GOP Senator Compares Trump Deal to Communism, “You’re Going to Have to Explain”

Major Garrett, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and host of The Takeout podcast, asked Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) for his opinion of President Donald Trump‘s proposal for the U.S. government to take a 10 percent stake in the American semiconductor manufacturing company Intel.

[Note: Garrett also mentioned that Apple and other U.S. companies “have come to the White House to do certain specific things for the President and in exchange the President extracts something that the federal government gets, putting the federal government in lots of board rooms that it hasn’t been in before.” Garrett added: “Now Biden did that too, with the inflation reduction act and some other things, I’m not suggesting that he didn’t,” and asked Tillis, “How comfortable or uncomfortable are you with this?”]

Sen. Tillis responded to Trump’s proposed 10% stake in Intel: “I don’t care if it’s a dollar or a billion dollar stake in an American company, that starts feeling like a semi-state owned enterprise, à la CCCP.”

The Senator added, “For so many of my self-described true conservatives, you’re going to have to explain to me how this reconciles with true conservatism and true free market capitalism. I don’t see it.”

Tillis also spoke about Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska. When Garrett asked Tillis if he thinks Putin is “tapping Trump along,” Tillis replied: “How can anybody objectively look at what’s happening now and conclude otherwise?…He is tapping us along.”

Note: Tillis announced that he would not seek reelection to a third term in 2026.