New York Times columnist Paul Krugman questioned the budget math of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in an appearance on Current TV Wednesday, saying he had duped conservatives and members of the media into thinking he has a serious budget plan when he really doesn’t.

Krugman noted, as he often has in his columns and blog posts, that the tax cuts and spending changes in Ryan’s budget do not add up, saying that he is simply “faking it” on the numbers. Specifically when it comes to Medicaid, he said, Ryan’s budget would essentially take money from the poor and give it to the rich.

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“If you look at this, you say, ‘How can he get away with this? The world’s greatest nation falls for this flimflam?” Krugman said.

Ryan gets away with it, he said, because few people take the time to do the math, and because the media and Republicans are so eager to have a so-called serious conservative to fit their narrative.

“There is supposed to be a person like the mythical Paul Ryan, there are supposed to be serious conservatives who really care about the deficit,” he said. “In fact you can’t find them.”

“[Ryan] played into that desire,” he continued. “He became the figure of their dreams even though in reality he is nothing like that.”