‘Terrible Idea’: Conservatives Rage Over Trump’s ‘Socialist’ Intel Purchase
President Donald Trump announced that the federal government had officially purchased 10% of Intel on Friday evening, and many conservatives are none too pleased about it.
“It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future. I negotiated this Deal with Lip-Bu Tan, the Highly Respected Chief Executive Officer of the Company,” wrote Trump on Truth Social. “The United States paid nothing for these Shares, and the Shares are now valued at approximately $11 Billion Dollars. This is a great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL. Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
The reaction from the Right was largely negative.
“MAGA thinks that the government forceably taking a stake in a private company is a good thing? Its a precedent that Democrats will use, and I guarantee you, will make America LESS competitive in the long run,” declared National Review contributor Pradheep Shanker. “Its a huge mistake. Frankly, I’d rather Intel goes bankrupt.”
“Preposterous move. If Obama had done this, so many of the people defending it would have correctly condemned it as overreach and interference and ‘picking winners and losers,'” concurred National Review senior editor Charles C.W. Cooke.
“Surely if former President Joe Biden had ‘invested’ in a major energy concern under the power of, say, a climate emergency, Republicans would have melted down over ‘socialism,'” observed The Washington Examiner‘s David Harsanyi in a column.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) preempted Trump’s announcement by tweeting “If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn’t the government owning part of Intel be a step toward socialism? Terrible idea.”
As did conservative radio host Erick Erickson, who called it “socialism with an R next to its name.”
As did National Review itself in an editorial headlined “The Government Shouldn’t Get Into the Chip Business.”
‘How about just cancel the Intel subsidies instead of government owning a stake in a private business, and unfairly competing against other businesses?” asked former House Freedom Caucus member Bob Good.
https://twitter.com/RepBobGood/status/
“Trump’s acquisition of stake in Intel highlights dangerous similarities between right-wing nationalist and left-wing socialist economic policies,” wrote Ilya Somin for Reason.
But wait, there’s more:
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