Hatred makes you crazy. There is perhaps no surer example of this principle than Never Trump stalwart Bill Kristol. Early Monday morning, he tweeted that another four years of Donald Trump would be more dangerous for free markets than four years of Elizabeth Warren as president. Not that Warren is anywhere near his first pick…
“I very much prefer Biden or Buttigieg or Bloomberg or Klobuchar to Warren. But the idea that one term of Warren would pose anything like the threat of a second term for Trump to the basic norms and institutions of our liberal democracy, including to free markets, is laughable,” Kristol insisted.
I very much prefer Biden or Buttigieg or Bloomberg or Klobuchar to Warren. But the idea that one term of Warren would pose anything like the threat of a second term for Trump to the basic norms and institutions of our liberal democracy, including to free markets, is laughable.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) November 25, 2019
Sure, Kristol is no fan of Elizabeth Warren. But where on Earth does he get the idea that she would do less damage to “the basic norms and institutions of our liberal democracy” — much less to free markets! — than Trump?
Trump’s bombastic tweets are a problem, but he is pushing back against the left’s terrifying orthodoxy in business, education, and media. The Trump-Russia collusion hoax enabled politically-motivated bureaucrats and their allies in the news media to stymie the president’s first term. Now, Democrats are politicizing the ultimate constitutional check on a president’s power — impeachment — in a vain attempt to force Trump from office less than a year before another presidential election. The Founders warned against the weaponization of this serious process, but Democrats can’t wait.
In his first term, Trump has cut taxes, slashed regulations, rejected the Obama administration’s assaults on due process and biological sex, confirmed a slate of federal judges and Supreme Court justices who will uphold the plain text of the Constitution, and presided over a growing economy. On balance, his presidency is upholding America’s basic norms and institutions — perhaps too much.
In fact, Trump did not rush to replace Obama-appointed intelligence officials with his own appointees — which let the Russia investigation continue. He failed to repeal Obamacare. He has not fully “drained the swamp,” partially because the swamp is fighting back, hard.
As for Elizabeth Warren, she would decimate American norms, institutions, and especially the free market. Warren wants to abolish the Electoral College. She would ban fracking and pile on more regulations. She would break up agribusiness. She would slash the defense budget. She would strangle funding for charter schools. She would push abortion-on-demand and get rid of the Hyde Amendment. She would pack the Supreme Court. She would force schools and the administration to embrace the radical transgender movement. She would make college “free” through a government take-over. She backs Bernie Sanders’s socialized medicine plan, Medicare-for-All, which would eliminate private insurance. How does any of this uphold America’s “basic norms and institutions?”
Oh, and she pinky-swears she can do all this without raising taxes on the middle class. Instead, she’s only going to tax those evil rich people. Under her tax plan, some investors might see rates above 100 percent. Even assuming the rich wouldn’t alter their behavior due to her taxes — which, of course, they would — a Heritage Foundation study found that taxing the rich at 100 percent of their income wouldn’t come close to paying for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.
In other words, not only would Elizabeth Warren stifle the free market with more and more regulations and drive competition out of the free market by creating government-run industries in health care and higher education — she would also tax it to death.
Sure, many of Warren’s plans would face tremendous opposition in Congress. But America should not count on congressional deadlock to save the free market from this kind of president. Both Trump and Obama have used the executive branch to further their priorities, and the 2020 Democrats have shown a terrifying willingness to push that authority even further.
What kind of insanity would drive someone to say that Donald Trump — whose tinkering around the edges seems to have fostered economic growth — poses a bigger threat to the free market than Elizabeth Warren — who would practically destroy it?
PJ Media’s Jim Treacher puts it best, “As a RINO cuck traitor who probably wanted Hillary to win, I’m glad Trump is president.” Like him, I didn’t jump on the Trump train — not in the primary and not in the general election. I understand the deep reservations many conservatives have about Trump. I get that Bill Kristol really, really dislikes the guy.
But seriously, you have to be insane to think that Elizabeth Warren would be better for the free market than Donald Trump. If Never Trumpers like Bill Kristol want a future in the Republican Party, they will have to show that they’re not going to sell out their conservative principles just to oppose the man in the White House.
Oh, and not becoming insane might also help.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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