Sarah Palin turns on Trump: Calls Carrier deal 'crony capitalism

In a shocking turn, one of President-elect Donald Trump's biggest cheerleaders has turned on him and is criticizing the "Carrier" deal that so many have praised for preserving 1,000 American jobs.

Here's what she says via Politico:

In an op-ed for the website Young Conservatives, the former Alaska governor allowed that the details behind the manufacturer’s decision to keep some 1,000 jobs in Indiana at the president-elect’s behest, rather than move them to Mexico, are not yet clear. But touting the value of free markets, Palin signaled her disapproval if it was a case of “political intrusion using a stick or carrot to bribe or force one individual business to do what politicians insist.”

“When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent,” she asserted.

And in an apparent jab at Trump, whom she famously endorsed in a rambling speech earlier this year, she asked: “Republicans oppose this, remember? Instead, we support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special interest crony capitalism is one big fail.”

Palin's criticism of Trump is somewhat surprising, in light of Trump's express promise to cut deals like this, and who has made it clear that his populist positions aren't aligned with traditional conservatism and indeed are oftentimes hostile to it. At no point on the campaign trail did Palin object to Trump's deviations from standard free-market conservatism, so it is a mystery as to why Palin suddenly unleashed such harsh criticism of Trump. One possible explanation is that Palin's PAC has been openly lobbying for Palin to be appointed as head of Veterans Affairs, a position for which Trump was reportedly considering Palin earlier this week. Is it possible that Palin has been informed that she was denied the position she craved?

In order to keep the jobs in America, Carrier was offered $7 million by the State of Indiana, which certainly seems like the definition of "crony capitalism." Will we see more of these deals at the expense of the taxpayer or will Trump listen to these dissenting voices from the right?