While warning of the rise of socialism on the left, Donald Trump is simultaneously conducting his own experiments in economic theory, putting his nationalist spin on American capitalism.
The fear of socialism is built on the idea that government intervention stifles free private enterprise, which capitalists view as the bedrock of American greatness.
Trump, however, is using his view of the national interest — which frequently appears to coincide with his own personal interest — as an excuse to get the government involved in all sorts of markets.
That’s an incredibly generous way of saying “is cheating and robbing the rest of the world blind whenever he can”
and buying stocks in companies “Without asking Congress, Trump’s administration has bought stakes in dozens of private companies. These range from the massive – a nearly $9 billion lifeline to Intel in exchange for nearly 10% of the company – to much smaller stakes in mineral, quantum computing and semiconductor companies, according to a list of 30 investments.”
Even if the Trump administration says it won’t meddle in the operation of these companies, the genie is out of the bottle and the government will now have an incentive, according to DeHaven, “to privilege the companies that the government has ownership stakes in, and to disfavor competitors, and not just existing competitors, but potential competitors.”
In the Fox News poll, Americans are effectively split — 50% viewed capitalism favorably versus 46% who viewed it unfavorably.
He keys in on one particular data point: Only 41% of Republican registered voters have a strongly favorable view of capitalism in the most recent Fox News poll. Another 20% of Republicans registered voters expressed a somewhat favorable view of capitalism.