For years I read his columns in the New York Times, and always liked and admired them. But things have reached a whole new level of dependence since Trump was elected and Paul Krugman departed the Times for Substack—events which, probably not coincidentally, happened within a month or so of each other. Now I can barely get out of bed without reading him first thing, either on weekdays, when he sends around a daily newsletter, or on weekends, when he does a topical interview on Saturday and an in-depth piece of economic analysis on Sunday. The latter investigations are not really aimed at me (I have no economics training), but I find it useful to try to struggle through them anyway.
What are aimed at me—and at everyone else to whom I’ve recommended Paul Krugman’s Substack, including a number of European friends—are his trenchant daily eviscerations of the Trump administration and its “policies” (if such a rational word can be applied to these selfishly greedy, despicably venal, and ultimately scattershot procedures). These are very hard times to be living through, and we need all the good company we can get. Krugman is that company, and more. He is fearless and smart and funny and sane: a good combination any time, but especially necessary now.
I don’t know why it’s so comforting to read about the current American disasters—which are rapidly becoming worldwide disasters—in his clean, clear prose; you would think I would have enough of the bad news with just the daily paper. But there is something about seeing these horrible events grasped and reckoned with, even by one person’s mind, that makes me feel better. Thought and analysis and intelligent critique are a kind of power, too. And in the absence of any serious legislative or judicial opposition to Trump, the sound of one man fighting against all this with just his brain and his words is about the best medicine available.