Trump Has Provided An Opening For Democrats - They Must Seize It

The following is part of a New York Times article by Democratic consultant James Carville:

In many ways, President Trump is a one-trick Shetland pony: He talks a big game, like building a border wall or ending Covid, and then tries to distract Americans when his promises go belly up. Back in office this winter, he promised a golden age for the economy and the end of inflation starting on Day 1 — and then we got served plenty of fish bait: blowing smoke about seizing Greenland, huffing and puffing about annexing Canada and throwing people into a tizzy over seeking a third term, which hewill never be able to do.

Now we know why. Mr. Trump didn’t have a plan to bring down inflation and make life better (except for the rich, who disproportionately benefit from his tax cuts), and he was hellbent on tariffs at all costs.

The problem is that smoke and mirrors only work until you screw up so hard that no act of lunacy can pull the American people’s attention elsewhere. And boy, did the president just screw up royally.

In what will certainly be recorded as one of the most ignorant acts of political leadership in American history, the president of the United States has now willfully damaged the global economy with his tariff chaos. Not only was this an act of economic warfare, it has broken the cardinal rule in American politics: Never destabilize the economy. With it, the Trump administration is causing enormous damage to itself — and there can be no more distraction from this naked truth.

This is where the Democrats have an opening. In February I wrote a piece calling on my party’s leaders to play dead, allowing the Republicans to punch themselves out and crumble beneath their own weight. But many Democrats indulged Mr. Trump’s lunacy or allowed themselves to become the story over the government funding and shutdown debate, while the president continued his campaign of chaos and distraction. Now, Democrats have an opportunity to allow the Republicans to edge closer to collapse as the party in full control of Washington — let’s please not become the story again and get in their way. . . .

My fellow Democrats, it’s time we transform our party into a projector for the economic pain of the American people.

Here’s how to do it:

First, focus on prices. We must start with what matters most. . . .The most direct hit to working people’s pocketbooks will always be from the cost of daily goods. Making it clear that Trump and the Republicans willingly broke this promise should be in every ad, every podcast talking point, every message we send from now until the midterms.

Second, it’s not about the stock market, it’s about 401(k)s. With six in 10 Americans lacking the savings to cover even a $1,000 emergency expense, Democrats cannot afford to hinge our economic narrative on the rise and fall of a market for the privileged. For younger Americans, stocks will most likely rebound and grow over time. But the tariffs are a poison dagger for those who have saved and vested into their 401(k) their entire lives, just to see it depleted by the reckless actions of the president. . . .

And third, make the message local. . . .The Democratic Party must now take local stories and project them where they matter most. Record the story of Nicholas Gilbert, a dairy farmer upended by the tariffs — and localize it to Wisconsin. Focus on the Latino and Black men who supported his previous election, and take it to Georgia or Arizona. Go on influencer networks and podcasts talking about the looming increase in car prices and the fact that the president explodedNintendo’s plans for the Switch 2.

For the entirety of his tenure in American politics, Donald Trump for better or worse has lived on by the grace of the American people’s faith in his economic leadership. Now it is plain and clear, just as with his failures in Atlantic City or with Trump University, that President Trump never had any idea what he was doing all along. If we avoid the distractions to come and stay focused on the economy, Democrats can take back the one issue that has kept Trump on a respirator all this time.