Ask an American conservative what makes America great, and at least until about a week ago, they might have said that, among other virtues, it’s a country in which the government stays out of the business of getting into business.

Yes, there are exceptions – Fannie Mae and Amtrak come to mind – but their record of mismanagement and mediocrity would prove the conservative’s point. Other democratic countries have government-controlled champion enterprises, and some of them, like the Airbus consortium in Europe, sometimes do well. Yet the heavy hand of the state tends to lead to problems over time, including corruption, inefficiency and a reluctance to let bad companies fail.

The federal US government is becoming an equity shareholder in Intel.Credit: Bloomberg

But American conservatism under President Donald Trump is changing into something unrecognisable, at least to those of us (silly us!) who thought the movement had guiding principles beyond getting, wielding and abusing power. Umpteenth case in point: The federal government becoming an equity shareholder in Intel.

This month, Trump called for the resignation of Lip-Bu........

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