They ain’t Happy…
But they ARE Scared of the Big Bad Wolf…..
A guy who has had a rocky business record….
But in the case of Trump’s on-again, off-again, dizzying dance on tariffs — especially those on Canada and Mexico — Republicans are largely breaking from the president, if softly. The remarks on tariffs mark a subtle, and largely rhetorical, shift for Republicans, who typically are at extreme pains to appear in sync with the president. And they speak to how unorthodox Trump’s economic policies have been, even as Republican lawmakers decline to take any steps to rein in the president’s authority.
The disconnect comes as tariffs on Canada and Mexico — and Trump’s move to ratchet them up — have rocked the stock market and threatened what even Trump tacitly acknowledged could be a recession. That leaves Republicans in the position of vouching not only for something that is anathema to the free-market principles so central to the GOP’s identity for decades, but for policies that could pose real harm to both the economy and their own political prospects….
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Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana) has repeatedly cited his worry about the impact of tariffs, even wagering that Trump might ultimately back off.
“I think if the tariffs do start to cause inflation, I think the president will back away from them,” Kennedy predicted last week, adding that “the thing [people] expect the president to fix is high prices.” (Tariffs almost always cause some inflation.)
And they’re hardly the only ones:
- “I am hopeful these tariffs will be a short-term step to encourage negotiations rather than a long-term measure that could lead to retaliatory actions impacting Indiana’s ag sector,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana) posted on social media.
- “When we start losing, you back off. There’s such a thing as strategic retreat,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) said. “At the end of the day, I think we have more leverage than any other nation. But we gotta be smart. And we don’t have all the leverage.”
- “Hopefully things will settle down,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said after Trump last week paused many of the tariffs for one month. Cornyn cited other Trump policies that could fuel growth, while adding that “markets prefer stability rather than uncertainty.”
Also telling about the GOP’s commentary is the sheer lack of rhetorical backup Trump is getting….
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Of course, there is something these lawmakers can do if they really don’t like the tariffs: They could reclaim the power over such levies that Congress has ceded to the presidency over the years. The Constitution gives Congress the power over tariffs, after all.
If they start talking in earnest about that, you’ll know they’ve lost patience and they’re truly fearful….
Sniveling ,cowardly POS’s