“Many people are horrified, and rightly so, by what passes for leadership in today’s Washington. And it’s important to keep the horror of our political situation up front, to keep highlighting the lies, the cruelty, the bad judgment. We must never normalize the state we’re in.”
Krugman isn't writing about President Donald Trump although it surely applies to the President as well. Ryan is referring to House Speaker Paul Ryan and his "fraudulence, lack of concern for those he claims to care about and lack of policy coherence."
The American Health Care Act, Trump and Ryan's replacement for Obamacare "is one of the worst bills ever presented to Congress."
Ryan's budget proposals, while differing in detail, all “share a family resemblance: Like his health plan, each involved savage cuts in benefits for the poor and working class, with the money released by these cuts used to offset large tax cuts for the rich. All were, however, sold on false pretenses as plans for deficit reduction.”
“There’s an important lesson here, and it’s not just about health care or Mr. Ryan; it’s about the destructive effects of false symmetry in reporting at a time of vast asymmetry in reality.
“This false symmetry — downplaying the awfulness of some candidates, vastly exaggerating the flaws of their opponents — isn’t the only reason America is in the mess it’s in. But it’s an important part of the story. And now we’re all about to pay the price.”
