Donald Trump stepped on stage at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis on December 1 and took credit for keeping 1,000 jobs in the state.
That's the part of the story that everyone knows. In the days that followed Trump's announcement, the airwaves and WiFi signals of America were crammed with explanations, criticisms, and defenses of Trump's "Carrier Deal." Depending on your perspective, it was either solid proof that Trump would be the protectionist deal-maker he promised to be during the campaign, or a short-sighted example of crony capitalism that looked good on television but foreshadowed a presidency where executive power would be wielded against private business in a disturbing way. (Here at Reason, we were, and remain, firmly in the second camp.)
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