Trump copies Putin’s moves
The Wall Street Journal on Monday announced that the Doald Trump administration is marching this country — your country — toward state capitalism, “a hybrid between socialism and capitalism in which the state guides the decisions of nominally private enterprises.”
The president doesn’t like your company’s CEO? Fire him and hire his choice if you know what’s good for you. Your Tokyo-based corporation wants to buy U.S. Steel? Commit to building a new steel mill in Pennsylvania. Want to sell artificial-intelligence chips to China? Pay tribute to Washington. And to Trump.
The Journal’s complaint with state capitalism isn’t that the president is arrogating unconstitutional power to himself, openly accepting bribes, and threatening anyone or any company that rubs him the wrong way. The Journal complains that state capitalism interferes with (as editors cross themselves) the free market. It’s inefficient.
Former labor secretary Robert Reich writes:
It’s unclear what the “United States” means when the deals Trump has struck give the United States ownership rights in corporations, but it’s certainly not the people.
How do America’s ownership rights get exercised? By whom? Who holds the equity, and where is it held? It appears that all this is up to the whims of Trump.
In reality, Trump’s state capitalism is just another part of Trump’s growing fascist state, extending his personal arbitrary control into what had been the private sector of the U.S. economy.
During Trump 1.0, CEOs resigned from his business advisory panels after Trump uttered his “very fine people on both sides” statement on the violence in Charlottesville. They shunned him after he instigated his failed Jan. 6 coup. And now?
Now, CEOs are showering him with donations and praise. They can’t kiss his derriere enough. Jeff Bezos won’t run editorials critical of Trump in his Washington Post. CBS won’t allow “60 Minutes” or Stephen Colbert to oppose him (when Colbert’s contract runs out). The bros of Silicon Valley don’t dare say a word against him (look what happened to Musk).
As with other aspects of Trump fascism, Trump has extended his power by exploiting greed and fear.
In the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin smiles. Trump is copying his moves.
Trump isn’t having opponents defenestrated yet. That would be too subtle for the TV-obsessed, convicted felon who made tee shirts of his mug shot. He wants opponents shot down in the streets by soldiers for the cameras. He’s simply waiting for the right opportunity. Los Angeles was previews. Trump deploying federal agents and the National Guard to the District of Columbia is the premiere. His claims of rampant crime in the nation’s capitol are bullshit, as are his claims that national security concerns drive his other actions.
“It’s all about centralizing ever more control over America in the Oval Office. It’s simply another power grab by Trump,” Reich declares:
Make no mistake. Trump’s ever-increasing power is an ever-growing threat to the rule of law and democracy.
This is what fascism looks like.
Be the social proof your neighbors need to see it and to do something about it.
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