Wait, is Trump becoming… a Democratic Socialist?

A number of President Donald J. Trump’s recent actions should have GOP loyalists scratching their heads and asking: Is Trump turning into a Democratic Socialist? Simply posing that question will certainly get some of my readers so up in arms that they will be ready to grab their pitchforks and torches and storm the citadel. 

How could this be? Trump espouses many policy positions—on crime, immigration and abortion, for instance—that Democrats loathe. Democrats hate Trump so much that—rightly or wrongly—they’re accused of having Trump Derangement Syndrome. Despite this, Trump seems increasingly inclined to adopt some traditional Democratic and even socialist positions.

If you don’t believe me, then consider Trump’s very own words. Speaking about some of democratic socialist New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s goals, Trump said, “People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing.” Which specific policy ends Trump supports is not entirely clear, but Mamdani has endorsed a litany of bad policies.

He wants to freeze rent, raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour and create city-owned grocery stores. That is a Soviet-esque recipe for perpetuating a housing shortage, increasing prices and ensuring government-run grocery stores have barren shelves. What’s more, as National Review noted, he “called for exacerbating ‘class consciousness’ with the ‘end goal’ of ‘seizing the means of production.’”

Trump is of course not calling for all of these particular policy solutions, but others that the political Left has long championed. Most recently, Trump targeted credit card companies. “Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies.”

If this proposal sounds familiar, it is because democratic socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has proposed a similar cap, and other Democrats have been on the interest-rate-cap bandwagon, too. Credit card companies will not get much sympathy—and I understand that—but this is a troubling policy.

Credit card companies in large part generate income and remain profitable by essentially lending money at interest. However, when that interest rate is capped, then that limits their profit margins, and they have to make cuts as a result. Likely targets would include restricting access to credit—namely, no longer providing credit cards to those with low credit scores—and curtailing perks that come with credit cards, like cash back, travel vouchers, etc.

In short, this is a self-defeating proposal because those who need to borrow will have trouble obtaining credit cards and perks will also be limited for those who do not need to borrow but own cards primarily for the benefits.

Trump’s newest credit card proposal is far from his first foray into leftist ideology. He has also taken a page out of the democratic socialist playbook by striving to centrally plan America’s economy. “We should take stakes in companies when people need something,” Trump exclaimed. “I think we should take stakes in companies. Now, some people would say that doesn’t sound very American. Actually, I think it is very American.”

It feels quite un-American for the government to attempt to plan the economy and take stakes in private companies, but that’s what’s happening. Under Trump’s tutelage, the feds have taken a 9.9% stake in Intel, 5% in Lithium Americas, 5% in the Thacker Pass joint venture, up to 8% at Westinghouse, 7.5% in MP Materials, which could go up another 7.5%, at least 10% in Trilogy Metals, stock options at ReElement Technologies, $50 million in equity and stock options at Vulcan Elements, and so forth. All told, this has cost taxpayers $10 billion thus far and is hugely problematic.

With the government directing business decisions—instead of private free market enterprise—innovation may be stymied, business decisions risk being politicized, and cronyism could run rampant. Taking massive stakes in private companies is more akin to how China and Russia have operated. Let’s not forget that the feds are woefully unqualified to run a business. Congress can’t even balance a budget.

I ultimately agree with Trump in that the U.S. needs to be more self-reliant on matters of national security, but there are better ways of achieving this, like reducing red tape and letting market forces work. Alas, the administration doesn’t prefer these methods of achieving goals consistently.

While I don’t actually believe that Trump is turning into a full-blown democratic socialist, it is undeniable that he is mimicking their ideology in a number of policy areas. This should worry anyone who believes that a bigger, more intrusive government is almost never the answer.