LETTER: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders aren’t really that far apart

The recent story in which the Review-Journal’s Debra J. Saunders, reporting from Pahrump, quoted GOP activist and election prankster Chuck Muth explaining his party switch and vote for Bernie Sanders:

Mr. Muth said he voted for Sen. Sanders so the country would get a general election matchup that offered “a great civics lesson for the entire country comparing an absolute avowed socialist versus an absolute avowed capitalist.”

President Donald Trump’s penchant for harum scarum tariffs and his attempts to benefit some businesses at the expense of consumers and other industries, is a hallmark of anything but an absolute avowed capitalist. Mr. Trump’s career has been exploiting government fiat to benefit his businesses, whether through local zoning restrictions, government giveaways or intellectual property laws.

Criticizing the cronyism between business and government, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz explained, “It’s one thing to win a ‘fair’ game. It’s quite another to be able to write the rules of the game — and to write them in ways that enhance one’s prospects of winning. And it’s even worse if you can choose your own referees.”

Sen. Sanders is most exorcised by socialism for the rich, prominently displayed by the Wall Street and auto industry bailouts following the 2008 crash. While his point is well-taken, the good senator hasn’t noticed socialism’s current disasters, most notably, Venezuela.

Besides both men having the support of Russian President Vladmir Putin, their economic views are not that far apart.