Nobel economist lays out 3 major obstacles standing in MAGA’s way

When Donald Trump narrowly won the United States' 2024 presidential election, many polls of voters found that the economy — especially frustration over inflation — played a key role in his victory. The U.S. enjoyed historically low unemployment rates during Joe Biden's presidency, but high prices did a lot to hurt his popularity. And former President Joe Biden's vice-president, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, was unable to get past the finish line and lost the national popular vote by roughly 1.5 percent.

In a column posted on his Substack page on February 27, liberal economist Paul Krugman describes the connection between authoritarian movements and economic meltdowns. And he argues that inheriting a generally healthy economy from Biden slowed down Trump's push for far-right authoritarianism.

"When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933," Krugman explains, "Germany's economy was in dire straits. Under Chancellor Heinrich Brüning, the German government had clung dogmatically to economic orthodoxy in the face of the Great Depression, staying on the gold standard and imposing ever harsher fiscal austerity. The result was economic devastation and extremely high unemployment.… When Vladimir Putin came to power in 1999, Russia had just experienced a devastating financial crisis."

Krugman continues, "The crisis precipitated a severe recession, forced the Russian government to default on its debt, and led to a plunge in the value of the ruble…. Donald Trump's return to power in January 2025 was largely thanks to public dissatisfaction with the Biden economy. However, there was no economic crisis: unemployment was low, and inflation had declined sharply from its peak in 2022…. And because there was no crisis when he regained the presidency, Trump — his bombastic lies in the State of the Union notwithstanding — hasn't been able to preside over a clear economic improvement. Indeed, his approval on economic issues has plummeted."

Trump, according to Krugman, "can't credibly claim to be an economic savior." And the former New York Times columnist lays out three obstacles that Trump and the MAGA movement are facing.

"Make no mistake, MAGA is a fascist movement," Krugman warns. "But can a fascist movement that controls many but not all of the levers of power achieve total control when most people see that it is making their daily lives worse, not better?.... In the end, if Trumpist fascism is indeed defeated, I believe that there will be three sources of that defeat."

Krugman continues, "First is the courage and basic decency of the American people, who refuse to bow down. Second is the egomania and malign incompetence of Trump, who tried to bludgeon and gaslight Americans into submission. And last is the weakness of a fascist movement that just can't deliver the goods."

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