George Will's conservatism is deeply embedded in free market ideology. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Washington Post's most popular conservative opinion writer came out against the Carrier deal. In particular, he quoted the president elect, and his vice president, who claimed that the free market does not always work to support Trump's "America First" objectives. For George Will, nothing can be less conservative than the Carrier deal. It interferes with free market forces and it violates Republican orthodoxies. This is consistent with Will's past claims that Trump is not a Republican. That may or may not be true. However, there is only one Republican Party and Trump is its leader.
In addition to Will's argument that Trump is not a Republican, he could not resist taking his argument one step further. He claims the Carrier deal is consistent with that of progressive Democrats who practice what Will calls industrial policy. That is, the idea that government should pick winners and losers in the market. The implication is that Trump is really a Democrat and not a Republican. That allows Will to be critical of the president elect with his followers who voted for Trump but dislike progressive Democrats. Will ignores the many criticisms of the Carrier deal made by progressive Democrats who believe that government has a role to play in dealing with market imperfections, but also argue that Trump went too far in that direction.
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