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Republicans won't do anything to stop Trump from wrecking the economy [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-05-04
As new economic data shows that President Donald Trump’s trade war is sending the U.S. economy off a cliff, you’d think Republicans would be spooked enough to claw back some of the power they’ve ceded to Dear Leader.
But that’s not happening.
This past Wednesday, Senate Republicans voted against GOP Sen. Rand Paul’s bill to repeal Trump's nonsensical “Liberation Day” tariffs, which are threatening to cause product shortages, spike inflation, and send the economy into a painful recession.
“Many of us in this chamber have heard from constituents concerned about the economic impact of the tariffs,” Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho told The New York Times, but he added that he voted against repealing the tariffs because Trump is trying to negotiate trade deals and believes senators “should not undermine these negotiations by the president at this critical juncture.”
Of course, Trump does not need these steep tariffs in place to negotiate deals. Yet Crapo can’t admit that or else risk angering King Trump.
On the House side, Speaker Mike Johnson made a similar argument, saying that Americans still need to give Trump’s tariff policy time to work, even though time is exactly what could send the economy further down the tubes as companies pause orders and lay off workers.
“What are we, about three weeks into the tariff policy of this new administration? I don’t think it’s appropriate for Congress to jump in the middle of that and try to legislate,” Johnson said at an event hosted by Axios.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, meanwhile, slammed companies that are mulling putting a tariff line item on online checkouts and receipts.
“If, for example, an item at Walmart goes up by double, should Walmart be able to tell its consumer that it’s gone up by double as a function of the tariff, or do you consider that, as President Trump does, a hostile act?” a CNBC host asked Scalise.
"That seems more political,” Scalise replied. “Think about this: When you go to the pump to buy gasoline, did you see them putting an item when Joe Biden shut off American energy and prices went up? Did you see them put an item saying you’re paying $4 instead of $2 a gallon?”
Of course, Biden didn’t “shut off American energy.” Much to the contrary, the U.S. produced record amounts of oil, natural gas, and renewable energy under his administration. Nor did Biden choose to raise gas prices. In fact, presidents have almost no control over gas prices; rather, the laws of supply and demand do.
The question came after Trump went ballistic on Amazon following a report that the retailer was mulling whether to put information on their website about how much tariffs were increasing the price of items. Amazon denied much of the report, likely not wanting to earn Trump’s ire. After all, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has recently tried to cozy up to Trump.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, also criticized Amazon when it seemed the company might highlight tariff costs for consumers.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma
“Why is it the responsibility of a CEO or someone who owns a company to shield the White House from the cost of their policies by not raising prices?” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Mullin
“What do you mean, shield?” Mullin replied. “That's what a business owner does. We prepare for the markets ahead.”
Other Republicans are now trying to lie about the tariffs to claim they aren’t so bad.
For example, Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, told people they shouldn't believe their eyes, ears, and bank account, and that Trump's economic agenda is going just fine!
“The same people who told you Russian collusion was real, the Hunter Biden laptop was fake, Joe Biden was mentally capable of doing his job now attack President Trump on the economy,” Jordan wrote in a post on X. “Can’t be trusted!”
And Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said anyone who worries that the economy shrank in the first three months of Trump's term is a "Panican"—the term Trump coined for people who were worried that tariffs would tank the stock market.
Ultimately, voters aren’t buying what Trump and his GOP defenders are selling.
Polls show Trump’s tariffs are immensely unpopular, with 53% of voters disapproving of the tariffs and another 67% saying they expect tariffs to lead to higher prices, according to a Civiqs poll conducted for Daily Kos.
x Datawrapper Content
Trump’s approval on the economy is in the toilet, with 55% of voters disapproving of his handling of the economy and 47% of voters saying the economy is worse than a year ago, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll.
How bad will things have to get before Republicans finally put their feet down to Trump’s lunacy?
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