Krugman
nails it. I wish Trump supporters or Republicans in general here would try to replay to the substance of this piece, which I think is factually correct.
There's lots to be outraged our amused about with the presidency going to such a spectacularly unfit person, but this piece captures my worries about our democracy. The main problem isn't Trump, who is simply a buffoon who lucked into being the only other choice when one party ran someone so easily painted as a malicious and criminal shrew for the 49% of the country who wanted to howl at the moon. Trump, while a fool, is just a fool, and we are stronger than that. The problem is our either/or system now means half the country's political leaders will now go along with it as if it were something worthy of more than a horselaugh, because that's where their bread is buttered.
I don't know how we get out of this without a third party to always counter a demagogue with a 2 to 1 ratio, a solution that won;t work without rewriting our electoral college and maybe our first past the post election system radically.
It used to be that 40% were blindly R, 40% were blindly D, and elections depended on the 20% other who were middle of the road. Now 49% are blindly R, 51% are blindly D, and elections depend on radicalizing your guys and suppressing the other guys. A system which was stable and moderate has flipped to being radical and extremist just because the environmental variables changed. Fascinating political science but terrifying in reality.
And while the right may be fat and happy now, it could happen to you, too. Right now there is nothing to prevent a genuine radical left-wing movement to luck into a terrible R adversary and take power. Think about that. And maybe help now with what should be a bipartisan attempt to steer our politics back towards the middle.