'Complete 180-degree flip': Democratic rep breaks ranks to defend Trump's tariff strategy

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine has broken ranks with others in his party to signal support for President Donald Trump's new tariffs.

Golden told Axios that his stance is consistent with what the Democratic Party supposedly once stood for as opposed to the neoliberal outlook his comrades now appear unable to shake. However, this might just be a matter of political pragmatism — of a vulnerable congressman distancing himself from a message that might end up dragging down some of his similarly vulnerable colleagues in the midterm elections.

The Democratic Party, which recent polling indicated is more unpopular than ever, has criticized virtually everything Trump has done since taking office, including his efforts to deport terroristic gangsters, eject pro-Hamas international students, remove transvestites from the military, and prevent noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections.

The Democratic leadership members in the U.S. Senate and the House have also reflexively denounced the president's tariff strategy. The frayed and listless party appears keen to unify around this issue since opposition to the termination of D.C. bureaucrats and to the deportation of criminal noncitizens weren't the winning causes Democrats mistook them for.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) recently dusted off an old talking point, accusing Trump and Republican lawmakers of intentionally trying to crash the economy, dubbing the president's promised "Liberation Day" a "recession day," and labeling the tariffs "reckless."

On Monday, Jeffries went farther, suggesting that Trump's new tariffs were part of some greater scheme to tank the economy, thereby creating a "buying opportunity" for wealthy supporters, reported The Hill.

'I remember Dems being outraged by the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, all these trade deals.'

"The Trump tariffs, which are a tax on the American people, are so reckless, so un-strategic, so lacking in any sophistication that the only conclusion that one can draw is that Donald Trump and the Republicans are intentionally tanking the economy," said Jeffries. "Is it because, as Donald Trump has indicated, that during tough economic times the rich get richer, and it's a buying opportunity?"

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has similarly bemoaned Trump's tariffs.

"Tomorrow Trump says he will begin imposing his destructive sweeping tariffs, and if that happens it will be a gut punch to Upstate NY's economy," Schumer said in a April 1 statement. "Plain and simple, Trump's tariffs are a tax increase on Upstate New York, a massive new destructive national sales tax for all of America."

It's also clear from senior Democrats' desperation to hold condemning hearings and get symbolic anti-tariff votes on the record that the party largely regards this as a winning issue.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) successfully pushed a resolution last week to reject the national emergency Trump invoked to justify his imposition of a 25% tariff on Canadian imports. The resolution was pure political theater, as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made clear it would not ultimately go to a vote on the floor.

'Tariffs are a first step in rewriting a rigged trade system.'

Senate Democrats are reportedly plotting another measure aimed at undoing the tariffs Trump imposed on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, indicated that he plans to introduce a resolution to "force a vote on ending the made up national emergency Trump is using to justify" the tariffs.

Rep. Jared Golden told Axios, "I'd be a 'no' on that," referring to Meeks' measure.

"My biggest worry is that they're going to do this and lose faith and political will and back away," said the Maine Democrat, whom the National Republican Congressional Committee figures is vulnerable in next year's midterm election.

"I remember Dems being outraged by the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, all these trade deals, even as recently as [the Trans-Pacific Partnership]," Golden told Axios. "Now all of a sudden it's like a complete 180-degree flip here, where we're staunchly defending the importance and relevance of the stock market to the American economy and defending free trade deals."

Earlier this month, Golden stated on X that he was pleased with elements of Trump's tariff agenda, noting that "this ring fence around the American economy is a good start to erasing our unsustainable trade deficits" and that "tariffs are a first step in rewriting a rigged trade system."

The Maine Democrat suggested to Axios that while his comrades are "searching under every couch cushion for ways to re-appeal the party to working class, coming out against this so strongly" is bad strategy.

A Wall Street Journal poll conducted from March 27 through April 1 — before the stock market nosedive on Thursday and Friday — found that 54% of voters opposed and 42% of voters supported Trump's levies on imported goods.

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