Yes, former VA Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R/Trump voter) is correct: wanting the government to own the means or production is “one of the basic tenants of socialism,” and Trump is very much practicing that. Also note that since Trump was sworn in, he’s violated a bunch more conservative core beliefs, such as:
- Trump’s imposed massive tariffs, which are of course a *tax* on American consumers. I remember back when there were actually people who fought for their conservative principles, such as Grover Norquist, who used to say stuff like: “‘Tariffs are taxes,’ said the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform. ‘They’re taxes on American consumers and producers who use imported products. We need to get those tariffs down as quickly as we can.’” So what ever happened to rock-ribbed conservatives like Grover Norquist, now that Trump is cranking up those “taxes on American consumers and producers who use imported products?” Mostly crickets…
- Trump’s trampled on the entire concept of local governance being best, “states’ rights,” etc. Putting troops in cities because he feels like it, and without the consent of those who live there? Threatening governors and other local/state officials if they don’t knuckle under to his demands on whatever topic, from “DEI” to fuel economy standards to “sanctuary cities” to…you name it, basically. The thing is, even if you agree with Trump on any or all of those issues, on their merits, if you’re actually a conservative who opposes a big, tyrannical federal government that tramples on localities and states, then you should oppose all of this stuff – strongly – on principle. But again…crickets.
- Trump’s violated Republican/conservative values towards immigration that go back decades, certainly to Ronald “Shining City on a Hill” Reagan, as well as to George W. Bush, who supported comprehensive immigration reform. The main thing is that Trump violates the conservative idea that immigration is a major economic positive for America – as Reagan said, undocumented immigrants “are actually doing work our own people won’t do”; we should preserve “our tradition of accepting foreigners to our shores”; and “Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands”‘; etc.
- Trump’s violated conservative reverence (at least professed) for the rule of law and the constitution. On that front, there are too many examples to mention, but obviously Trump has no respect for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of and FROM religion, rule of law, checks and balances, division of powers, etc, etc.
So that’s just a really short list, but obviously this could go on all day. The main point is that Trump violates all sorts of American values, as well as values which conservatives *claimed* – vociferously, in many cases – for decades to support. And yet we hear almost no Republicans speaking out against this. Counterfactual: imagine if a *Democratic* president had done ANY of the things listed above? Republicans would be going APESHIT, would have started impeachment proceedings months ago, and probably would have voted for conviction by now. But with Trump, it’s like…whatever, or even “isn’t he amazing?” Which means that either those professed conservative values were always just lip service bullsh**, or that in the end, the desire for power – and the fear of Trump’s retribution (or retribution from his cult-like “base”) – “trumps” (pun intended) all else.
With that, see here or below for the view of a FORMER (that’s crucial in this context) Republican office holder and politician…namely Bill Bolling, who actually appears to have voted for Trump three times (in 2016, 2020 and 2024). Which just sort of boggles the mind, especially when you recall that one of the main reasons Bolling cited for his Trump vote was the dangers of SOCIALISM (!!!!) under Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Except that’s exactly what we appear to be getting now, with Trump – who Bolling voted for three times – and what we would NOT be getting with a President Harris. Crazy.
Do we really want the federal government to own all or even a portion of private companies?
Isn’t government ownership of the means of production one of the basic tenants of socialism?
If we’re really committed to capitalism and a free market system, is this a good idea?
I realize the government once owned a large portion of General Motors, but that was because the government gave them $50 billion to bail them out of bankruptcy in 2009.
BTW, Bernie Sanders supports this, while Rand Paul opposes it. That should make your head spin.
