George Will rips Trump’s 'tirelessly big government'

22 August

Conservative Washington Pos columnist George Will at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on March 6, 2014 (Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock.com)

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order addressing the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) model in college sports. The order, the White House said, would prevent "third-party, pay-to-play" payments to college athletes.

Trump's MAGA supporters are saying the order demonstrates his commitment to fairness. But conservative Washington Post columnist George Will, in his August 22 column, argues that Trump, by interfering in college sports, is doing the type of thing conservatives traditionally opposed in the past.

"The universities are pleading with Congress, which you might think has more urgent priorities, to protect them from twin terrors: athletes being paid their market value, and antitrust litigation resulting from the cartels collaborating to stifle this," the 84-year-old Never Trump conservative writes. "The conferences want, in effect, federal price controls, lest athletes in some states be able to earn more than those in other states — a nightmare for recruiters. And lest too much money flows to the athletes the money-spenders pay to see."

Will continues, "Trump, who cannot see a parade without jumping in front of it, has issued (what else?) an executive order, saying that federal action is needed to 'restore order.' Translation: to suppress the disorder that results when society's lower orders (here, athletes suddenly allowed serious compensation) acquire rights and aspirations. This has happened now that athletes with lucrative skills enjoy free agency, the ability to sell their services to the highest bidder."

Trump, according to Will, is once again inserting himself into something he should say out of.

"The president's order says the post-2021 system 'risks exploiting student-athletes,'" Will observes. "His sense of irony deserts him when he says athletes now face exploitation as they finally gain leverage, a.k.a. freedom, regarding the wealth they create. The college sports industry is hurriedly improvising institutions empowered to give the schools cost-certainty, and handsome profits…. Although big-time college sports are strange appendages to higher education, they are, momentarily, educational. They are teaching how government collaborates with society's big battalions to resist disruptions."

The conservative columnist adds, "Even if you have no interest in football, pay attention and see how tirelessly big government defends the strong."

George Will's full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).

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