KRUGMAN: A "...de facto foreign agent sits in the Oval Office."

[kpete]

Congress is controlled by Republicans. And their response to a president whose actions are manifestly not just un-American but anti-American has been … a few sad tweets from a handful of senators who are unhappy about Trump’s behavior but not willing to do anything real. Most Republicans haven’t even gone that far: They’re just silent.

Why are Republican politicians unwilling to discharge their constitutional responsibilities? Relatively few of them, one suspects, actually want a trade war, let alone a breakup of the Western alliance. And many of them, one also suspects, are well aware that a de facto foreign agent sits in the Oval Office. But they are immobilized by a combination of venality and cowardice.

On one side, tax cuts for the rich have become the overriding priority for the modern G.O.P., and Trump is giving them that, so they’re willing to let everything else slide.

On the other side, the party’s base really does love Trump, not for his policies, but for the performative cruelty he exhibits toward racial minorities and the way he sticks his thumb in the eyes of “elites.” So any Republican politician who takes a stand on behalf of what we used to think were fundamental American values is at high risk of losing his or her next primary. And as far as we can tell, there is not a single elected Republican willing to take that risk, no matter what Trump does.

What all this tells us is that the problem facing America runs much deeper than Trump’s personal awfulness. One of our two major parties appears to be hopelessly, irredeemably corrupt. And unless that party not only loses this year’s election but begins losing on a regular basis, America as we know it is finished.




MORE:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/opinion/trump-quisling-enablers.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Putin's puppet,

a Russian plant in our WH. Reads like a fictional tale, "The Manchurian Candidate".

[meow2u3]

17. But Hillary is the puppet

[SergeStorms]

30. Trouble is...

Congressional Republicans are complicit in Trump's theft of the election, and they're up to their eyebrows in Russian money as well.

They're all guilty as hell.

[underpants]

2. It's so obvious even NY Times published it

That's how bad it is

[Hekate]

37. Krugman, author of "Conscience of a Liberal", has been a NYT columnist for many many years...

He's not on their editorial board, he's not an owner, but he is a respected Nobel Prize economist. I've been reading him off and on since Dubya-Cheney's admin, and for me he has always been a voice of clarity and sanity.

[Hekate]

45. New York Times editors today...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210728533

I think they are woke.

[unblock]

3. Ask a trumpie: if Donnie's not a Russian agent, what would a Russian agent do differently?

[RandomAccess]

7. EXCELLENT ---- or

What would Trump do differently as a bonafide Russian agent?

[humbled_opinion]

21. I do all the time

All I get is Trump has done more damage to Russia than Obama ever did, he attacked Russian ally Syria twice destroying airbases and aircraft and U.S. forces killed hundreds of Russian mercenaries in Syria, then they ramble on about Obama fake red lines, Obama let Putin become an ally with Syria and Iran, made bad deal with Iran, let him meddle in our elections, let him annex Crimea and invade Ukraine without ever giving weapons to the Ukrainians, etc, etc, Oh yeah and sold them our Uranium, etc, etc, they live in a Fox news echo chamber, there is no helping ignorance.

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. So they admit to Russia meddling in our elections and not a word about tRUMP being elected* as a

result of the meddling(hate that word usage to describe what actually took place in the GE). Hatred wins out with the DEPLORABLES.

[moondust]

4. "hopelessly, irredeemably corrupt"

Yep, that's them.

[lagomorph777]

9. The RePutin Party can't be reformed; they've boxed themselves in.

We must eradicate them entirely, starting in November. Actually, starting NOW with GOTV efforts.

[Red Pest]

5. Of course he is bought and paid for by China and owned by Putin

May I also suggest reading in the NY Times editorial section the columns by Nicholas Kristof and David Brooks. Both columns, in addition to this one by Paul Krugman, give overlapping insights into what has happened with the Trump foreign policy.

Further, my own quick thought is NOT to compare Trump to Neville Chamberlain. Trump is not motivated by visions of mass slaughter in WWI that motivated Chamberlain to appease Hitler. Rather, Trump (as we all have seen) is motivated solely by his vision of himself as the only thing that matters. In his head, he is the "sun king", the essential man. That all happens because of his native brilliance and insight. He should be compared to the fictional Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, but as a heterosexual rather than a homosexual, and just as obsessed about sex.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

31. Lord Fatass does look like he never stopped auditioning for the movie.

There isn’t enough invective in the world to convey my feelings about bloatus.

[renate]

6. I'm starting to blame Trump less for all of this and to blame Republicans entirely

He's who he is. He didn't lie about who he is, although he's become more so now that he has actual power. It's not as though he promised peace, love, and understanding, or even rational decision-making.

He was always going to fling poo and make uninformed, irrational decisions, until somebody put the brakes on his behavior. The real problem is that the people who were supposed to do it aren't doing it, so he just keeps on trucking. It's the scorpion's nature.

The founding fathers would never, ever have dreamed that a majority of Congress would do absolutely nothing to stop a megalomaniacal narcissist, let alone encourage and kowtow to him. I think the media and everybody who consumes it, myself included, is totally mesmerized and paralyzed by the extent of Trump's awfulness, but the real story is the Republicans' sitting on their hands through all of this. That is the real scandal. That is the real cause of the damage to our democracy. It's not just one man but hundreds of elected officials who are completely refusing to do their jobs, so they and we are just sitting here watching our country devolve before our eyes.

[Va Lefty]

8. This post!

Spineless traitors terrified of the deplorables

[lagomorph777]

10. Spineless traitors terrified of the deplorables - and the #NRAROUBLES

[erronis]

11. +1 - The founding fathers probably didn't imagine that we'd have traitors sitting in congress either

The repuglicon party has slowly but surely emptied themselves of members that could think independently.

I fear that the same forces of evil will do their work on politicians and leaders also.

[ehrnst]

19. Yes! I think that's why so many are crawling off the ship...

They don't want to be accountable for their part in democracy circling the bowl.

[BarbD]

22. You are absolutely correct.

They have to all be voted out of office.

[kpete]

28. yes

xlnt comment

thanks,
kp

[BlancheSplanchnik]

32. Definitely, pukes in Congress are willfully ignoring their oaths. They know it.

All thinking people know it. Yet the majority of focus is on Lardass and his shitshows.

Typical disordered personality—creates and thrives on chaos. Leaders should be studying psychology and, particularly, BOUNDARIES and CONSEQUENCES.

[Efilroft Sul]

12. The Republicans are NOT immobilized by a combination of venality and cowardice.

Trump gave them everything they didn't already get since 1981 by tearing apart institutions of government. Why they hell would they do a damn thing against him? The party has gone all-in with Trump on the great selling out of America to corporations and a rival international power. Bringing us to heel and making us helpless has been the party's long-term goal. What Krugman perceives as fear by Republican politicians for going against Trump and his asinine base is really tacit approval of the administration's actions.

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. Yep! Lyin Ryan said as much after the sham of an election, that they now control all three branches

And can finally enact their(evil) agenda. Ignorant tRUMP supporters don't know how screwed they really are.

[ladym55]

13. When you are all owned by Vlad and his oligarch buddies

This is what you get. They took Russian money. Russians have intel on them. (Do you think the Dems were the only ones hacked?) The NRA tooks lots of money from the Russians.

This is Putin's goal to destabilize the West, and it is going really well.

[luckygreentiger]

20. the west

Well you have plenty of people that want to undermine the government and praise Russia.

They want it to fail and they're excited; he has a 90% approval rating among republicans.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

33. Effing fox watchers and cretins. n/t

[Amaryllis]

29. EXactly right. I am growing very weary of endless analysis of why GOP does nothing; analysis

which looks at everything but the real reason. MANY OF THEM are complicit; up to their eyeballs in Russian money and compromised on many fronts.

[calimary]

14. I'm now calling him "CON Man Don."

Thank you, Egberto Willies, for sparking the idea with your own "Con Man Trump".

https://egbertowillies.com/2018/06/12/con-man-conned-constituents/

[Hekate]

15. KnR for Krugman

[thegoose]

16. We all knew this shit in 2015

And yet it happened. And like deer ticks, his filthy party is hopping on this orange piece of shit to suck out their share of the blood.

What did they fucking think would happen? Pukes do this every time. Been there, done that since Ray-gun in 1980. A war is next, despite Dump's blow job of Kim-Jum-Whatever.

[BlueJac]

18. I live in Florida I am 68...

Almost all the people in my age bracket watch Fox news many hours a day. They are all robots with like mind set/ We don't have cable TV and I am thankful.

[radical noodle]

35. I live in Florida and am 70

I never watch Fox unless it's out of curiosity to see what they're spinning. I actually know people who are Democrats! (Okay, I admit they are rare around here.)

[oasis]

23. Susan Sarandon, Nina Turner, Jill Stein, Cornel West will never

be able to escape their role in the damage to America.

[Blue_Tires]

24. +1000

[calimary]

25. No kidding.

They did their utmost to "help out." We should NEVER forget this. NOT EVER!!!

[calimary]

26. Except to blame it on Hillary, maybe. Anything but themselves.

[oasis]

27. They would best stfu. Nobody's buying the "Hillary ran a weak

campaign" bs anymore.

[Eyeball_Kid]

36. IMO, they all held less weight than Russian bots and trolls.

Really now, who would be persuaded by Susan Sarandon? How much political moxie did she really have? She had a handful of appearances on a few big shows, but was mostly cavorting with celebrity pols. Nina Turner? come on.

This is still free speech America. Your villains were merely expressing their Constitutional rights. No one had to listen to them or give them credibility. Because notable people speak their minds doesn't mean that they're enemies. We also have the right to ignore them when we choose. And we did.

[oasis]

44. Gimme a break. In the process of exercising their "Constitutional rights",

the "villains" recklessly distorted HRC's record and policy positions.Those were the very "villains" who created the "Hillary=Trump" perception.

It's imperative that we expose those individuals responsible for doing a hatchet job on Hillary which resulted in Trump getting his sorry ass into the White House.

[True Blue American]

38. Amen to your post!

[Duppers]

34. AMEN!!

[UCmeNdc]

41. Agree! Trump is doing Putin's bidding.

[Botany]

42. And unless that party not only loses ... America as we know it is finished.

Trump is a Russian agent end of story.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

43. Nice opinion article! n/t

[Thrill]

46. Being enabled by Republicans and he US media