The ongoing debate about what is Trump political and economic philosophy has been raging for months. He calls himself a conservative. But does a conservative try to impose federal authority over states’ rights? Do conservatives try to micro-manage what ideas are taught in schools? Do conservatives balloon the national debt (actually, this is something self-described conservative administrations do most consistently)? Do conservatives place protectionist tariffs on imports versus letting the free market reign (or tariffs that don’t protect American industry at all, but simply tax American consumers and businesses)? No real conservatives would do any of these things. So this label definitely isn’t appropriate.

So lets figure out what describes the Trump approach.

From a political standpoint, he demands fealty – loyalty even when he changes his mind or when he rants about windmills, Russiagate, or whatever other stray thought that comes into his mind. And when fealty is lost, then he attacks people, personally, online as well as through political ads and endorsing opponents. He is playing to his political base and only his base when he does this – gerrymandered districts give him this luxury (because only his base matters in these districts and very red states). He puts out demands for legislatures to do extraordinary redistricting to provide a more durable Congressional majority (to counter the drop in his approval ratings). And his acolytes follow his lead, both in obedience and to gain favor. In a country with elections, this could look like fascism or Communism.

From an economic structure standpoint, Trump ostensibly favors businesses (except when it comes to imports, which I will get to). He wants low taxes and low business regulation (except for circumstances I will discuss later). He sees himself as a big successful businessman, so likes to cozy up to other big successful businessmen (men in particular). And in return for his favoritism (which is how he sees it – view Musk as the example), he expects fealty or at least support. So Tim Cook’s gift at the White House is an example of this – in exchange for lower tariffs on iPhones. He is not strictly anti-union (because he has many union supporters (Teamsters) that he needs), but his policies are not pro-union and his NLRB approach is to strip it of the capacity to regulate – thus favoring corporations. This looks like fascism or Communism (ie China).

How involved is Trump in corporate economic decisions? He doesn’t directly set prices, but his tariff policy does impact the direction of pricing. He has placed extraordinarily high tariffs on aluminum and steel, despite the industry’s warnings about their impact and likelihood that the tariffs will not increase production in the US. The more general tariffs (combined with tariffs on specific goods) are expected to reduce GDP, jobs, and average household income while increasing revenue to the government (because tariffs are taxes, after all). On other matters, he has demanded the CEO of Intel to resign (while turning 180 degrees a few days later after talking to him personally). He has demanded that Goldman Sachs fire their economist for not praising Trump’s tariff policy. He has told Coca Cola to introduce a US made cane sugar Coke in the US (other countries already have it). Mind you, the MAHA policy says Americans shouldn’t drink sweetened sodas and American corn farmers are harmed by this policy. But Trump Coke is on the way! This is well short of central planning (as seen in fascist or Communist regimes), but this is economic policy centered around the whims of one man, who clearly favors federal control.

The final area of economic control we are seeing is government participation in corporation revenues. For a country whose corporations are largely publicly held (meaning that they are owned by shareholders), this looks to be the most like Communism. The first such deal was the approval of the acquisition by Nippon Steel of US Steel. With the approval of the deal came conditions that include a ‘golden share’ granted to the US government, providing the government substantial control over US operations (locations of plants, headquarters, etc). While not sharing in the profits of Nippon Steel, it is certainly a big toe stepped into national industrial strategy. The next arrangement was the decision to permit the sale of AI chips from Nvidia and AMD in exchange for a 15% share of the revenue from such exports. This is quite literally the government taking revenues (not profits) from private corporations. One Republican found this so objectionable that they drafted an opinion piece in the Wall St. Journal – trading coins for national security apparently is a red line that some cannot cross. And then this past week, reports came out that the Trump Administration was considering taking a financial stake in Intel – public investment in a corporation priced on the open market.

All of this adds up to one thing – Communism. Government control of the means of production. Like Venezuela. Like China. Yep, Trump is a Commie! Spread the word…

And the national disgrace continues…