WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has overseen an unprecedented melding of the private sector with the federal government — so much so that critics say it smells of socialism.Since Trump re-entered the White House, America has taken a stake in at least 10 private companies, the federal government is now negotiating drug prices on TrumpRX, and the president now controls countless pots of foreign funds that have so far evaded congressional oversight. While Trump has expanded his power within the private sector on congressional Republicans' watch, many powerful GOP members of Congress shrug off his repeated power plays. “I haven't put much thought into it, to be honest with you,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who chairs the far-right Freedom Caucus, told Raw Story. “We've got other issues and I'm no expert in that, so I leave that to other people.”“Doesn't it feel a little bit like socialism from the right, though?” Raw Story pressed. “I don't know the specifics of the deals,” Harris said. “You know, in general, I'm not supportive, but I don't know enough about the specifics to make a comment.” That’s laughable to many progressives who accuse congressional Republicans of giving Trump a pass as he remakes the GOP and federal government in his own image. “He's using the words, you know, ‘socialism,’ ‘communism,’ ‘leftists’ as rhetoric against us,” Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) told Raw Story. “And yet there are so many things happening in this administration that to any sober outside observer would be like, that actually smacks of socialism.” “I haven't touched it” Trump’s rhetoric is mirrored by congressional Republicans who regularly decry their Democratic counterparts on Capitol Hill for supporting measures in principle that fall far short of what this White House is doing in practice. "It's an interesting paradox, especially when I sit in Budget or Judiciary Committee hearings and the biggest way that they go after us all the time is on 'socialism,' right?” Balint said. “But when your great leader does it they just roll over.” And congressional Republicans have been rolling over a lot for Trump.Besides now having a 9.9% stake in Intel after buying 433.3 million shares last August, the federal government’s also signed deals taking stakes in private nuclear development projects, an earth magnet startup in North Carolina, a rare earth mine in Texas, a minerals startup in Alaska and a lithium mine in Nevada. “I have not been studying that at all,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, told Raw Story. “I haven't touched it.” Under Trump, the federal government also locked in a “golden share” in U.S. Steel. Even though America doesn’t have any direct monetary stake in the company, the president has veto power over some of its decisions, including if it wants to change its name or relocate. And in July, the Pentagon bought $400 million in preferred stock of MP Materials with options to purchase more shares in the future, making the U.S. military the largest individual shareholder in America’s only commercial rare earth mine. Nationalizing companies — the process in which a government takes control and ownership of private assets — is a fundamental cornerstone of socialist theory.While congressional Republicans have heard some of the criticisms, few have bothered looking into the details. “I understand the concerns it’s raised,” Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), who chairs the Senate Finance and Joint Taxation Committees, told Raw Story. “I'm not that engaged enough in it to register an opinion right now.”“There's a downside to everything” The GOP was never able to coalesce around a replacement of so-called Obamacare, but the president did slap his name on a new federal government prescription drug program, TrumpRX. While Republicans decry the left for pushing government-run health care, Trump is leaning on drug manufacturers to get Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing for an array of pharmaceuticals, ranging from migraine medications to weight loss drugs. “Thanks to President Trump, the days of Big Pharma price-gouging are over,” the government’s website reads. “Leveraging the full weight and power of the United States of America, the President has ensured every American gets the lowest prices on prescription medications in the developed world.” The program has garnered praise from at least one of the four Republican physicians in the U.S. Senate. “Indeed, it is working,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) told Raw Story. “It's not perfect, it doesn't cover every drug, but people are seeing some significant savings.” “Are you worried at all that if a Democrat takes over the White House, they could expand that, and this could become socialized medicine?" Raw Story pressed. "Yeah, I think there's a downside to everything that the government does to get involved,” Marshall said.