Throughout last summer, Americans witnessed widespread rioting and looting many BLM demonstrations caused across the country. Now, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is arguing that all that destruction was just something Republicans "believe."
Krugman made the comment in a series of tweets criticizing Republicans for being most concerned about illegal immigration and the deficit, according to a Pew study.
"You might think that it would be hard to obsess over the deficit when it was actually Trump who blew the deficit up, to zero complaints from his party," Krugman tweeted. "But that would be assuming that R voters know about that, or would even be willing to hear it."
"In reality, given that GOP supporters believe that rampaging mobs burned and looted major cities — somehow without the people actually living in those cities noticing — getting them to see facts about something as abstract as the deficit is a hopeless cause," Krugman continued.
In reality, given that GOP supporters believe that rampaging mobs burned and looted major cities — somehow without the people actually living in those cities noticing — getting them to see facts about something as abstract as the deficit is a hopeless cause 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 22, 2021
He also said in a separate thread that “BLM may have been the best-behaved protest movement in history,” claiming there were only a small number of bad actors.
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Yes, there were bad actors. There are always bad actors in any situation. But not many. The idea that our big cities were under threat is pure malevolent fantasy; BLM may have been the best-behaved protest movement in history 3/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 22, 2021
In reality, the violent demonstrations caused up to $2 billion in property damage and resulted in 18 deaths, according to Fox News.
What DC looked like after a BLM protest in May: pic.twitter.com/yjDNeQrfFP
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 7, 2021
Quick update on the Kenosha riots: pic.twitter.com/JEKulj2UZY
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) August 25, 2020
Looters broke into a Chicago mall and are looting the place clean tonight. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/wKJZbcvpoZ
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) August 10, 2020
Critics hit back at Krugman's suggestion.
are you denying the largest insurance payout for rioting on record or just saying that because the corporate media (your employer) didn't report it, it didn't happen.
— robb cadwell (@somsai) April 22, 2021
Some of the burning and looting that went “ unnoticed”... pic.twitter.com/vOnonw2b4p
— Latrina Godot (@GodotLatrina) April 22, 2021
Denying what happened last summer is extremely cruel to everyone affected and you don't have to be a "GOP supporter" to observe reality. I guess you couldn't see Minneapolis and St. Paul burning from Princeton.
— Nick Terhaar (@NickTerhaar89) April 22, 2021
No one noticed 25 Dead, 2,000 Cops Injured, $2 Billion in Damages, 1,500 Businesses Destroyed in the #BLM Riots, Paul Krugman?? I’ve always considered @paulkrugman a 3rd rate Economist. Now I think he’s lost his mind. He definitely doesn’t watch or read the news. https://t.co/Hir06FXQN2 pic.twitter.com/3f1S53X3e3
— David Burke (@ConservativeTht) April 23, 2021
Yes this is just a crazy uncorroborated “belief,” not something that could’ve been directly observed if you bothered to get off your ass and go look https://t.co/Te8wNEdlCn
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) April 22, 2021
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