# An Open Letter to Paul Krugman

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-thinking-through-the-fourth-turning-with-sasha-stone-5501501/an-open-letter-to-paul-krugman
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-thinking-through-the-fourth-turning-with-sasha-stone-5501501/an-open-letter-to-paul-krugman.md
Podcast: [Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone](https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-thinking-through-the-fourth-turning-with-sasha-stone-5501501)
Published: 2026-06-02T18:09:55+00:00
Episode link: https://www.sashastone.com/p/an-open-letter-to-paul-krugman
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/200322964/d0ad00151024777324a790cb7642c818.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/free-thinking-through-the-fourth-turning-with-sasha-stone-5501501/episodes/an-open-letter-to-paul-krugman
Duration seconds: 1241

## Resource

Dear Paul Krugman, You used to be the kind of journalist I thought was telling the truth. I looked up to you, as I did so many writers at the New York Times. I was a different person then. That was before everything changed. The year was 2020, a summer of riots and a breakthrough moment when many of us realized for the first time that the Gray Lady was not telling us the truth. I have been on the internet for 30 years. I watched the collapse of traditional media and the rise of opinion-based journalism, the kind you do, Paul. Do you mind if I call you Paul? Mr. Krugman sounds so formal, and really, I’d like for you to see me as a human being, someone worthy of your attention and respect. Now that I have confirmation of what I’ve assumed all along, that people like you, Kara Swisher, Peter Baker, and Susan Glasser would like people like me thrown into re-education camps or gulags, I feel it’s worth the extra effort to get you to see real people again. To the horror of many, you went viral last week for your comments on what all of you will do with Trump supporters and the system that elected him. It was ugly, Paul. As ugly as anything I’ve seen written by a high-minded journalist and certainly closer to what the Nazis believed about the Jews than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime: “Purging of the United States, we need a de-MAGAfication. I’m not going over the top by using a word that’s very similar to the de-Nazification that we pursued successfully after World War Two in Germany. It’s not just the MAGA ideology, but the whole structure of hugely unequal power, hugely unequal wealth that made this horrific moment possible. It’s not going to be easy, but, and maybe it’s not going to be doable, but we have to try, because this is an absolute, this is a nightmare, this is…

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## Transcript

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