Esteban Román

MAGA is not a conservative movement. They call their opponents communists. Yet, they are the ones embracing what American conservatives would call communism. Look at what is happening: 1. The Cult of the Leader Communist regimes built personality cults around their leaders. Their portraits were everywhere. Buildings and institutions carried their names. Loyalty to the country gradually became indistinguishable from loyalty to the leader. Now look at MAGA. Giant portraits of Donald Trump. Buildings and institutions being named after him. Political loyalty increasingly measured by personal loyalty to one man. That is not traditional American conservatism. Conservatives once distrusted concentrations of power and defended institutions over individuals. Today, MAGA has embraced the cult of the leader. 2. Government Ownership of Private Companies Capitalism rests on private ownership. Communism moves ownership and control toward the state. Yet the Trump administration acquired a roughly 10% stake in Intel – making the federal government a major shareholder in one of America’s largest technology companies. Other examples include MP Materials, Trilogy Metals, Lithium Americas, USA Rare Earth, and the list goes on. Call it whatever you want. Government ownership of private corporations is not a principle of free-market conservatism. 3. Government Direction of Prices Free markets allow prices to emerge from supply and demand. Command economies have politicians telling businesses what things should cost. Trump increasingly speaks as if the president should determine prices – from demanding lower oil prices to directing pharmaceutical pricing. Again: where is the free-market conservatism? Sounds more like the Soviet Union. 4. Protectionism Instead of Free Trade Traditional economic conservatism emphasized competition, private enterprise, and open markets. MAGA increasingly embraces tariffs, government protection of favored industries, industrial policy, and political intervention in international commerce. This is economic nationalism and state intervention – not classical free-market conservatism. 5. Government Checks for Political Support Trump has proposed a $5,000 “dividend” for American adults while explicitly connecting it to Republicans winning Congress. First of all, this is an illegal bribe. Second, it is completely fiscally irresponsible. 270 million adults × $5,000 = $1.35 trillion. America is already approaching $40 trillion in federal debt. Third, if Democrats proposed handing voters $1.35 trillion in government checks, MAGA would scream “socialism.” When Trump proposes it, suddenly it becomes conservative economics. 6. Friendship With Authoritarian Regimes For generations, American conservatives defined themselves partly through opposition to communist and authoritarian regimes. Yet Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for or cultivated unusually warm relationships with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. This type of behavior would be despicable to traditional Republicans. Opposing authoritarian regimes was a distinct feature of the traditional conservative movement. 7. The Party Becomes the Leader Perhaps this is the most important transformation. Conservatism traditionally emphasized institutions, constitutional limits, individual responsibility, private property, and skepticism toward concentrated government power. MAGA revolves around one individual. The leader defines the ideology. The leader decides which principles still matter. The leader decides which former enemies are now friends. And when the leader abandons yesterday’s conservative principles, millions of followers abandon them with him. This is the great irony of MAGA. For years, they have called everyone else communists and socialists. Yet today they are the ones embracing communism.

站在今天看，俄罗斯这波操作，属于手握着一把天胡的牌打得稀烂。 如果不出兵乌克兰，今天全球AI的牌桌上，除了中美，大概率真得坐着一个俄罗斯。 搞AI、跑大模型，底层逻辑就是“吃电、散热、堆机器”。这两年全世界的数据中心老板都在为电费和机房降温发愁。俄罗斯属于老天爷喂到饭：西伯利亚开窗就是纯天然顶级空调；境内水电、核电、天然气很便宜，当年挖矿的都选西伯利亚。 另外俄罗斯人的数学和算法也强，各大国际编程竞赛，Kaggle机器学习竞赛常被俄国人屠榜。全世界除了中美，俄罗斯也搞出了自己完整的互联网生态：搜东西有Yandex，社交有VK，还有Telegram。现在在美股被炒上天的算力黑马Nebius，核心班底就是原先Yandex那帮俄罗斯人。 如果疫情后俄罗斯出地皮、出冷气、出便宜电，再拉着中国这种基建狂魔帮忙拉高压电网、建厂房、铺光纤，欧美资本开服务器工厂。俄国人完全可以成为欧亚大陆最大的“超级算力工厂”，中美神仙打架，它在中间两头收过路费。 结果呢？普京一拍大腿：不行，我得去抢那几块地。 普京的脑子，彻底停留在了19世纪沙皇俄国那种“开疆拓土”的旧梦里。什么有没有出海口啊，有没有所谓的军事缓冲带啊，就算抢方法也多的是，这可这是21世纪啊！现在的世界霸权争夺，抢的是半导体供应链，抢的是先进算法，抢的是高精尖人才。你去顿巴斯抢了几片烂泥地、几座废弃钢铁厂，代价却是把整个国家的未来都押了上去。 枪声一响，一切全崩了。稍微有点本事的程序员、算法工程师，连夜跑路。Yandex核心技术团队，宁可巨亏，惨烈的断尾求生、割裂母国，也要跑到欧洲重组成Nebius。普京把最懂未来的人，全逼成了难民和海外创业者。 在人工智能技术爆发的黎明前夜，全世界都在疯狂狂飙算力、抢占新工业革命的门票；而俄罗斯的老大，却带着几十万人，在泥潭里打着一百年前的一战式堑壕战。 再说一遍，普京不行，国内崇拜普京的那帮人也不行

I have read dozens of outraged posts because the US special envoy Witkoff called Putin a "humanist." But no one is writing about the fact that the American negotiators are simply not doing their job. Let me explain. Peace negotiations are important in their own right. Even if they do not lead to a lasting peace, the process itself is an opportunity to resolve urgent humanitarian issues. If, of course, the human dimension is a priority for the negotiators. But it is entirely obvious that neither Witkoff nor Kushner cares about people's fates in this war. The Pope calls on Putin to save thousands of people from starvation in occupied Oleshky and the surrounding villages. The UN speaks about a humanitarian catastrophe and asks Russia to allow the evacuation of the civilian population. European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno goes on a hunger strike to draw attention to this tragedy unfolding before the eyes of the whole world. And what are Witkoff and Kushner doing? That's right, almost nothing. Except for passing along greetings from Putin’s aide to the First Lady. Thousands of people are already eating grass to survive and begging to save their lives. The Ukrainian side raises the issue of Oleshky at every meeting. And I can name dozens of such urgent humanitarian issues off the top of my head where American negotiators must be proactive. Trump’s peace negotiations have already gone down in history as the deadliest years for Ukraine’s civilian population since the start of the full-scale invasion. I don’t know if anyone will remember the names of Witkoff and Kushner. But history will certainly record how American negotiators, who had the opportunity to save a huge number of people, refused to raise uncomfortable questions before "humanist Putin."