President Donald Trump’s haters have spent a decade accusing him of being a fascist. Yet, his plan to extract unilaterally a 10% equity stake in moribund chipmaker Intel is now about as close to that notion as anything he has tried during his two White House terms.

The White House has defended the unprecedented move, at least in part, by warning about the very real national security threat posed by our reliance on the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which produces the lion’s share of the planet’s chipmaking. However, the solution would cause more problems than it solves, subordinating the U.S. economy’s fastest-growing sector from capitalism to corporatism. And crucially, the federal government simply doesn’t have the dough to save Intel from itself.