3 Reasons Why Trump's Carrier Deal Should Alarm You

Unless you've been hiding under your bed since Election Day without your phone or any other access to the news or social media, you've undoubtedly heard about President-Elect Trump's recent deal with the Indiana-based air conditioner company Carrier. (Read this if you need a primer on the situation first.)

On Thanksgiving Day Trump tweeted (see picture below): "I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS -- Will know soon!"

I don't know what you first thought when you read that tweet. My first thought was: "Huh?" And my second thought was: "How much Carrier stock does Trump have?" And then I might have (probably) called him an unflattering name. 

The thing is, though, Trump's hands-on intervention in Carrier's labor strategy is a really, really bad thing. And now we will take a look at 3 reasons why that is. Our argument will be illustrated with some more of the President-Elect's tweets.

3 Reasons to be Alarmed by Trump's Carrier Deal

• It's not the President's job to negotiate with individual businesses. 

This might actually be the most minor problem with the whole Carrier shenanigans, but it bears mentioning. I don't think there are actual legal prohibitions on the President engaging in such negotiations with individual businesses, but it really just doesn't make sense for him to do so. Not only would it be incredibly time-consuming and tedious to sit down with every company that is thinking of moving overseas one by one and hammering out deals to get them to stay, but the President has more important things to do. That is why, historically, negotiating with businesses has been left to state and local governments. As the heads of their respective economies, mayors and governors are best positioned to do the street-level deal making required in such situations.

The stakes in deals like these are high, frequently involving millions of dollars in tax incentives and potentially thousands of jobs saved or lost. Once the President gets involved, those stakes get even higher, and that leads to the second reason we should all be scared:

• Crony capitalism

We have to ask ourselves why President-Elect Trump made Carrier's labor issues his own personal business. One answer, that we will get into in point three, is most certainly "a craven grab for accolades", but another is definitely crony capitalism. (If even Sarah Palin is saying so it must be true.) 

How much Carrier stock does Trump own? Maybe none, but according to this WSJ article, in 2014 he owned up to $250,000 worth of their parent company. Did that factor into his decision to cut Carrier a deal? Of course it did. 

And what did he mean when he tweeted "They will sell many air conditioners!"? Is Trump going to buy Carrier air conditioners for all of his hotels now? I wouldn't be surprised. Would you? 

In Fortune magazine, the venerable onetime VP nominee Sarah Palin wrote: 

“When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent,” she wrote.

Has Sarah Palin ever sounded so rational? 

And, oh look: it didn't take long for Trump to move from praising one company to denouncing another. Eight days. Then he tweeted this: 

• It's all about the spectacle

Donald Trump the man is a carny. He is long on spectacle and short on substance. Donald Trump the president is shaping up to be largely the same. He has said that he wants to continue to hold rallies as President, and indeed held the first of these on December First in Ohio when he kicked off his so-called Thank You Tour (#ThankYouTour2016).

In fact, the entirety of the Thank You Tour should be concerning to all Americans. The President-Elect is making a tour of states that were key to his win. He is holding huge self-congratulatory rallies in states that he won. Does that sound like the behavior of an American president? Or does that sound like the behavior of an emperor or fascist dictator?

And what better way to kick off a victory tour--because let's be serious, that's what the Thank You Tour really is--than with the backdrop of a victory for American jobs? 

Stick with me for a minute, because this bullet point needs explanation. The reason spectacle is a problem in terms of national policy is because it is used for its psychological effect on the population. History shows us that spectacles have been used to control the population through fear and national fervor. In terms of a Trump presidency, spectacle will likely be used to distract us from the president's YUGE conflicts of interest with his business interests. 

I'd say something about those conflicts of interest but those will have to wait for (several more) posts.

The revolution will be tweeted! 

Follow me: @LiteraryGrrrl