Is Donald Trump a Crony Capitalist? Or Is He Something Worse? New at Reason

On February 10, 2016, the Indiana-based furnace company Carrier announced that it would close two factories in the U.S.—one in Indianapolis and one in Huntington—and shift production to Mexico. Just three days later, presidential longshot Donald Trump bragged on Twitter: “I am the only one who can fix this. Very sad. Will not happen under my watch!” Then on April 20, just 13 days before the May 3 Indiana primary, he promised to impose stiff taxes on companies that moved jobs out of the country, singling out Carrier as part of the problem. On July 12, he attacked Carrier again.

On November 8, of course, Trump won the presidential election. Less than three weeks later, on Thanksgiving, he tweeted that he was “working hard” to keep the plant in the United States. On November 29, Carrier announced that it had reached an agreement with Trump to keep about 1,000 jobs in Indianapolis.

“Donald Trump’s Carrier Deal is Pure Crony Capitalism,” read the headline of a Newsweek op-ed. But, writes David Henderson, a closer look reveals Trump’s up to something a little different, and potentially more damaging. His actions will almost certainly lead to more cronyism than we have now. But his behavior in the Carrier case looks more like President John F. Kennedy’s treatment of U.S. Steel in the early 1960s and President Barack Obama’s treatment of General Motors and Chrysler bondholders in 2009. And it has disturbing implications both for our economic well-being and for our freedom.

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