New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is urging House Democrats to take "precautions" to protect themselves in the event that President Donald Trump and his supporters start using "mob" tactics such as "roughing up the witnesses" called to testify in impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill.

In a series of posts on Twitter, Krugman shared his opinion of a House Republican publicity stunt in which several members of the caucus barged into the secure facility where House lawmakers have been interviewing witnesses in the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Trump's actions regarding Ukraine.

The effort to physically disrupt the witness testimony, Krugman suggested, would inevitably be followed by more sinister tactics, and he urged House Democrats to start "thinking about precautions" because "anything is possible." Krugman went on to compare Trump and his allies to a mob, suggesting that "the next step would be roughing up the witnesses."

Phase one: try to discourage any investigation Phase two: try to stonewall, telling officials not to testify Phase three: physically disrupt the hearings Phase four: ??? I hope Schiff, Pelosi et al are thinking about precautions. Anything is possible https://t.co/XAOypKHvcI — Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 23, 2019

Actually, they immediately went past pounding the table to knocking the table over and smashing the chairs. If this were a mob trial, the next step would be roughing up the witnesses, but this isn't a mob … oh, waithttps://t.co/OCShkfc2IT — Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 23, 2019

Paul Krugman is a self-righteous moron, as recently evidenced by his criticism of Trump for awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tiger Woods, the golfing legend who earlier this year ended his "Obama drought" by winning the Masters at Augusta National, his first major championship since 2008.

Krugman snarked on Twitter that he was "old enough to remember when Presidential Medals of Freedom were given for showing courage and making sacrifices on behalf of the nation and the world," as opposed to someone like Woods who "hits golf balls for money."

The Times columnist did not, as it turns out, level the same criticism at President Barack Obama for awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to courageous sacrificers such as Michael Jordan, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, Yo-Yo Ma, Gloria Estefan, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Warren Buffett, Tom Brokaw, Lorne Michaels, and Joe Biden, among others.