Doug Casey on 'The Donald' for President

(Interviewed by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator)
CaseyResearch
Apr. 21, 2011

...Anyway, about Trump, I've got to say that, if nothing else, "The Donald" is certainly glib, and a skilled television performer. One of his main characteristics is the extreme certainty he projects about everything -- mainly because he says it, and therefore believes it.

It's disturbing that he might actually gain traction this time, for this very reason. In uncertain times, people want to believe in someone who is certain he knows what's right and what should be done. At such times they also want a strong, aggressive leader, and based on everything he said, Trump would go beyond aggression to being an actively belligerent leader. He wants to be the alpha chimpanzee.

L: I've brought up an ABC interview on YouTube -- he certainly sounds like a bully to me. Maybe that's what it's come to in what little is left of America; we need a bully in the White House to make ourselves feel strong again.

Doug: Sure. Jingoism plays well to an unhappy audience. One of the things that came up in the Wall Street Journal interview I saw was that the Chinese are taking "unfair advantage" of Americans by selling them inexpensive goods that improve their standard of living. To Trump, this is ripping us off, and he, as president, would make sure it doesn't happen. He mentioned import tariffs, specifically. He also mentioned Colombia, among others, saying that although he believes in free trade, he also believes in "fair trade." This, of course, is a contradiction; the moment you impose restrictions on trade for political reasons, no matter how "fair" some people think those constraints may be, it ceases to be free. I'm sure The Donald would come up with all manner of cockamamie schemes to make things suit his idea of "fair."

L: It's always astonishing to me the way people who would laugh at a girl who says she's a "little pregnant" will, with a serious face, say that a "little" coercive government intervention makes markets work better.

Doug: That's him; he thinks he's a capitalist because he's been a winner in the marketplace. But cutting deals with his banking and political buddies to make money in real estate, and using borrowed money while the property bubble was still inflating, is not like building a whole new business as Steven Jobs has done. And it doesn't make him knowledgeable about economics. He believes in tariffs and quotas and all sorts of government interventions. He's a classic fascist--

L: [Laughs]

Doug: I mean it, literally. Let's clarify a few common words. People always bandy terms around without having more than a vague idea what they really mean.

Fascism is based on the economic theory that government and business should work together as "partners." Fascism posits that both private goods and essentially all the means of production are privately owned -- but they're all controlled by the state. Fascism is associated with jackboots and uniforms, because of Hitler, but that's by no means its essence. It's essentially an economic system.

Idiotically, fascism is often conflated with capitalism, which is also a system where everything is privately owned -- but also totally privately controlled. A true capitalist country doesn't currently exist anywhere.

Socialism is a system where consumer goods -- houses, cars, and the like -- are privately owned (albeit regulated), but all of the means of production are state owned.

In communism everything is state owned.

Anyway, all the countries of the world today are either fascist or socialist. It's a mistake to say the U.S. is a capitalist country; it's fascist, and gives capitalism a bad name. If The Donald somehow became president, he would make the U.S. even more controlled, with an even stronger, more intrusive government. He'd be a disaster in every way possible.

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