Paul Krugman is part of what’s wrong with America

You’d never know it, though, from reading his latest article, “The Content of the G.O.P.’s Character,” wherein he complains the Republican Party has become uniquely demagogic and unwilling to take responsibility for wrongdoing or error.

Physician, heal thyself.

“The sad content of modern Republican character is a symptom of the corruption and hypocrisy that has afflicted half of our body politic — a sickness of the soul that manifests itself in personal behavior as well as policy,” he writes, adding, “The modern G.O.P. is … a party built around bad faith.”

Krugman concludes, “America in 2018 is not a place where we can disagree without being disagreeable, where there are good people and good ideas on both sides, or whatever other bipartisan homily you want to recite.”

Look, he isn’t wrong when he accuses the Republican Party of craven opportunism. After all, the party has flipped recently on espoused principles in favor of political “wins” (see: the GOP’s newfound love for trade protectionism, its shocking support for failed Republican Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore and the apparent disinterest in ballooning deficits). But let’s be clear: This sort of thing isn’t unique to the GOP. Good luck arguing Democrats haven’t also excused immoral and outright illegal behavior in favor of political gains (see: Ted “the lion of the Senate” Kennedy, who literally killed a woman, and alleged serial sexual predator Bill Clinton).

This isn’t to excuse the behavior. Rather, it’s to call Krugman on his garbage; it’s a neat trick, trying to make it look as if the GOP is uniquely unscrupulous and amoral, but come on.

Further, as far as political demagoguery is concerned, Krugman is talking out of his hat. It’s bad, yes, but you’d have to be insane to think the GOP has this market cornered (see: Romney killed a woman with cancer, Paul Ryan pushing a senior citizen off of a cliff, and Krugman’s New York Times column).

Indeed, as one of the nastiest demagogues in American politics, Krugman should consider sitting this one out. I’m not sure he knows how to disagree without being disagreeable.

In 2011, for example, Krugman rushed to blame former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and the Tea Party for a Tucson, Ariz., shooting that left six people dead and many more wounded, including former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

There is nothing to show she inspired the shooting. Krugman has never apologized for this smear.

Krugman also wrote in 2016 on Election Day that, “We thought that the nation, while far from having transcended racial prejudice and misogyny, had become vastly more open and tolerant over time.”

“It turns out that we were wrong. There turn out to be a huge number of people — white people, living mainly in rural areas — who don’t share at all our idea of what America is about,” he added. “For them, it is about blood and soil, about traditional patriarchy and racial hierarchy.”

There’s also the time Krugman referred to the American Health Care Act, the GOP’s version of Obamacare, as “vampire policy” (subtle!), adding that it is “one of the worst, cruelest pieces of legislation in history.” In case his point wasn’t clear, he added that Republicans are “cruel and immoral.”

He also said on Nov. 30, 2017, of the GOP’s tax reform efforts, that “This whole process involves a level of bad faith we haven’t seen in U.S. politics since the days when defenders of slavery physically assaulted their political foes on the Senate floor.”

“[T]he rot is wide as well as deep,” he added.

This is to say nothing of the time he spread a rumor on social media alleging the White House’s supposed mishandling of its response to Hurricane Maria had led to a cholera outbreak in Puerto Rico.

These aren’t just one-off examples. Demonizing his opponents is what Krugman does.

It’d be nice to have more good-faith political discussions, sure. But it’s awfully difficult when some of our most prominent pundits make an easy living accusing their opponents of being literally Hitler.