You can draw a straight line on this one
For the last few weeks, Democratic leaders have been leading a discussion about the cost of everyday items such as tomatoes and lumber – giving a clearer picture of what Donald Trump’s trade wars will mean for the average American. The media and even a whole lot of our own side lashed out angrily about this – wondering why we weren’t doing the usual stomping and yelling whenever Donald Trump is about to do something terrible.
The tariffs were paused on Monday following the outcry – but you could draw a straight line to the correlation between what they would hike prices to if implemented and Donald Trump’s decision to cancel them while gaining absolutely nothing from Canada and Mexico in return. The emphasis on prices was a strong reminder that Republicans complaining about the price of groceries was largely what got them into power in November, and would deflate Trump’s popularity with anyone not inside his base.
It doesn’t mean that this is always going to be a reliable method – but it also produced something else – with Trump’s die-hard defenders suddenly claiming they’d gladly pay higher prices in the name of freedom…or something else that isn’t quite clear yet. This puts a rift in his base quite early on – while the concern of Democrats and a number of other voters is moving over to “President Elon Musk” and the actions he was hoping to get away with in secrecy. The lesson is that carefully measured shots work a lot better than performative outrage when it comes to winning the battle – just as much as knowing what battles to pick.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making