KRUGMAN: White working-class voters keep voting for Republicans 'who say, outright, that they're lazy'
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Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning columnist and New York Times columnist, said Tuesday that he thinks white working-class voters in rural areas voted against their self interest in the 2016 election.
In a series of tweets, Krugman said many policies passed by Democrats — such as the Affordable Care Act — have benefitted the white working class in areas such as Kentucky. Yet as Krugman noted, these voters overwhelming supported Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Krugman specifically cited Clay County, Kentucky, which has seen its uninsured rate drop from 27% to 10% after the passage of the ACA, better known as Obamacare. Yet, 86% of the county's residents voted for Trump.
"So what more should Dems have done, exactly?" tweeted Krugman. "It's true that they didn't promise the coal jobs back But that's because nobody can honestly make that promise. So, are Dems supposed to have a platform based on promising the impossible?"
During the campaign, Trump pledged that all coal jobs lost over the past few years would come back to states like Kentucky by eliminating regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency. Economists and industry analysts, however, note that coal is undergoing a structural decline due to the preference for lower-cost natural gas. Thus, they argue, even without the regulation, coal-industry jobs would likely not return.
Part of the post-mortem for Democrats following the election has focused on the party's inability to connect with these white working-class voters. Krugman, however, argued that the party has actually done more for these voters than their Republican counterparts.
"We can ask what motivated the vote in such places," continued Krugman's tweetstorm. "But they were big beneficiaries of Dem policies. That's not condescension, just truth."
Krugman argued that voters in states like Kentucky opted for a party whose leadership and intellectuals hold them in contempt and think their higher rates of poverty are a moral failing rather than an economic one.
"One thing you hear — I get it a lot — is that liberals are condescending snobs who don't respect these people. But if you want to see incredible condescension, dismissing white poverty as a moral failing, read what conservatives have to say," tweeted Krugman who then linked to a story from the conservative National Review magazine.
The story, published in 2013, referred to the Greater Appalachian region (citing eastern Kentucky specifically) as the "Big White Ghetto."
"Why do such people get worked up over liberals who they imagine consider them stupid, but keep voting for conservatives who say, outright, that they're lazy?" concluded Krugman.
This is another in a series of tweetstorms from Krugman which have also called out Trump for apparent corruption and Russia influencing the FBI to swing the outcome of the election.
Krugman's full series of tweets is below:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801115775268306944
People who say that Trump won because Dems neglected the interests of the white working class should look at Clay County KY 1/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801116182283751425
It's 94% white. and a huge beneficiary of Obamacare -- uninsured rate fell from 27% in 2013 to 10% this year 2/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801116639211229184
It also voted 86% for Trump. So what more should Dems have done, exactly? It's true that they didn't promise the coal jobs back 3/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801117005105561601
But that's because nobody can honestly make that promise. So, are Dems supposed to have a platform based on promising the impossible? 4/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801118424902549504
We can ask what motivated the vote in such places. But they were big beneficiaries of Dem policies. That's not condescension, just truth 5/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801119819063967744
Another thought on places like rural eastern Kentucky, which voted massively against their own interests by going Trump 1/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801120007212015616
One thing you hear -- I get it a lot -- is that liberals are condescending snobs who don't respect these people. But if you want to see 2/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801120379242745857
incredible condescension, dismissing white poverty as a moral failing, read what conservatives have to say, e.g. 3/ https://t.co/Twol5cCavL
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801120707904151552
Why do such people get worked up over liberals who they imagine consider them stupid 4/
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/801120843443175425
but keep voting for conservatives who say, outright, that they're lazy? 5/
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