Paul Krugman Warns of a Trump Redux of Bush’s 2003 Rush to War

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:42 pm

In a series of tweets today, Nobel-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman warned that Donald Trump “will surely use patriotism card to distract from tainted election and effects of his anti-populist policies,” saying that as part of this, the U.S. should expect to find itself at war in a redux of Bush’s rush to war in 2003:

“At some point Trump will surely use patriotism card to distract from tainted election and effects of his anti-populist policies. No, it won’t be a false-flag terrorist attack — too hard, and no need. It will either exploit a real terrorist attack or involve a US version of Falklands War — picking a fight with foreign power to rally home base (Iraq had some elements of that).”

And then came the ultimate blow to many of those who voted for Donald Trump:

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“So anyone who thought they were voting against neocon policies was another kind of useful idiot.”

We have seen unfolding since Election Day Trump’s abysmal understanding of foreign policy and his complete disregard for not only political niceties but long-standing U.S. policy.

Trump, of course, thinks he is a “smart guy” and so doesn’t need to learn anything or attend critical intelligence briefings, while the rest of us, and some experts, fear the president-elect is mentally ill.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if Trump gets us into a war because he is calculating or insane. Barring an 11th-Hour reprieve from the Electoral College, we are getting Trump and everything that results from that.

At the very best, Donald Trump is a useful idiot himself, a meat-puppet whose strings are pulled by Vladimir Putin. At worst, he is the great enemy of democracy the Founding Fathers warned against and tried (and apparently failed) to prepare for.

President Bush did untold harm to this country, harm from which we are still recovering. Donald Trump unleashed on the world promises to do far more harm, and if Krugman is right, we should not expect it to get better before we find ourselves in the war Republicans have been dreaming about – and looking for – since Obama brought sanity to American foreign policy in 2009.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.