New York Times columnist Paul Krugman took to Twitter on Friday and insinuated that President-elect Donald Trump would orchestrate a 9/11-type terror attack on America.
Roughly 3,000 victims died on September 11, 2001, during an attack the killed innocents in New York City’s World Trade Center site, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Mr. Krugman cited the al Qaeda plot on Friday to mention the “incentives” Mr. Trump might take advantage of to dispel questions about his legitimacy as commander in chief.
“Thought: There was (rightly) a cloud of illegitimacy over Bush, dispelled (wrongly) by 9/11. Creates some interesting incentives for Trump,” Mr. Krguman tweeted to 2.2 million followers.
Stunned social media followers immediately criticized him for rhetorical recklessness.
“Sounds like he is encouraging terrorists. Dangerous and sickening,” wrote Twitter user John Monroe.
“You’ve completely lost your mind. Get help,” said Brian S. Hall.
“Krugman is the first pre-emptive truther,” added Jon Gabriel, Editor-in-Chief of Ricochet.
Last month the economist said in an op-ed that Mr. Trump would usher in a global recession because he is “an irresponsible, ignorant man who takes his advice from all the wrong people in charge of the nation.”
“So we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight,” Mr. Krugman wrote Nov. 9. “I suppose we could get lucky somehow. But on economics, as on everything else, a terrible thing has just happened.”
Thought: There was (rightly) a cloud of illegitimacy over Bush, dispelled (wrongly) by 9/11. Creates some interesting incentives for Trump
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 16, 2016
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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