First it was the dolls. Now it’s pencils.
Surely, by now you know this iconic story. At a cabinet meeting this week, Trump, that avatar of gaudy excess, lectured Americans on the need for austerity, arguing that
“maybe the children will have 2 dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the 2 dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”
This seemed to be an admission that Trump knew that his tariffs would, indeed, stick it to consumers. So, NBC’s Kristin Welker followed up: “Are you saying your tariffs will cause some prices to go up?” Welker asked Trump. Blather ensued, but then we got this:
“I don't think a beautiful baby girl that's 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls,” Trump said. “I think they can have 3 dolls or 4 dolls. They don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”
Quipped University of Michigan professor Justin Wolfers:
"The Department of Central Planning and Child Rearing has figured out the optimal number of dolls and pencils each child should have to make beautiful Republic.”1
By telling Americans how many dolls and pencils they need, conservative radio host Erick Erickson said, Trump was channeling the worst sort of “nanny statism — the government knows best how many dolls and pencils you need. Not you. Not your parents. In government we trust.”
Free market conservatives used to understand that this sort of thing was a bad idea. How many dolls do you need? Pencils? In a free market, free individuals make those choices and decisions. It wasn’t decided by central planners or the State. Those decisions were made by consumers, and in the case of dolls,
by parents.
Indeed, this all sounded oddly familiar. Noted Political prof
Robert E. Kelly: “MAGA loves to call its opponents ‘communists,’
but this is literally a neo-Marxist critique of consumerism.” And by “literally,” he means literally.
It’s also the kind of thing you’d expect to hear from (checks notes)
Bernie Sanders, who rather famously, insisted that “You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers….”
But now, this is what we get from the leader of the formerly free market-oriented GOP.
Former ambassador Michael McFaul detected something else: “This is the opposite of the free market. Sounds a lot like communism to me. Soviet leaders also dictated to consumers their limited choice.”
But now, it is the new MAGA dogma — and the reversal is head-snapping and vertiginous. Not only has the Trumpian right now embraced neo-Marxian critiques of consumerism, but the president who ran on prosperity and lower prices is now insisting that working class families only need a couple of dolls and just five pencils.
2
www.theguardian.com
