Nobel prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is famous for his predictions. On Election Night in 2016, her made this prediction:
It really does now look like President Donald J. Trump, and markets are plunging. When might we expect them to recover?
Frankly, I find it hard to care much, even though this is my specialty. The disaster for America and the world has so many aspects that the economic ramifications are way down my list of things to fear.
Still, I guess people want an answer: If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never.
Scary, huh?
You might suppose, given Trump’s record on the economy over the past two and a half years, that Krugman would have modified his prediction. But you’d be wrong. Late last month, he was a guest on CNN, where he told host Anderson Cooper, “If you’re not terrified that Trump might be re-elected, you’re not paying attention.”
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When Krugman isn’t busy forecasting the future, he finds time in his hectic schedule to dump on Donald Trump for reasons wholly apart from the crumbling economy. On Monday, for example, the day when the president presented the Medal of Freedom to golf legend Tiger Woods, Krugman harrumphed sarcastically:
I'm old enough to remember when Presidential Medals of Freedom were given for showing courage and making sacrifices on behalf of the nation and the world. Tiger Woods … hits golf balls for money https://t.co/dYmWPVljL9
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) May 7, 2019
This time Krugman shared his Trump disapproval on Twitter, which may have been a mistake, because Twitter, for all its faults, is an open forum where other people with other points of view can weigh in. Among those who did was conservative commentator Tammy Bruce, who tweeted:
Everyone is old enough to remember when… you’ve always been a biased #hypocrite pic.twitter.com/XtVEeTRhJt
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) May 7, 2019
Actress Alana Stewart offered this thoughtful response cum reproach.
Would you feel the same if President Obama had given him the medal? And you don’t think, as a black man, who has reach the heights he’s reached and had an amazing comeback, doesn’t deserve this? If you were a conservative, people would be screaming ‘racist’.
— Alana Stewart (@AlanaKStewart) May 7, 2019
Finally, there is this list of individuals who received Medals of Freedom under Barack Obama, one of whom — nota bene — was a golfer:
