CNBC’s Jim Cramer Calls Gov’t Coronavirus Response ‘Darwinian’ for Favoring Walmart Over Smaller Competitors

CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer called the government a “bad actor” for shutting down small competitors to companies like Walmart and Target and allowing the “big guys” to “become even bigger,” on Wednesday’s Squawk Box.

“Jim, I know that this is something you’ve been talking about for quite a while. Just the idea that the retailers, the big guys — the ones who have been allowed to open, from the Targets, the Costcos, the Walmarts, the Home Depots, the Lowe’s — those are the ones that are going to survive,” noted Squawk Box co-host Becky Quick.

Cramer agreed, responding, “If you were Walmart, the thing you would most want to do is have the government shut down your competition, and that happened.”

“Obviously the government didn’t want to have to do that. Walmart is essential, Walmart is the biggest grocer in the country, so they deserve all the greatness they had, and listen to what you guys said about all the hiring they’ve done. They’re a good citizen,” he continued. “But at the same time, the government I thought was a bad actor in the sense that they let some big guys become even bigger.”

“It was totally Darwinian, aided by the government,” Cramer concluded. “It was somewhat rigged, they didn’t mean to rig it because of health reasons, but the competition has really been wiped out.”

Watch above via CNBC.