I thought the MAGA people brought Trump back to save us from socialism. But we are in Trumpistan with the state taking over the means of semiconductor production:
President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. government had reached a deal to take a 10 percent equity stake in the chipmaker Intel, worth approximately $10 billion.
…Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the deal in a post on X on Friday: “BIG NEWS: The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel, one of our great American technology companies.”
Intel posted details of the plan soon afterward, saying the administration would make an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, paid for with the CHIPS grant money. The company said the stake would be funded with $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded but not yet paid, and $3.2 billion from a separate Defense Department program [Anthony Adranga, “Trump White House Takes a $10B Stake in Intel,” Politico, 2025.08.22].
Presidents Bush and Obama used socialism like this to save General Motors from the Great Recession. But Intel isn’t suffering beneath a global economic meltdown; it’s getting beat fairly and squarely by the free market, by competitors making better products. But Trump’s Presidential corporate activism—Nippon Steel, Apple, Paramount/CBS—shows Trump cares not one white for free capitalism; he wants command and control for his own benefit:
Unlike any leader of any free-market economy around the world, President Trump has seized control of private enterprise’s strategic decision-making and investment policies while invading corporate board rooms so that he may dictate leadership staffing, punish corporate critics, and demand public compliance with his political agenda. This is far more dangerous to capitalism than a city-run grocery store.
Many free-market economists and business leaders who have long worshipped the free-market ideals of Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, and Milton Friedman should be aware that their idols would be rolling in their graves right now, as rather than pursue standard laissez-faire conservative economic policies, MAGA has gone Marxist and even, increasingly, Maoist.
As Greg Ip warned this week in The Wall Street Journal, “The US marches toward state capitalism with American characteristics … President Trump is imitating [the] Chinese Communist Party by extending political control ever deeper into the economy.” Ip pointed out that in the past, crisis-driven government bailouts of the banking and automotive sectors, such as TARP, were acute, targeted assistance, with brief and bipartisan rescue aims. Similarly, government incentives to drive investments in chips manufacturing, oil exploration, space exploration, internet development, agricultural vitality, cancer detection, disease treatment, and clean energy were not ownership deals with preferred companies or corporate cronies [Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, John Pepper, Anne Mulcahy, Bill George, and Laura D. Tyson, “MAGA’s March Toward a Command Economy,” Yale Insights, 2025.08.21].
Once again, the danger Donald Trump promised to fight turns out to be exactly the danger he brings. Welcome to the United Socialist States of America, brought to you by the Republican Party.
Of course, you could say that Trump is doing neither capitalism nor socialism, not in any traditional sense. Capitalism and socialism, properly practiced, at least attempt to meet societal needs. Capitalism tries to meet those needs by trusting the market signals of thousands/millions/billions of buyers and sellers. Socialism tries to meet those needs through collective planning. The two economic systems use different means toward the same end: the efficient production and distribution of goods and services for everyone in the community.
Trump doesn’t care if goods and services get to the people and places that need them. He only cares that he gets more power in his hands, more money in his pockets, and more of his hand in your pocket.
– At first glance, Costco, Sam’s Club, and other membership-based warehouse stores seem like shining examples of capitalism: low prices, bulk sales, and competitive profits. But when we look closer, these buying clubs succeed precisely because they use strategies rooted in socialist principles—collective power, shared benefit, and reinvestment in the community of members.
– Costco thrives because it blends capitalist efficiency with socialist cooperation. By pooling resources, treating workers fairly, and returning value to its members, Costco demonstrates that collective strategies can drive both business success and community well-being. In this way, buying clubs quietly practice a form of economic socialism every day—and customers embrace it, whether they call it that or not.
• Capitalism unchecked becomes raw greed.
• Socialism unchecked becomes relief for seniors and we disabled.
Good point, Porter! Capitalism isn’t effective or desirable without socialist elements. See also: health insurance, which when properly nationalized, as we see in most other sensible Western nations, dispels worry and frees up wealth to be used in more fulfilling pursuits.
For the wealthy, costs are socialized; profits are capitalized.