Jacob Heilbrunn
Donald Trump was revved up for his Freedom 250 Grand Prix auto race, which took place in downtown Washington yesterday. But even as the American President enjoyed the festivities, the mood elsewhere was distinctly less buoyant. With Democrats pounding away at voter concerns about affordability, Republican legislators are fretting that Trump might crash the party’s political fortunes with his costly tariff policies. If the President wanted to promote an economic programme that was designed to bolster the political prospects of the Democrats in the impending November midterm elections, he could hardly do better than his institution of new duties of 50 per cent against Canadian goods.
Already Republican candidates are reeling from Trump’s mishandling of the economy, not to mention the Iran war. Inflation is up. Employment is down. The standard Trump administration retort is to blame it all on Biden, but that dog won’t hunt. Democratic gubernatorial candidates in red states like Iowa and Texas are running even with their Republican coevals. A new Politico poll indicates that only 37 per cent of the Maga base continues to support the Iran war – down from 50 per cent in May.
