Krugman contends that this approach echoes former President Ronald Reagan's "redbaiting" tactics, which aimed to persuade Americans that government initiatives like Medicare would result in the erosion of their freedoms.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman claims that former US President Donald Trump is making a desperate political maneuver by attempting to smear Vice President Kamala Harris by labeling her a “communist.”
Krugman told the New York Times, “Donald Trump has been using an ugly word to describe Vice President Kamala Harris,”
“No, I don’t mean privately calling her the B-word, although he reportedly does. I mean ‘communist.’” Krugman stated that Trump and his supporters have begun branding Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, as “communists” in reaction to the increasing momentum of their political campaign.
“Ronald Reagan was a part of Operation Coffee Cup, an effort to convince voters that government health insurance, in the form of Medicare, would destroy American freedom”, he wrote in the NYT op-ed.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist notes, “Harris obviously isn’t a communist.”
Krugman contends that this approach echoes former President Ronald Reagan’s “redbaiting” tactics, which aimed to persuade Americans that government initiatives like Medicare would result in the erosion of their freedoms.
Krugman questions labeling Harris as a ‘communist.’
Krugman clarifies that Harris’s policies are more in line with those of a social democrat, advocating for government programs like Medicare and Social Security to help cushion individuals from the adverse impacts of a market economy. “America’s social safety net is less comprehensive than those in Western Europe. Even so, we have a universal retirement system, Social Security, and universal health care for seniors, Medicare,” he said.
Krugman points out that these programs enjoy “overwhelming [American] public support”, including a substantial number of Republicans.
“So where does this Kamala-the-communist stuff come from?” Krugman wonders. He suggests, “It could be that Republicans believe they can convince voters that a moderately center-left Democrat who is a former prosecutor is a communist because she’s a Black woman — a twist, perhaps, on the “welfare queen” trope of another era.”
Krugman also considers the possibility that this attack is not a well-planned strategy, but rather a sign of desperation within Trump’s camp. He suggests that Trump’s frequent use of the term “Commie-la” to describe Harris reveals how much President Joe Biden’s possible exit from the 2024 presidential race has rattled him.
“Trump and MAGA seem to be responding by throwing lots of stuff at the wall and hoping some of it sticks,” Krugman concludes. “So since nothing else seems to be working, hey, why not call her a communist?”
