the opposite, actually. he said "affordability" is a democrat hoax.MemphisAg1 said:Science Denier said:MemphisAg1 said:Science Denier said:Quote:
Trump is apparently going to double down on tariffs tonight. Regardless of whether you think his broad-based tariff strategy is good for the country, I don't think it's a winner politically and will undermine his desire to retain Congress in the upcoming midterms. Most folks don't think the eventual gain from tariffs -- if it ever materializes -- is worth the pain here and now.
Inflation is down
Wages are up
GDP is growing
Trade deficit is declining
What pain is being caused now by tariffs?
The disconnect is he is loudly proclaiming tariffs as good for America, but people aren't feeling it. Inflation is down from the Biden years, but it's also stubbornly hanging around 3%. PCE inflation for December just printed at 3% and economists expect it to potentially move up a bit in January due to tariffs. Their words, not mine.
The "trade deficit" doesn't mean anything to everyday Americans. And as a practical matter, we continue running annual deficits of 6% to 7%, adding to the outrageous national debt. We kept taxes low but did nothing to reduce spending that moves the needle.
The key concern today is "affordability." He would do much better to focus on that topic and what he is doing to improve things for Americans than his obsession with tariffs. He comes across like he's a wearing tin foil hat, ignoring what people really care about. And that will absolutely nail you in the voting booth.
He's done a lot of good work to eliminate excessive regulations, promote the availability of low cost energy (gas prices!), and many other things. The body of work is there, but his public messaging is not.
None of that has anything to do with tariffs.
It has everything to do with his public messaging and what voters believe is important to him. Do we hear him talking about affordability and all the things he's doing to try and make it better?
Crickets. Instead all we get is the non-stop drone about tariffs, and how the Supreme Court is unfair, and how tariffs are going to make us great again!
Increasingly, nobody cares about his damn tariffs. They care about paying the bills, and they think he's preoccupied with fighting other countries instead of prioritizing the little man and woman.
He can continue on that path if he wants, but it will lead to a shellacking in the midterms.
meanwhile, he changes his tariff policy once a week making them impossible to enforce, and they serve no purpose other than to cudgel foreign leaders into being nice to him.
