Krugman: HRC triggered DT's meltdown with grace and steely resolve

[Rose Siding]

Some advance thoughts on post-election punditry: it's already obvious that pundits will dismiss HRC's achievement 1/
They'll claim that she only won because she had an insane opponent, and/or that she should have won by a bigger margin 2/
But this will be all wrong. First of all, negative partisanship limits the potential margin of any candidate; most Rs vote R regardless 3/
Beyond that, would a white male candidate have exposed Trump so thoroughly? I doubt it. Remember, he slid right by the Matt Lauer types 4/
The turning point came in 1st debate, when HRC set him up, both by her presence and with the strategic cite of Alicia Machado 5/
The point is that Trump didn't just happen to melt down, HRC triggered his meltdown -- and that required grace + steely resolve 6/
Plus of course her gender. So there's a real case that HRC was by far the best person to beat Trump, and bring GOP sickness into the open 7/

https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/787387484418236417

[Ardoewaan]

1. There definitely was a game plan nt

[Rose Siding]

2. "Highly scripted", even.

Thankfully.

[Ardoewaan]

3. I prefer

higly prepared for every eventuality

[ProudProgressiveNow]

14. +1 nt

[MBS]

4. I've been very impressed with the way this campaign has been run.

You can feel that they've thought everything through.
Smart strategy.
And great TV ads, too.

[Helen Borg]

5. Luckily, Trump is a self-defeating buffoon.

[JTFrog]

6. Way to prove a point. nt

[robbob]

7. I was SUCH a Bernie fan

Still love the man, and think a lot of posters who were slagging Sanders and the "Bernie bro's" should at least acknowledge that in the heat of the primaries some of the rhetoric got a little nasty and over the top (on both sides, btw).

That being said; I am SO glad to see it will be a strong woman, Hillary R Clinton, who will be taking down this repulsive turd of a joke candidate. There is such a sense of justice in having the first woman president actually having to confront the groping, privileged asshole who, in a single flawed person, represents so much of what women have had to confront and overcome in the history of this country.

It's downright cathartic, in a way that a Bernie Sanders campaign could never have been. If it was Sanders vs. Trump right now the whole contest would be framed as a "crazy radical socialist" against a "hard headed practical capatalist". All lies, of course, but the media would have got away with painting that picture.

Yes, there are many economic issues and basic human needs that Bernie seemed to represent to his followers, and we can hope his presence in this election might initiate a swing to the left by the party, but in the meantime, given the way everything went down, I just want to say THANK YOU Hillary for exposing the corupt and abusive monster that is Donald Trump; I don't think anyone could have done it better than you!

[Madam45for2923]

9. Awesome words!

[robbob]

11. Thanks!

[Fast Walker 52]

15. same here!

[getagrip_already]

8. What gets him the most....

Is that she pointed to the left field wall, and then put the ball over it.

It's not just that she is beating him, she told him how she would do it, and that is how she is doing it.

That would piss off a sane candidate. But it leaves this one humiliated and emasculated. It's wonderful thing.

[Madam45for2923]

10. All the while she is acting cool like this:

[Hekate]

12. Very good analysis. Love Paul Krugman.

[Persondem]

13. Great article. "Grace and steely resolve" - I like that in a president K & R nt

[Fast Walker 52]

16. funny, I was thinking that this morning-- how her little jab at the end of the 1st debate

really led to this massive meltdown-- and I bet they knew exactly what they were doing