Forget America, Trump is making corporatism and fascism great again

“Conservatives” used to stand as defenders of values like free market capitalism and liberty, but ever since Donald Trump and the Republican Party rebranded conservatism as America First nationalism, they have embraced corporatism and fascism over economic freedom.

Trump recently began taking action on a nationalist policy just as corporatist, just as fascist as anything found in the Benito Mussolini nationalist handbook — partial government ownership of private corporations (via Ron Paul Institute):

Earlier this year, as a condition of approving Nippon Steel’s purchase of US Steel, President Trump demanded Nippon give the US government a “golden share” in US Steel. This golden share allows the US government to overrule Nippon’s management if the government determines Nippon is acting against US “national security,” which means the government can overrule many decisions made by Nippon‘s management.

Unfortunately, Nippon was not a “one-and-done” excursion into corporatism. President Trump recently struck a deal with computer chip manufacturer Intel to give the company 8.9 billion dollars in government subsidies in exchange for ten percent of Intel’s stock. This deal makes the US government Intel’s largest stockholder!

Enabling the government to control a private company (even if the government does not actually exercise its power) means the company’s management will base its decisions on what will please those currently in power, rather than on the desires of consumers.

Government investment in corporations will cause politicians to make decisions based on what will profit the companies the government has “invested” in while those companies’ competitors will seek to attract government investment in order to win special privileges for themselves.

Some members of the Trump administration have suggested that the federal government take a partial ownership interest in defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has pointed out that big defense contractor Lockheed Martin, for example, is “basically an arm of the US government” since almost all its revenue comes from the US government.

Instead of further entangling government and business, those seeking to make America great again should work to end the welfare-warfare-regulatory state and the fiat money system that makes it possible. The only path to prosperity is through a true free market, limited government, and a foreign policy of peace and free trade.

Corporatism and its evil twin, fascism, have been building within the Trumpist Republican Party, and it’s been particularly obvious with their growing embrace of nationalism as the new conservatism.

In the first annual National Conservatism Conference held in Washington, D.C., we learned how an embrace of corporatism and fascism would empower government with the means necessary to right the wrongs brought about by free market capitalism. For example, then-FOX News host Tucker Carlson said in a keynote speech that big government was less a threat to liberty than the free market. “The main threat to your ability to live your life as you choose does not come from government anymore,” Carlson declared. “It comes from the private sector.” (Emphasis mine)

Subsequent NatCon meetings have reinforced the corporatism and fascism agenda, and it has even been adopted by other “conservative” Republicans, such as Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In an appearance at the 2022 National Conservatism Conference, DeSantis accused “corporate America” of having too much power, and he declared his commitment to wield the hammer and sickle of big government against people who fail to meet his expectations. He further stated that the Republican Party should seek to replicate his agenda. (via BusinessInsider.com)

In an hourlong speech before the National Conservatism Conference, DeSantis said Republicans’ approach and thinking about big business needs to change, arguing that his experiences in Florida provide a “lesson for people on the right.”

He accused “corporate America” of having too much power in America and of “exercising quasi-public power in terms of using their economic power to change policy in this country.”

“What I’m doing is using government to give space to the individual citizen to be able to participate in society to be able to speak his or her mind,” DeSantis said.

“And I think that’s an absolutely appropriate use of government power.” (Emphasis mine)

The embrace of nationalism over conservatism to make corporatism and fascism great again has also been exposed in groups that used to be foundational to conservatism, such as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC, or to be more accurate, TPAC).

CPAC 2020 provided a virtual who’s who of nationalists promoting corporatism and fascism. For example, Josh Hawley, Donald Trump, Jr., and Kevin McCarthy were in attendance to hold a panel discussion addressing the question, “What’s the Right Path Forward on Big Tech?”.

American Conservative Union (ACU) chairman Matt Schlapp called Trump Jr., McCarthy, and Hawley three of the most high-profile conservative leaders in America, and said in part, “I don’t think there is a more important issue facing the American political debate…” when trying to explain his rationale for having the trio speak.

Needless to say, these three members of the Donald Trump mutual admiration society were thrilled to be given an opportunity to attack the free market and liberty in the name of Trump’s America First agenda”

“Leader McCarthy and Senator Hawley have been warriors for my father’s America First agenda and are also two people who represent the future of the Republican Party.” ~ Donald Trump, Jr.

“Conservatives are more energized than ever by President Trump’s America First agenda and the tremendous success our country is experiencing. Integral to this movement are Donald Trump Jr. and Senator Hawley.” ~ Rep. Kevin McCarthy

Any doubts about CPAC’s abandonment of conservatism and embrace of Trumpist Republican nationalism were confirmed when Schlapp appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room radio program in 2022 and declared that “we are no longer conservatives.”

The destruction of conservative values like free market capitalism has been a work-in-progress by the Mitch McConnells and John Boehners of the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan handed over the reins to George H.W. Bush, but the stark reality of their embrace of corporatism and fascism has come sharply into focus in the Age of Trump. Equally tragic in this comedy of errors — apologies to William Shakespeare — is how media conservatives in-name-only like Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson have served as cheerleaders.

The Trumpist Republican Party has become a party of nationalism dedicated to making corporatism and fascism great again.

 

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David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative and the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.

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