Republicans Are Sweating the Economy... THEY SHOULD!!!
Former White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates says after years of false promises, Trump and the GOP are pushing policies that hurt the middle class—and voters are noticing.
Written by Andrew Bates
This is Andrew Bates. I was White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary in the Biden-Harris Administration and a national spokesperson on the Biden campaign in 2020.
First, thank you for your incredible support during the last four years as we worked together to beat Big Pharma so that Medicare can negotiate lower drug costs, defeated the gun lobby to pass the most significant gun reform in 30 years, and made rich special interests pay more of their fair share in taxes.
Before the Biden campaign, I spent the 2018 midterms leading the House races arm of the Democratic super PAC American Bridge, helping to retake the House majority. I’m writing today because it’s already clear that in 2025, Republicans are turning their back on middle class voters. Just like they did in 2017 - which Democrats seized on to win the following year. We can do the same now.
In 2017, after telling the country he’d “raise taxes on the very wealthy” - including himself - and provide cheaper, better health insurance for “everybody,” Trump was joined by congressional Republicans in not only breaking those promises, but doing the exact opposite of every single one. And because Americans’ top political priority is virtually always their family’s economic bottom line, Democrats were relentless in making sure every voter we could reach knew they’d been double-crossed.
Once again, Republicans are proving that their defining 2024 campaign theme - fighting for hardworking people and against the wealthy establishment - was a lie all along. And that the top promise of Trump’s campaign - lower prices on “Day One” - was a con. Instead, the GOP is acting on a radical economic agenda to redistribute wealth from middle class families to their elite donors:
House and Senate Republicans have voted for severe health care cuts that would deprive millions of coverage while increasing costs and closing hospitals - especially in rural communities
In a price-raising tax hike on the middle class, Trump is imposing sweeping tariffs
Rather than only targeting government waste, the richest man in the world is kneecapping programs that are critical to our economy, like firing the personnel who take on bird flu—even as egg prices skyrocket
The common denominator for all of this is that everyone who’s not rich is being screwed over in favor of tax handouts to the well-connected. Like Bernie Madoff, Republicans are charging honest people for what they claim is access to the American Dream, while corruptly profiting at their expense.
But there are clear signs of backlash. Today Semafor wrote, “Republicans start to sweat as Trump takes ownership of US economy.” That followed two new polls released Thursday:
Bloomberg: “Trump Risks American Consumer Backlash Over Tariffs, Poll Shows”
CBS News: “Americans say incomes not keeping up with inflation”
Those are just the latest in a sharpening downward trend in public opinion.
What’s more, consumer confidence - the most important window we have into how Americans feel about the economy - has fallen twice in a row - rapidly - under Trump, specifically because of higher costs and tariff taxes.
Constituent town halls are boiling over as Americans speak out against rising inflation and DOGE cuts that go far beyond the fat we all want to trim, while slicing into economic and national security bone. Last night it was reported that Musk is planning to decimate the Social Security Administration. He has also fired staff who keep nuclear weapons secure, undermined our Ebola prevention efforts. And we have no idea what’s been done with our personal IRS and Social Security information. Meanwhile, Musk’s companies continue to make billions in government contracts. Republicans aren’t “robbing Peter to pay Paul;” they’re robbing all of us to pay Elon and themselves, laughing their way to the bank.
But if we take a step back, at this rate, Republicans won’t be laughing in November of 2025 or 2026. They also may not care for the outcome of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race Musk is attempting to buy.
And with a one-seat margin in the House, congressional special elections will be nerve wracking for Republicans.
In fact, as Greg Sargent pointed out in The New Republic, it’s not only public polls that show Americans disapproving of the GOP’s record: Trump’s own pollsters have new data showing voters in House swing districts are very concerned about their personal financial situations; are more focused on the cost of living than any other issue; and hate Republicans’ plans to cut taxes for the rich and take health care from middle class families.
What’s more, on a generic ballot, they prefer Democrats by 5 percentage points.
We should grow that margin by listening to those voters and not letting anything shake our focus on 1, the economic stakes of stopping Republicans’ fleecing of the middle class, and 2, how Democrats will open new, modern pathways to building wealth and a better future for every family.
There are Democrats who are stepping forward and offering that kind of leadership.
Like House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who just blasted House Republicans for endorsing “the largest Medicaid cut in American history” and choosing “their billionaire puppet masters over the American people.”
The New Democrat Coalition, which flipped 8 Republican districts from Red to Blue in 2024, announced a fresh and relevant vision for the party, based on, “economic growth and opportunity, healthy and safe communities, and strong national security and defense.” That vision includes strong border security and slashing our deficit, neither of which we should be shy about standing up for.
As we hold Republicans accountable for selling all of us out to the wealthy establishment and trampling basic American values, remember what my Biden Administration colleague Neera Tanden recently said: “We should not be knee-jerk institution defenders. People do want change. We have to argue why our vision of change is better.”
This all gives Democrats a lot to work with as we show we are the real advocates for hardworking people who want to get ahead. Including an argument we should never leave off the field during the midterms: “Republicans promised us lower inflation and prices. But they gave us higher inflation, higher prices, higher taxes on the middle class, and higher health care costs - all so billionaires and corporations could gain tax welfare at the expense of everyone else.”
Andrew Bates was the White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary in the Biden-Harris Administration and a national spokesperson on the Biden campaign in 2020.
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Trump is a bad guy to his own nation as well as our allies. America going to find out just how bad it is not to have allies and worse yet have Putin as an ally with the poorest economy in Europe!
That's great but we can't wait til 2025. What are we doing NOW to get Republicans on board! Impeach any congressperson or senator not following the will of their constituents.