Paul Krugman: Today's GOP 'fanatics' make me miss the old party of 'greed and cynicism'

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's latest piece takes stock of the Republican Party as it exists in 2023, and he finds that it's gone so far off the rails that he's nostalgic for the old GOP that was merely "greedy and cynical."

Krugman starts out by noting that the GOP used to use culture war appeals to win over the votes of social conservatives, but would proceed to ignore their concerns once elected in favor of doling out favors to the economically powerful.

However, with the constant purge of the party's old guard thanks to nonstop primary challenges against heretics, it seems the Republican Party has become the culture-war war machine it once merely pretended to be.

"The culture war is no longer just posturing by politicians mainly interested in cutting taxes on the rich; many elected Republicans are now genuine fanatics," Krugman writes. "As I said, one can almost feel nostalgic for the good old days of greed and cynicism."

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Looking at the current House Republicans, Krugman notes that its agenda is being driven by conspiracy theorists such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and that it will be difficult to meet her demands short of telling her that "the 2020 election was stolen by a vast conspiracy of pedophiles."

Read the full column at this link.