The Bad, the Worse and the Ugly Paul Krugman APRIL 7,

New Post Public Reply Private Reply Replies (0) Message Board

Apr 9, 2017 at 11:02 AM 297

Quote:

The Bad, the Worse and the Ugly

Paul Krugman APRIL 7, 2017

This week’s New York Times interview with Donald Trump was horrifying, yet curiously unsurprising. Yes, the world’s most powerful man is lazy, ignorant, dishonest and vindictive. But we knew that already.

In fact, the most revealing thing in the interview may be Mr. Trump’s defense of Bill O’Reilly, accused of sexual predation and abuse of power: “He’s a good person.” This, I’d argue, tells us more about both the man from Mar-a-Lago and the motivations of his base than his ramblings about infrastructure and trade.

First, however, here’s a question: How much difference has it made, really, that Donald Trump rather than a conventional Republican sits in the White House?

The Trump administration is, by all accounts, a mess. The vast majority of key presidential appointments requiring Senate confirmation are unfilled; whatever people are in place are preoccupied with factional infighting.

Decision-making sounds more like palace intrigues in a sultan’s seraglio than policy formulation in a republic. And then there are those tweets.

Yet Mr. Trump’s first great policy and political debacle — the ignominious collapse of the effort to kill Obamacare — owed almost nothing to executive dysfunction. Repeal-and-replace didn’t face-plant because of poor tactics; it failed because Republicans have been lying about health care for eight years. So when the time came to propose something real, all they could offer were various ways to package mass loss of coverage.

Similar considerations apply on other fronts. Tax reform looks like a bust, not because the Trump administration has no idea what it’s doing (although it doesn’t), but because nobody in the G.O.P. ever put in the hard work of figuring out what should change and how to sell those changes.

What about areas where Mr. Trump sometimes sounds very different from ordinary Republicans, like infrastructure?

A push for a genuine trillion-dollar construction plan (as opposed to tax credits and privatization), which would need Democratic support given the predictable opposition from conservatives, would be a departure. But given what we heard in the interview — basically incoherent word salad mixed with random remarks about transportation in Queens — it’s clear that the administration has no actual infrastructure plan, and probably never will.

True, there are some places where Mr. Trump does seem likely to have a big impact — most notably, in crippling environmental policy. But that’s what any Republican would have done; climate change denialism and the belief that our air and water are too clean are mainstream positions in the modern G.O.P.

So Trumpist governance in practice so far is turning out to be just Republican governance with (much) worse management. Which brings me back to the original question: Does the appalling character of the man on top matter?

I think it does. The substance of Trump policy may not be that distinctive in practice. But style matters, too, because it shapes the broader political climate. And what Trumpism has brought is a new sense of empowerment to the ugliest aspects of American politics.

By now there’s a whole genre of media portraits of working-class Trump supporters (there are even parody versions). You know what I mean: interviews with down-on-their-luck rural whites who are troubled to learn that all those liberals who warned them that they would be hurt by Trump policies were right, but still support Mr. Trump, because they believe that liberal elites look down on them and think they’re stupid. Hmm.

Anyway, one thing the interviewees often say is that Mr. Trump is honest, that he tells it like is, which may seem odd given how much he lies about almost everything, policy and personal.

But what they probably mean is that Mr. Trump gives outright, unapologetic voice to racism, sexism, contempt for “losers” and so on — feelings that have always been an important source of conservative support, but have long been things you weren’t supposed to talk about openly.

In other words, Mr. Trump isn’t an honest man or a stand-up guy, but he is, arguably, less hypocritical about the darker motives underlying his worldview than conventional politicians are.

Hence the affinity for Mr. O’Reilly, and Mr. Trump’s apparent sense that news reports about the TV host’s actions are an indirect attack on him.

One way to think about Fox News in general, and Mr. O’Reilly in particular, is that they provide a safe space for people who want an affirmation that their uglier impulses are, in fact, justified and perfectly O.K.

And one way to think about the Trump White House is that it’s attempting to expand that safe space to include the nation as a whole.

And the big question about Trumpism — bigger, arguably, than the legislative agenda — is whether unapologetic ugliness is a winning political strategy.

Newer

Older

Scroll down for more posts ▼

Top 10 Most Recent News Articles

Goodwill's ReThink Fashion: Textiles to Runway Art

Transforming Old to New on the Runway Right when you think fashion's all about the next shiny thing, here comes Goodwill of Delaware & Delaware County flipping the script. Their ReThink Fashion Show - the ECO Edit teaches us a thing or two about what giving old clothes a new life truly means. It's not just about tossing a used tee onto a catwalk but a whole rebirth...

Verdafero Gains Ground in Sustainable Hospitality

Verdafero's Latest Milestone: A Broader Environmental Reach It’s a day like today that makes you pause and realize that businesses in the hospitality space aren’t just about fluff and fancy lobbies anymore. They've got a new wave of responsibilities, especially with the globe pretty much on fire, literally and figuratively. Verdafero, a name not new to function and...

Tiger Group to Auction Huge Window Manufacturing Plant

Glass & Vinyl Ambitions: A New Chapter Who would have guessed? The seasoned window maker Showcase Window and Door Company is putting its prime manufacturing facility up for grabs. The online auction, orchestrated by Tiger Group, kicks off September 10, and it's sure to stir up some excitement in the industry. With picking up operations now within reach, it feels like...

Intellectia.AI Transforming Trading with AI Upgrades

Intellectia.AI Sparks New Trading Era Intellectia.AI, from the bustling streets of New York, is cutting through the noise with a flashy update to its AI-powered trading setup. They've thrown a heap of new toys into the ring, letting folks piggyback on high-grade stock moves in the blink of an eye. Gone are the days of fumbling with cumbersome data and execution. Breaking...

Innventure Faces Major Lawsuit Amidst Market Turmoil

The Plot Thickens with Innventure's DarkNX Project Buckle up, fellow market sling-riders; the Innventure tale is a rocky one for the books. Imagine this: You’ve plunked down your hard-earned cash on Innventure Inc. (NASDAQ: INV), lured by their glowing pronouncements about a supposed golden egg project, the Accelsius DarkNX data-center deal. A big talk about...

VitalCore Pioneers Jail Behavioral Health Expansion

The Big Move in Correctional Healthcare VitalCore Health Strategies has made an impressive move with the opening of a 60-bed Behavioral Health Unit at Shawnee County Jail in Topeka, Kansas. The unit, part of a $21 million expansion completed on August 24, is set to change the landscape for inmates needing mental health and substance use treatment. This isn't just a slap...

Muscle Car Fever Revs Up in New Global TV Series

Chasing the Dream on Wheels Amid the buzz of New York, there's a roar building up that's hard to ignore. It's a sound that echoes through time, capturing the imagination of petrol heads everywhere—those legendary American muscle cars are back in the limelight. I mean, who hasn't dreamt of launching down a highway in a '69 Ford Mustang? 'The Hunt for Rolling Treasure' is...

AllyGPO Shines as Top Innovator in Health Tech

Innovative Excellence in Healthcare Tech It's not every day you see a specialty group purchasing organization like AllyGPO snagging a spot on Fast Company's esteemed list of Best Workplaces for Innovators. Making it into the top half at number 40 in 2026, it’s a testament to a company really leaning into employee-driven innovation. And, buddy, this ain't just corporate...

ASCEND® Cladding Unveils New Profiles & Texture Variety

New Options for Creative Home Exteriors Amid today's housing market rollercoaster, a sprinkle of bold innovation in building materials can make a statement—and that's precisely what Associated Materials Innovations (AMI) is banking on with their latest beef-up in the ASCEND® Composite Cladding lineup. Introduced out of Cuyahoga Falls on Sept. 8, 2026, this expansion...

Celebree Elevates Early Ed with New Certification Push

A New Standard in Early Childhood Education In the cutthroat world of childcare and early education, just meeting the state standards ain't cutting it anymore. Celebree School, known for its infant, toddler, and preschool programs, is shaking things up with its 'Celebree Certified' initiative, setting a brand-new benchmark for teacher readiness that's far beyond the usual...