'A lot of sobbing': Economist Paul Krugman explains why Trump voters will suffer 'buyer’s remorse' if he wins

01 November 2024

With Election Night 2024 only four days away, the United States' presidential race still has no clear frontrunner.

Vice President Kamala Harris has small single-digit leads in some national and battleground state polls, while former President Donald Trump is slightly ahead in others. Many pollsters consider the race a toss-up.

In an October 31 column for the New York Times, liberal economist Paul Krugman lays out a variety of reasons why Trump voters will have "buyer's remorse" if he wins and they get a taste of policies the GOP nominee favors.

"If Donald Trump wins," Krugman warns, "there will eventually be a lot of sobbing among people who voted for him."

According to Krugman, that "buyer's remorse" will surface with everything from the Affordable Care Act of 2010, a.k.a. Obamacare (which Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are hoping to abolish) to tariffs (which will make imported goods a lot more expensive) to "the frightening reality of authoritarianism."

"If you think you'll be unaffected by a second Trump presidency because you aren't undocumented or Puerto Rican or a Democratic politician," Krugman argues, "I encourage you to reassess. But I'll get to that next week. Today, I want to talk about more prosaic economic issues."

Krugman notes that according to the Washington Post, major companies are already getting ready to raise their prices in response to the tariffs Trump is proposing.

Krugman explains, "The inflationary impact of tariffs will, however, probably be only the beginning of the pain for millions of Americans if Trump wins…. Trump has said that he won't cut Social Security or Medicare, but his tax proposals would undermine their finances. And he conspicuously hasn't exempted Medicaid, which covers around 70 million people."

If Trump succeeds in abolishing Obamacare, Krugman points out, the millions of Americans who lose their health coverage will "disproportionately be Americans with preexisting conditions, who need insurance most."

"If he wins, many Trump voters are likely to experience buyer's remorse," Krugman warns. "Will they express their disappointment at the ballot box in 2028? They will if they can. But that assumes a free and fair election. Trump has given us plenty of reason to believe that if he wins, 2024 may be the last time America has anything resembling that."

Paul Krugman's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).

From Your Site Articles