Krugman: "it's about sheer spite"

[LonePirate]

As Donald Trump does his best to destroy the world’s hopes of reining in climate change, let’s be clear about one thing: This has nothing to do with serving America’s national interest. The U.S. economy, in particular, would do just fine under the Paris accord. This isn’t about nationalism; mainly, it’s about sheer spite.

...

Beyond this, much of today’s right seems driven above all by animus toward liberals rather than specific issues. If liberals are for it, they’re against it. If liberals hate it, it’s good. Add to this the anti-intellectualism of the G.O.P. base, for whom scientific consensus on an issue is a minus, not a plus, with extra bonus points for undermining anything associated with President Barack Obama.

More at the link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/trump-gratuitously-rejects-the-paris-climate-accord.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

[spanone]

1. yes sir. trump himself knows nothing about the accords.

but he hates President Obama with a vengeance.

right on Mr. Krugman

[JustAnotherGen]

5. He's been watching

The tv loop of Macron shaking his hand and ignoring him.

[spanone]

49. he's a vengeful, evil pos.

i bet he hates Macron in a serious way.

[JustAnotherGen]

52. I bet Macron doesn't care!

Probably snickering about this with Trudeau!

[dalton99a]

2. Trump is a vandal and an arsonist.

[The Wielding Truth]

3. Trump will take a mighty fall when his contemptuous ways are stifled.

We do not want to accuse him of being a traitor but the trail is there. He is executing with the Russian playbook. Page by page. We cannot lose our country.

[babylonsister]

4. He does hate President Obama, because he will NEVER

measure up to the previous president. That's one thing he can't swish around in his brain and come up with himself as the winner.

[Alice11111]

10. It's all about Obama & the liberals. Obama is 100x the man

DT is or ever was. Politics aside, look how each treats his wife, who is his best friend. Obama is uniquely caring, and DT has no capacity to even care for his wife.

DT just wanted a big international FU to Europe, Obama, &the liberals. Well, he did it.

I wish we could have the "Blue US," and have a representative at the table. It sounds like Gov Brown may have something up his sleeve.

[Dustlawyer]

12. The Republicans follow him because they have been programmed to hate

Democrats, or "Libtards." Another example of money in our politics and media. We must require truth in all media, some sensible restrictions not alleging the media to not intentionally misleading it's viewers.

[Alice11111]

24. Yeah, we need a media truth rating agency, kind of a

Combination of Snoops and the better business bureau.

[Fritz Walter]

42. That, and they actually relish the distinct stench of racism

Otherwise, how could they -- as good Xtians -- choose a lecherous adolescent with a track record of two failed marriages (and one that is essentially a separation by all standards), over an intelligent, responsible and faithful African American?

...Someone whose favorite Bible passage is "two Corinthians" versus a devout believer?

...Someone who has broken all Ten Commandments, most of them repeatedly, and boasts about these deeds, rather than someone who tries to be penitent?

OK, "good Xtians" was a stretch for a bunch of hypocrites!

[smirkymonkey]

14. This exactly!

He is such a petty little man! He will never measure up to Obama and he knows it. The only thing he can do is tear him down because he is so angry that he will never be half the man that Obama is.

Spiteful little prick. I wish there was a middle finger smilie.

[bdamomma]

29. plus President Obama

is a smart, articulate, well spoken Black man too. Of the many attributes President Obama does possess which the filthy repigs especially McConnell never did admire.

Plus this hatred of Liberals was fueled by many, and Bannon hates Liberalism.

[demigoddess]

50. plus every time a child looks at Obama you can see that they adore him, trust him,

admire him, etc. That look drump has never gotten and never will. Children see people's souls, and they love Obama's soul but they hate drump.

[zentrum]

6. Yes, it's spite. nt

[kimbutgar]

7. I heard one of those idiots on the radio today saying global warming is hoax and chump is the

Best president ever in his lifetime. The guy used the term libtards.

I learned a long time ago anyone who says they know everything is ignorant because the wisest man admits he doesn't know everything. Learning is a lifelong ambition and the youngest and oldest can still learn.

[pnwmom]

8. And it's about profiteering. The Russian oligarchs think they'll do well

with climate warming. The mineral wealth in Siberia will be easier to exploit.

[Hekate]

9. Or as JK Rowling said today, DT is "a little, little, little man."

He's disgusting, with extra sneer.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. He is the embodiment of pure evil.

[Akamai]

13. Yes -- and enabled by the traitorous republican party.

[L. Coyote]

15. Permanent tantrum. He's been like this since gettng bullied in grade school, I bet.

A real "blow up the world" tantrum that won't shut off. Break everything, that will show them.

[GReedDiamond]

18. I don't think Orange Anus was bullied in grade school...

...I think he was the bully.

[warmfeet]

51. Yeah, he was the bully from day one.

His "position" as bully has never been challenged. I hope to see this state of affairs change in the very near future. The actual bullied tend to be very caring and empathetic. I know a little something about this - I was the bullied.

[KT2000]

16. he has to destroy everything Obama did

even if it destroys this country. His father taught him that it is not enough to win, you have to kill your opponent.
President Obama will forever be a better president than this loser.

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Of course it is. The whole planet will pay because this jackass is carrying a grudge

Over jokes made at his expense at the 2011 WHCD.

[bdamomma]

30. I don't think the rest of the world is going to

tolerate this crap any longer. We shouldn't either.

[Grins]

19. I thought the same thing this AM:

"If liberals are for it, (conservative Republicans) are against it."

Exactly what I thought yesterday. Why are the R's against, and lie so much, about climate? Where and why did this start? My only thought was - 1998. Because it was backed by Al Gore.

Feed the poor. No!!!

Clothe the naked. No!!!

Care for the sick. No!!!

[lark]

22. Reality is not part of their thought process.

They want none of the things you listed for anyone else, but they do think that they themselves, absolutely deserve free healthcare, welfare, food and a place to stay. They are as idiotic and deplorable as their orange assface leader.

[bigbrother05]

23. It's really about the money for the corporatists, but the politics require a scapegoat

The red staters won't knowingly back a greedy rich guy, but tell him someone wants to take his truck/gun/job and he'll crawl across a parking lot littered with broken glass to prove he's still relevant and a by gawd patriot.

Tell him some pointy headed intellectual wants to cancel his bar-b-que.
Tell him some left coast hippy wants him to drive an electric car.
Tell him some Yankee wants to save a forest.
Tell him some hairy armpitted feminazi wants women's health care.

That's an easy sell.

Telling them to care about the neighbor kid's future just won't make their eyes bulge and heart race to make happen.

[Alice11111]

36. Yeah, like when they voted for Merritt Garland for the Court

of Appeals. Then, when Obama put him forth for SCOTUS, they immediately said we won't give you a hearing. Then, when the Repubs are in control again,.they bring him up for the FBI Director.

They have no values, except tax cuts, and get rid of the vermin sick, elderly and poor.
Yet they are anyi abortion and anti birth control.

I never thought I would be fighting these battles again.

[jmbar2]

20. If it's all about being oppositional...

Then we need to get liberal groups to march AGAINST the things we believe. Reverse psychology, i.e.:

- Liberals love Trump!
- Libtards in favor of climate change!
- Liberals don't need no stinkin' birth control!
- Imma liberal, and Imma get a gun!

[Scurrilous]

21. K&R

[Alice11111]

25. "Libtard," even though coined by Repubs, belittles a

disabled and challenged class of people
Please stop using it. We don't need to stoop their their level of discourse, whether it be racism, misogyny, or
any other form of discrimination.

[bdamomma]

31. just like

when they coined that phrase of Democrat Party, stupid asses and why such hate for being intellectual and living in a fact based reality. Like

[Initech]

26. The GOP sure knows how to hold a grudge.

I mean shit, I still hear republicans spouting nonsense about Ted Kennedy. That was 40 years ago. Let it go. They still talk shit about Pizzagate even though Alex Jones detracted the story himself. Let it go. Donald Trump talks shit about journalists because they were mean to him. Let it go. Sean Hannity keeps talking shit about Seth Rich. Let it go. The sooner they do that the better.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Greatest terrorists on the planet, Trump and Putin.

Pretty soon we are gonna have to do the job the GOP is refusing to do, somehow.

It is that or we all die.

[bdamomma]

32. it's coming

it's like living in a pressure cooker. It's a matter of time. Again, it's a class war.

[Eliot Rosewater]

33. Class? Nah, it is a race war. Middle class whites HATE everybody who is not

white, str8t christians.

The result will be strengthening the rich and destroying everyone else, yes, but that isnt the impetus.

[Alice11111]

34. My friends of all races are on the same side.No Repubs

are among us. Most of us worked in the last and many other campaigns.
I see it as a war between people who respect humanity (whatever race or religion they may be) and people who don't, who tend to be/wannabe rich, but some are just ignorant.

All rich are not Repubs or racists...Bloomberg, Gates, Buffett, Soros, Musk....thousands around the world.

[Eliot Rosewater]

47. THe opposition to Obama was his skin, period.

The GOP has in common a hatred of non white people, not all GOP, most

This is all about skin color.

Trump supporters are almost all the same in that respect.

[Alice11111]

53. I agree that most Repubs are racist, whether they admit it or not.

They will argue they aren't racist, and then make a racist comment, and they don't even understand why it's offensive. It is odd seeing so many black men demonstrating at the the pro Trump rally in DC. I didn't see any black women.

[TheFrenchRazor]

44. that is not true, and not helpful. nt

[Eliot Rosewater]

46. Ahh, so it isnt about black Obama and black people, i see. But you are wrong, do you see?

And women, as in Hillary.

And other things, but the primary reason for a person to be GOP is race.

[Alice11111]

54. I think the primary reason is tax cuts, deregulation, etc.,

and to accomplish that, they have to take from the poor and give to the rich. It is more nuanced than someone being a Repub just because they are racist, but obviously DT blew that whistle for some of the ignorant racists.
Last time, a lot of those same people voted for Obama though. I remember watching an interview with some backwoods people in Kentucky. They were saying that they were voting for Obama. The interviewer ask about him being a black man. The consensus was they didn't care if he was green, if he could change their circumstances.

There was a lot of racism toward Obama. However, they went after Bill Clinton and Hillary with lies very hard too. If Obama had been white, the Repubs would have still gone after him.

[Alice11111]

37. Yes, class war. We are on the verge of a civil war. Just because

they have more money, doesn't mean they have more class. Some of them, like DT, lack any class. Different uses of the word class.

I wish we would divide now. Let the states vote, Repub or Dem, blue or red.

[Fresh_Start]

28. Trumpists love government by spite

its how they deal with other americans so trump is feeding their evil little spiteful souls.

I want my government handouts but I don't want minorities to get government handouts is the same type of spitefulness that trump uses in all his dealings.

[Alice11111]

35. I wonder if you tallied up the handouts for the rich against

the poor, who would get more. There are fewer rich, but they get much more per person.

[talldarkhandsome]

38. I agree. And it WAS a campaign promise - like it or not - he kept it.

[world wide wally]

39. Make no mistake.

Trump is an evil, evil man

[BootinUp]

40. Krugman could have been a great psychiatrist. Nt

[DFW]

41. Krugman pas probably read Miguel de Unamuno

At the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, a Spanish fascist general gave a perverse speech ending with "¡Viva la muerte!" trying to say how glorious war was.

Old and feeble, Unamuno still got up and denounced the speech as perverse, addressing the general, sensing the outcome of the civil war before it really even got started: "Ustedes vencerán, porque poseen la fuerza bruta, pero convencerán." Is Spanish, the word to convince is formed by adding a prefix onto the word for "conquer," which make the way Unamuno formulated it so effective. "You people will conquer, because you possess brut force, but you will not convince." In 1939, the Spanish fascists (with the help of Hitler and Mussolini) did indeed conquer. Now they are part of the dung heap of history because they did not convince.

That is where Trumppence will end up as well. The question is whether they drag us into 40 years of darkness in the meantime, as Franco's fascists did to Spain. We already know that they will not convince.

[TheFrenchRazor]

43. pretty much. nt

[rurallib]

45. Almost surprised he hasn't ordered the White House torn down and rebuilt

because the Obamas lived there.

But maybe he has convinced himself that they were the servants................

[cilla4progress]

48. It NEVER ends well

when one acts out of spite.

[McCamy Taylor]

55. Only a little man (in his own head) judges himself in comparison to someone else.

That makes Trump and his fans midgets.

[The Wizard]

56. What do you call people who

like foul water and air and like to pay more for dirty nonrenewable energy? Republican assholes, but that is redundant.
It is incumbent on all normal Americans to get to the polls in 2018 and rid the nation and humanity of the Republican scourge on the well being of all Americans. They want to jump off a cliff and take normal people with them.
The suicidal toxic death cult must be eradicated and crushed. Apparently we didn't defeat fascism in 1945.
No more being polite. The time has come for normal people to put our fingers in their faces and say enough of your bullshit.

[certainot]

57. he reflects the wishes of a few assholes on 1000 radio stations

the sooner dems figure that out the better so we can get on with real democracy