September 5, 2025 • 45 mins
The free market just flatlined—and Donald Trump pulled the plug. While pretending to be the defender of capitalism, Trump has become its greatest enemy. His new 10% stake in Intel, combined with a push for Soviet-style business control, exposes the breathtaking hypocrisy of MAGA’s so-called “free enterprise” movement. Just like his idol Vladimir Putin—who used the exact same strategy to crush rivals and consolidate power—Trump is turning America into his own oligarch’s playground. In this episode, Rick Wilson digs into Trump’s Silicon Valley power grab, how this MAGA Marxism echoes Putin’s authoritarian economics, and why Republicans are terrified to admit their Dear Leader has turned into a communist in a red hat. If Trump is going to "socialize" private businesses, then why doesn't he focus on getting American equity in healthcare and insurance companies? In Trump's orbit, NOTHING is ever free, and more often than not, cruelty is the point.
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Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com.
Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference.
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Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com.
Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Your attack will not be an easy one. Your enemy
is well trained, welly, But then.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Board is not a liberal America, any conservative America.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
There the United States of America.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Good luck, Hey, everybody, welcome back to the elephant in
the room. This Friday's elephant in the room is communism.
You know, one of the greatest tropes on the right
is that anyone who opposes them is a communist, a socialist,
(00:37):
or a Marxist. Now, if you were to tie them
down and threaten to have them eaten by rats, if
they didn't tell you the distinctions between those three, they
could never do it. They don't understand what Marxism or
communism or socialism means. They don't understand the variations and
the permutations of those things.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
And it's a horrible thing. But it's happening in our
country too. We are turning into a communist country in
many ways.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
That AOC in this crowd are a bunch of communists.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Your message to communist Orhan Mndami.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, then we'll have to arrest him.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
Look, we don't need a communist in this country, but
if we have one, I'm going to be watching over
them very carefully.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
On behalf of the nation.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And don't ask me to get inside the mind of
a liberal, progressive, socialist Marxist like President Biden.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
The courageous veterans here today bear witness to how socialism,
radical mobs, and violent communists ruin a nation. Now, the
Democrat Party is unleashing socialism right within our own beautiful country.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Today.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
We proclaim that America will never be a socialist or
communist country.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And I'm going to add that word for a communist.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
They call it aggressive or something.
Speaker 7 (01:50):
That's just a new word for socialism and communist.
Speaker 8 (01:54):
The direction our country is going, and we all know
is very dangerous. We are walking down a road that
is very near socialism. They are trying to turn this
country into a communist ash heep.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
You cannot be the leader of the free world if
you want to peace, socialism, Soviet price control, censorship, unlimited
migration from terrorist hotspots, and unchecked power for the deep state.
This fight is no longer between Democrats and Republicans. This
is a fight between communism and freedom.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's a very serious fight.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I am not a Marxist, nor am I a communist,
nor am I a socialist. Although America has what I
like to call just the tip socialism, and it's not
very much of a tip anymore, given the slaughterhouse that
is the big bad bill for Medicare Medicaid. But they're
chanting over and over again, you're a communist, You're a communist.
(02:49):
It appeals to a certain type of person who is
politically unsophisticated, who is politically barely politically literate. It appeals
to the kind of person who believes that saying those
words is an irrefutable argument against the person who is
somewhere to the left of the proud Boys. You're seeing
(03:12):
a lot of this in New York right now, where
Zormdami has said he wants to open six state or
city owned grocery stores in food desert areas, and the
reaction from the right.
Speaker 7 (03:24):
Has been, oh my god, it's communism. He's seizing the
means of production, and he's he's the vanguard of the
new Bolshevism in America.
Speaker 9 (03:35):
Zo Run Mamdani born nineteen ninety one delivering a major
upset in the New York City mayoral primary last night,
a contest that some are saying could forecast the future
of the broader Democratic Party. President Trump weighing in on
Mamdani's expected victory just within the past hour, slamming him
as a quote one hundred percent communist lunatic and warning
(03:56):
the quote democrats have crossed the line. Self described democratic
socialist mom Donnie poised to beat former Governor Andrew Cuomo,
who had been backed by prominent figures in the party's establishment,
after running on a platform that he says should serve
as a model for the National Democratic Party.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I think he's terribles.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
He's a communist. The last thing we need is a communist.
I said there will never be socialism in the United States.
Tell we are a communist. I think he's bad, and
I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun with
him watching him because he has to go up right
to this building to get his funny and don't worry,
he's not going to run away with anything. I think
he's a Frankly, I've heard he's a total nutjob. I
(04:40):
think the people of New York are crazy if they
go this route, I think they're crazy.
Speaker 10 (04:44):
We will have a communist in the for the first time,
really a pure, true communist. He wants to operate the
grocery stores, the department stores.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
What about the people are there. I think it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
As you know, recently, we've seen some of our political
system attempting to overthrow the timeless American principles and other
pillars of our liberty and replace them with some of
the most noxious ideas in human history, ideas that have
been proven false. Members of Congress and even former presidents
have been openly embracing vile creeds such as socialism, Marxism,
(05:24):
and straight up communism. In New York, they're trying to
elect the communists, or in Mamdani, the guy who wants
to defund the police, take over the stores and run
the stores and have the people hand out goods, and
when everything falls apart, it's always does. It always works
that way. It never has worked any other way. Anarchy
(05:47):
and dictatorships prevail. This guy is a Communist at the
highest level, and he wants to destroy New York.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I love New York and we're not gonna let him
do that.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Generations of Americans before us did not shed their blood
only so that we could surrender our country to Marxist lunatics.
On the eve of our two hundred and fiftieth year
as President of the United States, I'm proclaiming here and
now that America is never going to be communist in
any way shape form, and that includes New York City.
Speaker 11 (06:19):
Well, let me ask you about what Donald Trump, the
President of the United States, has had to say. Is
that a lot to say about your campaign? He called
you a communist. Because he's the president, I want to
give you a chance to respond directly to him. How
do you respond? Are you a communist?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
No, I am not.
Speaker 12 (06:36):
And I have already had to start to get used
to the fact that the President will talk about how
I look, how I sound, where I'm from, who I
am ultimately, because he wants to distract from what I'm
fighting for, And I'm fighting for the very working people
that he ran a campaign to empower that he has
since then betrayed. And when we talk about my politics,
you know, I call myself a democratic socialist in many ways,
inspired by the words of doctor King from decades ago,
(06:58):
who said, call it democracy or call it democratic socialism.
There has to be a better distribution of wealth for
all of God's children in this country. And as income
inequality has declined nationwide, it has increased in New York City.
And ultimately, what we need is a city where every
single person can thrive.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Look, I don't think that's gonna that those six scriptures
are particularly going to be like the thing that resets
New York. And I don't think they're actual communism. I
think they're just sort of misplaced. Give it a shot, pal,
there's bodega's in every fucking corner, but give it a shot.
Who cares. But if you really want to see communism,
you don't want to see socialism. In America, socialism is
(07:37):
quite literally defined as state ownership of enterprises that Intel
you men, requests that.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
You're considering take a stake in Intel about the ten percent. Yeah,
I met a man who was a very nice man,
and I called for his removal because I saw something
by a man named Tom Cotton, a senator from Arkansas.
Is a great guy, friend of mine, supporter of mine,
Big Sprit was support of his, and he wrote a
pretty nasty story about the head of Intel. And I said, well,
(08:08):
if that's right, he should resign. And he came in,
he saw me, we talked for a while. I liked
him a lot. I thought he was very good.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I thought he was somewhat a victim. But you know,
nobody's a total victim.
Speaker 13 (08:19):
I guess, and I said, you know what, I think
the United States should be given ten percent of Intel.
And he said I would consider that. I said, well,
I'd like you to do that.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
And so Donald Trump now has forced Intel to sign
over and to allow the government to purchase ten percent
of its shares. So now we own ten percent of Intel.
Speaker 14 (09:00):
Trump administration is taking a ten percent stake in the
tech company Intel, a move President Trump is calling a
great deal for America and for Intel. It's some things
some bona fide conservatives are calling socialism. Republican Senator Ran
Paul of Kentucky posted that the government owning part of
Intel would be a step towards socialism. That's what we
(09:23):
called it, a terrible idea. Conservative radio host Eric Ericson said, quote,
this is socialism with an R next to its name.
And the editorial board of the conservative magazine National Review
wrote this headline, quote, the government shouldn't get into the
chip business.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
That's a bit of an understatement.
Speaker 14 (09:42):
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California used this book.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
The first day. I was skeptical.
Speaker 15 (09:51):
But when you laugh out loud at like thirty different names,
and then you look at Fox and News clips and
they really just all lost over.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
The out They've lost.
Speaker 15 (10:02):
Call his wife, I'm sorry, you're just like, whoa.
Speaker 16 (10:07):
Okay, maybe he's launched something they look.
Speaker 15 (10:11):
Like democrats have looked over the past ten years.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Anyway, AnyWho, it's interesting.
Speaker 14 (10:15):
Let's bring in New York Times reporter covering Wall Street,
Lauren Hirsch. Her latest piece for The Times calls President
Trump quote corporate America's newest activist investment.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And really it really hasn't started with just Intel. You've
seen it with Nvidia.
Speaker 15 (10:31):
You've seen it with other companies where the President really
pressured cole CEOs In, pressures them, attacks them, and then
comes in and makes a deal with him. Tim Cook,
I mean we could go down the list.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah. You know.
Speaker 17 (10:45):
One of the key signifiers that this is going to
be a trend was the acquisition of us DLA American
iconic company, and we sold it to Japan's Nippon. President
Trump on the campaign trail had said he did not
want the deal to go through. He ultimately let it
go through with this key addition that the US takes
(11:07):
a stake in the company. And everyone I spoke to
said there was no reason why taking a stake in
company would address any of the national security concerns that
were with that deal. And ever since then, we've seen
him step up and kind of his willingness and desire
to take a role in the way that corporate America
runs its business. And Intel seems to be this so far,
you know, grand combination, but talking to sources, there's more.
(11:30):
There could be more in the.
Speaker 15 (11:31):
Way well, you know, and Jay mar this is something
we talked about on Friday, where you have the president
who is getting involved in absolutely everything, wants to be
involved in everything once deals out of everything, wants money
out from everybody, wants money from our allies, wants money
from our rivals the tariff part of it.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Wants money from.
Speaker 15 (11:53):
Ivy League schools, wants money from tech companies. You know,
I mean, he's literally he's using the leverage that only
the president of the United States has tried to get
as much money as he can. And here at ten
percent steak and again.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
A cornerstone.
Speaker 15 (12:12):
Covers a cornerstone of the technological revolution since nineteen ninety.
Speaker 18 (12:18):
Joe, the invisible hand is pretty the invisible these days,
it seems like from the White House. Uh yeah, no,
ten percent stake and Intel. Uh yeah, go ahead, en Vidia.
You can sell your chips to China, but we're gonna
need a little taste, as they say in Philadelphia, We're
gonna need We're gonna need some of that for us
here too. Jensen Wang. Yeah, I mean it's Look, it
(12:41):
does show the extent which Trump is not committed to
any kind of conservative project.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Right, He's there.
Speaker 18 (12:46):
There is no trump Ism besides the idea of Trump's
own success. He's not He's not a philosophical lettle. But boy, Joe,
besides Ran Paul, the response is definitely collected official.
Speaker 15 (12:59):
Hey, hey, Jimmart, why don't we just underline that fact
that's the most Actually, we all focus so much on
Donald Trump, with all of these stories you've done over
the first hour and a half, really stories, not really
that's right about Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
As I said last week, the stories.
Speaker 15 (13:15):
About the Republicans in Congress who have completely turned their
back on everything they ever told their constituents they supported, well,
which is why a lot of them vote with their feet. Joe,
I mean, going back to twenty seventeen, the exodus of
congressional Republicans, some voluntarily, some less. So I mean up
(13:36):
up to and including the last.
Speaker 18 (13:37):
Couple of weeks, folks like chip Roy, up and coming
member of the House, you know, Ted cruz Accolyte from
from the Hill Country, a Texas says, you know what,
I think, I'd rather you'll give up my congressional senior
to go back to Austin and be the state ag
because they understand the bargain here. The bargain is their
voters want them to be loyal to Donald Trump, don't
(13:58):
care about the particular of policy differences, and just don't
really much want them to stand up for conservative principle.
And so if you're a guy like chip Roy, you
say I got it, I've done it. I'm not going
to do it any longer. So I think the response
is silenced. But it's also folks just headed for the exits.
Speaker 15 (14:16):
Joe, Well, you look, Mike k at chip Roy. There's
a perfect example. Here's a guy that showed up last
year said, what have we done to reduce spending? Nothing?
Absolutely nothing. We should be ashamed of ourselves, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera. Other members of the Freedom Caucus
saying the same thing, and then they all rolled over
chip Roy included.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
They all rolled over.
Speaker 15 (14:36):
Almost all of them rolled over, except maybe one or two,
maybe Massie. I don't know if we're mass he ended up.
But this bill, the biggest bill in the history of
the Republic, passes, the biggest spending bill ever, the highest
deficits coming ever, the highest national debt coming ever. Adds
twenty trillion dollars over the next decade to the debt.
(15:00):
This loops on another four trillion to that, and they
do nothing. So if you chip Roy, what do you say?
You say, Okay, I said I was going to come
to Washington and I was going to fight to do
what Republicans used to do, which is balance a budget
four years in a row.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, and they don't do it, so they just quit.
Speaker 19 (15:20):
Chip Roy is probably the perfect example of what happens
when you're frustrations as a Republican conservative Republican politician and
your fear of what might happen.
Speaker 15 (15:29):
I was going to say, you know what's not frustrating?
What standing up to the leadership? I say you want
to fight? None of them do that you want to fight?
Because then what happens when you get enough people you
go you want to fight.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I would love to fight you, It'd.
Speaker 15 (15:42):
Only make me more popular in my home district, Columbia.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Let's fight. Well, they're not fighting over nobody would like Intel.
Nobody will. All right, what's what I'm saying. It's insane
to quitting. They're not fighting on basics. So Lauren on.
Speaker 20 (15:54):
The Intel and all the tech bros who go into
the White House into.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
The Oval to speak with the President.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
What about the Board of Intel?
Speaker 5 (16:01):
What does the board have to say about this or
any of the boards involved.
Speaker 17 (16:05):
So the interesting thing here is obviously President Trump has
a very big stick, to use a lack of a
better word. Right, there's a carrot and the stick. And
I don't think they're saying a whole lot, you know.
I don't think the board really felt like they had
a choice. They had taken the money through the Chips
Act under President Biden. The money was there, they had
allocated it, they were planning to spend it in a
(16:25):
certain way. You saw President Trump going after the CEO
of Intel very publicly, and then when the President says
I would like a stake in your company rather than cash,
there's not much they can do. But my reporting indicates
I think there's there's some concern about the way in
which this all went down.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
Which is there that is there should.
Speaker 15 (16:50):
Be all across the business. Yeah, once said they supported
the free market, and I should and I.
Speaker 17 (16:58):
Should say, you know, I folke it to lawyers, bankers,
all of their clients who have taken on money through
the Chips Act realize that they're vulnerable. They could be next,
and they're worried.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
What if Republicans maga's listening in. What if President Kamala
Harris or President Hillary Clinton, our President Barack Obama, or
President Wes Moore or President Gavin Newsom someday says, you
know what, We're going to buy fifty percent of United
(17:30):
Healthcare and fifty percent of Etna, and fifty percent of
Blue Cross, Blue Shield and fifty percent of Signa because
we need to make sure we have some skin in
the game. The argument Trump is using to buy the
Intel shares to buy ten percent of Intel is that
the American government has invested a significant amount of money
(17:52):
into Intel, with both military and defense contracts and with
the Chips and Sciences Act, and that we deserve as
the country to have equity in that. The argument, if
you accept that argument that government spending on an industry
or a sector or a company therefore demands government ownership
(18:13):
of that sector. Applies to the healthcare sector vastly more
than it does to intel, vastly more than it does
to any other form of business except perhaps defense contractors. Now,
not a single Republican who screams communism and communism, communism
(18:34):
every time we say maybe we shouldn't let poor people
starve in the street or die or bankrupt their families
with health care debt. They seem to be less upset
about Donald Trump taking over this part of the government
or taking over this part of the corporate sector. You've
got Howard luttningk that grinning, fucking moron out there.
Speaker 21 (18:55):
Do you know when this country actually had a trade surplus?
Secretary had.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
The president likes to speak.
Speaker 21 (19:11):
About before historically, when did we have a trade surplus?
That's I'm not talking about the president historically.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I think early about.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
About one hundred years ago.
Speaker 21 (19:23):
It was the Great Depression. It was a sign of
what was going on. It was during the Great Depression.
That's a direction none of us wants to go.
Speaker 20 (19:33):
If Vietnam, for example, came to you tomorrow and said, okay,
mister Secretary, you win, We're going to remove all tariffs
and all trade barriers. Would the United States please do
the same? Would you accept that deal?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Absolutely not, Absolutely not. That would be the silliest thing
we could do.
Speaker 20 (19:58):
What's the purpose of reciprocity then? Is reciprocity not one
of your goals? Are you telling the President that we
shouldn't seek reciprocity? If that's what you're telling him, why
are you trying to do these trade deals?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
What do we want? We want? We want to encourage
Vietnam to produce products. They're great at producers.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
So I want to get back to reciprocity.
Speaker 20 (20:20):
You just you just said you don't believe that, you
don't accept reciprocity as a goal. What are you negotiating
in these trades?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Why would we open our bank account and their bank account?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Why are you negotiating trade deals?
Speaker 20 (20:31):
You're trying to get other countries to lower their trade,
their paris and trade barriers in return for us lowering ours.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's true for the things that they'll take from that's.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
That's called reciprocity, of course.
Speaker 22 (20:45):
So I want to be really precise here. I'm not
trying to stupid shame anybody, especially not the only Secretary
of Commerce at the United States of America has right now.
And he might be really smart at other stuff, but
he obviously doesn't know Jack I know what about trade.
This is the person in charge of the deals.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
We're going to do more though this isn't the least,
This is just.
Speaker 16 (21:07):
The fars.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
What parts of this? Free marketeers? Don't smack of socialism
to you. Don't smack of cronyism to you. Don't smack
of the kind of business model, the kind of economic
model that. Who is that? Who is that handsome charming Russian? Oh,
Vladimir Putin? As the Russian economy transformed from the Soviet
(21:40):
Union into Russia by the brief Yeltsin period. But when
Putin took power, he started saying to companies, you have
to hire my boys, my friends, my supporters. You have
to give them shares, give them equity. You have to
get the government equity in your companies. You have to
(22:00):
let me control what you do, what you sell, how
much you make. Putin is an unsentimental guy, but he's
sentimental about the Soviet Union. See the Sorviet Union wasn't
wasn't particularly efficient as an economy as you may recalled,
you know.
Speaker 16 (22:15):
On the one hand, kind of today is almost one
of about four or five different dates that could plausibly
be that fall of the Soviet Union. Of course, the
red flag stayed flying over the Kremlin until the twenty
fifth of December, so it's sort of it was a
rather drawn out process. And what we've really seen throughout
this year, this year of anniversaries, is very much a
(22:35):
kind of a reventist kind of sentiment coming out of
the Kremlin, coming out of loyalist media, you know, and
this generally I think reflects kind of public opinion in Russia. Putin,
of course, several years ago, famously it's called the collapse
of the USSR the sort of the greatest geopolitical catastrophe
of the twentieth century, and that indeed is the sort
(22:56):
of the sentiment of a motion put forward in the Duma,
Russia's parliament today, And I think in general this kind
of coincides or at least sort of agrees with sort
of public sentiment. I think here what we see is
even if a majority of people don't want to sort
of live under communism or return to the Soviet Union,
they do certainly regret the collapse of the Soviet Union,
(23:18):
and that certainly is the Russian I think position. Of course,
people in the fifteen other republics you mentioned have very,
very sort of different views can contest to the fall.
But I think definitely sort of these anxieties and these
rivaling interpretations of the fall really are played out in
what we see today on the international stage. These sort
of tensions that we see between the West and Russia
(23:41):
over Ukraine now are crucially important. Of course, if we
go back thirty years, the fate of Ukraine was really
at the center of these negotiations in Almati, in Kazakhstan
Boris yelts In. The Russian present at the time was
clear that no union could be preserved if Ukraine were
not involved in it. And I think the extraordinary prominence
of Ukraine in sort of international relations in matters concerning
(24:03):
Russia in recent years really reflects this, this sort of
like inflated importance of Ukraine in the Russian imagination and
in the sort of the settlement that emerged after nineteen
ninety one.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But Donald Trump is emulating this quite along the same lines.
So you ask yourself if you're a MAGA supporter, and
you are a free market toier. Now, by the way,
most of these free market types, they're what I call
Glenn Beck free market types.
Speaker 23 (24:31):
If you want to just have the argument that, well,
the president shouldn't negotiate on our behalf, wait a minute.
As a taxpayer, if you're going to can we just
not keep getting hit in the face by everybody around
the world. They're all nicked. This is so complex.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
This makes my brain hurt. They've heard the words communism,
they've heard the words free markets on talk radio. They
don't know what they need. They don't understand what a tail.
They don't really have a grasp.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
When I win, I will immediately bring prices down.
Speaker 24 (25:15):
Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make
America affordable again. To bring down the prices of all goods.
Prices will come down.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
You just watch, You'll come down, and they'll come down fast,
not only with insurance, with everything.
Speaker 25 (25:30):
President Trump's tariffs may be taking an upfront toll on
America's farmers as crop prices plunge and duties cause a
hike and costs on tractors, fertilizers, and other farming equipment.
A Purdue University survey showing farmers sentiment dropping for the
third straight month in August, expressing less optimism about the
(25:50):
agriculture economy. But the President has asked farmers to keep
trusting him and give the trade policies time to play out.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
They have a grasp of what markets are. Donald Trump
has been intervening in market since his first administration, when
he told people how they could make dishwashers.
Speaker 26 (26:10):
But I'm also approving new dishwashers that give you more
water so you can actually wash and rinch your dishes
without having to do it ten times, four, five, six, seven,
eight nine ten.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Anybody have a new dishwasher. I'm sorry for that. I'm
sorry for that. It's worthless.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
He's been intervening in markets right now, saying to car companies,
you can't make evs, you got to make gas power cars.
Speaker 27 (26:45):
President Trump signed a measure Thursday t block California's rule
phasing out the sale of gas powered cars.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
This horrible scheme would effectively abolish the internal combustion engine,
which most people prefer.
Speaker 27 (27:01):
The California rule was designed to forced to move to
electric vehicles. The state's attorney general rule says he'll challenge
the measure, calling it a retaliation against California.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
He's been intervening in energy companies, saying, no, you can't
build wind power anymore because I don't like it, because
the birds in the way is.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
And the other thing I say to Europe, we will
not allow a windmill to be built.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
In the United States. They're killing us.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
They're killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our
beautiful planes.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And I'm not talking about airplanes.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I'm talking about beautiful planes, beautiful areas in the United States.
And you look up and you see windmills all over
the place. It's a horrible thing.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
It's the most expensive form of energy. It's no good.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
They're made in China, almost all of them. When they
start to rust and rod in eight years, you can't
really turn them off.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
You can't bear them. They won't let you bury the propellers.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
You know, the props, because there are certain time but
fiber that doesn't go well.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
With the land. That's what they say.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
The environmental let's say you can't bury them because the
fiber doesn't go well with the land. In other words,
if you bury it, it will harm our soil. The
whole thing is a conjob. It's very expensive, and in
all fairness, Germany tried it and wind doesn't work. You
need subsidy for wind and energy should not need sepsy.
(28:23):
With energy, you make money, you don't lose money. But
more important than that is it ruins the landscape. It
kills the birds. They're noisy. You know, you have a
certain place in the Massachusetts area that over the last
twenty years had one or two whales wash Ashaw, and
over the last short period of time they had eighteen. Okay,
(28:48):
because it's driving them local, it's driving them crazy.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Now windmills will not come.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
It's not going to happen in the United States, and
it's very expensive. And I would love to say I
mean today I'm playing the best course I think in
the world, Turnberry, even though I own it, it's probably
the best course.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
In the world.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Right and I look over the horizon and I see
nine windmills.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Like great, at the end of the eight I said,
isn't that a shame? What a shame?
Speaker 5 (29:15):
You have the same thing all over all over Europe
in particular, you have windmills all over the place.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Some of the countries prohibit it.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
But people ought to know that these these windmills are
very destructive, they're environmentally unsound, just the exact opposite, because
the environmentals they're not really environmentalists.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
They have political hacks.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
These are people that they almost want to harm the country.
But you look at these beautiful landscapes all over all
over the you know, the world. Many countries have gotten smart.
They will not allow it. They will not It's the
worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
But windmills should not be allowed.
Speaker 26 (30:00):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
What you are seeing, free marketeers is a president who
is post capitalist. What you were seeing as a president
who believes that to profit himself, his family, and to
increase his political power in the economy and in the
country that the state ownership of private enterprises and private
(30:31):
businesses has called for.
Speaker 28 (30:33):
That's a great guy. He's the best president we've had
since Reagan, maybe even better.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
That's what it means to me.
Speaker 18 (30:40):
It makes a lot of money.
Speaker 28 (30:42):
See that's one of his businesses. He makes money. No,
I don't mind it at all, not at all.
Speaker 18 (30:48):
What do you make of us?
Speaker 5 (30:50):
It's great.
Speaker 12 (30:50):
It's kind of signifies Trump, signifies his brand, and it
signifies America.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Luxury golf, very pride.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
And we've been pushing in the market of crypto and
bitcoon and all of it. Everything make America the crypto
capital of the world. I launched it. I heard it
was very successful. I haven't checked it. Where is it today?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Mind, you made a lot of money. How much several
billion dollars? It seems like in the last several days,
several billion. That's peanuts for these guys.
Speaker 19 (31:23):
The Trump family is making billions off of crypto world.
Liberty Financial, the venture co founded by the president's three sons,
has earned the family five billion dollars on paper in
paper wealth after it opened trading on a new digital currency,
making it available for buying and selling on the open
market market.
Speaker 20 (31:43):
Excuse me.
Speaker 19 (31:44):
According to the Wall Street Journal, the trading debut was
most likely the biggest financial success for the president's family
since the inauguration, and cryptocurrency is likely now the Trump's
most valuable asset, exceeding there decades old property portfolio.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Process this again, guys, think this through. If the argument
that Trump is making, and if you accept that argument,
that we spent x amount of dollars on the Chips
and Science Act, and therefore Intel and Micron and other
companies now owe us for that investment, have to allow
(32:20):
the government to profit from that investment in terms of
being equity owners of those businesses. If that is your argument,
If you accept that argument, then the healthcare industry in
this country, which has profited so lavishly off of trillions
of dollars of government expenditures since the healthcare market, which
(32:42):
absolutely has at the center of its business model Medicare, Medicaid,
why aren't we buying those companies. Weren't we demanding those
companies turn over equity to the government. Weren't we demanding
those companies do the things that we want them to do.
(33:03):
Donald Trump is not a capitalist. He's a crony capitalist
on his very best days. Donald Trump is a socialist.
Donald Trump is an authoritarian socialist. He combines the worst
of all possible worlds. This isn't again they sort of
(33:24):
just the tip socialism or the sort of quaint and
quiet biju Northern European socialism. Yes, taxes are high, but
we all have healthcare. This is a socialism that is
narrowly crafted to benefit Donald Trump and a few of
his cronies. So again, tell me why the United States
(33:44):
government does not own a chunk of these companies that
we've spent trillions of dollars in. Tell me why United
Healthcare and Blue Cross and Etna and Signal and all
the rest do not turn over their equity to the
US government. You know, and when as a Republican it
(34:08):
was a sort of article of faith over the long,
long years government healthcare could never work. That's a disaster.
And any of the longer I've looked at this, the
longer that disaster seems like it's been managed in other countries.
And yes, I know, the horror sor they hope to
wait so long for those are pretty diminitimous edge cases
(34:30):
as for the most part, and the more you look
at this rapidly changing economy that we're in, where part
of the big bad Bill is going to jack up
that lifeline economic that economic lifeline of relatively affordable health
care plans for people, where you're cutting two hundred and
(34:51):
fifty billion dollars out of rural hospitals and whatever. Jdvan says,
we're out of your book. Yout No you're not.
Speaker 15 (34:56):
What does it mean for the rural hospitals of Minnesota?
Speaker 29 (35:00):
Huge three hundred hospitals nationally will close down because of
this bill for two reasons. One the Medicaid cuts. I'm
not surprised that you have senators speaking out about that,
because sixteen million people are going to lose their healthcare
because of this proposal. Secondly, Medicare, the debt is so
big from this bill, three point four trillion, a trillion
(35:23):
of it in higher interest. Why because it adds to
the debt three point four trillion in ten years that
actually triggers automatic Medicare cuts through the tune of five
hundred billion dollars. All of this adds to huge problems
to rural hospitals that are alreadily thinly holding on.
Speaker 27 (35:43):
And there are so many red.
Speaker 29 (35:44):
States that are going to be affected by this. Four
million people are going to be tossed off of food assistance,
many of.
Speaker 23 (35:51):
Them in rural areas.
Speaker 29 (35:53):
And then, of course you have the debt issue.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
You look at all those things, and you look at
the coming economic crisis that we're entering into. You look
at the AI drive, an economic crisis we're about to
enter into. And tell me why we don't own those
healthcare companies? Tell me why because they are not particularly
innovative except in improving their billing practices. They are not
particularly delivering a high quality product. They're not particularly sensitive
(36:30):
to the changing demographics of the country. They are not
and I don't mean that racially morons. I mean that
in terms of the gigantic age, the top heavy age
problem we have with the boomers. None of this that's
coming would make any argument other than we should have
(36:50):
equity in those companies. We should have control in those
company we have seats on their boards. We should have
seats on their boards, We should be part of their
corporate governance. This is the argument Trump is making with
Intel and Micron and other tech companies, where we have
put far, far, far, far far less government money into
those companies than we have into healthcare. This is a
(37:11):
big elephant in the room because Trump wants you to
believe that he believes in capitalism, that he believes in
free markets. Nothing about the MAGA party, folks, is free market.
Speaker 30 (37:25):
In the auto industry, Ford, GM, Toyota, Hyundai, they were
reportedly among Trump's biggest donors. In finance, there was Citadel, Coinbase,
Robinhood and in tech Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Open Ai,
Uber and how much did they all donate? A cool
(37:45):
one million dollars each, except Robinhood they donated two million,
and uber Ceo donated separately and personally another million. Now,
in at least one way, you can kind of think
of these more like purchases than donations.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
My administration will use every tool at our disposal to
ensure that the United States can build and maintain the largest,
most powerful, and most advanced AI infrastructure anywhere on the planet.
My first week in office, I signed an executive order
to ban the creation of a cb DC in the
United States, and very soon I look forward to signing
(38:22):
legislation that will codify and ban the make it a
permanent law, put it in permanence. I'm also committed to
signing landmark crypto market structural legislation this year to grow
the industry.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
We're going to be.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
Growing it even more more than people ever thought, so
really hot industry.
Speaker 18 (38:40):
President Trump says he wants more deals like the agreement
announced with tech giant Intel last week, gave the US
government a ten percent stake in its business.
Speaker 31 (38:49):
The case of Intel was interesting, but I hope I'm
going to have many more cases like it. There will
be other cases. If I have that opportunity again, I
would do that, and then you know you do have
stupid people say, oh that's a game, but it's not
a shame.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
It's called business.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
Nothing about the Maga Party is capitalism anymore. Nothing about
the Maga Party has anything to do with with with
with an fa high approach to the economic world we
live in. It is increasingly about a corruption. It's increasingly
about a particular flavor of corruption that is enormously insidious.
(39:26):
We've seen it play out in Russia. And Trump is
he takes over these companies and puts his people on
the boards to these companies and takes control of these companies,
tells us what they can and can't do. Increasingly, those companies,
well we've stacked to the gills with the people around Trump. Well,
Don Junior needs a seat on your board. Now, Oh yeah,
(39:48):
you own you own this beautiful you own this beautiful
profitable enterprise. Well you know you you we own it.
Now you're not putting in X million dollars a year
into my into my son's private equity firm, Well I
think you should, or you know, we're going to your
business could have some consequences. This is corrupt, It is
(40:13):
cronyism again. It's crity capitalism in its best day. But
what it really is is authoritarian socialism. You know, when
Saddam was the president of Iraq, his family members, way
down to the third cousins, ran almost everything. The state
road building companies that were approved to build roads in
(40:35):
Iraq were all owned by Shocker. The Tacriti families that
were around Saddam. They were cousins, they were second cousins,
they were third cousins. They were there, they were people
from the old hometown. You were going to see a
preview of a profoundly dysfunctional American economy if you allow
(40:57):
Donald Trump and this insane economic model to prevail. Look,
I said in the beginning, I am not a socialist.
I am not a communist. I am not a Marxist. However,
unlike most, I'm not just going to most. I'most say,
ninety nine percent, not higher nine point nine percent of
(41:19):
these magas who scream communism at the drop of a hat.
I have read Marks, I have read angles, I have
read history, I have read Hyek, I've read the great
conservative economics thought thinkers and the great socialist economic thinkers.
Still on the free market side of though, we don't
have a free market economy in this country. It has
(41:40):
gotten centered around bigness and around influence and around power.
Right now, a company is successful in the market not
because they produce a better product or service. They're successful
now in the market because they're able to lobby the
government to provide them with economic advantages based on regulatory
and tax structures. That's not free market. What Trump is
(42:02):
doing will make that even more egregious and even worse.
You've seen many many companies been the need of Donald
Trump already. You've seen many, many of these corporate institutions say, hey,
you know we're doing. They'll cut off our deal. It
won't do yes, that is what he will do. And
it's up to you. If you believe in the free market,
(42:23):
if you believe in the great blessings that the American
free market has provided you, then you will say no
to these blackmail attempts. You will say no to this extortion,
you will say no to this corruption. Unfortunately, we know
how America is these days, and anybody who's relying on
a corporate board or a corporate CEO to represent American
values is not going to prevail. These guys care about
(42:47):
their quarterly earnings. They care about their stock price, they
care about shareholder value. Other than that, the rest of
us are stuck. What you're seeing from Trump is authoritarian socialism.
And for all you maga's out there, I love to scream,
you're all communists, You're a Marxos, You're you're a Maoist Maoism,
(43:09):
proving proving you guys didn't understand anything about communism. You
think we're mallists on the on the center right and
the center left. All of it, once again proves the
point the projection is there is the mother's milk of
the Maga party. Donald Trump is a socialist. He is
socializing private companies. Government is controlling them, buying them, buying
(43:33):
into them, being forced forcing themselves into those companies. And
if you don't think that more corruption follows, that you
are not paying attention. That's the elephant in the room
this week. Look forward to seeing you again next time. Folks,
Thanks so much for watching Lincoln Square and for watching
today's elephant in the room. We have a lot of
stuff on the Lincoln Square platform right now, more than
(43:53):
I could possibly recount. But you can get all our
great podcasts. You can get that Trippy Show Bobby Jones,
you can see Lives with Stuart Stevens every week, Lives
with Me every week. We're doing an absolutely bang up job,
I think in helping people understand the fight we're really in,
and that fight is big, it is important, it is consequential.
(44:14):
Do me a favor. Check out my other podcasts, The
Lincoln Project Podcast and my other other podcasts, The Enemy's List.
You can get me streaming on Tuesdays on The Strategy
Session on Lincoln Square, on Thursdays on The Breakdown, and
on Fridays with my son Andrew Wilson, who is a
brilliant impolster who dives into the numbers every week and
gives us a real perspective on where Trump actually is,
(44:35):
where the politics of the country actually are right now.
As always, folks, I appreciate you. Do me a favor,
Go out like subscribe, do all those things that the
algorithm demands of all of us. Thank you, everybody. See again.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
So The Lincoln Project Podcast is a Lincoln Project production.
Executive produced by Whitney Hayes, Then Howe and Joey Warner.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
Chaney, edited by Riley Maine.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Hey, folks, if you want to support the Lincoln Project's
work against Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and this maga craziness.
Go to action dot Lincoln Project dot us slash l LP.
If you'd like to get in touch, or have suggestions
for a guest or a show topic, or just want
to say hi, our email is podcast at Lincoln Project
dot us. For our maga friends, please no more nudes.
(45:18):
Thanks so much, and we'll talk to you again next time,
and good luck,
Your attack will not be an easy one. Your enemy
is well trained, welly, But then.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Board is not a liberal America, any conservative America.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
There the United States of America.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Good luck, Hey, everybody, welcome back to the elephant in
the room. This Friday's elephant in the room is communism.
You know, one of the greatest tropes on the right
is that anyone who opposes them is a communist, a socialist,
(00:37):
or a Marxist. Now, if you were to tie them
down and threaten to have them eaten by rats, if
they didn't tell you the distinctions between those three, they
could never do it. They don't understand what Marxism or
communism or socialism means. They don't understand the variations and
the permutations of those things.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
And it's a horrible thing. But it's happening in our
country too. We are turning into a communist country in
many ways.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
That AOC in this crowd are a bunch of communists.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Your message to communist Orhan Mndami.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, then we'll have to arrest him.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
Look, we don't need a communist in this country, but
if we have one, I'm going to be watching over
them very carefully.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
On behalf of the nation.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
And don't ask me to get inside the mind of
a liberal, progressive, socialist Marxist like President Biden.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
The courageous veterans here today bear witness to how socialism,
radical mobs, and violent communists ruin a nation. Now, the
Democrat Party is unleashing socialism right within our own beautiful country.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Today.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
We proclaim that America will never be a socialist or
communist country.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And I'm going to add that word for a communist.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
They call it aggressive or something.
Speaker 7 (01:50):
That's just a new word for socialism and communist.
Speaker 8 (01:54):
The direction our country is going, and we all know
is very dangerous. We are walking down a road that
is very near socialism. They are trying to turn this
country into a communist ash heep.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
You cannot be the leader of the free world if
you want to peace, socialism, Soviet price control, censorship, unlimited
migration from terrorist hotspots, and unchecked power for the deep state.
This fight is no longer between Democrats and Republicans. This
is a fight between communism and freedom.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's a very serious fight.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I am not a Marxist, nor am I a communist,
nor am I a socialist. Although America has what I
like to call just the tip socialism, and it's not
very much of a tip anymore, given the slaughterhouse that
is the big bad bill for Medicare Medicaid. But they're
chanting over and over again, you're a communist, You're a communist.
(02:49):
It appeals to a certain type of person who is
politically unsophisticated, who is politically barely politically literate. It appeals
to the kind of person who believes that saying those
words is an irrefutable argument against the person who is
somewhere to the left of the proud Boys. You're seeing
(03:12):
a lot of this in New York right now, where
Zormdami has said he wants to open six state or
city owned grocery stores in food desert areas, and the
reaction from the right.
Speaker 7 (03:24):
Has been, oh my god, it's communism. He's seizing the
means of production, and he's he's the vanguard of the
new Bolshevism in America.
Speaker 9 (03:35):
Zo Run Mamdani born nineteen ninety one delivering a major
upset in the New York City mayoral primary last night,
a contest that some are saying could forecast the future
of the broader Democratic Party. President Trump weighing in on
Mamdani's expected victory just within the past hour, slamming him
as a quote one hundred percent communist lunatic and warning
(03:56):
the quote democrats have crossed the line. Self described democratic
socialist mom Donnie poised to beat former Governor Andrew Cuomo,
who had been backed by prominent figures in the party's establishment,
after running on a platform that he says should serve
as a model for the National Democratic Party.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I think he's terribles.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
He's a communist. The last thing we need is a communist.
I said there will never be socialism in the United States.
Tell we are a communist. I think he's bad, and
I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun with
him watching him because he has to go up right
to this building to get his funny and don't worry,
he's not going to run away with anything. I think
he's a Frankly, I've heard he's a total nutjob. I
(04:40):
think the people of New York are crazy if they
go this route, I think they're crazy.
Speaker 10 (04:44):
We will have a communist in the for the first time,
really a pure, true communist. He wants to operate the
grocery stores, the department stores.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
What about the people are there. I think it's crazy.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
As you know, recently, we've seen some of our political
system attempting to overthrow the timeless American principles and other
pillars of our liberty and replace them with some of
the most noxious ideas in human history, ideas that have
been proven false. Members of Congress and even former presidents
have been openly embracing vile creeds such as socialism, Marxism,
(05:24):
and straight up communism. In New York, they're trying to
elect the communists, or in Mamdani, the guy who wants
to defund the police, take over the stores and run
the stores and have the people hand out goods, and
when everything falls apart, it's always does. It always works
that way. It never has worked any other way. Anarchy
(05:47):
and dictatorships prevail. This guy is a Communist at the
highest level, and he wants to destroy New York.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
I love New York and we're not gonna let him
do that.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Generations of Americans before us did not shed their blood
only so that we could surrender our country to Marxist lunatics.
On the eve of our two hundred and fiftieth year
as President of the United States, I'm proclaiming here and
now that America is never going to be communist in
any way shape form, and that includes New York City.
Speaker 11 (06:19):
Well, let me ask you about what Donald Trump, the
President of the United States, has had to say. Is
that a lot to say about your campaign? He called
you a communist. Because he's the president, I want to
give you a chance to respond directly to him. How
do you respond? Are you a communist?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
No, I am not.
Speaker 12 (06:36):
And I have already had to start to get used
to the fact that the President will talk about how
I look, how I sound, where I'm from, who I
am ultimately, because he wants to distract from what I'm
fighting for, And I'm fighting for the very working people
that he ran a campaign to empower that he has
since then betrayed. And when we talk about my politics,
you know, I call myself a democratic socialist in many ways,
inspired by the words of doctor King from decades ago,
(06:58):
who said, call it democracy or call it democratic socialism.
There has to be a better distribution of wealth for
all of God's children in this country. And as income
inequality has declined nationwide, it has increased in New York City.
And ultimately, what we need is a city where every
single person can thrive.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Look, I don't think that's gonna that those six scriptures
are particularly going to be like the thing that resets
New York. And I don't think they're actual communism. I
think they're just sort of misplaced. Give it a shot, pal,
there's bodega's in every fucking corner, but give it a shot.
Who cares. But if you really want to see communism,
you don't want to see socialism. In America, socialism is
(07:37):
quite literally defined as state ownership of enterprises that Intel
you men, requests that.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
You're considering take a stake in Intel about the ten percent. Yeah,
I met a man who was a very nice man,
and I called for his removal because I saw something
by a man named Tom Cotton, a senator from Arkansas.
Is a great guy, friend of mine, supporter of mine,
Big Sprit was support of his, and he wrote a
pretty nasty story about the head of Intel. And I said, well,
(08:08):
if that's right, he should resign. And he came in,
he saw me, we talked for a while. I liked
him a lot. I thought he was very good.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I thought he was somewhat a victim. But you know,
nobody's a total victim.
Speaker 13 (08:19):
I guess, and I said, you know what, I think
the United States should be given ten percent of Intel.
And he said I would consider that. I said, well,
I'd like you to do that.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
And so Donald Trump now has forced Intel to sign
over and to allow the government to purchase ten percent
of its shares. So now we own ten percent of Intel.
Speaker 14 (09:00):
Trump administration is taking a ten percent stake in the
tech company Intel, a move President Trump is calling a
great deal for America and for Intel. It's some things
some bona fide conservatives are calling socialism. Republican Senator Ran
Paul of Kentucky posted that the government owning part of
Intel would be a step towards socialism. That's what we
(09:23):
called it, a terrible idea. Conservative radio host Eric Ericson said, quote,
this is socialism with an R next to its name.
And the editorial board of the conservative magazine National Review
wrote this headline, quote, the government shouldn't get into the
chip business.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
That's a bit of an understatement.
Speaker 14 (09:42):
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California used this book.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
The first day. I was skeptical.
Speaker 15 (09:51):
But when you laugh out loud at like thirty different names,
and then you look at Fox and News clips and
they really just all lost over.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
The out They've lost.
Speaker 15 (10:02):
Call his wife, I'm sorry, you're just like, whoa.
Speaker 16 (10:07):
Okay, maybe he's launched something they look.
Speaker 15 (10:11):
Like democrats have looked over the past ten years.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Anyway, AnyWho, it's interesting.
Speaker 14 (10:15):
Let's bring in New York Times reporter covering Wall Street,
Lauren Hirsch. Her latest piece for The Times calls President
Trump quote corporate America's newest activist investment.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And really it really hasn't started with just Intel. You've
seen it with Nvidia.
Speaker 15 (10:31):
You've seen it with other companies where the President really
pressured cole CEOs In, pressures them, attacks them, and then
comes in and makes a deal with him. Tim Cook,
I mean we could go down the list.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah. You know.
Speaker 17 (10:45):
One of the key signifiers that this is going to
be a trend was the acquisition of us DLA American
iconic company, and we sold it to Japan's Nippon. President
Trump on the campaign trail had said he did not
want the deal to go through. He ultimately let it
go through with this key addition that the US takes
(11:07):
a stake in the company. And everyone I spoke to
said there was no reason why taking a stake in
company would address any of the national security concerns that
were with that deal. And ever since then, we've seen
him step up and kind of his willingness and desire
to take a role in the way that corporate America
runs its business. And Intel seems to be this so far,
you know, grand combination, but talking to sources, there's more.
(11:30):
There could be more in the.
Speaker 15 (11:31):
Way well, you know, and Jay mar this is something
we talked about on Friday, where you have the president
who is getting involved in absolutely everything, wants to be
involved in everything once deals out of everything, wants money
out from everybody, wants money from our allies, wants money
from our rivals the tariff part of it.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Wants money from.
Speaker 15 (11:53):
Ivy League schools, wants money from tech companies. You know,
I mean, he's literally he's using the leverage that only
the president of the United States has tried to get
as much money as he can. And here at ten
percent steak and again.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
A cornerstone.
Speaker 15 (12:12):
Covers a cornerstone of the technological revolution since nineteen ninety.
Speaker 18 (12:18):
Joe, the invisible hand is pretty the invisible these days,
it seems like from the White House. Uh yeah, no,
ten percent stake and Intel. Uh yeah, go ahead, en Vidia.
You can sell your chips to China, but we're gonna
need a little taste, as they say in Philadelphia, We're
gonna need We're gonna need some of that for us
here too. Jensen Wang. Yeah, I mean it's Look, it
(12:41):
does show the extent which Trump is not committed to
any kind of conservative project.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Right, He's there.
Speaker 18 (12:46):
There is no trump Ism besides the idea of Trump's
own success. He's not He's not a philosophical lettle. But boy, Joe,
besides Ran Paul, the response is definitely collected official.
Speaker 15 (12:59):
Hey, hey, Jimmart, why don't we just underline that fact
that's the most Actually, we all focus so much on
Donald Trump, with all of these stories you've done over
the first hour and a half, really stories, not really
that's right about Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
As I said last week, the stories.
Speaker 15 (13:15):
About the Republicans in Congress who have completely turned their
back on everything they ever told their constituents they supported, well,
which is why a lot of them vote with their feet. Joe,
I mean, going back to twenty seventeen, the exodus of
congressional Republicans, some voluntarily, some less. So I mean up
(13:36):
up to and including the last.
Speaker 18 (13:37):
Couple of weeks, folks like chip Roy, up and coming
member of the House, you know, Ted cruz Accolyte from
from the Hill Country, a Texas says, you know what,
I think, I'd rather you'll give up my congressional senior
to go back to Austin and be the state ag
because they understand the bargain here. The bargain is their
voters want them to be loyal to Donald Trump, don't
(13:58):
care about the particular of policy differences, and just don't
really much want them to stand up for conservative principle.
And so if you're a guy like chip Roy, you
say I got it, I've done it. I'm not going
to do it any longer. So I think the response
is silenced. But it's also folks just headed for the exits.
Speaker 15 (14:16):
Joe, Well, you look, Mike k at chip Roy. There's
a perfect example. Here's a guy that showed up last
year said, what have we done to reduce spending? Nothing?
Absolutely nothing. We should be ashamed of ourselves, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera. Other members of the Freedom Caucus
saying the same thing, and then they all rolled over
chip Roy included.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
They all rolled over.
Speaker 15 (14:36):
Almost all of them rolled over, except maybe one or two,
maybe Massie. I don't know if we're mass he ended up.
But this bill, the biggest bill in the history of
the Republic, passes, the biggest spending bill ever, the highest
deficits coming ever, the highest national debt coming ever. Adds
twenty trillion dollars over the next decade to the debt.
(15:00):
This loops on another four trillion to that, and they
do nothing. So if you chip Roy, what do you say?
You say, Okay, I said I was going to come
to Washington and I was going to fight to do
what Republicans used to do, which is balance a budget
four years in a row.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, and they don't do it, so they just quit.
Speaker 19 (15:20):
Chip Roy is probably the perfect example of what happens
when you're frustrations as a Republican conservative Republican politician and
your fear of what might happen.
Speaker 15 (15:29):
I was going to say, you know what's not frustrating?
What standing up to the leadership? I say you want
to fight? None of them do that you want to fight?
Because then what happens when you get enough people you
go you want to fight.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I would love to fight you, It'd.
Speaker 15 (15:42):
Only make me more popular in my home district, Columbia.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Let's fight. Well, they're not fighting over nobody would like Intel.
Nobody will. All right, what's what I'm saying. It's insane
to quitting. They're not fighting on basics. So Lauren on.
Speaker 20 (15:54):
The Intel and all the tech bros who go into
the White House into.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
The Oval to speak with the President.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
What about the Board of Intel?
Speaker 5 (16:01):
What does the board have to say about this or
any of the boards involved.
Speaker 17 (16:05):
So the interesting thing here is obviously President Trump has
a very big stick, to use a lack of a
better word. Right, there's a carrot and the stick. And
I don't think they're saying a whole lot, you know.
I don't think the board really felt like they had
a choice. They had taken the money through the Chips
Act under President Biden. The money was there, they had
allocated it, they were planning to spend it in a
(16:25):
certain way. You saw President Trump going after the CEO
of Intel very publicly, and then when the President says
I would like a stake in your company rather than cash,
there's not much they can do. But my reporting indicates
I think there's there's some concern about the way in
which this all went down.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
Which is there that is there should.
Speaker 15 (16:50):
Be all across the business. Yeah, once said they supported
the free market, and I should and I.
Speaker 17 (16:58):
Should say, you know, I folke it to lawyers, bankers,
all of their clients who have taken on money through
the Chips Act realize that they're vulnerable. They could be next,
and they're worried.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
What if Republicans maga's listening in. What if President Kamala
Harris or President Hillary Clinton, our President Barack Obama, or
President Wes Moore or President Gavin Newsom someday says, you
know what, We're going to buy fifty percent of United
(17:30):
Healthcare and fifty percent of Etna, and fifty percent of
Blue Cross, Blue Shield and fifty percent of Signa because
we need to make sure we have some skin in
the game. The argument Trump is using to buy the
Intel shares to buy ten percent of Intel is that
the American government has invested a significant amount of money
(17:52):
into Intel, with both military and defense contracts and with
the Chips and Sciences Act, and that we deserve as
the country to have equity in that. The argument, if
you accept that argument that government spending on an industry
or a sector or a company therefore demands government ownership
(18:13):
of that sector. Applies to the healthcare sector vastly more
than it does to intel, vastly more than it does
to any other form of business except perhaps defense contractors. Now,
not a single Republican who screams communism and communism, communism
(18:34):
every time we say maybe we shouldn't let poor people
starve in the street or die or bankrupt their families
with health care debt. They seem to be less upset
about Donald Trump taking over this part of the government
or taking over this part of the corporate sector. You've
got Howard luttningk that grinning, fucking moron out there.
Speaker 21 (18:55):
Do you know when this country actually had a trade surplus?
Secretary had.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
The president likes to speak.
Speaker 21 (19:11):
About before historically, when did we have a trade surplus?
That's I'm not talking about the president historically.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I think early about.
Speaker 4 (19:22):
About one hundred years ago.
Speaker 21 (19:23):
It was the Great Depression. It was a sign of
what was going on. It was during the Great Depression.
That's a direction none of us wants to go.
Speaker 20 (19:33):
If Vietnam, for example, came to you tomorrow and said, okay,
mister Secretary, you win, We're going to remove all tariffs
and all trade barriers. Would the United States please do
the same? Would you accept that deal?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Absolutely not, Absolutely not. That would be the silliest thing
we could do.
Speaker 20 (19:58):
What's the purpose of reciprocity then? Is reciprocity not one
of your goals? Are you telling the President that we
shouldn't seek reciprocity? If that's what you're telling him, why
are you trying to do these trade deals?
Speaker 1 (20:13):
What do we want? We want? We want to encourage
Vietnam to produce products. They're great at producers.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
So I want to get back to reciprocity.
Speaker 20 (20:20):
You just you just said you don't believe that, you
don't accept reciprocity as a goal. What are you negotiating
in these trades?
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Why would we open our bank account and their bank account?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Why are you negotiating trade deals?
Speaker 20 (20:31):
You're trying to get other countries to lower their trade,
their paris and trade barriers in return for us lowering ours.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's true for the things that they'll take from that's.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
That's called reciprocity, of course.
Speaker 22 (20:45):
So I want to be really precise here. I'm not
trying to stupid shame anybody, especially not the only Secretary
of Commerce at the United States of America has right now.
And he might be really smart at other stuff, but
he obviously doesn't know Jack I know what about trade.
This is the person in charge of the deals.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
We're going to do more though this isn't the least,
This is just.
Speaker 16 (21:07):
The fars.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
What parts of this? Free marketeers? Don't smack of socialism
to you. Don't smack of cronyism to you. Don't smack
of the kind of business model, the kind of economic
model that. Who is that? Who is that handsome charming Russian? Oh,
Vladimir Putin? As the Russian economy transformed from the Soviet
(21:40):
Union into Russia by the brief Yeltsin period. But when
Putin took power, he started saying to companies, you have
to hire my boys, my friends, my supporters. You have
to give them shares, give them equity. You have to
get the government equity in your companies. You have to
(22:00):
let me control what you do, what you sell, how
much you make. Putin is an unsentimental guy, but he's
sentimental about the Soviet Union. See the Sorviet Union wasn't
wasn't particularly efficient as an economy as you may recalled,
you know.
Speaker 16 (22:15):
On the one hand, kind of today is almost one
of about four or five different dates that could plausibly
be that fall of the Soviet Union. Of course, the
red flag stayed flying over the Kremlin until the twenty
fifth of December, so it's sort of it was a
rather drawn out process. And what we've really seen throughout
this year, this year of anniversaries, is very much a
(22:35):
kind of a reventist kind of sentiment coming out of
the Kremlin, coming out of loyalist media, you know, and
this generally I think reflects kind of public opinion in Russia. Putin,
of course, several years ago, famously it's called the collapse
of the USSR the sort of the greatest geopolitical catastrophe
of the twentieth century, and that indeed is the sort
(22:56):
of the sentiment of a motion put forward in the Duma,
Russia's parliament today, And I think in general this kind
of coincides or at least sort of agrees with sort
of public sentiment. I think here what we see is
even if a majority of people don't want to sort
of live under communism or return to the Soviet Union,
they do certainly regret the collapse of the Soviet Union,
(23:18):
and that certainly is the Russian I think position. Of course,
people in the fifteen other republics you mentioned have very,
very sort of different views can contest to the fall.
But I think definitely sort of these anxieties and these
rivaling interpretations of the fall really are played out in
what we see today on the international stage. These sort
of tensions that we see between the West and Russia
(23:41):
over Ukraine now are crucially important. Of course, if we
go back thirty years, the fate of Ukraine was really
at the center of these negotiations in Almati, in Kazakhstan
Boris yelts In. The Russian present at the time was
clear that no union could be preserved if Ukraine were
not involved in it. And I think the extraordinary prominence
of Ukraine in sort of international relations in matters concerning
(24:03):
Russia in recent years really reflects this, this sort of
like inflated importance of Ukraine in the Russian imagination and
in the sort of the settlement that emerged after nineteen
ninety one.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But Donald Trump is emulating this quite along the same lines.
So you ask yourself if you're a MAGA supporter, and
you are a free market toier. Now, by the way,
most of these free market types, they're what I call
Glenn Beck free market types.
Speaker 23 (24:31):
If you want to just have the argument that, well,
the president shouldn't negotiate on our behalf, wait a minute.
As a taxpayer, if you're going to can we just
not keep getting hit in the face by everybody around
the world. They're all nicked. This is so complex.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
This makes my brain hurt. They've heard the words communism,
they've heard the words free markets on talk radio. They
don't know what they need. They don't understand what a tail.
They don't really have a grasp.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
When I win, I will immediately bring prices down.
Speaker 24 (25:15):
Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make
America affordable again. To bring down the prices of all goods.
Prices will come down.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
You just watch, You'll come down, and they'll come down fast,
not only with insurance, with everything.
Speaker 25 (25:30):
President Trump's tariffs may be taking an upfront toll on
America's farmers as crop prices plunge and duties cause a
hike and costs on tractors, fertilizers, and other farming equipment.
A Purdue University survey showing farmers sentiment dropping for the
third straight month in August, expressing less optimism about the
(25:50):
agriculture economy. But the President has asked farmers to keep
trusting him and give the trade policies time to play out.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
They have a grasp of what markets are. Donald Trump
has been intervening in market since his first administration, when
he told people how they could make dishwashers.
Speaker 26 (26:10):
But I'm also approving new dishwashers that give you more
water so you can actually wash and rinch your dishes
without having to do it ten times, four, five, six, seven,
eight nine ten.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Anybody have a new dishwasher. I'm sorry for that. I'm
sorry for that. It's worthless.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
He's been intervening in markets right now, saying to car companies,
you can't make evs, you got to make gas power cars.
Speaker 27 (26:45):
President Trump signed a measure Thursday t block California's rule
phasing out the sale of gas powered cars.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
This horrible scheme would effectively abolish the internal combustion engine,
which most people prefer.
Speaker 27 (27:01):
The California rule was designed to forced to move to
electric vehicles. The state's attorney general rule says he'll challenge
the measure, calling it a retaliation against California.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
He's been intervening in energy companies, saying, no, you can't
build wind power anymore because I don't like it, because
the birds in the way is.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
And the other thing I say to Europe, we will
not allow a windmill to be built.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
In the United States. They're killing us.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
They're killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our
beautiful planes.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And I'm not talking about airplanes.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I'm talking about beautiful planes, beautiful areas in the United States.
And you look up and you see windmills all over
the place. It's a horrible thing.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
It's the most expensive form of energy. It's no good.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
They're made in China, almost all of them. When they
start to rust and rod in eight years, you can't
really turn them off.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
You can't bear them. They won't let you bury the propellers.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
You know, the props, because there are certain time but
fiber that doesn't go well.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
With the land. That's what they say.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
The environmental let's say you can't bury them because the
fiber doesn't go well with the land. In other words,
if you bury it, it will harm our soil. The
whole thing is a conjob. It's very expensive, and in
all fairness, Germany tried it and wind doesn't work. You
need subsidy for wind and energy should not need sepsy.
(28:23):
With energy, you make money, you don't lose money. But
more important than that is it ruins the landscape. It
kills the birds. They're noisy. You know, you have a
certain place in the Massachusetts area that over the last
twenty years had one or two whales wash Ashaw, and
over the last short period of time they had eighteen. Okay,
(28:48):
because it's driving them local, it's driving them crazy.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Now windmills will not come.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
It's not going to happen in the United States, and
it's very expensive. And I would love to say I
mean today I'm playing the best course I think in
the world, Turnberry, even though I own it, it's probably
the best course.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
In the world.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
Right and I look over the horizon and I see
nine windmills.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Like great, at the end of the eight I said,
isn't that a shame? What a shame?
Speaker 5 (29:15):
You have the same thing all over all over Europe
in particular, you have windmills all over the place.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Some of the countries prohibit it.
Speaker 5 (29:22):
But people ought to know that these these windmills are
very destructive, they're environmentally unsound, just the exact opposite, because
the environmentals they're not really environmentalists.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
They have political hacks.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
These are people that they almost want to harm the country.
But you look at these beautiful landscapes all over all
over the you know, the world. Many countries have gotten smart.
They will not allow it. They will not It's the
worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
But windmills should not be allowed.
Speaker 26 (30:00):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
What you are seeing, free marketeers is a president who
is post capitalist. What you were seeing as a president
who believes that to profit himself, his family, and to
increase his political power in the economy and in the
country that the state ownership of private enterprises and private
(30:31):
businesses has called for.
Speaker 28 (30:33):
That's a great guy. He's the best president we've had
since Reagan, maybe even better.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
That's what it means to me.
Speaker 18 (30:40):
It makes a lot of money.
Speaker 28 (30:42):
See that's one of his businesses. He makes money. No,
I don't mind it at all, not at all.
Speaker 18 (30:48):
What do you make of us?
Speaker 5 (30:50):
It's great.
Speaker 12 (30:50):
It's kind of signifies Trump, signifies his brand, and it
signifies America.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
Luxury golf, very pride.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
And we've been pushing in the market of crypto and
bitcoon and all of it. Everything make America the crypto
capital of the world. I launched it. I heard it
was very successful. I haven't checked it. Where is it today?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Mind, you made a lot of money. How much several
billion dollars? It seems like in the last several days,
several billion. That's peanuts for these guys.
Speaker 19 (31:23):
The Trump family is making billions off of crypto world.
Liberty Financial, the venture co founded by the president's three sons,
has earned the family five billion dollars on paper in
paper wealth after it opened trading on a new digital currency,
making it available for buying and selling on the open
market market.
Speaker 20 (31:43):
Excuse me.
Speaker 19 (31:44):
According to the Wall Street Journal, the trading debut was
most likely the biggest financial success for the president's family
since the inauguration, and cryptocurrency is likely now the Trump's
most valuable asset, exceeding there decades old property portfolio.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Process this again, guys, think this through. If the argument
that Trump is making, and if you accept that argument,
that we spent x amount of dollars on the Chips
and Science Act, and therefore Intel and Micron and other
companies now owe us for that investment, have to allow
(32:20):
the government to profit from that investment in terms of
being equity owners of those businesses. If that is your argument,
If you accept that argument, then the healthcare industry in
this country, which has profited so lavishly off of trillions
of dollars of government expenditures since the healthcare market, which
(32:42):
absolutely has at the center of its business model Medicare, Medicaid,
why aren't we buying those companies. Weren't we demanding those
companies turn over equity to the government. Weren't we demanding
those companies do the things that we want them to do.
(33:03):
Donald Trump is not a capitalist. He's a crony capitalist
on his very best days. Donald Trump is a socialist.
Donald Trump is an authoritarian socialist. He combines the worst
of all possible worlds. This isn't again they sort of
(33:24):
just the tip socialism or the sort of quaint and
quiet biju Northern European socialism. Yes, taxes are high, but
we all have healthcare. This is a socialism that is
narrowly crafted to benefit Donald Trump and a few of
his cronies. So again, tell me why the United States
(33:44):
government does not own a chunk of these companies that
we've spent trillions of dollars in. Tell me why United
Healthcare and Blue Cross and Etna and Signal and all
the rest do not turn over their equity to the
US government. You know, and when as a Republican it
(34:08):
was a sort of article of faith over the long,
long years government healthcare could never work. That's a disaster.
And any of the longer I've looked at this, the
longer that disaster seems like it's been managed in other countries.
And yes, I know, the horror sor they hope to
wait so long for those are pretty diminitimous edge cases
(34:30):
as for the most part, and the more you look
at this rapidly changing economy that we're in, where part
of the big bad Bill is going to jack up
that lifeline economic that economic lifeline of relatively affordable health
care plans for people, where you're cutting two hundred and
(34:51):
fifty billion dollars out of rural hospitals and whatever. Jdvan says,
we're out of your book. Yout No you're not.
Speaker 15 (34:56):
What does it mean for the rural hospitals of Minnesota?
Speaker 29 (35:00):
Huge three hundred hospitals nationally will close down because of
this bill for two reasons. One the Medicaid cuts. I'm
not surprised that you have senators speaking out about that,
because sixteen million people are going to lose their healthcare
because of this proposal. Secondly, Medicare, the debt is so
big from this bill, three point four trillion, a trillion
(35:23):
of it in higher interest. Why because it adds to
the debt three point four trillion in ten years that
actually triggers automatic Medicare cuts through the tune of five
hundred billion dollars. All of this adds to huge problems
to rural hospitals that are alreadily thinly holding on.
Speaker 27 (35:43):
And there are so many red.
Speaker 29 (35:44):
States that are going to be affected by this. Four
million people are going to be tossed off of food assistance,
many of.
Speaker 23 (35:51):
Them in rural areas.
Speaker 29 (35:53):
And then, of course you have the debt issue.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
You look at all those things, and you look at
the coming economic crisis that we're entering into. You look
at the AI drive, an economic crisis we're about to
enter into. And tell me why we don't own those
healthcare companies? Tell me why because they are not particularly
innovative except in improving their billing practices. They are not
particularly delivering a high quality product. They're not particularly sensitive
(36:30):
to the changing demographics of the country. They are not
and I don't mean that racially morons. I mean that
in terms of the gigantic age, the top heavy age
problem we have with the boomers. None of this that's
coming would make any argument other than we should have
(36:50):
equity in those companies. We should have control in those
company we have seats on their boards. We should have
seats on their boards, We should be part of their
corporate governance. This is the argument Trump is making with
Intel and Micron and other tech companies, where we have
put far, far, far, far far less government money into
those companies than we have into healthcare. This is a
(37:11):
big elephant in the room because Trump wants you to
believe that he believes in capitalism, that he believes in
free markets. Nothing about the MAGA party, folks, is free market.
Speaker 30 (37:25):
In the auto industry, Ford, GM, Toyota, Hyundai, they were
reportedly among Trump's biggest donors. In finance, there was Citadel, Coinbase,
Robinhood and in tech Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Open Ai,
Uber and how much did they all donate? A cool
(37:45):
one million dollars each, except Robinhood they donated two million,
and uber Ceo donated separately and personally another million. Now,
in at least one way, you can kind of think
of these more like purchases than donations.
Speaker 5 (38:01):
My administration will use every tool at our disposal to
ensure that the United States can build and maintain the largest,
most powerful, and most advanced AI infrastructure anywhere on the planet.
My first week in office, I signed an executive order
to ban the creation of a cb DC in the
United States, and very soon I look forward to signing
(38:22):
legislation that will codify and ban the make it a
permanent law, put it in permanence. I'm also committed to
signing landmark crypto market structural legislation this year to grow
the industry.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
We're going to be.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
Growing it even more more than people ever thought, so
really hot industry.
Speaker 18 (38:40):
President Trump says he wants more deals like the agreement
announced with tech giant Intel last week, gave the US
government a ten percent stake in its business.
Speaker 31 (38:49):
The case of Intel was interesting, but I hope I'm
going to have many more cases like it. There will
be other cases. If I have that opportunity again, I
would do that, and then you know you do have
stupid people say, oh that's a game, but it's not
a shame.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
It's called business.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
Nothing about the Maga Party is capitalism anymore. Nothing about
the Maga Party has anything to do with with with
with an fa high approach to the economic world we
live in. It is increasingly about a corruption. It's increasingly
about a particular flavor of corruption that is enormously insidious.
(39:26):
We've seen it play out in Russia. And Trump is
he takes over these companies and puts his people on
the boards to these companies and takes control of these companies,
tells us what they can and can't do. Increasingly, those companies,
well we've stacked to the gills with the people around Trump. Well,
Don Junior needs a seat on your board. Now, Oh yeah,
(39:48):
you own you own this beautiful you own this beautiful
profitable enterprise. Well you know you you we own it.
Now you're not putting in X million dollars a year
into my into my son's private equity firm, Well I
think you should, or you know, we're going to your
business could have some consequences. This is corrupt, It is
(40:13):
cronyism again. It's crity capitalism in its best day. But
what it really is is authoritarian socialism. You know, when
Saddam was the president of Iraq, his family members, way
down to the third cousins, ran almost everything. The state
road building companies that were approved to build roads in
(40:35):
Iraq were all owned by Shocker. The Tacriti families that
were around Saddam. They were cousins, they were second cousins,
they were third cousins. They were there, they were people
from the old hometown. You were going to see a
preview of a profoundly dysfunctional American economy if you allow
(40:57):
Donald Trump and this insane economic model to prevail. Look,
I said in the beginning, I am not a socialist.
I am not a communist. I am not a Marxist. However,
unlike most, I'm not just going to most. I'most say,
ninety nine percent, not higher nine point nine percent of
(41:19):
these magas who scream communism at the drop of a hat.
I have read Marks, I have read angles, I have
read history, I have read Hyek, I've read the great
conservative economics thought thinkers and the great socialist economic thinkers.
Still on the free market side of though, we don't
have a free market economy in this country. It has
(41:40):
gotten centered around bigness and around influence and around power.
Right now, a company is successful in the market not
because they produce a better product or service. They're successful
now in the market because they're able to lobby the
government to provide them with economic advantages based on regulatory
and tax structures. That's not free market. What Trump is
(42:02):
doing will make that even more egregious and even worse.
You've seen many many companies been the need of Donald
Trump already. You've seen many, many of these corporate institutions say, hey,
you know we're doing. They'll cut off our deal. It
won't do yes, that is what he will do. And
it's up to you. If you believe in the free market,
(42:23):
if you believe in the great blessings that the American
free market has provided you, then you will say no
to these blackmail attempts. You will say no to this extortion,
you will say no to this corruption. Unfortunately, we know
how America is these days, and anybody who's relying on
a corporate board or a corporate CEO to represent American
values is not going to prevail. These guys care about
(42:47):
their quarterly earnings. They care about their stock price, they
care about shareholder value. Other than that, the rest of
us are stuck. What you're seeing from Trump is authoritarian socialism.
And for all you maga's out there, I love to scream,
you're all communists, You're a Marxos, You're you're a Maoist Maoism,
(43:09):
proving proving you guys didn't understand anything about communism. You
think we're mallists on the on the center right and
the center left. All of it, once again proves the
point the projection is there is the mother's milk of
the Maga party. Donald Trump is a socialist. He is
socializing private companies. Government is controlling them, buying them, buying
(43:33):
into them, being forced forcing themselves into those companies. And
if you don't think that more corruption follows, that you
are not paying attention. That's the elephant in the room
this week. Look forward to seeing you again next time. Folks,
Thanks so much for watching Lincoln Square and for watching
today's elephant in the room. We have a lot of
stuff on the Lincoln Square platform right now, more than
(43:53):
I could possibly recount. But you can get all our
great podcasts. You can get that Trippy Show Bobby Jones,
you can see Lives with Stuart Stevens every week, Lives
with Me every week. We're doing an absolutely bang up job,
I think in helping people understand the fight we're really in,
and that fight is big, it is important, it is consequential.
(44:14):
Do me a favor. Check out my other podcasts, The
Lincoln Project Podcast and my other other podcasts, The Enemy's List.
You can get me streaming on Tuesdays on The Strategy
Session on Lincoln Square, on Thursdays on The Breakdown, and
on Fridays with my son Andrew Wilson, who is a
brilliant impolster who dives into the numbers every week and
gives us a real perspective on where Trump actually is,
(44:35):
where the politics of the country actually are right now.
As always, folks, I appreciate you. Do me a favor,
Go out like subscribe, do all those things that the
algorithm demands of all of us. Thank you, everybody. See again.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
So The Lincoln Project Podcast is a Lincoln Project production.
Executive produced by Whitney Hayes, Then Howe and Joey Warner.
Speaker 4 (44:55):
Chaney, edited by Riley Maine.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Hey, folks, if you want to support the Lincoln Project's
work against Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and this maga craziness.
Go to action dot Lincoln Project dot us slash l LP.
If you'd like to get in touch, or have suggestions
for a guest or a show topic, or just want
to say hi, our email is podcast at Lincoln Project
dot us. For our maga friends, please no more nudes.
(45:18):
Thanks so much, and we'll talk to you again next time,
and good luck,
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