When Donald Trump told Time Magazine, “sometimes you have to prime the pump … to get jobs going and the country going,” it wasn’t the first time that the Person of the Year got excited about Washington doling out cash.
“Prime the pump” was the exact language President Obama used in 2009 to justify his massive stimulus. That stimulus turned into a heaped pile of pork, with subsidies for casinos, high-speed rail lines to nowhere, and famously, a half-billion loan guarantee to a politically-connected but failing solar-panel maker, Solyndra.
The Obama administration got plenty of photo ops from our money and took credit for any economic value to which the subsidized companies or projects contributed. “This is big government!” Vice President Joe Biden triumphantly proclaimed at Solyndra.
Playing Santa Claus appeals to politicians for exactly this reason. Seeing the economy grow and jobs created is fine, but taking credit for the growth and the jobs is their true motivation. Trump, a career showman who loves putting his name on things, is in danger of falling into the Santa trap.
He and his team met for 90 minutes with actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio this week to discuss “how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure,” DiCaprio’s foundation said.
The actor’s spokeswoman said, “Trump was receptive and suggested they meet again next month,” according to the Associated Press. This followed a meeting on climate change between Ivanka Trump and Al Gore.
This smells like picking winners and losers. Gore and DiCaprio probably figure they’ll never convince Trump that climate change requires real sacrifices and regulations. But maybe they can convince him that the Trump administration can help the economy and the planet by boosting certain industries and companies. Will Trump do his own version of the Biden victory lap at Solyndra.
There is reason to worry that the Santa effect is driving Trump’s infrastructure plan. Like every governor and county executive in America, Trump may be dreaming of highway signs with his name on them, touting added lanes or new interchanges. Trump’s infrastructure stimulus plan allows him to play Santa not only to the communities where he builds, but to the private contractors to whom he’s promising tax credits.
His Carrier deal, with its $7 million in bespoke tax cuts, showed a dangerous desire to be giver of gifts. The president-elect flew into town, like Obama and Biden, to take credit for jobs staying in Indianapolis.
There’s plenty Trump can do to stimulate the economy, and he’s proposed much of it: Tax reform, cutting regulations and ending federal programs that distort the economy. But all these reforms involve getting out of the way. It’s hard to justify a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a mom and pop store that opened because of a more fertile business environment.
We understand why Trump would be drawn to the Santa Claus role; it’s similar to the role he played for decades as a developer, a local celebrity, and a reality TV star. But when he entered politics, he ran for office against a corrupt system where the insiders reward the well connected. That’s where Santanomics always leads.
Trump may be charmed by the idea of CEOs, governors, lobbyists, and mayors lining up to sit on his lap and ask for a present. But if he really wants to avoid the corporatism and cronyism, if he really wants to “drain the swamp,” as he suggests, he needs to say, “No, Washington, there is no Santa Claus.”
Timothy P. Carney, the Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
