Nobel economist warns MAGA egos are driving America’s decline

As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman pointed out on Tuesday, President Donald Trump keeps making decisions that have experts “mystified” by their illogic. These actions, writes Krugman, are not only motivated by little more than “fragile MAGA egos,” but are effectively “undermining America.”

For example, Trump’s approach to drone warfare — or lack thereof. As Krugman writes, “Drones have rapidly transformed modern war. The U.S. military, the most sophisticated, best supplied force in history, has been humiliated by Iran, largely thanks to Iran’s effective use of inexpensive drones to menace shipping, energy production, and even U.S. bases. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s growing superiority in drone warfare is increasingly giving it the upper hand over Russia.”

In this context, “shouldn’t the United States be eager to make a drone deal with Ukraine, benefiting from its technology and expertise? Apparently not. The Hill reports that Donald Trump has been dragging his feet on such a deal, quoting U.S. military analysts who say that they don’t understand the delay and that they are ‘mystified.’ But I assume that they’re being disingenuous and prefer to avoid saying the obvious. In fact, Trump’s unwillingness to make a deal that would clearly benefit America’s national interest is no mystery at all.”

Then there’s “Trump’s virulent opposition to green energy."

“In the past few years,” explains Krugman, “radical declines in the cost of solar power, wind power, and batteries — which solve the problem that the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow — have made renewables the most cost-effective way to generate electricity. By contrast, coal is completely unviable. Yet Trump is trying to block renewable energy projects any way he can and has just invoked wartime authority to spend $700 million subsidizing new power plants using ‘clean, beautiful’ coal.”

Krugman explains that part of Trump’s motivation is financial, as fossil fuel producers put big money into Trump’s 2024 campaign. At the same time, however, “clean energy has become a bogeyman in the culture wars: mining and burning coal are considered ‘manly’ activities, while renewable energy is portrayed as woke and effeminate. Real men don’t worry about black lung and airborne particulates, let alone climate change. So a combination of big money and fragile male egos drives Green Derangement Syndrome.”

Getting back to drone warfare, Krugman suggests that Trump’s hesitancy toward the technology stems from a combination of money and male ego.

On one hand, “America has a huge, highly profitable defense industry, dedicated to a suite of technologies that are rapidly being rendered obsolete, as $4 million Patriot missiles, that take years to build, are being used to shoot down $35,000 Shahed drones that can be manufactured in months. So it wouldn’t be surprising if defense-industry interests are playing a significant role in the Trump administration’s refusal to admit that the rules of war have changed — the same way that fossil fuel companies have campaigned against the new realities of energy technology. After all, a deal with drone-savvy Ukrainians would mean less money going to US defense contractors.”

At the same time, “recognition of the drone revolution in warfare by Trump and his inner circle would require that they abandon their fantasy of macho military power. Pete Hegseth has been purging the military of capable officers — especially Blacks and women — he considers insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. Beyond loyalty tests, however, he has exalted the importance of ‘warrior ethos’ and physical fitness, as if he were leading the 300 Spartans rather than a high-tech military in an age of drones and electronic warfare.”

Krugman says this is the same logic driving Trump’s other outdated military endeavors. As Krugman writes, the president “is in love with big, expensive weapons as symbols of virility and power. He’s still pushing for giant ‘Trump-class’ battleships, even though they would be sitting ducks in a modern war. Just ask the Ukrainians, who have used missiles and naval drones to force Russia’s once-vaunted Black Sea Fleet to cower in a fortified refuge. But Trump doesn’t want to give up his fantasies.”

In Krugman’s estimation, “There is no mystery about why Trump refuses to make a drone deal with Ukraine. Never mind the national interest. In military strategy as in energy policy, Trump is betraying America in the service of money and machismo.”

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