Krugman: "Why is Trump regarded as ludicrous, while Bush and Walker are serious?"

[phantom power]

But if you ask me, the people who are really mistaking style for substance are the pundits. It’s true that Trump isn’t making sense — but neither are the mainstream contenders for the GOP nomination.

On economics, both Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are into deep voodoo. Bush takes his experience of presiding over a giant housing bubble in his state, as proof that he can double America’s underlying growth rate. Walker is Brownback-light: his governorship on Wisconsin was premised on the proposition that tax cuts, spending cuts, and union-bashing can create an economic miracle, but the reality is budget deficits and subpar growth, lagging in particular the performance of neighboring Minnesota.

Is Trump any worse on economics than these guys? He’s suggested that a weaker dollar would be good for America (even though he also wants higher interest rates), which actually makes him more of an economic realist than his rivals.

His immigration proposals are extreme; but as Greg Sargent points out, the Republican base agrees with him, and it’s a good bet that none of the contenders in tomorrow’s debate will take him on over the issue.

So why is Trump regarded as ludicrous, while Bush and Walker are serious? Again, on the substance they’re all ludicrous; but pundits are taken in by the sober-sounding personal style of the runners-up, while voters apparently are not.

Just to be clear, I’m not denying that Trump is a clown, an absurd figure. But given his party’s field, that’s not a distinctive judgment.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/style-substance-and-the-donald

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Media spin.

[ladjf]

2. I don't like Trump. But, he's smarter than the Republican clowns. nt

[Journeyman]

3. Perfect: "Trump's a clown, but given his party's field, that's not a distinctive judgment.". . .

[bjobotts]

21. When the gutter is filled with worms the snake looks like a king

[alterfurz]

4. my conspiracy(?) theory:

As the party's unbridled id, Trump was inserted into the mix to make the rest of the field appear slightly less insane/irresponsible, and the rest of the field is there to make Jeb look like the "moderate/reasonable" choice.

[erronis]

6. I guess given enough money all those non-bush idiots would be happy to go along.

None of them are christians and don't believe in any stinking afterlife. Might as well grab as much as you can in this life.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. And that's just considering their economic policies ...

on other issues -- such as corruption, cronyism, union-busting and vote supression, Walker is picking up where Nixon left off. He could make even GWB look relatively honest in comparison.

[hifiguy]

7. A very good and pertinent question.

I wouldn't trust one of them to walk a dog around the block and bring it back alive and in piece.

[Angry Dragon]

8. Trump is my man

it would be good for him to be the nominee

[Orsino]

9. Ask not why Trump is so much more personally odious than his fellows...

...but rather why the rest have mustered no ideas any better than Trump's.

Clownery is just distraction.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. "pundits are taken in" <<< Tweety

[packman]

11. It's a scale

Someone has to be on the top of the ludicrous scale. Sort of a negative elitism. Regardless, they are all on it; but, as in all things in life we have a tendency to grade things and Trump is just floating to the top of the scum heap.

[Attorney in Texas]

12. Gotta love Krugman!

[DonCoquixote]

13. In some ways. Trump is a godsend

what we have is a party that cannot speak it's own name, because they are so extreme even the centre-right Clinton looks like Che Guevara in comparison. As a result, the candidates, especially the famous ones like Bush or Walker, do nto want to actually discuss what they believe, whereas Trump will highlight it in Neon.

Of course, the tragedy is that despite a solid record of failure, one so great it literally may end civilization as we know it, the contest is between a center that does not want to admit they are the butlers and maids to the Billionaires, and people who honestly still believe their parties give a damn about ideology anymore. Whether you are Bernie Sanders or Ted Cruz, the billionaires really have no use for you anymore, are they are trying to melt Hillary and Jeb into some amalgam that loves cutting Taxes, going to war and blaming poor people for their failures.

[Amimnoch]

14. "centre-right Clinton" hyperbolic bullshit aside,

The rest of your message is spot on.

[DonCoquixote]

15. We can and probably will argue that point

But the one person that can prove either of us right is Hillary herself. Yes, there is part of me that would love to believe that on election night, she will run into the Daily Planet phone booth, and come out a true blue liberal with a red cape, and if that proves me wrong, Gloria excelsis Deo!

[Scuba]

16. " on the substance they’re all ludicrous ..."

[jomin41]

17. Finally, somebody making sense of T-rump.

Tonight: T-rump will flatfoot the rest of them again. He'll will appear the reasonable one, relatively speaking of course. Actually, why would T-rump be any worse as POTUS than any other Repub? How COULD he be any worse than Walker, Cruz, et al? He's smarter than Bush. He wouldn't owe any (other) billionaires anything and he wouldn't owe the GOP any loyalty. He'd be more independent than any other Repub! (Note: I support Bernie)

[Kablooie]

18. Trump is a salesman. The others are politicians.

A salesman scammer has a better chance at convincing the public if he's good.

Politicians, at least real politicians, force people to think. A salesman just the opposite. People like not thinking so the salesman wins.

[Initech]

19. Anyone with an R next to their name is ludicrous.

[Rex]

20. Because Wall Street says so.

No other reason really. Trump might be a wildcard for Wall Street and that means risk. Jeb and Walker OTOH, will make sure to do whatever Wall Street tells them to.

[JCMach1]

22. Walker, Bush, and Carson showed they were not ready for prime time...

[lutefisk]

23. Walker's brief talking point responses were telling

He couldn't actually answer the questions. He tried to make himself invisible. Carson was clearly in over his head, too.

I thought Bush at least looked like he might belong there.

[JCMach1]

25. I do have to say I have seen JEB do a better job debating here in Florida... he just seems really

rusty...

[MFrohike]

24. Not bad, Paul

It's not often I agree with Krugman, but I think he did pretty well this time.