Paul Krugman ripped for saying COVID-19 ‘coming for white supremacists’ in golf carts

Longtime New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was ripped on social media Tuesday after a tweet about “white supremacists” and a surge in coronavirus cases among elderly residents in Florida.

“Reality is coming for white supremacists driving golf carts,” Krugman tweeted Tuesday while sharing a Bloomberg News story that included data on the number of Floridians age 75 and up testing positive for COVID-19.

Krugman, an economist who won a Nobel prize in 2008, appeared to be referring to a video President Trump tweeted over the weekend that included one supporter yelling “white power” to protesters at The Villages, a retirement community in the Sunshine State. Trump later deleted the tweet, claiming he didn’t hear the remark.

The backlash against Krugman came mostly from commentators on the right.

seriously, can someone explain to me what the f–k is going on at the New York Times? pic.twitter.com/EagZQOT9vm

— tsar becket adams (@BecketAdams) June 30, 2020

Professor, my parents are elderly Florida residents, are not white supremacists, and I find you basically rooting for their deaths to be among the most morally abhorrent things I’ve seen on Twitter, and that’s saying something.

— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) June 30, 2020

Paul Krugman calls much of the elderly Floridian population “white supremacists”. A huge chunk of them is actuallyJewish (and would hardly be considered white elsewhere). pic.twitter.com/tfL7UulY5Q

— Irina Tsukerman (@irinatsukerman) June 30, 2020

Headline: “Covid-19 Surge Begins Reaching Older, More Vulnerable Floridians”

Sociopathic Paul Krugman: https://t.co/GVHHV7BlWt

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 30, 2020

The blowback comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Tuesday the state is “not going back” on reopening, despite thousands of new coronavirus cases.

When DeSantis was asked by reporters if he would urge people to stay home, he said the reopening comes with recommendations for social distancing and that protecting the elderly and vulnerable was his top priority.

“We’re open. We know who we need to protect. Most of the folks in those younger demographics, although we want them to be mindful of what’s going on, are just simply much much less at risk than the folks who are in those older age groups,” he said.

Florida has recorded more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases per day since June 24.

The state’s coronavirus death toll now exceeds 3,500. Nationwide, almost 130,000 people have died of COVID-19.