Kristol: In terms of businesses and others, this is a case where I've gotten, if anything, maybe more of a libertarian. Limited government is really important.
Why has the country done pretty well in surviving the Trump presidency so far? Because the president's limited. It's not Argentina. The dictator can't just destroy all these institutions. He can't take over businesses. He can't even take over the entire federal government because there are civil service rules and military regulations, and the Senate and the House. Whatever their lack of standing up to Trump, they still exist and have some authority. The courts obviously, federal and state government, civil society, businesses.
That's actually been a good reminder of why we believe in limited government in general, and limited federal government, a presidency that's restrained in all kinds of ways, the rule of law. So, I've become, if anything, more of a limited government, rule of law, constitutional-norms type of guy.
It's nice that their businesses got a tax cut and that the stock market's had a good year. But you really don't want to sacrifice what the founders put in place and people have labored to keep and improve for 200 and however many years, 40 years, because of one good year in the stock market.
Harwood: Do business leaders have a role in speaking out?
Kristol: Yes. Now it's hard to ask them, "Don't take this thing from the president, or the president wants to do a photo op at your company and say 'This company's staying here because of me.' It's hard to ask them not to do it.
But I thought it was sort of disgraceful when the tax cut gets passed and they immediately have these bonuses. If the tax cut's good policy, we'll see that it was good policy. And it's perfectly legitimate a year later for corporate leaders to say, 'One of the things that contributed to our excellent returns this year was a more favorable tax structure which allows us to compete around the world. And we're really thrilled that our workers have done better.'