Economist Paul Krugman claims that voters who support President-elect Trump’s “terrible” economic agenda will be “brutally scammed.”
Krugman appeared on The New Republic’s “The Daily Blast” podcast on Tuesday, discussing Trump’s major economic overhaul plans, which included raising tariffs on international trading partners and cutting taxes for some Americans.
“Trump has really radical policy ideas,” Krugman explained. “I, obviously, think they’re terrible.”
Krugman, a Nobel laureate and long-time New York Times columnist, argued that the US economy is doing well in its post-pandemic recovery, despite the fact that Americans consistently indicated otherwise.
He also claimed that people’s perceptions of the economy vary depending on whether the president is a member of their preferred party.
“We see this immediately switch in economic sentiment among Democrats and Republicans, where Republicans now say the economy is great, Democrats now say they’re worried about inflation and the impact that could result from Trump’s policies,” according to Krugman.
“People shifted from believing they were worse off, which was not true, to believing they were better off, which I believe is true.” “Republicans say, ‘Oh, now that Trump is president-elect, everything is great,'” he added.
Krugman stated that many Trump supporters, particularly small business owners, will be “brutally scammed” by the proposed economic plan and the current economic outlook.
“Small-business people are the people that he’s all through his life hired as contractors and then not paid, right?” he questioned. “Scamming people like that is what his whole life has been around.”
Krugman also argued that Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy will “effectively redistribute income” away from middle-class voters. He also noted that the president-elect’s massive deportation plan will have a significant negative impact on the economy.