Paul Krugman Endorses Trump

Today’s column by arch-leftist Paul Krugman is titled, “Trump Is Right on Economics.” Krugman’s theme is that of all the Republican presidential candidates, Trumps’s views on the economy are closest to Krugman’s:

Mr. Bush has chosen to attack Mr. Trump as a false conservative, a proposition that is supposedly demonstrated by his deviations from current Republican economic orthodoxy: his willingness to raise taxes on the rich, his positive words about universal health care. And that tells you a lot about the dire state of the G.O.P. For the issues the Bush campaign is using to attack its unexpected nemesis are precisely the issues on which Mr. Trump happens to be right, and the Republican establishment has been proved utterly wrong.

Krugman backs up this claim with his trademark dishonesty, citing unemployment percentages without reference to labor force participation. But that’s not the point: the point is that on the economy, Krugman recognizes in Trump a fellow liberal.

Does that mean that Krugman endorses Trump? OF course not. It would take a lot more than being “right” on economic issues to gain favor with the New York Times:

So am I saying that Mr. Trump is better and more serious than he’s given credit for being? Not at all — he is exactly the ignorant blowhard he seems to be.

I would make the case that Trump and Krugman are both ignorant blowhards, which accounts for the congruence of their views on the economy. Do I expect that Trump supporters will re-examine their assumptions about Trump, now that he has the far-left stamp of approval on the single most important complex of issues? No. Trump’s fans have been uninterested in conservative principles, and I don’t think that will change; at least, not yet.

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