Throughout the coronavirus epidemic, President Donald Trump’s army of defenders — from Republicans in the federal government to his right-wing media apologists — have jumped through hoops to defend his woefully inadequate response to the crisis. And liberal economist Paul Krugman, in his New York Times column, warns that this type of stupidity will have “deadly consequences” for Americans.
“Over the weekend,” Krugman explains, “Donald Trump once again declared that the coronavirus is perfectly under control, that any impressions to the contrary are due to the ‘fake news media’ out to get him. Question: Does anyone have a count of how many times he’s done this, comparable to the running tallies fact- checkers are keeping of his lies? In any case, we’ve pretty clearly reached the point where Trump’s assurances that everything is fine actually worsen the panic, because they demonstrate the depths of his delusions.” Trump’s most strident supporters, according to Krugman, have been quick to defend his “luridly delusional response to the coronavirus and his conspiracy theorizing about Democrats and the news media” —adding that “denial and the resulting delay are likely to have deadly consequences” in the United States.
Looking back on the Great Recession, Krugman stresses that coronavirus isn’t the first time Republicans have mindlessly spouted idiotic conspiracy theories in the face of a major crisis. Continue reading.