The Slatest

Sarah Palin Blasts Trump’s Carrier Deal as Example of “Crony Capitalism”

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin addresses the audience at the 2016 Western Conservative Summit in Denver on July 1.

Jason Connolly/AFP/Getty Images

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was an early supporter of Donald Trump and is now reportedly being considered to serve in his Cabinet, doesn’t seem to be a big fan of the deal that pushed an Indiana-based air conditioner company to keep almost 1,000 jobs in Indianapolis rather than moving them to Mexico. In a column for the website Young Conservatives, Palin said that while the details of the deal aren’t known there are enough red flags to question whether the agreement isn’t just another example of “crony capitalism.”

“When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent,” Palin wrote. “Meanwhile, the invisible hand that best orchestrates a free people’s free enterprise system gets amputated. Then, special interests creep in and manipulate markets. Republicans oppose this, remember? Instead, we support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special interest crony capitalism is one big fail.”

Just because the government may have the best interest of workers at heart, Republicans should be working toward decreasing government interference in the economy. “However well meaning, burdensome federal government imposition is never the solution. Never. Not in our homes, not in our schools, not in churches, not in businesses,” Palin wrote. “Gotta’ have faith the Trump team knows all this.”

Throughout the piece, Palin praises the free market and warns that when the government favors one company over another, the economy as a whole is “doomed” because politicians shouldn’t play favorites. “Political intrusion using a stick or carrot to bribe or force one individual business to do what politicians insist, versus establishing policy incentivizing our ENTIRE ethical economic engine to roar back to life, isn’t the answer,” Palin writes.