I’ve spent decades building businesses in this country, and one of the basic rules I’ve learned in the process is that people are judged by what they do with their own money, not by what they say about other people’s money. That rule—which is so fundamental in business that it’s almost embarrassing to write it down—turns out to be the exact point where the loudest socialist activism in the United States collapses under its own weight.
The most prominent spokespeople for the movement that preaches against the accumulation of wealth live in homes that most Americans could not afford, amassed their wealth within the capitalist system they describe as immoral, and donate a fraction of that wealth that would not stand up to scrutiny under the standards they themselves apply to others.
The term “armchair socialist” perfectly describes this profile—that of the activist who promotes radical redistribution from a position of urban privilege they have never seriously questioned—and captures the nature of the problem quite accurately. If someone builds their public identity on the idea that accumulating wealth within a capitalist system is morally indefensible, the logical conclusion is that that person has an obligation to part with what they have accumulated.
Preserving one’s own wealth while asking others to give up theirs is not activism; it is resentment disguised as a principle—and resentment, in my experience, has never built anything worthwhile.
See more. Opioid Trafficking: 800 Pills Seized at Miami Airport
Trump has faced more criticism per minute than any president in this country’s recent history, and yet his agenda has shown a consistency that his detractors prefer not to analyze. Since returning to the White House, he has maintained a clear stance on the United States’ role as an economic, technological, and military power, and has made decisions that reflect that vision with determination, regardless of his supposedly falling approval ratings.
A president who maintains tariff pressure on his trade competitors, rebuilds domestic industry, strengthens the dollar’s position, and demands results from his allies before extending guarantees to them is a president who understands how power works.
I make investment decisions with a five-year horizon, and what this administration has done for the U.S. economy gives me more reasons to continue betting on this country than any socialist editorial from those who have been predicting its collapse for months.
The capitalism that social-democratic activists condemn in their books and podcasts is the very same system that financed those books, those podcasts, those distribution platforms, and the contracts that turned them into figures with enough influence to demand that others deliver what they themselves fail to deliver.
Someone had to write those speeches, produce that content, and distribute it—and that someone was paid to do so within a market that sets prices based on demand, not on the buyer’s ideology. Those who propose dismantling that structure should start by giving back what that system gave them before asking others to reject it.
I built what I have within this system. And I have no intention of apologizing for it.
