Former New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is facing fierce backlash after calling for a “de-MAGAfication” of America, language many regard as equating millions of Trump supporters with Nazis and helps create the moral permission structure for political violence.
Krugman, an economist, professor, former columnist at the NYT, and longtime critic of President Donald Trump, made the remarks in aYouTube videoposted Sunday. Rather than limiting his criticism to Trump or specific policies, Krugman invoked the language of post-World War II Germany and suggested the United States needs a political “purging.”
“We really need to do a thorough purging of the United States,” Krugman said. “We need a de-MAGAfication, and I am not going over the top by using a word that is very similar to the Denazification that we pursued successfully after World War II in Germany.”
The implication is difficult to miss. Denazification, of course, was the Allied campaign to remove actual Nazis from German public institutions after the defeat of Adolf Hitler’s regime, which, as everyone knows, launched a world war, and presided over mass murder of innocents.
By comparing MAGA to Nazism Krugman is going far beyond engaging in political analysis. He was placing ordinary American voters—well over half of the country—in the moral category of history’s most infamous totalitarian movement.
Krugman continued by saying Trump supporters must be kept away from power after Trump leaves office. “We need to de-fang Trump as much as possible,” he said.
He described Trump’s America as a “nightmare beyond even the worst fantasies” and warned that the movement could return unless Americans do more than simply remove Trump from office. “If we don’t do something beyond just getting rid of Trump, it’s going to happen again,” Krugman said.
That kind of language has alarmed conservatives, who argue that the left’s anti-Trump rhetoric has veered into the category of demonization and dehumanization—precisely the kind of language that resulted in the death of Charlie Kirk.
Calls for a “purging” of American life, they say, are especially dangerous when paired with Nazi comparisons.
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis responded sharply, accusing Krugman and other liberal voices of using rhetoric that makes violence against Trump supporters seem acceptable. Davis argued that labeling political enemies as Nazis is a way of stripping them of legitimacy and humanity.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
