Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize-winning economist (a reality that speaks volumes about the Nobel prize), is back in the headlines. Krugman, who also writes for The New York Times (a reality that speaks volumes, etc.), is a useful tool (emphasis on tool) for measuring everything that is wrong with the liberal mind.
Example: On election night in 2016, Krugman predicted economic doom from Democrats losing the election. “If the question is when markets will recover,” he hazarded, “a first-pass answer is never.”
Fast-forward to last month, when Hans Bader reported:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3% in the second quarter. That was significantly higher than the 2.7% expected. The New York Times noted that this is the economy’s best quarterly showing in two years. [Emphasis added]
Hmm. That’s the paper Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman writes for. (No, in case you’re wondering, the column wasn’t penned by Krugman.)
Krugman’s followup act this weekend wasn’t quite as dazzling, though it does provide a window into how false news reports propagate. Seizing yet another opportunity to dump on President Donald Trump, this time over his mishandling of the response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico, Krugman tweeted out on Saturday:
Cholera. In a US territory. Among US citizens. In the 21st century. Heckuva job, Trumpie.
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) September 30, 2017
The comment was posted half past noon. In no time flat, the attack was retweeted 14,000 times.
Six hours later, Krugman learned that his first tweet was — how you say? — a load. He issued a second tweet:
OK, cholera not confirmed. Conjunctivitis yes; lack of clean water (situation worsening, not improving) makes it a risk. But not certain
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) September 30, 2017
The number of retweets this time? Five hundred sixty-one as of this writing.
Granted this is as much an indictment of the mindless, low-information sheep who follow the Krugmans of the world as it is of Krugman himself. But Krugman gets the lion’s share of the blame for spreading lies to begin with.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this is a purely liberal affliction. Plenty of commentators on the Right go off half-cocked and end up having to swallow their words. The difference is that those on the Left view themselves as superior — somehow more “cerebral” — than their peers across the aisle.
That’s why the end up looking twice as dumb.
