Donald Trump: Our Neo-Marxist President
Five pencils for you, comrade.
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
Thank you, Comrade Donald! Happy Monday.
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Speaking of Soviet Style
Not a parody. The Defense Department actually, really, and truly posted this:
Our friend Tom Nichols noted the borrowed vibe:
Join us tonight!
Edward Luce is the US national editor and columnist at the Financial Times. Luce’s forthcoming biography of Zbigniew Brzezinski “Zbig, The life of Zbig Brzezinski: America’s great power prophet”, comes out in May 2025.
Before that he was the FT’s Washington Bureau chief. Other roles have included South Asia bureau chief, Capital Markets editor, and Philippines Correspondent. Luce was previously the speechwriter for the US Treasury Secretary, Lawrence H. Summers, in the Clinton administration.
He is the author of three highly acclaimed books, The Retreat of Western Liberalism (2017), Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent (2012), and In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India (2007).
A reminder about due process
Quick movie recommendation before Trump’s new 100% tariffs on foreign movies kicks in: The Academy award-winning Brazilian film, “I’m Still Here” — a powerful portrayal of life under a military dictatorship — is very much worth your time. It is a gut-wrenching reminder that the rule of law — habeas corpus and due process — and a free press are at the heart of a functioning constitutional Republic.
At a dinner sponsored by WBGH in Boston this week, former Wapo editor Marty Baron recommended the film, and I watched it Saturday night… only to wake up to see this story about migrants who have been “disappeared” by our own government. (See Andrew Weissmann’s discussion here.)
At the same time, NBC aired an interview where Trump complained about the inconvenience of “due process” and said he “doesn’t know” if he has to uphold the Constitution as president of the United States. Via NBC:
The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment says “no person” shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”; it does not say that person must be a U.S. citizen, and the Supreme Court has long recognized that noncitizens have certain basic rights. Trump has also said that while “we always have to obey the laws,” he would like to see some “homegrown criminals” sent to El Salvador as well, a proposal that was widely panned by legal experts.
When Welker tried to point out what the Fifth Amendment said, Trump suggested that such a process would slow him down too much.
“I don’t know. It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials,” he said. “We have thousands of people that are — some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.”
“I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,” he added.
Welker then followed up with the question at the heart of all of this:
“But even given those numbers that you’re talking about, don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Welker asked.
“I don’t know,” Trump replied.
Trump’s defenders will argue that he continued by citing the advice he was getting from his lawyers and his intention to obey the courts. “I have brilliant lawyers that work for me,” he said, “and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”
But let’s talk about Trump’s lawyers, shall we?
Remember Sydney Powell, Rudy Giuliani? Jenna Ellis? John Eastman? Alina Habba? Or Emil Bove, the goggle-eyed gosling who presides over the firing of Justice Department attorneys who still respect the rule of law? Or Trump’s new AG, Pam Bondi, who is gutting protections for journalists, launching investigations into political critics; and green lighting the rendition of migrants to gulags? Those lawyers?
As for “following what the Supreme Court said,” it seems worth noting that Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in El Salvador despite a 9-0 ruling of that Court — and despite Trump’s own admission that he could easily get him back.
Here’s Your Monday Exercise
On Sunday, the official White House account posted this:
Monday dogs
Eli and Auggie are keeping an eye on the turkeys, squirrels, and birds out there.
Trump’s reference to pencils (as opposed to, say, guns) was also ironic, because pencils play a dramatic role in free market lore. The book, “I, Pencil” — which explains the complex interaction of markets and supply chains that it takes to produce a single pencil — is a canonical work among conservative advocates of free markets.
Jonah Goldberg makes an excellent point about Trump’s Bernie Sanders moment.
I think it’s weird how nobody asks Trump: “So you’re saying the girl who normally would get 20-30 dolls should be happy with getting 2 or 3 more expensive ones.
“Okay, what about the families that could only afford 1 or 2 dolls before your tariffs made them unaffordable? Should they be happy that she’ll get nothing?”
The reason I think it’s weird is that the press is just going along with a very elite and affluent assumption that the typical girl affected is pretty well-off. I’d also note boys get a lot of dolls too. Just because we call them “action figures” or what not is beside the point.
Welker should have followed up with an obvious question re following the Constitution - Didn’t you affirm or swear that you will uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States on your inauguration?
Is there a limit on how many cars, yachts, gowns, jewels, purses or golf clubs Americans should own too? What about guns? Don Jr. has a dedicated room for his collection!