NOBODY projects better, more often, than a Trumpanzee.
Soft Corruption and the Limits of Populism
Sept. 25, 2023
House republicans stand on the steps of Congress, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is in front at microphones, out of focus.
Credit...Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
By Paul Krugman
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/opinion/co...ption.html
There are currently two clown shows — sorry, but let’s be honest — going on in the Republican Party. One is the intraparty fighting that seems extremely likely to cause a government shutdown a few days from now. The other is the fight over who will come a distant second to Donald Trump in the presidential primaries.
There are many strange aspects to both shows. But here’s the one that has long puzzled me: Everyone says that with the rise of MAGA, the G.O.P. has been taken over by populists. So why is the Republican Party’s economic ideology so elitist and antipopulist?
Listen to the rhetoric of the people making Kevin McCarthy look like a fool or of the presidential candidates, and it’s full of attacks on elites — but also of promises to cut taxes for the rich and slash government spending that benefits the working class. For example, Nikki Haley — who is making a credible bid to be Trump’s also-ran, given Ron DeSantis’s implosion — is calling for big cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
As I write this, McCarthy is reportedly trying to appease MAGA dissidents with a temporary funding bill that would cut nonmilitary discretionary spending outside of Veterans Affairs by 27 percent — meaning savage cuts to things like the administration of Social Security (as opposed to the benefits themselves).
The thing is, such proposals are deeply unpopular. It’s true that Americans tell pollsters that the government spends too much, but if you ask them about specific types of spending, the only area on which they say we spend too much is foreign aid, which is a trivial part of the budget. Oh, and most Americans still support aid to Ukraine.
So there would seem to be an opening for politicians who are right wing on social issues like immigration and wokeness but are also genuinely populist in their spending priorities. Such politicians exist in other countries. For example, Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, whose party has deep links to the nation’s fascist past, ran last year on a platform calling for earlier retirement for some workers and increases in minimum pensions and child benefits.
So why aren’t there such figures in the G.O.P.? To be fair, during the 2016 campaign Trump sometimes sounded as if he might turn his back on Republican economic orthodoxy, but once in office he pursued the usual agenda of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy combined with benefit cuts for the rest.
Part of the answer may lie in the American right’s general mind-set, which valorizes harshness, not empathy. People who are drawn to MAGA tend to imagine that solving society’s problems should involve punishing people, not helping them.
Also, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of ignorance: MAGA politicians, who generally disdain any kind of expertise, may not have any clear idea of what the federal government does and where tax dollars go.
Finally, there’s the Clarence Thomas factor.
What I mean is that part of the explanation for the absence of genuine Republican populists may involve the gravitational pull of big money, which is both broader and subtler than the way it’s often portrayed.
If the accusations against Senator Robert Menendez are true — and it’s not looking good — old-fashioned bribery, payments to politicians in exchange for favors, hasn’t gone away. But it’s probably not shaping party ideology.
Campaign contributions, on the other hand, definitely do shape ideology; DeSantis was touted as a rival to Trump because he got a lot of support from big donors who believed he would serve their interests and had real political skills. (Being rich doesn’t necessarily come with good judgment.)
But there’s a sort of gray area that doesn’t involve outright bribes in the sense of money given in return for specific actions but nonetheless involves a form of soft corruption. For the fact is that public figures whom the very rich see as being on their side can reap considerable personal rewards from their positions.
Recent revelations about Justice Thomas show how this works. ProPublica reports that he has received many favors from ultrawealthy conservatives, notably lavish free vacations. These reports are shocking because we don’t expect such behavior from a Supreme Court justice, and Thomas may have violated the law by failing to disclose these gifts. But does anyone doubt that many politicians who favor tax cuts for the rich and reduced benefits for the working class, even as they rail against elites, receive similar favors?
And the hermetic information space of the American right surely facilitates this soft corruption. Suggestions of improper influence on right-wing officials and politicians won’t get much coverage on Fox News, except possibly for claims that they’re the victims of a liberal smear campaign.
Now, I don’t know how important these different factors are to the fact that America’s “populists” are anything but populist in practice. But we do need to ask why people who denounce elites somehow always manage to avoid targeting corporations not named Disney and billionaires not named George Soros.
JohnV
Falmouth, MA
1h ago
When the GOP isn't lying, it isn't telling the whole truth. The GOP says they hate taxes. They actually just hate progressive taxes. They love regressive taxes. See which states have the most regressive taxes - ruby red Republican states. Of course the GOP hates progressive taxes, the taxes where the rich pay a higher percent of their income. The GOP much prefers regressive taxes (and fees) where the people with less money pay a higher percent of their income in taxes. The GOP wants you to be poor so you'll pay more!
These regressive tax states like to brag that they have no state income tax. People flock there to find poor education, poor healthcare, and poor safety nets. But, these states attract more people with less money to pay for the people with more money - through regressive taxation - clever, just not in good way.
Make no mistake, the GOP loves taxes - if it's their kind of taxes.
michael sullivan
Massachusetts
1h ago
Clown shows, indeed, but clown shows that precisely articulate the sad state of affairs in this country. The derailing of the government to the detriment of the country is a Republican modus operandi i.e. also know as blackmail. If they were kidnappers they would say 'Do what we tell you or your loved one is dead."
The race for the Republican nomination is a perfect example of the depths to which the GOP has plummeted. The eight or nine candidates knw they need to stay as far right as possible and still, they are reluctant to criticize Trump with most saying they would support him as nominee. The fact they are willing to put a conman criminal back in the oval office makes them all unfit for office--any office.
I know there is such a thing as a sad clown. Maybe Emmitt Kelley was one. This Republican Party is well beyond that comparison. What they're doing isn't a bit funny.
Soft Corruption and the Limits of Populism
Sept. 25, 2023
House republicans stand on the steps of Congress, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is in front at microphones, out of focus.
Credit...Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
By Paul Krugman
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/opinion/co...ption.html
There are currently two clown shows — sorry, but let’s be honest — going on in the Republican Party. One is the intraparty fighting that seems extremely likely to cause a government shutdown a few days from now. The other is the fight over who will come a distant second to Donald Trump in the presidential primaries.
There are many strange aspects to both shows. But here’s the one that has long puzzled me: Everyone says that with the rise of MAGA, the G.O.P. has been taken over by populists. So why is the Republican Party’s economic ideology so elitist and antipopulist?
Listen to the rhetoric of the people making Kevin McCarthy look like a fool or of the presidential candidates, and it’s full of attacks on elites — but also of promises to cut taxes for the rich and slash government spending that benefits the working class. For example, Nikki Haley — who is making a credible bid to be Trump’s also-ran, given Ron DeSantis’s implosion — is calling for big cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
As I write this, McCarthy is reportedly trying to appease MAGA dissidents with a temporary funding bill that would cut nonmilitary discretionary spending outside of Veterans Affairs by 27 percent — meaning savage cuts to things like the administration of Social Security (as opposed to the benefits themselves).
The thing is, such proposals are deeply unpopular. It’s true that Americans tell pollsters that the government spends too much, but if you ask them about specific types of spending, the only area on which they say we spend too much is foreign aid, which is a trivial part of the budget. Oh, and most Americans still support aid to Ukraine.
So there would seem to be an opening for politicians who are right wing on social issues like immigration and wokeness but are also genuinely populist in their spending priorities. Such politicians exist in other countries. For example, Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, whose party has deep links to the nation’s fascist past, ran last year on a platform calling for earlier retirement for some workers and increases in minimum pensions and child benefits.
So why aren’t there such figures in the G.O.P.? To be fair, during the 2016 campaign Trump sometimes sounded as if he might turn his back on Republican economic orthodoxy, but once in office he pursued the usual agenda of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy combined with benefit cuts for the rest.
Part of the answer may lie in the American right’s general mind-set, which valorizes harshness, not empathy. People who are drawn to MAGA tend to imagine that solving society’s problems should involve punishing people, not helping them.
Also, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of ignorance: MAGA politicians, who generally disdain any kind of expertise, may not have any clear idea of what the federal government does and where tax dollars go.
Finally, there’s the Clarence Thomas factor.
What I mean is that part of the explanation for the absence of genuine Republican populists may involve the gravitational pull of big money, which is both broader and subtler than the way it’s often portrayed.
If the accusations against Senator Robert Menendez are true — and it’s not looking good — old-fashioned bribery, payments to politicians in exchange for favors, hasn’t gone away. But it’s probably not shaping party ideology.
Campaign contributions, on the other hand, definitely do shape ideology; DeSantis was touted as a rival to Trump because he got a lot of support from big donors who believed he would serve their interests and had real political skills. (Being rich doesn’t necessarily come with good judgment.)
But there’s a sort of gray area that doesn’t involve outright bribes in the sense of money given in return for specific actions but nonetheless involves a form of soft corruption. For the fact is that public figures whom the very rich see as being on their side can reap considerable personal rewards from their positions.
Recent revelations about Justice Thomas show how this works. ProPublica reports that he has received many favors from ultrawealthy conservatives, notably lavish free vacations. These reports are shocking because we don’t expect such behavior from a Supreme Court justice, and Thomas may have violated the law by failing to disclose these gifts. But does anyone doubt that many politicians who favor tax cuts for the rich and reduced benefits for the working class, even as they rail against elites, receive similar favors?
And the hermetic information space of the American right surely facilitates this soft corruption. Suggestions of improper influence on right-wing officials and politicians won’t get much coverage on Fox News, except possibly for claims that they’re the victims of a liberal smear campaign.
Now, I don’t know how important these different factors are to the fact that America’s “populists” are anything but populist in practice. But we do need to ask why people who denounce elites somehow always manage to avoid targeting corporations not named Disney and billionaires not named George Soros.
JohnV
Falmouth, MA
1h ago
When the GOP isn't lying, it isn't telling the whole truth. The GOP says they hate taxes. They actually just hate progressive taxes. They love regressive taxes. See which states have the most regressive taxes - ruby red Republican states. Of course the GOP hates progressive taxes, the taxes where the rich pay a higher percent of their income. The GOP much prefers regressive taxes (and fees) where the people with less money pay a higher percent of their income in taxes. The GOP wants you to be poor so you'll pay more!
These regressive tax states like to brag that they have no state income tax. People flock there to find poor education, poor healthcare, and poor safety nets. But, these states attract more people with less money to pay for the people with more money - through regressive taxation - clever, just not in good way.
Make no mistake, the GOP loves taxes - if it's their kind of taxes.
michael sullivan
Massachusetts
1h ago
Clown shows, indeed, but clown shows that precisely articulate the sad state of affairs in this country. The derailing of the government to the detriment of the country is a Republican modus operandi i.e. also know as blackmail. If they were kidnappers they would say 'Do what we tell you or your loved one is dead."
The race for the Republican nomination is a perfect example of the depths to which the GOP has plummeted. The eight or nine candidates knw they need to stay as far right as possible and still, they are reluctant to criticize Trump with most saying they would support him as nominee. The fact they are willing to put a conman criminal back in the oval office makes them all unfit for office--any office.
I know there is such a thing as a sad clown. Maybe Emmitt Kelley was one. This Republican Party is well beyond that comparison. What they're doing isn't a bit funny.
