Krugman Hits Scarborough and ‘Obamacare Truthers’ at MSNBC

Paul Krugman took to his New York Times blog Wednesday to go after MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and his fellow “Obamacare Truthers” for accusing the Obama Administration of using the U.S. Census to “cook the books” on the Affordable Care Act.

While Krugman writes that it’s fine to “argue that the Census decision to change its health-insurance questionnaire starting with the 2013 data wasn’t such a good idea,” it’s irresponsible for pundits like Scarborough to suggest is is intentionally deceptive. “It’s really quite vile to have talk-show hosts who quite literally know nothing about the field, other than that they’re against covering the uninsured, casually accusing Census of ‘cooking the books’ to support Obamacare,” he writes.

“But remember, MSNBC is the liberal network, right?” Krugman asks. “Why don’t they just hire Donald Trump and be done with it?”

The economist has a history of conflict with the Morning Joe host, from their heated debate over the deficit on Charlie Rose last May to Scarborough’s assertion in October that Krugman is the Times’ “biggest nightmare.”

After this week, it seems like another public showdown between the two men is in order.

Watch the Morning Joe segment that got under Krugman’s skin below, via MSNBC:

[photo via screengrab]

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