Paul Krugman thinks he’s spotted a sign that the nation is teetering on the brink of “authoritarianism” (though he must have a different definition of that word that rational people):

We're heading down the path of Hungary. The outrage in Wisconsin was just the latest step https://t.co/m73NGaleJv — Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 10, 2020

Keep in mind this is from somebody who could barely contain his glee back when the stock market took a huge plunge at the start of the coronavirus outbreak:

Yet the scariest news of the past week didn’t involve either epidemiology or economics; it was the travesty of an election in Wisconsin, where the Supreme Court required that in-person voting proceed despite the health risks and the fact that many who requested absentee ballots never got them. Why was this so scary? Because it shows that America as we know it may not survive much longer. The pandemic will eventually end; the economy will eventually recover. But democracy, once lost, may never come back. And we’re much closer to losing our democracy than many people realize.

This is just the kind of thing we’ve come to expect from the NY Times’ resident Nobel laureate:

We're on the way to dictatorship because… *checks notes*… we're not quarantining everyone in their house and not allowing them outside? https://t.co/BSjFSHolAT — RBe (@RBPundit) April 10, 2020

The “outrage” in Wisconsin was an election being held on schedule as required by law. https://t.co/fI7aRw8L1V — Karl Crary (@Crary76) April 10, 2020

This is just amazingly stupid. In Hungry, their leader has been given the power to rule by decree. in Wisconsin, the governor tried to cancel the election *by decree,* was stopped by the courts, and Krugman is complaining that makes us more like Hungary Cc @PolitiBunny https://t.co/AHwhUd9aL0 — (((Aaron “Worthing” Walker))) (@AaronWorthing) April 10, 2020

…we’re headed down the path of Hungary, which suspended elections because we ::checks notes:: refused to suspend elections? — Ian Patrick Hines (@ianpatrickhines) April 10, 2020

Amazing, right? But wait, there’s some good news:

I'm reassured by this knowing that everything Krugman writes is wrong.https://t.co/MkYxEJqyrY — Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) April 10, 2020

So we’ve got that going for us.

***

Related:

‘Dude, you’re ALWAYS wrong’: Paul Krugman gets served a nice, cold glass of STFU juice for trashing America’s COVID response