Its sundowning in America - Paul Krugman

[Swede]

How did a great, sophisticated nation, one of the world’s longest-standing republics, end up so fragile that it can be undone by one man’s dementia? - Krugman

KRUGMAN: “.. How did a great, sophisticated nation, one of the world’s longest-standing republics, end up so fragile that it can be undone by one man’s dementia?”

@pkrugman.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T12:11:50.704Z

[Upthevibe]

1. Kick. N/T

[roscoeroscoe]

2. Not just one man

The supporters are clearly unable to understand reality anymore. Too much Foxy Kool-Aid.

[MadameButterfly]

5. The reference to Kool-Aid is apt

This is a biological phenomena around malignant narcissism. People around a malignant narcissist leader tend to start acting like him. Remove the malignant narcissist and they tend to go back to normal.

Trump's malignant narcissism has been compared by psychologists as on the same level as Jim Jones'.

Neither Trump nor his followers are in touch with reality any more.

[edhopper]

3. Because the voters

have never been very smart.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Because the post-war generation thought freedom was a given and not an earned

They went soft on pop culture, fad diets, corporate marketing. You can have it all.

No, you can't.

[slightlv]

18. I still blame quite a bit of the dumbing down on television.

I remember back in the "old days" we had more real history and science to watch. Maybe it was just because my that was my Dad's preferred subject matter to watch, but it was richer than most anything I see on the regular "History" channel. Heck, if ya'll remember "SchoolHouse Rock" even the commercials were educational!

And while we DID have our share of just fun tv... like the Lucy show, for example... we also had shows like Star Trek and Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits, which gave us at times pieces of history but also allowed us to stretch our mind and imagine reaching for the stars.

What do we have today? Sports and "reality" TV. The History of Drinking. Add all that to educational standards that seemed to keep going lower each year, and here we are.

I'm turning 70 in two weeks, so maybe that slants my memory... I just remember at my house we never missed a space shot, and when we landed on the moon, my Dad turned it into a teaching moment by taking me outside where we could still see a wide expanse of stars above us. Heck, we could even see the Milky Way. Today, our street lights... several on every block... totally block out all but the brightest of stars. Gods, save me now. I'm getting nostalgic! (LOL)

[Ferryboat]

30. Right behind you, one of the advantages of getting to be old is the perspective you gain

Reflection of past events lead to greater understanding of todays.

You can see the backward regression in this country in so many areas.

One morbid thought recently is those of our generation may have the luxury of dying of old age. Not optimistic for the future of those following, the environmental bills are coming due.

[slightlv]

34. How true... and not only the environmental bills coming due...

but life expectancy has already gone down since trump was first "elected." Whereas we had a majority of people living into their 80s and 90s, I want to remember reading we've already lost a decade off that figure. That won't go back up again for many, many years... a decade or more, even. And that's only if we can finally get real Healthcare setup here like they have in the rest of the civilized (and non-civilized) countries. Medicare for All.

I say this after paying one 1100.00 medical/hospital bill (with our MA) while still have $1800 more waiting to be paid next month, and a physician charge of 500.00. This is SO different from last year. My entire SS check is only 1896.00/month. Medical debt is going to be a determining factor for years to come, with many of us once again choosing which bills to pay and how much just to stay ahead of the debt collectors, as well as how to mete out meds in order to cut the cost. All that adds up to lost years of life.

[Easterncedar]

6. Serious question

Is it that his handers CAN'T control him or are they happy to have his bonkers insanity cover their nefarious activities?

I assume his nazi oligarch puppeteers control all of the incompetent cabinet members. With Putin.

[niyad]

7. The second half of your question. I keep saying he is the bright, shiny

thing keeping people distracted while the real horror and destruction continue unabated.

[orangecrush]

25. Yes

[Johonny]

8. Because GOP voters are the dumbest people

You will ever meet. I mean, frightening levels of stupidity and greed.

[PJMcK]

12. The problem is stupid people

They don't know they're stupid. They think they are smart.

Smart people know there is more to learn. Learning is hard. Stupid people are lazy.

The U.S. is awash with stupidity.

[markie]

9. "undone by one man's dementia"

we have fallen so low

[Ol Janx Spirit]

10. It really feels like there is an element of collective "affluenza" that brings us to this place....

Last edited Tue Jan 20, 2026, 11:32 AM - Edit history (1)

As the U.S. as a whole has become a wealthier and more powerful nation, it resembles more and more a dysfunctional wealthy family where the spoiled affluent children think THEY are the ones that have it bad; that are entitled to so much more; that are somehow at a disadvantage despite their privileged upbringing and fall into a self-destructive cycle that results in throwing it all away. America somehow feels like Robert Downey Jr.'s character Julian in "Less than Zero."

The definition of "affluenza" reads like a description of our current situation as a nation:
A social epidemic of overconsumption, debt, and dissatisfaction from the relentless pursuit of wealth, often manifesting as entitlement and poor judgment. It is characterized by symptoms like stress, materialism, emptiness despite wealth, and an inability to recognize consequences.

Read that in the context of America's position versus that of other countries.

America certainly displayed a grotesque "inability to recognize consequences" in the last election. The price of eggs were too high--never mind that we were predicted to be in a recession that the Biden Administration had deftly avoided--and fascism-be-damned we wanted our cheap eggs.

And--to top it off--America elected a person that is the embodiment of the definition of affluenza.

It is karma that he is the one leading the U.S. to its destruction after so many years of making people just like him the most successful few generations of people to ever fail upward.

I never understood those rich kids that were so unhappy that they would send their life down a road of destruction despite all of the advantages they had and could have taken advantage of.

Now I live in a country that is doing it to itself.

[Clouds Passing]

16. ⬆️ This ⬆️ deserves its own post

[slightlv]

19. This x1000!!! Absolutely agree with everything you wrote...

a little googling could bring us court cases where affluenza was actually the cause of the crime. Remember the Menendez brothers? And it was all bewildering to those of us who were living paycheck to paycheck. Of course, I was living one block from the "black side of town"... Division St was it's name, and an apt descriptor. Look to the North and see the poverty all around you. Look to the South and the West, and it was three cars in the driveway and three story houses with manicured lawns. And still, those kids were the ones getting into the worst of troubles in my small town. Always pushing boundaries and being bullies to the rest of us.

[Random Boomer]

22. You nailed it

I watched a bewildering example of that last night on YouTube. Dozens of people who were massively in debt (from $60,000 to over $100,000) because they were taking numerous trips to Disneyland every year.

The focus of the video was on the rapacious prices Disney was charging, but I was fascinated (horrified?) by the people who just shrugged off the massive debt load. This was something they wanted, so they maxxed out their credit cards to get it, consequences be damned. It was impulsive, self-absorbed, childish self-soothing behavior.

We've created a nation filled to critical levels with these dysfunctional adult babies.

[markie]

23. excellent assessment

collectively that is so true.... as well as a number of other ills that we have created

[Cosmocat]

24. Been saying this for decades

all the mind numbing bullshit over the last several decades with would be intellectuals and the media going on about how "economic anxiety" was driving right wing angst.

They may package it into that, but it was NEVER about that.

It was always about hating the "other" at its core.

TRULY being care about your finances makes you zero in on what will really make a difference for you - not lunacy about cat litter in school bathrooms, the colors of M&Ss, animated characters in kids movies, and the countless other insane things the right gets cranked up about.

[Justice matters.]

29. It is karma because he knows he committed unlawful acts over and over

all his life. He knows the laws prohibited him to commit them, and his narcissist behavior got fed all along with pundits suggesting he should "run" for President of the United States and he felt flattered to the point he did it, without really thinking a lot of his past would surface, and add to that his never fading desire to "get back" at President Obama ridiculing him in person at a "Elite" gala in front of everyone and on video streams.

He once said if he would run for it, it with be as a republicon because they are a bunch of idiots and it would be easier for him to win, or something to that effect.

As his first term went, he kept on breaking laws and conventions to the point he got impeached twice for only two of his transgressions. He knew he was guilty but his henchmen told him he would never go to jail because no President would ever do jail time. But the only way to secure that was for him to manage to stay (or return, after 2020) to power.

Hey, it worked for him. Blame the media megacorps.

Because "Nazi methods" ...

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Fits pedo, miller, noem, and eloon.

[AllaN01Bear]

11. hear. hear. !!!!

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. Right wing talk radio and FauxNews

[kbowman]

21. This is the cause

It's been a non-stop assault on common sense and on our democracy since the repub's saint ronnie's administration torpedoed the FCC's Fairness Doctrine (https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/topic-guide/fairness-doctrine). murdoch's fox news has fanned these flames more than any other. Recently other oligarchs have joined the fray such as bezos and the Washington Post. Citizen's United is another example of this. This has to be stopped when dems get back in power. Rich bastards should not be allowed to steer and bend the country to their whim. Look at Lauder, whispering in rump's ear about Greenland (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/15/ronald-lauder-billionaire-donor-donald-trump-ukraine-greenland) like another worm-tongue (sorry, LOTR reference there). The US constitution begins with "We the people" and not "We the elite". The framers founded our country and handed it off to the rest of us intending this to be a republic for everyone. They did not intend the country to be ruled by an oligarchy.

[LymphocyteLover]

14. Cowardice from the elites

[Clouds Passing]

15. Not just one person, an entire party of traitors for a century

[Fil1957]

17. It's not that complicated really. Unequal distribution of wealth causing falling living standards for middle class

citizens over the last 40 years.

A significant number of poorly educated people (partly due to the excessive costs of higher education) who are brainwashed by right wing media.

Corporate control of the political system and both parties to a greater and lesser extent via money through elections and lobbying.

A powerful group of billionaires who because of their monetary success think they are much smarter than they actually are and have never heard of or do not understand the concept of "enlightened self interest", and have opted for narrow short term self interest at the expense of the general populace due to their own greed, selfishness and megalomania.

This is only a partial list.

[slightlv]

20. I think over the last decade they have finally succeeded in

hollowing out the "Middle Class." There really are only two classes in America, as far as I can tell from my little corner of the world... the rich and privileged and those living paycheck to paycheck.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

26. The United States was pretty damn desperate to vote in such a corrupt human. WTF. Trump is rock bottom desperation.

Maybe the U.S. needs an enema, or something. Not a revolution, as that has been done, and look what it got us.

[Hieronymus Phact]

27. He and everyone should know the answer to that question

Rupert Murdoch
This wouldn't be possible without the massive criminal brainwashing offered up to willing recipients.

[Buddyzbuddy]

28. We blindly fooled ourselves.

Which is why we have to think long and hard about who represents us. Some have become too complacent. The old ways need to be challenged. Policies and reliance on what is customary is no longer acceptable. EVERYTHING must be written as law with strict adherence to penalties. The Felon and his cohorts have taken advantage of the way D.C. has been run. That's our fault, he just exposed it and took advantage. He did the same thing with our justice system.

[ChicagoTeamster]

31. Pride. Greed. Wrath. Envy. Lust. Gluttony. Sloth. Trump embodies the seven deadly sins.

So do a lot of conservative Catholics, Evangelicals, and members of the Christian Right like the Heritage Foundation.

They think they're better than everyone else and that whatever they say is truth regardless of it's validity.
They covet money and other peoples property.
They will seek vengeance against anyone who disagrees with or challenges their claims of authority.
They are envious of the real accomplishments of others.
They believe no one should reject their sexual desire, their insatiable power cravings, or their overwhelming desire to control others.
They eat for pleasure not sustenance as their desires are insatiable
They won't exert any effort on anything that doesn't benefit them directly

This country is so focused on material possessions that even the poor worship the rich and believe the lies told to them to get them to blame the poorest among us for the Republican fabricated shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare. And instead of demanding more services for their taxes which have increased under two Trump administrations they pay more for everything and get less. And that's not everyone, just enough in the right states to vote for House Representatives and Presidents who validate their hate and they'll gladly allow the benefits they worked and paid for along with opportunities for the country to have better medical and technological advancement to be taken away from them as long as they can blame the right people. Trump and the Republicans validate their hate.

He's on TV rambling his lies to them now while the stock market tanks due to more of his tariff nonsense causing our European allies to dump our bonds. He's saying the economy is great now, was bad two years ago, and it's all because of immigrants. How many of the ignorant MAGA suckers still fall for this?

[yellow dahlia]

32. Paul Krugman has been a steady and valuable voice.

Here we are - it is all playing out in front of our eyes.

The destruction will be televised.

[eppur_se_muova]

33. How did the nation of Beethoven, Gauss, Göthe sink into Nazism ?

Germany was one of the most sophisticated, accomplished, civilized nations in the world. And then they started worshiping thugs.

[OldBaldy1701E]

35. Allowing greed and ego to become the law of the land.

Since he asked.