New York Times columnist Paul Krugman blamed “America’s catastrophically inadequate response to the coronavirus” on President Donald Trump and said his administration “is utterly incapable of formulating a coherent response to the gathering economic crisis” in an op-ed on Tuesday.
“At every stage, Donald Trump minimized the threat and blocked helpful action because he wanted to look good for the next news cycle or two, ignoring and intimidating anyone who tried to give him good advice," Krugman wrote.
Making matters worse, he said, is that Trump “has in general staffed his administration with obsequious toadies who never tell him anything he doesn’t want to hear.”
This means “there are only two potential loci of intelligent economic policymaking left in Washington. One is the Federal Reserve; the other is the congressional Democratic leadership,” according to Krugman.
He pointed out that “in another time, under another president, the White House would have played a crucial role in shaping crisis legislation. But last week, as the House drafted and then passed an economic relief bill… it was almost entirely a Democratic effort.”
Krugman contended that, in addition, “Republican senators have been actively obstructionist, offering no serious proposals of their own, but holding up a vote on the House bill, even though that bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.”
He said that even though there are many competent center-right economists, the Republican Party “doesn’t want their advice, [preferring] hacks and propagandists, illustrating that the GOP “truly has nobody left who is capable of putting together a plausible economic rescue package.”
This means “Democrats will have to do the job, perhaps with help from the Federal Reserve intervention to stabilize highly stressed financial markets” and with Trump and the GOP getting out of their way, Krugman wrote.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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