Krugman, NYT "The Party that Ruined the Planet". Paul nails it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/opinion/climate-change-republicans.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

The most terrifying aspect of the U.S. political drama isn’t the revelation that the president has abused his power for personal gain. If you didn’t see that coming from the day Donald Trump was elected, you weren’t paying attention.

No, the real revelation has been the utter depravity of the Republican Party. Essentially every elected or appointed official in that party has chosen to defend Trump by buying into crazy, debunked conspiracy theories. That is, one of America’s two major parties is beyond redemption; given that, it’s hard to see how democracy can long endure, even if Trump is defeated.

snip

But one factor stands out above all others: the fanatical opposition of America’s Republicans, who are the world’s only major climate-denialist party. Because of this opposition, the United States hasn’t just failed to provide the kind of leadership that would have been essential to global action, it has become a force against action.

snip

But why have Republicans become the party of climate doom? Money is an important part of the answer: In the current cycle Republicans have received 97 percent of political contributions from the coal industry, 88 percent from oil and gas. And this doesn’t even count the wing nut welfare offered by institutions supported by the Koch brothers and other fossil-fuel moguls.

However, I don’t believe that it’s just about the money. My sense is that right-wingers believe, probably correctly, that there’s a sort of halo effect surrounding any form of public action. Once you accept that we need policies to protect the environment, you’re more likely to accept the idea that we should have policies to ensure access to health care, child care, and more. So the government must be prevented from doing anything good, lest it legitimize a broader progressive agenda.

snip

Unfortunately, that kind of depravity isn’t just present in the modern Republican Party, it has effectively taken over the whole institution. There used to be at least some Republicans with principles; as recently as 2008 Senator John McCain co-sponsored serious climate-change legislation. But those people have either experienced total moral collapse (hello, Senator Graham) or left the party.

The truth is that even now I don’t fully understand how things got this bad. But the reality is clear: Modern Republicans are irredeemable, devoid of principle or shame. And there is, as I said, no reason to believe that this will change even if Trump is defeated next year.

The only way that either American democracy or a livable planet can survive is if the Republican Party as it now exists is effectively dismantled and replaced with something better — maybe with a party that has the same name, but completely different values. This may sound like an impossible dream. But it’s the only hope we have.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Ditto!

[tblue37]

2. K&R for visibility. nt

[CanonRay]

3. Sobering

[pnwmom]

4. This is why I was bothered to hear one of our prominent candidates say we shouldn't clobber

the other party, because we need the other party to be strong.

Forget that. We need to pulverize them.

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. I suspect when that candidate said that, he was fondly remembering a bygone era...

style Republican, not these modern hideous reavers

[JonLP24]

12. Eisenhower or New Deal Republicans are a distant memory though

Even when that candidate was around Republicans were still awful especially since the Reagan years.

[DENVERPOPS]

6. Krugman

Another "knock it out of the ballpark" article

[BadgerMom]

7. K & R

[flamingdem]

8. Absofreakingloutely!!! +1000000000000000

Freaking depraved destroyers of mother earth

[Wounded Bear]

9. K & R...for truth...nt

[Hermit-The-Prog]

10. well. Krugman just proved me completely wrong. The NYT is worth keeping, after all.

[certainot]

11. krugman makes the same mistake they all do - no clue what republican

radio has been doing for 30 years. how the fuck has this happened.money? that is a symptom of a broken democracy

i like krugman's takes on a lot but at $1000/hr, 1200 radio stations doing 15 hrs/day or global warming denial are worth $5 BIL/year FREE and ignored for 30 years by pundits who live in cities. and putin's been using it since at least manafort used limbaugh to push palin on mccain in 2008. and then 'climategate' in 2009, from a russian hack and wikileaks. and we still let 87 + universities support 260 global warming denial radio stations!

it has been a huge lost opportunity for dems to go through all these hearings and not mention the big pile of shit under the living room rug.

every time dems respond to republican bullshit lies they need to preface their corrections with "well, that's what limbaugh has been saying to you for years, but...." and that would be like a 2x4 qcross the head of every republican - almost all those republicans - who know their slimy careers and the trump residency depemd completely on democrats continuing the biggest political mistake in american history - ignoring the republican talk radio monopoly

it is a fact that nearly all of their bullshit comes out of lmbaugh's ass first, and democrats and media need to start following all the connections and point out to the public that putin is feeding rw radio and has been for years