Trump’s Phony War For Bigger Government

"[T]he Trumpification of the GOP means the Swamp is destined to become ever deeper and more virulent. The Donald is the very opposite of a traditional GOP conservative because he is constantly on the prowl for ways to expand the reach of the Federal government.

"After all, that’s the essence of his insane Tariff-Palooza and the abuse of tariff powers granted to the Congress by the plain words of the constitution ...

"The push for more government is also behind his constant yammering for low interest rates and more money-printing at the Fed ... to buy shares of Intel and other tech and defence companies ... instituting national land use controls and allocation of building materials. And, of course, nothing smacks of Big Government in Washington more than a mega-fiscal bill (the OBBBA) that will add $55 trillion to the public debt over the next three decades.

"So the Donald’s latest lurch into Bigger Government and a Deeper Swamp is not surprising. We are referring to his unhinged campaign for Federal intervention in local law enforcement ... [when] policing the streets and neighbourhood's of the 88,000 units of state and local government in America is the very essence of Federalism and decentralised government power and accountability. ...

"[T]he last thing we need is Washington politicians and bureaucrats sending the uniformed national guard into local cities and towns on the pretext that the Fed’s could do the job better. ... The plain fact is, most larger cities in America are dealing with street crime challenges, but there is no emergency whatsoever that demands Federal intervention and militarisation of local law enforcement. And it’s not even a case where Dem cities and blue states are way out of alignment with the rest of the country and therefore merit Washington’s special attention. ...

"[This] self-evidently has nothing to do with a national emergency or a unique crime breakout ... [W]hat the Donald is really up to ... is using random crime anecdotes as an excuse to launch a political attack on Democrats and peddle a false narrative that everyday Americans are in grave danger because the Blue Cities and States of America have become incubators of criminal mayhem. But that’s a flat out lie. ...

"Still, there is a larger issue that the Trumpified GOP is completely missing. Namely, vibrant Federalism—which is the only antidote to corrupt, wasteful Big Government embedded in the Washington Swamp—needs to be free to fail as well as succeed without Washington politicians usurping their functions and responsibilities. ...

"At the end of the day, the real threat to average Americans is not street crime in the big cities, whether run by Republicans or Democrats. The actual crime threat is a Washington based Fiscal Doomsday machine that is burying the American economy in unsustainable debt.

"If the Donald really wants to MAGA, he’d be well advised to take on the fiscal criminals of the UniParty who dominate both houses of Congress and enable the vast extent of the Washington Swamp he [once] pledged to drain."

~ David Stockman from his post 'Trump’s Phony War On Crime—Just More Big Government'