Posted on 12/28/2015 10:26:34 AM PST by DaveyB
Of all the mystical qualities that Trump supporters attribute to their candidate, the one I find most curious is that Trump is the "anti-corporatist" candidate.
Trump? "Anti-corporatist"? Really?
If there were a corporatist hall of fame, Trump's name should be emblazoned across the front in huge red letters, the way it is on his casinos. We are, after all, talking about a candidate who has just finished attacking his leading rival, Ted Cruz, for insufficient devotion to ethanol subsidies. This is not an aberration. Trump has rarely met a proposal for corporate welfare that he didn't love.
Republicans have been highly critical of the Obama administration's propensity to throw money at so-called "green energy" companies. But Trump is just as big a supporter of taxpayer subsidies for alternative energy sources. Defending his support of subsidies for wind turbines, for instance, Trump explained that "you need subsidies" because it can be hard for wind to be competitive in energy production, particularly when prices for fossil fuels are so low.
Is he the fierce anti-corporatist many of his supporters see him as? Trump's support for corporate welfare can't be explained away as pandering to key voter groups, either. It's heartfelt and longstanding. As far back as 1986, Trump opposed Ronald Reagan's tax reform because it eliminated corporate loopholes, including special tax breaks for real-estate developers; he warned that it would be "a disaster for the country."
He was wrong, of course, about Reagan's tax plan, but his tune hadn't changed by 2009, when he backed TARP and the bailout of the big banks. In fact, Trump was willing to go even further, actually nationalizing the banks. As he told Larry King, "Whether they fund them or nationalize them, it doesn't matter, but you have to keep the banks going."
And it wasn't just the banks. Trump also supported the Obama administration's bailout of the auto industry and its unions. "I think the government should stand behind them 100 percent," Trump told Fox News. "You cannot lose the auto companies. They're great. They make wonderful products."
Trump may have flip-flopped on all sorts of issues, but when it comes to corporations feeding at the public trough, he's been steady as a rock.
Then there is Trump's long love affair with eminent domain. Trump has, of course, famously attempted repeatedly to use eminent domain to benefit his own business dealings, most notoriously when he encouraged the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, a government agency, to seize the home of Vera Coking, a 70-year-old widow, and turn the property over to him for development. In another instance, Trump asked the Connecticut government to condemn five Bridgeport businesses so that he could use the land for a business development.
Trump lost in both those cases, but he still resolutely defended the government's power to seize an individual's property for the benefit of private corporate interests. He enthusiastically backed the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision, telling Fox's Neil Cavuto, "I happen to agree with it 100 percent. If you have a person living in an area that's not even necessarily a good area, and … government wants to build a tremendous economic development, where a lot of people are going to be put to work and ... create thousands upon thousands of jobs and beautification and lots of other things, I think it happens to be good."
Even Trump's protectionist trade policy is essentially a corporatist subsidy for favored industries and unions at the expense of consumers and non-favored industries. There are a great many corporations - automakers, steel mills, textile companies - that would agree with him. Those of us who will have to pay more for everything we buy, not so much.
When it comes right down to it, Trump's entire anti-corporatist image rests on his opposition to immigration. And certainly, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups support increased immigration. That's a fair debate. (In the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I believe that the free movement of people is a basic tenet of the free market.) But no matter what your position on immigration, wanting to build a wall hardly qualifies Donald Trump as the scourge of corporate special interests.
From congressional support for the Export-Import Bank to Marco Rubio's shilling for the sugar industry, too many Republicans believe that handouts to business are somehow less egregious than other forms of welfare. Trump's supporters should understand that their candidate is one of those Republicans.
He's not like the others.
I have to agree with the article.
CATO is a libertarian organization that believes in open borders. CATO is an apologist for the corporate class. They see Trump as a threat to Rep support for Big Business and crony capitalism.
CATO is a libertarian organization that believes in open borders. CATO is an apologist for the corporate class. They see Trump as a threat to Rep support for Big Business and crony capitalism.
No, we also need to read this: Genetic fallacy
One minute protectionism is anti corporation anti free trade nightmare and then it is described as a pro corporate conspiracy. Which is it?
Is it possible for anyone to have an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump that might have some validity?
That's strange because he is a billionaire who is in favor of price supports for windmills and ethanol, and is in favor of employing eminent domain to promote business development.
If it wasn't for his immigration position he would be a standard Chamber of Commerce crony capitalist.
Trump
The Billionaire You Can Trust for no Apparent Reason
No! Trust him. He's not like the others.
Without those “EVIL” corporations, how much more like 1850 would our standard of living be?
Trust but verify....didnt someone say that once ?
actually it should be trust any politician a little but verify them a lot
Im also not keen on this cult like atmosphere around Trump....
Finally!
Some sane Freepers. Thank you for this article.
I am deathly afraid of Trump as he actually diametrically opposed to Conservative values. He is as much of a proto-tyrant as Obama.
It frightens me that so many people here can’t see right through him.
Hopefully we wont be able to see thru that big beautiful wall he is going to build.
Which ever Trump thinks will give him the most benefit at the moment!
In all fairness, not all corporatists are equal.
Traditionally, the very rich in America, with a few exceptions, were extremely patriotic and truly believed in America first. However, in the 20th Century, especially post WWII, a lot of the very rich want to think of themselves as “internationalists”, with no country to which they are patriotic.
This tracks with the growth of multinational corporations that likewise want to be flexible enough so that they can change countries like underwear, owing loyalty to none, paying little or no tax, and using complex and deceptive organization to escape regulation or even oversight.
However, it also tracks with the internationalist socialists, who openly hate and fear nations, and want to end them. Both desire one-world government, a “new world order”, but the internationalist socialists want this to be a socialist government, led by some hideous organization like the United Nations; and the internationalist corporationists want there to be a corporatocracy, with the very rich ruling all others as a permanent noble class over the peasantry.
However, there are still some of the very rich to keep and hold on to nationalist ideals and values. Who respect and admire America as a democratic-republican form of government sustained by a bill of rights. And while the rest of the nations of the world are free to have their own national leaders; these very rich see no good future in internationalism led by gray men, even if their fellow very rich are the power behind the scenes.
That is, Donald Trump knows lots of people like the Bushes, the Kennedys, George Soros, etc., and wouldn’t trust them to push a janitor’s broom, much less run a country. Or run *his* country. It doesn’t matter that they are rich.
Sure. This is not one of them. I used to contribute to CATO and attended some of their seminars. Once they jumped the shark on immigration, I stopped supporting them.
Tanner is great on SS. I have an autographed copy of his book.
I am deathly afraid of Trump as he actually diametrically opposed to Conservative values. He is as much of a proto-tyrant as Obama.
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There is nothing in Trump’s background that suggests he holds any conservative values whatsoever. He has always been for big government. Tarp, bailouts, stimulus, nationalized healthcare, nationalized banking system, Kelo...
The fact that he is leading the polls among conservatives is truly frightening.
Trump’position on trade is not the same as the C of C.
We’ve seen this before twenty three years ago in Ross Perot.
Clinton I, DNC and Media managed an opposition party of an eccentric bombastic super rich businessman who spewed daily populist red meat sound bite messages to disillusioned masses.
This time around, its clear: Trump = Perot 2.0
Proof: Trump took up Perot’s waning alternative political party in NY 1998...
Sadly mistaken adoring Trumpeteers are only falling for DNC MSM tricks to guarantee a democrat victory for 2016 president.
The only capable most trustworthy adult in the room is Cruz.
Appalling that conservative FReeper can’t see that.
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