George Will on Donald Trump: “Our Socialist President”

George Will for most of his adult life was a prominent voice for conservatism and the Republican Party. He was one of the first of America’s traditional conservatives to recognize the travesty of any claim that Trump and his present-day Republican base represented anything approaching real American conservatism.

Will not only abandoned the Republican Party. He has taken to openly advocating that Americans vote Democratic in the November elections, as the only way to save America from the Trump extremists who have taken a wrecking ball to America’s basic democratic and moral values, to the Constitution and the rule of law, and to common human decency.

In his latest column “Our Socialist President,” Will uses Trump’s tariff war as the starting point to eviscerate Republicans’ phony claim to support capitalism. Here is IndieDems’ comment on Will’s comment:

An old presumed cliche long ago become the gospel truth:

“Republicans believe in socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor and the middle class.”

Republicans preach capitalism–but practice the grossest form of crony capitalism. Republicans use government–local, state and federal–to provide subsidies and tax dodges to corporations and wealthy Americans while denouncing any help for ordinary citizens as welfare payments. Some prime examples: tax deductions for interest payments on multi-million dollar mansions while begrudging every penny spent for health care for children of lower-income workers. Lower tax rates for capital gains than for income taxes for the middle class. Massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich, to be paid for by cutting such “welfare” as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. States providing a plethora of direct subsidies and tax write-offs for businesses to locate in the state, with virtually no accountability about the practical results of such subsidies, while cutting budgets for education and infrastructure investment.

And now, massive bailouts for well-to-do farmers because they’re suffering from Republican interference with market forces by the imposition of tariffs. Of course, agriculture has long been the most socialized segment of the American economy. Tariffs and regulatory requirements that limit imports of foreign agricultural products. And imagine–direct federal payments to Americans to NOT produce a product. Federal control of how much of a product is produced. Automatic federal payments to producers if their income falls below a certain amount.

A farmer’s peanut crop doesn’t sell well this year? Give the poor man price support! A General Motors worker loses his job when GM closes his plant? Hey, fellow. Be glad you got unemployment compensation for a little while. Now, go out and get yourself a college education or sophisticated technical training. You think government owes you a living?

Closing thoughts:

True American ConservativesTrump’s Extremist Know-nothings

George Will Johnny Isakson
John McCain Brian Kemp
Michael Gerson David Perdue
William Kristol Barry Loudermilk
David Brooks Karen Handel