Paul Krugman. Paul Fucking Krugman.
Sorry, I’ve been correctly called out for not giving a flavor of Paul’s epic column:
Krugman: “Well, the dog whistle days are over. Republicans are pretty much back to saying “Nigger, nigger, nigger.”
“As everyone knows, on Sunday Donald Trump attacked four progressive members of Congress, saying that they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” As it happens, three of the four were born in the U.S., and the fourth is a duly naturalized citizen. All are, however, women of color.
“Sorry, there’s no way to both sides this, or claim that Trump didn’t say what he said. This is racism, plain and simple — nothing abstract about it. And Trump obviously isn’t worried that it will backfire.”
P.S. Not so very long ago, I would have hesitated to characterize the following men as decent. There’s something going on here.
George Conway: “But Sunday left no doubt. Naivete, resentment and outright racism, roiled in a toxic mix, have given us a racist president. Trump could have used vile slurs, including the vilest of them all, and the intent and effect would have been no less clear. Telling four non-white members of Congress — American citizens all, three natural-born — to “go back” to the “countries” they “originally came from”? That’s racist to the core. It doesn’t matter what these representatives are for or against — and there’s plenty to criticize them for — it’s beyond the bounds of human decency. For anyone, not least a president.”
Max Boot: “Sorry, Republicans. There is nothing — nothing — more important in the United States than racism. Where you stand on that one issue defines who you are as a human being. Silence is complicity. All Republicans who stand mute in the face of Trump’s latest racism are telling you who they really are. It’s an ugly picture of a morally bankrupt party that has now embraced racial prejudice as a platform.”
George Will: "I believe that what this president has done to our culture, to our civic discourse ... you cannot unring these bells and you cannot unsay what he has said, and you cannot change that he has now in a very short time made it seem normal for schoolboy taunts and obvious lies to be spun out in a constant stream. I think this will do more lasting damage than Richard Nixon's surreptitious burglaries did."
P.P.S. Look, I was pretty disheartened earlier today. Nancy couldn’t bring herself to call this racism. opting for “xenophobic” instead. My God, even some republican congressman had already called it racism. Even after CNN, the Washington Post and MSNBC published articles calling this racism, the New York Times still couldn’t pull the trigger. I’m seeing a good trend here. I’m seeing a powerful and bipartisan appeal to decency.