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To the Editor:
Communism calls for government or communal ownership of the means of production, resources, and property. Under communism, the state (rather than private individuals or corporations) owns businesses, factories, farms, minerals, and all property.
Trump stands alone among U.S. politicians in calling for and implementing government control of private companies and resources. Under his direction, the government has taken stakes in at least nine companies across the steel, minerals, nuclear energy, and semiconductor industries, costing taxpayers at least $10 billion. No Democrat or Democratic Socialist has proposed anything akin to this.
Trump has used three strategies to coerce compliance with his demands:
- Tariffs and tariff exemptions,
- Regulatory actions, such as merger approvals or denials, and
- Lawsuits, often with little basis in fact or law.
While Trump justifies his actions as based on national security and national emergency needs, the benefits appear to accrue to Trump himself and wealthy executives. The deals concentrate power and wealth in Trump’s hands, not in a public entity committed to the common good. Examples include:
- Intel: The Trump administration converted $9 billion in federal grants (made under President Biden’s 2022 CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing) into a 10% ownership stake. The U.S. government is now Intel’s largest shareholder. Combined with Trump’s actions requiring other companies to support Intel, Trump has bailed out the struggling chipmaker while giving the government unprecedented control over a private company.
- Apple: Apple received an exemption from Trump’s 100% tariffs on semiconductor imports (essential to the iPhone and other products) by agreeing to purchase Intel chips and collaborate with the company.
- Nvidia: Nvidia secured Trump’s approval to sell AI chips to China (which many national security experts view as a risk) by giving 25% of China-derived profits to the government and investing $5 billion in Intel.
- MP Materials: The U.S. government became the largest shareholder in MP Materials, the country’s only rare earth mining company, after a $400 million taxpayer investment.
- U.S. Steel: When the Japanese company Nippon Steel acquired U.S. Steel in 2025, Trump conditioned approval on receiving a “golden share” granting him veto power over key decisions, including name changes, headquarters relocation, and facility closures.
All these actions fundamentally contradict free-market capitalism. Moreover, they concentrate economic and political power in Trump’s hands. Establishing government control over private enterprises and concentrating power in an individual’s hands are communistic. The U.S. has not pursued such policies since its founding, except during World War II’s genuine national emergency. Imagine what Trump and Republicans would have said if the Obama administration had converted its bailouts of Wall Street firms and automakers in the 2008 Great Recession into government ownership of those companies!
This all makes it quite clear that Trump is the real communist in American politics.
John Lippitt
Mineral St.
