What can you possibly hope to say to damage the guy come General election? You’ve already told us the sky was falling every week since he was elected. You told us the brown shirts were coming. You told us it was a literal dictatorship! You told us the economy was going to tank! World war three was going to kick off! Minorities would be hunted in the streets! Roe v Wade overturned!Any day Trump would be in jail! Just wait till Muller! Just wait till Impeachment! Just wait till Bolton’s book! You have worn all of it out so long ago. Why would anyone listen to your tantrums and hyperbole at this point? You have been exposed as the sore loser party y
3
I wonder if the same zombies ate the Iowa Caucus' results..........
8
“Trump is a parasite who crawled inside the Republican Party and ate it from the inside out.”
— Rick Wilson
Republican strategist
Here’s a football example:
“You have to stand, proudly, for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing. You shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country,” Mr. Trump told Fox News in 2018.”
Now: “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before the start of the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. While his wife, Melania, and son Barron had their hands on their hearts, the president fidgeted, looked around and pointed at guests.”
After watching the video, I agree with Trump.....he shouldn’t be in this country. It was something a bored 5 year old would do. But Trump could care less, and neither does his base and congressional sycophants. All they care about is money and power.....especially the wealth class he surrounds himself with at his club.
27
The Republicans are not alone. Money has corrupted both parties.
Let's also call out the Stop Bernie corruption at the heart of an ignore/smear campaign from the DNC and its media allies.
Oh, don't believe me! Check it out here:
https://truthout.org/articles/the-bernie-blackout-is-real-and-these-screenshots-prove-it/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=5ea01178-6747-4560-ac32-31ac0e0ca3fc
It is right there in living color.
3
Here's a Zombie idea: that the Democrat party can secure the Presidency and a majority in both houses of Congress, solely by promising free stuff.
3
A know nothing expressing an opinion about something he knows nothing about. Priceless.
3
I love how Krugman never wastes an opportunity to take a swipe at Paul Ryan, lest we ever forget what a fraud he was.
10
In spite of the Iowa debacle, let’s keep our eye on the prize: to eliminate Donald Trump!!! Don’t ever forget: anyone but Trump.
11
I disagree that everyone with principles has left the party. I think it is more accurate to say the Right Wing Nutz and Trumptonians have taken their cult to a place where real Republicans of conscience and thoughtfulness won't and don't go. They have temporarily taken over the once Grand Ole Party and they must be expelled. It is not us normal Republicans that need to leave, it is the Nationalists, Racists, Misogynsts, etc. that need to leave.
8
Republicans have come to the point that they don’t value our democracy, in part because the generation with first hand experience in the results of dictators brutal rule, based on racism Mussolini, Hitler, are mostly gone. Those people regardless of party understood how truly fragile democracy is, and as we move further and further away from that era, those lessons become something of a distant memory. Republicans like the idea of an authoritarian President because it feeds their us against them narrative, as long as it’s a Republican. The idea of authoritarian government appeals to them because they believe that they are going to be better off because it. The truth is, anyone that’s lived under authoritarian rule will tell you, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. We need to continue pointing out the failed policies of the Republican Party, namely the idea of tax cuts being beneficial, they do benefit people, just not the masses.
Clinton balanced the budget 6 of 8 years, leaves a huge surplus of money, Bush and the republicans promptly spend it on tax cuts, for the rich, who else. All while telling people how tax cuts benefit them, how jobs will rain from the sky, and not just any job, but high paying manufacturing jobs. The republicans keep that zombie alive because Republican voters keep drinking that Kool Aid, the rest of know better. It important to remember, republicans always talk about shrinking government, everyrepublican president, has expanded government.
12
I have seen this for years now when trump supporters would rather vote for a treasonous putin lackey than a democrat. Fox news has ruined our democracy and constitution - thus ruining our country.
What did those t shirts say I rather vote for a russian than republican - well russia is full of mobsters thugs.
8
Zombies ate the Iowa primary alive.
3
My day dream is the Confederate States once again ask to secede.
This time we let them.
And they take some of the other Red States with them.
I would have to move but it would be worth it.
10
Or the party of trolls. When McConnell declared war on Obama he triggered a collective culture war pitting 'real American culture' against everything the left touches, including liberal thought in an of itself. Their downfall will be their lack of cohesion around any sort of moral or principled goal beyond (in most generous terms) constructing a metaphorical dam against 'liberalism'. It pains me to use the word, must you be a 'liberal' to support policies necessary to combat clear and present dangers to our society? No, you don't. Trump's agenda is far more incidious than most folks feel compelled or comfortable with contemplating. That's part of why he gets away with it.
8
"How Zombies Ate the G.O.P.’s Soul"
Really? This is the title of a serious opinion piece? Krugman is a shallow, insular, 1%er, over-the-hill, angry white male, absorbed with jealous raging TDS. In other words, he is qualified to be a DNC insider.
The adage: "Be careful who you hate as you become most like them" applies to all leadership of the democratic party now. They out-Trump, Trump with false, deceitful, childish diatribes.
2
Vote while you still can.
8
by Lawerence Ferlinghetti
"Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerers
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!"
9
Worst sell-out of America I've ever seen from any politicians. Our sole purpose should be to remove all Republicans from power, and make sure they never return. They are unpatriotic and cynical. They can go have their own lie-based, Trump-inspired society somewhere else. Good riddance. They don't deserve to be Americans.
5
Oh Paul, don't you know, the Republicans volunteer themselves as Tribute to the Zombies?
Multiple bullseyes here, Dr. Krugman. Your characterization of the former Majority Leader was one of the only honest assessments I have seen in print. And quite right, Nazi’s, for example, do not deserve “equal coverage” for their “ideas” and “platform”. That, if nothing else, we should have learned from the 2016 cycle,
3
It's not only on the right although I agree but on the left the Progressives are even worse. The want to force boys to use young girls bathroom, shutting down business to force them to do their will like baking a cake, wanting to take away your right to say some sexual behavior is wrong and don't even mention their open border policy.
It is the social beliefs of most Democrats why people keep turning to the GOP and even black Americans are now starting to turn from the Democrats
This isn't a zombie thing!
Cover-up!
Cover-up!
Cover-up!
Its a corruption thing!
Cover-up!
Cover-up!
Cover-up!
2
Sometimes good things do happen, Rush Limbaugh has lung cancer.
7
I am so sick of hearing about Paul Krugman. He's a political hack. I don't care if he won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is not an expert or an unbiased source when it comes to politics.
3
At this point in time we must kill the brain eating zombies to save our democracy.
2
Re: "...How Zombies Ate the G.O.P.’s Soul... Everyone with principles has left the party..."
...Zombies ate the Republican's souls? Small wonder they're still chasin', the rest, 'O, us! They MUST, BE famished!
AND Putin laughs all the way home. The U.S. falls without a shot fired
5
If the current Repubicans had been in charge on December 7, 1941 we would be speaking german.
7
Have a state GOP rep in our state who has stated that the constitution says to hang or jail Socialists. Guess our state is being overrun with them. Fortunately the state GOP has the intelligence to call for his resignation but he says he won't until God tells him to do it. Sigh! And oh, I've spoken to a few who are paranoid about creeping socialism and find they don't actually know what Socialism is. Another sigh!!
3
The Senate's craven betrayal of the Constitution has pushed this lifelong Republican (and Never Trumper since 2015) over the edge -- I just donated $100 to the Biden campaign and would not vote Republican for dog catcher in November.
8
We all know that Paul Krugman despises Republicans (and anyone else who disagrees with him), but do we have to be reminded of the fact almost weekly?
Doesn't anyone remember how he picked on the gentle, decent and mild-mannered Mitt Romney (!) and called him every name in the book!
It's gotten monotonous, no matter how many ways he says it.
3
“Think about what is now required for a Republican politician to be considered a party member in good standing.”
Complete and total humiliation before the God-King in waiting, currently known as Sir Donald of Trump? Trump has the sworn devotion of John McCain’s former Senatorial best buddy, and even has the Mormons too nervous to show any backbone.
Do you have any idea what the Mormons went through in order to prevent outsiders from influencing their respective communities? Good Golly.
1
Is like to encourage all progressives/liberals/Democrats to exercise their 1st amendment rights as much as possible...but don't forget about the 2nd, too.
I sincerely hope Lindsey Graham's nights are punctuated by nightmares of John McCain seeing what his supposed friend has turned into.
3
It's hard to believe that so many commenters can so childishly reduce the our political culture to Democrats, the white party, and the Republicans the black party.
In one week this spring two reports were issued on the self-righteous city of New York. The Civil Rights Project, a UCLA group, found on 2014 and again in 2019 that New York had the most racially segregated schools in the country.
The Coalition for the Homeless in 2019 published a report that found that homelessness in New York City has reached the highest since the Great Depression in the 30s.
New York is a wealthy city. Clean up your own yard first.
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-new-york-city/
You don't have to go back too far to find Democratic villainy.
Franklin Roosevelt imprisoned 120 thousand Americans of Japanese descent in camps with barbed wire fences and guard towers, ignoring their 6th and 14th Amendment right to Due Process. He tried to pack the Supreme Court.
The Kennedy campaign in 1960 bribed Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana to deliver the union votes in the West Virginia primary.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tina-sinatra-mob-ties-aided-jfk/
Lyndon Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin hoax to convince the public that two North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked a U.S. Navy destroyer. But there never had been any ships. Johnson knew this, but he used the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to send 500,000 soldiers to Vietnam. And 58,000+ came back in body bags.
1
Paul.. Love your efforts to fix the monster, but it is really time, Paul to realize that this monster cannot be FIXED.
It is basically flawed. It is built on an Illusion concerning the nature of Reality. It is an intelligent monster built on a delusionary one dimensional, the dense physical, reality.
All there is is energy, Paul, and the notion that an individual separate human being can own energy as private property is frankly, stupid.
That stupid humans are caught in this delusion is all to obvious. But the way out of it is to first realize that it is ignorance that supports. Once by that we can and will build a system that supports Life...All of it equally.
What is so hard to get about that?
People in power, people who want power have always used lying as a way to attain and maintain power. Look at all the lies told and retold throughout American history.
164 thousand Americans of the Confederacy were killed in battle and died from disease, because their leaders including religious ones told them slavery was ordained by God.
58 thousand Americans died from 1955 to 1975, during the Vietnam war and tens of thousands more were injured and maimed because they were told by U.S. gov't leaders we had to stop communism from spreading to South Vietnam and then to America. The ultimate result was a generation of ruined lives from death, injury, and PTSD. Vietnam is a communist country that we now trade with and consider friendly. Veterans regularly visit as tourists. And its virtually impossible to find a communist in your community. As to communists, hardly a reader here even knows one.
The lies come from both sides, remember, "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor."
You can come up with your own examples, they're just about endless.
1
"The minute that the Republican Party becomes the party – the anti-science party, we have a huge problem." - John Huntsman 2012
4
There are some principles left in the Republican party. Unfortunately, they are not good ones:
Racism. Moneygrubbing. Bullying. The cheapest kind of hypocritical religious bigotry. And above all, the fanatical veneration of a Supreme Leader who must not be questioned.
4
with any hope, instead of killing American democracy, this will kill the GOP and make room for more thoughtful people who value the old values that made Republicans at times tolerable
4
Mitch McConnell is perhaps the most shameful example. His smug "but we're obeying the letter of the law" attitude flies in the face of any idea od democracy, or even decency.
5
What's worse? The "trickle down" zombie or the "trickle up" zombie? What's worse pluralism that can't solve problems or white power that can't solve problems. The relentless culture war fomented by the conservative and liberal elites are a waste of time.
1
Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.
Robert Kennedy
That says it all.
3
The GOP today is contemptible, dirty, and power drunk. The Republican Senators in the impeachment sham could have voted to hear witnesses and see documents in some pretend game of fairness and then voted to acquit anyway in their craven belief that Trump's crime doesn't warrant removal. It would have at least given some of them cover in the next election. But as a party they have become the Elephant Man of our time, malignantly and politically deformed with a bent and twisted ideology in lockstep with Trump's perverted sense of America. What's left of their brains is so befouled with hubris that they are deteriorating into something unrecognizable right before our eyes. The real Elephant Man in the end was a sad story. But the story of today's GOP is a grotesquery that We The People that must cut from our body politic in November.
2
Thanks Professor for putting into words what so many for so long have been afraid to say. In my own view this former party of mine has become a criminal organization and offers dangerous parallels to the Nazi party of the middle 30's. It is cultish to an extreme and bears no semblance to what used to pass for a conservative body.
3
Just to remind people of a few Democratic failings:
The worst single abuse of presidential power in the last century is by many thought to be Franklin Roosevelt ordering 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent to be held captive in inland internment camps without exercising their 6th and 14th Amendment right to Due Process. They had not even been accused of a crime.
It is silently believed by many that Joseph Kennedy, father of John, bought the Democratic nomination for his son. In at least one case, the West Virginia primary, it is proven. His father bribed Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana to turn out the union vote in West Virginia in return for Kennedy looking the other way. The go-between was Frank Sinatra.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tina-sinatra-mob-ties-aided-jfk/
The most deadly abuse was by Lyndon Johnson. He wanted a free hand in the Vietnam War. One night in August, 1964, in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam, a United States destroyer reported that it had been fired on by two North Vietnamese torpedo boats. U.S. aircraft found nothing. It was admitted that the destroyer had made a mistake. But Johnson went before Congress and lied about the incident. Congress gave him a resolution which he used to send a half million U.S. troops to Vietnam. Over 58,000 returned in body bags.
And let me throw in Harry Truman, who authorized two atomic bombs to be dropped in the civilian centers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A ridiculous case is made that this actually saved lives.
You would think that,with the entire Republikan Party goosestepping to one drummer boy, we'd know by now who is taking over our country.
Is it the Dominionists, who want to turn America into a Christian Theocracy? Is it the Oligarchs, who want to take over ownership of everything, leaving us as serfs? Is it the Right-Wiing White Supremicists who want to turn back the clock to the 1950's? Is it Putin (I prefer "Putt-Putt-Puttin") hoping to fulfill Kruschev's threat to "Bury" us?
There's someone out there with enough money and power to cow or bully an entire political party to do its bidding, Is it Russia? Is it China?
I don't get it. Obviously something is extremely wrong, and we're just sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop and kick us in the gut.
1
Biden needs to read this article, with his naive, no, downright blind belief, that he could work with any republicans. “Malarkey Joe”.
1
Republicans don't believe in democracy.
3
And why were these GOP souls so easy for the zombies to consume?
1
It feels like Mr. Krugman writes this column abut twice per quarter.
2
Remove Citizens United & Introduce Democracy Dollar.
I have been saying from the day Trump stood on that elevator that he is a sub-human, a zombie! I’m gratified to see that I along with my friends are not the only ones! Eliminate Trump and the world will be whole again!
The way to makepresidential elections fair again is not to change the electoral college; instead, change the states.
California could easily be split up into three or four states, and New York, two or three . Washington DC could also become a state.
10 or 12 more democratic votes in the Senate. All it would take is passing a law. Wouldn’t have to change the constitution. States have split before; that’s how West Virginia came to be.
1
Thank you Mr. Krugman, for bringing some sanity back to the national discourse.
3
It's true that the Democrats have stuck to their principles far more fervently than any Republican, ever since they were first implemented as policy by Lenin and Bogdanov.
And they haven't strayed since then.
1
"John McCain may well have been the last of his kind."
And "John McCain, the Maverick" was more myth than reality.
2
Olympia Snowe, where are you now?
1
And since they are zombies, let's convince them all that what they really need is retirement. Sleep!
Thanks, Dr. K, for another good one.
VOTE in November. Vote Democratic in November.
2
Democracy is not dying today, it was saved from the machinations of Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi to overthrow an American President for no other reason than partisan politics and their distrust of the American electorate. Furthermore, calling Trump, his supporters and the Republican Party zombies is a condescending, juvenile and intellectually lazy response to the obvious failure by Democrats to make their case for impeachment. I’m shocked at how much the NYT’s standard of decency and intellectualism has fallen.
2
Dear All, but mostly men because we are most responsible for causing the deep wounding of Mother Earth and all living here with us.
Today Paul Krugman loudly rang the Warning Bell, already fortissimo, yet louder.
Though the article points to the G.O.P. I feel the message is for all to absorb and respond to; my response is trying to touch you, as touching each other and all is rapidly declining, live phone conversations and letters longer-than-texts becoming rare as we continue making earth less and less habitable, perhaps for the majority of all living here, creatures of land, sea and air, butterflies and birds, coral, forests and each other...
W.B. Yeats wrote The Second Coming after World War I, in there saying,“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold...The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity...”
Feeling this, body, mind and soul and feeling only loving touch can heal Earth, us, all.....
3
You would think, after reading Mr. Krgman's "Opinion", that maybe if we paid a 100% tax rate we would all be happy and the deficit would plummet. This is the same economic genius who predicted in November of 2016, that Donald Trump presidency would probably bring "a global recession, with no end in sight". Or, predicted on October 3, 2019, " Here comes the Trump Slump." The DOW was 26078.62. Today it closed at 28,807.63. But he does have a Nobel Prize in Economics. Today he ponders Zombies. He is upset that soon the president will be acquitted. But that was known the day the hearings started. There is probably not a single vote difference in the House or Senate than there would have been if the whole process took two days. One day to impeach and one day to acquit. It makes me wonder who he thinks is responsible for the Iowa Democratic caucus.
'
"They have also eaten the party’s soul."
Are you so sure they had a soul since Reagan? Or can any one do a research to confirm that they have lost the soul given to them by President Lincoln since Trick Dick pursued or invented the "Southern Strategy"?
4
This really right on note fro Paul is the best evidence we have ever had that "middle of the roaders or halfway people like Biden, Kolbuchar, Buttigieg,and the billionaire Bloomberg are not the answer to anything. they are the quicksand we are stuck in.
Please notice, The Owners or lets fade Republicans do not go halfway on anything. that is why they are on top of us. these Middle of the roarers are the problem. They are mostly the conscious or unconscious lackeys of the Owners.
1
As for our so called representatives, equally applicable to our Republican neighbors. Anyone supporting them is morally suspect. Do we have neighbors or spies? Germany, 1941.
Oh Paul. In Texas we call people like Susan Collins a ninny or dumb bunny. We don't know how they make it day to day, finding their way to work or knowing when to come in out of the rain.
I suspect that even Zombies would pass her by because after all, they are on the lookout for brains to eat. Deficits, climate change, tax cuts, all the rest of those pesky issues just don't really resonate with her.
Alas, there are still some Senatorial brains available for eating, but a Zombie friend of mine said their nutritional value is pretty low and declining daily.
1
The perfect snapshot of the Republican Party. I hope Democracy can survive. John McCain, we miss you.
2
Its simply corruption at the highest level and it has finally hit our shores. Once entrenched, corruption is difficult to weed out. It festers on itself consuming all that has past been great and scours the eyes of the naive and uninformed. The shining city on the hill has turned into a cat house, prostituted, bought and sold, to feed and placate the wealthy. Capitalism has found its nadir and turned to feudal surrender as the cancer spreads.
We are witnessing is the systematic scrapping of the rule of law in favor of rule by men.
A long time coming in recent history--starting with Eisenhower's warning about the power of the military-industrial complex;
Nixon's southern racist strategy;
Reagan's trickle-down economics and deregulation myths;
Fox and GOP right-wing media's promotion of false equivalence, disinformation, and that truth no longer matters and the capitulation of mainstream media to the business model, ratings, and advertisers;
Bush-Cheney lying us into endless war in the Middle East;
the purchase of politics by wealth and money in the passage of Citizen's United;
an immoral, hardliner, party-over-country authoritarian Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who obstructed moderation, democracy, the Constitution, and Democratic presidents and legislation at every turn
Then along came the fraudulent, scurrilous, self-absorbed, demagogue and TV personality with no political experience Donald J. Trump, who was elected President by the Electoral College but not by the popular vote.
It didn't take long for competent people appointed to high office in the Trump Administration to be fired or resign in horror at the lawless, mercurial behavior of Mr. Trump and be replaced by the likes of William Barr as the nation's Trump loyalist, prevaricating Attorney-General,
A bedtime horror story about Barr's plans:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/20/william-barr-trumps-sword-and-shield
5
My GOD his approval is 49%, what a mess we're in, when half of the country encourage by disgraceful senate shut their eyes and ears and ferociously
determine to let the criminal president to be re-elected.
This is the most heartbreaking reality we're facing.
The volunteers, that are sent to battleground states, rural area where his support is strong, these dedicated volunteers should go through extensive training and be able to help people in those area with their screens and digital devices, educate them how to discern all these misrepresentation...the knock in a door is simply not enough.
This could be our last attempt to get rid of dictator in a WH, who destroys our country every time he open his mouth!
5
This is devastatingly good stuff, this reified reference to the night of the living dead. However, it is more than that, perhaps a metaphor for something far less laughable, far more sinister, that is, a party which influences the policies of a government which is, in fact, criminally insane. The billions given to the Zionists while the Palestinians suffer and die at their hands, the abrogation of the JCPOA, murder of an Iranian hero, and the stationing of stealth fighter-bombers (f-35s, six of them) on Iran's borders soon afterwards, and the apparent willingness, looking ahead, to help Britain to exploit the mineral wealth of Africa, almost solely for their benefit, all point to a decided break with reality on the part of the powers of plutocracy. The whole place (Washington) could be populated by "...cynical careerist(s)". Again, looking ahead, it might be that more billions given to Ukraine are but a prelude to confronting the RF so as to try to do the same thing to their natural resources which are abundant. This is how Capital behaves, insanely, as it finds itself over-extended in the latter stages of its existence. It could be a harbinger of exactly what you intimate, the demise of "democracy", or worse, considering the tenuous character of that particular fantasy.
If Trump wins, his base will be emboldened to punish those who didn't vote for him. If Trump loses, his base will be emboldened to take revenge on those who voted him out.
Either way, there will increased violence.
2
I see no end to it. You cannot reason with ignorant bigots, and they are producing children who think just like them.
I used to believe that racism and bigotry would slowly disappear with "a few more funerals," but when I see the children of my Trump friends mouthing the same cliches as their parents, I am shocked back into reality.
Where do I move to escape this?
4
Zombies refuse to die, but I prefer to view Republicans as snakes. And if you cut off the head, the snakes will die. With Rush Limbaugh on his way out, and other party leaders teetering near the grave, there is hope. Even the extremely stable genius won't live forever, and once his cult of personality is gone, many Americans might regain their sense of right and wrong.
2
This is great stuff! Demonizing your opposition as "zombies" who are without "principles" worked so well for the Left in 2016. Let's hope it works just as well in 2020!
2
Never forget that conservative ideology is generated by an utterly irrational concept; that we are the creators of our own existence.
According to the ten commandments it is in fact blasphemy.
If fundamental to your ideology is a fundamental lie, lying is fundamental to your ideology. Lying, in fact, is, like a secret handshake, a means of identifying cohorts.
We are obliged to take ourselves seriously. We are programmed to believe in immortality, but there is no way that we are responsible.
Zombie is metaphorical. This is real.
1
Derangement Syndrome! A hate filled opinion piece fortified with the pitchfork and torch carrying comments of the eternally plagued. If our country was as horrible as you all want to think it is, I too would be dejected. It is not.
Our country is great. Our water and air is clean. Our kids have a chance at a great life of freedom and prosperity. We live in a time of great comfort and because of those who've sacrificed - great peace. Get over it, Hillary did not win! The States chose someone better.
1
Krugman nail it on the head, that is Republican heads with nothing left but brain debris from zombie attacks and the falsehoods of failed and false doctrine driving the "true believers" right off a cliff; hopefully they won't take the Country with them..
2
The article makes the benevolent assumption that Republicans believe the zombie ideas they are sprouting. An assumption of dumb integrity. But those zombies did not eat the Republican's brains, they were sent out to eat low information, low education voter brains. The Republicans themselves are fine.
1
the right is a minority yet it accomplishes through shifting a;iances what it can't accomplish through enlightenment
2
Paul Krugman wisely shows that flat denial of the ample scientific evidence of climate change is similar to denial by sham economists of the fact that tax cuts produce deficits. His timing is perfect, since we are watching the same pattern play out in the senate. Blind belief, loyalty, and cult-like faith in Trump is pitted against evidence, witnesses, and against a logical thought process that arrives at conclusions based on a systematic evaluation of verifiable evidence. The methodical process of testing and proving the validity of theories that underlies science is echoed by the systematic and brilliant analysis presented by Adam Schiff and his superb team of house lawyers. Conversely, it is impossible to follow the logical trajectory of the various contradictory arguments put forth by the Republicans. He's innocent? Well no, (they say) but it doesn't matter that he's guilty. But it is a serious crime! No, (they say) he can't commit a crime because he's president. But they tried to impeach Clinton! Yes, but their ideas have "evolved". The mind reels.There is no logic or rational consistency to their case, but logical inconsistency has never been an issue for Trump followers. For them, any argument is a fighting match, and the strongest and most belligerent wins. End of story. In a sense it is a philosophy born in our country's colonizing history: that the victor gets to decide the dominant narrative accepted as reality. Zombie-like gullibility, or corruption?Fascism.
2
The problem is: I don't see anybody on the left who can lead the charge against Trump and his poodles in the Senate. What's needed, desperately needed, is another FDR or Obama. We simply don't have anybody remotely close to them, close enough to defeat Trump in November and, in doing so, lead us away from the deadly dangers currently being presented by the current autocracy.
Mike Bloomberg. Goliath vs Goliath. Or, I should say, Goliath vs Fake Goliath.
2
@James Murphy
I think we come close. Her name is Liz Warren. Like FDR, basically an investment manager with a law degree, Warren knows Wall Street's business at least as good as good as they do, and that's what scares them. Bernie Sanders is close behind, perhaps without the charm of FDR, but definitely focused on a 'better deal' for the vast majority of Americans than they're getting with the current setup that favors the wealthy coming and going. There's a lot of scare-mongering about 'socialism' with these two, but in truth no one is looking to kill the golden goose Capitalism. It just needs to be better managed than the free ride it has been getting at the expense of a shrinking middle class. The time has come for action.
4
The Republicans know what they're doing.
You can trust them on that. They know tax cuts will balloon the deficit and hurt the economy - they're not dumb. They just don't care.
They also know that huge tax cuts are extremely beneficial, for them. It's how they make their money, and not as much with the economy like every one else, that's old fashioned.
The economy is also uncertain but tax cuts are a sure thing, with no investment required. Tax giveaways are wonderful, like winning the lottery. And they don't have to pay it back with taxes because "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."
Someday I'd like to be rich too.
4
@Fourteen14 please explain to me how someone... anyone, "make their money" on tax cuts? By definition tax is on income, and the income has to be made before the tax (or tax cut) takes effect. Isn't it the fact that the people you are disparaging make their money in the economy and then are taxed on the income they earn. A tax cut simply means that the government takes less of what they earn in the economy than it did previously? Taxes aren't like a lottery. In a lottery I invest very little, as little as a few dollars for a lottery ticket, and if I win I primarily get other people's money that they paid in but didn't get back. With tax cuts what I'm getting is my own money that I earned and zero of anyone else's. If you had some semblance of understanding of how rich people actually become rich, and what taxes really are, then maybe you'd actually have more of a chance of being rich one day. Bill Gates didn't get rich because he got tax cuts, he got rich because he developed Microsoft, a product used in over 1/2 of households and 85% of businesses in the country. Steve Jobs got rich because he developed the iPhone, not because he got a tax cut. Bezos... because everyone buys products on Amazon, not because the government gave him tax cuts. Each of these got rich the old fashioned way, they went out into the economy... and they earned it.
"A zombie idea is a belief or doctrine that has repeatedly been proved false, but refuses to die;"
By that definition Paul Krugman's brain was taken over by a zombie decades ago. So... let's talk facts. Fact, tax rates are not the primary driver of deficits. Spending is. Fact in all but 3 years between 1981-2019 government revenue grew year over year. In all but a handful it outpaced prevailing inflation. Deficits grew because government spending grew at 1.5-2.0x the inflation rate and above revenue growth. In fact from 2007-2019 Federal Revenue grew from $2.6 Trillion to $3.5 trillion (33%) which was above the prevailing increase in inflation (24%). The problem... Federal Spending increased from $2.7 T to $4.5 T (67.5%). And yet you can't find me an article in the last 30 years where Krugman didn't call for even greater government spending.
On climate change, yes the climate is warming over the last 100+ years. The problem is it is at less than half the rate the IPCC predicted. In IPCC 1 (1991) they predicted "0.3 degree C (range 0.2-0.5) increase per decade". According to NOAA/ GISS in the 29 years since then global temps have increase 0.42 degrees C total. That's 0.14 deg C/ decade. Less than half predicted and 27% below the low range estimate. And yet Krugman et al continue to call for more and more radical changes to our energy infrastructure based on their predictions. Who's the real zombie? I say Professor Krugman and his fellow "progressives".
The trouble with extremism is that to be successful, you have to be more extreme, hence the ever-more-bizarre positions. The gravy train riders just amp up the process.
The tax cuts rituals and everything else are simply asset grabs and crime by other means.
There is no such thing as the GOP, politically. It's a letterbox for its owners. Consider your average instantly forgettable GOP rep or Senator:
They have no real power of their own.
They are totally dependent on support from their financial backers, and shamelessly court these backers because otherwise, they go nowhere.
Therefore they say and do whatever the dogma requires, ad nauseam.
Anywhere but politics, denying facts on this scale and getting everything wrong would cause an intervention. Sanity would be an issue for custodial care. In the GOP, any blatant attempt at sanity would be a serious handicap. The GOP has no say in its own policies, statements, and even its own nominations, as proven by the entire party stepping obligingly out of the way in 2016 for someone who nobody thought could win and had no record in politics.
The question is "Who owns the Republican party?" Whoever it is, come and get it. It's making a mess.
2
A zombie columnist is one who predicts disaster for the lower tax, pro-business Trump economy even though it’s created far more new jobs for working Americans than recent administrations. Mr. Krugman strangely believes America is better off back in the abysmal high-tax, low growth Obama economy. A losing strategy for all except the very rich.
1
@Phillip MacHarg Ridiculous. Look at the data. Economic growth was far greater under Obama. Under Trump LY? 2.3%. You've been had by a zombie. It's really just mind boggling willful ignorance.
1
The only reason for the existence of the Republican Party is to advance and protect the agenda of corporate business. Period. They have been able to coexist, however uneasily, with the idea of democracy thus far only because there were enough of them and enough fools who believe their claptrap about morality, piety, and patriotism, to win elections. Those days are coming to an end and if I have to take to the streets to save the government of, by, and for the people, then I will.
5
Krugman's daily casting mud at the Republicans. Such wonderful creative writing. Thanks for the daily chuckle.
3
It's possible not removing PT will limit the already enormous damage for which he's responsible, but only if he's not re-elected. By avoiding the disruption removing him and installing VP P would certainly cause. Yes, he'll do more damage but less than if he were removed. You know, the bully/narcissist Parthian shots.
'But how did we get to this point? Part of the answer is extreme partisanship and right-wing political correctness (which is far more virulent than anything on the left).'
'Now, the news media, with its constant urge to seem “balanced,” has a hard time coping with this reality; it’s always looking for ways to portray at least some Republicans as admirable figures.'
Until the Democrats and the news media (including, sadly, the Times) understand these two critical factors, we'll never move past this bizarro world that does nothing to combat climate change, gun violence, etc., etc.
2
Isn't this the same guy who wrote recently that "America hates its children"? Didn't the Perfessor (as Casey Stengel would call him) say that we were headed to a Depression under Trump? Aren't we all tired of this person being wrong all the time? Why should we believe this piece?
1
Professor Krugman delivers another razor sharp take down of the Republican Insurgency. However, I'm sick of this. At this point, how many people are you trying to convince? How many rational, non-zombified homo-sapiens DON'T see the Repubs are rotten to the core?
Time to turn our sights on the corporate Dems. We need an opposition party -- not a marginally more principled Republican-light party. California is better governed than the U.S. as a whole; however, this isn't saying much. Because of rich libs that pay lip service to left-wing ideals, but refuse to actually back serious reform, Cali has serious homelessness and environmental problems. I know that we're a broader coalition than the Repubs, so we have to appeal to the center, but we can do better than this.
After all, wasn't Carter the first prez to start undoing New Deal financial regs? Wasn't Truman the first union buster? Didn't Clinton imprison thousands of black Americans...and continue deregulating finance? Didn't Obama enact a right-wing healthcare law (under the cute hope the fanatics in the other party would come to the table)?
Where's the serious opposition to the Zombies? Biden and his horrible record on both foreign and domestic policy? Bloomberg the Oligarch (Oh, wait, only Russians can be oligarchs)?
Oh, wait, I think I know. Maybe the one person who's offering serious reforms AND amassing a movement.
But then again, the corporate media have smeared us as "Bernie Bros."
2
RIP
July 4, 1776 - February 5, 2020
Our democratic experiment almost made it for 250 years.
76
I think you might just be wrong. It should be RIP GOP if we can have an above board election. Just because the GOP Senators couldn’t stomach finding the President guilty and removing him from office, it’s not the Fat Lady singing. You and everybody else get ready for November. And go get and read Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean. You will find out what really is at stake. Check it out on Amazon.
6
@Grayjay
We still have the long shot chance of crushing him in November. However, we need to launch a full out grassroots campaign at the local and state levels; Repubs have been using their stranglehold on state and local gov't for years to destroy the "democratic experiment."
We need to hold enough power long enough to allow demographics and what's left of democracy to absolutely destroy the White man's party that is the GOP (geriatric old pychoes)
If we don't push for that, they'll make sure minorities and poor people are either off the voter rolls or in prison or concentration camps.
9
It is sad, but cynicism helps to win elections. In the end, it is voters fault.
As a self identified conservative Democrat and a union member for over 40 years I am appalled as ever at the zombie republican party and at it's total disregard for what's best for the majority of America ( no one can please everyone even if the DNC says they can) and the world for that matter including our endless wars against sovereign countries and the environment. Yet I watched the DNC spend 3 years and who knows how many tax dollars to oust Trump in failure. How is it that basically they acted as a police force, made an arrest and took him to trial with no witnesses and no proof of crime other than a tip from someone not willing to testify. Any judge would lautgh them out of court. Then yesterday the DNC with 3 years to prepare can't even count votes in Iowa's caucus vote. I.E. "Caucus Chaos" as the news reported. And I'm suppose to trust the DNC to run my health care and the rest of our lives with the promise we'll take care of you? Think of your local DMV department or the months of wait time in national health care systems in other countries. Those are some of the reasons as a disgruntled voting Democrat I voted for Ross Perot and in the last presidential election I vote for Jill Stein out of disquest at both parties. This time I'm writing in Tulsi Gabbards.
2
Paul's assesment of Republicans includes only politicians. What about Republican voters?
3
Paul, the increase in the deficit created by Obama's stimulus in 2010 was in response to the serious crisis in 2009; are you suggesting that Trump's 2019 deficit which was about $300 billion is applying the same rules in absence of credit crisis?
the gop trickle down plan based on the laffer curve has been the main stay of republican economic policy for the last 40 years. the curve predicts that as tax rates are lowered federal revenue will increase due to the increased economic activity makes up for the revenue lost due to the reduced tax rate. now while it is true that economic activity will increase from a decrease in tax rates, the laffer curve also predicts that tax revenues will at some point fall because the decrease in revenue due to the tax cuts will not be made up by the increased economic activity. furthermore the large increases in the budget deficit and the national debt will at some point result in inflation and economic stagnation or even a significant recession. part of the republican tax plan has therefore always been to drastically reduce federal spending to reduce the impact on expanding deficits that would result from their tax cuts. we know from experience that given the ever increasing levels of spending on the military, medicare and social security federal spending will never be reduced enough to make up for the lost revenue from republican tax cuts. so even though there is not a shred of evidence to support the laffer curve lets all accept it as a proven hypothesis and also accept as fact its prediction that government revenues will fall as a result of cuts to the tax rates and that this will inevitably result in economic disaster.
1
Lovely as ever to hear your voice, Krugman. I'm reminded of the Putney Debates, which contained amazing and clear voices of reason (well till half of them were slaughtered by Cromwell ...). We must keep speaking the truth, as you do.
3
We're doing it state by Democratic state. I'm so proud of the 25 states committed to climate management.
3
If the leadership of the GOP had any sense of responsibility they would throw trump out, find a candidate with a soul and put all of their fundraising behind that person. Not going to happen but wouldn’t it be refreshing to find more than 2-3 R’s with a conscience?
1
I’ve been reading Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean. There were always missing links, huge gaps, actually, in my understanding of the GOP. While I can’t claim this is book is exhaustive, Ms MacLean, through extensive research, shows us the basis for the zombie behavior we are seeing in the GOP. The book is gripping right from the get go. Go read it. And, yes, the Party has been taken over, but not by the usual suspects. As Bill Kristol tweeted recently, “we are all Democrats now.” Or we should be.
4
the real 850lb zombie in the room is the mindset that can provide a seemingly logical rationalization for any behavior, speech, or happenstance that will be accepted by those who have been conditioned to believe that anything that can be narrated is as good or better as an actuality - the fantastical has eaten the actual
3
Such a great column.
It covers so many bases very simply and concisely for those who don’t really understand how they are being taken advantage of.
The whole point of the Republican Party is to make money off of people who want to stick it to their fellow Americans more than they want a functional country.
Republicans understand that they can get rich off of people’s ignorance.
Republicans understand that politics is a team sport, driven more by emotion than by intellect.
This allows them to divide people with wedge issues that they don’t really care about.
There is only one thing that the Republicans in government care about, and that is more money for themselves and their rich friends.
They don’t care about the country or the American people.
Divide and conquer.
8
Term limits for Congress is the best way to deal with the obvious fear by careerist politicians. No one spends more than a dozen years in Congress (total) during their lives. And they have a five year rule of not working as a "consultant" or other title dealing directly with Congress.
Then comes ending the electoral college system as it exists at the national electoral level.
3
They're only zombie ideas if the people holding them are sincere. Given the way Republican senators are behaving in the impeachment trial, it is much easier to believe that these so-called zombie ideas are just insincere excuses for self-serving behavior.
82
I applaud the consistency and unity of the Dems over the past 3 1/2 years, including the take-over of the house and the great political risk they took in impeaching Trump in the face of unwarranted and even childish partisan accusations.
The House did exactly what it is constitutionally called to do.
The GOP now admits to the facts of the case after fierce and obstinate denial, obfuscation and attempted obstruction.
The Trump phenomenon, which includes a subservient, fake GOP, will continue as an existential threat to constitutional rule of law and separation of powers until and unless the voters take him out.
However much the evangelical base invokes the cause of moral issues it has no leg to stand on while this administration presumes to slap the American people in the face with it's relentless immoral behavior, despite it's pretentious flag worship.
The damage could very well be a permanent disability or even worse.
A decreasing number of voters, at least where I live, are falling for sanctimonious, glib GOP propaganda which demonizes and body-slams the free press, using abortion and the gays as justification for it's authoritarian drive.
Not all evangelicals are, apparently, above slander, and what kind of seventh-grade thug falsely accuses his opponent of demanding a box to stand on because of his short stature?
Comparatively speaking, Trump's maligned opponent is a giant.
6
Recommend you read Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean. And soon. It’s only been out since last April and it clearly enunciates the goal of the GOP, particularly NcConnell et al. And it isn’t what you expect.
Bloomberg is my choice. Goliath vs Goliath. Or maybe I should say Goliath vs Fake Goliath.
1
Trickle down economic failures are even older than the notion itself that zombies eat brains, which was first depicted in the 1985 film "The Return Of The Living Dead (Pt 1)".
3
Mr. Krugman forgot to mention that the whole reason the GOP likes tax cuts is so it can make the rich richer. There's never been any other rationale for the existence of the Republic party. Republicans used to try to hid that -- now they don't even bother.
6
Thank you. A defining article/statement for a defining moment.
3
Since the popular vote versus the electoral college always comes up now in these political discussions, let me broach a third option: Electors apportioned by state GDP. Why not? Currently, money is the single biggest factor determining who wins elections. Citizens United enshrined that. So how better to determine who has more say in politics than the people in the states that create all the wealth?
I know it's a fantasy, but it is inarguable by the rules and standards that wealthy Republicans have created.
1
@Art
Cos you need to chasing the concept of 'one man one vote'.
A better solution is to simply decide on a number of electors for an electorate - say 150,000 or 250,000 - and divide up the country accordingly.
That will balance out the disproportionate power of the rural vote - and be totally fair into the bargain.
1
It wouldn’t ever happen because everyone knows blue states have the highest GDP. Also, its too rational.
A unique solution is The Second Income Plan, suggested by the late Louis Kelso, inventor of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan - ESOP - used by 11,000 companies. It does not depend upon jobs or savings. Universal Basic Incomes can be a transition device. Note: With this combined approach there is zero net cost to the Treasury! Social Security can be untouched.
Kelso saw automation coming. He believed it could liberate humans from toil. He thought almost everyone in America could receive 50% of income from diversified investments.
This is a key to reversing the dangerous growth of inequality and poverty. If we intend to have one job sufficient to support individuals and families, let's convince Congress to pass the necessary legislation to establish a SECOND INCOME ACT. It can help unite our divided nation.
A Universal Basic Income by itself (Yang's Freedom Dividend) has zero chance of Congressional approval. In order to provide immediate economic assistance, combine SECOND INCOMES with a transitional Universal Basic Income. These interim funds would gradually be displaced - as growing taxable earnings are realized by individuals from SECOND INCOMES. Look for that title under MORE at aesopinstitute.org
To end stock market concern, 85-90% of an individual’s Second Income funds could be invested in Treasury Bills, as safe a place to put your money as exists. The remainder invested in a variety of high risk opportunities. This is a brilliant prescription by Nassim Taleb
Keep a look out for Paul Ryan . He is worse than Trump . Trump is up front about his mendacity . Ryan is cunning and diabolical . Ryan is laying in the weeds , waiting and conniving .
6
Thank god someone said this. Sadly after Iowa today not feeling very hopeful. I definitely would go all in for succession, having someone balanced at helm that generally cares for humanity. Let current Republican Senators live with their choices and see what type of a nation long term they would create. Not one I would like to live in.
5
I agree with the article for the most part, but I don't think the left is totally immune from zombie ideas. The left has them, but it also has a better immune system to prevent them from becoming part of the uncontested narrative. For instance, many of the world's leading climate scientists are telling us and providing compelling evidence that nuclear power must be included in the discussion for moving off of fossil fuels. But a portion of the left is committed to suspending new construction of plants and, in some cases, advocates shutting them down despite mountains of evidence showing it is our safest and most effective option. Although it's concerning that we're running out of time and might potentially be ignoring our best bet at fighting climate change, I'm far more confident in the left's ability to find its way to the truth than I am the right's, which doesn't really even try.
2
FYI - National Debt increased about 15% under Clinton, so much for the phantom surpluses. I agree with this article - just always find this idea misleading.
Clinton reduced the annual deficit, which you’re confusing with the national debt. The latter is the accumulation of all debt over the years, going back to Reagan. It also includes interest on the accumulated debt.
Clinton reduced the annual deficit and was in the process of paying down the debt. Remember when Alan Greenspan voiced concern that we were paying down the debt too quickly? That was his argument in favor of the first Bush Jr. tax cuts.
There’s a simple explanation why Democrats always reduce the deficit and Republicans always increase it. Democrats raise taxes when needed, especially on the wealthy. Republicans aren’t averse to raising taxes on the middle class—it’s their long-term strategy to shift taxes from wealth to income. But they’ve literally signed a pledge never to raise taxes on wealth, and every Republican president except Bush Sr. has cut taxes for the wealthy.
4
Not quite true re Clinton supposed deficits - its a little more nuanced than that, according to factcheck.org. https://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-budget-and-deficit-under-clinton/
Some great comments, but they describe an overwhelming despair - not just at the Gerrymandering Old Party but at the erosion of the 'system' that they have perpetrated.
You can't fix the Republicans and their zombies, but you CAN fix the system.
For instance, in New Zealand and in Australia we have Electoral Commissions. These function like a government department (in the US case it would be a federal department). The commission applies rules and standards equally according to its chartered Terms and Conditions. These describe everything of importance that is part of the electoral process - from the size and composition of electorates to details such as actual voting process and what can and must happen at voting booths and who can and cannot vote - all of which is enshrined in legislation.
The Electoral Commission then supervises the whole process and 'observes' the election to keep it honest. It is designed to stop one party from taking unfair advantage over another, and to attempt to maintain a level playing field so that individual votes have equivalence and that individuals do actually get to vote and can't be unreasonably struck off the roll.
It doesn't stop governing parties from a bit of boundary fiddling to suit their agendas, but it does prevent things from becoming totally lopsided, and it does mean that dispute resolution (thinking Florida) is handled independently, and not by a local chapter of any party eg. at state level.
8
It is plainly apparent that the GOP's contingent in Congress and the Senate have gone full-on Trump, with the attendant loss of values, morality. and rationality.
Their voters are eating this up like yesterday's chili.
3
‘Yesterday’s chili’ > is the good and eaten or bad and ‘has to be’ eaten?
1
The Republican Party has not been hijacked by Trump so much as it has embraced the leader it has always wanted. It’s one thing to have had its brains eaten by zombies, which it has, but it’s another for a grand old zombie party to finally have the Leader it has lusted for in its heart - a guy they could revile in private to NYT and Wapo reporters and embrace in public (or at the very least not cross). Don’t believe the zombie who says he/she/it still works for Trump in order to avert the catastrophe that would surely occur if he/she/it resigned in protest. There is no protest among zombies. None. Not a whit. They are all quite pleased, thank you. Quite pleased.
10
I hate this. but Trump is the Republican Party's frankenstein. In my lifetime, I will never vote Republican ever again. There is no two party system. Read These Truths by Jill Lepore. History is repeating itself. But maybe we expect better from our elected officials, especially our President, now.
6
Our Democratic Republic is no longer viable. The Constitution has failed, the rule of law has failed and McConnell and every Senate Republican has handed the country over to the dumbest autocrat that ever drew breath.
Hitler didn't jump out of bed one morning to declare that he was a fascist and had decided to commit genocide; it happened over several years - to give the people enough time to get used to the idea and to have the Nazi regime eat their brains entirely.
That's what's happening here. I give it three years if Dems don't at least win the Senate in 2020.
10
How do Republicans get away with calling themselves the workers’ friend? They are anti-union, oppose raising the minimum wage, and opposed bailing out the auto industry?
9
Great column and thank you for you reminding people about Paul Ryan, the flimflam man. He left office rather than be tarnished by trump - even though he did try to suck up to him, but rest assured he will try to resurface as a never trumper and wanting to cut social programs again. Corker too - there's a list of them.
We must remember they were not principled men who left to save the country, they left to come back another day and do their zombie best.
5
A minor detail.
As I remember McCain supported the 2017 Ryan / McConnell / Trump tax cuts.
A factor might be that those tax cuts would help his rich wife and his children?
3
Today's lead Zombie is Lisa Murkowski. Ms. Murkowski, despite being from the State of Alaska has her head in a snowdrift when it comes to climate change. According to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, the cost to Alaska of a warming climate is projected to range from $3.3 to $6.7 billion, between 2008 and 2030 (2015 dollars). The costs in the transportation sector alone will be significant. Greater snow and ice melt will lead to increases in transportation cost, as ice roads must be replaced with gravel roads. A 2004 report estimated the cost of gravel roads on the North Slope of Alaska at as much as $2.5 million per mile (2015 dollars). The foregoing is Alaska's largest problem and yet Murkowski is persona non grata on the issue. She blindly supports a climate denying administration at every turn, including, voting not to have witnesses to protect justice Roberts and to acquit to protect the public from divisiveness. Murkowski's hypocrisy in both Alaska and DC makes her my pick for Senate Zombie of the day.
9
Here is a what if:
After Trump is found not guilty and reelected in a rigged election, on day one of his 2nd term or soon thereafter, Trump, by Executive Order directs the Treasury Department to immediately cease issuing any and all checks pursuant to the Social Security act of 1935 as amended.
If there is no revolt, next to become defunded are Medicare and Medicaid. Then all Federal Disability laws and funds for public education. Housing for the poor, unemployment benefits and food programs such as SNAP soon follow.
The underlying laws are not repealed but are suspended until the final construction of the southern border wall.
When asked where his authority to so this came from his answer was "from the Senate when it could have stopped me when it could, although duly warned and missed their chance".
"By the way," Trump remarks to Sean Hannity " I need better advice so my party, the Party of Trump Patriots will approve Russians on the Cabinet and president Putin is lending me his own Chief of Staff. But, off course you and the majority of the Senate in 2020 expected that."
8
Mr Krugman:
How about giving us Democrats and Independents a rundown on the various economic policies enumerated by the current crop of Democratic candidates.
We kind of already know that at this point the Republican Party has nothing to offer in terms of new ideas and that the old ideas have gotten us to this sorry state.
It is now primary time and we will be selecting a candidate. Of course in the general election it is Vote Blue, No Matter Who, and the Congress Too.
1
@AnEconomicCynic
Geez, one would need to have a large staff to do that. Collect data, run models under different scenarios, etc.
The hilarity of the MAGA movement is this; By and large they are baby boomers. Which means they arrested political control of the country from there (no nothing) parents, because they were too conservative, and wouldn’t come of the money for things they wanted. Now that the shoe is on other foot these same boomers have arrested control of the country from there (no nothing) children, because they are too liberal, in order to make sure they get what they want. The irony is palpable Arlo!
2
@Bryan
Don’t compare baby boomers with great generation of WWII, which actually build this country and left baby boomers everything on plate. In turn, baby boomers, instead of investing, borrowed money and cut taxes over and over. The most selfish generation in US history, “I got mine, you go to ....” Left future generations a huge bag of debt to carry.
The week democracy dies in America. Perhaps. The Senate gives Trump a free pass for more illegal and corrupt behavior. The Democrats show that they can't conduct an "election" for their candidates in IA without major chaos prompting suspicion of a "fix." As American democracy dies, it will take more than one side to kill it. Democrats listen up.
2
"If Trump wants to dismantle democracy and rule of law (which he does), his party will stand with him all the way."
Trump has proven that over 16,400 lies doesn't matter to the GOP. He very soon will believe that he is above the law and his behavior will know no bounds. He will be able to have foreign countries work to get him re-elected. He can have phone calls that, if recorded and transcribed, will be put in secure servers so nobody can ever read them. He will continue to post executive orders that demonstrate his bigotry, ignorance and hatred. He will become more and more wealthy from being president and nobody will say that is illegal. He will rule by Tweets and never be held accountable for the hatred and fear he continues to dispense.
If Trump loses the 2020 election in November, will he leave? He will have the continuing total support of the GOP sycophants who agree that he can do nothing wrong. After all, he can claim those election results were illegal.
8
Mr. Paul Krugman is right about taxing of the riches.They should pay more.According to Tom Piketty the wealth tax would make a lot of sense even if many would develop the ways to avoid it.I do not agree with Paul about the climate change, which is real, however, has not been proven with the credible data to by caused by human activity.In reality there are so many factors that could have an impact on climate change that no one has seen to be addressed.One of them is the earth precession and the fact that the orbits of the planets around the sun do not really follow an identical ellipse each time.Onother thing is that the melting of permafrost in Siberia and Canada that releases extreme quantities of methane and carbon dioxide could be a self accelerating process.The climate change become like a religion that someone believes in it or not.The humans could be contributing to climate change and therefore the development of the alternative technologies should be pursued.The production of solar panel involves using a variety of toxic chemicals/metals therefore it was strictly controlled by EPA and finally moved to China where worker safety standards are not objectively set or executed and they dictated by demands of the governmental policies.There are millions of depleted solar panels ready to be disposed in California and because of their toxicity nothing could be done with them.The nuclear energy with all its pros and cons should be on the table while looking for alternatives.
2
@KDz
So you said that climate change is real but there’s no evidence to support the fact that humans are partly to blame. You would be completely wrong, the evidence is there, your just choosing not to see it. And by the way, what difference does it make what the cause is, the point is it’s happening, and if we do nothing, the human species is doomed. You should look up the the fourth extinction, you know the one before the dinosaurs. They recently discovered by analyzing air trapped in crystals from that extinction, that it was greenhouse gasses that caused the ocean to become too acidic. When the ocean is too acidic, shelled animals can’t build their shells, coral can’t build coral. And the big one, Diatoms. Diatoms are the most prolific algae in not only the ocean but in every body of water. Diatoms forms the basis of not only the food chain, but when Diatoms die, they emit a vast amount of oxygen, trees filter greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere, and expel oxygen. But it’s Diatoms that actually put oxygen into the atmosphere. Did I mention that Diatoms build their own shells, and if they can’t build their own shells.....following me. Thats what caused the fourth extinction, in fact there’s more greenhouse gasses in the air today, than there was in the fourth extinction. This is the inherent problem with climate deniers, is not only is the habitability of the planet at risk, but the survival of the earths biodiversity, including our own survival is at risk.
3
I have a fantasy that maybe 1 or 2 will consider the long term place in history and acknowledge DT's danger with a vote tomorrow. If only I could believe that even a few saw a world beyond their power and bank accounts.
2
At one point I was told that states needed to offer tax breaks to companies and lower state taxes to attract those companies. It was the biggest issue for any corporation. I asked them why so many Fortune 500 companies were in California and New York, and none in Kansas. They only restated their claim, as if that would make it true.
These same people who want to hand out corporate welfare to help major corporations complain about helping their neighbors.
If they want to secede from the Union, let them. We can build a wall so they don't need to worry about immigrants. They can depend on themselves, open carry guns, pay no tax, do away with regulations and marry their cousins if they like. They can deny climate change, use whatever drugs they like, and end education after the 9th grade. Then, they can leave the rest of us to solve the problems in this country.
Let's see how that works out for them.
I doubt it will end well.
3
Money, power, and control. For generations the voting public has been fooled by the fig leaves of "family values" "pro life" "Christianity" and the old favorite: 'Murica! Virulent, fact-free utra-rightwing media has been Republican crack cocaine for decades, creating emotional and cultural infrastructure for the voracious appetite for Republican hegemony.
Politicians and corporations are all about the money. Of course, money, power, and control feed each other.
Evangelicals, a large and disproportionately vocal cohort, are largely raised to disrespect anything outside their narrow world view; teachers, experts, professionals, intellectuals, and science itself are held in contempt. They believe they have the DUTY to save us from ourselves by establishing and maintaining Republican rule by any means necessary. They hold a bias toward strict hierarchy, authoritarians, and blind obedience; they want simple, black-and-white solutions from men they regard as their leaders, and they bully moderate Republicans into silence/cooperation. All in the service of implementing their "righteous" control over this country. That's the control element, which inevitably feeds the power element.
Fed by rivers of dark money, under cover of "family values" etc., these enormous factions angling for ultimate power and control became a cancer on both the Republican party and the body politic. They brook no moderation or compromise. They will not rest. They are implacable. Like zombies.
4
A lot of money has supported Republican zombies, some from so called libertarians, like the Koch brothers. A lot of the money has gone into "think tanks", which provide the facade for zombie behavior justification and survival. And luscious feeding the zombies has depended on an inept Supreme Court and Citizens United. And the Democrats have been completely unorganized and unable to fight Republican zombies. Very depressing.
2
I've said more than once in the last year, "I'd love to enjoy watching Republicans sell out all their long-held principles for a con man, but I love my country too much."
The only way to stop this madness is to vote for all Democratic candidates in November 2020.
The zombies must have their heads separated from their bodies, i.e., the representatives and senators must be separated from the CULT45 members whom they rely upon for their seats.
5
Thanks Prof. Krugman. I would love to see the same analysis from the other side. Plenty of Zombies on the Democrats side too.
Here are a few I can think of:
1. Undocumented immigrants do not suppress the wages of non-skilled workers
2. Medicare for all can be paid for without raising taxes on the middle class
3. Wealthier Americans do not pay their fair share in taxes
4. Requiring a voter ID is a form of voter suppression
1
@J. Marti au contraire,
1. it has been shown that undocumented workers not only do not lower wages, they take jobs we need done that citizens do not want and they accept wages that citizens will not. I'm not saying that is right, because every worker deserves a living wage, but it is reality.
2. Medicare for all will not raise taxes because workers and employers will not be paying for medical insurance at work. We should all get raises,reflecting our no longer paying for medical insurance at work, although I expect management to find a way not to pay them to their workers.
3. That is true. They pay a lot in real dollars but not in proportion to their wealth. Further, earned income, that which we working people make, is taxed at higher rates than unearned income, like capital gains.
4. It is because not everyone has the means to get an ID. Your signature is your ID. Here in New York, my signature is accepted as my ID, and it hasn't changed since I registered here 30 years ago. What works here should work everywhere. Voting should never be a privilege; it is our most essential right.
3
@Ellen Tabor thanks for your response and being civil. I can compromise on points 1 and 3. On point 2, if you look up E. Warren's plan for paying it requires all employers to send to the government what they are paying for our medical insurance today and a little extra. It still was not enough. Take a look.
On point 4 I can provide you a real life case. I am from Puerto Rico. Lived there for 40 years. It is the poorest "state" in the US by income per capita. They require a special government issued ID to vote since 1976 and they have one of the highest voting participation rates in the world. Nobody down there is complaining about voter suppression.
If Trump wants to dismantle democracy and rule of law (which he does), his party will stand with him all the way.
The question really becomes, will a solid majority of my countrymen and women allow this to happen or oppose it with the same vigor that gave birth to our country?
4
The repubs may be making their last stand. The question in 2020 is whether or not it's their Alamo...
3
The big zombie idea is that we are the best, with the best health care system in the world, the best infrastructure, the most effective military, the best food, the best educational system, the best intentions, the best way of government and so on, all false. The worst thing that happened to the US in the 20th century was to momentarily come out on top of the world in 1945, followed by the Republican belief that just standing there will keep us there.
5
I’d even interested to see some Zombie thoughts on “guns and butter” economics or perhaps a better phrase is a Guns and Margarine economy. As long as we don’t ask for taxes to pay for the “forever war” we can blissfully print money for it while blaming social spending as the culprit for an enlarging deficit. The forever war is helping with any unemployment problem as many are joining the military because they would be unemployable in the skills they don’t have and not due to any sense of duty or patriotic fervor.
As always, you've hit the nail on the head. The Republican trajectory has been evident for years. One early target was education... an uninformed citizenship to trick.
Yet these Republicans couldn't take or hold control without their political rivals striking fear into moderates at every opportunity. The list has been growing. Now its free everything and open boarders.
Trump gets it... "Communists"
5
The GOP sold its soul some 40 years ago, when it became the Greedy Oligarchs' Party. It would henceforth exclusively represent America's wealthiest persons (individual and corporate), in exchange for limitless campaign funding allowing it to become the Ruling Majority Party of the United States.
The GOP's sole agenda became tax cuts for its wealthy constituents, along with eliminating legislative and regulatory barriers to their greed. The economic system became zero-sum Plunder Capitalism, enriching the Greedy Oligarchs while immiserating everyone else. The GOP also eagerly embraced its constituents' "let them eat cake" approach to social programs, responding to their revulsion to government confiscating their entitled wealth as taxes to support "takers."
The zombie "supply-side" ideas about trickle-down growth are more like Frankenstein's monsters, hideous creations intended to justify the wholesale redistribution of the nation's wealth to the wealthy. The GOP still needs millions of people to consistently and enthusiastically vote against their own interests; feeding them trickle-down myths is one way they accomplish that.
As with any deal with the Dark side, the GOP's embrace of greed corrupted them. The institutions of government that once defined "America" now exist solely to serve the GOP, which eagerly demolishes any institution that doesn't serve them. And it plowed a fertile field for a narcissistic authoritarian demagogue to complete the corruption.
8
Candidates for zombie ideas--no need to guess which party promotes them:
--Gun ownership and public display of weapons, if not a vigilante culture, is a disincentive to crime
--Making abortion illegal or otherwise limiting access to abortion leads to fewer abortions and safer medical practice
--Silence on taxation as the price we pay for our citizenship leads to good economic policy
--Government needs to be forever smaller, if not so small you can drown it in a bathtub, as if use of government to do good things for its citizens isn't a sign of a healthy democracy
--Waste, fraud, and abuse is forever rampant in all federal agencies, except DoD
--Debts & deficits can be justified if it advances the right cause (OK, that can be a Dem zombie too)
--Free markets are free of regulation, as if an unregulated market is somehow sacrosanct. Markets free for access to all are less valuable.
--Trade deficits are always bad for a nation (you-know-who promotes this)
--(Soon to be a new zombie?): If my political interest is in any way conceivable in the national interest, it's OK.
Surely there are many more that an earnest, honest examination of our pretend politics reveals.
1
There are people who believe zombie ideas.
But there are many Trump followers who don't believe them, but still espouse the beliefs because they need to support Trump and McConnell to get to the things they really want.
Fewer taxes-- only on them, of course.
Continued hardships on brown people, i.e. immigrants and the poor.
No abortion rights to keep the lower classes down.
Keep the lower classes from health care and an education.
In short, they need to keep the rich, white man prosperous even if they're not rich themselves, because they know Donald will find ways to make them millionaires, and not the temporarily inconvenienced kind.
3
I don't think Democracy is dead quite yet. Next November the left and the "undecideds" have the chance to swing a big ax and not only cut off the head of the snake but excise the cancer that is todays GOP. If the Republicans lose by huge margins and Trump gets tossed and it results in some kind of civil war then so be it. Maybe we need an American Revolution 2.0 to oust the zombies permanently. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
1
Slide started with Nixon and Reagan and continues to this day. Trump is just the latest in a roll call of deplorable leaders.
4
The GOP as we once knew it is dead, and its zombie corpse is driving us all over the brink. Mr. Krugman has offered yet another insight how we got here, and why we can't hope that it fixes itself. And next week, there will be another column, once again tactfully, thoughtfully, and scientifically explaining how our whole deal is going to the dogs.
What's a reader to do, besides go crazy, drive our friends crazy, or give up?
Is there anything, Mr. Krugman, in your piles of data that might suggest a way out? some idea for breaking the cycle of pessimism, deception and opportunism that's led us to this point?
Now that'd be worth a read!
2
We get the politicians we deserve, through intellectual laziness, slavish following, failure to show up at the voting booth, which, to be fair, has been made almost moot due to gerrymandering we let politicians get away with. How ironic is that? We don't fix the very thing that makes voting useless.
I read that Eisenhower warned people about the military industrial complex, which everyone ignored, ignorance is expensive, even deadly. But what's one to expect from a populace that thinks vaccines cause autism, GMOs will give everyone cancer, that 'tax cuts' are like CBD supplements and will cure anything, and that there's a Man in the Sky who will make them rich if they just rely on thoughts and prayers, fueled by waving hands in the air like schoolchildren vying for the teacher's attention.
2
I always look forward to your columns. Thanks for your insight, I just learned something new about zombies!
3
I have a much more cynical view of why zombie ideas have taken root so strongly in the Republican party. It's simple... the Republicans see the advantage it gives them politically. Saying that their brains have been eaten by this phenomenon misses the point. It implies that they actually buy into those ideas. They do not. They just want the masses to believe them in order to push public opinion towards them.
8
wonderful piece--if only forwarding it to all Republican senators would have any effect!
Thank you Paul Krugman. Your columns are so good.
1
No, they haven't. Rubio...no need to list all the names.
If Krugman weren't such a mindless partisan, he'd be worth reading. Once he was a serious economist, who actually thought for himself. Those days are long gone.
1
@Jonathan Katz
Well ya know, the truth skews liberal, as they say!
(You really need to seriously look at how completely crazy the far right has become in this country!)
3
I am hoping for a genuine leader that can actually work with people from both Parties to solve our most important problems. I hope that happens in my lifetime.
Until, we'll have to deal with the trash we have on the Left and Right that are determined to fan flames for their own benefit. In case you were wondering, Mr. Krugman, that means you.
If it matters, I'm a moderate Republican that strongly supports Buttigieg and has voted for Democrats, and would never vote for someone like trump.
2
Haven't heard Rs say one thing about the deficit since Donald's been in office. Will be interesting to see if the mention it in the elections and how soon they'll start if a D wins.
2
They would start immediately but would claim to have been doing it all along.
They lie
Lucy and the football. The frog in the pot of water on the stove. The emperor without clothes. The problem has been stated. But every solution leads to a chorus of gerrymandered, voter repressed, laundered money, Citizens United, K Street, David Koch, Electoral College. Even James Buchanan, the Federalist Society and Brett Kavanaugh. Check and mate.
3
History will look back on this column as supremely prescient, particularly if the horror of a Trump reelection were to pass.
We have completely craven and spineless Republicans carrying the sedan chair for an amoral narcissist. Even if Trump is defeated, the GOP has, quite literally, sold whatever small scrap of a soul it had.
3
System down, game over. At this point America is the equivalent of dead tech. Good luck with the re-boot.
1
My two main zombie ideas:
1. Somehow greed, through a thoroughly corrupt capitalist system, can create a 'more perfect Union'. Somehow being focused on my self-interest, motivated and rewarded by wealth and property, will make a better 'community', 'society', 'city' and 'country'. That's zombie-talk. Just look around.
2. Somehow we can have the freedom to have an appetite that destroys the home planet. Somehow our poisons and destructive habits won't defile and desecrate this sacred home. Easily seduced and slow to respond to tragedy; we write our own lives.
We are all zombies, now.
2
I can’t find the quote from the Astronaut who said it, but the awe and emotion in his voice when he spoke of that small blue world, our only home, having in it everything we are and have been, and how important it is for us to protect it.
1
We all heard that "all good things come to an end." Now the question is do all bad things come to an end.
Or were all those good things our Constitution; "We the people in order to form a more perfect union..."; "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free"; and
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
???
2
Yes yes yes. Doom doom doooooom
All true and all terrible but what is the recommended course of action?
I'm getting kind of tired of reading all this doom and gloom without seeing much of anything about how to fix things.
2
Just VOTE, dang it!
Vote wisely and well, and get all your friends and family to vote too.
Know what and who you vote for, and how your selection will impact your life and theirs.
Get involved in your community and help solve problems that affect others BESIDES YOURSELF. Learn what “community” means; learn what your government should do and what it does do, and become active in making decisions.
That’s what others are doing, and if you don’t like what they are doing, show them where they are wrong.
If you don’t, you are part of the problem of which you are complaining!
There's a line from Blazing Saddles that seems appropriate here: "We've got to protect our phony baloney political jobs!"
This will end the way abuse of more than half of the population of a very economically unequal country always ends: a big crash of the economy. Our economy is in the hands of a few monopolies. Because of that competition is way down, reducing the inventions and novelties that used to be typically American. If something new and effective shows up it's bought and buried (our Big Car companies aren't going electric and our Big Oil won't willingly lose a penny) or taken over by a monopoly. Big Money, once deregulated, eventually overreaches. Look at our economic history: crashes occur regularly. The big crashes are the ones where little people don't have enough money left to steal to make up the perpetrator's losses.
1
Very frightening for future generations in every way. I'm older and won't be around to see how awfully this all plays out but my heart breaks for my children and grandchild. It will not be an easy world to live in, in fact it will be appalling.
7
I am in your place, exactly.
Great article.
I'm the son of a plant-breeder PhD whose brain was eaten. Of the few books in his room when he died, several were the well known climate denial crap. I love my Dad. So many hours have been spent wondering "why?", and "how could he?".
He had read enough history to know that if Climate Science is right, we are headed for a period of very unstable politics. Call it the horsemen of the apocalypse, where famine leads to mass migration, war, and that friend of starvation - plague.
To think you were passing such a world to your children and grandchildren ... no, don't. Easier just not take the time to study the science. Easier to read books that say "don't worry, don't think but be the one who is right!"
The ideas in these books were carefully cooked by an industry protecting a multi-trillion dollar asset, but when you read them, this is not mentioned.
And Voodoo Economics allows one to vote for self interest (more toys to boast to your friends about) ... while helping the poor ! Wow, what could be better?
And guns? The USA has built a society where nobody is safe. The thinkers recognise than if you have a playground and somebody picks up a stick, the solution is not to hand everybody a stick. But those acting from their instincts want a bigger stick. And when you talk about taking away their stick it increases their feeling of being unsafe.
Being a Zombie is the easy way out, the instinctive way out.
8
You have to be strong enough to find the hard, true way out. That’s where the wisdom of the Founders comes in: they didn’t know what we would face, but they suspected it would be different and encouraged us to try remedies.
They didn’t suspect, however, that so many Americans could become so venal and greedy as to forget their humanity.
2
So the thought here is that the debt is not too high and deficits should have been greater a decade ago. Democrats screwed that up.
Government spending is a great job increasing idea and should be used more forcefully when unemployment is low. Democrats didn’t do that either.
How stupid they were is the only conclusion I can take from this.
Trump on the other hand told Republican fiscal purist to take a leap, said the debt does not matter and jobs, imposed his will—and so far looks spot on. Just as Krugman predicted. Applause.
1
@John Martin
Government spending is a great job increasing idea and should be used more forcefully when unemployment is low. Democrats didn’t do that either."
President Obama tried to do stimulus and infrastructure spending - but the Republicans wouldn't allow anything that might make him look good, even if it meant that Americans who needed jobs were left to suffer.
Those Americans became desperate as a result, and were easy prey for ConMan45.
And now, Iowa (Please, Lord, don't let me become a conspiracy theorist!).
Medicaid today, Medicare and Social Security tomorrow. Where does it end and, more importantly, how can we even begin to end it?
Vote, yes. But how thoroughly has our voting potential been undermined by gerrymandering, legislated roadblocks, foreign tampering, an increasingly imbalanced Electoral College, flawed and vulnerable technology, cynicism and despair?
Kucinich told us to wake up twelve years ago. And still we snooze. Lambs! Lambs to the slaughter.
6
The most revealing -- and overdue to my brain -- notion I picked up from "Arguing with Zombies -- the Book" is that you have to look at what Republicans do in terms of their gut belief/fear -- that if Americans start thinking government can actually help them, actually do good things that can't or won't be done by private enterprise or community effort -- it means Americans will agree to pay higher taxes in return. It's all about the taxes, about rich people's money going to help the lowly masses who aren't rich because they don't deserve to be rich.
So, when Obama is in the WH, deficits are the boogy-man because GOP doesn't want him to borrow and spend on infrastructure and education, both solid reasons for borrowing for the future of America, things that will be seen as "good" by the unwashed. Then, when Republicans are in power, deficits are meaningless and the old trickle-down is trotted out again -- a concept that has failed over and over to produce anything good for America (except its oligarchs) -- to justify tax cuts.
Thanks, Dr. K. -- this point of view allows most of the seemingly crazy things Republicans espouse and vote for to be looked at below the surface and understood. And understanding is the best tool for resisting.
6
@JimBob
Thanks for pointing out that the economic/tax/deficit ping pong has been instrumental in leading us down the rabbit hole.
Two things that are critical to rebuilding our economic future are important talking points and aspirations of the Democrats vying for the Presidency.
One, a livable minimum wage. Boosting the wages of the lowest paid workers means that the subsidies given to the large corporations by keeping their employee pool alive through food stamps, earned income credits, rent subsidies, etc. will be reduced. Those workers will then be paid enough through their own labor to provide for themselves. They will also contribute to Social Security with every extra dollar of income. As opposed to raising the income of the wealthiest where those dollars are not taxed. Eliminating the Social Security Tax cap is also a great idea.
Two, extending the length of publicly financed education. Once upon a time in America, a high school diploma was enough to enable a young person to succeed in life. Now, not so much. Changes in technology, the complexity of modern systems, and the demands of modern jobs mean that more time is required to learn what needs to be learned. Fourteen or even sixteen years are required. We must invest much more in human capital.
There are other things to add to the list, but none of the above will be accomplished if the Presidency and the Senate are not retaken and the House kept. Vote Blue.
2
There is one principle that controls the Republican Party and is the reason it now controls the Presidency, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the majority of statehouses. That principle is that you must win election in order to have the power to get things done, the things they think should be done right now. Republicans will do whatever it takes in support of this principle. They have created a uniquely powerful state news agency (Fox News), a powerful online presence that feeds to public what it wants to hear, it bribes willing voters and corporations with massive tax cuts and it’s senior white base with unfunded programs like Medicare prescription drug programs.
What it does not do is abuse things crucial to people’s identity, be that demands that devout Christians support abortion, or that white people should support housing integration, or support large money transfer to the poor, or support transgender people mixing with their kids. They do not try to convince people to pay much more for energy, or threaten truly crucial systems like health care. They recognize people are mainly in this for themselves, their families and their friends. It’s family first, America first, personal freedom first. And they win
Hopefully Democrats will pick Sanders or Warren as their candidate, get totally slaughtered at the polls, lose the House, see two more Supreme Court position move to right wing Republicans, see socialism go up in smoke, and start listening.
@John Martin
Where to start? Medicare part D is funded by the participants. Medicare recipients who want it are charged for it. Essentially, tax cuts passed by Republican administrations in recent memory passed right over the "willing voters" and flowed directly to the top income earners. Fox News, that's a yep.
Your second paragraph. The identity issues that you list represent a blindness that is terrifying to behold. Roe v Wade was decided by a 7 to two vote in the Supreme Court by a Republican appointed majority of justices, look it up. The Fair Housing Act has been the law of the land for 52 years. What Republican legislator has promoted a repeal? Transgender people are white peoples, brown peoples and every other skin colors peoples, kids. LGBTQ people have always been here, they come from Republican families too. Are they to be cast out into Gehenna? Energy costs? Sorry, the move to renewables is moving costs down, not up https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2019/05/29/renewable-energy-costs-tumble/#75733c9ee8ce. Sorry, poor people, including poor white people need health care also. https://www.ajmc.com/focus-of-the-week/study-reveals-declining-life-expectancy-among-white-americans-that-defies-easy-answers.
Yep, white people should Vote Blue. Their identity truly disappears if they do not survive.
1
Paul I understand you want to push this amusing zombie metaphor but it unintentionally distances the issue from the true cause, which is vulgar self interest which employs motivated reasoning. Add to that toxic stew an exploitation of tribalism to either arouse uncritical support or inoculate from careful consideration of opposing arguments.
Did not all of us know from the beginning that a Republican Senate will not impeach a Republican President? As the Republican say, let the popular vote decide. Hopefully without fraud induced by the guys that have always played this card. And let us expect that the Democratic Party will perform its job efficiently revealing the real character of the President.
5
Zombie ideas did not start with economics, taxation or climate change. I'd say various religions, racial theories and even medical "science" contain their fair share of zombie ideas.
A large constituency in the Republican Party seems particularly prone to embracing these ideas and there are enough politicians willing to pander to them to get or keep their jobs.
2
The last tax cuts implemented by Trump and Republicans were not needed in a growing economy. It was like a marathon runner who is miles ahead of anybody else and close to the finish line swallowing performance-enhancing drugs to ensure he or she wins. It was not necessary for the economy. Its purpose was to starve the Treasury of needed funds to further their argument that entitlement programs need to be cut or eliminated. Any argument will be used to accomplish that long-standing objective.
Republican politicians have been losing their soul for a while by engaging in voter suppression and gerrymandering to appeal to a shrinking voter base than to appeal to a wider demographic. It is no surprise they would overlook election cheating by Trump. He is a vehicle they can use because he has no ethical standards. The objective is to keep as much power for as long as they can.
15
@Here Now
Really name one.....
Is it not more complicated than this? A deficit which is created to stimulate the economy can be caused by reduced taxes or increased spending or a combination of both. Increased spending can be on income account or capital account, tax reductions will be applied by the taxpayers as they see fit, to spend on capital or income account or to save or to pay down debt. Tax reductions might be structured to incentivize certain behaviors. The circumstances and conditions of the economy are a factor in choosing the most effective solution - it is not one size fits all. It is likely that neither tax cuts nor increased spending will produce enough tax revenue to recover the cost.
1
See the next comment above this one. It is the truth.
This letter, not so much.
Scrolling to the end after reading your excellent comments, I listened to Rhiannon’s “Wayfaring Stranger.” Thank you so much for this beautiful interlude. Having also just read some of the hype about J-Lo and her body during Super Bowl, I marveled at the stirring spiritual effect of one woman sans make-up, choreography and costume. Pure soul.....and purely divine without artifice.
3
The easiest way to end the political zombie is term limits. Perhaps a maximum of one four year term. Just enough time to actually get work done and not enough time to become powerful enough to block anything that doesn’t appeal to the sitting party.
5
The major ideological differences between the right and left are irreconcilable because one side is no longer tethered to facts. If this were a marriage, a competent therapist would advise the sane partner to leave. Peaceable blue-red secession, however configured, is no longer unthinkable. Indeed, for progressives (and sane Republicans), it may become necessary. We are living on dangerous fault lines.
9
Not sure how I feel about having a nuclear armed theocracy next door though...
1
The GOP will only change its tune if/when there are sustained and repeated electoral consequences for their stances. They have created a consequence-free electorate among their partisans, who will back them no matter what they do, and this has protected them from even having to respond to democratic pressures.
8
It would be very interesting to know how they explain to their grandchildren that the authorities in Australia reported that December 2019 was the hottest month in recorded history. No,they are not related to the Democratic party in America. Or, how they would explain to their grandchildren about the deficit they are undeservedly receiving. A trillion is a lot of money, it's roughly the $174,000 annual salary of a U.S. Senator for the next 5.7 million years.
6
The concept of zombies is an apt way to bring the picture into focus. With November coming on fast, the path to put it to a stop or to slow it down has apparently past. If Trump prevails in November and the senate is not gutted of the mindless support of his activities, then the step to King Trump is almost assured. God help out dear country.
7
Paul, I am still waiting for that major drop in the financial markets you said we would have after election night 2016. We zombies really like our retirement accounts!
2
The US economy is strong precisely because of the trillion dollar stimulus, in the form of federal spending deficits, that the government is pumping into the economy each year.
5
It took Reagan-Bush over 10 years to ruin the economy, and W. about 8. While it's true that (according to him) Trump is a genius, even he couldn't ruin the great economy he inherited from Obama in only 3 years. Give him time. (Or not...).
1
@Mark He retracted that comment almost the next day. He said it was made in haste. You have not been paying attention.
This is one of your best posts Mr. Krugman, and that is saying a lot. But of course all of this is true, and the zombie like inaction on impeachment is like the zombie like inaction on climate, guns, the deficit etc. And you are especially right bout the fact that the divide now in the country is between those with principles and the political party who has denounced them. Everyone with principles has been bounced out of the White House, even those with only a few principles like Jeff Sessions and John Kelly and Rex Tillerson. Poster child for the absence of principles of course is Lindsey Graham, who now wants to out the whistleblower and investigate poor Hunter Biden, son of the couple he used to travel the world with.
11
Some of the zombie mentality comes from long-time urban / rural culture war divisions.
The idea that tax cuts pay for themselves, blatantly false, is just another way of saying that R's don't like big-spending liberals. So there is nothing new under the sun.
And Democrats won't get anywhere calling Republicans zombies. Democrats have to BEAT Republicans at the polls. That's all that matters.
4
Once Reagan made tax cutting and deficits okay, the descent into fantasy has dominated the conservative Republicans. Those people asserted that McCain was a RINO because he insisted that if tax rates are cut, government must spend less not borrow more money to make up for the loss of revenues.
8
@Casual Observer Yes, I agree, and when did it ever make sense to cut taxes during an economic recovery ? Isn't that when you need to start paying down the debt ? Doesn't that leave the government with very little room to maneuver when a recession hits ?
8
@John R.
Clinton beat Trump at the polls. Democrat representatives generally recieve more votes than Republicans, but thanks to gerrymandering they are under represented in the House. Democratic senators represent millions more voters than Republican senators.
Also, Krugman didn't call Republicans zombies, he called their ideas zombie ideas. Read more carefully next time.
5
The Senate cannot condone a President exploiting the office to do what benefits him/her in defiance of the law, the oath of office, or principles of conflict of interest without making the rule of law conditional upon political power. We cannot secure our liberties nor a consensus of the governed which is the basis for our system with the rule of law being superior to political power.
Presidents have exceeded their authority for the sake of expedience many times and the Congress and the people have condoned it when it seemed to be in the common interests. But the result has become a political party condoning a President exceeding his authority for his purposes not the country’s, and he did it because he thinks that defying rules is his right.
His demagoguery has made Republicans unwilling to say anything that he does not want to hear because Republican voters will expel them from office if they do. There is nothing Republicans can do without speaking up and letting the voters be convinced by them or by Trump. The authority of elected office is too precious to risk but they allow that authority to be made impotent by Trump. The whole situation is bizarrely unreasonable.
4
It will be interesting to compare Republicans today with their future selves in a few months, once Limbaugh is gone.
6
@Enjoy The Kitchen They’ll simply replace him with someone more toxic.
Too many eligible voters, especially in the swing states, did not vote in 2016. Given what was obvious about Trump then, and what should be (if that is even possible) "more obvious" about him now, one can infer that most non-voters did not, and would not vote, for Trump.
Whoever becomes the candidate for the Democrats better use every form of media, get loads of volunteers to go door-to-door, and use every sophisticated survey tool to reach those potential voters.
The candidate should not bother to try to convert a Trumpist. The key is to outnumber the Trumpists.
If the candidate cannot get enough votes to outnumber the Trumpists, this time, then one of main fears of the founding fathers will become evident. The founders feared the ignorant; they feared popular democracy and direct voting by those they deemed not qualified. A good candidate can educate the non-voters.
Democratic republics, alas, are not the norm in human history. They are more fragile than most Americans would like to believe.
For all those who continue to support Trump, your freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will diminish as that man gains more power. You may want to believe Trump "has your back," but history shows that every individual who gained more power to run a government, ended up caring less and less about fewer and fewer citizens.
Remember Trumpists, the net results of Trump are that China and Russia are gaining, not losing, power.
11
@Chris Thanks for saying it: outnumber the Trumpers. Only way. Vote.
Capitalism in the face of finite resources will necessarily run into a brick wall at some point. We desperately need to be amending our expectations and understanding of the changes that are coming our way like a run away train. I don't know about you, but I don't plan on standing on the tracks while it bears down.
4
I really want to see the day when the economic powerhouse states (i.e. blue states that are net-contributors to the treasury) say to the rest, "You know what? Fine. Have your tax cuts, your fossil fuels, your corporate welfare that pays for giant companies to offer sub-living wages, your assault weapons in schools, your absurd military spending and your ridiculous scam of a corporate-owned healthcare system. But we're not subsidising it for you anymore. Buh-bye."
Overwhelmingly red states own the political system simply because of their low population density. And their assault on democracy, science, and basic economics is subsidised by the states with most of the population and most of the GDP, who want to take care of their own residents but are being prevented from doing so.
It seems crazy. But we are at the point where our system is breaking down. That's the point where secession should actually be a serious conversation.
569
Thank you so much for this insight. I could not agree more. It absolutely is time to divide this nation.
Unfortunately, it cannot be done by secession. I studied this extensively when there was going to be a California secession initiative on our ballot and concluded that it simply cannot be accomplished. There literally are thousands of barriers, including federal ownership of land in the seceding states, the need to replace the interstate compacts with treaties, and social security disengagement issues.
So, I think it impossible to do a separation unless both new nations are committed to it equally and will work cooperatively to resolve these difficult issues. Of course, that won't happen so long as red states continue to possess the power with which to rule as a minority in the Senate, the Electoral College, and the now-lawfully gerrymandered states.
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@Elle A simpler, less painful and more useful option might be to have three main political streams instead of two. The nutcase Republicans, a centrist Democratic Party and a left-wing party. The electoral math would then induce some Republicans with brains still functioning to move to the Dems while the left-wing party would anyway have a strong base that would counterbalance the right-wing base. Right now, those Republicans who are appalled by what's going on have nowhere to turn to.
23
@Elle I couldn't agree more with you, but unlike the civil war where there was a natural North-South division, our current situation is a lot more complex. The real division in our country is urban vs. rural, and that is just as true in the reddest of red states as it is in the bluest of blue states. Sure, we could divvy up the red and blue states but there would still be huge internal divisions within the states along the lines of population density. In principle, what you suggest sounds good-and it's obvious who the winners and losers would be-but it's just not practical. The irony here is that I hear a lot of shouting about civil war these days, but it seems to be mostly coming from the recipients of the blue state subsidy.
31
Trouble is, people who vote for these corrupt Republicans are not going to change. They truly think that their bizarre, quasi-religious beliefs are righteous & principled. They cling to the notion that laissez-faire capitalism is sacred, & have intertwined it with their version of Christianity. Many are employed in the fossil fuel industry, or in other polluting industries, so their incomes & health insurance are also enmeshed with their political & religious beliefs. They vote in huge numbers in the South & Midwest. They control multiple state legislatures & are not about to give up power, especially as they are salivating over the prospect of a conservative Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Why should they change - especially since they think they are "winning." They are cheering this president on, & are convinced that Democrats are not real Americans. Only they represent the true America. They are determined to maintain power at all costs, & have zero interest in compromise. These folks are a danger to the functioning of any type of democracy or republic, because they do not believe in sharing power. We have to deal with them every day in Texas, because they run the state, & they are increasingly frightening in their lust for power & their willingness to do anything, no matter how cruel or heartless, to retain it. They really want to crush democracy, & they are not wavering in their determination. What can we do in the face of a juggernaut determined to destroy us?
323
@Allison What can we do? Vote, vote and vote. And help others to do the same. And play a strategic long game that involves a united democratic front built on compromise and inclusion. What else can we do?
49
@Allison Yes, but for Beto O'Rourke shaking that voter base a bit, maybe 5.5. on the Richter scale, Texans and the state are GOP to the nth. There is some change in the big cities, even Dallas where I lived for some time has a different face for the DA, mayor, and representatives to the Texas House and Senate as well as the national stage. The oil biz has run things forever and now is joined at the hip w/tech which is not especially noted for being at present as civic-minded as in the days of for example Texas Instruments with the triumvirate of Erik Jonsson, Cecil Green, and Gene McDermott who made Dallas into a better city. Michael Dell follows in those footsteps and sure there are great foundations in Houston who add to the civic weal. But the rural aspect of Texas and the iconic ideal of horses, oil, and independence join conservative policy in terms of public monies for education, health, progress.
13
@Allison
Outstanding post! What's really even more sickening about this besides the utter benightedness of these voters is that the electoral systems for the Senate and Presidency, which were designed to prevent the kind of tyranny that the GOP is trying to impose, are the key reasons why the Right has had so much success with its authoritarian agenda. The GOP controls the Senate and the White House despite being the nation's minority party because of how Senators and electoral votes are allocated across states. So our system, which was set up the way it is in order to prevent a demagogue like Trump from becoming President, has instead turbo supercharged his ascendance and the ascendance of the GOP. In a way, the results seem to validate the founding father's basic mistrust of the wisdom of the masses. It's a shame that they couldn't figure out a better system to balance out that mistrust.
38
Please, enough with the "John McCain" stuff. He was for tax cuts, would have been for abolishing the Affordable Care Act if not for the slip-shod senate process to get there. He voted against that, as much as the idea of providing health care at an affordable level. He was a war hawk, an environmental fence straddler, etc. He may have crossed the aisle more than others, but you wouldn't know it from the scant path he left behind.
6
The Kennedy-Johnson tax cut of 1964 did pay for itself and more, but that was because marginal rates at the time were so high. Cutting a 90% tax rate is bound to create investment and business activity, leading to more revenue than was collected when rates were virtually confiscatory. But the law of diminishing returns applies; at some point cutting rates doesn't provide enough bang for the buck. At what tax rate does cutting fail to create more revenue? That's a question economists should look at.
7
@Jon Harrison
This is not a new question. Ironically, the Laffer Curve demonstrates that exact turning point, but not its percentage. But we have very few data points. Only the JFK-LBJ tax cut clearly was above that point--but we don't even know if where it was lowered to (70%?) was above or below the turning point. We DO know that every tax cut after that starting with Reagan's was BELOW that turning point. Period.
@Dadof2: Actually, I know if's not a new question. But P.K. and others are constantly saying that tax cuts never pay for themselves. That is indeed quite true for recent history, but I'd like to see a little more rigor in the analysis.
Hard to believe that 70% would be the cutoff point. I would think if the top rate had gone from 90 or so percent to 50%, the cut would still have paid for itself, at least in the context of the 1964 economy.
You correctly point out that George H.W. Bush identified the tax cut "zombie." However. I think its important to also note that the "Clinton surplus" was largely due to H.W.'s courage to raise taxes and put his country before his re-election. An example that politicians on both sides should follow!
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@Mark Westgate
True, and we have seen very little of this kind of political courage since.
Pres. Obama greatly admired him for that and has said it was one of the principal reasons he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to him in 2011.
35
@Mark Westgate
Good point, and a sad one! The last principled act by a GOP politician, the last time a GOP leader did something for the good of the nation despite its personal political costs, was 30 years ago. Since then, for Republicans it's all been a rapid decent into the abyss.
27
@Mark Westgate I really don't think that had anything at all to do with courage. He was backed into a corner and left no choice but to allow tax increases. I think it is a good thing that he was because, as you say, it contributed greatly to the later surplus. But lets not give a man credit for holding out until there was no option left for him.
8
Our Democracy cannot survive with only one actual party. I pray that the true, principled Republicans can reform and grow into the vital second party.
5
1510 comments and rising on a piece that tells the truth but a truth we've all heard a 1000 times. What if the 1500 commenters would perhaps go into the streets and instead of going through the ritual of self-righteous denunciations of the Republican Party (who, don't get me wrong, deserves denunciation) and the endless treadmill of repeating the same exhortations to vote, they actually took political action.
Just a thought.
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@Chris
Absolutely true. In particular, why aren't college students taking to the streets to demand responsible government, at least a government that would deal with future crisis in climate change and inequality of wealth. The sad truth is that the young are too interested in selfies and social media followers and have not been brought up with a genuine fear of totalitarianism (no Cold War indoctrination). I think most see the very concept of American democracy (and rightly so) as archaic, inefficient, and broken.
11
@Chris: Why assume that we aren't politically active? Writing to the Times and being politically active in other ways are not mutually exclusive. Many readers write and call their reps, volunteer for political campaigns, donate to candidates, register voters, and attend marches, rallies, and candidate forums.
34
@Chris
I agree totally with you....but I live in a red state, where every senator and representative is conservative Republican. I tried writing directly to their offices during the 2017 run-up to the "tax cut" they were dreaming up....and I pointed out how capping the State and Local Taxes in our high tax state would actually INCREASE our Fed taxes of the middle class.
No one listened. I pay $2K more per year, and feel marginalized.
6
In the Reagan era, the Republican party discovered two magic words that would win them elections for the next forty years: tax cuts! The Democrats have never come up with anything to match that.
So you can call it what you like, I call it a very successful strategy! Trump will use it again this year.
1
How about "climate change"?
Krugman's analysis of the Republican Party evolution to its present state is right on. The destruction of democracy and the rule of law is hidden in all of Trump's histrionics, so it is difficult to sort out the truth. This is where Krugman is so helpful in giving us the alert that we are at a critical point of no return in terms of preserving our democracy.
5
As usual, Krugman can only see problems with Republicans. I would have had more sympathy with the column if he'd at least referenced an example or two from the other side, granted that the Republicans are over the top guilty right now.
1
@olin137: Perhaps you could provide us with one or two examples of courageous Republicans who have recently bucked the Trumpists? I can't think of any, offhand, but am willing to read about any rare exemplar you care to name.
2
The ideas that tax cuts pay for themselves and that austerity budgets are good for the economy aren't new zombies, but they've been proven not to work or be true as far back as we have economic data to study (See Thomas Picketty's 'Capital In The Twenty-First Century'). It just proves that Republicans are economically ignorant enough to, of their own volition, live in a world where fantasy is preferable to reality and worth giving up Democracy for.
4
"The real surprise is how hot we seem to be able to run the economy without inflationary pressures. "
Simple, the significant financial benefits of the mega tax cuts for the rich help ONLY THE RICH.
There is not enough "trickle down" money to cause inflation- wages are still low, no spending on infrastructure, etc.
Even the insanely rich can't spend enough on their own to cause inflation.
5
This fever will burn itself out.
Great and lasting damage and scaring, but it will burn itself out just like the planet is in the process of doing too.
In geological time what’s happening now is less then nothing. In our children’s lifetime it is all and everything.
Take a silent pledge to NEVER vote GOP ever again. Irredeemable
261
@Minskyite Pledge taken. (Not silent, though.) That was easy to do. A vote half a century for John Lindsay for Mayor of NYC--before he himself turned away from the Repubican Party--got it out of my system. Best purge of my life.
4
@Minskyite
I made that pledge during the W reign of terror. However, the Democrats fetishization of illegal aliens, their plans to repeal or weaken to extinction the first and second amendments to the Constitution, their embrace of hard core socialism and their cancellation of anybody that dares to question their party line has turned me against them. It's sad to see Trump as the lesser of the two evils.
1
You do know that over 85% of all coal plants were approved under Democratic presidential leadership, right? Everyone is to blame. Let's not be hypocritical here, Minsky.
The "zombie" policy ideas are portrayed by Dr. Krugman as eating the brains of politicians, and faithful followers of right wing orthodoxy. On this point I find myself wishing for a little extra nuance from him.
The zombie does not simply eat their brains. It quite specifically eats the part of the brain responsible for making a person moral. The thoroughly successful plans pushed by the right wing of American politics haven't been stupid. They have accomplished what they always wanted. A nearly invincible kleptocracy with complete control over Washington.
We have not suffered from zombies eating the thinking parts of Trumpist minds. We have suffered because their cognitive capacity is undiminished at the same time that their moral backbone has been ground to dust.
They know tax cuts don't work for boosting growth for us. They know it boosts growth for them.
They know climate change will cause hunger, natural disasters, potentially even war. But they know they will be insulated from its worse effects. They know if won't be their children fighting in any future wars.
They know healthcare could be made better for the many. But that would cost them money, and the healthcare for the few already works well.
They know strong unions would make workers lives more comfortable. But they are the capital class, not the labor class, and the status quo already works well for them.
599
@Mike C I agree. It seems like the new GOP is filled with idiot savants - truly skilled at obtaining power, inciting fear of the "Other" and distorting our elections; while simultaenously failing to grasp the damage their one great skill engenders.
37
@Mike C The kleptocracy reaps the benefits, but the GOP voters are the targets of the zombie ideas that hurt them.
25
@Ned
They don't CARE about the damage.
They care about their morals, which include winning no matter what,
more power for their wealthy donors, and
the hegemony of white males
(which is why evangelicals like them. Their image of God is the epitome of old white men.)
Read Lakoff:
For me, one of the most poignant effects of the ignorance of metaphorical thought is the mystification of liberals concerning the recent electoral successes of conservatives." https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40971091.pdf?seq=1
"There is no middle in American politics. There are moderates, but there is no ideology of the moderate, no single ideology that all moderates agree on. A moderate conservative has some progressive positions on issues, though they vary from person to person. Similarly, a moderate progressive has some conservative positions on issues, again varying from person to person.
"https://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/excerpt/2016/lakoff_trump.html
1
I’ve had the opportunity to spend time closely observing peaceful protests & strikes in DC, India, Haiti and France. These are not minor events. Street protests do not always succeed. Opposition often introduces violent actors. Rest assured Trump will vilify anyone who dares to strike or march in the streets against him. But the people of Hong Kong & France don’t stop until they get results. The recent Women’s Marches were fantastic but most in the US sit in front of TVs on a couch gaining weight instead of organizing & doing something about it. Even a Get Out the Vote drive will help immensely!
6
The Media really let us down with their equivalence baloney. They never called a lie a lie.
The Dems, who certainly always had their own chances to counter-message, didn't.
The GOP just steamrolled them both.
So, here we are.
1408
@Sara C There was plenty of journalism exposing trump for what he is before the election. Blaming the media is a cop-out. Republicans have been telling their rank and file for about 40 years now not to trust the mainstream media. So here we are.
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@Sara C
How were Democrats to convey their "counter message" if not through the media? And of course, the Russians were only too succesful in using social media to tilt the election in favor of Trump and his party.
72
@Sara C
Don't blame the media. There was more than enough information out there for people to make an informed choice.
Although I will give you that I never saw so many euphemisms and synonym for the word "lie" in my life as when reporters were writing about trump
105
The most persistent zombie idea of all is the fantasy that America is still a representative democracy, that popular will will eventually translate into public policy and determine who holds political office. If you still believe that Donald Trump and the Republicans look forward to disabusing you of such childish notions come this November.
406
@Richard
I would also add, coupling on to the delusion that we are a representative democracy (soon to be a one-party system), the delusion that America is number one. America is, perhaps, number one in the world in defense spending, but beyond that, there is nothing. We are behind - way behind - every other developed country in maternal deaths (26.4/100,000 live births), the next highest is the UK (9.2/100,000 live births. In terms of life expectancy, the US is behind all developed countries. I will say, regarding health care, that the US is number one in the world on health expenditures, far outstripping number two by some 4% more GDP.
The list goes on.
28
@Peter Hornbein A very important term n this equation is the factor by which disappointed liberal-type voters left the field of play to imagine usefulness in the Green party. Please note: w/o Ralph Nader in 2000, Al Gore would've been president, and there would have been no Iraq war and its permanent aftermath. Just a few votes! And Nader walked off with many, many thousand liberal votes.
Same in 2016; different people, same disaffected 'Democrats'. I am indeed saying it is all our own damn fault. A house divided ... runs into major trouble.
5
@Feldman: I voted Green in 2000, because I was living abroad & had seen how the Green Party in Germany had been very effective, while the American Democrats had moved so far to the right that they no longer represented my values. I was sick & tired of DINOs, & did not want Gore to carry on ignoring the welfare of the working classes, while catering only to upper income voters. Voting for the Green Party was a way to express a hope for radical change. At the time, I knew my vote would ultimately not count, but I wanted the Democratic Party to know that I was not happy with them & their candidate. But instead of the leadership realizing that they needed to change, they took to scolding voters for not toeing the party line & voting in lockstep like Republicans do. What kind of a political party is it that can't figure out a way to accommodate dissent? (Hint: see today's Trumpist Party for the answer.) Some Democrats don't understand that by clinging to right-wing corporatism & refusing to support important programs like universal healthcare, they alienate a potentially huge voting bloc for themselves. They think that insults & reprimands will simply bring us all into line. My advice: try listening to us, be open to change, & see if you get more unity & better results. A huge number of people don't vote at all, because neither party is interested in representing them. The Democratic Party must include a wider plurality of voices, not just those of corporate centrists.
4
I think the Republican's lockstep support for Trump is mainly driven by fear of retribution from Trump's political base. It is enough for them to rationalize incoherently and grasp at straws to explain why they follow their leader, but really something more is going on that is not yet evident in Republican minds. A century ago the idea of the political strongman took hold in Europe, it was to become the ultra fascist political disaster that led to WWII and incredible misery for those who embraced it. We are at the cusp of a similar era -- the Age of the Oligarchs is a good term for it. It is part and parcel of the globalization of our economies and the impression that many have that the democratic high regulation states are constrained in their competitiveness in the international economy. How does a highly regulated state compete with a state that is dominated by a set of billionaire oligarchs in the global economy? The Republicans actions are saying that America needs its own oligarchic leaders like Trump who can operate without constraints in order to do America's bidding in the international economy. Trump needs to have the freedom and discretion to make deals with whoever he sees fit to work with, it won't correspond at all to the way a democratic society would operate however. We just have to trust that Trump is indeed on the side of America as we prop up the power of the executive branch to do whatever it deems necessary on the world stage or domestically.
12
@tony Let's not forget that Trump will enjoy a great relationship with Putin. How can we combine United States an Russia?
I keep wondering if Putin suggested to Trump that he mess with Ukraine? Afterall, they are at war ... keeping funds from Ukraine would benefit Russia. And agent orange believed Putin over our own intelligence agencies. Plus Putin said he would be happy if Ukraine was blamed for the 2016 election because he would be off the hook.
6
It is really hard to take anything Krugman says about taxes seriously. He continues to use kitchen table ideas that say federal deficits are bad, surpluses are good, that since the national debt is bad we should pay it down. He ignores the history that tells us that ALL 6 times we paid the debt down by 10% or more, we fell into one of our 6 terrible depressions.
He apparently believes that the purpose of taxes is to pay for gov operations. This is just wrong.
The federal gov can create as much money as it needs. It then spends this money on government operations, e.g. the military, roads & bridges, research, education, etc. In this way money gets to you & I.
Now while there is no theoretical limit on the creation of money, there is a practical one. If too much money is sent to the private sector, there will be excessive inflation. Taxes take some of this money back.
Hence the purpose of taxes is to adjust the amount of money in the economy.
Note, however, if the budget is balanced, there will be no new money sent to the private sector to support a growing economy. Even worse, if the government shows a surplus & pays down the debt, money will be leeched out of the private sector. This explains the 6 depressions mentioned above.
Also a trade deficit takes money out of the economy. Hence to support a growing economy, the deficit must be larger than the trade deficit. Except for a brief period in 2003, this condition was not met from 1996 to 2008. And the economy crashed.
9
@Len Charlap Then why do conservatives always complain about deficits when Democrats are in the White House?
48
@Len Charlap
??
I’m very confused by your comment. Paul Krugman has consistently been in favor of government spending and has consistently argued against deficit hawks. I’m not sure how you arrived at the idea that he is against government spending.
49
@Len Charlap I have never read Dr, Krugman say that paying down the debt is a priority. He has in fact made some of the same points that you do. For me the deficit is a problem because it's a trillion dollars thrown away on the wrong things. History shows that scare tactics about the deficit come from Republicans who resent tax dollars being spent on the welfare of Americans.
72
I fully support the President and the Republican Party. The Democrats squandered two years of control of the House and have accomplished absolutely nothing. Meanwhile the country has moved on. Do not expect to see a Democrat Speaker of the House next year when President Trump begins his second term.
11
And if that moment comes to pass, it will mean the future will be a world of a handful of supermen with absolute power. A world where crushing your opponent is the main objective.
A world of pain and suffering for those not “lucky” enough to be born to the right family.
114
Greg, would you be kind enough to what legislation passed by Republicans (when they have controlled either 2 or 3 branches) in the past 20 years has accomplished? Specifics?
76
@greg You criticize the democrats for not accomplishing anything with a majority in the house. Do you understand how the legislature works? Having control of one house gives you the ability to block legislation and control oversight. Thats it. Name something else a party with control of one house of congress can actually do unilaterally.
35
When I was a teen in the 60's, there was a highly-publicized series of debates between Gore Vidal on the left & William F. Buckley on the right. Buckley started the National Review political journal, was a patrician, & part of the landed gentry of his era. Hardly an extremist like the Republicans of today. Vidal was an author, clearly impressed with himself, & part of the cultural elite. The key, however, is that neither were as extreme as we see the politicians--& pundits, (particularly on the right)--of today. In the debates, Vidal constantly needled Buckley, calling the US an "Empire," which would inevitably go down eventually--as All Empires do. I never gave that concept much credence, although it was certainly much discussed for some time. Fast forward 50 years to now. Are we indeed in the decline phase of an Empire, inevitability headed to cede our position as the world's leading Superpower? Or has Capitalism just gone to it's natural state of degradation, operating more like an Ayn Randian state than one of positive development, innovation & shared prosperity, as we lived through in the immediate post WW2 era? In any case, the Radical Right old billionaire white guys have exercised their muscle over America-for now. My gut tells me they'll drive it over a cliff as they always do, then the left will regain power & clean up the mess. So the cycle, which has already run multiple times, will continue. For today's column, that means "Brutalize, bankrupt, repeat." Sad.
4
@dajoebabe - You are behind the times. The wealthy billionaires are no longer shady businessmen. They are from the middle to the left of politics and many are liberal democrats.
Warren Buffett,
Bill Gates, Microsoft
the late Steve Jobs, Apple
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Larry Page, Google
Sergey Brin, Google
They are no just wealthy, but they are almost all philanthropists.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates gave away between them six billion dollars in 2018, through Gates philanthropic charity.
You are going to have revise you view of the robber baron society.
Once again, the case against trickle down economics is proven, as it has been countless times before.
Republicans will drag it out time after time, and will continue to do so for as long as people keep voting for it.
It is insanity.
8
The GOP agenda is to undermine democracy, which follows the goals of Charles Koch and his right-wing billionaire friends, the Federalist Society, and the rest of the New Right in the U.S.. They specifically want to prevent Congress from having any effective oversight over the "Unitary Executive," because they want to be sure that the majority cannot vote to redistribute resources or expand the social safety net. Of course, this view is supported only as long as the GOP can guarantee through voter suppression and cheating that they will always win the presidency and control the courts. The agenda includes destroying civil rights, labor rights, and human rights. This agenda is explicitly unmasked in Nancy MacLean's book, Democracy in Chains, and in Jane Mayer's book, Dark Money. Building this agenda, helped along by funding from conservative organizations that right-wing billionaires and more recently the Koch Brothers created, is built on lying about what they are really trying to do. They use populist terms and the culture war to further their efforts. The rhetoric hasn't changed much in decades. They are against abortion, acid, and amnesty (which used to mean draft avoiders but now refers to undocumented immigrants) and they play up God, guns, and gays. Democracy is literally at stake, which is why the House Managers and Democratic Senators have had no influence with the GOP. The GOP is trying to undermine democracy, while the Democrats are trying to save it.
7
Mitch McConnell is responsible more than anyone.
Can a mass movement of democrats move to Kentucky right now so we can vote him out?
What boggles my mind is that people - some in my extended family - believe him- believe Trump. And me, their cousin, their niece- the little girl that loved them as a kid- I am now the enemy:
It started with Foxx news- Anne Coulter’s books about horrible liberals on their shelves. It started when Karl Rove decided that evangelical pro lifers were not voting and he masterminded the election of Bush ( or did Gore really win- ?).
It’s been downhill for so long- but I never thought I would see this. The scariest part of it is that when the USA becomes authoritarian what will that do to the rest of the world? With this military anything is possible. This frightens me the most.
When the planet is warming, continents are on fire, climate refugees are in cages in our very own country, some people long for a just and healthy world- a healthy ecosystem- intact rainforests - animals ( this quickly vanishing daily ) and some want to just burn it all down. Profiting as we fall.
478
@Lucia I know the pain you feel over rejection by your family. My brother, with whom I've gotten along for 60 years, became incensed by some of my anti-GOP Facebook posts, and sent me a vitriolic e-mail several months ago. I haven't spoken with him since because there's nothing I could say. He simply cannot and will not see the naked Emperor parading around in front of us. I'm flabbergasted at his gullibility. So, rather than stress the obvious, I just don't say a word.
58
@Lucia
It's not so much that they want to burn it down, it's that profit and business growth are more valued than the more ethereal beauty of wildness, the beauty of community - health care, clean air, etc.
36
@Lucia For me the most terrifying extrapolation of our current trajectory is after climate change renders much of Asia uninhabitable. When Bangladesh goes under water and over 100 million people head for dry land, the scale of global disruption will be severe and unprecedented and make the refugee crisis emanating from Syria seem gentle by comparison. Imagine then the fear that will take hold of the American population and the depths to which our politics will sink.
46
What you call a zombie is what some of us call "what works." When you're *this close* to the realization of a strat plan in progress for decades, when the absolute takeover is almost complete and so much opportunity awaits in a truly free market economy, believe me, you bless those zombies for making it possible and for protection they provide from all the whining and keening from the other side.
3
“Truly free market economy” - what I see are subsidies to ethanol, handouts to farmers and coal miners and tariffs. That free market?
16
@Gypsy Mandelbaum Yes, I can see the appeal in having a free market health care system that swears by the rule, "Your money or your life."
5
2016: shock of what the Electoral College actually really, really means, the Russians were involved in the election
2017: dismay at the crudity, lawlessness and constant barage of lies, the Current Opccupant of the White House trusts the Russians more than his own intelligence community
2018: worry and fear for the loss of water, air and land protection, the Russians are still meddling in our affairs
2019: appalled at the GOP treasonous behavior supporting lies, the Russians working hard into changing the narrative of the 2016 election
2020: hope vs despair, one can only vote, until the GOP zombies take that away too...
3
Economists used to elaborate their theories observing the reality... and of course, those were "theories after the facts"... Now we have "economic theories" derived from opioid dreams.
1
Voodoo rules the Democarts. Take Climate Change.
They act like if the USA cuts CO2 generation to negative numbers (i.e. our scientists actually learn to net sequester)
it will slow CO@ rise. It won't, bevause China, India, all of Africa, and yes, really yes, even Japan will INCREASE theirs even more,
playing us for patsies.
The Democrats believe in other voodoo too: they seem to not realize that their socialist policies destroy the soul of a country.
Its already destroying higher education. Look at my address.
I have seen to eat away at UIUC like a cancer. Only the teensiest piceces of our once-great school really believe in quality any more. Its not the only thing, its not even the 2nd most important thing. Wait, make that not even third most important, after after #1, active race and sex discrimnination in hiring and admissions (i.e. the most important qualification is race), #2 generation of new programs to promote race and sex and ethnic discrimination, and #3, paying lip service to "Climate Change". Its #4. Policies like this will result in disaster. Policies like these are the soul of the Democrats.
Mr. Krugman writes that it takes a certain kind of person to become a "zombie", namely a "cynical careerist". I disagree with that. Always I wondered how the German people could bring Hitler to power. Not only the heads of the German economy cooperated with him and not only the heads of the army - the masses saluted him zieg-heil. How did that happen? The answer is simple: Under certain conditions all human beings may lose reason, submit to political brainwashing and serve nasty purposes. History is full of such examples (not all of them as hideous as the Nazi example, but some are horrifying enough - Chile in the junta era, Franco's Spain, Iran today and a lot more). Is there any society capable of overcoming the evil forces that pushes it into self-destruction? Probably not, but history also proves that a society is capable of regenerating. South Africa is a good example. Germany - the same Germany - after the war. Also parts of former Yugoslavia. In my opinion, most of the renewal process comes only after a major explosion: a severe economic crisis, an internal or external war, a terrible natural disaster. For the USA we are now witnessing the pre-explosive era. Only after it occurs will decent leaders like those who headed the free world after World War II be elected again. Michael Karpin is the author of "The bomb in the Basement - How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means to the World". It was published by Simon & Schuster
1
It has become obvious that decency and intelligence will not open or change the minds of ZOMBIE REPUBLICANS. The rest of us, we deeply-rooted decent Americans, will just have to outnumber them and re-establish a government for and by the people.
I have given up on what used to be a valid political party and has become a traitorous, ignorant, bigoted, self-serving cult led by a narcissistic sociopath - a cult devoid of truth, morals or ethics and in denial of the obvious.
WE will re-set America on a path of both survival and progress in spite of Trump's thugs. They too will benefit, as will their descendants, but they are too indoctrinated into their cult to realize it now.
It has been far too long since entitled Americans have had to fight for their freedoms, but the time has come. We understood it during Hitler's reign and now during Trump's. All that remains is to effect a dramatic change to competent, honest governance and to "throw the bums out".
4
Zombies schmombies. No matter what current republicans really believe regarding economics, client, religion, education, your last two sentences are all that matters,
“What we’ve learned however - and perhaps more important, what Trump has learned - is that there is no line. If Trump wants to dismantle democracy and rule of law (which he does), his party will stand with him all the way.”
4
Thank you Mr. Krugman. I look forward to reading your book.
2
Let us speak truth to power: the current voting system we have, with the electoral college, fails the majority utterly. My solution is secession. The Times published yesterday that New York City contributes 10% of our national GDP. I would be very happy if we stopped supporting those in the South and Midwest who want our money but not our values or our science.
5
"Zombie"is a good word to call these policies. But another one is "reactionary." The Republicans have moved so far to the right--even of conservatives like Goldwater-- that most are radical reactionaries yearning for a time that never existed.
This paper uses the terms "moderate" and "centrist" too easily. Susan Collins is no moderate or centrist. She is merely an old fashioned conservative. All these so called moderates approve your zombie tax cuts.
The same is true for the "center left" Democrats. They are often conservative and corporatist (e,g. Joe Manchin.) Or they refuse to embrace compassionate policies like Joe Biden. These people aren't "pragmatists" as they claim; they are Republican-lite, bowing to corporations and Republicans. They could be called center right before Reagan.
That Leaves progressives. We are not radical leftists like the Maoist New Left of my college days. We are the center left.
2
Well done doctor; but you could have saved yourself some time by quoting Upton Sinclair...
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
After all, brevity is the soul of wit:-)
3
This is all about survival. GOP sees that the American electorate is changing. We are becoming more liberal, more diverse, more tolerant. In their panic to survive they have taken in dark money from foreign countries (Lev Parnas). They have suppressed votes. They have gerrymandered. They have stood by and watched their president degrade the pillars of Democracy. They have twice allowed him to cheat in an election using foreign influence. Why? Because they are in on it. How about trying to survive by putting together a better plan for the American people and being a better candidate? What a joke.
1
"There must be something rotten at the very core of a social system which increases its wealth without diminishing its misery." Karl Marx
2
Sorry but I have to take issue with this. Zombies don't eat souls. They eat brains. Everyone knows this.
@EPI
Zombies eat brains - that's already happening and it's bad enough. But isn't there something in the Harry Potter novels that eats souls?
If this is what it takes to get Americans off their couches, so be it. Let's just pray it isn't too late--please commit to doing something more than voting, and we can all get these power hungry cowards in the GOP out of office.
If the media do not appear balanced, they will give ammunition to critics for charges of bias and these charges will hurt their businesses. So they must create whatever appearance of balance is necessary to stay out of trouble. Critics will also try to influence what appears as balanced and what people perceive as balance. It is unbalanced to call a powerful person a liar without giving that person an opportunity to respond; calling that person's response incoherent or just plain incorrect cannot be done without giving the person another opportunity to respond.
In our present media environment, balance is a contradiction in terms. If something is a lie, calling it a lie is balanced and pretending that there are two sides to an issue is unbalanced and favors the side that is lying. Reporting both sides without choosing makes effective presentation the measure of truth. It is the zombie that threatens the search for truth, the soul of media.
8
@sdavidc9 Fair & balanced? Yes, that worked so well for FOX. They always try to show both sides fairly, right? Their business is thriving.
2
The more terrible the zombies become, the worst their Red States become. Then, as a result, more young people move to Blue States. The Blue States then economically subsidize the Red States even more. Yet, this nevertheless allows the Red States to become, proportionately, more dominant nationally than their decreasing numbers justify. It's a revolving Electoral College vicious cycle!
1873
@AM Indeed. I would not be surprised if this all ultimately will lead to a new civil war. To me it already feels like we have a cold one already.
108
@AM
Do you think there is time for 2 million Democratic Californians to strategically move to a few key states and register to vote?
Fight gerrymandering with a tactical response.
72
@Dave From Auckland
Dave, this is already happening, except not for purely political purposes. Idaho has been a blood red state (with a few exceptions) and a recent mayoral candidate in Boise ran on a platform of stopping Californians from moving to the state to keep it reliably Republican.
56
The founding fathers anticipated an amoral criminal would one day be in the White House.
The system of checks and balances was based on the founders' ideas about self-interest. So they did not expect members of Congress to cower before him and throw their institutional prerogatives out the window.
But Congressional Republicans are doing just that. They are so committed to themselves being in high office that they don't care about their own institution.
It's terrible to see our 240-year experiment crash like this.
2710
@Bumpercar: "The founding fathers anticipated an amoral criminal would one day be in the White House."
Yes, but they also set the bar pretty high so that impeachments would be rare and not driven by a factionalized Congress as a de-facto vote of no confidence. I think that Nixon would have been the ideal example of a bi-partisan approach on impeachment had it taken place. The three we have had so far have been driven by partisanship and/or hatred.
10
@hm1342
Or, when the budgets get to the point they're at the financial or power hungry who want a slice of the American taxpayers dollar just like donald.
This could end up using the Russian power structure as a model. Graham or Bill Barr the oligarch in charge of the timber industry?
Who would be vying for the computer industry?
40
@hm1342
Trump's crimes are far more egregious than Nixon's were.
It is completely the Republican's fault that the impeachment proceedings and the proceedings in the Senate were not bi-partisan.
402
If Trump wants to dismantle democracy and rule of law (which he does), his party will stand with him all the way.
And so will his supporters.
2
Maybe the flip side to that, Paul, is that secure jobs, better trade agreements and a secure border were more important to Republican Senators than some tempest in a Ukrainian teapot.
7
@Conservative Democrat I see. So subverting the Constitution with a profoundly corrupt abuse of power - strking at the most basic element of democracy, free and fair elections - and undermining our own national security and that of a vulnerable ally at the same time is a "tempest in a teapot"?
Astonishing. If impeachment wasn't made precisely for this, what in the world was it made for?
And... "secure jobs"? These are jobs built on environmental destruction and a trillion-dollar deficit. Of course there's economic growth, and that's good - if your idea of the future extends no further than the next election. But burning up the economy and the planet for short-term gain is most definitely NOT secure, and it's not sustainable. As the song goes: "Ain't it funny how fallin' feels like flyin' for a little while?"
65
@Conservative Democrat
I would love to know why you say that.
I am very concerned about the rule of law and it seems to me that Trump violated his oath and his constitutional duties.
I find it reprehensible that so many senators don't seem to care.
No president should get away with doing what Trump has done against his oath of office.
No president should be allowed to claim blanket immunity for his staff from testifying to Congress.
The lack of action by the Senate destroys the balance of powers.
I would love to hear your thoubhts
31
@Conservative Democrat Show me the secure jobs, better trade agreements and our borders have always been secure. trump created the crises at the border.
24
Paul Krugman has become an object of universal scorn and derision among those who disagree with him due to columns like his one today. He repeatedly demonizes and mischaracterizes all Republicans and their positions. For example, today he refers to anyone who questions the doomsday scenarios about climate and who hypothesizes that because in centuries past, well before CO2 emissions, the earth was much warmer than it is today, as standing for the proposition that perhaps the modest global warming that has occurred during the past 30 years is, in part, natural and cyclical. And in pointing to tax cuts as the cause of increasing Federal budget deficits, he ignores the fact that Federal government outlays during the Trump administration have risen sharply.
This is a deliberate misinformation campaign and undermines the credibility of Krugman’s positions.
3
@TommyStaff
That's because he's correct. Actual scientists present and past, back to the early 1900's, would disagree with you. There is very, very extensive reaching and findings.
14
@TommyStaff: Clean coal, anyone?
6
@TommyStaff You are obviously not a member of the vast scientific conspiracy - obviously. You are simply opposed to the more than 1000 peer reviewed scientific articles that state of facts of global climate change.
Many of the most renown scientists don’t just grab one piece of evidence and call it good. Rather they look at the issue from a variety of perspective. Yes the earth goes through warming cycles but none have been related to anthropogenic activities as this cycle indicates.
We can do something about global climate change if we begin acting immediately, but first we have to get our head out of the sand.
3
So much for rule of law in the United States. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, I suppose. This is a bonafide stamp of approval for criminal anarchy. If they can do whatever they want why can't us plebians? It's kind of fun to think about the types of crimes that us folks down here can now do with the blessing and example of the government. I guess this love of lawlessness explains why right wingers love their guns so much. Keep it up and they're gonna need 'em. All the kids will know that crime actually does pay. It's science.
Today’s conservative Republicans have simply lost their willingness to deal with disappointment with hypothetical propositions which the evidence has not confirmed.
Tax cuts without existing surpluses of revenues produce deficits, expenditures demanded for operations not funded with revenues that require borrowing or printing money. Reagan wanted to believe that tax cuts must raise revenues from accelerated economic expansion. But that is not the expected result and has not been.
Raising the proportion of carbon gases in the air retards the reflection of sunlight back into space. The phenomenon was discovered in a laboratory during the 1800’s. Scientists studied and have confirmed with decades of many kinds of experiments that what was proven in the laboratory is what happens in nature. Now it’s accepted that we have triggered a global warming by burning hydrocarbons and deforestation by doing what people have done throughout human existence but much more. Not doing so much is going to cost us so much that it will likely require great sacrifices, including most of what we rely upon to live. But it will not go away if ignored which is what Republicans insist that we do.
Modern societies rely upon big governments and lots of revenues to satisfy our needs. Nature cannot be changed, we can make us of how it works but we cannot make it work differently. That’s what sound reasoning tells. Republicans have assumed a frame of mind that has been described as magical.
4
We can learn how nature works and utilize it for our purposes but we cannot change how it works.
The shift of the Republican Party towards fascism started with the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. The racists southern Democrats (and other racist Democrats) became Republicans and the many non-racist Republicans became Democrats. Trump is not a aberration but the culmination of over 40 years of the Republicans Party's steady march to far-right politics of race hatred, immigrant hatred and hatred of women. One only has to read the Letters to the Editor in not only the NYT but small town America to see the average Republican's virulent hatred of the "Other."
1
Once again Krugman describes accurately some of the characteristics of the Republican Party that is destroying democracy before our eyes without giving the GOP its correct and simple designation. The GOP is a Christian fascist or religio-fascist party, just like the many right-wing parties that appeared in Europe between 1919 and 1945 and have returned in many parts of Europe today.
The GOP checks all the boxes for a Christian fascist party: enormous unreasoning support from evangelicals, white conservative Catholics, and some main-line Protestants; a dictatorial leader; extreme nationalism; racism; anti-immigrant sentiment; a propaganda machine; a judiciary that rubber stamps Trump's actions; very large financial support from industrialists; extreme corruption; contempt for learning and science; the list goes on.
But Krugman does not call the GOP a fascist party, possibly because the NYTimes will not permit him to write "fascist." And I am guessing that the NYTimes will not accept this comment for the same reason. These are times for the NYTimes to acknowledge reality.
2
The Zombies must be really hungry, because the souls of the GOP are small and very bitter.
3
Zombies are supposed to eat brains. I guess Republican zombies eat spines because the Democrats have not stood up to their opposition and started feeding on corporate leftovers.
Why has the narrative focus for the past 3+ years been on the 38% of Trump followers? Why have the majority so capitulated to this MINORITY of the country? Why is the political and media narrative is always focused on this MINORITY of the country? The mass media christened them "the base." The mass media refers to all the lies and slander that Trump gives them as "red meat." On one hand it dismisses them as a "bunch of wild animals" but on the other hand, it also ignores them as such. Trump holds "rallies" - who holds rallies? Groups like "The National Socialist Party" and KKK hold rallies to spread propaganda. Why do you think that Trump has been holding the rallies throughout his presidency? It's not to relive his glory and "play the hits" it is to spread propaganda. No one has called his "rallies" what they are - White Nationalist rallies. I mean they demonize "anti-facists" at these events!
What about the other side? The majority of the nation? Wouldn't Rubio and the GOP's argument work the other way? Wouldn't no evidence or witnesses divide the nation too? Wouldn't his acquittal cause outrage and division too? The sobering fact is that it does not matter. Tell me how money is not the root cause for all of this? You cannot. It is the cause of the complacency, corruption, lies, anti-science, deregulation, Citizens United, privatization of the military, privatization of the "cages," social media negligence, etc. Bernie and Warren get this. When will everyone else?
Many voters are impressed that Trump and his supporters are able to slide past each egregious act he commits. They think he is a political genius. Not at all. He is playing by a different set of rules which allow him to act unilaterally without consulting congress or obeying the law. That's called a tyrant, not a political genius. A political genius is someone who believes wholeheartedly in the Constitution, follows the law, and is still able to get his/her way.
2
When confronted by monsters, extreme measures are the only remedy. If a group of people are causing destruction by repeatedly lying, they must be denied their right to speak.
That is the logical solution, but how to do that when the system of governance is already corrupted is the question. If legal means are not obtainable, then extra-legal means must be employed, and for that, we need an armed insurrection of the type that founded the nation in the beginning. Truth already lies bleeding on the ground.
2
I was 16 when Trump got elected. I remember my friends and I bursting into tears at school the next day, overwhelmed and horrified by the direction that America was heading in. My classmates told us we were being overdramatic.
For the past three years, many Americans have worried about the state of our democracy. This past week, we have reached the apex and are (possibly) going past the point of no return.
So, I ask, were we really being overdramatic?
5
Bravo Dr. Krugman. It could not be better stated.
Now can you do a column on how spineless the Democrats have been until it was too late?
5
@KF2
Democrats may be disorganized, over principled and fractious, but they are not spineless.
Examples:
Adam Schiff
Chuck Schumer
the list could go on and on but I'll end with the best;
Nancy Pelosi
Spinless?
Hardly
@Larry I think you missed the point. Yes, these are Democrats with spines. But it is too late. The radical right needed to be confronted years ago, before they could do their damage. I believe there's an old adage that applies here: closing the barn door after the horse has left the barn.
I expect NYT columnists to get their facts straight, but you didn't. I'm referring to where you said that the tax cuts were justified because they would reduce the federal deficit, but instead the federal deficit increased, implying the tax cuts were responsible. This is incorrect.
While the tax cuts did not result in the dramatic increase in tax revenues that were predicted, tax revenues for the past three years have risen modestly each year, rising from $3.32 trillion in 2017 to $3.33 trillion in 2018 to $3.44 trillion in 2019. Tax revenues are not responsible for the dramatically rising federal deficit.
The rising federal deficit is instead caused by dramatically increased spending, mostly on the military.
In the next to the last episode of Game of Thrones, Arya Stark kills the Night King, the leader of the White Walkers and master of the army of the undead. As soon as he was killed, all the White Walkers crumbled into shards and the undead fell where they stood, once and for all, dead.
Trump is the Night King. The only way to stop his army of the undead is to end his reign. A vote can be as powerful as Valyrian steel.
Sorry for this nerd outburst.
4
"...thereby encouraging further abuses of power."
This is the part that republicans don't care about. They want to win now, so they can win forever, leaving out any but their own party. THAT by itself is an abuse of power.
trumpies, you should have spoken up when Mitch denied a Supreme Court pick to a president. If you cared about not allowing abuses of power, that would have triggered you. But 'sticking it to the Dems', and the siren song of 'liberal tears' literally trumped that. (And after your shameful whining about activist courts!)
When NO liberal voices are allowed in your system of government, you've become totalitarians. LOOK IT UP.
Trumpies never deny that they love to hate on the left; it's a feature, not a bug. In doing so, they allow the growth of those anti-American values. IF YOU CAN, THEN DO IT. THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.
For republicans/trump party, this has replaced "JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD".
If they can, they will, and laugh at anyone who objects. What patriots.
5
Take it from an "outsider," a gay man who grew up in post-WWII America, as everyone not white, straight, Christian, male or proudly anti-intellectual was hounded into silence and found themselves forced to flee to the large coastal cities for survival. America has ALWAYS been a land of "zombies." That they have occupied an entire major political party is no surprise. The only surprise is how look it took for Americans to institutionalize crypto-fascism. Bye, bye, Miss American Pie. The music here died long ago.
5
Trump will win re-election and proceed to overreach trying to punish his critics in his nasty vindictive way using the power of the presidency. After 4 years of lies and chaos and losing the support of the democratic world the GOP will be left in tatters with Trump gone it has no reason to exist. Mitch and Don the Con will be find they will retire with many millions and the Trump family will try to rule as a dynasty.
Then what are the people who keep voting them in called?
@Jennifer
Take a guess!
1
Democrats need to reclaim the concept Conservativism and wave proudly the truth
To conserve is to be conservationist of air water wild lands and animals
For ours and many generations to come
2
Thank you. There is literally nothing you’ve ever published with which I’ve ever disagreed! The sole voice of reason in an otherwise insane political world!
Please run for president!!
1
The transformation began with Reagan and ended with Trump. Reagan gleefully empowered the religious zombies and the race was on. Hello Fox News, bye bye Rockefeller Republicans. This is the end result of that progression.
3
Many in our nation still look to our government to lead. With the silence of our Generals Mattis, McMaster and Kelly, Cohn, Tillerson, Bolton refusing to speak out officially, publicly stating that Yes....Trump cares nothing for our nation other than how he can enrich himself and is truly unfit for office......add to that a craven Senate majority who wants their own power even if our democracy is dismantled by themselves......everything become innuendo, rumors, dishonesty and blantant hypocrisy. (Pompeo bragging overseas about our free press as this admin and he himself do everything to muzzle it.)
Blindly picking anyone off the street would probably result in a more able leader with some remaining standards of ethics. (McConnell and Trump.....you are the baseline.)
Any Dem candidate will be better for our nation as president or congressman (or dogcatcher) than the present GOP.
2
I suppose zombies eating their brains is as good an explanation for Republicans’ clinging to failed policies and a “leader” so blatantly guilty he won’t allow witnesses testify who should (if he were innocent) be able to exonerate him. I figure Republicans’ descent has more to do with their absolute terror—not only of going against Trump, but of the demographic tsunami they know is about to wash them into irrelevance. They’re grabbing judgeships and everything they can on their way down history’s toilet.
3
It's not just those ideas that are aptly called zombies. It's the millions of Americans who have been (quite by design) addicted to right-wing agit-propaganda, in a daily diet of Fox News, rightist talk radio and Internet. This grievance-centered propaganda preys on any little fears or mistrust of people unlike themselves, and gives them an intense, confirming and righteous rush of confirmation--every day, as many times as they tune in. It's an addiction epidemic, and we just watch it happen.
Memes that trigger and aggravate fears about one's tribe's survival are as addictive as drugs. This right-wing cabal of Fox et al. are the drug lords, and making money hand over fist. It's about time they were recognized, exposed, and countermeasures deveoped. The First Amendment is not a blank check to spread lies and paranoia. If we go on like this, the forces that prop up Trump will only keep growing.
Where to start? Social media would be a major arena. But they obviously can't be trusted with the job.
Vote Blue No Matter Who. Elect people who will stand up to this long-stand, still-growing "vast conspiracy" to hijack our government.
2
We had 20 years to build a bulletproof election system since the hanging chad nightmare.
So I have no choice but to believe there are interests out there who do not want our election systems fixed.
4
“For every lock, there is a key”. For every foolproof voting system, there is a hacker itching to break in.
The real zombies are not just the GOP members of Congress but the people who put them there every two years. At best, the GOP consist of cynical, self-aggrandizing opportunists but the world has never been short of this cohort. But they wouldn't be in power if the real zombies, the vox populi, could engage in some critical thinking. I probably won't be here to see how it all turns out but I do despair for those who will be.
2
The GOP and many others also believe that since Trump cut taxes, the economy is booming. But the tax cut comes at the expense of rapidly rising deficits. So they’re confusing borrowing money with genius. Anyone can borrow a bunch of money and spend it but at some point, lenders want their money back. All the old GOP deficit hawks seem to have turned into drunken sailors.
1
The Republicans are bolder now than ever. The list of atrocities this administration has done on domestic soil is too long to mention.We no longer have a check and balance system that works.The Republicans admittance that Donald Trump did these horrific acts for his own self interests, doesn't phase the R's in Congress. In fact they are his biggest enablers. We need to face those facts.It's not going to change.Greed and self interest have taken over the Republican Party, including the citizens that vote them in.
Before we know it. Educational and Health Care Programs that are the backbone of our country's principles will be gone. And the opportunity to provide a world that will acknowledge climate change and do something about it will be lost. We as a nation are lost. Our priorities are upside down.
We have to wake up before it's too late. People need to stop thinking what's in it for me and start thinking about what's best for everyone.
This Senate trial has finally shown the American People how truly self serving the Republicans are. How smug and nasty some can be. And they are proud of it.
Trump has enabled the American people to feel that they can say and do anything. Regardless of right and wrong. The bigotry and hatred on our country has never gone away. It was just waiting for the right person to put it back in plain sight with a wink and baseless talk.
VOTE VOTE VOTE it still means something.
Otherwise we will see an apocalyptic world.
The Walter Cronkite Republican notes the moral decay in the contemporary Republican Party took over when they traded places with the Dixiecrats and embraced the "southern strategy".
1
Beyond anything else in this 'Cold Civil War' might there be a final deathknell to the "False Equivalency" notion that "both parties are to blame?" This ficticious outcry by over frustrated pundits and newsroom junkies clouds the voters' judgement no end. It's been used as the final backstop to much of the electorate in keeping these Krugman "Zombies" alive for decades.
This has allowed for most all of today's events to be now, right up in our collective face. And there's no clearer danger than this demoralizing vision of an endless future to just, continue. Runaway denial of the realities in the destructive climate patterns, Warren's boom and bust cycles, destroying Obama's sensible healthcare plans, endless wars of no objectives, and the actual slide into the American Racist State.
Now is the time to end the "False Equivalency" that Zombies should have a place at the table. Be gone now and forever.
1
Read, Facist state, although Racist is presumed.
"Everyone with principles has left the party." And everyone with competence has left the Democratic Party. That leaves the country in a rather bad place.
1
Dr Krugman said, "(and no, the fact that some of them like to quote Scripture doesn’t change that fact)." It is true that quoting scripture doesn't, in itself, make you right and holy. In the Bible, even Satan quotes scripture.
1
Not surprising, given how tightly the dollar bill's grip on politics has become
With regard to climate change, no one seemed to notice that in this year's Federal, mostly bipartisan, budget Trump removed the Federal solar tax rebate that has encouraged rooftop solar nationwide. Journalism mostly missed that one while Trump and his Trumplicans covered all that and other garbage up with the impeachment. Gotta hand it to them.
The US is now an autocratic dictatorship with a man in charge that is at least a sociopath aided by a political party with no conscience. Trump can do whatever he wants to do with nothing and no one to stop him. If not reelected,he will declare voter fraud and refuse to leave. Perhaps he will declare himself President for life. There is no limit to what he will do and we will probably be temporarily surprised when it is something we hadn't thought of.
1
"What’s left now is a party that, as far as I can tell, contains no politicians of principle."
Actually they have two principles: number one is to serve the interests of their largest donors, and, number two is retain power at any cost.
Democrats certainly have their own compromises but to do what was done to Merrick Garland requires a particularly shameless and cynical conviction, one that hasn't a shred of concern for American democracy nor the dignity of the institution. That disgraceful episode could only star a Republican.
These "zombie ideas" are nothing more than cloaking devices designed to fool a gullible American public. They've been so successful that nearly half of all voters consistently elect representatives who couldn't care less about their constituents' interests. Refusing to hear witnesses at the president's impeachment "trial" is only the most recent Republican failure. With nearly half of American voters mesmerized by zombies it appears there will be many more failures to come.
I think it's a mistake to keep saying that the Republicans don't care about this or that. They care very much. They are driven! They are driving the country exactly where they want it.
And unless or until the Democrats care enough and show enough drive of their own, it's only going to get worse.
And what enabled this zombification of the Republican party? As I always say, people do because they can. And Republicans do because the perverted electoral college system, which originally meant to prevent the take-over by the zombie crowds by giving more power to"enlightened people", is now enabling zombification by giving Montana the same power as California in the Senate.
The zombification will continue till we fix the electoral college problem.
Hey Republicans on the eve of his impeachment for attacking our elections he again attacks our elections by slandering Iowa to undermine confidence in the right of people to vote and have their voice heard.
His impeachment and removal are absolutely justified.
Great column! As someone who is moving to Maine soon, I am looking forward to getting rid of the "fake moderate" Susan Collins.
The Framers of the Constitution took great pains to protect the new republic from despotism. All for naught. The sad truth is that no system is despot-proof.
Looks like the super smart Democratic Zombies in Iowa cannot even figure out how to roll out an app. What Mr. Krugman is suggesting is that we trust the super smart Zombies in the democratic party to run our country, solve climate change, erase income equality, elimanate student debt and healthcare for all.
No thanks. Vote Bloomberg. At least he ran NYC well.
Our government no longer works for the people. Trumpian poison has spread far and wide and watching the Republicans lie and shamelessly defend our Corrupter in Charge and turn their backs on the American people is a new Low. Corporations, money and foreign assistance from Trump's friends must not be what rules our country, our future and the world. We the people must take a stand and fight for our freedom and justice. We the people must defend our rights and We the people must pay attention to the truth, be involved and act accordingly. We have everything to loose if we are not able to unite and fight for our rights.
The people need to refuse to be devided by political lies and propaganda. Know what is happening and demand justice for all.
Perfect metaphor. I unenrolled as a Republican and enrolled as "unenrolled." Go Bernie 2020!
Give corruption a chance. The Republicans on The Hill have worked hard to get there. Some of them have actually been at or near a law school. Makes you wonder what they teach at those law schools. Is there a class on ethics anywhere? Is their trust invested in fossil fuels?
If the Hill Republicans are so enamored to be banana salesmen, they should move to Central America. I understand there are plenty of vacant homes there.
Mr. Krugman's comments have become more or less the same each time he writes now as time has gone on. He seems as frustrated as I am. I see this as a sign the truth of these matters is so obvious that all even the most analytical of us can do now is repeat, repeat, and repeat them.
Unfortunately he is only preaching to the choir. I wish there were some way to force those living in the hinterlands to read his articles, but apparently it's all too fashionable now there to shut reason out of your life. Perhaps a mass leaflet airplane drop of this editorial over rural Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky would increase the mix of readership? Is such a gesture even legal in this country?
And yet, 88 percent of registered Republicans support the President. Why?
While many here rail about corporate, fat cat and other power groups 'really' controlling things, a sadder truth perdures. The willing to register and vote citizens are not only a bare half of adults, the 18+ population is woefully educated in American Civics much less history. As such we are liable to accept nonsense ideas and perverse theories. That's how you get a Trump.
You get all the government you deserve in a democracy...
Only a catastrophe of some magnitude might be the only thing that jolts the zombies out of their stupor. The zombies I'm talking about are the republican's mindless followers, not their leaders....the leaders know exactly what they're doing.
Both parties have had the same main funding sources, more or less, for the past 40 years. The centrist Dems have destroyed the party as a true opposition party. In the mid-1990s Bill Clinton famously said, “they have nowhere else to go“, in describing the people who did not subscribe to the centrist corporate agenda. He got his answer in 2016...
Sadly, the only way the Democratic Party establishment will learn their lesson is at the ballot box, perhaps with the reelection of Donald Trump. The Dems had a once-in-lifetime opportunity to change the course of American history with the election of Barack Obama. However, under the leadership of the President and the Speaker of the House, the Dems blew it big-time by crafting policies mostly in line with a for-profit-corporatist agenda. In essence, Jamie Dimon’s bonus took precedence over the plight of millions of homeowners.  And Obamacare was its weak-kneed cousin.  They left themselves wide open for a major counterattack. Thus, underpinned to some extent by racism, President Obama’s visage became the face that lost 1000 seats nationwide.
The "ultimate zombie in American politics" is the ludicrous belief that we are some "Shining City", that despite our history of Perpetual War and Civil Wrongs, we are somehow, some way "better" than Them.
And every single Republican in the House and Senate has signed a pledge that they will never under any circumstance vote to raise taxes to pay for anything the Federal Government buys or spends. It is borrow and spend forever. Zombies all.
If Trump had run and won as a Democrat he would have turned the Democratic Party into the same soulless beings as he has done with the Republicans.
CHARISMA.
I just saw parts of a couple interviews you did recently Mr Krugman. Based on that and your columns you definitely have the knowledge and memory do see the truth.
Yet you do bits like this one which excuses with a "look over here" ploy the fact that the results you point to as proof they are wrong are in fact exactly what the republicans intend to be the results.
You fail to point out repeatedly that the republicans are getting exactly the results they want by lying and cheating and have been since reagan, the first of them to so blatantly use communist style lying to your face as they did something else entirely right in front of you,
the problem is willful bad faith and criminal faith to lying about it and gaslighting the entire nation, succeeding with a plurality, into being confused by what they see with their own eyes.
Our fellow Americans running the republican party have created a communist party within the republican party and are using it to the same effect the Soviets used their "communist" party. As a veil to their autocratic kakistocracy.
Excellent Krugman -- beautiful thing to see after some stumbling around in the primary jungle. Krugman nails it here about as well as any human can.
That the GOP can afford to evolve into such shambles of character and integrity lies nearly 100% with the antique Electoral College -- which gives American's minority full power. They lose an election by 3 million votes, and walk away with all four branches of government.
[In addition to the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, they also hold nearly ALL talk-shock radio where red America gets its brain waves.]
We have to wish America good luck. Maybe good-bye.
2
You nailed it once again, Professor Krugman. Thank you for seeing and speaking the truth. I'm sorry but I'm too burnt out by despair to say any more.
3
Yes, there is a trend over the last decades for congress people to think in terms of making lots of money, corrupt money, when they leave congress. They go off into the military industrial complex (MIC) as board members or lobbyists. So they vote for all wars and war budgets when in congress, and collect money from the MIC companies and executives and investors. At a certain point, they voluntarily leave or when they get voted out. You can just watch some of them now, talking about Bad, bad Russia and voting trump all the money he asks in his military budgets. Actually he gets more than he asks for. Its a racket. I've watched Senator Schiff on this; always raving about the bad bad russians and voting for every war and getting ready to make his millions. Corruption on a grand scale.
For sure there is no more despicable bunch of cowards and corrupt minds. Well , maybe the magat crowd.
2
"What’s left now is a party that, as far as I can tell, contains no politicians of principle; anyone who does have principles has been driven out."
It all starts with the founding father's worst nightmare.
One is put in mind of H.L. Mencken: -- “As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
T
rump controls the primary voters who will caste the gop senators out if they go the high road.
These are older white uneducated voters for whom their regressive stances regarding abortion and people of color -people of alternate lifestyles -and guns and bibles and science -the environment and even intelligence:
Are paramount! - The trogs have united!
The founding fathers worst nightmare!
4
Well my take on zombies.
The burden is on taxing counties and professional working classs with specialized training and necessary to a working society. We have property taxes on everything.Regressive taxes hit us too. We are ruined by the political class. And we need a revamp of voting procedures to be uniform and equal in weight for all states and territories. Pragmatism be damned though in exchange for power and greed in our billionaire class. History truly is repeating the segue to WW3. This time our land mass will be destroyed by masses of armies that hate us for our conceit and endless Wars strategy instead of pursuit of a peace dividend in 1989. We chose the wrong path. The Bush and Clinton eras sealed our demise. Trump is the outcome. And he will destroy our people. This only effects hourly wage earners with college and apprenticeship certifications. Not developers and hedge funds or local politicians in the pockets of racialized newcomers to caucuses. There are ancient philosophies behind all this mess. Despots get inspiration from these treatises with misguided ideas used to gain power. Patterns are part of nature and humans are part of nature. Look up Natural Law and Redoubt groups. Mussolini and Hitler supported this idea and trumps “ The Base” practice its tenets. Bannon preaches it. Rabid fundamentalists in Catholicism like Bill Barr support this philosophy. Think we have witnessed a coup. ????
3
7th Grade Civic’s Test 2048:
1. Fill in the blank, “The Republican Party became a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump Inc. in the year ————.”
Correct ans. 2020
2. True/False, The vast majority of Trump supporters will never take this test.
Correct ans. True
2
Very cogent essay. I have wondered how reasonably smart people could support a leader like Trump, but it is of course that he supports each of their ideological hot buttons which are based on myths. Like with evangelicals of all religions, they cannot see anything beyond their blind faith in myths. How did rational man become so stupid?
2
Zombies eat brains.....but I get your point.
3
The mother of all zombies is the GOP's allegiance to the symbol of the dominate white male and our inability to admit it.
2
Stupidity. It's pandemic in the GOP. People need to start saying this out loud. Yes, it's rude, but the U.S. has reached a stupidity crisis (we reached it in November 2016), and until we find a way to arrest it, we'll continue on the downhill slide.
4
They are cultists. Cultists would rather die than face the truth.
4
New name for the Speaker: Apparatmitch
3
No one can eat your soul if you don’t have one.
3
There is a general belief that Right is might, Right always wins ...actually historically that has not been true. Hitler in spite of his evil bent, had great support ; even as he was destroying the world he had the support of a powerful army and citizenry that bought into his evil ways. For most of us who never experienced the madness that led to WWII, this is a shock to our system. The greatest shock to me was rise of inhuman barbarism in the Middle East over the last decade, I thought we humans had gotten over that. If it shocked a liberal like me , I can only imagine what it must have done to the frightened conservatives amongst us.
3
The zombie virus ( Pithovirus Sibericum ) from the permafrost of Siberia has been paratisizing the brain of Republican Representatives and Senators through infection by Putin using Trump as a vector .
3
“Fake moderate like Susan Collins”, now that’s a perfect call.
Not to mention cynical careerist and soulless opportunist. Looking at you, Linzi and you Marco.
4
Wow! Paul, you are one of the most delusional creatures of habit I have ever had the displeasure to read. You are so biased, one sided and crude. Did your mother not ever tell you "if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all". You lay the blame for almost everything, from bathroom etiquette to leap year on the Republicans, and those that opine with them.
There is no such thing as a fair and balanced commentary in your world. You are truly one of the most biased, conceited persons in journalism today. Because you disagree with others fiscal policy, ( or any policy for that matter) they are, as you had the nerve to call Paul Ryan "flimflam" men, preaching "Voodoo" economics.
If you really want to see a "flimflam man", look in the mirror. I do not have the space to discuss your version of "voodoo economics", because unlike you, I do not get a platform to "push" my alternate reality.
3
@bsb
Wow the truth can be very upsetting can't it?
Google a clip of G.H.W. Bush in 1980s talking about voodoo economics. THEN look at any reputable assessment of Paul Ryan's budget proposals.
I don't know when half of this country will realize that Fox News is completely biased, and "Normal Media" have to counteract its corrosive effects, but accusing the other side of doing what conservative media does every hour does not make it so.
Sorry.
1
I convinced my employer to let me work from home, and moved to Ohio. Join me. Broadband can even the Senate playing field.
2
Funny how the professor maintains that government spending no matter where it comes from or where it goes is good; except of course tax cuts. In either case the deficit goes up because spending increases.
3
@Gregory
Tax cuts for the wealthy help only those whose taxes are cut who don't need any help to begin with. The point of them is to make it necessary for DEMs to have to raise taxes to fix the problems republican tax cuts intentionally inflicted to force this, when they get a turn in the leadership.
3
Where’d Paul Krigman say any such thing, please? Be specific, please.
1
Zombies and voodoo are good metaphors for our present and dire situation, but it might be wise to point out, for those who don’t know what a metaphor is, that the reality represented is just THAT, REALITY.
Dead ideas and magic. Exactly what we do not need.
Paul Krugman is one of the voices that speak reality. If only we could elect enough who see, hear and value reality.
6
To be fair to the Republican right excoriated in this article, reason is not the right's guiding value. That's why evidence doesn't concern it.
3
Of course, the party will stand behind him, pushing when necessary. It is in *their* best interest.
4
I am not an American and my knowledge of American history goes back from long before Ronald Reagan sold out friends and Guild members for a few pieces of silver for a tv gig when the Saturday matinee started disappearing.
John Kenneth Galbraith said
"The modern conservative is engaged in man's oldest exercise in moral philosophy, that is, the superior moral justification for selfishness."
11
Zombie is religious term being here culturally appropriated as a denigration.
1
@Stourley Kracklite: Hope you've expressed your concern to the makers of The Walking Dead, WWZ, Abraham Lincoln: Zombie Killer, and to all of the other "cultural appropriators" of zombie-based entertainment. If not, you have a lot of letters to write, so better get cracking!
1
There is no doubt that Republican zombies need to be kicked out but what about the zombie voters?
How do you turn their brains from a zombie state to a state that open to reasoning?
I don't see that at all, especially those still worship Donald Trump as the savior of them...
Sad...it reminds me the followers of Jim Jones in Guyana....
7
It could be worse.
You could have the Biden nickname, :4th Place Joe."
I prefer the Bernie “Screaming Old Guy With Iffy Economics” Sanders monicker, myself.
great column--what we must do is take power away from the GOP at every level of gov for several decades.
The GOP has to reformulate itself: accept the rule of law, the constitution, get rid of the nazis and white supremacists.
The GOP must accept science and medical science.
The modern GOP is not the party that elected Eisenhower it now merely wants to retain power by any means.
5
@Dave Davis Yes, lets have a "Timeout Election." The Republicans have messed everything up, behaved badly, and upset everyone. They need a timeout to think about what they have done and how they could be better citizens. Americans understand the timeout principle and could see how it could apply to our disrupted political system.
I would encourage the NYT NOT to be a part of the process.
When Trump is acquitted, declare democracy dead in bold, fat ink on the front page. To do anything less is to be a part of the zombie horde.
7
I feel sorry for the poor zombies who will now starve to death. The Republicans that are left in the US government obviously have no brains to eat.
Poor, poor zombies.
4
Donny ding dong's rein will end in a cataclysmic event. Karma has a way of evening the score. Don't know when. Hopefully it won't be too late. I refuse to give up hope.
4
The NYT should profile Ben Sass. How does he live with himself. We may find ourselves liking Jim Jordan more. At least he clearly knows what a clown and joke they all are.
Sickening, Paul Krugman, how zombie social media ate up the Democrats in Iowa last night!
While I agree with the overall points, we need to find a way to make these points without completely ostracizing the Republican base. This article plays right into their narrative, that Democrats are coastal elitists thumbing their nose at the "every day American" who doesn't live in a major metro area.
Is it ironic that the very same party that rightfully admonishes the left for being overly sensitive needs to take a dose of their own medicine? Sure. Would it be a step in the right direction in terms of making our parties able to disagree amicably, rather than seeing the 'other party' as the enemy so strongly that they say they'd rather side with Russians than Republicans? Yes. One step out of many many steps needed...
A country divided on itself cannot stand. We are in a soft civil war right now. We need to find a way out of it.
5
@Tom
By "every day American", do you mean all those poor picked on, persecuted white boys who can't handle the fact that there might be women and brown people who could possibly be smarter and more successful than them?
BTW - I am not a coastal elitist nor do I live in a major metro area. I just care about what's happening to our country.
This is all true and Paul has been diligent in his efforts to speak truth to power and wake his readers up. The sad fact is that who and what Trump is, has been obvious for years, just as the moral and intellectual decline of the Republican Party has been. With the team of Trump, Barr, McConnell, and Pompeo leading, our government is a genuine threat to our democracy and our well-being.
4
I don’t know what columnist Paul Krugman had in mind in writing this overly broad characterization, but I don’t think his observations about Republicans apply to everyone who is a registered Republican or who votes for Republicans. I do think that those characterizations apply to a significant majority of Republican elected officials at the state and national levels. And I certainly agree with his comments about zombie ideas, some of which are embraced by people of all political stripes.
@jweswhite
What are Republican voters voting for?
I could answer that question 30-40 years ago, but today, other than endless tax cuts for the rich, I don't see any consistent policy, and the only principle seems to be inflicting cruelty on powerless people. Is that what Republican voters want?
5
@jweswhite
So how did that "significant majority of Republican elected officials at the state and national levels" get there?
I'm no longer bothered by all this. I already know I'm moving to Canada once I get debt free. No point in being a raging liberal in the American South. I'd rather focus on kayaking and having my insulin paid for by the state. Bye y'all.
6
The Republican credo has always been to bow to the rich and powerful. The Democratic credo has always been to tame the rich and powerful. The House has a Democratic majority, and it tamed the President with censure and impeachment. The Senate has a Republican majority, and it will acquit the President. In the Republican world, everyone must think the same thing. In the Democratic world, if everyone is thinking the same thing, no one is thinking...
4
Personally, I'd welcome succumbing to "zombification." The result, I imagine, would be that I'd be experiencing far less distress witnessing the collapse of our society.
3
Good on the Republicans. They do so much with so little. Imagine how effectively the GOP will govern if and when they have the majority of the American people supporting their party and Democrats are the minority party. Get ready for some big changes if Trump wins in November
1
@wilt
Dream on. If trump is reelected then I hope you're able support your elderly relatives including their medical bills because you know the republican vampires have their fangs out and are slavering over cutingt off medicare, medicaid, and social security.
@wilt
Yes. Right back to pre-Revolution days.
1
Imagine the bilious regurgitation soon to be spewed by the zombie-in-chief in the annual State Of The Union address. Gag. I can't bear to hear it utter a single sentence on the internet or the tube so I'll be reading the transcript the next day. I'll have my word salad dressing handy.
4
@Bailey Pelosi should have had him submit it in writing, as it was done once upon a time.
2
I used to think that the impending fall of the United States had parallels with the fall of the Third Reich, Hitler's Germany. But I now realize that only the final chapters of the demise of American democracy mimic that of Germany's fall. The collapse of the Republican party, as described in this article, is a major factor, but its origins extend far earlier than Mr. Krugman's exposition. Teddy Roosevelt was probably the last really good Republican president. Dwight Eisenhower was a war hero whose best contributions were the Interstate road system and his parting warning about the military-industrial complex. George H. W. Bush was someone who displayed moral character, but was mediocre as a leader. The other Republican presidents dating at least from the beginning of the 20th century have been incompetent, or amoral, or outright corrupt, and sometimes a combination of all three. Which raises the question: is the collapse of the Republican moral ethic a result of presidential lack of integrity, or does the Republican party's general low level of ethics result is selecting the kinds of candidates it places up for election to President. It's ironic that the last Republican presidential candidate who demonstrated a high level of integrity and respect for law was John McCain, who lost.
7
@zzzmm
And John McCain was also a "conservative" salivating at the thought cutting off social security, medicare and medicaid.
What does Putin have on the GOP? Nunes, etc? Who got their dirty rubles, filtered through the NRA?
The zombie idea seems kind of cute. I think there is something much darker happening.
Russia's operation put an ignorant mendacious stooge in office. Trump IS the bomb they attacked us with, so he cant/won't protect us, as it would be protecting us from himself.
His Ukranian ask, also promoted by Putin, was designed to badly damage Zelensky-- to make 'the reformer dirty on day one in office.
We are still/continuously under attack by Russia, and nobody in the GOP is willing to state that plainly. Putin is managing to make us look like a banana republic on the world stage with the no-witness impeachment 'trial.'
What does Putin have on them?
7
@Megan I think you hit it with campaign money funneled through the NRA.
And I'll bet Putin kept track of who got what. That way, the threat that Putin would expose GOP senators on the GRU payroll and possibly get them arrested for knowingly taking Russian funds, would be enough to make all the GOP senators toe Putin's party line and keep his stooge in the White House.
I think there must be a threat of jail time in the near future because I think most GOP senators hate Trump, some are retiring and all of them are immensely rich. Only the prospect of prosecution (Barr can't cover up the payoffs forever) would make all GOP senators acquit an obvious, self-confessed crook like Trump.
@Megan
One of their higher ups said that they have Kompromat on everyone in DC.
It's not Trump who "wants to dismantle democracy and rule of law". He doesn't know what he wants besides staying in power and making money. Trump is a stooge. Putin's stooge.
5
Pelosi’s is perfect in leading our “Walking Dead” Congress flaring her arms and moaning in unison with her minions. Attempting to lower the voting age so she can turn teenagers into mindless liberal zombies while Critical legislation to remedy our crumbling infrastructure goes unattended. Our ineffective immigration policy has not been addressed but yet she wails in her idiocy! It is an endless parade of comic errors and exaggerated slightings. When does it end!
Trump had a Republican Congress for 2 years, and failed to focus on infrastructure. Remember “Infrastructure Week”? Remember “better, cheaper healthcare, that will cover everyone and no pre-existing conditions”? To blame Pelosi for over 400 bills sitting on McConnell’s desk, is disingenuous, at best.
2
Excellent article!! Long-dead but still somehow thriving zombie ideas now "trump" (pun intended, lol) facts 9 times out of 10 for right-wing nut-jobs... which seem to make up over a third of the voting population of the USA. This is why i and many others have long regarded that country to be by far the most dangerous entity on the planet.
4
Yup pretty much sums up the U S, myths and abuses. Myths of the invincible nation and abuses of everyone on the way to creating a war machine of perpetual motion.
How incredibly sad.
Home of the slave
Land of the thief.
3
From your lips to red stater's ears (unlikely).
One can't underestimate the power of the Foxy media-like news organizations touting the latest fashionable "kings new clothes" fables. What a time for fiction!
2
Has a robot taken over Mr. Krugman’s column? Each one is just a rehashed version of the prior one. We get it. Republicans bad. Democrats good. Enough already!
4
"soulless opportunists (and no, the fact that some of them like to quote Scripture doesn’t change that fact)."
As a matter of fact it re-enforces the fact that they are solemn hypocrites, unscrupulous politicians and deficient in character. The decay of democracy is advanced by such people and they, in turn, are proof of this tendency. What makes it so galling is their sanctimonious, holier than thou pronouncements. To alter a famous phrase, in politics, religion is the last refuge of scoundrels.
2
If I were a think tank representing the most wealthy and influential enterprises, I would try to pressure senators to support a brainless president who is a complaisant instrument of said corporations whispering into his numb ears.
5
Yes, Paul, I think you called this.
But let’s not be too easy on ourselves here too. When you look in the mirror do you see someone looking back that is fully alive in their life? Are you existing in the world as it is while working to build the world as you want it to be? Or are you working at a job that kills a little of your soul every day, in pursuit of not much more then surviving until your real life can begin? How close to being a zombie are you in your life?
Have you bought into the myth of the economists that what matters is growth and a picuinary measure of wealth?
Don’t just be a better version of a zombie, nature the life in you!
1
With so many Republicans admitting that Trump did commit a crime with Ukraine affair, (we all knew it long time) Should AG Bill Barr do something. at least investigate it further. Is he too tied up trying to figure out why so many Trumpies are in jail or about to go there?
"..they (FBI deep staters) used tools used against terrorists against Donald Trump.. still no accountability." Maria Bartiromo
Barr: I hear you Maria
1
"If you don't know, now you know. "
2
Wow, Krugman is even more cynical/realistic than me.
1
A cornered dog is a dangerous animal. And that is the GOP and shrinking version of America that keeps them in office.
It is a party of white people who are scared of everyone else. And those who control the leavers of the party are only interested in maintaining their power and wealth. And Trump is their ultimate champion anchored by FOX News.
The similarity to the early days of Nazi Germany are striking. In order to better get their message out to people, they gave away free radios (a luxury technology back then). Since they controlled the airways, they not only controlled the message but realized that the more people that heard it, the better their control over their supporters. It's like having cable TV with only one news channel.
And today, we have Murdoch and others like him that so control the Zombie message, that they bread more and more Zombies. And if a bunch of white supremacists happen to tune in, great.
Like a Zombie movie, the human vessels that are turned into Zombies have been lying in wait all along. Trump and his amplifiers from Fox News to talk-radio are just infecting them, waking their inner Zombie up.
It will take a great movement to push the Zombie back into the closet. It will take a Democrat winning the white house and the Senate while keeping the House.
Our job will be to elect a Zombie killer. Perhaps his name is Bloomberg who knows well that his wealth needs to be spent on both winning the White House and the Senate.
2
Paul,
Would you place yourself in the Extreme Partisan camp? No criticism of the Iowa caucuses last night?
The endless drumbeat against the Repub's is boring and there's no need to read your columns.
2
@ ebmem Your fifth one is too funny. Where is a tunnel under the Hudson River to be but under water? Two more pronouncements and you would have had the Biblical ten, better luck next time.
I have a hard time equating pressuring the Ukraine to investigate exactly what HunterBiden did for $50,000/year with “rigging the election”. Hyperbole much?
3
Pachyderm Spongiform Encephalopathy and thinking, drinking and voting while Republican is a serious pandemic.
It includes a wide rainbow of antisocial behaviorial effects exhibited by Americans severely concussed by the Republican quartet of God, Guns, Greed and Grand Old Pigmentation.
If you were hit over the head with a Bible when you were young and haven't made a full intellectual recovery, the Republican Party is happy to reassure you that America is a church, not a country, and that 'God' is steering the ship of state.
If you think the 2nd Amendment should have been the 1st Amendment and there should be a gun under every pillow, the Guns Over People party is your kind of political asylum.
If you think record income inequality, unaffordable healthcare, zero mass transit, lousy infrastructure, underfunded public education and 0.1% Welfare Queens programs are exactly the kind of Calvinistic Christian cruelty that warm the cockles of your shrunken heart, the Greed Over People party is terrific.
If you think 'others' are the root of all American evil because they lack the right milky white pigmentation of 'real' Americans, the GOP is right for you.
Put it all together, and we have a frightening political cult supported by a world-class propaganda industrial complex that repeats the Big Lie 1000 times a day as the brainless heartland marches over the Trumpian-GOP cliffs of fear, loathing, empty flag-waving and economic, moral and intellectual bankruptcy.
Nice GOPeople.
6
I believe the qualifications to be a repulsive politician requires that you either sell you soul or don't have one to begin with. You must also be willing to lie, cheat and steal with impunity.
Vote blue folks. Democracy depends on it.
3
Please follow the money.
Unlimited money + Unlimited power = Unlimited Corruption
1
@louis v. lombardo
See how Trump did it at
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/magazine/deutsche-bank-trump.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
They can't rig a landslide. Only by voting against every Republican for every office, even if they are the better candidate, can we conquer the zombies. And to help accomplish that, in our daily lives we need to relentlessly confront ALL Republicans, not just Trumpists, wherever we find them, among strangers, friends, family and co-workers, and make them defend Donald Trump and the GOP Senate. If they don't know what is going on, tell them they need to pay attention, that "I don't care" is where democracy goes to die. And as for actual Trumpists, don't speak to them, do business with them, let them in your home, or let your children play with theirs. If a guest in your home expresses supports for Trump, don't argue, throw them out. ALL decent people have to start treating ALL Trumpists as ALL Germans wish they had treated ALL of Hitler's supporters, and start fiercely defending the free press whenever it is attacked. This is no time to be afraid of making enemies, rather a time to be proud of it. My father, a proud Republican, would certainly have had to be contained from personally going after Trumpists, I am sure of that.
2
One more Republican Zombie canard: more guns are necessary to make us more safe.
2
Craven cowards, the whole lot of them. The country's worst person took over their party and they went right along with it. Who would have guessed the day would come that the GOP would be weak on Russia!? Unbelievable. That they would stand by while that ignorant, needy real estate grifter would kowtow to corrupt regimes the world over in America's name and then defend him. Even so, it's kinda amusing they don't dare defy him.
2
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
2
American democracy may be on life support, but it can't die until November.
Let's fight with everything we have to make sure that doesn't happen.
4
The one thing Professor Krugman leaves out is the "low tax" myth. Florida doesn't try tax cuts because there's nothing left to cut. And then our legislators and our governors sell this as an advantage, and we wind up with one senator who seems to be an out and out thief, and the other a walking weather vane.
The net result of all of this is a failing school system, an overworked penal system, and almost non-existent social support system. And every time someone suggest a fix, it is rejected because it will result in tax increases. So wealthy persons like Trump move to Florida to avoid taxes, and claim that they are benefiting the State by spending money here.
But things could be worse. Mississippi exists so that Florida won't be last.
10
The root cause is a sufficient number and collective "clout" of people act in bad faith either for personal profit or to promote their own political beliefs.
I suspect that when environmentalists thought subsidizing electric cars was a reasonable approach to reducing pollution, most did not expect those subsidies to mostly go to luxury sports cars. Asking voters to help pay for cars that cost about twice what they could, on average, afford for themselves is a very bitter pill to swallow. This outcome, and the lack of response from Congress, might make climate change denial an appealing alternative for many.
Fortunately, we have a well-researched and time-tested tool to mitigate the damage caused by people who act in bad faith. This tool is game theory. Most readers of NYT and people who incorrectly believe social statistics are as valid as those that come from a laboratory probably will not like the policy recommendations produced by game-theoretic analysis, but it is the best remedy when a third of the country or more operates in bad faith.
Set the rules, define the public infrastructure and systems, then leave them alone as much as possible. Change systems gradually and do not promote massive sunk cost projects that will likely become a platform for extortionate behavior.
This formula does not habitually make good Tweets or TV, but it can make for good government among people who lack an abundance of community spirit.
1
I always enjoy posts that talk about such things as “game theory analysis,” as though it were a kind of paint you just smear on everything. It’s a pity I was taught to ask for specifics, rather than snake oil.
Some sociological studies are excellent. Some are not. The same is true of these Holy Game Theory Analyses—which just so’s ya know, are logical constructions that pretty much only work when they are kept carefully isolated from the messiness of physical realty.
A good example? The economic zombies that Krugman discusses here. Laffer and supply-side claptrap are essentially game theory analyses, whose proponents simply ignore what actually has happened every time somebody’s been stupid enough to apply them.
2
I agree with Prof. Krugman that something has eaten some part of the Republican's anatomy, but I also agree with some of the comments which have pointed out that spines might be more appropriate than brains since the Republican Party is certainly achieving some goals- laudable or otherwise.
I'd like to toss out another idea which shows the issues the Republicans now face- the idea that changing a viewpoint on an issue is necessarily a bad thing. Gerald Ford used the expression "flip-flopper" to describe Jimmy Carter's platform, while John Kerry was accused of the same by George W. Bush.
Learning can be a painful process, and to learn means unlearning old falsehoods. Someone who learns from their mistakes can certainly be labeled a "flip-flopper." Today, it seems that the members of the Republican Party are desperate to avoid this label. While conservative principles are not inherently evil, there is always a challenge to ensure that we learn the lessons of the past- not to let the past be a straitjacket.
Today it seems we are all relearning some of the lessons of the past- specifically, the late 1800s, when many Senators were in the pocket of big business and our democracy did not function well. I'm not certain our democracy is done, but we certainly need to rise to meet this current challenge.
2
The whole tax thing really got into high gear with Grover and his contract that all the republicans signed. Talk about a deal with the devil. The issue with the zombie's to me is that it furthers the gap in income inequality that is causing all of the division we see now. Trump is the end result of voters that were once middle class getting displaced by globalization and technology releasing their anger. When people feel disenfranchised they always go populist. Where shalt we direct your anger? Trump said. Well, the immigrants of course, easy pickings. Both Democrats and Republicans failed the nation in really aiding in the transition into a global economy. The lack of training, education and reinvestment needed to create soft landings in the rust belt never happened. It's easy to blame the republicans for everything. But, that's not the truth, we capitulated in the creation of zombie's as well. There's no better liberal city to look at then SF where the golden gate bridge can't stretch the gap between rich and poor. The question is what are we going to do going forward to create a country that is middle class centric, mindful of the environment and provides equal opportunity to all citizens? It's not going happen through demonization and polarization, rather we need fundamental conceptual change in all our industries to work for all our citizens not just those that are fortunate enough to be a shareholder.
5
Conservatives can just as easily insult Liberals for being "zombies" for asserting that human fetuses are not human and so have no right to life prior to the point they have completely exited the womb, or for asserting that the Liberal-approved norm of the widespread acceptance of promiscuous sexual activity has been good for the well-being of marriages, families, children, & workplaces.
These essays of insults don't accomplish anything. Both sides hurl the insults, each side gets their Orwellian two minutes of hate.
Yes, Conservatives have some bad economic theories--but, some Socialists in the Democrat Party, like Bernie Sanders & AOC, also have some bad economic theories.
Paul Krugman would do better to stop insulting, & instead start building a coalition of Democrat voters & Republican voters who will vote for candidates and policies that are grounded in science, reason, facts, basic decency, and accommodation & tolerance of various religious and non-religious views.
No great purge of the "other side" is coming, no great purification of the nation. Both sides must abandon such fantasies.
We just have to move forward, focusing on the essentials, which people of reason can agree on--and most people are reasonable, or can be drawn to the voice of reason.
But to be heard, the voice of reason must speak, and hurling fiery insults to burn down the other side is not the voice of reason.
1
Let’s assume that the liberal values and policies do harm. Are they nearly equivalent to the harm of the Republican policies mentioned? If you don’t want an abortion you don’t have to have one. If you want monogamous single partner for life sex have it. None of us, however, will escape climate change and the national debt by any individual action and that’s a difference.
3
@Better World Believer
Sir. The republican party has jumped off a cliff into la la land. Look no further than republicans who knew how terrible he was before the election, and don't now.
They've abandoned morals for power. Trump is nothing really new, he's the continuation of Regan and Bush, empty suit TV stars through which they can get what they want. "As long has his hand words to sign bills"
You can't "both sides" it by bringing up Abortion (none of your business if it's not yours) and nit picking Democrat economic plans.
so come on. Seriously.
3
@Better World Believer
No. Those things you claim have not been proven. Zombie ideas are ideas that have been proven false yet keep being brought back by one party, the Republicans.
Your knee jerk reaction and crocodile tears are meaningless.
3
I wonder if the Republican party (including 2024 hopefuls like Rubio and Cruz) will continue to stand with Trump when he tries to perpetuate his reign, either by repealing the Constitutional amendment that limits him to two terms, or by anointing his daughter as his successor.
4
Right on, Lucia. Additionally, the Electoral College needs to be abolished or Republicans who lose the popular vote by increasingly large margins will continue to win the presidency.
7
@Alice Another zombie idea. The electoral college CANNOT be abolished. It would take a constitutional amendment ratified by states that would have to vote to end their own out-sized influence.
3
@PETER EBENSTEIN MD
It can be abolished. You just said so, by Constitutional amendment. So not a zombie as it is not false.
2
@Max Deitenbeck: You two have struck the crux of the problem. Yes, the Electoral College could be legally abolished. There is a way to do it. So, in theory, legally abolishing the Electoral College is not a zombie idea. The hurdles are high, but illegality is not one of them. What the doctor points out is that in reality, the states that benefit from the outsized power the Electoral College gives them will never vote to surrender that power. His argument is that reality wins out over theory. We have a democratic republic in theory, on paper. In reality, we are becoming an autocracy ruled by one man who controls an entire political party. Our job is to somehow reconcile what we have on paper with the situation we are facing in real life.
2
If you think Nadler and Schiff are moral individuals you are no judge of moral character. They are definitely on the same level as Newt Gingrich. Could you afford the legal fees If you were the target of these noncriminal accusations? If you can see the Kavanaugh hearings and impeachment trial as moral endeavors you're missing something. It's partisanship in its lowest form.
Graham is talking about a Senate trial on Biden and his involvement in Ukraine. This and Trump's shenanigans will make front-page news now to the election. The issues won't be discussed and half of the cable news followers will be satisfied w their candidate, the moral one, is doing moral things.
@JoeG
Utter nonsense. Trump did commit crimes. That's why Trump's defenders changed the argument to "it wasn't impeachable. Do try to keep up with the Republican lie du jour.
3
Republican hard-liners know that the "ultimate zombie in American politics," that tax cuts pay for themselves and reduce the deficit, is bogus. But they pay it lip service because it is an essential part of their political strategy.
When as a result of tax cuts (especially benefiting the wealthy) the deficit balloons, they can use the ballooning deficit they created as an excuse to further their long-held goal to cut social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, healthcare, public housing, etc., etc.
9
"...we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Sigh. Our nation's founders certainly had their flaws, and the Constitution they drafted reflected their recognition that all humans are flawed. But I guess they just couldn't envision something like Trump and today's GOP. Otherwise they would have spelled out in greater detail how to remove the corrupt from office, relying less on honesty, common sense, decency, and the ability to feel shame among public servants. Many of those who signed their names to the document quoted above saw their lives, their fortunes, or both destroyed before they ever got a chance to see the Constitution, because they actually valued their sacred honor. Unlike some.
5
Maybe the GOP was always soulless and the emergence of Trump merely exposed what (a soul) had been not there all along.
8
McCain may have had the image of a maverick, but in his 2008 election concession speech he said he would back the president of the United States. He then immediately joined the Republican strategy of blocking everything President Obama did, including blocking infrastructure funding which would have done a lot to shorten the miseries of the great recession.
9
The solution is obvious. The Democrats need to elect a president who is awake and listens to real economists and they need to keep the House and to take over the Senate. Candidates who would move economic policy in the right direction: any Democrat. I prefer someone who is bright, honest, listens and corrects mistakes and is firm but fair. Mike Bloomberg would be the best President, but any Democrat will do, even a strident old kvetch, so long as they appoint good people and listen to them.
14
In 1982, Mancur Olson's "The Rise and Decline of Nations" proposed that nations grow sclerotic in their institutions as special interest groups accumulate over time in stable societies. After all these years, scholars' studies show that the theory is generally supported by the evidence. The GOP (Gang of Putin) seems a typical vehicle through which such interest groups - lobbies of the rich and corporations - have coopted the apparatus of the state (legislature, executive, and judiciary) to the detriment of America's middle class and poor - hence of the American people. The outlook is grim unless leadership emerges to unify resistance and overthrow this new tyranny being erected on American soil in the model of Russia's corrupt oligarchy.
10
America's Founding Fathers originally intended and believed that all white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men who owned property including their enslaved black African men, women and children and the lands, lives and natural resources stolen from brown Indigenous native men, women and children nations were all divinely naturally created equal persons with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
But then the likes of John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Earl Warren and Lyndon Johnson betrayed the Framers intent and their own tribal interests and values.
Until Strom Thurmond, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, George Wallace and Ronald Reagan ran against civil rights, crime in the streets and welfare aka black African American men, women and children 'conservatively' and 'evangelically' turning Dixie aka the Confederate States of America from the party of Lincoln to the party of Jefferson Davis and Woodrow Wilson.
Zombies. like vampires, are supernaturally made involuntarily.
While what has happened to the G.O.P. is political socioeconomic DNA biological genetic natural historical evolutionary fit white European American Judeo- Christian majority inheritance.
The Framers and their heirs never had any souls to be eaten.
3
Turn Your Back.
Americans should turn their backs in slent protest whenever one of the 51 senators are seen in public.
12
And the Dems are Frankenstein. A bit of this and a bit of that stitched together and shambling off. Preferable to a zombie? Depends on which brain gets inserted. (If it isn't the correct brain I may abandon the thing.)
2
Boss Trump ate their soul.
He saw them as weak and he went in for the kill.
Their feeble response to his criminality confirms his assessment.
9
Vladimir Putin is smiling.
The primary reason to impeach and convict Trump is that he endangers our National Security by repeatedly and consistently aiding a foreign power, Russia.
Secretary Clinton pointed out that Trump is Putin’s puppet. Speaker Pelosi told Trump that all roads lead to Putin with him. They are both entirely correct.
Convicted felons Roger Stone and Paul Manafort know the details of this, but they will not talk because Trump promised to pardon them if they keep quiet.
Trump’s tax returns would also show that he is in hock to Putin-connected Russian oligarchs, which is why Trump is so desperate to hide his financial records.
Mueller was prevented from investigating Trump’s finances by Rod Rosenstein, and William Barr terminated the investigation prematurely.
For further information on the Russian conspiracy, see The Moscow Project https://themoscowproject.org/.
Remarkably, virtually the entire Republican delegation in Congress is in complete denial of all of this.
The GOP has become the Gang of Putin!
14
"What recent events make clear, however, is that zombie ideas haven’t eaten just Republicans’ brains. They have also eaten the party’s soul."
So absolutely true... and equally disgusting. They're like maggots dancing on the Declaration of Independence and Constitution combined.
I'm not a man who swears. I think it impairs your judgement and negatively impacts your ability to deal with adversity. But the last few weeks have been extremely trying in that regard. After some initial failures I seem to have gained some new found resolve, however. It will be far better to get even in November than simply getting mad in February.
2
When are the American voters going to eradicate this menace? The entire Republican Party needs to have a stake driven through its heart to permanently end this ghoulish nightmare. Senators with their brainless heads in the sand ignoring the gravity of this corrupt President. The endless parade of dark money-beholden sycophants on their leashes from the 0.5 percent. What calamity will be catastrophic enough to sweep away this contagion from our government? A wholesale disbanding of the Republican Party like the Whigs did in the 1850’s is the only solution for ridding us from these deranged cadaverous monsters.
3
As truth becomes less relevant, marketing and propaganda become dominant.
Donald Trump has built his life on gifts, thefts, lies and character assassination. A few of note:
Gifts:
• His father gave him hundreds of millions of dollars.
• His father bailed him out of dire financial straights many times.
• Governor Chris Christie reduced his tax debt from $30 million to $5 million at a moment of financial peril.
Thefts:
• Trump regularly stiffed or underpaid contractors, vendors and workers.
• Trump requested Russia's thefts and disclosures of Hillary's emails.
Lies:
• 16,241 since become president *
• That he cares about anyone other than his children and himself.
Character Assassination:
• Shifty Schiff, Lyin' Ted Cruz, Crooked Hillary, "Pocohontas"
• "The press is truly the enemy of the people"
Fox News, talk radio and Facebook have rightly been blamed for the loss of truth and the rise of Trump; but there has been a conscious assault on democracy by Republican luminaries such as Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Denny Hastert and Mitch McConnell.
Yes, we are now witnessing the absurd and dangerous train wreck, but it was set in motion a long time ago.
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/
6
If the Republican Party is nothing but a bunch of zombies, what does that say about those who vote for them, over and over again? Why do they keep buying failed policies and lies? Are they just a bunch of dupes? Or they will go for anything as long as they have as many guns as they want, limits on abortions and racist policies?
I don’t think they are dupes.
3
Well, Lincoln was assassinated and Nixon ,rightfully,resigned. So who do you have in mind, Doc?
Sorry to bring religion into such a secular proceeding, but I think a lot of you hardcore secularists with your complacent, often sneering, skepticism about the Bible cheat yourselves out of much profound wisdom.
Many (or most) of you know that Jews cycle through the Pentateuch each year, reading one portion each Sabbath. Just a few weeks ago the Good Book suggested an answer to the dreaded incumbent's booming economy question: "Are you financially better off now than you were 4 years ago?" The Torah answers in the story of Joseph, who interprets Pharaoh's famous 7-skinny-cow-eating-7-fat-cow dream. Joseph says smart famine policy is not about what you do during famine, but rather its anticipation and the provision you make during times of plenty. So Trump's question itself is false: the litmus of good policy is not magnitude of prosperity (credit for which is never sure anyway), but anticipation and alleviation of & provision for -"lean years."
But right now, synagogues are reading of an arrogant, morality-defiant, pharaoh who in his rebellion enslaves the Children of Israel, rationalizing that oppression & "hardening his heart" against the truth, till 10 plagues (mostly ecological disruption, darkness and disease) afflict Egypt.
But underlying all this is the Torah principle "mido k'neged mido", usually translated "measure for measure"; as you do, will be done unto you.
Trump sought to defeat by Ukraine-related corruption investigations; So Shall Trump Be Defeated.
1
Is it allowed to translate the article and just change.republican party with " Italian political parties ( all of them)"?
Would fit.perfectly !
1
Yeah, ya got nothing new to say. Much as I like your commentary. I have heard it all, and been there.
Plus, I have totally given up on zombies in books and movies.
I am incredibly sad and very angry at who the Republicans have become. They lack any confidence in their own abilities that they have to cater to a zombie-controlled president so they can keep their jobs. It is time to have term-limits! Claire McCaskill recently said to them on TV, "Hey, it will be OK, look at me, I'm doing just fine."
1
While common sense is aghast at voodoo economics and the zombie policies of the Republicans, you have to remember one fact: these polices/ideas are doing very well for their corporate masters. While the country rocks and sinks under these stupid, short sighted polices, the rich get richer.
Remember the Golden Rule: those with the gold make the rules.
253
@sjs
Trump and the GOP's Gold Rule: Do unto others as often as you can!
8
@sjs
True enough and that’s who keep republicans in power
5
@sjs Good point - EXACTLY what is going on in Venezuela. Note that the problems in Venezuela are not because of socialism, but because of what is essentially dictatorship...which is precisely what Republicans want.
8
The majority of Americans are, and have been, moving one way...forward into the 21st Century, the current Republicans in all three branches of government, the opposite...the 19th, and perhaps even prior in some ways. Something's got to give before too long.
3
@Cowboy Marine We can only hope?!
1
Let’s just take a look at the republican tax cut deficits. What do we get for those deficits? Do we get repaired infrastructure, improved highways, bridges, sewage treatment, mass transit, broadband internet, affordable housing, affordable healthcare, decent cell phone service in rural areas, which would have helped deliver the Iowa caucus vote quicker, and a host of other national needs met? No. The nation gets none of that; however, the wealthy get a tax break so that they can park even more wealth off shore.
6
Always remember and never forget that it was only 20 years ago, people were talking about what to do with the budget surplus. At the time we were already $ 5 Trillion in debt.
Then we elected W (OK, the 5 conservatives on the Supreme Court appointed him).
Within 6 months we were running a $ 500 Billion per year deficit.
Then 9/11 happened.
3
There is no line. This is critical. Glad to hear some people at least recognize the Republican Party for what it is. Republicans have for years signaled a disdain for democracy and a quest for total power, largely rooted in its commitment to religion. At its heart, when you believe you and your party are carrying out the will of god, why would you let either facts, law, or the American people stand in your way?
11
The Republicans never, ever propose any sort of program that would add to the welfare of individual Americans. To the contrary, they cast any such program as socialistic and have managed to portray socialism as a dirty word. Given the opportunity, they would slash or revoke many of the valuable social programs that the Democrats have managed to cobble together over the decades in order to give huge tax cuts to the oligarchs. Personally, I prefer socialism to Republicanism.
13
For a long time, I have disputed Professor Krugman's diatribes against the GOP. But now, with Trump as president, it is clear that Krugman's analysis of the GOP's failings is more right than wrong. The Republican Party has become the party of patent falsehoods, erroneous science and false worship of a demagogue. As a former member of that party, I can no longer subscribe to its false beliefs.
10
we are at the tail end of the Reagan Revolution because 1. movements always burn themselves out eventually, and 2. the GOP failed at the test that every drug dealer knows about: never consume your wares-- or don't start believing your own propaganda. But they did, and forty years later, the gap between their theory of the world, and reality, is so huge that they are dead dinosaurs walking. Dying animals are dangerous and we are in the dangerous time between, wondering what comes next.
5
An excellent article on the Zombification of the Republican party headed by the lbiggest Zombie of them all, thr Zombie -in-Chief. I undersstand where the congressional "leaders" are coming from, they want to get re-elected. But what about the Republican population, some of whom are my family? I know they want a smaller government and lower taxes and they may feel Trump has their back. But are they Zombies too? They like the good economy but that's world-wide and not due to Trump. Fortunately he has at least been smart enough to not jepordize the economy. In part, I guess, it's once a Republican, always a Republican.
I can't really understand why anyone would want to be a Republican these days, just to be a souless Zombie. Alas!
3
They haven't had any principles in years. It's about time people are noticing.
4
I was with you until you got to McCain. Does the name Sarah Palin ring a bell? One of the most cynical careerist moves in modern electoral Politics, Paul. If you have to find an admirable Republican, you’ll need to dig deeper than McCain.
10
I’m not so sure the GOP ever had a soul, at least not in my voting lifetime.
4
It is always a shock to me that trump could abandon the Kurds, allow Turkey to attack them and make refugees of them whiile at the same time give our bases in Syria to the Russians. Where's the Benghazi headhunters when you need them? Congress has given up all oversight.
Our government is definitely in the wrong hands, but who has the hands skilled enough and with enough support to move the country back out of the republican swamp we are in?
Enough with the policy pitches, candidates. What are you doing to beat the trumpists?
Biden knows, Bloomberg knows.
2
The final words of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag are: "Liberty and justice for all." That is because America is a democratic republic, with a constitution that places no King, royal, dictator, nor any person above the law.
With the corrupt and obstructive Republican Senate, Donald Trump has severly damaged that concept.
America will either continue as a democratic republic, or it will have a King named Donald; November 2020 may be it's final chance.
4
So, cynical careerism is what makes for zombieism. The terms seem interchangeable in Professor Krugman's analysis of how the zombies ate the G.O.P's soul. For that reason, the analysis is not an explanation. It is instead just another name. Why is cynical careerism or zombieism a characteristic unique to the G. O. P.?
2
Deception, lies and obfuscation thrive in the face of political correctness. The news networks seem to care more about balancing a GOP outrageous comment with a forced and benign comparison from the Democrats. Meanwhile, the GOP lies remain unchallenged.
Imagine the host of Meet The Press, Chuck Todd, recently admitting to be naive to the machinations and lies of Republicans who come on his show. When you add that to the propaganda of Fox News it is no wonder that Republicans boldly support Donald Trump even though they know that he is a danger to our nation.
1
Republicans have been perpetuating these hoaxes for over 40. The Reagan Revolution succeeded, pushed and supported by the unbridled greed of the Kochs, Murdoch, and the Republican establishment
2
Zombie ideas also create zombies in the legislature, a walking dead of talking representatives and senators who gnash their teeth at anything evident. Take these three zombies in the House: Doug Collins, Mark Meadows, and Matt Gaetz. Their mouths open, their jaws move, but all they emit is hate for anything living. Take any Republican in the Senate--PLEASE!--but begin with Lindsey Graham and end with Lisa Murkowski. Both are soulless cynics without a shred of self respect: Lindsey's angry white diva act at anybody challenging his craven devotion to Trump is cringe-worthy; Murkowski (once considered a moderate voice of some small reason in her caucus) proved she's a haircut without scruples in her excuse for voting the way she did by essentially saying, "Congress is broken so it's better to go along to get along." Hopefully historians will portray these people in all their contemptible ugliness.
3
Oh, funny, Paul!
And, to back you up on what a snow job the Republicans have delivered for the last 40 years, I'll refer you to Rush Limbaugh's exchange that he had with a caller in July of last summer.
"CALLER: In 2019, there's gonna be a $1 trillion deficit. Trump doesn't really care about that. He's not really a fiscal conservative. We have to acknowledge that Trump has been cruelly used.
"RUSH LIMBAUGH: Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore. All this talk about concern for the deficit and the budget has been bogus for as long as it's been around."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/17/politics/rush-limbaugh-debt-trump/index.html
And, now, it appears that that may be the last of the historical 'quotes' from a man that has poisoned the public well for the last 32 years. I regret anyone's death, but I regret more that Limbaugh spread lies and disinformation, laughing the whole time.
Poppy Bush was right: All Republican economics is "voo-doo economics".... and Rush Limbaugh agrees.
5
I was born in Communist Poland. We, too, had a Party just like this.
8
Krugman says what most Democratic think. No-one can have an alternative opinion unless they are evil or zombies. And therein lie the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans believe you can have your opinion and while they may disagree, sometimes strongly, they don't call you evil or zombies. That's fine, your ignorance and hubris will lead to another Republican win. However much I distain some of the Presidents actions and comments, he's still better than any of the Democratic front-runners. Back to another "anyone but Hillary" vote.
2
More and more I get whiffs of war, actual war, like Civil War war.
4
Re: tax cuts paying for themselves/the Trump budget deficit, I saw Savannah Guthrie ask Joe Biden how he would handle the deficit. His answer seemed like typical Biden mumbo-jumbo. The right answer is, “I don’t have to worry about the deficit because as soon as I am elected, there will be about 250 deficit hawks in Congress.”
1
The 40 year experiment of voodoo economics has been a failure. Other than a recent bump, the bottom 80% has seen inflation adjusted wages stagnate the entire time. The 2017 tax cut failed to stimulate the economy and will not come close to paying for itself. Worst of all is the sellout of Senate Republicans. The Republican party of Reagan and Bush no longer exists except in name. If they were honest, it is the Trump party now. RIP Republican party.
1
Zombies are eating the heart of the nation.
4
The problem with our government is the lack of term limits. Once elected, the goal is to remain in office as long as possible, election after election, after election, ad infinity. Rather than representing an opportunity to go to Washington and speak for one’s constituency, winning an election represents admission to an elite cadre of people whose sole purpose is to remain in office seemingly forever. One of my relatives, also a career politician, said that winning an election leads to a pot of gold at the end of the political rainbow, and we, as a nation, have seen this happen over and over again. Politicians of modest means become quite wealthy, and wealthy politicians become ........ well, you know. So, as Machiavelli pointed out, the ends justify the means. If adherence to Trump’s policies or lack thereof insures continued residency in DC, why, then, forget climate change, worship guns, and hi, there, Mr. Putin. Forget the truth, ethics, and the folks back home. Rather, it’s a matter of love the one you’re with. Even if your partner is devious, dishonest, and morally bankrupt. History will judge the likes of McConnell, Graham, and Rand Paul. But today it’s difficult to accept the depths to which our democracy has fallen.
5
That was a depressingly accurate summation of the state of the GOP.
5
I can do no better than share the words of my son, who is inheriting this America. He wrote:
“ Funny. There was a time when an article like that would have been a crank article, comparing elected representatives to zombies with their voodoo policies.
In days past, a crazy uncle might clip that from some strange conspiracy newsletter that he found in the back of a men's magazine, and sent copies around to all his relatives, xeroxing the crazy late nights at the copy store.
Now it's Krugman at the New York Times writing that stuff.
These are dark days indeed. Nothing, not my travels, not my education, nothing has prepared me for the crazy that we are dealing with.”
6
This is the logical conclusion of decades of sliding down slippery slopes of political dishonesty.
The Democratic side, I truly believe, are mostly in this in order to make the country and world a better place.
The Republican side? They're in it to win and dominate. Winning is the only principle that they believe in. And no cost is too big to obtain victory.
7
If there ever was an article that should have ended with a call for term limits, this is it. Take away the ability to stay in power for life and you change the focus of your time in office.
As if the there is any more need to prove the zombification of not just the GOP members of the House and Senate but those that drive them, spend 5 minutes following the trolls on any Yahoo “news” article. You will run screaming for the hills.
3
@M.S. The journalist Jeff Greenfield thinks we already have term limits, they’re called elections.
2
Here’s how republicans running for office and those in office plan to stay in office: they know that the average American’s eyes glaze over when statistics are part of the conversation. So when a candidate like Bernie gets on a roll and tries to explain why an increase in taxes is beneficial to the budget and relies on the fact that you’ve taken ECO 101 at sometime in your life. The Republicans know you either haven’t or the entire course is a long lost faded memory. So the Republicans just say,”We’re gonna cut taxes.” That’s it. The easy out. Forget about the ramifications, we wouldn't want to lose you with an economics explanation.
In other words, the Republicans always relied on American ignorance. No, Pompeo the world is not 3000 years old, but that’s another story.
3
Krugman rightly points out that Trump is the result and not the cause of GOP zombie "death." Why then has the party been able to hold power in states and in Washington D.C. ?
Today in an interview with an Iowa voter who voted twice for Obama and in 2016 for Trump, there is a clue.
This woman lives on a little over $800 a month, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security disability. She is WELL aware that Trump plans to cut them. But she sees "America First" as benefiting her instead of foreign countries. It is a politics of resentment. Where do we go from here?
2
It's been said that the greatest threat to Democracy is the Republican party, with their gerrymandering, voter suppression, and more recently, weaponized influence tools like Cambridge Analytica as used with Facebook and other social media. The latter will still be useful for at least a decade, while they build ever more effective influence weapons, while wielding their shield of Fox News.
What we've seen in the last few weeks is that Republicans are no longer a threat to Democracy, they have effectively destroyed it. Their "zombie ideas" are just posturing, because they know the climate crisis, with localized calamities causing floods of refugees, is playing into their hands with perceived foreign threats, and a rising tide of chaos that moves voters towards authoritarian rule. Their tax cuts were never meant as a tool for growth, but a means of looting the collapsing structure of a rich but dying democratic society. These zombie Republicans are far more dangerous than they lead us to believe!
4
I just keep being shocked over and over again at the ability of Congressional Republicans to pretend that evidence of corruption is not staring them right in the face. Especially Republicans like Graham, Romney, Rubio and Cruz who at one time clearly saw Donald Trump for what he is and weren't reluctant to say so. This "victory" is an extremely hollow one. Mr. Trump is no more vindicated by the result of this non-trial than OJ was by his.
6
It is a mistake to think that many people vote for politicians because they have high moral principles. Some may vote on the basis of issues which are critical to themselves, but probably most vote for the politicians who they think are "on their side". How the sides are determined is at least partly on matters which might be considered "moral". However, people's stance on such issues is not necessarily on the basis of moral or practical principles which are nominally accepted by everyone, such as equal rights, Christian (or other) charity and acceptance of facts, but simply on what amounts to tribal identification. Generally loyalty to one's tribe is more important than moral or scientific principles.
Democrats have failed to stop Trump at several stages by focusing on moral and personal matters. Republicans actually did little harm to Bill Clinton by the same approach. Concentrating on such matters just seems to increase polarization on tribal grounds. Trump may have already lost the 2020 election, mainly by his blatant failure to keep some of his economic promises, but if Democrats need many more votes it will probably have to be by offering a combination of economic and other stances that will directly make a difference to people, not by claiming to be the party of high principle. Voters are rightfully skeptical of such claims.
2
@skeptonomist
I didn't vote for Trump; held my nose and went for Clinton for the sole reason that I thought the economy would be better with her. Imagine my delight when the economy soured.
Give me Warren or Sanders this November and I'll be voting DJT this time. Give me Klobuchar and I'll happily vote for her unless her VP is one of the other two.
I assume all politicians are amoral as it comes with the job description.
1
An overriding zombie idea is that the Republican party and its members are "conservative" when all they are conserving is their own wealth and power.
6
None of this seems even remotely arguable. And there's a real question whether our mechanisms of defense against this kind of virus will even work: significant majorities of voters choose Democrats in Congress and for the presidency, yet the electoral power of rural states--most of which are subsidized by the blue regions they despise--thwarts those majorities.
I think 2020 is the end of the line, the last chance for the system as it has been to demonstrate it can remain viable. If, again, the Democrats win a popular majority but lose power, a re-elected Trump will break what's left. And at some point, maybe sooner than anyone thinks, the whole structure will collapse, and something new will emerge.
2
Yes. And the worst are Tlaib, AOC, and Omar.
3
It all comes down to voters who consistently elect and re-elect corrupt self interested politicians. Uninformed voters, easily manipulated voters, single issue voters, voters who don’t show up but complain anyway, this is where the problem lies. Add in some voter suppression, gerrymandering and the ridiculous electoral college and you have a recipe for a failed democracy.
7
Trump has actually been a blessing. He's been a blessing because he makes no bones about collaborating with Putin to dismantle our democracy and he's shown how fragile it really is, and how easy it is to lose it.
He's shown and exploited how much division there is in our country and among groups, and has us fighting each other with ferocity, all to Putin's benefit.
He's also brought the crazies, like the Neo-Nazi out into the light of day and given them legitimacy and purpose.
He's also shown us that we have about one final chance to excise the cancer of trumpism from our country before it subsumes us and we become a second rate balkanized country fighting never ending internal battles for dominance and control. The "united" states will be no more.
The only question now is "Who will fight to save our democracy"?
Once lost it will be almost impossible to get it back.
4
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -- attributed to Albert Einstein.
4
Trump, at least, has the excuse of being a moral imbecile. His developmental delay leaves him incapable of responsible or ethical behavior. His acolytes in Congress have no such defense. A few may actually true believers, but most appear to be reprehensible cynics.
3
To paraphrase Colludy during his presidential campaign "American Democracy is DEAD".
2
No arguments from me. But why do half the people in this country not care? Are they also soulless people?
4
Agree with Krugman’s assessments of the GOP as devoid of values and immensely hypocritical. Trump is the outcome of that flushing toilet. Disagree with his assessment of identity politics and political correctness - the left wears that on its collective sleeve. The right exploits it.
1
Firstly the Democrats walked themselves into a box with this impeachment farce. This neo cold war they seem determined to promote is a remarkably bad idea. That said Krugman is right that Trump is a corrupt nasty dumb person. He ran as a populist but he is really the ugly face of the plutocratic revolution against the IRS. Newt Gingrich's plan to rob the treasury, run up the national debt sky high, then claim the country is too bankrupt to do anything other than have a huge defense budget is the Trump plan. The Trump boom is a bus that has left most of the country behind in his exhaust. His climate change policy seems to mimic the Australian PMs climate science denial even while Australia suffered through near apocalyptic wild fires. Trump isn't a juggernaut in the polls. Even GOP Senators that will acquit Trump have to hold their noses when supporting him.
So consider what the course of events would be if the Democrats had never started the impeachment process, if the Ukraine affair has proceeded as it did and no one expressed surprise or anger at Trump’s words with Zelensky. The sexual affairs, the drastic budget cuts for the wealthy, the lovefests with Kim, Putin, Erdogan, MBS, the rollback of the Obama measures to improve ecological conditions—all that would have been brushed aside and Trump would be taking his victory lap anyway, glorying in his unfettered powers.
But at least History will record what Trump has done and who fought back.
As to how it goes from here, perhaps Democrats had better develop a lust for power, for lying about opponents and boasting about fantastic plans to make everyone rich and free to use whatever means necessary to settle scores with people they dislike. “Give the People what they want” might be the winning campaign slogan from now on.
2
This all started with the Southern Strategy hybrid concocted by Mitch McConnell and GOP leadership shortly before Obama’s first inauguration of being “agin’” anything our first black President might propose legislatively, regardless of the merits for the commonweal, simply because the uppity black man proposed it.
This was the start of the “grim reaper” moniker McConnell has so richly earned over the last decade of opposing and usually killing any Democratic initiatives that come his way on a whole universe of topics, from infrastructure, healthcare, reasonable gun control, taxation etc etc ad nauseam.
Perhaps the signal shining example of the fetidness of McConnell’s approach to Obama was, until now, the Garland fiasco.
All the while McConnell was betraying We the People by cynically blocking much needed legislation, his GOP Senate caucus, and copycats in the House, were merrily going along in lock step, generally without a whimper of protest to the destruction done to the quaint bipartisan ethic that once held sway over elected officials in the Congress-all for the sole sake of acquiring and maintaining political power.
The fruits of their labour are now being realised in kangaroo court impeachment trial which will hold blameless the most corrupt president in our history caught red handed with the goods.
History will not be kind to these venal politicians but meanwhile, to paraphrase Paul Simon, tomorrow is another working day for the vast majority of us.
3
Oh, the soul that conspired with corporate Democrats like Biden and Clinton to kill 500,000 Iraqis for no reason other than that their ethnicity bore a passing resemblance to the 9/11 attackers?
Or was it the free trade and China-enabling soul, again featuring the Clinton-Romney wine and cheese set in Washington and embassies worldwide (actually I have been to a couple embassy parties in Washington and China).
Which soul were you talking about? And why would the common voter care?
1
Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time". One Republican's message to a party of hypocrites, formerly GOP.
2
"Zombie" may be new nomenclature, so props. It's tough to write the same column every week for three-plus years.
1
You’re a few administrations late to the party Paul.
1
Fox, Breitbart and social media algorithims have hypnotized half of America and embittered and isolated the other half. Hence, the zombies on the right and their exasperated victims on the left begging the zombies to please, for God's sake, preserve our beautiful democracy. Unfortunately, these appeals fall on deaf ears and dead eyes, as zombies have no souls...
3
I was just at a hospital in Chennai where I bumped into an Indian man living in Cincinnati. I asked him if he was eagerly awaiting the results of the Iowa caucus like I am. He told me he didn’t follow the politics much. What?? Ok, maybe he wasn’t a citizen but it reminded me that in addition to the republican voters there’s a whole other half the country who doesn’t bother to vote at all. Is it zombies eating their brains too or something else???
3
The “Zombification” of the GOP "soul" derives from 2 "principles" only: 1) white nationalism; and 2) continued employment by Russia, provided via ongoing not-so-secret campaign contributions and other monetary subsidies. Look at the NRA campaign contributions, which are continuing. Look at Parnas's contributions to Trump's PAC and Congressman Sessions. And then there's McConnell’s Kentucky aluminum factory, gifted to him (along with additional massive financial support) by Putin’s henchman Oleg Deripaska. The entire GOP only seem like unprincipled souless "zombies” but in fact are acting exactly as you'd expect from tawdry thieves and bigots. And of course their bigotry has a strategic component as well, derived from their successful power play to keep the "base" in line ("the Southern strategy" since Nixon). They can’t openly admit any of this to the rest of us (although they are obvious to anyone who is paying attention), which is why everything they actually say to explain themselves (when they even bother to try) seems like "zombie" gobbledygook. Preserving what we would define as GOP “souls" and "principles" (and consideration of "factual evidence") are irrelevant, because white nationalism and financial corruption are the only requirements to their staying in power (and out of jail). With the 150 judges they've planted throughout the country, they'll be able to preserve their racism and corruption and lawlessness in perpetuity.
2
Paralysis by analysis....get out and vote.
1
Badges, badges, we don't need no stinkin principles.
Even the POTUS can not get a fair trial in this country.
2
Putin won; rubles rule. Susan, Lisa, Mitt, Lamar and the
rest got theirs.
3
Professor Krugman isn't cynical enough, or maybe he's just being kind.
The GOP has been horrid for a long long time. Trump is no aberration.
We could start with vile FDR hatred, followed by GOP isolationist fever. It did nothing as Hitler ravished the world.
Then the GOP gave us paranoid Joe McCarthy, who destroyed innocent American lives.
Fast forward to zombie Nixon who extended the Vietnam war after promising an end. More destroyed lives for political ends.
Salesman Reagan not only exploded our deficits but did it on purpose, smiling all the way to the bank.
The Bush family created more war for no legitimate reason, as it stocked the Supreme Court with incompetents.
Zombie Trump needs no elaboration, but even "hero" John McCain voted with Trump 80% of the time, 100% on Trump's zombie judges.
Moral of the story: vote GOP in November if you approve of its ugly history and sneering malice.
7
Excellent recap of current history. Bravo!
1
Unconstrained Spending that disproportionately advantages the already advantaged is the core of Republican fiscal policy. Lying, ignoring, shifting blame, and demonizing are the tools of the Republican apparatus.
In the "Great" Economy, the annual deficit has doubled and is now $1 trillion per year. How did the "fiscally responsible" eviscerate Uncle Sam's monetary policy?
Ask any Republican die-hard, and they will pledge allegiance to their 401K and swear that only Wall Street barometers matter.
Snake Mnuchin wrote a one-page Permit for Believing in 5-percent Growth, the CBO validated it, and a Republican Congress / Chief Executive shifted responsibility for the existing & future National Debt more firmly onto the future Wage Earner.
If a Corporation NOW only pays 21-percent versus the 35-percent rate that they were paying-on.. the then $12T total, THEN who got shafted?
Corporate tax cut.. permanent.
Future wage earners'.. not.
'Tis the season, the GOP zombies are going to talk. Their pastoral talking heads are going to wail. Their MAGA-festooned congregations are going to convulse to raise their living dead back into office.
Show them a book (why not Mr Krugman's?) and ask them if they want to join a book club to discuss it.
2
Thank you Paul. We are way past the point of tolerating the republican's zombie ideas and political nihilism. Add to the mix that they are shameless liars and cowards. Keeping hitting them, it's no less then they deserve.
2
Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." One Republican with a message for the party of hypocrites, formerly GOP.
Paul, you can call it “zombie” if you want...but the reality is that the GOP Machine - Fox, Limbaugh, Murdoch - they have made a concerted effort to create a different “reality” for their “Fox friends”...effectively brainwashing their loyal followers. They get their “news” from only one place, they leave their TVs on all day, and they consider these paid mouthpieces to be their “friends”. It is a simple, old fashioned propaganda machine put on steroids.
It is not Trump that the GOP is afraid of...it is their own self-created FRANKENSTEIN monster.
1
We all witnessed lawlessness and soullessness of GOP members except for two individuals. It is now time for us to stand up against those Zombies and vote for Democrats. Otherwise Zombies will start eating our soul and brain.
3
does anyone who looks at website, reads the news etc NOT know what Trump looks like? Then why keep putting his picture above (nearly) every story about him? how about each story include a picture space with merely a gray shadow in it (that could represent his financial donors). Let the NY Times be the first to try it. Or are they worried that the White House will cancel its subscription?
4
A zombie is a lie that continues to be useful.
1
Doesn't speak well for America that while the party that seeks to uphold our Constatitution and laws, that is moral and open to all, that respects science and math, the Dem's, always seems to be on the outside looking in while the GOP, the party of zombies, plows ahead.
3
Prepare for an effort to repeal the 22nd Amendment... Prepare for the GOP to support it... Prepare for the Enthronement of Queen Ivanka and Prince-Consort Jared... All hail the God-ordained Rulers of America!
I wish it were fanciful, but I fear it isn't. And, bizarrely, the Democrats don't look like they quite understand the problem yet.
3
Expect Trump to contest the 2020 election should he fail to win. It won't be shuffled to the Supreme Court immediately but begin with the lower courts just like his tax returns that have been three years and still no decision. The Supreme Court decided to delay that outcome until June 2020 to collect dust and will most likely withhold them from the public. There is no question we are mere pawns and idiots in the Federalists and Republican eyes.
1
@rhdelp
He has already started that propaganda by suggesting that the Iowa caucus debacle was due to an attempt to fix the results.
The New York Times, while I doubt they'll publish this comment, needs to be a paper that reports without fear or favor (and that means not favoring the Democratic Party). The Dems have corruption too. Everybody but the media seems to understand both parties have corruption problems.
1
@David
Ooops. And here it is!
Throw the bums out!
It's time for big structural change!
The best thing the Democrats could do would be to increase money for education in poor non-white districts and make sure the young generation gets good civics lessons.
3
Kudos for calling out the GOP on voodoo economics. Tax cuts have become a cheap way to gain short term support for an administration to say, “Look, we’re helping the middle class and poor.” The Republicans’ touching allegiance to the free market and the ability of competition to lower prices naturally just doesn’t work, especially in the face of today’s mega-corporations. Giving those companies more money in the form of tax breaks only helps their bottom line, not the economy. Let’s at least stop pretending that voodoo economics works, that climate change isn’t real, and that our politicians aren’t bought and paid for by lobbyists and giant corporations.
4
It is hard to for any candidate to win re-election when your record shows your only policy commitment is solely to yourself, Lindsey.
5
@Leslie Not if you represent a Red State. Denying truth is part of the appeal, and winning against “them” is all that matters.
2
Since the days of Newt Gingrich as Speaker the right wing media has played the biggest role of all in turning the Republican party into the corrupt, anti-Democratic crime syndicate we see today. Without Rupert Murdoch none of this calamity to our sovereign Democracy could have taken place.
3
Zombies perhaps, but the Borg Collective is more apt. Resistance is futile retorts the Fox News Queen Borg as every assimilated conservative is stitched with apparatchik Koch-like talking points.
4
only one question to be asked of those republican senators that admit it was wrong but not wrong enough:
How much has McConnell promised in pork or election support is he promising you?
It's a bold question but they have lied under oath in order to accept this money. And it is definitely all about money, just like it is for the grifter sitting/squatting in the oval office
3
@gc
And if Bill Clinton could be impeached for lying to Congress, why not all 51 Republican senators who lied under oath?
I have three comments: 1) American democracy is already dead. The Constitution is nothing more than a relic to be displayed in a museum. 2) I have been saying for years that Republicans in Congress are far more dangerous to America than any terrorist group in history. 3) The countless American soldiers who died fighting for their country died in vain.
8
Schiff finished today with:
They gave you a remedy and they meant for you to use it
They gave you an oath and they meant for you to observe it
We have proven Donald Trump guilty
Now do impartial justice and convict him
All Optimism, All Decency Gone
“What’s left now is a party that, as far as I can tell, contains no politicians of principle; anyone who does have principles has been driven out.”
Absolutely Right—Gone With the Wind—
6
If Trump gets re-elected America deserves to atrophy and wither away to the dustbin of history and reap the scorn of the world as a failed and unprincipled nation.
8
@Donniebrook Agreed. But, there is a chance in future. When Republican leadership can no longer provide even "bread and circuses", and they advise "let them eat cake", their end time will have come.
Please copy and send this article to every Republican you know.
Paul Krugman speaks the truth, and it needs to be heard, NOW.
This is not just a political issue: our country is dying...of lack of adherence to the very values it was founded on. And for those who like to call themselves Christian, of lack of adherence to the very values their founder Jesus called them to. (Yes, other religions also have love of the other and good works as part of their values. But there are so many phony 'Christians' now that it needs to be called out. They care only for themselves, and judge the other harshly, unlike Jesus did.)
Please, all who read this: remember who you are at your deepest levels, and what you want your live to be about. Tax cuts? or care for the community and the other, as every religion at its core has instructed. Wake up, please! Stop living from your most limited
selves and be the big you you are called to be.
4
Things are so bad, given his blatant Trump obsession, Devin Nunes hometown newspaper has endorsed his rival. We all know Nunes was directly involved in dirt digging on the Bidens, in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe. Dr Fiona Hill spoke to his former aide Kash Patel. Yet, Nunes had the cheek to sit as ranking member of house intelligence committee and instead of defending Trump, simply lashed out at his fellow democrats, at every given opportunity. Essentially they had no defense of Trump not his character not his ethics not his morals not his duty. So instead they attacked democrats and the senate republicans and WH lawyers did the same, including high profile Ken Starr (cringe).
Are we supposed to behave as though we are blind deaf mute and without perception insight!! Good heavens. Ashamed of these republicans with no soul no conscience no ethics. Jill Biden tells us Lindsay Graham used to be a good friend but something happened to his brain heart once trump was elected. Now he is after Biden family, insanely jealous that Biden son dared to become rich while Trump children parade all over the world flashing Trump brand. Conflict of interest sheesh!
5
Well, there are no such things as zombies except in really bad 1950s movies. Regardless, it is very clear, very clear, that Krugman has no come back for a great president. I was really expecting him to be writing from some obscure location in Europe by now.
Enjoy the next 5 years.
It’s 40% of the country Paul. If they cared they’d be on their senator with their loud mouths. It’s the country.
Tax cuts raise revenue, huk huk that’s a good one. Reagan doubles the debt from 1 to 2 trillion (modest compared to today’s fiscal conservatives). The value of lost revenues from the Reagan tax cuts - one trillion. Coincidence???gubermint conspiracy??? A zombie???
2
“It takes a certain kind of person to play that kind of game — namely, a cynical careerist.”
Based on the consequences - which no one in the Republican Party ever thinks about-I would call them anarchists, because anarchy is the end state of the current Republican platform.
It starts with someone being above the law and spreads like Corona virus from there.
2
Where else are there legislatures that rubber stamp the plans of the leader? Russian Politburo, North Korea People Assembly, China’s Peoples Assembly. The GOP has now led the US to operate like a communist country.
3
Adam Schiff the prince of neurotic zombies. Adam Schiff accuses President Trump with terms that fit Adam himself. Schiff will not change. Schiff shows his histrionic distortions in thinking, his slippery character, and endless cheating with the truth that emerges at the impeachment hearings. Even before Schiff began his committee's investigation he went on national TV to pronounce Trump guilty. It is Schiff who lacks character, cheats with the facts, with skewed logic, and promotes his own ambitions through soaring accusatory and shaming melodramatic speechifying. Schiff seems to have Clarence Darrow phantasies with his "Midnight in Washinton" speech.
Adam Schiff's favorite word "CHEAT" describes himself best!
The Republican zombies are aided and abetted by Democrats who don’t want to govern. That would mean fighting for principles and pulling out all stops to vanquish the Republicans. But we have Biden on NBC saying that impeachment “‘hasn't shaken my faith in being able to work with at least’ some Republicans, Biden told TODAY show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie in an interview before Monday's Iowa caucuses. ‘I think you're going to see the world change with Trump gone,’ Biden added.” Yeah, just like most Republican Senators in 2010 voted for the Affordable Care Act, which was Republican Romney-Care. Oops, I forgot. They all voted against it. Prof. Krugman is correct: There are no decent people on the other side.
1
Traitors. The lot. They need to be treated as such. Their allegiance is not to the U.S.
5
As truth becomes less relevant, marketing and propaganda become dominant.
Donald Trump has built his life on gifts, thefts, lies and character assassination. A few of note:
Gifts:
• His father gave him hundreds of millions of dollars.
• His father bailed him out of dire financial straights many times.
• Governor Chris Christie reduced his tax debt from $30 million to $5 million at a moment of financial peril.
Thefts:
• Trump regularly stiffed or underpaid contractors, vendors and workers.
• Trump requested Russia's thefts and disclosures of Hillary's emails.
Lies:
• 16,241 since become president *
• That he cares about anyone other than his children and himself.
Character Assassination:
• Shifty Schiff, Lyin' Ted Cruz, Crooked Hillary, "Pocohontas"
• "The press is truly the enemy of the people"
Fox News, talk radio and Facebook have rightly been blamed for the loss of truth and the rise of Trump; but there has been a conscious assault on democracy by Republican luminaries such as Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Denny Hastert and Mitch McConnell.
Yes, we are now witnessing the absurd and dangerous train wreck, but it was set in motion a long time ago.
4
Mr. Krugman, can you opine on the Zombification of the media?
No president just a mob boss. The way is clear now for a “perfect” autocracy.
5
Let us not forget the bloodiest of the Republican zombie ideas, the Preemptive Strike.
1
I fervently look forward to the day that the Republican Party goes by way of the long extinct Whig Party!
2
The real power in the Republican Party is the control of fundamentalist Christians, that along with the hate of government that was brought in by Regan. Regan who would not stand a chance now!
1
"And all of the really important zombies these days are on the right. Indeed, they have taken over the Republican Party."
The Republican Party became the Cult of Trump on July 19, 2016, when they gave him their nomination.
As with any cult, speak out against the "dear leader" and you are "dead" as far as the cult is concerned.
Trump is narcissistic, egotistical, uninformed and incurious bull in a china shop.
Please explain to me what additional discussion is required to explain how the "Republicans" are behaving.
3
Krugman doing here what he does best: Shoring up support (or merely covering over) for a smoldering trash heap called the DNC and otherwise legitimating the two-faction corporate business party that has so successfully defined itself as “Democracy” that it runs this country, much in the same way that a private multinational corporation running a news press has so successfully defined itself as “independent journalism” that it runs “our free press.”
2
Apparently the only election interference is a bunch of angry Liberals in Iowa with smart phones.
1
What is a bigger example of zombie thinking than "Diversity is our strength"?
1
A more pertinent question would be: has american democracy ever really erxisted within the confines of a history marred by genocide slavery white supremacist constitution immigration laws retention camps McCarthyism racist drug wars Jim Crow widespread discrimination throughout the economic and judiciary systems? The question would then be : What do we mean by Democracy?
2
Hey Paul, how about your prediction that “the internet would have the same impact on the economy as the fax machine”. Or even better, that Trump would cause a “global economic meltdown” if elected? How about that “Dr.” Krugman?
1
@Matt
Just wait.
When all the disgusted leave, only the disgusting are left.
5
Right again, Dr Krugman.
Alas.
2
The two reasons why Republicans do tax cuts.
1. The wealthy are enriched
2. The government gets weaker
The Republicans are greedy not dumb
3
Pathetic .
So happy to be a Canadian.
Our national anthem say " We stand on guard for thee", meaning we will defend Canada from it's enemies.
Greed in America has got rid of dignity, pride, and humanity in politics.
History will judge this era very harshly.
4
The media needs to stop playing along. The both side-ism stories are particularly bad in the New York Times. Krugman is one of the few who consistently highlights the factual evidence against the mainstream Republican economic ideas. Keep it up, and put pressure on the editorial board to include the facts in regular reporting!
2
By this logic, don’t zombies have to be stabbed through the heart or something like that to get rid of them??
1
Instead of absolving Trump of all sin and praising his genius, Republican senators should heed an ominous article in the Jan. 18 Economist headlined "Dethroning the Dollar." Noting that the rest of the world is no longer willing to put up with America's economic hegemony, aggravated by Trump's weaponization of the dollar, nations victimized by more than 30 active U.S. financial and trade sanctions programs are fighting back. Vladimir Putin has been most successful in "de-dollarizing" Russia's debt and trade with a multi-currency system that now uses more euros and Chinese yuan. China and India are also trying to bypass the dollar, starting with an alternative to SWIFT interbank messaging. And Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission, wants to strengthen the international role of the euro, calling the dollar's dominance in European energy trade an "aberration."
8
You only get one chance to make a first impression. Gen Z (a generation even larger than the Millennials) is coming of age and gaining the right to vote now. The GOP will never be able to recover from Gen Z's first impression. Mitch McConnell is winning the battle and losing the war.
3
Even though their number might be few, conservatives with some level of conscience and respect for other people should openly leave the Republicans and start their own party.
Sure it will seem like a futile gesture, but if they don't, and thus continue to support these extremists either with their votes or silence they are complicit in the damage being done to our country.
9
John Dingle wrote a very interesting article shortly before he died in which he made a call to "Abolish the Senate." He proposed a couple of plausible means to achieve the intended effect without formally abolishing it, which would obviously be incredibly difficult. In any case, the profoundly non-representative nature of the Senate (and the Electoral College) are two issues that need sustained attention if we are to make any progress in this country.
5
Calling out the zombies and zombie ideas obviously isn't helping. Democrats need to learn how to win elections - no more unelectable and unlikable candidates. Governing competence is immaterial.
Like Trump, you have to win.
6
Krugman knows what the R Party is and describes it well. Anyone paying attention knows that what he describes is a reality which the D Party must either submit to or otherwise deal with. But many D's don't want to hear it, don't have to hear it, and won't hear it. They have the moderate D careerists' lies that the R's will work with them - the moderates - if they are the ones put/kept in office by D voters. It may be that these D careerists do more damage with their lies than Krugman's R careerists do with theirs.
3
The end of the fairness doctrine still haunts us. Without an honesty requirement, media are constantly forced to compromise honesty in exchange for access. If Maggie Haberman reported honestly on Trump, she would never see the inside of a White House press room again. That's part of the problem. We're cadging news instead of feeling entitled to it. This process began in 1987.
4
He asked a foreign government to meddle in an American election,
he used taxpayer money to try to blackmail them (well, "it") into doing it,
he and the senate republicans obstructed the investigation by preventing key witnesses from testifying.
Are you telling me that you can vote for these people?
7
"If Trump wants to dismantle democracy and rule of law (which he does), his party will stand with him all the way."
This is why it's so important to vote against the Party, and not just against Trump. They are not one and the same, but the Party is comprised of enablers for Trump and nothing else.
There are too many people who aren't paying attention, though. Many Republicans think in the old way - comparative moderates in the McCain or Reagan modes. They don't realize that by voting along these lines from long ago, they are supporting Trumpism and all that entails, one hundred percent of which is bad for the country and for them personally. It is too late for them to awaken to this danger. They are about to be swallowed whole by the Trumpian tsunami heading their way, and they are blind to it.
I can't say I'm sorry for them. Through their unwillingness to see the truth, they've earned their demise. But I am sorry for the rest of us. We don't deserve the damage from Trump which they have caused.
10
Here's another zombie for you: Donald Trump is a patriot who is honestly interested in improving the lives of all Americans, and is only being met with liberal naysayers who are just out to get him. When will the GOP admit that this idea had been demonstrably and repeatedly proven false?
6
@Jonah -- The "Trump, the victim" argument. My favorite. But, you're right. This idea is ingrained into the Republican Party mythology by now. We may have to wait an entire generation for Republicans to admit how wrong they were. All the current crop will have to be gone from the scene, so a group that wasn't involved with him can speak freely and honestly about him. No Republican currently in office will ever tell the truth about Trump.
4
We have entered into the twilight zone. Is this zombification or are we witnessing the ushering of a state of quasi-Nazism?
Professor, you forgot to mention that Fox News is a de facto Ministry of Propaganda. Could it be that the military-industrial complex has surprises in store for us, known unknowns that have not surfaced yet?
Whatever it is the Climate Crisis will only exacerbate under this derelict government, a kakocracy now ruled by a wannabe dictator.
Seemingly we are heading towards precipice.
Still, there is (some) comfort in the words of HL Mencken "America always gets it right, after it exhausts all other possibilities".
Please America, get it right!
7
1) Vote blue, no matter who.
2) As I've been contending for awhile now, the GOP barrel has no bottom.
3) Wait, the GOP had a soul? When? Why didn't anybody tell me?
5
"Zombies" are the walking brain dead; animated by only the most basic of cerebral activity. The Republicans are not "zombies"; their actions are taken in full knowledge and free will. They have given their 'souls' to the cult of an "evangelical leader", in return for promises of power and wealth. The zombie ideas, the author mentions, are typical of the group think of a cult.
What will happen to the cult if the leader dies before asserting ultimate power (in 2020)?
2