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"If he were a Democrat, impeachment hearings would already be underway," Krugman tweeted as part of a tweetstorm on Wednesday.
Krugman said that while Trump has not created a "constitutional crisis," the new administration has plunged the country "deep into a *legitimacy* crisis."
Krugman factored in a number of circumstances surrounding Trump's presidency with his commentary: trailing in the popular vote; the FBI announcement about Hillary Clinton's emails a few weeks before the election, which Krugman thinks influenced the results; the information intelligence agencies had regarding communications between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials; and consistent false claims by Trump about voter fraud once he came into office.
"So how does this man send Americans to die, get to pick the Supreme Court for decades to come? Our whole system is now tainted," tweeted Krugman, calling into question Trump's ability to execute the office of president.
There is one solution, according to the economist: a non-partisan investigation into Trump and his administration. Krugman was skeptical.
"The only thing that could remove the taint would be bipartisan, clearly independent investigations followed by action," he concluded. "See, I made a joke."
Republican lawmakers spent parts of Tuesday downplaying the recent resignation of National Security Adviser Mike Flynn after he lied about his communications with Russian officials regarding sanctions on the country by former President Barack Obama.
Here is the full Krugman tweetstorm:
I keep seeing people ask whether we're in a constitutional crisis. Not yet. But we're deep into a *legitimacy* crisis. Think about it 1/
- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 15, 2017
We have a president who lost the popular vote by a wide margin, and only won the electoral college because FBI intervened on his behalf 2/
- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 15, 2017
while sitting on evidence (and misleading press) of close contacts between his campaign and a foreign power that was trying to elect him 3/
- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 15, 2017
And in office, he has done nothing whatsoever to rise to the responsibility -- self-enrichment without restraint, subservience to Putin 4/
- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 15, 2017
and constant lying about everything from votes to policy. If he were a Democrat, impeachment hearings would already be underway 5/
- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 15, 2017
So how does this man send Americans to die, get to pick the Supreme Court for decades to come? Our whole system is now tainted 5/
- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 15, 2017
The only thing that could remove the taint would be bipartisan, clearly independent investigations followed by action. See, I made a joke 6/
- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 15, 2017