Like a new drug commercial with a list of side effects longer than the problem it solves, Donald Trump’s campaign is leaving behind a wake of issues for the Republicans, the economy, and public policy in general. Despite Trump’s distracting 3 am tweets, his unapologetic sexism, and his contempt for … seemingly everyone, the world continues to move, but without the oversight that’s usually in place.
Most business owners will do what they need to (within reason) in order to win, succeed, and profit, and the same goes for politicians. Cronyism is valuable tool in their toolbox. However, cronyism comes with a branding downside, but when a distraction like Trump comes along they have a real chance to use their cronies without hurting their brand. The current environment that has been created by Trump, his campaign, and the media following him might be the best-case environment for these businesses and politicians to unleash their cronies and crony politicians.
One example is that intellectual property is under attack and almost nobody is coming to its rescue. The United Nations just released a report that suggested that its organization should ignore IP rights for the sake of providing additional “lifesaving medications” to people in need. Of course the UN ignores the fact that the medication would likely not exist if those IP protections weren’t there in first place. Thankfully, at least one U.S. group, the State Department, responded to the UN report and its potential consequences, but almost nobody else seemed to be paying attention.
To make matters worse, healthcare insurance premiums are skyrocketing—possibly starting the death-spiral that has been forecast since the Affordable Care Act’s passage. In fact, my own family’s insurance plan is being cancelled for the second time since the passage of Obamacare, and the plan that is most like mine has monthly premiums that are about 30 percent higher than last year—without many additional benefits and even a few drawbacks including higher copays.
Trump’s distractions don’t stop at weakening IP though or muting the conversation about our crumbling healthcare economy, Trump’s headline dominance has allowed cronies like Elon Musk to have a few months that at other times wouldn’t be recoverable.
In fact, the reaction to some of Musk’s recent business tactics is so bad that in Florida the Republicans— the pro-competition party—are supporting an amendment limiting competition in large part because of the problems that Musk’s business model has caused in other states. It doesn’t stop there though: While attempting to build a new private space competitor, which is cool, his cargo has suffered several explosions and millions of dollars in damages, not cool. Explosions and failures are a part of a start-up and they are definitely a part of a space program. However, when it is my money blowing up on the launch pad and he’s lobbying for more, then the cronyism has grown out of control. For Musk, he doesn’t stop there though: One of his companies that has relied on millions of public funding, Solar City, is going to be acquired by another one of his companies, Tesla, that has also relied on millions of taxpayer money.
This particular brand of “free enterprise” is proving extremely expensive for the taxpayer.
Intellectual property has a big impact on our economy, healthcare is important, and government waste is a big issue. These issues affect our economy today and the policies that regulate the markets have an important impact on innovation and invention tomorrow. But, in the end it doesn’t matter which side of these issues you are on, they are big issues that should be discussed and debated. However, the Trump train of distraction is keeping these big issues out of the spotlight—the media hate Trump, but they love how many clicks he can get. Like Paul Ryan’s call to focus on House races, everyone needs to focus on what the cronies are attempting to sneak through.
The Republicans in Congress are fighting for their jobs, the Democrats see blood and are fighting for a super-majority (even if it’s just for a couple years). The cronies just see dollar signs.
Trump has been popular enough to make it this far, but his distractions and his seemingly self-imposed vote ceiling is even more troubling than it appears. Despite the lack of support, trust, or energy in Hillary’s campaign, Trump continues to falter. Fortunately, the campaign is just about over and interest will likely soon be restored in issues that matter, but in the meantime, the cronies are winning.
Charles Sauer is president of The Market Institute.
