will not have enough money to eat or go to the doctor.
2
Spot on Paul. Spot on. And the answer is, sadly, no they don't understand what it is they are up against. Or if they do, they don't have the backbone to call it what it is (American fascism) and fight it.
3
Republicans no longer believe in democracy! And the ones here in the south haven't believed in democracy for a long, long time. Some never did.
They see nothing wrong w children in cages, they believe the poor should be hungry, they believe they should make the decision on who lives or dies if they don't have healthcare, and Putin and Kim Jong-un, we need to get with them, bring them over. They have quite a few more problems than just not believing in democracy.
We must get Trump out of office and the republicans also. We have a lot of work to do and we do need to figure who is the best candidate to beat Trump.
1
A good predictor of people's behavior is their values. But, don't pay much attention to what they claim; just watch what they do and the consequences of their actions.
It is quite clear the Republicans most value and believe in money and the obscenely wealthy individuals and corporations that have it. Period! All anyone really needs to know at voting time.
The party has not changed its contempt for liberals (do-gooders) who believe the job of democratic governments is to help people and to provide a quality society for all.
The problem is that helping people and society costs money, and that requires taxes. But in the Calvinist tradition, if you are rich then you are obviously chosen, and if in business, you comfort yourself that you provide jobs for other people, so your citizenship duties are met.
If a nation wants to provide anything luxurious for the masses (such as decent affordable health care, education, and infrastructure), that is tax dollars that should be going to top levels of the economy and investors in the form of government subsidies, military and government contracts to big corporations--to the real producers of wealth and the GDP.
Sharing the wealth is out of the question, because an entire ideology and set of false beliefs exists to buttress what is basically selfishness and greed.
Remember how mad the 1% and GOP got when Obama dared to say: “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
It really is a choice
3
"Republicans Don’t Believe in Democracy"
A political column by PK - why, the stock market must be up. Last time I looked it wasn;t Republicans who talked about discarding the electoral collage or "packing" the SCOTUS with extra judges. Or discarded the filibuster rule.
Both parties jostle for power, and ruthlessly so.
2
Krugman's accounting of the GOP's ruthlessness matches what is routinely reported in the press. The GOP has been a minority party in this country since the time of the great depression and for many decades, GOP members of congress cooperated to create compromise with democrat members to pass legislation that was good for the country. The GOP abandoned comity and cooperation under Newt Gingrich, opting for obfuscation, outrage, obstruction and grand standing instead of making laws that serve the country. And it only got worse under the tea party. Over the decades I've watched the GOP organize itself under banners like the "moral majority", "deficit hawks", "small government" and most recently, the "forgotten man". I've been amazed to watch all the veils lift as the GOP elected the most immoral man to lead the country, run up the deficit to astronomic levels for tax cuts for the billionaires that fund them, and gut programs that protect the "forgotten man". It appears that everything tied to the GOP is a sham. They aren't moral, they aren't interested in the people that vote for them; they are only interested in those that fund them, they don't care a bit about the deficit, they just don't want the government to actually govern, and they delight in refusing to follow the law, the constitution and in thwarting the public. The only solution is to vote them all out, starting with Moscow Mitch.
3
If Trump wins re-election but loses the popular vote (by 6 points by some estimates) there will be riots in the streets of America. Between the EC and the Senate, the US is no longer a real democracy, if it ever truly was. Republicans play hardball, the Dems not so much, but they better learn how, and fast.
3
Anyone that votes based on what they think other voters care about, instead of their own values, are undermining democracy, and helping Republicans undermine democracy.
If everyone voted for what they actually believe in, instead of who they think might win, our values would win.
Most people that think they know who the moderates want are making stuff up on their heads, with no evidence. Fear based voting is for Republicans.
Vote for good policy and others will too.
1
"Even if Biden can win, is he too oblivious to govern effectively?"
I disagree with 99.99% of what Krugman says, but I think his assessment of Biden is spot-on.
3
The Republican Party and the Vietnam War draft dodger, both collectively and mutually, persistently and consistently advance and promote obstructionism, nativism, and white nationalism to assure, protect, and preserve their interests. The GOP is a remote shadow of the Republican Party once championing civil rights, promoting higher education, environmentally minded, and international participation. Moderate and liberal Republican governors, including Nelson Rockefeller of New York, George Romney of Michigan, and William Scranton of Pennsylvania, worked with Democrats in their state houses on a host of legislative issues to achieve positive, constructive results to benefit all. Republican Senators Jacob Javitts of New York, Charles Percy of Illinois, Ed Brooke of Massachusetts, Mark Hatfield of Oregon, Charles Goodell of New York, Howard Baker of Tennessee, and Everett Dirksen of Illinois cooperated with Democratic Senators on passage of instrumentally significant legislation in certain areas, and especially the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The take over of the GOP by the far right wing by Senator Barry Goldwater in 1964, though, signaled the seismic shift of the electorate based upon racial antipathy and anti immigrant fear mongering. Playing the race card and the xenophobic card assured Republicans of electoral success. The 1968 Southern Strategy of Richard Nixon proved playing the race card wins. Obstruction and racism is GOP. Race matters.
2
The Republican Party became an extreme right-wing insurgency committed to taking money from the poor and middle-class and giving it to billionaires, corporate shareholders, and lobbies. It became amoral in its pursuit of power at any cost in falsehoods, manipulation, and enabling or down-playing massive Russian interference in American elections. As the refuge of White Supremacists, xenophobes, and other assorted Trump-Twitter bullies and hate-mongers, the party has no claim on patriotic Americans. Yet, if the Democrats cannot unite on policies and focus on the continuing assault on America, they will be unable to take the Senate and White House. The current regime will continue with impunity in the courts, rigging at every level, and massive corruption and abuse of basic human rights.
3
Funny.
Democratic (sic) candidates for president have called for packing the Supreme Court, curtailing the First Amendment freedom of speech, assembly, and redress of grievances (lobbying bans, campaign finance, forcing organizations to disclose donors, despite the NAACP v. Alabama ruling).
Of course, they want to nullify the Second Amendment ("Hell, yeah, we're going to take your AR-15s").
They also want Democratic judges to nullify redistricting by Republicans while protecting Gerrymandering by Democrats (Maryland is the grossest example).
They have also called for a so-called "wealth tax" that threatens the life savings of retirees, so the fruits of their hard work and planning can be distributed to slackers (See the Ant and the Grasshopper fable).
One candidate claimed that as President, she would ban filibusters in the Senate to ram through her agenda. Perhaps in her world the unitary president controls the legislature too, but in America, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches are separate.
Heck, she even created an agency, the CFPB, that is not accountable to Congress or the President, and gets its budget by fiat from the Fed. And she wants more such unaccountable bureaucracies.
But hey ... it's the Republicans don't believe in Democracy.
5
A large swath of voters, in my view, simply want sanity and fairness, not necessarily "a progressive direction."
That said, Krugman is right.
I don't who these people are, but the so-called Republican Party is anti-American and ruthless. It needs to stop ASAP.
My position: overwhelm them at the polls. Impeachment is divisive, slow and won't succeed because of Moscow Mitch.
2
"Which raises the question: Even if Biden can win, is he too oblivious to govern effectively?"
Yes.
1
The Republicans know they are demographically doomed, and therefore have ceased all efforts to reach out to minorities and instead are trying to lock in conservative white power and low taxes for as long as possible through any means necessary.
Basically, they have no incentive to follow democratic norms, because they would either have to reach out to new voters by changing policies they like, or lose.
1
Going fwd, the Justice Dept and the Fed have to be insulated away from the Presidency. The modern Presidency has no need for a role in law enforcement and co-mingling law enforcement with political oversight is a recipe for disaster.
1
Let's not forget that Wisconsin state legislature did the same thing as the NC state legislature after the voters elected a Democratic governor. They limited the new governor's powers.
2
The answer to most of our systematic dysfunction is to take money's outsized influence out of our politics. Due to decades of preference to lobbyists of large corporations, and the very wealthy we have rigged ourselves out of our own democracy. A start would be to put a cap on what you can spend in a presidential election, make the people's airways give a certain amount of free advertising to candidates. If we can get candidates who are truly of average wealth with an understanding of the system in office we may be able to make rules that work for all of us - not just for a few.
We correctly worry about Russian interference in our elections but on the other hand we allow a more serious interference by money that perverts the system. What we need is someone who understands the systematic dysfunction and knows how to fix it.
3
Mr. Krugman's bio piece says he won a prize for economic geography. He might look at some of the maps available on the internet. The map of US states showing senators party and the 'givers and takers' map showing which states receive the most money from the federal government and which states pay the most.
One way to interpret the data might be that republicans do believe in economic representative government. They bring home the bacon.
Recent history (my lifetime) certainly shows that the Republican Party has become the party of "Borrow and Spend". A lot more fun than the Democrats "Tax and Spend".
Why am I a Democrat? I believe that paying your way in life is the only sustainable path. Democratic party policies most often line up with that philosophy.
Although there are many lines in this op-ed that should alarm all of us, this is the one that I found most disturbing: "...under William Barr, Justice has effectively become just another arm of the G.O.P." Barr is little more than a Trump puppet--not the only Trump marionette but the one that can likely do the most damage to our democracy by perverting and impeding justice.
8
The Republican Party has refused to acknowledge the "right to govern" of any Democratic President since the 1992 election; since they regard it as having been "stolen" from them by Ross Perot's independent candidacy; just as Democrats blame Ralph Nader for 2000.
Right, Trump is not a Republican aberration. If one has been paying attention, one could see it coming, starting with Nixon's Watergate, on through Newt Gingrich's House leadership, and McConnell's obstacles against the Obama presidency, especially Moscow Mitch's refusal to consider the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland. Rank and file Republicans may still believe in democracy, but the Republican leadership, elected or otherwise, is hellbent on transforming the country to conform to the norms desired by the ultra-wealthy.
In short, the Republican leaders want to do whatever can be done to keep the people poor, uneducated, unhealthy, so as not to pose a threat to their domination. For decades now, many legislative and executive actions by Republicans have conformed to this basic model.
7
David Frum said it best.
"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy. "
We are seeing it live, in real time. The GOP knows that their ideas are not popular, they know that they cannot win on the truth of their policies. They know that they cannot maintain their grip on power with free open elections so they slowly undermine and corrupt the system to the point that it has become unrecognizable. They are faithless and without honor or decency. And they are winning.
12
@True, but they are also getting help from a weak and ineffectual Democratic Party that turned centrist in the 1990’s under Clinton and lost what they are supposed to be. Real Democrats. David Frum started the "New" Democrats.
1
@Thomas
Fair enough. We need to fight one battle at a time though. First recognize that this is literally a war, not a civil debate. Once the Democrats understand what the stakes are, and what the rules of engagement are, maybe they can win back enough power to become what they once were. If they try to do it all at once, they more than likely will accomplish nothing at all.
The GOP will evicerate what is left of representative government in this country and will end up ruling, with a veneer of meaningless elections held every so often to burnish their image of legitimacy.
1
@arusso
Correction, The "New" Democrats were started by Al From not David Frum.
A good analysis of Republicans. Under them, we have become less and less democratic.
And your final point about Biden is well taken He is a relic from a bygone era, which was dubious even then. His friendly attitude towards Republicans (and his misogyny) got us Clarence Thomas.
4
Krugman concludes: "Even if Biden can win, is he too oblivious to govern effectively?"
Come on, now, professor. This isn't a question! Biden is oblivious and out of touch. The only reason he is the annointed "front-runner" is because both the corporate media and (much of) the leadership of the Democratic party wants us to believe that he is the most likely to defeat Donald Trump -- despite a long record of losing presidential primaries because voters outside of Delaware really don't like him as a candidate.
5
Joe Biden really has me stumped. How could the guy who was Obama's VP for 8 years still believe the GOP is willing to work with people on the other side?
Krugman is totally right that the Republican Party doesn't give a damn about democracy. With their gerrymandering, obstruction, packing of the courts and voter oppression, they're main goal has been to actively disenfranchise the people who disagree with their agenda. They've been liars and con artists for decades and Donald Trump is the real-life caricature that emphasizes and highlights those traits to what was once an unimaginable level.
9
This is classic democratic party malarkey. We often talk about how trump lives in his own delusional reality, but the same is true for the democratic party which has for my entire 60 years on this planet taken the position that all politicians are truly public servants intent on serving the country in the best way they understand.
The truth is that for the past 50 years the GOP has been moving inexorably toward ending democracy as we now know it. Ever since Brown v. Board of Ed. they have been working toward permanent governance by the minority. Now, as they are poised to win a permanent minority governance, the country has been awakened by the aberration that is trump and his corruption, to this reality and we recoil in horror. But the democratic party continues with its Pollyanna belief that the GOP will suddenly want a real democracy.
Here's a hint. They won't.
7
I seriously doubt that Joe Biden is "oblivious" - but perhaps longs for the day and hopes to bring back the way Congress used to and should work. Bashing the front runner in particular, but any of the Democratic contenders for the White House is going to cause more than a few people to skip the vote to our peril as a country.
Trump is behaving exactly as he always has in business. He stiffs/cheats his contractors, denies, denies, denies, forcing them into court where he obstructs until they run out of time and/or money to continue to fight him. His treatment of Congress is abhorrent, and his usurping of their powers is dangerous, not just undemocratic. This, is how democracies fall to dictatorships.
7
Ironically, some Democrats, including Chris Coons (Senator from Delaware) and Pete Buttigieg, presidential candidate, have condemned Beto O'Rourke for taking a stand against assault weapons, arguing that it gives Republicans a "talking point." News flash ... Trump will gin-up his base with hundreds of racist and anti-immigrant rants, stoking fear and hatred among his devotees. He doesn't need O'Rourke's help. Democrats need to stop worrying about offending Republicans and take courageous stands like Beto O'Rourke, or our Democracy will fall.
10
It seems impossible that an insider in the Obama administration could not understand the tactics and goals of the Republican party. Was Biden napping when McConnell said stopping Obama was job 1?
Assuming Biden is actually aware of his surroundings, his insistence that Democrats can work with Republicans can only be based on his whole-hearted belief in the Republican program.
Biden must be one of them!
2
human's point requires the Dems to concentrate on local politics, that is where the Republicans began their dismantling of democracy and that is where it can be reclaimed.
Whomever of the Democrats that is elected president will have to be above the fray because a leader who picks sides will further polarize the country. If we are going to fix democracy, the one we have, we need the leader to demonstrate its virtues.
The fix is from the bottom up. That includes the media, education and social awareness.
3
Biden lived through the Obama years and saw first hand the uselessness of appealing to Republicans' better nature. We don't need a conciliatory politician who believes in fairy tales. We need an unapologetic defender of truth and freedom who will say loudly what we are fighting for and what the stakes are. It shouldn't be hard. I have tons of friends who make a more persuasive case than Pelosi or any of the Democratic candidates. We need to catch fire!
6
"The big problem with Joe Biden, still the front-runner, is that he obviously doesn’t get it."
This was Obama's problem, too. Obama never accepted that he'd need to use the same scorched-earth tactics as the Republicans to get anything done, since the Republicans considered him an illegitimate President and refused to participate in governing. All the candidates except Biden understand this, and are therefore willing to wield power to fulfill the wishes of the voters: abolish the filibuster, neuter the Electoral College, admit DC, Puerto Rico and the Pacific territories as proper states, balance SCOTUS, revise the procedures for the Federal courts, etc. The GOP wants white, fundamentalist minority rule; the Democrats must abolish their foundations for this.
7
Trump is a fulfillment rather than an aberration of the new sort of Republican politics instigated by Newt, who was a genius at undercutting productive, amicable relations between the parties. He encouraged congressmen to leave D.C. whenever they could, so that productive, amicable relations could not develop and flourish. He schooled Republican politicians in attack politics, giving them lists of words with which to demonize Democrats.
1
When you're in a permanent minority, of course you don't believe in democracy in its pure form. You believe that democracy means winning by whatever means the system will permit. You can say it's "democracy" because the people's voice is being heard even if it means one element of "the people" is sitting on another element of "the people" to keep their voices from being heard. It's a twisted logic, but we need to understand that these gerrymanderers and voter-suppressionists believe they are exercising their rights in a democracy.
1
This isn't really that confusing. The Republicans decided a a long time ago that the ends justify the means. All they needed was the certainty to declare their objectives just. They don't re-litigate that question—ever. Once people are 100% sure of something, they never question it again. The Republicans then go a step further, declaring that not questioning it is a sign of "integrity." Surprise! Their just ends miraculously coincide with their self-interest. There is no religion that believes in a chosen people without also believing that they are the chosen people. Consider the opposite position, what science does. You never take anything as 100% certain. You continually try to falsify your propositions, laws, models, etc., and the more rigorous your tests and the more specific your claims, the more confidence you can put in them should the claims survive your attempts. The faith-based method never interacts with data from the empirical world. So those folks, mostly Republicans but we've all seen liberals do it and have probably done it ourselves, have systematically excluded the enlightenment thinking that is at the foundation of our nation. Whereas the true American will never be completely certain of anything—especially national identity—and will always be testing beliefs. This process is the real source of power we all have. We make our nation stronger through critique. Make America Great Again is the most un-American slogan ever.
4
The pity of the 2016 election was that 'we the people' could have avoided all of this but many voters could not bring themselves to vote for HRC or could not bother themselves to even vote. Perhaps they thought that Clinton was a weak candidate, maybe they believed that she was as corrupt as the right wing media has portrayed her to be. Whatever.
The election of 2016 was a tipping point in this country. As a result we, the non conservative, non reactionary, non evangelical, voters have lost the Federal Courts for the rest of our lives. Our lives! The professionals in the many departments lead by the executive branch have been decimated maybe never to be made whole again. Our country is becoming a pariah nation Internationally and we are insulting our long time allies.
We can complain about the Democrats that they should do this or do that to Trump and his administration, but WE did not do our job to preserve this country when we had the chance. Now, it may be too late.
The Republican Party has been trending towards authoritarianism for at least the last 45 years. In 2016 they had their golden opportunity to finally take control. Flaunt the rules. Ignore the laws. Trump may be a buffoon, but he's the President of the United States with all that office's powers and the Republicans are not going to waste this.
The worst candidate the Democrats could have possibly fielded in 2016 would have been better than Trump.
7
It's really funny the way liberals and conservatives are each trying to hijack the same words to describe the other. Saying that Republicans don't believe in democracy (or vice versa) is just silly. The truth is that people believe in democracy if and when it serves them; at all other times there's a rationalization as to why democracy is not the right answer for the particular issue at hand. Take, for example, the 2016 election. We were all told that Donald J. may not accept the outcome of the election if he doesn't win. Well, well, it turns out he did win, and here come the Democrats with a whole series of explanations as to why the result shouldn't stand (much like with GWB). We saw people advocating for the electoral college not to follow their mandate, elimination of the electoral college, when all that didn't pan out we see the whole Russia investigation, and after that turned out to be a bust we see continuing calls for impeachment. Hey, it's gotta be better than admitting your preferred candidate got beaten by a supposed half-wit. And then we have the so-called "rising star" of the Democratic party who loses the governor's election in Georgia, and not only argues there are irregularities (as there are with all events run by people) but argues, without evidence, that she is in fact the winner of the governorship. Not to exclude the republicans from valid criticism; we play our games too for sure, but don't kid yourselves: everyone's a hypocrite when it serves them.
1
Next president - be it Biden or another of the qualified candidates - needs to be willing to pack the Supreme Court. We need to bring the Senate along to do that.
5
While I agree with Mr. Krugman's assessment of our present situation I cannot accept that it is a permanent state of affairs. It is simply not sustainable. At some point more reasonable heads will prevail or We the People will force the issue.
I don't know what that will look like. Perhaps the emergence of a third or fourth party or a wave of new legislators truly fed up with the divisiveness and gridlock. Maybe we will be faced with a common enemy that will force us to unite, I really don't know but it can't continue like this for much longer or our republic is doomed.
I really miss the days when our leaders could spend the day reading each other for trash on the house floor and then sit down, have a drink together and sort it all out. Differences of opinion are healthy and necessary. What we are missing is the will and desire to set those differences aside and work toward the common good.
I have to believe we can get back to that.
1
We need to start to correctly label the Republican Party as an open conspiracy to control the country in spite of laws and in spite of the opinions of a majority of Americans. When the Republican President refuses to follow the law, knowing that he will be met with silence or even praise from his faithful Republican Senate majority, that is conspiracy. When Republican appointees to courts are all dutiful members of a club that requires absolute political solidarity, that is a de facto conspiracy. When congressional districts have been drawn by club members with clear and open intentions to perpetuate club power, and when club member Justices can be depended upon to "interpret" law to allow the club such power. that is de facto conspiracy.
It's insufficient to call out individual perpetrators one at a time. It's insufficient to blame Trump, even though he is the titular head of the conspiracy. What is required is a wholesale outing of a political party that operates above the law. We need to investigate the conspiracy of power that is the Republican Party, just as we would investigate any other nation-wide criminal enterprise. If we lack the legal framework to have such an investigation, then we must somehow create such a framework. Otherwise the country will continue to be run by a private political party that is above the law.
5
Yes, Biden seems oblivious to the corrupt power of the Republicans. Worse, Americans seem oblivious to the futility of electing Biden as president. Radical corruption requires radical solutions. Only Bernie Sanders is prepared to fight the Republicans and their corporate sponsors. He too would be met by Republican obstructionism; but only he has the policies, passion, experience, determination and courage to fight for average Americans against the right wing power structure.
2
If Biden talks about working across the aisle as an insincere throwaway line for swing voters who like that sort of thing, it’s pandering within norms of campaigning. If he believes it, he’s too out of touch to serve. I think the world of Joe Biden, but he’s too old as is Bernie.
I’d like one of the other “moderates” - aka someone who Democratic Senate challengers wouldn’t have to distance themselves from - to run a campaign that can win in a lot of states. The GOP has to be eviserated in the next two or three elections if Democrats want ever have an opposing party fit to work with on the other side.
The great fallacy of the Democratic left is that the most progress comes from having the most dramatic proposals when in fact progress comes from accumulating power, holding it long enough to make new plans stick and having the political skill to get buy in from people as you go. The GOP, groups like the the Federalist Society and the unitary executive proponents (Facism lite IMHO) have been working on their agenda, building power for decades. Democrats neglected most of the states and every 4 years wanted to vote for a President who’d make grand visions happen as if there were no legislative branch; now we have a President with a lapdog/henchman running the Senate while he blows off the House.
Note to candidates: Bullock and Tester of Trump supporting Montana are pounding the table about money and lobbying in politics - might want to bring that up everywhere.
3
@John, the importance of mental acuity, the necessity of a long-term vision, and the ability to generate voter enthusiasm because of good policy proposals greatly outweighs a person's chronological age as a factor for the job of POTUS. If we required our president to run a fast mile or dead lift a certain weight, I'd agree with you. But since people age differently and Senator Sanders seems to be one of the lucky ones with his demonstrated energy levels for campaigning, I don't agree that he is "too old" at all.
Our founders thought that congress should be the preeminent branch of government - the first among equals. The Presidential branch has acquired too much power. It needs to be reigned in.
2
The Republicans have successfully obliterated the Democrats. All three branches of our present Government function under the same tactics of control. The regulatory provisions in the Constitution seem permanently compromised because both Government and its people in America voluntarily lost their conscience. Without it, there is no inkling between what is right and what is wrong. It is a desperate time. We cannot function properly without a soul which leads us toward a good and better society.
7
As Prof Krugman understands history, the dialectic between the wealthy and the non-wealthy eventually breaks down and we end up with significant change in the underlying political dynamic. The last upheaval, of course, was the Great Depression which brought forth both an expansion of liberal values in the Roosevelt administration as well as dictatorships in Germany, Italy and Spain (and you can probable add Stalin in there too - same effect, different ideology) which led to a war that murdered tens of millions.
Our last economic upheaval in 2008 brought the rise of right wing fanaticism evidenced by the rise of the Tea Party and, of course, Trump - a white nationalist.
However, the underlying economic dynamic did not change and we are seeing the result. While unemployment is low, wage growth is still weak and families are hurting due to high housing and health care costs. Income inequality has accelerated. Policy decision have put us in a very precarious position (debt and negative real interest rates).
We could go two ways. A liberal rebirth ( addressing income inequality and restoring the power balance) or some kind of quasi fascism. But nobody at the point can predict how the dialectic will play out.
4
Dr. Krugman speaks the truth. A truth all Americans would be wise to take to heart in 2020. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DOES NOT BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY.
When I see the Republican Party leadership, I see a bunch of crusty, mean, self-centered white men. This is a leadership that made repeated efforts to kill the Affordability Care Act (ACA) in 2017. A leadership that pushed through the passage of a tax bill (benefitting the rich and powerful to the detriment of poor and working class Americans) in December of the same year, as well as approving the nominations of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh as Associate Justices on the Supreme Court.
The Republicans have shown that they have NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in working for the public good. The Republicans are unabashedly supportive of corporate interests - and are rewarded handsomely for serving them.
As an observer of national politics since the 1970s, I'm crystal clear that the Republicans don't care about working class people, and pay little more than lip service to the middle class. And as for the poor, the Republicans prefer to ignore them.
Our country is now at risk of having its democratic system subverted and supplanted by a fascist oligarchic state - courtesy of the Republican Party.
This is no time to be a cynic. Cynics tend to do nothing but gripe and complain about the state of the world. Skepticism, on the other hand, is healthy. Yet skepticism must be matched with purposeful, constructive ACTION to save our country.
8
I'll say this again; ignore a subpoena, expect an arrest via a bench warrant...
no bail; only way out, is to appear in court, where one could still face contempt charges.
An exceptionally unhealthy precedent keeps being set every time laws like this are ignored.
What's next? I don't even want to think about it.
6
Please explain how it is acceptable to ignore a subpoena? Doesn't that break some law? What would happen to an ordinary Joe who ignored a subpoena?
3
It should be noted that we have long had a strain of non-acceptance of democracy in our country and, indeed, even the founders and the documents they produced reflect that posture. US senators were appointed by the states, not elected. The Electoral College was to be a stand-in between the votes of the public and the final decision as to who would be president. The Supreme Court would have lifetime appointments. Only white males had the vote in most states.
We were gifted a partial and somewhat flawed democracy and have worked to improve and extend it gradually, with fits and starts, since our founding. That does not mean that those who oppose democratic ideals have gone away or been silenced.
Following the 12 yr. Republican reign of Reagan and Bush the First, the Republican party, with the rise of Gingrich style politics, took the adamant position that no Democrat should ever be allowed to govern as president. They set out to destroy Bill Clinton and, with his assistance, almost did so. The object with Obama was virtually the same except that his personal life did not provide ammunition so vicious rumors, like the birther controversy, were substituted.
All of this has placed us on a political/governmental dead end street which can lead to fatal conflict in our society.
The tactic now is to attack the functioning of democracy itself by voter ID laws, reducing polling stations in minority areas and discouraging students from voting. More will follow.
8
Crocodile tears.
3
Seriously? How can the NYTimes allow such offensive and oversimplifying headlines while simultaneously cowing to the hand-wringers when other headlines don't bash the president sufficiently? For shame! We already have plenty of tabloids. The NYTimes should strive for better. How is this headline any different from "Liberals hate America!"?
5
You do know what "democracy" is don't you Spike? It's two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
4
Thank you....
Yes!
Paul brings a frightening presentiment here, but one we all have to face. And thanks for your eloquence, Paul! The present GOP has only ill will for the American people. they're like something out of Orwell's 1984, and then some. Power and money has corrupted them beyond belief. Mc Connell is worse than Trump in his perverse world-view. These are the real haters of America, out solely for themselves, and the hell with the people and the future of our country. Once again, and to reiterate, it's time for a 1776 moment, I fear.
2
Maybe the republicans on here don't know how democracy works?
When you win the election you do not get to act with impunity. You have to follow the law.
I can see how this may confuse some of you as you seem to think it perfectly normal to ignore the law since you also seem to be perfectly fine with having cheated to win the election in the first place. Cheating is also illegal.
2
I wonder if Biden is really that clueless (8 years as Obama's VP, with total Republican obstruction and slander).
Perhaps he thinks there are enough clueless voters pining for bipartisanship that he can pick up.
1
@Jack Toner
It is much worse, he is one of them.
He was in on the passing and repealing of laws that gave us what we have today. He represented Delaware the state that gives sanctuary to the most predatory corporations in America.
I guess Paul thinks that Democrats trying to overthrow an elected president is democracy.
1
@Jackson
How does asking for information lead to the conclusion they are trying to overthrow?
7
@magicisnotreal
It doesn't. Trump supporters are authoritarians and they think everyone should submit to *their* leader without reservation, no matter what their leader does. Their mindset is straight out of Germany in the 1930s.
3
The progressive agenda espoused by most Democratic candidates will mean we have four more years of Republican control of government. The Democratic Party is doomed due to too many candidates pushing for programs that do not appeal to the masses. The result: people just won’t show up at the polls in the States they need to win.
Joe might make it but it’s a real long shot --- Republican’s will market him as old, stumbling, and senile.
4
@KD Lawrence
“Appeal to the masses?” Such as reducing gun violence, not bankrupting people with hospital bills, living wages for working people? And who are these masses, anyway? If they have an opinion, they should get out and vote.
4
How would Republicans win elections if we adhere to our democratic principles?
3
I think that Paul actually understates the dynamic here. Republicans don’t just not ‘believe’ in democracy, they fear it and loathe it. They have for decades looted and pillaged this nation as well as others for personal gain. They simply can’t turn over the levers of power unless guaranteed that they can slip back under their collective rock without having to pay for their misdeeds. Thus part of the real impetus behind these audacious grabs at permanent power. Dictators and their cohorts can never surrender power for fear of justice raising its avenging head from the ashes of what came before.
10
Under the admiring tutelage of Grover Norquist, Wayne Lapierre, Steve Bannon, Stephen MIller, current clones of Karl Rove, Wisconsin's own Scott Walker at American Enterprise Institute, the broad Koch coalition, et al. the GOP is sharpening broadaxes of character assassination, stockpiling munitions of single-issue shrapnel, tooling up their 24/7 Fox propaganda mill… and Dems are seemingly bringing not even an aspirin to the war against this psychotic assault upon the American psyche.
Although the metaphor is jumbled as any Biden declaration, the gist is understood by all browsing here.
Dems bring to the fight nothing comparable to the savagery of the Republican hordes.
7
Democrats may have received more votes for their state legislative candidates in N.C. than Republicans, but only because they contested every race and the Reps didn't. Gerrymandering simply doesn't have the impact many Dems want to believe it has.
What happened in N.C. is testament to the malignantly timorous and poor leadership of centrist Democrats over the past three decades. Bolting Raleigh in order to be seen at cloying 9/11 commemorations left their constituents without a voice in the capital. First things first for these legislators, I guess. If I were a N.C. Democrat, I'd be looking to replace them with folks who might actually be willing to stay in Raleigh and fight for me.
3
Thats’s ridiculous. If a vote had been scheduled they would have stayed for the vote. No professional should have to assume that their colleagues are lying and cheating so as to be available 24/7 to perform what you call effective representation. The NC GOP no longer acts honorably and the fact that some people think that is just to be expected is a sad commentary on the shifting morality of the current party.
3
There is nothing you’ve stated that is even close to the truth. The GOP has absolutely rigged the state electoral process to nullify the mostly urban, mostly democratic votes. They actually split NCAT university down the middle for the expressed purpose of diluting the African American vote. Whether or not the democratic office holders are middle of the road, or far left is irrelevant. You’ve forgotten that the GOPs motive for the last 10 years is to stop people of color from voting, nationwide, not only in NC.
3
@Paul P I'm sorry, but Republican gerrymandering does not 'split' minority voters in order to dilute their influence, it concentrates them into single districts in order to dilute their influence on neighboring districts. If the leg did what you claim around NCAT Univ then it was illegal and the courts should remedy. But the fact is when the courts redrew Pennsylvania's lines in order to make them more "fair", Democrats only managed to pick up a single (1) seat in a Blue Wave year. So much for the 'Republican gerrymandering' theory.
I fear that most of us, even those life-long democrats, neither realize nor care how fragile our republic is. They assume that as a nation, our freedoms and constitutional limits of power on one branch of government is immutable. This is understandable. During our lifetimes nothing, not even the Nixon era, nothing seriously threatened the rule of law under which we live. Nothing seriously challenged our place of world leadership.
Now, having been lulled into a sense that, unlike the Roman Empire, our nation, our liberty has a permanence that will protect us from the onslaught of tyranny.
For most of us, we don't understand or comprehend the profound danger we are in under this president and his cohorts, which includes his party and its leadership. I think the same can be said of most if not all the folks fighting for the presidential candidacy. I fear for the future. I fear that his president may get a second term. I fear that he may get yet a third nomination to the Supreme Court. I fear he will do anything-ANYTHING- to avoid losing and facing criminal prosecution.
6
Any Democrat who utters phrase “reach across the aisle” loses my vote.
312
@Sam Francisco
Any Democratic votes "lost" by that kind of attitude gets us more Trump and more GOP intransigence.
30
@Sam Francisco
Democracy in a two party system (not a great system) requires reaching across the aisle. Categorically denying that shows as much contempt for democracy as so many Republicans have. Now if you can't find anyone on the other side to reach back, you have a big problem. But we have to keep reaching.
23
@Xander Patterson
No, we don't.
I do not shake hands with someone holding a gun. That is the GOP. Until they can convince the Democrats that they have good intentions, and then come across the aisle there can be no cooperation. The door is open, all they need to do is come through.
40
As a Democrat I refuse to accept that the majority of Republicans are not decent and fair minded.
Misguided perhaps . They will eventually get it right after they have exhausted all other possibilities.
36
@ndbza McConnell has shown the GOP that even if the Democrats take over the White House and the Senate a GOP minority can use the filibuster to block the passage of progressive bills or see a conservative Supreme Court nullify bills enacted. The GOP represents a minority of Americans and its primary goal is to protect the wealth and income of the rich. The majority of the GOP in Congress march to this tune; true moderates are gone. The Democrats must present straight-talk arguments on this situation to break off a sizable slice of voters distracted by opportunistic appeals to racism and traditionalism.
76
@ndbza I certainly understand that inclination, and I would say it may be true if by "Republicans" you mean the citizens out there who tend to conservative beliefs. The problem is, given our primary system, regardless of where the citizenry might be ideologically, those actually elected to public office for the GOP have been more and more extreme (think Tea Party, think the Flake & Corker resignations when they knew they'd be challenged by extremists from the right who would likely get elected in a primary by the extremist voters who are far more likely to vote in a primary election). Thus, while most Republican citizens might be generally decent, that doesn't necessarily apply to the majority of elected Republicans.
49
@ndbza
Our politics are driven by who we are at a more fundamental level, not the other way around.
The filtering out of the electorate for all intents and purposed is complete. Those that have a self-centered view of life vote Republican. Those that see themselves as part of a system by which they benefit if they contribute to it vote mostly Democrat.
36
I was amazed when Mitch McConnell got away with saying, just after the Obama re-election, that he would oppose Obama at every turn after that. He certainly kept his promise. Well, now we have a Chief Executive that invites a chorus of such statements from most Democrats, but the position makes sense, as the affronts are so grievous. But a careful review of the history of behavior in American elections will show that this is nothing new. We elected a President who had formerly been in the entertainment industry in--1980. But he also had been governor of the most prosperous large state. Bush 43 had been involved in the oil and baseball businesses, but more recently governor of the large state right behind California--Texas. Interestingly, both Obama and Trump were unlikely presidential candidates, on the face of it. Once elected, Obama proved he was up to the challenge, but Trump is really flailing, totally out of his depth. But, the Repub-led Senate and the Trump Justice Dept agreed to and followed through with the Russia influence investigation and put some of Trump's people in prison. Repubs do believe in democracy--they just would like the democracy to resemble the Republic before: voting rights, civil rights, equal rights, etc. Remember, we started with only white male landowners participating in government. And some of them hated each other, even back then! I do hope the Repubs become a functional, loyal opposition next year, and the Dems become clear-minded leaders.
2
It's not just Republicans or their party. Plenty on the left abandoned Obama when they discovered he couldn't just give orders from the White House, and now speak as if their preferred Democratic candidate will have the magic wand of autocracy.
It's what happens when you stop teaching children what their government is and what their Constitutional responsibilities are. Teaching them, rather, their only job as citizens is to consume. That was the lesson of the Chicago School that became accepted in the latter 1970s. We're not citizens, we're consumers in competition with each other.
And with the belief that government can never do anything right (go to the moon, build the internet, etc etc), and can only harm people, about 1/2 of us gave up entirely and stopped even voting. Then we taught our children likewise.
The Republicans, in particular, used the intervening years to build out their party in favor of single-party autocracy from the local level up while Democrats fixated on the Presidency. W. Bush appointed two justices to SCOTUS who have argued in favor of a "strong unitary executive," which is a very undemocratic idea. Then Mitch torpedoed the Constitution, and now we have a majority on the court willing to put the Executive Branch above the others. It's just a matter of time.
My guess is this is exactly why the subpoenas are being ignored, and Mitch is the one coaching the useful guy sitting in the Oval Office.
Then it'll be game, set, match. Buh bye USA.
1
After Obama was elected, the Republican party was shattered, but Mitch Mcconnell and the radical right propaganda machine headed by Hannity and Limbaugh and Fox declared war on consensus democracy and majority will with 3 words "just say no."
Obama and Pelosi didn't hear him or they just didn't get it? Obama kept reaching across the aisle and kept getting bit, and Pelosi made the stupid decision to not look back and hold Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld and Rice accountable for their crimes and lies.
The Democrats still don't get it. They have a much larger majority of voters than the Trump/McConnell base, and they have a majority in the House. But they refuse to lead. Pelosi says she is waiting for a bi partisan poll to motivate her to defend the Constitution and the law and support impeachment.
Hey Nancy you were elected to lead. You've got more irrefutable evidence that Tump is guilty of obstruction, witness tampering and abuse of power than you need to make prosecuting Trump and exposing his high crimes and Republican complicity the number one priority of the House majority.
Krugman is spot on, but it is not just Joe that doesn't get it. All the Dem candidates are clueless that the Republicans have killed consensus democracy and Trump is sticking a dagger into it daily, and gloating he has been exonerated by the Dems.
Wake up Dems. You are in a war, not a political campaign. Start rallying the troops and fight back, damn it!
6
Vincent
I'm 82 and I my life have seen this country respond successfully, to emergencies and political crises by conscientious political parties working as Americans. I often tear up when I see what is happening today, wondering where is my America.
The time has come for us to pass the baton to a younger generation ,as we always have. Joe, Bernie, Elizabeth move over and let the next generation fix what is wrong, you owe it to all the young kids who have to live with what you left them.
3
McConnell would be absolutely ecstatic to "work" with a Biden presidency. He would play Joe Biden like a violin. Biden claims he can work with the Republican controlled Senate, but the last time he did, McConnell picked his pockets. McConnell was negotiating with Majority Leader Harry Reid. But, he went behind Sen. Reid's back and got the much needed support from VP Biden to pass the Republican's enormous tax give away to the rich. No one, including Obama, was aware of the deal Biden had made with Reid until it was too late. In other words, he betrayed his own Party.
So, Biden is either oblivious, complicit, or corrupt. In either case, we can't trust or rely on him for fight for a Democratic agenda.
At this point I think it's extremely difficult to argue that Republicans do believe in Democracy. Even bring up that word and they go into a reflexive "We're not a Democracy, we're a representative Republic." as if the two were incompatible. Thus is the influence of right wing media. Worse, they don't seem to believe in either one.
Thank you, Dr. Krugman, for this article. I have thought for many years that the republican party is actively corroding the foundation of our constitution and democratic institutions at all levels of government. As a liberal and lifelong democrat, I have also been long divided within myself on how best to tackle this problem. Working with them, talking with them, bringing them along when possible seemed the best approach for a long time. But now, with Trump, I no longer think that way is best. Democrats need to WIN, first and foremost, and keep on winning. And once we have won, we need to work tirelessly to undo every rotten thing they have accomplished. Just as importantly, democrats need to enact a legislative and policy agenda that works _for_ the American people, not on the backs of the American people. Only then, maybe after a generation (or two), will enough red state voters finally recognize that a tolerant, open society that respects everybody and a government that actually works for the people is better than an angry, racist society and a government that works only for corporations and the wealthy. It will not be easy. First we need to beat them. Then they will need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century until they finally realize that it isn't the nightmare they dreamt it would be.
4
So if Democrats follow by flouting norms, does that leave us better or worse? Hard to say. However, it is expressly clear that the GOP is more akin to an insurgency, not a party.
2
Sadly, for the foreseeable future, the GOP needs to be recognized as a clear and present danger, an enemy of the state, and should be handled accordingly. They care only about retaining power. Democracy, and the constitution be damned. Anything that is a means to installing their agenda is on the table. Democrats (especially those in North Carolina), amazingly enough keep trusting the GOP after everything they've pulled.
This is not the time to go higher when they go low.
3
The Republicans believe in democracy - the kind where the dollar and only the dollar is served - people be damned.
1
Democrats should continue fighting for equity and equality, but must stop worrying about being “fair” when it comes to expressing our opinions. This has not been a fair fight for decades. It doesn’t matter what we say, or how carefully we say it, every utterance is used against us by the Republicans. This is a fight where we need to clearly and boldly stake out our positions without compromise. Donald Trump won because he doesn’t compromise. He knows that “working across the aisle” is a tactic that works only when you are operating from a position of strength. As much as he is the elder statesman many wish we could run, Joe Biden is not up to the kind of street fight we’re going to have.
I think many people have known for a very long time that Republicans really don't want Democracy, but I wonder if the same can't be said for some on the left either. Despite what most Democrats seem to want, there are still those trying to convince us that we don't know what we want to try to satisfy their agenda. If Bernie can't win over Biden, he sure can't win a race with Trump and all those on the right sounding the "socialist" bell.
There seems to be a creeping notion I have noticed in strangers, friends, and even my own children. They don't want to follow the rules if the rules are inconvenient or don't allow them to achieve their desired results.
It scars me.
6
It's all hands on deck for the Democrats, and the country.
Unfortunately Pelosi took impeachment off the table when it may be the most effective instrument at its disposal especially in light of the GOP's willingness to do anything to hold on to power .
She put political expediency and her own power base ahead of the welfare of the country . Her apologists proclaim her acumen and control but she is no different than McConnell in her loyalty to party.
Pelosi underestimates what she is facing and the consequences of her inaction. She may be nearsighted, just too close to it all. Many people have just tuned out government , resigned to both partys' lust for power rather than a commitment to improving their lives. I think Warren hears them and why she is building momentum.
I hope the country is prepared by for Trump not leaving office. I am sure that he and McConnell have already gamed it out. The originalists on the Supreme Court will no doubt declare that the original document makes no mention of term limits and subsequent amendments need not apply.
Vote. And pray.
1
@JL
The votes are not there for an impeachment.
1
@JL
I trust Nancy Pelosi's foresight and political acumen far more that I trust those who mistakenly underestimate her.
Although generalizations like “Republicans don’t believe in democracy” are not useful, I agree that GOP leadership has engaged in many anti democratic actions. But the closing shot at Biden is silly. If there is one candidate who is aware of the political reality it is Biden. This is most obvious when comparing the competing healthcare plans.
3
Bet on it! If, even with Russian help, Trumps loses the election, he will claim the result was illegitimate. He'll plant the seeds for such a claim during the campaign. Perhaps he'll claim massive voter fraud, perhaps malfeasance on the part of elections officials. He'll develop pretexts for questioning the result, and can we be sure SCOTUS would not support him?
5
Democrats need to realize that in order to right the ship, they will need to be as ruthless as Republicans have been. That means they need to win back both the White House and the Senate. (Hey, Gov. Bullock: You need to abandon your fruitless campaign for the presidency and go win the race you can win and where you will make a difference--as a Senator from Montana.) . And then when they regain power, they can repeal Trump's tax cuts, add a couple of more seats to SCOTUS to put Roberts and Co. into the minority and address the problems that face us: healthcare and climate change first and foremost among them.
But if they cannot be brutally ruthless, they will fail. And the world will suffer as a result.
9
You're treading in dangerous waters there, Paul. I've been saying for years that Republicans hate democracy and everyone thinks I'm a crank. I am glad to see columnists are finally starting to get it. Here's hoping the average times reader gets it too!
I've also been saying that republicans hate the truth. Somehow, I believe that Paul would also agree with that sentiment. So, when it comes to climate change, it should come as no surprise that republicans don't want to hear about it. As the evidence mounts, republicans don't want to see it.
The republican party motto is hear no truth, see no truth, speak no truth. As 40% of the population in this country agrees with them, one has to wonder whether the country can survive with that large a group trying to crash the system of government and society itself.
As Lincoln said: "A house divided against itself cannot stand". That is where we are. Those who believe in Truth and Democracy on one side, and those who believe in Deceit and Dictatorship on the other side. This conflict will be decided one way or the other...and our nation will rise or fall as a result.
8
The Dems need to get smarter candidates, any elected Democrat in N.Carolina, or anywhere else, for that matter, who believed what any elected Republican told him/her on any topic needs to find a new job.
3
It is as if:
Billionaires have conspired to use their megaphones and influence to convince sufficient numbers of Americans to vote against their own interests and in favor of them.
It is as if:
They expect to survive the coming cataclysm as massive proportions of humanity bite the dust or become a subservient subspecies.
It is as if they were like me.
For I too, would want to liberate myself from the struggling billions wallowing in ignorance OR futility.
Yes. And it's hard to ever forgive him for the Anita Hill debacle and his vote on school busing. He's a relic. Time to go, Joe.
2
I agree. Biden doesn't get it.
Anti-Social. Self-Interested. Power Happy. Bitter.
These are characteristics of despots -- like those in the G.O.P.
2
Palin succinctly formulated the GOP’s foundational belief, thatonly ‘Real Americans’ count. The GOP believes and acts on the ‘principle ‘ that Real Americans should run the country, read as rural, Christian white Americans, and that us ‘Unreal Americans’ should just shutup and be greatful they let us live in their country. That is what the 2020 election, and the next decade of American politics will really be about. Vote folks! It’s our only way out of this. The Trump and McConnell’s GOP must be utterly crushed.
5
You are being far, far too kind. Republicans despise democracy.
8
I think it is obvious that the Republican Party gave up on democracy when the country had the audacity to elect a black man as president. I have several time noted this in comments to other columns but each time I wrote this, this seemed to be just to far for the NYT to allow my comment to be published.
I think it is also obvious that "democracy" for many in the Southern States has never been an important value but has been seen as more of a game with a bunch of rules to be played to get what you want. It the rules can some how be manipulated to prevent an actual democratic outcome that is just fine with them. Of course in the past this manipulation has been carried out to keep the hierarchical power and wealth structure with the black person at the bottom. This attitude was in the past primarily most obvious in state and local politics, but now is a glaring phenomena of national politics. Of course this is not just a phenomena of the southern politician it just seems it is most obvious watching southern politicians like McConnell.
1
We do NOT have Democracy in America. We have an oligarchy, with BOTH parties being controlled by the Uberi Rich and giant corporations.
The #1 donor to Nancy Pelosi is Facebook, #3 is google. The top ten donors to Chuck Schumer from Wall Street.
They may talk to rise taxes on the rich but if it comes to Wall Street, they actively work to lower the taxes of the Uber Rich. From the NY Times
In Opposing Tax Plan, Schumer Breaks With Party
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/washington/30schumer.html
He succeeded.
1
A minority of the population has successfully instituted a coup against the majority of the citizens of our nation.
In the mold of the communists in russia and the nazis in germany. Both were instances of minority parties seizing power.
4
Joe Biden oblivious? Really Paul?
2
The problem is not the elected officials, all of whom see as their first priority to hang on to their jobs by getting re-elected.
The problem is the voters. Gallup asks people to self-identify as Democrat, Republican, Independent or Something else. When I did a survey of self-designated Republican, Democratic or Independent voters and asked them to locate themselves on a 7-point scale from liberal to conservative (7 being the strongest value) as regards economic and social issues, more Republicans rated themselves 7 than any other value, and 1 was the value least chosen. Both Democrats and Independents rated themselves 4 - middle of the road - on both economic and social scales, and 1 and 7 were the least chosen values.
What this tells us is that voters who call themselves Republicans are more certain of their beliefs. One could call that doctrinaire, or closed-minded. Republicans believe that there are no good alternatives to their view. Democrats and Independents are more likely to say, "I choose this alternative as most likely to be true, but I have to admit I could be wrong."
In short, the problem is not politicians - it's their job to be doctrinaire. The problem is we the voters.
5
Many thanks for you wise comments. Democrats need to win in order to save America The Beautiful. We need the full attention of Joe Biden and the other candidates to address this very clearly depicted situation.
Poor people without access to doctors and remedies? It looks as an attempt to shorten their lives. No?
Where is now the moral authority to fight dictatorships if the votes are not important? Cuban-American Republicans what are you thinking?
Dear Democratic candidates please pay attention to the people. The "Lock her up" chooir in 2016 made us to remember that you should strongly respond to that kind of tactics.
Yes, Democracy will save America The Beautiful.
Absolutely agree with the PK assessment and concern about Biden, it’s time to take the gloves off folks the days of reaching across the aisle with this Republican Party are over.
get power and keep it at al means is how GOP operates.
i am in NC and m representative rights as an American have been taken away.
Dems the is the battle for the future of our nation.
Run to win! Don't run to not lose.
The nation must move forward.
3
It has become all too painfully obvious that future government whistleblowers need to sidestep protocol and go directly to the press as the infamous DEEP THROAT did in the Nixon era. Time to put an end to this blatant theft our our republic once and for all.
5
America is under attack by people who feel they are patriots. The country Mitch McConnell and many Americans (mostly Republicans) pledge allegiance to is a country run by wealthy, white, christian men. That country changed with the election of Barack Obama. Will respect for the constitution, for democracy, and for the spirit of America as a land of hope survive or will we devolve into a dictatorship? The Republican Party seems to have chosen dictatorship over democracy by breaking the rules that led to free and fair elections an by no longer respecting the decision of the voters. Patriotism is destroying America.
4
Well Biden might not recognize fully the problem, if the others can't get elected that would be worse. I'm thinking we need him as president and one of the others to get the real policies we need. Kind of like a Bush/Cheney P/VP where the VP seemed to be the one really in charge as the P wasn't really aware or didn't seem to care.
3
"Republicans Don’t Believe in Democracy" Old news! Especially here in NC, but certainly needs to be reinforced over and over to a deceived and confused citizenry. Now the GOP is nothing more than a thuggish party systematically dismantling democracy, breaking the Constitution and with a contemptuous armed behavior against non-wealthy Americans and immigrants in general. They vindictively claim mandates even when they lose.
Krugman is right - Biden doesn't get it. Republicans are not his friend. Indeed, to paraphrase a tired trumpian phrase, the GOP is the true enemy of the people - their health, their education, their pathetic wages, their environment while inflicting cruelty on millions.
America has been under an undeclared war since Newt took a contract out on America in favor of the elites and right-wing ideologues. The 2016 election catastrophe was the Pearl Harbor of undeclared war attacks by Republicans who even recruited and colluded with foreign powers to disenfranchise the majority of citizens.
All the GOP has to do now is corrupt enough individuals in the Electoral College, who can now vote as THEY wish, and trump can be POTUS and King for life - as they intend. Win or lose, he's not leaving office - especially for a jail cell where he belongs.
Will the 100% unaccountable GOP ever be held accountable for their malicious, vindictive and illegal activities in public office, even if Democrats were to overcome the corrupted Republican-rigged system against them?
3
Progressives fully understand that the GOP has cast its political fortunes against democracy. The question is whether the non-progressive Democrats understand that. The GOP has made the calculus that a one-party corporate apartheid state holds the only promise for them.
You're either pro-democracy or anti-democracy -- the progressive Democrats get this. The non-progressive Democrats are going to find themselves unable to appease their way to compromise with this GOP -- the only thing they'll compromise is themselves.
This is the hardest lesson that should have been learned by the Obama Years. He squandered an actual electoral mandate and tried to work with the GOP, who stymied and hamstrung him at every turn.
Democrats need to go all-in with pro-democracy, instead of the phone-it-in fake democracy offered up by "centrist" Democrats, who are simply too conciliatory to the anti-democratic GOP.
The GOP will always see any Democrat as illegitimate and the enemy (no matter how supine to the GOP). Ergo, Democrats need to go big and visionary and progressive on issues, or pack it in as a political party.
Every GOP win is an attack on democracy, itself. Sadly, this isn't even rhetorical, anymore.
1
I ask this seriously: Is McConnell working for a foreign interest to destroy America?
McConnell has acted in bad faith at every turn to undermine democracy, the constitution, the rule of law and faith in government and its institutions. He made tens of millions of his countrymen suffer economic devastation and ruin to enhance his party's political chances. He denied Garland his seat so that Republicans would have a pretext to vote for Trump. He demonstrates the constitution is merely a tool to be manipulated for personal gain. He denies the right to vote to supporters of his opponents and invites Russian interference to aid the Republican Supreme Court sophist's rulings undermining one person/one vote to create an America that will not be ruled by the majority of its citizens. Laws shall not apply to Republican team members (Barr). As Orwell's pig said, "Some of us are more equal than others."
Why would an American do this to the country? Why destroy the foundation of our country- democracy, rule of law, the right to vote, Congressional oversight? He doesn't need money. If the answer is "Power," then "power" to do what? To be remembered historically as the greatest traitor to our country?
Reagan & Bush II at least believed in America and improving the world. Trump believes in himself. McConnell evidently believes in nothing and is willing to step on children's throats and cheat his countrymen to preserve his title. Revolting.
5
"But when Democrats win an election, the modern G.O.P. does its best to negate the results, flouting norms and, if necessary, the law to carry on as if the voters hadn’t spoken."
Really? Wait for the IG report!
4
Yes. Yes, he is.
1
I must admit I am totally baffled by The Republicans behaviour.
Do they really want the United States ruled by a feckless, irrational fool?
I can understand Putin wanting to sabotage the United States. But why Republican Congressmen?
I can only surmise that these people are so drunk and intoxicated by power, that nothing matters to them. Not their country, nor their children’s future.
It’s very sad, and frightening. This cannot end well for the United States or the world.
2
What on earth happened to writing and editing of this opinion?
It was all making sense on one theme, and then at the end turned into a critique pointed straight at Joe Biden and only Joe Biden.
Do better, Mr. Krugman. I rely on you.
3
Back in 2011, Wisconsin's Senate was poised to vote on legislation that would eliminate teachers' collective bargaining. Readers may remember that the Democrats pulled a stunt. They high-tailed it to Illinois and other parts unknown to block the legislation. State police began a search for them. Republicans had a majority but needed the presence of at least one Democrat for a quorum.
Paul Krugman wrote a column about Wisconsin's bill and budget a few days later. Did he take the opportunity to reprove the absconding Democrats for "not believing in democracy"? Don't be daft!!!!
Now the shoe is on the other foot, and Krugman is using it to throw a tantrum about how "Republicans Don't Believe in Democracy."
In case anyone hasn't figured it out, Krugman is a partisan first and last. This column isn't about democracy. It's about scoring points against his hated ideological opponents.
3
@Ian Maitland
The Republicans passed a law that made it illegal for citizens to work together to protect their livelihoods. The antithesis of democracy.
2
voters: "we're tired of not having health insurance so wealthy jerks can have bigger mansions"
Republicans: "Tough. we know how our bread's buttered".
2
Outside of academia, I do not know a single Democrat here in Ohio. Who are these people?! where are they?! Every regular Joe and Jane here vote Republican and teach their kids the same. Just saying. The democrat party has become that of coastal elites. Sad.
3
Here's hoping the Democratic ticket is led by two fighters.
4
Spot on, Mr. Krugman.
All you have to do is come down to North Carolina to see what the republicans in power here have done to this state. A 'bathroom bill', attempted confiscation of a liberal city's water system (Asheville), a division of the same city's city council to benefit one republican leaning district, voting restrictions, a sneak attack to override a veto by a democrat governor, and last but not least illegal gerrymandering. And yet citizens of this state voted narrowly for Trump and elected the author of the bathroom bill-Bishop. I am ashamed to be in this state and really the only half way decent thing here is UNC basketball-go Tar Heels!!
2
@art Agree. North Carolina is not a democracy - what the republicans have done in that state is disgusting. Voters should throw them out.
2
It's well over time for mass protests in the streets of Washington. The dictator and his cronies must be resisted.
3
In the Bible, the book that Republicans and the president claim to revere, the powers of the King are curtailed and limited. In fact, in the Book of Deuteronomy, the laws list what the King cannot do, not what he can. The ideal Israelite society was equitable, with all sharing in the bounty, event the strangers and the powerless. This would be a society unrecognizable to the "Prayer of Jabez" \Golden Calf Republicans.
John Kasich, Ohio.
-- a lifelong Democrat
Biden needs to see the light ASAP !
Hey Times we've been saying this for years but you don't listen.
1
Republicrooks believe in a one party corporate-owned government, with them at the helm, stuffing public money, and $millions from big donors. Oligarchy, hegemony, extremist "religion," widespread poverty, quasi-slavery, shortened life spans, and misery, for the majority with fear replacing loyalty to our country. They are despicable apprentices to an evil dystopia. YOU voters can stop this in its tracks, if you love the kind of freedom, and democracy, for which America used to be famous.
3
@ChesBay--"...stuffed... in their pockets..."
I know Krugman and NYT will never correct the error, but the first "Item" is entirely inaccurate.
1. The budget override vote was on the official NC House agenda, which was produced the previous day at 5:04:44 PM according to the metadata in the PDF of the agenda.
2. At no point did the Speaker tell the Democratic leader that there would not be any votes. (See #1 above)
3. The "newspaper of record" for NC politics, the Raleigh News & Observer, could identify only two Democrats who were attending 9/11 events. One of these was Governor Roy Cooper, who does not vote on legislation.
4. The NC House requires 61 members to be present to establish a quorum and conduct business. 55 Republicans were present. Democrats could have broken quorum by simply walking out of the chamber. Rep. Billy Richardson acknowledged this - that the vote was able to take place because "the Democrats didn't know the rules" - on a radio interview yesterday morning.
2
Is he? I say yes.
Interesting, but here's the problem PK. Which Democratic candidate can sway Independents, never-Trump and/or soft Republicans, non-college educated and suburban white voters to vote for a Democrat instead of Trump? This is the only question that has to be answered and it has to be answered in 5-7 states. This should also be the question that pollsters and the media should be asking and reporting.
1
We aren't a democracy, we are a two party oligopoly. Even so, the GOP seems intent on blowing up the American Dream for all but the super rich. If you love America, you can't support the GOP, they are trying to kill it.
4
You could have written this article in 1982. The actors had different names but the GOP was just as crooked and corrupt and was actually acting with impunity as if they were a colonial power running the country.
Of course then a lot of what they did they still had the sense to feel shame about and try to hide. But like the T shirt says "It's only kinky the first time." Familiarity with the angles an ways of undermining our democracy and our government has bred contempt in them and they now act openly contemptuously of the rest of us.
I have no doubt eventually they will happily engage in something like The Amristar Massacre or any of the other evil acts of mass murder the British committed to hold on to power where they had no legitimate claim, if it comes to the point where the reality on the ground of them being in the minority, is finally close to making itself real in the houses of government.
1
If you agree with this article, you absolutely must get a copy of KILLING DEMOCRACY. It's on Amazon books as an ebook or paperback. it describes exactly how Trump is deliberately undoing our democracy. Send a copy to your congressperson. share it with your friends. now!
1
@Publius
Yea support another plutocrat who is actually doing what you claim the maroon puppet Trump is doing?
It is the GOP doing what their masters pay them to not the idjut Trump who is destroying our democracy. They gave us him to create a smoke screen and have someone else to point at when they are confronted.
@RF
Republicans aren’t afraid to break
rules, laws, regulations, whatever, to get what they want.
It’s easy when you know that no one will do anything about it.
America depends on the Rule of Law to exist.
It is an absolutely essential element, a prerequisite.
Therefore, Unless we restore it, the experiment is over.
4
this failure of democrats to fight republicans aggressively has been a major problem at least since the reagan administration.
why did obama and clinton, for example, mostly choose judges who easily could be confirmed, while reagan, bush and trump have chosen ideologues for the bench? self identification? are democrats "above all that"?
the result has been a dramatically distorted lack of balance on the federal bench, compared to, for example, the political makeup of the senate judiciary committee over the past four decades.
democrats must be willing to fight aggressively, including, for example, if they prevail in 2020, adding justices to the supreme court.
the "pooh poohing" of such a tactic by ultimately oblivious commentators has lead to extreme damage in our country that only will get worse. we're already in a fight for the survival of our form of government; it's time to fight back.
that's why we can't endorse joe biden. we need an aggressive "prosecutor" in the white house.
1
The many and varied progressive ideas being put forward by our democratic candidates are attractive, but it would appear that the first and foremost job of the next president will be to put this country right with our allies and correcting the perilous steps of Trumps administration, political, economic, ecological, and humane. That will probably be at least a full term just getting us back on our feet and breathing again. Let's be a bit practical.
1
1) I am not a Republican
2) I did not vote for Trump
As a long time political independent (who over the years has voted for almost the same number of Republican presidential candidates as Democratic) I believe in checks and balances.
When either party gains full control terrible things seem to happen.
Recent examples in Kansas with Gov. Sam Brownback and in a number of cities in California.
However for checks and balances to work both parties need to have a basic respect for our system of government.
Both parties at times have abused this but I would agree that the Republicans seem to be on a roll lately.
Historically both parties have been guilty of ballot box stuffing, leaving the state to break quorum, etc
What I find sad is how each party seems to remember the others transgressions and celebrate their own.
1
Abraham Lincoln understood both the promise and the peril of democratic government all the way back in 1838. "As a nation of free men, we will live forever, or die by suicide." We are now fulfilling his fears, eating ourselves alive from the inside out. It will take more than merely flipping the White House and Senate to keep us from this terrible meal. We need to understand who we were meant to be, and that requires a knowledge of our founding principles that seems to be greatly lacking. This great experiment in human government, begun by the first nation in the world to define itself at its very founding, is, indeed, "last best hope of earth". But we have to want it, and I fear that too many of us don't want it badly enough. Mr Krugman may indeed be right that the bulk of the GOP doesn't want it at all, but they are not the only problem. More than anything else, we need a man like Lincoln now, but I also fear that a man who understands us and who can speak of that understanding so thoroughly and so well could not be elected in this climate. We don't know how to listen to that kind of discussion anymore.
2
Not only that - and you are right - , but Biden will pardon Trump, assuring that all will continue as before.
Read "Democracy in Chains." The modern Republican (Tea, now Trump) Party fundamentally does not believe in democracy, meaning, assuring the voice and equal opportunity of the masses, with stewardship of the commons. They believe in individual freedom to accumulate wealth in a zero sum game, at the expense of those unlucky enough to be one of the "haves," including now our earthly resources.
I believe strongly this should be debated and televised nationally. Let's see what Republicans have to say when directly challenged as to whether they believe in democracy or not, and to nail them down on what they do believe in. Make them defend their position.
Then let the common people make their choice.
2
you'd probably like KILLING DEMOCRACY it's on Amazon.
We live in scary times, with democracy in danger in the West. The democracy in the USA, Isarel, Turkey and other Western European countries is in danger, and all democracy loving people, from the Right and the Left, should make sure to go and vote for candidates that will keep Democracy live and well.
2
I see the problem. The Democrats care what voters think and the Republicans don't care what anybody thinks.
As long as that's true, the Dems will always compromise and the Pubs will cheat to win.
That's the nature of American politics, entirely driven by money.
Mandatory public campaign financing would put the public back in charge of our government. But it won't happen as long as politicians, campaign professionals and the media all profit so handsomely from the current corrupt system.
2
Joe Biden is either too oblivious to govern within the context you have laid out or he is a Democrat in Name Only. The last thing we need is another Democratic President who will behave as President Obama, was more concerned about pacifying Republicans to attain one Republican vote so he could claim that his legislation/policies were bi-partisan.
It was heart wrenching to watch Obama turning flips to appease Republicans and McConnell respond by sabotaging and blocking every move he made.
For sometime now it has been clear to liberal Democrats that we need a president who will assertively confront the Republican Party. That would be Sanders, Warren, or Harris.
2
Why does an economist spend so much to paint a picture of the political landscape? The consequence of our state seems to be in question.
Policy on all sides of the spectrum pretend to be for the public welfare, politics as spending the people's money on the people's business. There seems to be a separate reality for those who believe. So politicians' main motivation is to hold power and keep it away from the other side, not to maintain the social fabric or maximize economic benefit to the most folk.
Is there something like climate change denial going on in the domain of economic thought and policy practice?
So what if Biden would win? Even with Biden as president, we'll still be in a quandary in which virtually nothing will change. The most important difference Biden has a chance of making would be the possibility of choosing a new Supreme Court justice, and we know how that scenario will play out. Republicans will stonewall his choice like it did Obama's and Biden will eventually be forced to appoint someone who can pass muster with the conservatives, namely, a conservative, which brings us back to where we are now, a conservative Supreme Court.
Of course, nothing changing is precisely why Biden is the choice of Wall Street warriors, the DNC, the DCCC and other center-center and right-center factions of the party. At worst, nothing will change, and at best, nothing will change. But at least the president would be a Democrat, for what that's worth.
2
In fighting the Republicans the Democrats are like a high school chess club getting it on with the wrestling team.
3
So you accept Trump as your duly elected President—
1
Secession.
5
Biden like Obama never got it when it comes to the modern Republican party, and their handmaidens in the Tea Party who believe private greed trumps the public good. Republicans have a long and sad history of contempt for democracy. Eisenhower showed his true colors when he said the Vietnamese had no right to national elections stipulated in the Geneva Accords after the French defeat at Điện Biên Phủ because "all the Vietnamese would have voted for the Communists, anyway." His position repudiated what my father, who a German soldier shot through the chest a decade before, and his generation fought for in Europe and Asia. Republicans showed their contempt for democracy five years early when they organized coups to topple democratically elected governments in Guatemala and Iran. Nixon and Kissinger continued the destruction of democracies in Cambodia and Chili.
Democrats can reclaim the mantle of FDR who hated colonial and corporate control of people and who favored work over welfare. We must build on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson who believed the legislature was the principal sovereign of a free people protected by a bill of rights conservatives never believed were necessary.
Abraham Lincoln said public sentiment is everything. With it you can accomplish anything but without it nothing. Republicans abandoned the party of Lincoln long ago in favor of tyrants and colonial and corporate control of people and a presidency that Patrick Henry warned tends toward the monarchy.
4
Biden is a disaster waiting to happen. It must be Warren to get us out of this unbelievable mess.
4
@Reilly Diefenbach
Warren will never pass muster in states like Alabama, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas. Those are facts and just some of the states that won't vote for a woman even one as qualified as Warren.
3
I am not sure that we can say that Democrats believe in Democracy and Republicans do not. Overall, I believe that the issue is elites vs non-elites. Elites whether Republicans or Democrats believe in their innate superiority which gives them the right to make all of the rules governing non-elites.
2
That the Republicans have stopped the process of governing is due to their shifting priorities which are, first and foremost, the preservation of (white) Anglo Saxon dominance. To do this they will go to any means fair or foul, legal or illegal, peaceful or violent to achieve their ends. They do not govern because they regard the majority of Americans as hostile and foreign, a surging and scary and growing electorate. They will succeed for just a very few more years.
2
I hope you are right about the "very few years". You think they are going quietly? Just because they are in the minority? Stay tuned for the new Apartheid, American style. Who is going to stop them?
Obama said he could unite and work with Republicans too. More proof of Dr. Krugman thesis. As Rick Wilson says "democrats bring a knife fight to a gun fight".Republicans actually use the rules (or lack of clarity of the rules) to their advantage. Democrats play by the ideal rules vs. the real ones. Like releasing their taxes when there is no law saying that has to be done.
2
It’s time to make it a rule! And pass a bunch of other laws to add actual checks to the presidency, like strengthening the emoluments clause and removing the OLC “opinion” that a sitting President can’t be indicted while in office.
1
I would remind Dr. Krugman that it was Hillary Clinton who labeled half of her fellow citizens deplorable because they held different political points of view. Does she believe in democracy?
Worse, she even stated that they were irredeemable - that is to say beyond God's saving grace. Who gave her the authority to determine who is or who isn't redeemable? Did she forget that not even the Thief on the Cross was beyond God's grace.
Dr. Krugman should seriously consider rewriting this opinion piece after some reflection.
2
I grew up in a country that had two legislative parties. They didn't always agree on the right way to govern, but they did speak in a way that even I understood and I believed that they wanted the best for this country. I lived through Joseph McCarthy and his stupidity and ambition. I lived through the Cuban Missile crisis and the assassinations of John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. I lived through the presidency of Richard Nixon and felt relief when he was finally gone. I always believed that our country would survive all these events, but now I find myself wondering if we will survive this horrible president and his sycophants. I feel as if the country is sinking into a rodent infested mire and it is harder and harder for me to breathe. Our president makes it very clear that he envies the tyrants whose people blindly obey at the risk of losing their lives or going to jail. I fervently hope the Democrats can come up with a candidate to beat this man and try to restore some normal balance in our country. I want my grandchildren to be proud of living in this country.
543
@Joyce
It's called having a loyal opposition -- and we don't have that any longer.
37
@Joyce
Yes, Joyce, you're absolutely correct --- Thump is acting exactly like an EMPEROR ---not only an EMPEROR of America. but insanely like he's the EMPEROR of the WORLD.
Which is why my only demonstration, march, and protest sign since 2017 simply says on one side:
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and, more importantly, under an image of 'our' American flag:
"We can't be an EMPIRE"
12
@Alan MacDonald
I lived through the same things you did. I despaired in 1968 when the Vietnam War was tearing the country apart.
Nixon's approved break in of the DNC at The Water gate was another low point in my life, though I was only in my late teens when it happened.
Trump is easily the worst president in modern history: no knowledge of complex issues, no accepting of responsibility for his misdeeds or apologies. And no sense of humor at all. Like a petulant child he rules by fiat and nothing more.
My Dad had a saying whenever I despaired: Civilization takes one and half steps forward and then takes one step back.
The Trump Administration is one GIANT step backwards, but history says the pendulum almost inevitably swings back.
19
Timely essay by Mr. Krugman. Republicans for years have been blatantly undermining our democracy to win at any cost. Perhaps this is just a by-product of the corrosive propaganda of fear and rage coming from fox/brietbart/Sinclair. Only voters can stop this cheating and stretching the rules that McConnell has led. Kinda sad, all this attacking our country just so a few greedy, rich oligarchs like Kochs and Mercer can get richer
5
Is the question rhetorical or self-evident?
Republicans didn’t blink an eye when it was shown that the Bush administration had weaved a web of 935 lies to seduce our nation, and Allies, into war on Iraq, at the same time forging their strategy and tactics in their war on our democratic process, an unpleasant obstacle to Conservative intentions to rid themselves of FDR’s and LBJ’s social programs they view as a burden to their wealthy, powerful client contributors.
Thus their complete lack of interest in, and disregard for, over 12,000 lies, over 12,000 false, over 12,000 completely misleading statements, by Trump told daily by early August, and increasing at an average of 16 a day since then, clearly underscores Conservative contempt for Democracy, a governing form that dies in the absence of the oxygen of truth.
Look no further than the masters of the lie in Mussolini’s Italy, or Hitler’s Germany, or Stalin’s or Putin’s Russia for the template for the Republican Party’s strategy.
Trump and Conservatives have no interest in Democracy. Their interest is in absolute, unconditional control. Democracy, the voting voice of messy elements like women, Blacks, Native Americans, special interests, the young, minorities from far and wide, has to be destroyed to achieve their ends.
2
Paul, this deluded Retrumplican Party only believes in Emperor Trump and in MEGA — Making Empire Great Again.
But with my only demonstration, march, and protest signs, that I have been using since 2017, which on one side, simply say:
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and on the other side, under an image of ‘our’ American flag, more importantly say:
“We can’t be an EMPIRE”
I have easily and consistently been able to turn crowds of people, walking and driving in Portland Maine and Portsmouth NH, from being passive or worse, into 80%+ against Emperor Trump and strongly for democracy over Empire — including; BUD, Miller, and Coors beer truck driver, taxis, DPW, FED EX, UPS, and pick-up trucks, and the vast majority of walkers, locals, and visiting tourists in both Portland and Portsmouth to the point that average Americans right on the sidewalks; give me a thumbs-up, thank me profusely, take selfies, take signs which I pass out, and take pictures of my signs — which the NY “Times” itself did at the Democratic Convention in Manchester NH last weekend to accompany David Leonhardt’s column.
Based on my real feedback ‘in the streets’ of Portland and Portsmouth for a year doing this, it looks to me from my direct results polling that it’s time to “put a fork in Emperor Trump —- he’s done”.
5
@Alan MacDonald
Sign at Democratic Conference and my commentary on David Leonhart's column:
"Democrats, Stop Helping Trump"
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/opinion/democrats-2020-trump.html#commentsContainer&permid=102413887:102413887
1
With the help of V. Putin, the Republicans now embrace their worst demons and to an almost perverted extent, enjoy it. Like a bad seed or a Dennis the Menace run amok, they play their roles as if their play acting in Lord of the Flies.
3
Here we go again, with Paul . . . .
In other words, a klepto-kakistocracy...and they will have us keep it.
Vote! Resist! Read! Think!
4
@TreyP
"Vote! Resist! Read! Think!"
Those last two? Bone Spurs base does neither. They simply follow dear leader and continue to believe the lies. Want proof? Watch Spurs rally in New Mexico and his talk of military bases.
Nuff said.
1
The Republicans have been on this downward spiral since Reagan. When Reagan said government was the problem, not the solution, that was the beginning of their assault on democracy.
5
Not you too! Piling up on Biden! Stop already!
2
Nobody cares. This is just more fake-news chaff being thrown out by the political activist at the NYT, trying to fortify their grassroot-base against the coming devastating effects of the soon-to-be-released IG Horowitz's report on FISA abuse in the Obama administration. There will be indictments.
1
I hope they impeach Kavanaugh! And it sounds as if some of our Ivy League schools aren’t very good at recruiting and could maybe use a little bleach.
3
What in the world is keeping democrats from staying the obvious, and keeping it front and center? The so called”republican” party can never strike a deal with the other side. They will never compromise. They have trashed the Constitution and appointed unqualified, corrupt judges to the courts. Their greed and lust for absolute power knows no limits. Laws represent antiquated rules meant to be trampled in their views and strategies.
The American people are viewed by them as bovine, toothless morons and they will continue to make sure that their votes and rights are disenfranchised.
We are no longer a democracy and our 2 party system is irretrievably broken.
We cannot afford a candidate of the past who cannot defeat them and their monstrous president by looking backward to a time that no longer exists. We are a tragic nation that may need to start over rather than hold out false hope that we can return to governance as we remember it. There is no “normal” left. Candidates and Democrats in Congress need to make this perfectly clear. What are they waiting for?
1
Of course Joe doesn’t “get it.” He’s a Clintonista. He wants us to coronate him like we were supposed to do with HRC, cuz him and BHO are BFF...did I tell ya that? He might win the popular vote, but once again we’ll lose the electoral college. If Liz keeps talking about being a single mom, working and trying to find daycare...she’ll get those women to vote for her - any color, any place - and keep talking about being a janitor’s daughter whose big dream was to finish junior college (and now look at her!). Joe, please...go be a nice old grandpa and shout from the sidelines. You’re embarrassing yourself and putting all of us at risk. Don’t do that. You have a pretty decent legacy (we’ll never forget the bankruptcy bill you and Boehner altered in the middle of the night that killed an entire generation of kids with student loans)...but, heh...please go home.
3
Obama didn't get it either. All that boiler plate garbage about getting past "cold war" party differences and working together for American...I didn't think he actually believed that. What is democracy though? What I think democracy really is, is a way for people with differences to get along without things descending into actual conflict. There is always the next election. Now it would be one thing if the Dirty Party was making everyone prosperous. I mean, if supply-side economics really worked and the middle class was not being decimated, that would be fine with everyone...but if that was happening, the Dirty Party would not need to con and cheat and demagogue to get what they want. If democracy prevails, the Dirty Party will eventually fall by the wayside; if not, I can see that there will be unrest. America abhors tyranny. Especially a real one.
Black Americans experienced disenfranchisement; now more and more Americans are seeing the same. With the support of Fox and their online ilk, the Trumpets will provide the popular noise masking and sustaining the GOP shift to oligarchy (Remember that "the US is the greatest democracy in the world", in their rallies) until their voices and votes are dismissed as the embarrassing necessity that they'd served.
1
Republicans have become a cancer on our democratic system of government. The condition calls for an urgent response from the citizens who's constitution is at stake. Radical surgery is required, now. This is a real cancer, it invades one system after another until death is certain. The justice system, our information systems, even our election processes have all been compromised. Only an informed public stands in its way. But wait, where is the informed public? Yes, the Republican attack on public education began long ago.
1
We should recognize that the current Trump and Republican Party arrogance is based upon full employment, low interest rates, and a volunteer military. This, too, shall pass. Another deep recession will strip the Republican cultists, rich and poor alike, of their assets, thereby exposing weakness. They will come crawling, asking for forgiveness and mercy. Political balance will be restored. As always, money talks.
2
This article by Ian Samuel, a law professor at Indiana University, sums up where things stand today.
"Rigging the vote: how the American right is on the way to permanent minority rule"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/04/america-minority-rule-voter-suppression-gerrymandering-supreme-court
--------------------
"When the Roberts Court all but nullified the Voting Rights Act, it said the pre-1965 practices were long gone. New hearings by the House make clear: They’re back."
https://prospect.org/article/voter-suppression-chronicles
------------------
"Democrats hold fast to the ballot box while Trump and the GOP look forward to stealing it"
- by Michael A. Cohen, Boston Globe, June 18, 2019
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/06/18/democrats-hold-fast-ballot-box-while-trump-and-gop-look-forward-stealing/AJXJmGaqg2N2WZIXxjmO1O/story.html
-------------
"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy."
- by David Frum, "An Exit From Trumpocracy," published in The Atlantic, January 18, 2018
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/frum-trumpocracy/550685/
Welcome to the future folks.
It ain't pretty.
1
With all this crazy talk about taxing rich people from Democrats, it's no wonder Republicans have to take extreme measures.
@John Williams
I suspect that most “rich people” don’t have the $50 million to be subject to Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax.
1
The GOP combine bad people, bad policy, and bad faith into one massive and hateful trolling of the democratic process. Such determined evil conflicts with humanity, let alone America.
Stop the outreach to Republicans, and let's get Americans out to VOTE.
1
Republicans play dirty.
And Americans will/are losing confidence in the Dem's ability address this.
Immediately (!) they must hold the all the Tump administration criminals accountable and parade them in front of the public with perp walks.
Dems must not fall for the sappy "it will tear this country apart" ploy that Republicans are counting on. (For impeachment of Trump, or for pardoning him and his cronies when he's out).
No more Mr. Nice-guy.
1
Because Biden working across the aisle was so effective for his good friend Obama.
@Eric
It's worth mentioning that I haven't once seen Trump --or for that fact, Mitch McConnell try to do the same.
And we all know how effective that is.
2
It's quite the commentary in itself that the vile GOP has managed to turn the dire warnings posed by both Superstorm Sandy and Sandy Hook into political litmus.
Perhaps, like the one who'd become Darth Vader, they just really, really hate sand...and have decided to kill the young.
1
The mistakes in the opinion stories will become ammunition for Trump to quash the press.
This from a man who's not smarter the a fifth grader when he made his tweet (twit?) using the word "liable" for "libel".
We really are in dangerous times.
2
@Stephen. Since republicans want a total takeover, we should remind them that they're treading on dangerous ground.
Do they want anarchy, a civil war, or secession?
We must fight fire with fire.
Doing the right thing is meaningless to people who walk all over the Constitution.
The Dept. of Obstructing Justice will be in for a big surprise.
Gloves off!
1
Biden is past his sell-by date.
When the ACA was ‘passed’ in the dead of night, following the ‘cornhusker kickback’ - that was Democracy? When Obama said ‘I have a phone and a pen’ meaning he would use executive orders as much as possible to advance his agenda - that was Democracy? When Obama made his recess appointments - that was Democracy? When Obama made his Iran Deal with its dead of night cash payoff to Iran that circumvented Congress - that was Democracy?
When the DNC created superdelegates to actively defeat Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary - that was Democracy? When Donna Brazille cheated and gave debate questions to Hillary - that was Democracy? When the IRS targeted & blocked conservative group’s 501c3 applications - that was Democracy?
It seems the Professor must have slept through part of the class offering examples of how both Party’s block Democracy.
1
Yes, it is a sad day when the Constitution and structure of government created by the founders of this nation frustrates the ambitions of radical left wing statist collectivists.
Sad, because it didn't really provide a clear path for putting them all on a boat and sending them to Venezuela, where they can bask in the glories of socialism, and pat each othe ron the back for a job well done.
Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman are saying the same thing. It won't help me get to sleep tonight. I wonder if Nancy Pelosi has figured this out and what she intends to do about. Fight dirty like the Republicans and win or be moral like the Democrats and lose? Maybe Elizabeth Warren has it right - more and more policy is at least positive. I wish she had a plan for how to speak to Trump voters but they don't care or don't read or whatever....
2
Yes, Paul, you’re right — this deluded and dying Retrumplican Party only believes in Emperor Trump and in the losing argument of MEGA (Making Empire Great Again), which is what the British Empire lost after 1776.
But with my only demonstration, march, and protest signs, that I have been using since 2017, which on one side, simply say:
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and on the other side, under an image of ‘our’ American flag, more importantly say:
“We can’t be an EMPIRE”
I have easily and consistently been able to turn crowds of people, walking and driving in Portland Maine and Portsmouth NH, from being passive or worse, into 80%+ against Emperor Trump and strongly for democracy over Empire — including; BUD, Miller, and Coors beer truck drivers, taxis, DPW, FED EX, UPS, and pick-up trucks, and the vast majority of walkers, locals, and visiting tourists in both Portland and Portsmouth to the point that average Americans right here 'in the streets' and driving 'honk', wave, and give me a 'thumbs-up', and on the sidewalks; shout Yes!, thank me profusely, take selfies, take signs which I pass out, and take pictures of my signs — which the NY “Times” itself did at the Democratic Convention in Manchester NH last weekend to accompany David Leonhardt’s column.
Based on my real feedback ‘in the streets’ of Portland and Portsmouth for a year doing this, it looks to me from my direct results polling that it’s time to “put a fork in Emperor Trump —- he’s done”.
2
The answer to your last question.... Yes.
The "modern Republican Party"....you say Professor:
Republican Party was once .........hopefully someone will
finish the sentence.
The "Modern Republican Party"...is a form of plutocracy in
the making...
So...I think Professor Krugman or some commenters might
make the comparisons between the "old Republican Party"
and the "Modern Republican Party"....because what
I believe used to be the Party of Lincoln no longer exists.
Now the party which Donald Trump is the mobster like
maniac is in my view simply a corrupt political entity which
functions at the dictates of corporate interests and those
who fund their spokespersons in the Congress...all corrupted
by campaign funders and lobbyists...that is what I consider
The corrupt D.C. "swamp"...and must be booted out of
office in the 2020 Election....by The Democratic Party...
The slogan for those who what to restore our democracy or
even a real Republican Party...must call for the end of this
phony Republican stranglehold on our 3 Branches of
Government....yes all three have been infected with
plutocracy....and this is simply called corrupt government.
It has to be removed...Citizens United should be overturned
as unconstitutional...and all the damage that Mitch McConnell has done...under the chaos of a mentally ill
President...all this destruction of our democracy has to be
repaired...corruption of our Republic by Republicans must
be stopped...next time Professor...talk about getting rid of
the corrupt GOP.
1
As soon as I saw the headline, before I even clicked on it, my response was clear: "DUH!"
I am waiting for Trump to come out with his new book "My Struggle"
5
Yet another reason to donate to Amy McGrath’s campaign.
1
The GOP has played the long game. They have known for years that the politics of hate would be the path to ultimate powet. One party rule. So they took over the States and gerrymandering the district's over decades to cement control. They found their Hate King Trump and through him are taking apart the checks and balances by loading the federal courts with political animals. Democracy does every day in the Senate.
Joe Biden is an old school politician who believes he is better than everyone. Trump without twitter. He hates too. If he beat Trump, he would hug Mitch McConnell and let the GOP continue to suffocate our Republic.
War. A civil war without guns and bullets, that is what Democrates are now exactly facing.
Very odd that Biden's fondness for his GOP pals remains, despite their having trashed Obama for 8 years.
I am truly sad to see you write this column. To twist the tragedy of our
democracy to make a cheap political slur.
I'm old (73) and I realize my mental acuity is not what it was even 10 years ago. I think Biden is too old.
247
@Murphy Yep. I'm 6 months behind you, but still sharp enough to recognize my limitations. At some point, people of a certain age just have to get out of the way.
19
@thomas briggs and I’m behind you (just a bit) and could not agree more. Not just the chronology, the numbers, but what dear Joe says and how his words reflect a world that is no more.
18
@Murphy I am a decade younger than all of you which makes me old enough to remember when Joe Biden was sharp as a tack. He isn't any longer; his cognitive decline is evident every time he opens his mouth.
And this isn't merely a function of age because Bernie is older than he is and is still as cogent and cranky as he was decades ago.
Regardless, Biden is not up to it and he should step aside to allow one of the other candidates (really, any of them would be an improvement on Trump) to take the mantle.
27
I fear that the great American experiment in democracy has run its course and that we are entering a very dark place indeed. A recent NYT op-ed piece by Michael Tomasky https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/01/opinion/republicans-trump-democracy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share explored the term “Competitive Authoritarianism.” According to the political scientists who coined the term, “They are civilian regimes in which formal democratic institutions exist and are widely viewed as the primary means of gaining power, but in which incumbents’ abuse of the state places them at a significant advantage vis-à-vis their opponents.”
Tomasky’s conclusion that our institutions and our deeply held beliefs in free speech, freedom of the press and civil liberties will save us from becoming such a state are, in my view, far too sanguine. Krugman has, rightly, identified Biden’s blind spot. We are not in a battle over ideas, policies or even values; it is a battle against insatiable greed coupled to raw power, that has already corrupted the very democratic institutions necessary to constraint it.
A strange column for a man who promotes, and participates in, the so-called Resistance -- which is an opposition to a duly-elected administration, purely on the ground that the party which supposedly should have won lost miserably. Democracy works both ways, Mr. Krugman.
@Ulysses You must read again having missed the 'point of the article'. The R party is 'anti democracy'. As he pointed out so accurately !
2
For the past 40 years we have been treated to GOP games. We watched Reagan declare that ketchup was a vegetable rather than a condiment. We saw Bush Sr. say "Read my lips. No new taxes." and then have to raise taxes. (Which is to his credit but the initial declaration was not.) We saw Newt Gingrich declare war on polite political discourse during the Clinton years. We saw W fumble about quite ineptly for 8 long years. Then we watched the GOP obstruct Obama at every turn for 8 years. Now we're watching the GOP and Trump, courtesy of the GOP, complete the ruination of our country for all but their rich supporters.
This is not the country I grew up in. This is not the country that fought in WWII, that put a man on the moon, or that used to do world class scientific research. This is a country that is destroying itself from within. This is a country that is sacrificing its best and brightest and every one else because its voters are paying attention to flamboyance and charisma more than they are competence and intelligence. In other words, a tweet is not a policy.
9/17/2019 11:06am first submit.
3
I don't believe in the New York times and its opinion columnists anymore. Yes Democrats are facing the truth and they cannot handle it anymore. Those democrats running for the nomination of the Democrats who swallowed the NY Times story on Kavanaugh and called for impeachment of a confirmed supreme court justice should immediately withdraw their presidential bid for 2020. Shame on them.
2
@Girish Kotwal
Care to comment on what Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans did to the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland?
No.
Didn't think so.
@N. Smith from NYC. If you have been following my comments from the time Merrick was nominated you would have been aware that I expressed my displeasure that our senator McConnell from Kentucky did not have a senate hearing for his confirmation.
1
Unfortunately Biden is not the only Democrat stuck in the past. I think when people use words like "politically possible", it usually mean they are stuck in the past. If you start negotiating from a position that is "politically possible," it means you are starting from a position you think the Republicans will agree to. The Republican response is to move their position further right.
Unfortunately many Democrats are stuck trying to satisfy their wealthy backers. In general they are rather conservative. Conservative Democrats realize Democrats have to at least appear to be policies that help the disadvantaged. But they understand when it comes to making laws, their Democrats will start negotiating from what is "politically possible."
The only two Democrats running for President we can rely on to fight for the lower 99% are Bernie and Elizabeth. They have done exactly that for their careers. Let us either. Anyone else does NOT get my vote. For over 50 years I have voted for whoever was the Democratic nominee. I see where that got us. The Democrats have relied on my vote. Now they can't!
1
Back in the '60s, there was an organization called Let Freedom Ring, which was an arm of the John Birch Society. They had a phone number that you could call and hear a recorded message, that changed from time to time. Each screed ended with the tag line, "remember, we live in a republic, bit a democracy. let's keep it that way." I don't know how much further back that expression goes, because I don't go back much further than that, but for at least 50 years, conservatives have been denying our democracy.
1
*NOT a democracy.
The only way a two party system works is if both parties play the same game. In the US, one team isn't playing by the rules anymore. Instead, they are replacing the referees and paying them to rule in their favor. Ironic to hear right wingers yell about the evils of socialism, when they've pushed us so far to the right we're about to fall off a cliff. The Democrats keep trying to compromise and "make a deal" but the line keeps moving forever rightward.
The GOP are (once again) projecting their own sins onto the Democrats in order to confuse and distract the populace. Though they yell loudly about a Democratic, socialist "coup," the GOP are the ones blithely violating our laws, which apparently no longer apply to them. What is their answer to that? Appoint more right wing judges! It is in fact the GOP, not the Democrats, who are waging a soft, slow motion coup, here in the United States. They want one party rule and they will stop at nothing to get it. In fact, they have already come very close to achieving it.
1
Democracy is just a 9-letter word. Its literal meaning is "rule" by the people (not by a king, an oligarchy or a dictator). We mostly get this.
Then there is the issue of majority and minority (of people) rule and some combination. And of course in a representative democracy there is the issue of selecting the representatives.
Besides elections, how is this rule by the people actually carried out? This is where democratic culture and democratic institutions come in.
Tocqueville spoke of Americans' "habits of the heart" that set the cultural context for our society. This allowed for democratic activity to be conducted. It also allowed for severe discrimination and amnesia about the genesis of our society. Democratic culture is a work in progress, with 1 1/2 steps forward for every 1 step back. But some foundation is already here.
Institutions form the structure through which the "rule" is carried out and through which the culture is manifested.
Legalistic manipulations and dirty tricks can skirt the institutions and avoid the cultural norms. The more the manipulations and tricks the less democracy. Republicans are messing with this.
What are needed are mature adults who appreciate democracy enough to resist carrying out the manipulation and tricks, institutions that are strong and which are amended as needed, and good people in and out of government.
We can do our part to support democracy by voting for good people and acting with democratic hearts.
Wow, Dr. K! This one is packed full of nuggets. The Greed Over People party has gerrymandered the whole system of government, and in doing so, has severely damaged our democracy.
We need to start figuring out ways to un-do the damage. First, of course, is voting TRump out and into jail. Is it possible new, younger republicans may honor our constitution and our country enough to begin fighting back to normal? This would be a true example of patriotism.
Speaking of climate change, corporations are going to have to work in their industry groups for the good of the planet if the GOP won't. It would be wise if they did, because the rest of the world isn't signing up for un-limited pollution and destruction of the planet.
Do economists understand that there is no science in economics nor politics nor sociology nor law nor history nor journalism?
There are too many unknowns and variables to craft the double-blind experimental controlled tests that provide predictable repeatable results that are the essence of science.
There is no Nobel Prize in Economics. There is the Swedish National Bank Prize in memory of Alfred Nobel. The reality that Karl Marx, John Keynes and Milton Freidman are equally credible depending upon your political partisan bias is human mortal frail crazy.
The American Founding Fathers didn't believe in democracy.
The Founding Fathers created a divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states where they intended that only white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men who owned property were divinely naturally created equal persons with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And the only representative that the very select powerful privileged could directly vote for and elect was their representative in the House.
While every state had and still has two Senators regardless of population. And the Electoral College selects Presidents. While federal judges are nominated for life by the Electoral College President without the advice and consent of the House of Representatives.
1
Time for the Republican party to rename itself to something appropriate. How about Trumpist? Or the all-purpose anti-democratic Ruling Party? (I have a couple of other ideas but you wouldn't print them.) The current version certainly has nothing to do with the essence of a republic - or a democracy.
1
If a foreign government did to the US what the GOP has done and continues to do; we would call that country our enemy.
2
@RonRich
A foreign government actually helped the G.O.P. to do what it's doing to the country.
2
Excellent column. Left unsaid, though, is the utter spinelessness of the House Democratic leadership, starting with Nancy Pelosi. The White House - in addition to engaging in breathtaking corruption and sadistic human rights violations - flouts any subpoena issued by House Democrats, and the most Pelosi will do is wag her finger and furrow her brow. House Democrats first put all their hopes into the notion that Mueller would save them without having to take any action of their own, and now they're hoping the voters will do so in 2020. When a party won't fight in the face of unprecedented corruption and lawlessness, what good are they?
1
Any fundamental restructuring of American systems, as proposed by Warren, requires (a) fair elections and (b) respect for the law. Trump and the Republicons have so damaged both (a) and (b) that I would be satisfied if the Democratic president were to focus for 4 years on addressing both (a) and (b). Then we can address the massive systemic challenges that do require heavy change. (This presumes that all Republicons are retired from office or lose their elections of course.)
1
If Biden were so good at reaching across the isle, why didn't he do it when Obama was president ? After an attempt by Obama to work with republicans Obama was totally hamstrung by Moscow mitch and the republican senate. Where was Biden then?
2
Republicans don't believe in democracy. To the cases the articles provided, please ad:
1. The dictatorial actions of Senator McConnell, the majority leader, in controlling the actions and votes of the Senate, and the rest of the Senate Republican Caucus for enabling him. Clearly they are preventing the Senate from acting on behalf of voters as our founding fathers intended.
2. Extensive gerrymandering by Republicans in state legislatures to give themselves control of their governments.
Both of these methods debase democracy and repudiate the concept of one citizen, one vote. They subvert democracy even more than the Russian hackers and should make us more angry and engaged. Republicans pursuing these methods, and voters supporting them in office, are a disgrace to democracy and mutilate the U.S. Constitution.
4
Thanks to the efforts of Newt Gingrich and the right-wing media industrial complex since the early 90s, liberals/Democrats/elites have been totally demonized, which in turn has made "working together" impossible. Compromise or cooperate with the devil incarnate? Concede any governing ground to satan? Let that evil Obama name someone to the Supreme Court? No way! And the Republican base seems okay with this, despite the fact that it's so very undemocratic and often violates both the letter and the spirit of our Constitutional laws. Right now, they see it simply as "owning the libs," but if they don't wise up and reject this style of governing, they will one day find themselves in a trap of their own making. We will all be "owned."
2
In a word, YES!
That we live in a time when law and laws have been completely ignored at the highest level and the Democrats, lead by Mrs. Pelosi, are afraid of calling this out, is terrifying. Why not go all in? Why not explain, as Rachel Maddow does every night, what you just said?
How many people actually understand what happened in NC? How many realize how underhanded and dishonest McConnell is? How many even realize that his wife uses her position to make money for her father's business which he then contributes to the GOP candidates like McConnell? Do they really think that DJT is their savior?
Since Sinclair and FOX tell millions of people every day that DJT is exactly that, and since they seem not to know or care, how can the Dems counter anything? And, yes, sadly Biden is planning to reach across the aisle to people who will laugh in response. Obama's biggest mistake was to waste his first term doing that. He just never got that there were people there (like McConnell) who hated him for being black and progressive and made it their reason for getting out of bed daily to get rid of him. And his policies.
Joe, with his shoulder rubs, his lack of comprehension of "MeToo" and his other fogey ideas, is NOT what we need. Warren, Warren and Warren is our answer. She will meet profound resistance and threats, but without winning a majority in both houses and the WH, we are going further down, every day, a dark and terrible path.
Keep writing, Nick. Keep writing.
If Joe Biden thinks he can make nice with the Republicans he will be making the same foolish mistake made by Mr. Obama when he entered office. Today’s Republican Party is anti-democratic and profoundly corrupt. The misinformation from their leadership and outlets like Fox News treat their viewers with contempt, perhaps justifiably so, because the nonsense they’re feeding their supporters seems to accepted without question. In short, it’s time to remove the rose tinted glasses and see the Republican Party as the cancer that it has become and reduce it to impotency in the body politic.
1
Krugman is spot on. There is a total lack of decency and ethics in the way Republican leadership is governing. It started with an unwillingness to compromise with Democrates during the Obama Administration. A blatent racism towards Obama's presidency.
One can not govern a democracy with out ethics. Yet ethics are never part of the decision making for the Republican Senate. McConnell is a turtle with out any goodness. He's like a fake turtle.
Money doesn't have need's, people do.
I can't imagine, were I a republican, being able to support the current, immoral metheds emplyoyed by the Republican Leadership today. It's UnAmerican. Period.
1
I will be voting for all Democrats. Because if someone is a Republican and stays in this Republican Party, then it is proof positive that person doesn't work in my interests.
6
Not always a fan of Both-siderism but the Dems aren't big fans of Democracy either. 2016 primaries, Wikileaks and the Florida lawsuit, in which the DNC admitted they have the absolute right to appoint whoever they want to run in elections and not heed primary voters wishes.
It is all a sham. Bought and paid for by corporate monies.
1
The American democracy is a system designed to make capitalism possible. The real democracy is allergic to capitalism.
2
Yeah- I wonder if it has occurred to the GOP that since they have changed the rules (or just nade them useless), when the Dems are in control again, they will not have to play by the rules either.
2
Thank you for this column; it is about time that moderates, both Democrats and Republicans, face the fact that our democracy is crumbling before our eyes as a result of the Trump/McConnell partnerships tyranny and greed. The United States is in danger of becoming, essentially, a dictatorship in which all the shots are called by a few greedy and sinister individuals who care about nothing except their own power and wealth. The only way out of this is via impeachments (unlikely) or a strong election turnout, assuming that a "fair" election will still be possible in Trump/McConnell land...
3
Republicans don't believe in anything except their political power. Well not exactly. They do believe in taking rights away from voters who do not support them and suppressing the rights of women to control their bodies.
3
I think Biden is neither oblivious nor naive. He is a professional politician who knows it is easier to catch flies with sugar than vinegar.
The important thing is to regain the Senate and to restore government from top to bottom, since the Senate is now just a device to lard up the courts with ideologues from the far right. Biden knows who McConnell is. He was there when McConnell assumed his position as majority leader and swore that he viewed his first duty as assuring the failure of the president of the United States, party over country.
1
the GOP believes in money.
all of my money, which doesn't amount to GOP money, says that the hacked RNC emails have been shared with the RNC leadership and everyone is in lock step because they are all naughty, naughty human beings who are in it for themselves.
i'm waiting for any sort of logical explanation for their desertion of decency and values that they once adhered to like gorilla glue. never again can a member of the GOP lecture ANYONE on what it means to be a patriotic American. They are loyal ONLY to money and power. certainly not justice.
2
But someone has to take the high road, as it were. Advice to Democrat nominees: Walk softly and carry a big stick when it comes to dealing with undemocratic Republicans.
1
Thanks for your bold ,honest statement that needs reflection among all of us Americans
1
GOP politicians don’t dare say outright that only Republicans should have political rights, (as Donald Trump already has), at least not yet. But if you follow the current actions prevalent on the political right to their logical conclusion, that’s where you end up. The truth is that what’s going on in American politics is, at root, a fight between democracy and autocratic plutocracy. And the plutocrats know exactly how to use hate, fear and tea party run state legislatures and packed courts to accomplish their goals.
3
The Republican Party has run off the rails. They are killing our government and its institutions because they don't want them. They only care about business and not the people. They describe society as "makers and takers". They want small, weak government, low taxes (for the got-rocks and not for you and me), they want to privatize public education, social security, prisons and more, and they want to de-regulate, but especially the fossil fuels industry. They are climate change deniers. We have to show them at the ballot box that it's our turn now--it's time the people got something instead of just the 1%.
2
The Republican party has morphed into a Cult of Trump. There is obviously no consideration of the long-term, whether in feckless and destructive environmental, foreign policy or economic edicts emanating from the white house. I see no willingness to consider anyone else's opinion or think they might have ideas to solve problems that will cripple our nation unless they can "score" politically. I don't know what we can do short of throwing out the dictator wannabe in the white house as a start. If all the "republicans" want to do is be spoilers, their districts will have to get angry enough to unelect them or apply constituent pressure. The Republican officials that have any morals or ethics left seem to be declining to run.
1
We’ve got to get Elizabeth Warren into the White House. Of all the candidates, I think that she is the one that understands how sick our democracy has become the best. Plus, she’s willing to take real action to reverse the damage.
2
Uncle Joe's talk about getting along with the GOP is just campaign rhetoric, to put off the mud-slinging until after the primaries. He full well knows the dirty games the Republicans play and has no illusions. They have no bottom. But never let the other side know what you're fixing to do to them.
Unfortunately, I think we haven't seen the worse of it yet. Just wait until the 2020 election. Unless the Democrats can beat Trump by a wide margin, I can promise you, he won't go. I can also promise you that as I'm writing this, the Republicans are planning an attack on the election itself. Consider, Trump needs to win approximately 4 states in order to keep the presidency. There are a variety of ways that the Republicans can make that happen (unlawfully). And who's going to stop them? The Democrats? Ha!
Finally, winning the presidency isn't enough. The Dems have to win the Senate. Otherwise, we'll be faced with continuing obstruction by our buddy, Mitch McConnell. He clearly doesn't give two hoots about democracy, much less the United States Constitution.
And while we're at it, the Dems need to win more states. Otherwise, states governed by Republicans will do anything and everything to discourage, throw out and obstruct people from voting. Again, they don't care. When will the Democrats come to realize that today's Republican Party will lie, steal and cheat to keep their power?
2
Many Americans will never forget how much then-Senator Biden wanted to please his Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, when Anita Hill bravely gave her testimony about Clarence Thomas, and "there wasn't time" to have testimony from corroborating sources who were ready to appear. Sen. Biden valued "getting along" with his Republican "friends" so highly that he threw Ms. Hill under the bus. It still stinks.
3
The long and short of it - in America, money is power.
2
Wake up, Democrats. It's long overdue to play the game the way Republicans do. Be focused, forceful, and take no prisoners. Thinking one can deal with today's GOP in any other way is a fool's errand. Put down the velvet glove and take up the sledgehammer.
2
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Paul, but many Americans don't believe in democracy either. In fact, contrary to popular belief, I'd argue that we have lived in a faux-democracy for years. Trump is merely the personification of the state of our government. The presidency clearly is in the hands of a narcissistic con-man and would-be autocrat. And that's just fine with at least 40% of the electorate. SCOTUS is now a Trump rubber-stamp and has helped make the US a plutocracy. And the congress is populated by incompetent Democrats and cowardly, dangerous Banana Republicans. The goal of the progressive states in this country should be to look at what might be possible by banding together for their own good in this post-American century.
313
@Chip
The problem is that most Americans have no clue about what it's like living in a society where at least the "guise" of Democracy is in effect.
I say this not only because I have, but because it's true, And any time spent in a country under Communist rule or a military dictatorship will bear this out.
17
@Chip I agree with your big picture but not for the reasons you infer. I think the majority of Americans are decent, but duplicitous. The upper end of of the echelon is so to monopolize the system. The rest of the ranks do so for survival. We are weak in character, but I don't know if that necessarily concludes in the majority not caring about the notion of democracy or how it translates to fairness. My gut tells me people are mostly intuitive. They know the system is rigged and they also know they can't do anything about it because quite frankly they don't know what's happened or how it works. It's a failure of institutions, of the legal profession (which works for the highest bidder) the legislature (same) and media (race to the bottom). Democracy is in a death spiral and has been for at least a decade. That's what led us to where we are. We live in a corporate-fascist state and the public writ-large is either beaten down or simply weak in character. Have we seen this play throughout history? Oh yea.
28
@Chip I have fantasized about how this new America consisting of democratically governed and progressive states would look. I count about 1/3 rd of the states might fit into this category, more or less, such as California, Massachusetts and the other New England states, New York, New Jersey and perhaps also Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, even Virginia, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, and possibly soon Nevada and Arizona. That group could almost make a contiguous block. But, then, the other states will someday look like the aforementioned block, say in another 50 years. So, maybe patience, rather than forming a new country would be the best path.
7
I find it amusing that some still have the quaint notion that there is going to be a presidential election in 2020. A test run to eliminate Repub primaries seems to have been met with yawns. And it's not much of a leap to think the chosen one will declare some sort of energency to postpone or cancel the upcoming election. After all, he believes only he can solve it.
4
@RNS:
Trump may indeed do something like that. The question is whether there would be a real uprising in response to it, as would be justified.
2
In other words, in this, as in other things, Joe Biden is locked in the past. He's not the second coming of Barack Obama, and he has nothing else to offer the country as we find ourselves now. He just thinks it's his turn to be president.
2
PK's bottom line is indeed a key insight. As scary and depressing it all may sound, it is unfortunately the reality. Which is why it is so important to raise the awareness about it. Many democrats still make the impression that they didn't get it and instead they appear as someone who tries to win a dancing contest, oblivious to the fact that the game has been changed to football years ago. It's time to wake up, sound the alarms and push back, because only a massive voter turnout can at this point help to reverse the course. And even that is not sure, because the longer the anti-democratic GOP virus can take hold, the harder it will be to get ever rid of it. If it's not even too late yet. If you don't believe it, just think of the SCOTUS and what will happen if Trump should have another term..
2
Yes, Paul, Biden is too oblivious to govern effectively.
This is it, the 2020 election. It's probably one of the most important ones in my life time. Americans need to wake up and get outraged by how the trumpists are stealing our democracy. America is at stake this time and more moderation and niceness will not do.
4
Paul Krugman has certainly hit the nail on the proverbial head. What is transpiring right before our eyes is a total transformation of everything we hold dear, what we used to think of as American values. As a senior citizen who grew up during WWII, I have seen the best of what America is and has been. I tremble, however, for the next generation and especially my grandchildren. They have a fearsome task ahead of them: restoring this country to something resembling the vision of our Founding Fathers. I wonder if they will be able to succeed with almost every safety measure removed, obscured or compromised. It is going to be a very daunting task and will only be successful if the people rise in great numbers.
6
Pot, Kettle.
There is some truth to any accusations like this; but at the same time, it's easy to pick the worst examples of your out-group and say that these represent everyone not in your in-group. Krugman's argument is slightly more nuanced and Republican leadership matters -- but if you believe that working with Republicans is impossible, then you've already given up on Democracy. If you've given up on Democracy, then you're not arguing to save it -- you're just trying to fight over the spoils.
That seems to betray an ahistorical lack of appreciation of the messiness of democracy, or the way that it's always been some distance from the ideals. The process of making democracy work better isn't magical and there's no inherent trend toward a more just world -- any improvements we've had over the past centuries were from the blood, sweat, and tears of many people (and over the blood, sweat, tears, and objections of others).
The idea that Democrats can't work with Republicans seems absurd to me. That doesn't mean they should always turn the other cheek or that any particular Republican will be someone they can work with -- but Krugman's analysis seems both simplistic and misleading ... in addition to engaging in the very anti-democratic analysis which it accuses Republicans of spreading.
3
Mitch McConnell.
1
Everyone always goes on and on about democracy being so important for the US. Well from what I can tell, your version of democracy is to benefit well off white people. Yeah, sounds like a great version of democracy. The history of the US can be called many things, but a democracy? It really is a bit of a stretch. Just ask any minority.
1
Mr. Krugman is right. It is time for Democrats to realize that Republicans are Fascists; and must be fought like Fascists, relentlessly, and without compromise. And when and if Democrats ever take power again, they must be prepared to make Republicans pay a severe penalty, in a court of law, and if convicted, with all the due process they always seek to deny others, in prison, for their 40 year assault on American democracy.
2
The Republicans are one of the world's greatest terror groups, one all Americans who understand our Constitution should be trying to stop/finish them off. They'll stoop to anything to win. And they don't believe in democracy, no. They believe in ruthless, all out power and crushing anyone who stands in their way.
4
TI think it's no exaggeration to say that the Republican party has become a pox on our nation.
3
Republicans are living in the wrong country.
They would do much better in an all-out kleptocracy.
3
When Mitch McConnell in violation of his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution blocked President Obama's nomination to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, the right wing, libertine Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz called it unconstitutional. What did Democrats do? Nothing, except lay down. Jerry Nadler's House Judiciary Committee looks wimpy and will fail in removing the president. What I want is Democrats who will fight for democracy, as Elizabeth Warren called for in Washington Square Park this evening.
2
Thank you Dr. Krugman !
And NO . . . Democrats do not know or understand what they are facing !
The "fact" that Republicans do not believe in Democracy, is merely the tip of the iceberg.
For the GOP; Democracy represents a huge obstacle to their agenda of promoting Capitalism . . . Completely devoid of the checks and balances which our Democracy "used to afford" . . . but no longer.
This is what far too many people have lost sight of - the actual meaning and purpose of our Democracy, as masterfully crafted by our Founding Fathers.
Our Democracy, as described in our Constitution and its Amendments is a construct of governing . . . .
For The People ! Plain and Simple -
Not governing for huge corporations -
Not governing to allow foreign entities involve themselves with our "used to be free elections" !
Bottom Line:
Our Democracy was designed to protect; "We the People" from all "...isms" -
Which of course originally, our founding fathers wanted a system of government free of; "Religious-isms" . . . which sadly, has seemed to have crept back into our government.
Lest we not forget that our mechanism of Finance is also an ". . . ism" - Capital"ism".
And out Democracy "used" to protect us from the down-side of this as well.
When the opportunity presents, I ask people; "What's the difference between; Democracy & Capitalism ? ? ?
Far too often I hear: "It's the same thing"
It is NOT !
We need our Democracy back ! We need to regain control of OUR Government !
3
With a handful of important exceptions (Nancy Pelosi, et al.), it appears the majority of Democratic leadership (most notably, the freshmen) - along with the vast majority of We, the Everyday People - do not understand the Republicans are playing and winning a very, very long game, as clearly and cogently outlined in Professor Nancy MacLean’s book, “Democracy in Chains”: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/books/review/democracy-in-chains-nancy-maclean.html
The Republicans are doing a begrudgingly fantastic job of keeping Democrats distracted by/focused on individual trees, rather than considering the forest…
As Steel Magnolia in Atlanta expertly observes, “Does anyone really think the GOP will change its undemocratic ways one whit if we just put the ‘right’ Democrat In the White House? Not in a million years. Unless and until the electorate turns out in such overwhelming numbers that the Democrats take not only the Senate but the state legislatures, the GOP and its donors will never subjugate their power to the will of the people.” (https://nyti.ms/2QbPHfC#permid=102548998)
2
Krugman states that Biden is “oblivious” to what the Republican Party has become — “He’s (Biden) made it clear on many occasions that he considers Trump an aberration and believes that he could have productive, amicable relations with Republicans once Trump is gone.” — and while I agree with most of what he has written, he misses the mark in assuming that amicable relations are implausible going forward.
Have you ever had a relationship with a narcissist? Be it a friendship, a romantic relationship, or a work colleague, narcissists ruin everything. They force people to alter their personalities to accommodate them. If you’re married to a narcissist, you can’t have friends. If you work with a narcissist, count on your work being sabotaged. Thats because narcissists have to be in control — TOTAL control. Ask anybody who has ever divorced a narcissist how it felt once they were free. The whole world changes when the narcissist is no longer in the picture. BUT, the hard part is figuring out to get out from under the narcissist’s grip.
I think what we are witnessing is the hijacking of the Republican Party by a malignant narcissist and his enablers. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I do not believe the Republican Party is totally hopeless. They’re simply saddled to a narcissist right now and can’t figure out how to leave.
So I won’t discount Joe’s belief that he can have amicable relations with the Republicans once Trump is gone. I think it’s not only possible, it’s likely.
1
Whether Biden "gets it," or not, he appears to be "electable." The United States does not resemble the 14th district of New York. From South Carolina to Idaho and from Arizona to North Dakota this is a Red nation. I thought when Obama was elected that racism was over in the United States; was I wrong! Biden's poll numbers do not reflect wild passion for Joe, they reflect a sober intention to change the voice at the top. Progressives, liberals, radicals, most minorities etc will not vote for Trump. At best, the election will between two old white guys to be decided by an aging, white, middle America. Which one will it be? -- Now, do you get it?
2
@Lar
And this is coming who thought racism is over in the United States when Obama was elected.
Now, do you get it?
That's exactly why Trump was elected.
2
Biden may not be "getting it"..... but the Republicans aren't "getting it" either.
So far, I have yet to hear ANY Republican howl that Trump's denying anyone to primary against him is EXACTLY what Putin does over in Russia.
How does it feel boys, to have your own betray you?
2
Interesting point about Biden. That's a question the Democrats will have to address openly. And they also need to get serious about how they will govern if they manage to win the presidency and the senate. They need to understand, and behave like they understand, that the constitutional republic we have had is on the edge of extinction unless they play hard ball 24/7.
Your title, "Republicans Don’t Believe in Democracy", could serve as a new tagline for the Times.
1
Nominating Biden is like bringing a knife to a gun fight and that's being generous.
1
Why do news media continue to force the phrase “socialist” on the uninformed American public when what we are really talking about is “social democracy”? America doesn’t have a socialist party. No one is advocating for socialism. We have a Democratic Party that is progressive on social issues — ie, Social Democrats NOT socialists. Democrats advocate for laws, protections and services that help the working and middle classes. That’s NOT socialism.
How is it that Americans cannot understand the difference? It’s because their only source of information is spoon feeding them opinions while claiming it’s news. Why is it that news media insists on pushing this false narrative?
(That last question is rhetorical...we all know it’s because media owners are GOP donors.)
1
“Do Democrats understand what they are facing?”
Oh, Dr. Krugman! I have been asking that question - in comment after comment, in response to your columns, articles and analysis from all areas of the NYT - and similar columns, articles, and analysis in The Washington Post, for most of the 21st century!
And certainly since the “always and forever NO!” pledge of Republicans after Obama won in 2008, and the hostage style takeover of Congress in the 2010 elections...
I have repeatedly concluded that the answer is “No - not even close!”
Democrats have gone from being the rational, majority party of ideas, to the feckless hand wringing and finger wagging party. They now run, Duck, and cover from fights they used to take on as a matter of course. Even their lawful oversight role has been reduced to a “mommy, may I?” tentativeness that has gotten extremely little done since Cohen’s testimony in late February.
Democrats fight hard among themselves, and with genteel 20th century sensibilities when it comes to Republicans. Meanwhile, it’s painfully clear that Republicans have been at war with Democrats - and more recently, with Democracy itself. Their goal appears to be an elitist corporate focused plutocratic oligarchy, where you can vote for any party or candidate you want - as long as it’s their preferred Republican candidate.
Republicans fight ruthlessly to WIN at any price. Many Democrats don’t even acknowledge there’s a war going on - and they’re losing big time!
1
Those in the US Congress who call themselves republicans
are not republicans....they have corrupted the former
Republican Party ...and are simply imposters....posing as
those who really were Republican heretofore.
The Republicans in the US Congress do not adhere to their
oath of office...and to democracy ; they are the mouthpieces
of corporate interests who fund their seats in Congress.
In other words they do not represent those whom they
have sworn to serve...they only serve those who finance their
Congressional seats....actually they should be called traitors.
1
Some day Democrats will start playing by these rules too. Just one more inevitable and necessary step for the functioning parts of this country to move on from the collapsing parts.
1
We were set up as a presidential, federal, constitutional republic, but in reality it was a libertarian/capitalist/religious zealot white male patriarchy and meant to stay that way.
America's elites never, ever believed in democracy (nor did anyone else throughout all the history we know about). The Constitution did not give the vote to women, slaves, or anyone else except white land-owning males. What's different about the modern GOP is the greed, triggered, apparently, by Reagan's noticing that California and the country are heading for a takeover by minorities. The wealthy have set out to take all the wealth for themselves leaving only scorched earth for those minorities.
If Joe Biden thinks he can work with Republicans, ask Supreme Court Justice Merrick Garland. Oh, wait.
2
Answer to your concluding question -- YES.
1
I wonder if it's that Biden doesn't get it; or if he's still trying to hold out an olive branch to the Republicans who might not be willing to trash our country for the sake of money and power.
1
The NY Times needs to get out and talk to Republicans in Congress (as well as those who have retired) and ask them some hard hitting questions. Let them explain themselves and what's happened to the Republican party? I'm wondering when the principled among them will have had enough? Will it take being on their death beds' before they are thoroughly disgusted, sickened and made afraid like the rest of us to have this monster called Trump in office? What will it take for them to act as responsible Americans?
1
"So what if Democrats demand information they’re legally entitled to? So what if they issue subpoenas? After all, law enforcement has to be carried out by the Justice Department — and under William Barr, Justice has effectively become just another arm of the G.O.P."
Register people to vote. Get to the polls. We need to COMPLETELY destroy the Republican (trumpian) Party before they destroy American Democracy.
Vote blue in 2020!
2
If you don’t have a viable opposition, you don’t have democracy. You have to have an opposition that puts some fear into the other side.
The Democrats are not in any way a viable opposition to the Republicans. Hence, democracy is trouble in America.
The present Democratic Party is now the “New” Democratic Party.
The real Democratic Party doesn’t exist anymore. It ceased to exist after the 1994 midterm elections in my opinion when Bill Clinton threw all the real Democrats running that year under the bus, so to speak. The “New” Democrats were born. The so called “Centrists”.
I am a Democrat and can’t relate to Pelosi, Schumer, Durbin, Biden, not to mention Hillary Clinton, the most obnoxious Centrist of them all. What about Joe Liberman and Al Gore? Where do the Democrats get these people?.
Even the new Democrats coming up! I can’t watch the Democratic debates.
Paraphrasing Harry Truman: Whenever a Democrat tries to out Republican a Republican. The Republican wins every time.
2
This piece explains well, though indirectly, the problem with impeachment. Everybody, including Republicans, knows that Trump is an unstable idiot and criminal, that he is guilty of gross abuse of power, and that he should be removed from office. But house Democrats can't get their hands on the full Mueller report, can't get witnesses to testify in public despite subpoenas (remember the importance of the Watergate hearings?) and can't get Republicans to put their country's needs over their own well being. So while the impeachment process looks superficially as though it is being bungled, the real truth is that it is being stymied. We are in a very difficult and perilous situation, and a noteworthy thing about this article is that the author apparently sees no clear strategy for solving this problem.
2
Yes, the Republicans do not believe in democracy! Look at how we had an election and elected a President and all they do is complain that the Russians colluded with him and thus the election is not fair! Or, how the electoral college - with us since the founding - must be abolished! Or how Supreme Court nominees should be slandered with but the scantest of evidence! Oh those terrible Republicans who hate Democracy!
3
After not accepting an election for the past 3 years, trying to over turn it via Mueller, D's have nothing to talk about.
This latest smear against Kavanaugh is an embarrassment.
The woman allegedly assaulted doesn't remember it but a Bill Clinton lawyer does, so that's good enough to impeach?
You are doing Trump's work. People in the bubble don't realize it but you are.
4
Of course Mr. Krugman is correct. Anyone who objectively looks at the facts and history of the Republican Party since Pres Obama's first term (or maybe even dating back to Newt Gingrich) would understand these truths.
However, if one were to listen to McConnell and the rest of the Republicans, and to the wackos at Fox News, and to bloviators like Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter, they'd hear the opposite message (but worse): it's the Dems who don't believe in democracy, who hate America, who are evil people, etc.
So, who's right?
Actually, Krugman is. Any non-Deplorable person can easily see that!
However, it's impossible to talk reasonably with crazy people. It's impossible to try to talk about actual facts and truths with people who are delusional and possibly psychotic. It's impossible to try to work equitably with selfish people who don't care about rules. It's impossible to talk about ethics and morality with truly evil people.
Of course, the True Media (excluding Fox) has only made the situation worse, by trying to be "fair" and tell "both sides of the story" over all these years. Giving credence to selfish psychotics is dangerous.
Sorry folks, but this is the way we have to start talking about the situation. We've been trying to be civil and reasonable (and play by the rules) for too long, while the Rightwing Cabal has been unabashedly fomenting lies, lawlessness, and hatred all along.
We need to start fighting back; and we need to do it in their same manner.
5
Republicans don't want to work with anyone.They do not care about our country, our Democracy,nor our Constitution.Trump has let their true colors show.They want to privatize the government[tear it down]so that there are a few very rich "oligarchs" that own and control everything and they are white males.They have been cheating, lying,gerrymandering for years[see Bush v Gore] to get what they want and trump has allowed them to finally do it.They are in the midst of destroying not only this country but the world.All because they want to return to a solid white patriarchy.I am terrified being a woman and seeing what they have taken from us.This is a nightmare.
1
This is rich: “But when Democrats win an election, the modern G.O.P. does its best to negate the results...”
The lack of self-awareness is stunning
2
In short? Yes. Biden is an amiable, stand-up guy. But his “aw shucks, can’t we just get along?” approach to dealing with a bunch of amoral, nihilist power-at-all-costs is like bringing soggy broccoli to a gun fight.
Democrats don’t need to stoop to the GOP’s level. But they need to fight ferociously, with cold realism about the nature of what they’re up against.
1
Yes, this is the REAL problem with Biden, that he thinks the Republicans will work with any Democratic president. And that type of tone, ironically, is part of the reason why he is so popular with centrist Democrats.
However, what we're actually facing is the rise of neo-fascism. All those home-schooled evangelical kids and their homeschooling parents want a king, not a pluralistic democracy.
What we're getting is the rule of the majority by the will of a minority of American oligarchs. They're fine with stirred up white nationalist sentiment because it provides cover for their theft and control.
The people living in the house with super-delegates shouldn't throw stones (referring to the headline "Republicans Don't Believe in Democracy").
1
That the DNC chose Clinton before the Primary began isn’t democracy either.
2
@Lilly
That's not surprising -- unless you forget that Clinton is a Democrat.
2
On my Kindle this article was fittingly accompanied by ads for Banana Republic.
1
Today’s Republican Party rallied in Dahlonega, Georgia this past weekend.
That’s who they are.
2
Why are you calling the GOP in the US Congress ...Republicans.
They ARE NOT Republicans; they are phonies who are doing
the bidding of their corporate campaign funders...they are
using the good name of Republican Party (heretofore the
Political Party of Abraham Lincoln) to foist their plutocratic
agenda on their constituents...they are actually authoritarian
puppets of a foreboding Plutocracy (hardly republicanism)
headed by a dictator...anyone who can be manipulated as
a egomaniacal narcissist like Trump.
That is what this nation is up against...so print the truth.
2
Republicans don’t believe in democracy. Possibly. But do Democrats? Read some of the comments below. Go on Twitter. The common memes that elicit many “likes” include: “Let’s pack the Supreme Court” (unconstitutional); “Let’s have a revolution” (because it worked out so well in Russia); “Let’s break the country into two and have a new civil war” (no comment needed). But if you move beyond Twitterverse, you’ll find out that the world is not divided into evil Trumpists and virtuous anti-Trumpists. Instead, majority of Americans don’t want either theocracy or socialism. Unfortunately if you have two extremes tearing the country apart, the majority’s voice does not count.
1
How did a column on the outrageous anti-democratic power grabbing of the Republicans suddenly end up trashing Joe Biden? Can we keep the common enemy in sight and not shoot our own?
1
“What the meaning of is is.” Oh yeah, Democrats believe in democracy and good government.
2
The republican party should be banned exactly as the nsdap was banned after wwii. the "moderate" dems are so far to the right that they are like the old republicans anyway and the left dems can split off and make a proper dem-socialist party.
1
Good thing we have Paul Krugman to provide us unbiased/objective information! Anyone who reads two or three of his articles quickly understands that he can be relied upon to provide, without exceptionm his Republicans are ALWAYS bad and Democrats are ALWAYS good message! No bias with the good Dr. The most entertaining statement is "Elections are supposed to have consequences." This is correct, and the left/Krugman's of the world have been trying to nulify the most important recent election since our duly elected president entered the White House. Yep, Trump is president, and contrary to the left/Krugman rhetoric for the past three years, Trump WILL continue to be president for another year-plus, and quite possibly another four years after his current term expires. Yes indeed, regardless of Mueller/political hit job attempts, slimy Comey, non-obstruction of a non-crime, blah, blah, blah and yawn... elections do have consequences even if it involves the never-ending left's blithe "rage", and yawn again.
2
We need "Trump Corruption" hearings just like the "Hillary and Benghazi" hearings of seven years ago. Relentless, constant, ongoing, repetitious, almost ridiculous -- but effective.
Can the Democrats be that slimy? We'll see. But unfortunately, they probably need to be.
1
Oh, surely, surely the Democrats are going to Blow this one. As they so often do. With America in existential crisis, its very identity as the shining example to the rest of the world at risk, we peck to death the leading candidate who might have a chance to defeat the Trump juggernaut. If not on youthful vigor and razor-sharp retort, then based on his essential long-established decency and world-class name recognition. Not one of the other candidates has the power of personality, track record or scorched-earth, down-n-dirty debating skills to stand up to Trump's swagger. So sure, Charles, take out your sharp pen and wend all the way back to 1975 to skewer Biden. And as you help to Blow this one, be sure to savor the 4 more years of Trump you insure by doing so.
2
There is a difference between democracy and mob rule which is why our founding fathers created our Constitution the way it did. If you believe in borders, jobs, support police and our military, the sanctity and our Bill of Rights, and are proud to be an American you can not be a Democrat.
Republicans have become what amounts to...Royalists. They believe more in Plutocracy and Oligarchy than anything else.
2
Biden did a great job in his debate with Paul Ryan. That was 8 years ago. Sadly, he is not the same Joe Biden. 2 brain surgeries and 8 years into his 70's is a long time. He cant finish a sentence or thought without rambling onto another. If he gets the nomination, you can bet all those videos of him touching little girls will be plastered all over the TV and internet. Theres a lot of them. They are very creepy. Just go onto YouTube. I wouldnt let any strange man touch my daughters that way, I dont care who it is.
Hes got a serious problems, and being oblivious is only one of them.
Speaker Pelosi needs to find a spare washroom, put a cot in it and a lock on the door, and then send the sergeant at arms out to arrest the acting DNI and lock him in said washroom until he produces the requested document. The House does have that power---Jurney v MacCracken, 294 US 125 (1935); McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 US 1315 (1927)---but the Democrats won't use it because they prefer to look polite and moderate, though mostly they just look weak. If national security isn't worth fighting for, what is? Withholding a whistleblower complaint involving national security is an emergency and should be treated as such, not an occasion for a years long court fight. I yearn for the days when the Democratic Party had people in it who had been on picket lines. They understood the need to fight for what you believe in.
What if the Democrats just resigned - all of them?
Obviously we have already waited too long. Still, if we choose a prosecutor like Kamala Harris for president and continue to have concerned readers and fearless columnists like Krugman and Blow, there may be time to save our world from the GOP wrecking ball. Caring Democrats needed to preserve democracy.
1
The Constitutional Convention closed and a weary Benjamin Franklin said, "...It is a Republic, IF you can keep it." Everyone has a role in the "...if you can keep it." The verdict is in: we can't. The idea that the dollar is greater than the American, MY faith must be yours, a President saying, "the government IS the problem", Flush Limba and others on hate radio and faux news spewing rage at anything and anyone that isn't straight white male, most Americans becoming complacent, trusting, and distracted, and finally the GOP deciding to not go easily, but rather opted to destroy America. America will respond and it will be costly and uglier than the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. Franklin's words now are: "...a Republic, IF you can take it back!"
1
We should not be surprised that NC GOP would use 9/11 victims as cover for passing their odious bill. They have no shame and are no longer patriots in this great country.
2
Krugman obviously does not understand democracy. The GOP are only playing by the rules that the DNC and Harry Reid put in place under Obama. Then they lost control of the senate after being warned that their would be consequences to their actions. It does not look like the Senate will be in Democrats control anytime soon.
Now with the latest smears against a sitting SCOTUS justice and all the Democrat front runners calling for impeachment on the basis of more false ( it never happened ) allegations the Democrats are shwoing themsleves to be the party of impeachment. Impeach anyone they don't like based on lies propagated by the media.
The Dems have alienated large numbers of voters who now either don't vote or have gone over to the Reps. Could it be the violence, filth and chaos their policies have introduced into schools and neighborhoods? Or is it just the corruption in municipal govs and the high taxes they like to impose?
It's a mystery.
2
But clearly they believe in kleptocracy.
1
Flouting norms?
Still stepping on the lede.
And democrats have shown scant interest in democracy.
For example. Just review the headlines democrats have made this year.
Democracy is absent. There is an endless supply of non majority litmus tests of identity politic babble.
Don’t believe me. Google.
2
Republicans' oaths of office are lies, from Trump on down.
2
The herd want to “ piggy” Biden, as in Lord Of the Flies. I thought he was a great figure for the office but it looks now like the crowd won’t relent until they see blood. Pathetic.
1
FYI: I'm all in in trying to stop the Democrat march to socialist annihilation. That means enforcing the use of the Electoral College. Re-enforcing the 2nd amendment to the Constitution. Respecting the flag and the national anthem. Only citizens can vote and, while I'm at it, one person, one vote. Dead people and illegal immigrants don't have a constitutional right to vote. Stop your vote mining and gimmicky ranked choice.
The right to religious freedom, the right to free speech, and the right to life. What are you talking about? We respect the Constitution of the United States of America.
You don't.
The Democratic Party barely made it through Jimmie Carter and ended with the Clintons. And with it went the labor unions. In the middle was the white, blue-collar alliance with Reagan. A betrayal for which they are still paying.
3
While many of Mr. Krugman's points are laudable, I would remind him that we are NOT a democracy, but a representative republic. The founding fathers were clear on this. It's worked very well so far, let's not change it. Beware the slippery slope
2
The answer to “the real question “ is “yes”.
1
Amending my post to correct a typo:
Plenty of people still don't get that one of the main reasons that Trump is in office, is that a significant number of Bernie supporters stayed home. Young voters stayed home. The "left" is split to a degree between "centralists" and "progressives". In comparison to Trump, however, those differences are a hair's breadth apart. A progressive Democratic nominee should reach out to a "centralist" as a running mate, and vice-versa. It is a conversation they should all agree to in a backdoor meeting right now. The messages should be emphatic and forceful, that regardless of who is the nominee, that this election is easily the most important one America has had in 50 years. Perhaps more.
Plenty of people still don't get that one of the main reasons that Trump is in office, is that a significant number of Bernie supporters stayed home. Young voters stayed home. The "left" is split to a degree between "centralists" and "progressives". In comparison to Trump, however, those differences are a hair's breadth apart. A progressive Democratic nominee should reach out to a progressive as a running mate, and vice-versa. It is a conversation they should all agree to in a backdoor meeting right now. The messages should be emphatic and forceful, that regardless of who is the nominee, that this election is easily the most important one America has had in 50 years. Perhaps more.
1
I support Biden as most likely to win. I’m surprised Paul prefers to lose than have Biden elected
2
Each of these points could be a substantive op/ed subject on their own, but combined with the proper dots connected they are a stinging indictment of the GOP mindset and behavior pattern that threatens the fundamentals our Country is based on. The problems we are confronting for the first time in our history at this scale are not the result of Donald Trump. He is a symptom of a larger disease, and we HAVE to alter our understanding, our approach and our attitudes towards this sickness rotting us from the head down. If we don't we're just arranging deck chairs on the Titanic, and it's ALL going down.
We make these course corrections right now or we can kiss it all goodbye. It really is that stark.
4
"The big problem with Joe Biden, still the front-runner, is that he obviously doesn’t get it. He’s made it clear on many occasions that he considers Trump an aberration and believes that he could have productive, amicable relations with Republicans once Trump is gone."
This IS his big problem. (We'll leave out how Castro, albeit over the top, in a minute turned Joe into a mess at the last debate).
(We'll also leave out that Trump will be the Castro moment times 100).
Joe is in a time warp and thinks this is 1980. He might have a delusion that the GOP once freed from Trump will become reasonable, even welcome normalcy.
That will not happen in the short term, never mind the long term. They now have successfully executed their decades long goals and aren't about to have a Kumbaya moment because Joe wants it. With Grump gone it will be guerrilla warfare. They've tasted blood and they like it.
4
When asked what kind of government the Constitutional Convention envisioned in its work, Ben Franklin responded, A republic, if you can keep it.
Given exiting levels of support for Trump and the GOP, one has to confront the very real fact that a significant number of our fellow citizens really aren’t all that concerned about personal freedom.
Too many appear eager to trade that freedom for a variety of reasons: security, the ability to “own” members of the opposing party, the enjoyment of chaos, a sense of worth that flows not from one’s own accomplishments but vicariously through association in a group and the naive belief that one individual alone can solve all of their problems.
The primary problem for the Democrats is the GOP base. The secondary problem is the leadership that exploits that base for their own benefit.
1
Biden's problem is less about whether republicans will/won't work with him, and is more about how inept he and Obama were politically. Here's a few examples of Biden getting played:
- In '09-10, Democrats, with super majorities, abandoned a Public Option out of fear of being labeled socialist. Democrats then proceeded to adopt subsidies for the purchase of for-profit health insurance, a Republican plan developed by the Heritage Foundation in the 90's, which essentially funnels money to health insurers. The result? Republicans labeled Democrats socialists anyway, and Democrats were clobbered in the '10 mid-terms.
'11: Republicans endorsed the Simpson Bowles deficit reduction plan, which addressed nearly every aspect of the federal budget, including revenues. Republicans endorsed it. Then, Obama/Biden naively came out in support of it publicly, at which point Republicans proceeded to turn against it and killed the plan. Democrats then removed tax increases from the bill, yet republicans killed it again.
'13: The immigration reform bill. The bill was practically a copy/paste of the GOP plan formulated under George W Bush, and included strong border security. Republicans endorsed the plan. Obama/Biden again naively came out in support of it publicly, at which point Republicans proceeded to kill it.
We can talk all day about voter suppression, gerrymandering, etc but how about basic political competency when you are in office, and not getting outplayed by the opposition?
4
"ALL STATES, all powers, that have held and hold rule over men have been and are either republics or principalities." – "The Prince"
In order to perceive the radically different ends pursued by the two parties, we have to imagine their constituencies.
Picture a Venn diagram in which the circles nearly completely overlapped in the 1930-1950 era. Fraying the edges were Communists on one fringe and neo-Conservatives (some of them, ironically, former Trotskyites), many funded by those who would rather subsidize propaganda than pay taxes.
Today, the circles still should have quite a bit of overlap, but philosophically they are nearly distinct. Consider:
Just as the Old South enlisted poor white men who had never personally profited from slavery to take up the deeply respected banner of a country less than a year old and dedicated to the proposition that not all men are created equal, so the GOP entices those whose hope for a sumptuous future involves winning Lotto tickets to backstop those who have (with the help of Reagan, Scott Walker, and their brethren) broken unions, suppressed wages, and moved entire factories abroad, all while whining and pointing fingers at seasonal fruit pickers and those fleeing war-torn parts of the world often made worse by predatory capitalism.
As demonstrated by secession, the people in this circle will have their way. If they can do so by quasi-legal tactics such as Gerrymandering and packing the courts, great. If not, there are other methods.
2
OK, so another column pointing out the obvious to those who have eyes, brains, moral sensibilities and political awareness in even the least degree. Thanks to Dr. K, sure, for doing it... again. But the immoral, dishonest, criminal, utterly undemocratic nature of the Republican Party is not a secret (and hasn't been a secret for decades).
That 40% of the electorate are fully on board with Blondie and his corrupt mob tells us the situation is more than dire. Why, at this point in their successful conquest of the majority, would the Cult abide the loss of the next election when their Dear Leader declares it null and void and uses the emergency power of the State -- a State already bending the knee to Himself in every way -- to crush opposition? He has his courts and his police and, yes, his military. He can, and will, produce a politically helpful war when it does him the most good, we can bet the farm on that.
This is much more serious than merely voting against an old-school, already-compromised, oblivious appeaser. The Left assumes democratic processes can regain some semblance of political balance, but the end-game Republicans are committed to is absolute power, nothing less than the end of democracy. It is almost within their grasp. No shocked cries of surprise when it happens next year; Democrats had better be ready for the unthinkable. Everything is in place, and 2020 will be the American Apocalypse. At least it will be televised (with commercials).
5
Democracy is a threat to monied elites.
Tell them you are going to tax them more because of votes from the minions of society?
They hate democracy.
Voter suppression pf minorities and others, maintaining undemocratic representation in the Senate, no ranked choice voting, and no multi-party system.......America is structural undemocratic and spiritually undemocratic.
The poor HK protesters are too young to understand the GOP uses the verbiage of 'spreading democracy' only where there is oil.
And inside America, they may only be interested in democracy as long as they are the majority and their money isn't disrupted.
4
May I say that this is not news? For the past decade the political scientists Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein — writing as resident scholars at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute — told us, again and again and again, that the Republican Party is nothing less, and nothing more, than a fascist insurgency. That’s right: they’ve been saying it for a decade. It didn’t matter how many times they told us; nobody listened. You wouldn’t find them very often, if at all, on the Sunday talk shows or on Op-Ed pages. You still don’t. Now — now that the autocrats are in charge, remaking our government into an instrument of fascist rule — now, suddenly, the alarms are sounded. Too little too late. Hallowed establishment institutions and their elites had too much invested in the status quo to accept what was happening. Many, with their privilege and vast paychecks, continue refusing to see the truth. (I’m looking at you Stephanopoulos, Williams, Todd, O’Donnell, and Madow.) Leaving us where? The moment to save the republic has come and gone, and one more democratic government in the long arc of history falls. When the history of this era is written, the intellectual and political elites will get there due; with their hands over their ears and eyes, and their minds on their social status and bank accounts, they invited the apocalypse. Decrying it now is worse than useless.
2
Republicans don’t want to co-exist with Democrats to steward the nation forward. The forward motion has never been fluid or smooth. It’s usually divergent and then regressive. The voting populace is complex and sometimes ill-suited to compromise. Still, for all that, our democratic experiment has been largely—if haltingly and reluctantly—successful.
When Barack Obama broke the color barrier, much like Jackie Robinson did 61 years earlier in a different field of endeavor, Republicans explicitly refused to work with him. “I can’t help you, Joe,” is a quotation that I’ll never forget. A long-time veteran of the Senate, a former colleague told him that cooperation with the black president was out of the question. “What about the national direction,?”Biden may have hypothetically replied.
Republicans have severed their bond with most of America. They never, it appeared, truly bought into the mythos of the national story. They were always stern and cold, dismissive, forbidding and unkind, forgetful of something called a national trust. They revered Ike and Nixon and Reagan; not so much the Bush pair, although they were useful.
With Donald Trump, they unmasked themselves for all time. They are dismissive of good order and common sense. They surrendered to the hostilities of the evangelical bloc. They are owned by the Koch Bottles; Sheldon Adelson; the Mercers; the DeVos fortunes, and ALEC. They live to rule; they will never serve.
Their president is the same, only more seedy.
3
Answer to the last question: yes. The rest, a sickening recount of how our great experiment has flopped and become a Frankenstein monster of major proportions. Think about it, NC is supposed to be one of those great sunbelt states to gravitate to. But but it is really a vestige of Jim Crow in Yankee drag. Move there for the cheap real estate but don't expect the old South to be gone. As far as I can tell the ghost of Jim Crow is alive and well.
1
Mr Biden is the masculine version of HRC: a get-along-go-along middle-of-the-road centrist (??) pro-status quo Democratic politician. He may win the election...but so what? Four years, eight years? More wasted time, more wasted opportunities. The Obama Administration all over again. A real shame, but here we are. We need a fighter, not a collaborationist.
5
So the Dems got outplayed by the Republicans in the North Carolina House and that's the Republicans fault?
The American public is supposed to believe Adam Schiff? Wasn't he the guy who told us that Trump was as good as gone but in the end had nothing? Now the boy who once got national attention by crying wolf cries again, but this time it's for real.
Then the Democrats do everything they can to try and derail the Kavanaugh nomination. When that didn't work, a year later the NYT tries to nail him again with a story that had to be retracted because the sources wouldn't confirm what was allegedly said or flat out couldn't remember.
The fact is Paul the Dems are a fractured party that can't get their act together. The best they can muster is turning over stones looking for scraps which they hope can be used topple Trump. When that doesn't work they bark around the edges of the things they don't like, when in reality they need to get their act together, decide on a viable platform and provide real candidates to challenge to Trump. Instead they proffer fantastical entitlements and give aways and tell us that the rich and large corporations are going to pay for it. No one really believes any of their nonsense, and I don't believe they do either, but if that's all you got in your stable, you ride with it.
Time's running out. The Democrats need to focus on the election and not on the man they cannot beat.
4
Well, great point. T gone there is still the GOP. & even as a Senate minority, at the Fed level (in the states they will still be in control of much of the country for years), they can with one stone take down all the pretty crystal palaces of dream plans any Dem offers now.
So, applying the Krugman rule, as in WHO among the Dem 23 is organizing for several cycles, a decade, perhaps a generation of struggle on all fronts; "gets it"?
More importantly, who has a plan on day 1 to get anything done in the House of NO? (It seems to me, yelling, in the "key of gravel", with bulging eyes; Sen Sanders did say he would push to eliminate the filibuster, and otherwise leverage change through the Budget process...very pragmatic... and if media is going to play the "sleepy joe" slime game...why won't "socialists" check out of 2020 like we did in 2016?).
Biden is about getting back to Obama Happy Days again. It is absolutely valid to say- not enough (he was knocked off the rails by the implied demand he back reparations... it would be good for proponents of that to wait until 2021. That, and "it's time for a woman", could be loss leaders).
Finally... shouldn't media check out, if the $30 Trillion of Med 4 All headlines, the projected cost of the status quo (17% of $20 Trillion/yr X 10 yr, with COL compound...$50 Trillion is in the ballpark) get a look?
A fair fight of ideas ain't rigged on the basis- with whom would you want to have a beer? Been there. Did that.
The majority is ruled by the minority. Having rich white men rule the country may have worked in the 18th century but not in the 21st.
4
@E Bennet
It didn't even work in the 18th century.
1
Our current crop of Republican Senators are not fit to shine the shoes of their predecessors.
3
Good Report!
The sad part is that the Republicans think they are shrewd and not in the least bit, anti-social. They are a party at war with a group of interlopers - anything goes! Rules and regulations are for second class citizens.
Joe is past his prime. What the democrats can do is use the Huggie-Kissie persona of Joe, to get a Democrat into the White House. Choose a powerful person as his running mate and then surround him with an equally advanced cabinet.
He can handle the media. The others, the affairs of state.
1
Mr. Krugman continues to conflate his personally desired poltical outcomes with "democracy" and the preferred poltical outcomes of others as dishonest, unworthy or ignorant.
Krugman's thinking is aligned with the left's view that they alone occupy the moral high ground on all issues and that those who will not concede his obvious superiority are illegitimate in all respects.
This is the baseline of totalitarian thought.
Accussing others of the exact thing they themselves are doing is what political tyrants have done for eons. Mr. Krugman shows who he really is with every one of his increasingl relentless tirades against those who will not simply kneel at the sheer wonder of his brillance.
The real concern would manifest if his angry petulance were ever connected to actual political power where he and his like-minded supremacists would simply jail those who dared disagree.
2
You failed to mention my neighboring state Wisconsin, whose Republican legislature stripped the Governor and Attorney General of many of their powers when they were elected as Democrats. Of course, the Republican Wisconsin Supreme Court found their action lawful.
The Koch brothers' legacy lives on while democratic self government dies.
2
Why arent the news outlets screaming about what trump is doing and stating every night all his lies? What am I missing here?
We wouldn't expect the French to allow German citizens to be voting members of the Parlement Francais. And we'd be surprised if Germans would be happy with Frenchmen having voting rights in the Bundestag. So why is it that we're so frustrated when representatives from Red and Blue America can agree on almost nothing?
Southern North America has been made up of 2 distinct countries--Red and Blue America--from even before the birth of the United States. This disunion has never made sense. It's why Americans complain that Congress can't get anything done. What most citizens don't get is that the system works perfectly. Red and Blue states send their representatives to Washington DC to make sure the other side doesn't get an advantage.
France and Germany have finally learned how to live peacefully and cooperate as two separate countries. Red and Blue America need to do the same. Secession will cure what ails the United States. And here's the ultimate irony. Secession ignited our 1st Civil War, and it will be the only thing that can prevent a 2nd Civil War.
Those last two paragraphs undercut Biden's primary campaign theme of a vote for him being a vote to continue to the Obama administration. Obama's greatest mistake (always easy to see in hindsight, I know) was not ramming through enough legislation while he had both houses of Congress. After he lost them, he couldn't even get Republicans to go along with his national version of Romneycare, which was a Frankensteinian product of conservative think tanks, designed to fend off actual health care reform.
Of course not. Because they know they would lose on any level playing field.
Republicans are much better at fighting than the Democrats.
Republicans have the advantage.
They don't have morals.
2
To Dr. Krugman’s point, the hypocrisy in Mitch McConnell’s handling of the Merrill Garland Supreme Court nomination, and then turning around and bull dozing Brett Kavanaugh is a prime example of Republican’s contempt for democracy. When a life appointment for the highest court is a political exercise of power, it doesn’t give me much hope.
I’d like to put out his question to conservative women voters: Haven’t you had enough? Are your conservative beliefs worth keeping the old, white fossils in power in Washington? Men who want your support, but not your influence? I honestly don’t get women voting for the modern Republican candidates.
3
Let’s get real. Short of ordering the military to imprison every Republican senator, representative, and S.C. justice there is nothing any Democratic president could do to stop them from subverting our democracy. Is Warren any more willing to do that than Biden?
1
In the event that the democrats win both houses in 2020 I’m wondering if they can somehow investigate McConnell.
Here is the proof that the GOP Is anti-democracy :
Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.
3
The Republican party does not believe in Democracy because they are led by a coordinated group who seek a Theocracy. They put their religious interests before our national interests to justify breaking our laws.
1
If only the NYT would publish comments from the pragmatic center of normal voters who disagree with the radical narrative of PK and the Squad. I’m sure this will be another one which doesn’t see the light of day.
If at his age and with his experience, Dr. Krugman still acts like he falls for the Good Cop/Bad Cop scenario that passes for party politics in America, one must question his motivations.
The simple fact is that for over 100 years government control has passed from republican to democrat to republican to democrat and so forth over and over again. The result is where we are now.
We have but one "major" party here - and they pretend to maintain polar opposite factions for the sake of Divide And Conquer.
Dr. Krugman: If you cannot see past the democrats and the republicans, then the whole corrupt system has you right where they want you. Good luck with that.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
@Muleman,
Well why not enlighten us with what you’d like to hear or see from the democrats. I see posts like the one you posted all the time, yet, I rarely see those who post things like, “and what are the dems doing about the coup by the GOP, let me know when you find one legitimate effort by the Dems” blah, blah.
Instead of saying what you as a supporter would like to see them do, what would you like from them. Seems to me that they are in fact trying to provide oversight, but as Krugman points out, the GOP and Trump seem to be happy about being a bunch of lawless, greedy, corrupt, people.
The pendulum will swing the other way, it always does, sometimes it just requires the bee hive to be poked, but once the hive is poked, the bees come out in a swarm. The Republicans have sown the wind, soon they will reap the whirlwind. That much is sure....
1
How could Biden possibly believe that he can work with Republicans after what he and Obama went through??
What is he thinking?
2
"Which raises the question: Even if Biden can win, is he too oblivious to govern effectively?"
Thank you. Correct answer: Yes.
While our technology is now multiplying by magnitudes I can't fathom, our socio/political condition is being forced into high relief. Conservatives are truly the worshippers of Mammon (tip 'o the hat to the great Lewis Lapham).
Got a failing economy? Mow down the rain forest!
With Trump's cat fumbling us toward bankruptcy and Europe flailing, the mice are playing the People for fools.
We. Don't. Have. Time. For. This.
Or we could just go back to blowing things up in the desert.
Please stop whining about the GOP and their disregard for the law. Democrats have done the same thing before, Obama’s health care edict, and they’ll do it again once they are in power. Bottom line he who has the power makes the rules!
And if Boden can’t win, who can? Who can slough off the misinformation that you know is coming? Only Biden can put this guy down and bring Democrats to the Senate.
So what to do with the Republican Party?? It does have a constituency. There are 40% of our fellow citizens who actually want a benevolent dictator to champion their tribe. So, its more than Trump, more than the Republican Senate, more than the Republican Party. It’s 40% of the country. What would Warren do with them? Ignore them? How about Sanders? Tax them?
The country cannot move forward divided against themselves. Democrats have to be de-demonized in the eyes of Fox Newsified Republicans and Republicans have to be convinced that people who do not look like them, are nevertheless fellow Americans.
Maybe it takes an old guy who remembers when such a time existed in the country to lead us there and maybe, Paul, you are the one who is delusional to think that one of these others could get elected, much less lead the country back together.
The Democrats will need some sort of super majority to win. To think that Putin & Co., our ruling oligarchy, and the Dirty Tricks division of the Republican party have gone off-duty is naive. Trump has been a bonanza for them. For 2020, they will be in overdrive.
I understand that Schiff will probably need to take the DNI to court regarding the whistleblower, but why are the courts so slow to resolve such disputes of black-letter law?
Kavanaugh is a different matter. No sense impeaching while Reps control the Senate and the WH.
Bingo!
It's time to start facing the facts that Democrats have for far too long ignored. They are willing to play by the rules. The Republicans aren't. At a certain point, it's pointless to insist you should be the winner just because you play fair and even often win outright if the other side simply always acts like YOU are the illegitimate interloper.
What's almost worse than not believing in democracy is the fact that any more the Republicans don't much believe in government at all, except for its military and police powers when it suits their needs. Of course, the police aren't supposed to investigate Republican shenanigans, so even that's not a genuine belief, just one of momentary convenience.
We as citizens must face the fact that the Republican Party is out to destroy this nation in favor of privatized rule by wealth. So must anyone we elect, or we're just nominating the next patsies for the con game that the right wing is transforming what little is effectively left of government into grease for the wheels of reaction.
2
If I can sum up this column succinctly, Republicans govern as war, and Democats don't.
Biden thinks he can “work with Republicans”. The eight years of Obama showed how wrong he is.
1
Provocative but not well argued
I look forward to President Biden being MY president
republicans did everything in their power to deny the Presidential elections of 1992, 1996, 2008, and 2012.
The party met in a secret basement on Obama's Inauguration Day to plot his, and our, destruction. "We will make him a one term president."
When people gather to overthrow their government, isn't that called treason? At least, sedition?
And is it the job of the Democratic Party to get this news to We the People, or is it the job of the 4th Estate?
If the corporate media did a better job of explaining to voters that republican governance has not been working for the betterment of the Nation, and that the rural republicans who have convinced their voters they will out law abortion, someday, if only the voters keep voting against their own best interests in the meantime, are not going to accomplish that.
Wouldn't it be the 4th Estate who breaks the news to the voters that "supply side, trickle down economics" has not worked for US for 40 years, so why do these voters keep buying into it?
C'mon, reporters! Do your jobs!
"It's the Electorate . . . . Stupid" !
Dr. K neatly points out how far the GOP has drifted away from Democracy, as the sworn duty they are supposed to uphold.
For the GOP, Democracy is simply an obstacle in the way of their true allegiance.
Their actual duties are to strip away everything from the American People that they were voted in to protect and give the wealth of our country to those few who actually "own" them.
To be fair - "Big Money" is also used to "leverage" Democrats as well -
However . . . there is one huge difference -
The "Electorate" . . .
The Democrat Electorate is not stupid - they read real facts - they understand the difference between truth and lies and then respond accordingly.
Which brings me to -
How can I explain the Republican Electorate - the vast majority of registered Republicans who are NOT among the 1% . . .
How can I understand - how generation after generation of Republicans - continue to vote in those who are destroying their lives - and their children's lives - actually - all of our lives - and the very fabric of our Democracy.
Our only way to preserve our two-party system is to "get through" to the entire Republican electorate - are are not the 1% and then - we may be able to forever rid ourselves from the Charlestons who have hi-jacked the Republican Party, beginning with Ronald Reagan.
1
I guess Paul Krugman must have read my posts. I’ve been sending as many as I can on this very subject. Republicans absolutely do not believe in democracy and the proof is everywhere you look, listen, smell, touch and uh taste. Yes, we can believe in our own senses despite what Republicans claim.
The Republicans rallied around someone they hated, and promoted him for president. Trump, they knew, was a clown and a crook. There were no surprises. Their desperate gesture of non-surrender led to their biggest monetary windfall since the end of the Civil War. They were always in mindless lock-step, and the next movement now, is purposeful goosestep.
Once again, the Democrats are self-destructing. The Democrat party shouldn't go running around like chickens with their heads chopped off just to prove they don't follow the Republican ethos. But then, if they did that, they wouldn't be Democrats, and we wouldn't be facing the nightmare prospect of 12 more years of Trump, then Pence.
The collapse of American industry combined with the influx of nonwhite immigrants -- legal and illegal -- has created a toxic situation that the right wing has seized to advance its reactionary agenda. Most white Americans vote for the Republican Party candidates. It is the party of white America. It is like the pre-Civil War South, where the poor whites didn't have much beyond their white skin, and they dreaded the thought of black equality. They fought and died to keep the black people in their place. That racism remains with us, but now it is spread throughout the country, not just in the South. Liberal means equal rights for colored people and conservative means keeping the white race on top. This is happening in Europe too.
Thanks for saying what I have been thinking for months. The GOP is in deep with Putin and the oligarchs. Who knows how much corruption there really is. The National Enquirer had a safe full of dirt on lots of prominent people, all that Trump wanted to use when he was running for office. The GOP are not stupid. They have been bought. Along with Bill Barr, that Inspector General of DOJ, some of the Supremes, and probably lots of judges and DAs. We have a Party that is willfully corrupting our entire government. The GOP won in that race last week, even after their guy was proven to have cheated to win last fall. The Republican voters did not think they needed to send a message? No, they voted GOP again? Or did they just cheat again? No one seems to care. We need Dem leaders who are prepared like Elliott Ness with the crime families. This corruption goes way beyond Trump, wide and deep. Day One: throw out Barr!
We can only hope that the whistleblower’s information is leaked for the good of this, formerly, great country! We MUST know!
So which one gets it the best? Seems like Warren is teaching everyone right now.
Maybe because democracy doesn't work.
How any American voter can sit by and watch the unabated corruption of the Republican Congress, Trump and his Administration is unbelievable.
When are we all going to wake up to the fact they are selling our country down the river to the highest bidder?
Who are those bidders? Their donors, their foreign friends, like Putin, MSB, Nethanyahu, White Supremists, Citizens United, Evangelicals, NRA just to name a few. These are the people who are really running our country . And, oh yes the Supreme Court.
We need ballot Initiatives on the National Ballot like, Abolition of the Electoral College, Limits on Political donations, Term Limits for all who run or appointed to office, including the Supreme Court, Flat tax, no loopholes, National Health care, Tax Reform, Gun Reform, Reparations for anyone who was considered 3/5ths of a person or non-person like Native Americans and women and whatever else is on the voters minds.
These Ballot initiatives will then be a mandatory agenda for the Congress to act on within four years.
We should be setting the agenda at this point, as it appears that our Congress is incapable of prioritizing what they should be doing to keep our country running in a Democratic fashion and free from Foreign interference in our Elections
1
Of course the knee-jerk response of the typical FoxNews misinformed Trump supporter is "We live in a republic, not a democracy."
I just hope they remember that the next time a Democratic President signs a few executive orders. Which will hopefully be about 16 months from now.
1
They believe in getting away with what they ca, whereas the public ]en toto beleives in getting away with 55 percent of what they can
They believe that winning is the only thing.
After Tump is gone, the Republican Party will surely change, though no one knows how. If they can become Trump’s party overnight, they can become something different tomorrow. If Democrats refuse to deal with a transformed party because of the past, our system of government breaks down. This a wayward child situation. Mr. Krugman is a rigid parent. He needs to be more open-minded.
It’s not just Biden; the Democratic establishment doesn’t seem to get it either. A Democratic President who had done just one of things Trump does routinely every day would have been impeached by now with Republicans in charge.
Has everyone already forgotten they were planning for impeachment if Hillary Clinton had been elected? As it is they are still threatening to lock her up. They keep adding others to that list.
But it’s not just Biden who seems oblivious. Robert Reich published an opinion piece in which he stated the obvious: Trump is dangerously unstable and becoming more so every day. The GOP will do nothing about it.
Where is that recognition in American media? Reich had to run it in The Guardian. The NY Times’ botched handling of the latest Kavanaugh revelations shows how hard they are working to normalize what is going on.
Here’s the link to Reich. Read it and ask why this isn’t running in the paper of record.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/15/donald-trump-nuts-impeachment-25th-amendment-2020-election
Cheaters cheat and liars lie. If they cheat with you, they'll cheat on you. If they accuse you of lying, they're probably a liar. True in relationships and true in politics.
1
As a lifelong Republican, I no longer believe nor support my GOP party. It has been hijacked by extremists who deny climate change, who enable a corrupt Trump, who separate babies from parents, who enrich the 1% at expense of average Americans, & who encourage racial hatred. My GOP is no longer any good for America. I know of lots of other lifelong Republicans who feel the same.
2
Why would we want to impeach Kavanaugh now? Even if the Democratic majority House did so, the Republican controlled Senate would not remove him. Even if the evidence against Kavanaugh is so damning that even Trump fearing and controlled Senate Republicans removed him, Trump would nominate someone even worse as a replacement and Senate Republicans would confirm him and Senate Democrats would get rolled over as always.
Vote in 2020 - get every Democratic vote out there. Win the Presidency and the Senate, keep control of the House. Then impeach Kavanaugh and get a liberal Supreme Court Justice as Kavanaugh’s replacement. Get Justice Ginsberg to (finally) retire and replace her with an equally liberal and superb Justice.
Democrats need to think tactically and strategically. And they need to get as ruthless as the Republicans. Tried of seeing Republicans constantly rolling over hapless Democrats.
Also, why aren’t Democratic Presidential candidates running on winning the Presidency to save the country from a Republican controlled Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade - women’s right to safe, legal abortions - gay marriage, Obamacare, always rule in favor of the rich and corporations and legalized corruption, etc. Make saving the Supreme Court a central campaign issue. Trump did it for Republicans in 2016 (and will do so again in 2020), Hillary didn’t and blew this critical issue along the overall election. This is shaping SCOTUS for next 40 years.
Voters need to decide if they want a democracy or not.
People who don't vote have already decided they are fine being ruled by a dictator.
I've pretty sure Republican voters absolutely want a dictatorship.
I think President Warren has a plan for this.
I don't know why you single out Biden. Change the name in your article to any of the candidates. Do you really think it will change the ability to govern? I believe you need to call this what it is on the Republican side. The fish stinks from the head on down. And all the Dems do is pinch their noses.
Joe Biden is apparently incapable of recognizing the republicans for the thugs they are. Or, to be generous, the thugs they have become.
Maybe the republican transition to a “La Cosa Nostra” type entity is just too much for him to comprehend.
He would have to overcome years of careful cultivation by people whom he called friends or possibly “frenemies”.
Good fellows but not good fella’s.
But Joe Biden is not the problem. I do not believe he will survive the primaries.
And when Trump is defeated, and he will be defeated, another republican “boss” will surely take his place.
A person less ignorant perhaps, more polished, but every bit as crooked and cynical as any republican operative.
And because of that, much more dangerous.
The republican machine needs to be removed from our government with surgical precision. Cut away and examined as a surgeon would any cancerous growth to understand how it took hold and grew so perniciously.
Some may think this surgery is extreme, that a wait and see approach would be wiser.
I believe to wait, for even one more political cycle, could be terminal for our democracy.
1
Thank you Paul Krugman. A very big and very heartfelt thank you.
When Reagan, Nixon and Goldwater took over the Republican Party in 1964 at the GOP convention in San Francisco they made no pretense as to their disdain for Democracy. It is right there in black and white in their platform. Yes they lie a lot, is that why you didn't believe them when they vowed to destroy democracy?
Why are democrats unable to believe the GOP when their platform in 1964 and 2016 and 2020 will be the same as it was in 1964. It is top down governance with those who share their theology and ideology. It is church and state, it is status quo.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/956774/posts
1
We’re just figuring this out now?
There are 3 possible explanations for many centrist Democrats' unwillingness to acknowledge what they're facing, and neither of them paint them in a good light:
1. Corruption: Someone who has their ear in exchange for large sums of cash is telling them to not rock the boat.
2. Cowardice: They're scared that they might lose what power they have if they actually use the various powers that they actually have.
3. Obliviousness: Someone described this as a natural tendency of the Democrats to bring a covered dish to a knife fight.
So long as the Democrats are either corrupt, cowards, or oblivious, nothing substantial will happen to undo the damage the GOP is doing to this country's democracy. We need at all levels Democrats who are none of those things, which is why I support people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders who have consistently shown conviction and courage in the face of opposition.
History isn't going to help us here. Impeachment is the way to go. Action speaks louder than words. We, as a nation, simply cannot live this way anymore: we are becoming catatonic. And if the younger generation doesn't vote we're finished.
1
Biden is a man of the past. His attitude is that of Senators from the 1990s. But this is the time of Trump and McConnell. Both Harris and Warren have called for doing away with the filibuster. This is an essential first step in dealing with the GOP.
The second step is to federalize federal elections — that is, adopt the Warren plan which assures secure elections and that all eligible voters can vote. Her plan would also make elections a national holiday.
The Republicans no longer can win a fair election. The Warren plan would force them to either be responsive to voters or disappear into irrelevance as a Party.
3
The long-term deliberate and orchestrated Republican shadow war on American democracy, accented by increasing numbers of guerrilla attacks, is now fully on display and constitutes a second civil war. Their work, bankrolled and largely directed by unelected and corporate interests and infused with an unhealthy dose of reflexive religious zeal, is the clear and present danger that must be confronted and defeated if we are to continue our Constitutional journey. It is clear now that it is not hyperbole to equate Republicans with quite similar movements like the Taliban, one group along many that we label as radical. Is not the Republican Party just add radical? Trump, a Republican only by self-chosen label, has no allegiance to and shows only grudging acceptance of the law, is without any moral grounding and any real understanding and acceptance of the Constitution and American norms, is willfully and knowingly destroying our country at its core. He is satisfied as long as he is able to increase his wealth and continue to exercise power. He and the Republican establishment are betting that the 2020 election will not impede let alone stop their craven assault and eventual victory. Are they wrong?
Warren "gets it". She most definitely knows how to address people like McConnell and the GOP in general. Ignore the media and Republican "noise" about her "socialistic" program and look at the bigger picture. We are past the point of "return to normal" with Biden. We need major changes to government and elections, not to mention fair and equitable distribution of wealth in this country. We are at a crossroads in this country. Make no mistake: This election will determine whether or not we can maintain some form of a democracy or continue a slide into oligarchy and authoritarianism.
2
Regardless of what type of government one believes in it is clear that this country is struggling mightily with what it wants to become. Many see that the old ways were not working and they are willing to do and accept anything to make change. This didn’t happen overnight and democrats did not help with substantive progress for all in our country. There are issues that are more important than gay marriage and political correctness. Clearly people were forgotten, not cared for and left behind on both sides. It has become very difficult to live in this country in a multitude of ways. It has become more expensive, more polluted, more corrupt and jobs do not pay people properly and this make people angry and scared. I do not believe that corrupt republicanism and crass politics will help this country and my hope is that once this temper tantrum is finished and people realize their lives are getting worse that they will fight to protect things that are important to our survival instead of reacting to meaningless tweets. At this point Hope is all I have.
Yeah, but if Biden is the only one who CAN win and becomes the nominee, he must be made to understand that he will need some of the those other decent human beings sharing the stage with him, to work against this republican travesty
1
"Which raises the question: Even if Biden can win, is he too oblivious to govern effectively?"
Yes.
3
@DGT in CT
Just in case you haven't noticed, the problem isn't Joe Biden.
It's with what's now sitting in the White House.
Are Americans oblivious to that fact?
Yes.
1
I agree with you Prof. Krugman. Biden has too much stake in his presentation as a "decent guy" and too much focus on that. His performance at the third debate was offensive and embarrassing -- poor kids (Black kids) should be exposed to more language by listening to records? Does he have any clue about the great oral traditions in Black culture that helped to create orators like Martin Luther King, Jr., and writers like Toni Morrison? Given his history of compromising on issues that should not be compromising, he is a right-leaning centrist who will not have the courage or desire to do much to fix the damage Trump has done to our economy and environment, the only two issues that Republicans could not care less about.
1
I agree with Krugman's thesis that the Republicans do not believe in democracy. Their behavior makes that increasingly clear. One of the greatest threats they pose, in my judgment, is their continual refusal to take any meaningful action toward safeguarding our electoral process. If we can't trust that our vote will count, then what's the use of going to the polls?
2
For the first time in my life I will vote straight party ticket. A vote only for a dem in every race available. No gop. Republicans used to at least make an effort to appear in good faith or want to progress. Now they just want to hurt others. Dems are certainly not perfect but at least they want progress.
4
In movies and books about Great Britain, I've seen the phrase "loyal opposition." This is how they referred to parties that were opposed to the party in power, but still loyal to the crown and the system.
The Republican senate under Mitch McConnell trashed that notion during Obama's presidency. The theft of his SCOTUS seat in my opinion, was the nail in the coffin. Obama didn't get it, and he let it happen instead of putting the question to the (8 person) Supreme Court.
If we don't turn it around, historians will note that that was the point of no return.
First of all, America is not, and never was a democracy. Voting rights were always limited, either for women, men, felons, landowners or slaves, etc. Elections were always rigged by someone. Cheaters cheat. Forget the lofty ideals.
America is a capitalist republic. That means survival of the fittest. Straight out Darwinian.
And Capital has won. Capital has created the system to stay in power even when it loses at the ballot box. Electoral college, fillibuster, loaded Supreme Court. You name it
The most overlooked right in our Constitution is the right to petition government. Now called lobbying. Like so may of our rights guaranteed by the constitution - it did not envision modern day realities. Like the 2nd amendment didn't envisage AR15's.
The right to petition government was meant to be a right to right wrongs. But because of huge inequality of wealth, it has morphed into a right to buy and enact whatever advantage you want. Lobbyists don't right wrongs, they wrote checks.
America has taken capitalism close to the end point. The vast majority of the wealth is owned by a relative few and income inequality is the highest ever. Capital now controls government through lobbying.
America is like the last 10 minutes of a game of monopoly.
3
All good points, Dr. K , but you forgot to mention how out of touch the Speaker of the House is.
2
The US needs to facilitate formation of other parties. The GOP brand has been tainted. Meanwhile, there is a huge gulf which separates the centrist Democrats from the Progressives. The DNC clearly has its thumb in the scale for centrists, as their policies tend to favor the corporate donations.
There must be a populist movement toward ranked choice, which can eliminate the spoiler position of third party candidates. Progressives in particular need to press for ranked choice in primaries, and enable third parties to run on more progressive platforms.
2
While Dr.PK covers several topics, here is something few, if any, Democrats have noted. And, to confess, what I am about to suggest is not the first time I have raised the following alarm.
Whether or not a Democrat takes charge of the White House, and with the support of a Democratically controlled House and Senate, we will likely see a swarm of lawsuits filed on behalf of the American environment, to save our wildlands, national monuments and national parks, while preserving the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. And now for the warning shot:
Those lawyers representing those lawsuits should demand Justice Neil Gorsuch recuse himself from those cases. Why? The most recent, disgraced directors of Interior and the EPA were preceded by other, equally notorious directors including James Watt and Gail Norton.
But it was Reagan's first appointee to EPA (1981-83), Anne Gorsuch (do you see that connection?) who was hired to assist pollutors by gutting the EPA of its valued scientists and regulators. She then set about to replace them with industry shills to grease the skids for those industry greedlings.
Fortunately she was stopped in her tracks with congressional objections to the damage done and replaced with William Ruckelshaus.
Hence, lawyers for the environment must presume Justice Gorsuch has an anti-environment "DNA" inherited from his mother, Anne Gorsuch. He must recuse if justice and the environment are to be saved.
8
I agree with the article, but it is relatively easy to shout "democrats, do something!" But I don't see many concrete realistic suggestions about what to do, and how to get across the message that the republicans have reached a truly dangerous level of corruption. How do you penetrate their fog of propaganda when something like half the country has been swathed in it for decades? And how do you convince non-republican media outlets like the NYT that Warren vs Trump is not merely "two versions of populism" or two different interpretations of "corruption"?
1
@Fresno Bob: One concrete suggestion: Don't believe anything the Republicans tell you (such as 'no votes will be taken while you are at a 9/11 ceremony). Just. Don't. Ever.
1
@sophia
yes, good point. I do wish democrats in government would stop operating under the assumption that their opponents are conducting themselves in minimal good faith procedurally. But on the other hand--without *some* confidence of that sort, how can a system of government function at all?
I suggest that you are precisely wrong. Biden is the ONLY one of the four leading candidates who really understands how to beat Trump and McConnell. Trump, McConnell, and the other men now ruling the GOP exemplify hatred, accusation, and paranoia--insanity. Biden is the one leading candidate focused squarely on a restoration of sanity, of American decency, hopefulness, and fairness. That is an offering that beats insanity, and one most Americans fervently yearn for.
4
What will be necessary will be to unite behind and around the Democratic Candidates as the field narrows. I might have my preferences but when push comes to shove, I will work for and vote for the last Democrat standing. I will contribute to every Democratic candidate who is running against a closely contested Senate seat and House seat.
The simple, single- and closed-mindedness of Trumps base can only be defeated by an equal and opposite force. It’s about winning this one. We will have time to sort through the differences later. Vote Blue. This is the vote, there is no other vote.
4
The Republicans have created a trap. Once Democrats win, Republicans will obstruct everything they attempt to do leaving Democrats the choice of getting nothing done, or taking extreme action themselves.
Thus Republicans have created a situation where they will force Democrats to dismantle democracy with court packing and use of executive orders and probably some of the very things Trump has used.
It will be a catch-22, do you allow severe problems like climate change to go unaddressed or do you dismantle the Constitution?
Yes, Biden is too oblivious to govern.
Biden was Obama's older, experienced, VP, chosen in part to aid Obama in connecting to Congress so things could get down. Biden (and Obama) failed at that task. A badly weakened ACA was passed and then the Democratic majorities were lost. Total Republican obstruction for the rest of Obama's two!! terms.
Biden didn't get it, couldn't acknowledge that the 'good old' Republican party had changed and Hope and Change were not going to win the day without a fight. A smarter, more strategic VP, selected for his experience and wisdom, would have counseled Obama early on to drop the 'get along, go along' much sooner and fought harder and meaner.
Biden still doesn't get it. He is running his 1980s race making his 2000 plans and he is not the person for the task.
I'm ready include Republicans in the governing process after they 1) dump McConnell and 2) come back to Congressional negotiations begging for a seat at the table, offering their compromises as starting points for the negotiations.
1
I'm odd I guess. I like democracy. I like the idea of it. I like the feel of it. I like knowing that my government is run by fairly elected representatives limited by the rule of law. I like knowing that no one is above the law, that every citizen's vote is counted equally and all citizens are pledged to support the rights of their fellow citizens. I am thankful that I live in a functioning democracy, the State of New York. I'm not thrilled, however, that my home state is subservient to an undemocratic government in which disproportionate power is vested in states whose populations are significantly smaller, significantly less educated and significantly more corrupt. Quite frankly, I'm not all that thrilled about paying taxes to a corrupt, antidemocratic, authoritarian and unresponsive national government with an executive elected by a minority, an unelected judiciary and a bicameral legislature in which one house is inherently undemocratic and the other is infected by gerrymandering and in which unlimited dark money and foreign influence taints everything that is done or not done. Our problem as a nation is not that one political party does not believe in democracy or the rule of law; our problem is that we don't have a functioning democracy. We don't have a national government responsive to the will of the people. So long as that is the case, we will not be governed by just laws.
3
If any among us thinks we live in more than a paper mache democracy he or she lives in a dreamworld. Money has always bought the winning candidate in every national election and to think otherwise is naive.
The Supreme Court gave its' imprimatur to the process with the Citizens United decision which put a legal sheen on the de facto elevation of the wealthy and their representatives to positions of social control.
We have never paid more than lip service to the idea of either a Democracy or a Republic.
Money has the loudest voice and the only one the majority of us ever hear.
2
The only trouble with this argument is Nancy Pelosi, refusing to realize her constitutional duty to rein in a rogue president, and also the DNC's attitude towards free and fair elections in the nominating p rocess..I really blame Nancy Pelosi, she is the exact enemy Trump needed -one who values politics more than what is right.
2
The GOP is the party of the rich, or the people who want to pretend to be rich. Trump fits in so well. He pretends to be rich but is bankrupt. Trump and the GOP pretend to be honest but flagrantly lie & cheat. They pretend to be for the little guy, but perform no substantive legislation for anyone, even compromising their own best interest. They are their own worst enemy. Rich, smart people realize their wealth is dependent on serving the rest of mankind. The GOP & Trump failed that lesson. Their disdain for democracy and people in general goes deep. They have adopted Ronald Reagan's approach, drowning government in a luxury bathtub, forgetting they are now the government.
If more American voters understood they were voting for what amounts to a dictatorship by the right wing, perhaps they would think twice before going to the poles.
But I'm afraid we have a lot of citizens that prefer to remain blind and deaf to what is happening to our democracy, and prefer to listen to the fear and war mongers of the Republican party.
4
Democrats need to stop playing by 1920’s rules. The Republican Party is a in no way supportive of Democracy and Democrats need to get that message or be doomed. I frankly am tired of the old guard, including Ms. Pelosi, they’re more interested in house rules and doing things correctly than in actually getting things done. Stop pussyfooting around Nancy and get Impeachment rolling or step down now. You are correct on Biden. A man whose time has come and gone. We need a winner take all strategy. This is a war for Democracy now not some gentlemanly fisticuffs bout.
The right never has been democrat. We see the ejemple in Spain when the overthrew the Republican government elected democratically, in Chile with Salvador Allende, now with Trump and the GOP, and in Mexico with the new president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who, I spite of having 70% support of the population, the right attacks him incessantly, basically affirming that "all past governments were better"... That in a country consumed by impunity, corruption and crime.
The right sends a message: all is good the all way, "our way."
Indeed, this was the real problem in 2008, and with the choice of Obama over Hillary. The Clintons KNEW what conservatives and republicans would stoop to and knew how to bring a gun to a knife fight. Obama wasted 2 years of a filibuster proof majority in the senate passing a toothless ACA. A brilliant orator but homes got played and we are still paying the price.
1
The GOP are have succeeded in turning our Jeffersonian democracy into the plutocracy we have today. They win elections by spending billions in think tanks with fakes studies, use media outlets like fuax and Sinclair network who dominate media markets, hire hucksters, clowns and conmen/women, to push trickle-down economics, with tax cuts, corporate welfare, reduce worker rights/income, privatize social services like education, healthcare, etc. so only those with money has the best access basic necessities.
Sensing the majority maybe fed-up, they gathered a juristic park of our country’s deplorables with racism, misogyny, homophobia, religious zealotry, etc. arouse them with fake issues to win elections. Use Orwellian tactics by equating anything that helps 99% of us as socialist, communist, liberal, undemocratic, taking away our freedom, etc. And disenfranchise those who may vote against them.
GOP leadership and presidents from Nixon to Trump are symptoms of this cancer, one election defeat doesn't cure us of this disease. In fact, despite Trump’s obvious, buffoonery and criminality, they support him because he enriched their present with tax cuts and future with conservative judges to protect their ability to buy elections. The rise of Warren and Sanders indicates that the country may be fed up with this plutocracy and their worst nightmare of undoing their toxic Reagan revolution maybe coming!
2
As I look back, it appears Republicans have never, ever supported democracy. It’s all been a sham. How could we have been so blind?
2
If republicans can’t implement their agenda, they’re won’t modify their agenda, they will dump democracy...
1
The mean, spiteful, money grubbing values of Republicans is more appalling than the weak knee-ed, aged out, mealy mouthed corporate corrupted Democrats who are supposed to stand up to them and don't. What's with the cowardice? Here in NC, the Democrats never call our the Republicans even though the Rep. legislature has gutted education across all grades and higher education and is doing everything it can to push more and more tax cuts to the rich while preventing poor people from getting health care. I don't hear any strident powerful Democratic voices except yours Paul. Why is that?
3
The author deserves credit for coming to this belated realization, and to speak out about it.
I hope his words do not fall on deaf ears.
1
Unfortunately too many Americans think, like Trump, that democracy just means getting what you want instantly.
Republicans take that a step further and see democracy as how you fool some of the people most of the time so that the people who aren't fooled any of the time never get elected and block GOP and its owners from using our nation as their personal ATM.
The upside to the Republican style of ends-justify-the-means fascism is it makes them look resolute, decisive, and strong, when in fact they are feckless, short-sighted and forever stuck in a milieu identical to themselves.
It's galling that Republicans swear on their family bibles to uphold and defend the Constitution, which like democracy is just a way to feign legitimacy because the Constitution says whatever they need it to -- with a bad faith Supreme Court majority for an exclamation point.
As much as GOPers denounce China, they in fact are stealing Chinese Political Intellectual Property by pushing for prosperity for just enough of us in exchange for our political rights.
The People-less Republic of America: The GOP elite will install itself as a permanent regime that holds all political power in exchange for the rich getting richer and some of us feeding well enough off crumbs so the unlucky remaining learn how to beg and scrape for survival.
Their president is a slumlord. GOP is property management. The rest of us are tenants and squatters.
Rent Strike!
4
Joe Biden is a confused old man but is likely to win the nomination of the Democrats even though the Democrats have several excellent and younger candidates like Harris and Buttigieg. Name recognition will carry the day. Harris and Buttigieg are newcomers and Biden has been around forever. Our system of government is mediocre at best.
Unfortunately too many Americans think, like Trump, that democracy just means getting what you want instantly.
Republicans take that a step further and see democracy as how you fool some of the people most of the time so that the people who aren't fooled any of the time never get elected and block GOP and its owners from using our nation as their personal ATM.
The upside to the Republican style of ends-justify-the-means fascism is it makes them look resolute, decisive, and strong, when in fact they are feckless, short-sighted and forever stuck in a milieu identical to themselves.
It's galling that Republicans swear on their family bibles to uphold and defend the Constitution, which like democracy is just a way to feign legitimacy because the Constitution says whatever they need it to -- with a bad faith Supreme Court majority for an exclamation point.
For all the professed disdain GOPers have for China, they in fact are stealing core Chinese Political Property by pushing for prosperity for just enough of us to surrender in exchange for our political birthright.
The People-less Republic of America: The GOP elite will install itself as a permanent regime that holds all political power in exchange for the rich getting richer and some of us feeding well enough off crumbs so the unlucky remaining learn how to beg (which is GOP's idea of true democracy).
Their president is a slumlord. GOP is property management. The rest of us are tenants and squatters.
Rent Strike!
6
Mitch McConnel is one of the most despicable characters of our time. The fact that Kentucky keeps sending him back to the senate is absolutely mind blowing, and illustrates the disconnect in this country. I am so SICK of the tyranny of the minority. It might be time for red and blue to go their own way.
1
@Decency & Democracy
Mitch McConnell is in bed with the executives of Diebold and ES&S that make the voting machines. He doesn't win elections, he steals them.
Joe Biden didn't just lose it because he got too old, he had lost it long before old age dementia became noticeable. The differences now is that it is so stark & is being called out!
This article paints a true picture of Joe, sadly, he would be like Trump was when the ex-Joint Chief of Staff general turned in his resignation for 30days. Without being told what the words meant, Trump praised the general. After getting clued in, he immediately terminated the general. My meaning is simple, Paul is so correct, "He just does not get it." If Joe won, he would have a heart attack within 2 weeks.
"Dear Joe, we thank you for your service and wish you a great and happy retirement. Next in line, please. let the ready people take the stage."
The chaos we have now is totally Russian's doing. Trump and the Republican Party are Putin's puppets and the destruction of our country's foundation is precisely why he wanted Trump to win. Putin doesn't believe in Democracy either. The longer we allow this form of one-party-dictatorship to continue, the harder it will be to return to a balanced system. This article spells out exactly why we can not allow certain leaders of our current regime to continue. It is un - American.
@Actual Science
To say it's "totally Russian's doing" is to negate the sad truth that it's also American's doing too.
After all, you not only voted for him the first time -- but seem willing to do so again.
1
@N. Smith
No, no, no. not correct. You said, "After all, you not only voted for him the first time -- but seem willing to do so again." I did NOT vote for Trump; nor would I in the future. Trump didn't win the plurality, but by capturing the required number of Electoral votes. Putin timed every detail precisely as needed, despite Trump's missteps.
Getting back to the article, titled "Republicans Don't Believe in Democracy", my point is that Putin (who sowed chaos in the 2016 election), also does not believe in Democracy. He got want he wanted. Every time Mitch McConnell disallows a Democratic voice plays into Putin's hand.
Trump and the Republicans are the most visible aspects of a syndicate that stands for the accumulation of wealth by those who already have it. This wealth is to be extracted from the by hook and by crook, not by taxes but by scams such as America’s bogus health care ‘system’ which is little more than a culling mechanism for waste people.
By paralyzing public education and gutting the working economy at the state level, they have created a mass of ignorant, desperate people called ‘the base’ who are armed and primed for servitude, and whatever else deemed necessary. They have their own bespoke media to give credence to the lies, fear mongering and scapegoating that is the stuff of life and death in America. This is very frightening and not just for the kids.
Most important to understand is that the funding they receive from their backers has created bounteous employment opportunities for people like Barr, Kavanaugh, Kelly Anne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Fox News crowd. The line at the trough forms to the right and the right wing trough is a major industry in the US. It penetrates and influences working and social life.
The GOP represents all that is weak and regressive about America, a catchall of disposable supporters for its covert, low tax, one percent, government busting client base. The Russians have not failed to notice this. Useful fools by the million.
1
Too many Americans have given their lives fighting and dying in wars to protect our democracy only to have the republicans destroy it. Republicans can’t win elections without cheating and denying Americans the right to vote. Joe Biden is delusional about the Republican Party and refuses to see what we all see ... McConnell is outright corrupt ! We need someone who comprehends the seriousness of America’s inequality and willing to address the fact there are too many Americans going without their insulin because of affordability. Then there's the corruption of corporate lobbyists buying politicians who then write our laws like deregulating cancerous poisons that they put into our air, water and food. Senator Elizabeth Warren knows exactly how Washington has been operating and it’s not for working Americans.
Paul Krugman's strategy: insult the opposition and then complain when they fight back. Interesting tactic.
1
Dr. Krugman is correct and out in front, showing us the big picture, again. Is it silly to believe in the “some of the people, some of the time, all of the people.....”, saying will catch up to the Republicans? Haven’t their actions become so predictable, even Democrats will figure out how to stop them? There have to be legal ways to stop the political chicanery from continuing. Democrats need to put those legal obstacles on the books. As Regan once said, trust but always verify.
1
Too bad this "canary in the coalmine" column ended with comment on Biden, as that will divert to pros and cons on Biden.
The essential truth of the column is in the headline, and having one of two major parties that doesn't believe in democracy is threatening our future.
Biden is out of it and always has been. He is not a good decision maker.
He's a terrible speaker and will do poory in international negotiations if elected.
He's arrogant about his intelligence.
He's absent minded and seems to forget - a lot.
The best Democratic candidates are Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. Unfortunately, the conversation has been coopted by timid, middle of the road Democrats worrying about the two best candidates "electablity" (by which they mean their own prejudice against women and gays).
1
As an American Citizen, I have aligned and voted to support candidates within the Democratic Party during the past 4 decades. The day that Barack Obama was inaugurated to serve his first term as POTUS was one of the days that I felt most hopeful for the democratic vision for this country. Many members of my biological family and my extended family are registered, voting Republicans. I may disagree with many of their political viewpoints but I have always observed them to be caring, law abiding citizens. It is the Republican Party that has been completely destroyed by sick, dishonest, greedy totalitarians who care little for any American Citizen's hopes or needs. Trump and McConnell care only about their own insatiable egos and bank accounts. All American Citizens must realize this and stop the madness. WE CAN DO IT! WE THE PEOPLE must link arms, open our minds and hearts and stop the evil madness that radiates from the White House, the Senate, the Kremlin and the MidEast. WE CAN DO IT! Trump and McConnell have to go, they serve none of us.
1
You're just scratching the surface Paul. What about debt limits and shutdowns, abuse of the filibuster, blockage of Obama's judicial appointments, widespread gerrymandering, voter suppression, and so on? They never respected democracy in the past, and anyone who thinks they have any intention of respecting democracy in the future is a fool. This also explains why they haven't changed course in the face of demographic and other trends that ostensibly spell electoral doom for the GOP...because they fully intend on making further end runs around democracy in the future. And if one day they lose this game, and it looks as if they will have to succumb to rule by the emerging non-white majority, then I guarantee we will hear talk of secession of particular states once again (only this time hopefully there will be no war...we should just let them go).
For me, all of the evidence I needed to prove the truth of that headline was the despicable and disgusting way Senate Republicans ignored their long-standing institutional and democratic duty to give Judge Merrick Garland a confirmation hearing in order to perform their constitutional duty to advise and consent on his nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States by Pres. Obama. They did that dastardly act as an exercise in raw political power unadulterated with concerns for democratic principles. Everything else is cumulative.
I am sick and tired of the dems getting outfoxed by the right. We need someone to play hardball with them and I am not seeing anyone who is up for the game. Clinton and LBJ knew how to make things happen - they got stuff done and you crossed them at your peril.
The progressives are lazy and self-satisfied. They have this naive view that because they are so sure of their beliefs that they don't have to work for what they believe.
Get to work people.
The minority rules the majority just the way republicans like it, It just didn't appear one day they have been using the system to thwart democracy for twenty years. As long as the people allow the state to lie cheat and steal no amount of talk will change it.
Dear Joe,
Trump is not an aberration. He is a symptom. And the illness he represents will not cease to exist when Dems return to the White House.
Congress having subpoena power implies the right to enforce it. It wouldn't bother me if the House ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest William Barr, and make him face a congressional hearing, in handcuffs if necessary.
Contempt for democracy? Who is busy attempting to dissect the Supreme Court? The Democrats, who, despite their belief system, don't actually rule by divine right.
1