Donald Trump Is a Commie

Bernie’s democratic socialism is still compatible with liberal democracy. Trump’s national socialism is not. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

(Composite / Photos: GettyImages /Shutterstock)

1. Two Paths

On Friday I wrote about the Trump administration’s latest foray into national socialism:

• Trump wants to build nuclear power plants.

• He has chosen Westinghouse to build them.

• He will pay Westinghouse $80 billion for the projects.

• In return he has compelled Westinghouse to pay him the government 20 percent of any “cash distributions.”

• Between now and the end of January 2029, the government can compel Westinghouse to go public via an IPO, at which point the government will be awarded 20 percent ownership of the company, likely making it the single largest shareholder.

This is literally seizing the means of production. But to, you know, make America great again. Or something.

Other of Trump’s national socialist policies include:

• Refusing to enforce the 2024 law requiring the sale of TikTok until he was able to compel that the business be sold at an extortionately discounted price to his political allies.

• Creating a Golden Share of U.S. Steel for his government.

• Requiring Nvidia and AMD to pay the government 15 percent of all revenues from chip sales to China.

• Acquiring a 10 percent ownership stake in chipmaker Intel.

• Acquiring a 15 percent stake in rare earth producers MP Materials, a 10 percent stake in Lithium Americas Corp., and a 10 percent stake in Trilogy Metals Inc.

• Creating a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile.”

• Taking steps to create a sovereign wealth fund to be used as a vehicle for government investment.

• He has demanded that Microsoft fire an executive he does not like and demanded that private law firms commit to doing pro bono work on behalf of clients he chooses for them.

This is not quite the economic regime of China or Saudi Arabia. But it’s in the same zip code. And it’s heading in their general direction and away from the regulated American free market economy as it had existed until ten months ago.

So why is it so hard for people to just say, out loud, what is obvious: Donald Trump is a socialist who is trying to make the American economy function more like Communist China?