Summary Of Dude Where's My Policy Krugman

In his article, “Dude, Where’s My Policy?”, economist and columnist, Paul Krugman argues that the initial uproar and fear that many intellectual liberals felt immediately after Trump’s election should be abandoned on the basis of Trump’s lackluster domestic policy development. Krugman instead champions the idea that Trump will be an ineffective President. By minimizing the effect of Trump’s presidency on the long term political climate Krugman comforts an audience of his peers who fear the world that Trump’s presidency will create.
Krugman begins his article with a comedic tone to express his frustration with Trump and establish camaraderie with his audience:“What Trump has done or tried to do over the past two years-wait it’s really only been two weeks?-is incredibly bad”(1). This statement also serves to introduce Krugman’s purpose. Krugman articulates that one cannot differentiate between two years and two months of Trump’s presidency, a statement which indicates that Trump will

Krugman references Wall Street’s assertion that there would be a push on infrastructure and tax cuts, however by prefacing Wall Street’s assertion with the phrase, “remember after the election” (2), he invalidates their argument, suggesting that it is dated. But, to an extent Krugman agrees that Trump’s presidency could prove disastrous: “Big tax cuts- and savage cuts to social programs- are still very much on the Congressional Republican agenda, and they could put it all together, hand it to Bannon, and have Trump sign it without reading”(5). This, although it is meant to highlight Trump’s destructive power, it is still in line with Krugman’s argument. Krugman emphasizes that Trump does not read, which is representative of his general inability to complete his duties as