Reporting from Bloomberg today highlights the tortured, nonsensical lengths Vulnerable House Republicans are going to in an attempt to prove their fealty to Donald Trump – even as they witness in real time the carnage his sweeping tariffs are wreaking on working families across the country.
Even with the news of the nation’s economy contracting in the first 100 days of Trump’s term hanging over their head, vulnerable House Republicans continue to fall in line, even cheerleading sweeping tariffs as consumer confidence sinks lower and lower with concerns about rising prices hitting American families and businesses.
Read more from Bloomberg below.
Bloomberg: Trump’s Mixed Tariff Message Puts At-Risk Republicans In a Bind
Ian Kullgren | May 2, 2025
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President Donald Trump’s wavering on tariffs is putting House Republicans in a tough spot as they try to defend the president in public — while also starting to pitch themselves to voters ahead of next year’s crucial midterm elections.
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These GOP lawmakers find themselves exposed to a potentially killer combination of election factors: Democratic attacks, rising voter skepticism and anger with the Trump tariffs, market turmoil, and ominous signs from overseas importers that prices could surge.
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With a year and a half to go until the election, vulnerable House Republicans are sticking with tariffs support.
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Democrats are already seizing on Republicans’ support of Trump’s tariffs, signaling it will be a key part of their midterm campaign strategy.
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“House Republicans are having trouble defending Trump’s sweeping tariffs because they can’t escape from this simple fact: Trump’s tariffs are a tax on Americans that is raising prices,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement to Bloomberg Government. “The economic chaos caused by these tariffs are a constant reminder of Republicans’ broken promises to voters. Their failure to lower prices will cost them the House majority.”
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Many mainstream economists, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, believe prices will rise, a view shared by the vast majority of voters.
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Nearly 90% of respondents in a recent Gallup poll said they believe tariffs would increase the price of goods.
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A Pew Research survey found that fewer than half of Americans trust Trump’s handling of the economy. At the same time, the price of consumer goods, housing, and energy topped their list of economic concerns.
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The public skepticism could come back to bite vulnerable House Republicans such as Rep. Gabe Evans of Colorado, who said at a virtual town hall April 2 that tariffs “will ultimately bring down the price of goods for all Americans” by strong-arming other nations to lower trade barriers.
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Evans, a freshman […], faces a brutal re-election campaign in one of nine GOP toss-up races identified by the Cook Political Report.
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Another vulnerable Republican, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania, told Bloomberg Radio in March it’s a “red herring” to say hiking tariffs “is directly going to hurt Americans.”
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