Politics

‘They’ve stolen from you’: Dems sharpen economic message on tariffs

Published

6 months ago

February 23, 2026

The Supreme Court’s tariff decision left the door wide open for Democrats to hammer President Donald Trump for violating the law. This time, they’re not taking the bait.

Instead, Democratic campaigns are leaning into an argument they have been making for months: Trump’s tariffs are coming out of voters’ pockets. Some Democrats can’t help but hit the tariffs as “unlawful,” but they’re pivoting quickly back to affordability.

“The decision is a significant development, but prices are still high for folks across the country, and the administration is determined to keep them high,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.,) chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “We are laser focused on affordability and holding Republicans accountable for raising prices on families across the country.”

She said Democrats’ message would have been the same, regardless of how the Supreme Court ruled.

It’s a striking shift from the party’s strategy in 2024, when candidates took every opportunity to warn voters that a second Trump term would create lawlessness and threaten America’s democracy. Even after the nation’s highest court struck down a key plank in the president’s policy agenda, Democrats are eschewing talk of legal intricacies or executive overreach for a focus on the cost of living.

In Washington and in battlegrounds around the country, Democratic lawmakers, governors and candidates are folding the Court’s check of Trump’s executive authority into their continued argument that tariffs are raising the price of groceries and household expenses. Congress is newly considering legislation on refunding tariff revenue to American small businesses, though Speaker Mike Johnson threw cold water on its chances of advancing.

Even Democrats who are pushing a more aggressive message — that Trump “stole” from voters’ pockets — are tying it to affordability for American households, not abuse of power from the White House.

“Donald Trump stole your money with his illegal tariffs — and you paid higher prices on everything from housing to groceries,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on social media.

Voters remain overwhelmingly pessimistic about the economy, even as job growth and inflation numbers improve. Democrats targeting vulnerable incumbent Republicans from Colorado to Minnesota think they’ve found a winning message: Tariffs are making your life unaffordable, whether they’re legal or not.

“People aren’t going to care whether that’s under an IEEPA regulation or Section 122,” said Gabe Horwitz, senior vice president at center-left group Third Way. “The fact is, the Trump administration continues to push tariffs that hurt consumers.”

Democratic operatives point to a series of off-cycle victories late last year in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere, where candidates made cost-of-living central to their pitch. And a torrent of polling suggests Trump’s tariffs are unpopular with the electorate. In a November POLITICO Poll, a 45 percent plurality of Americans said higher tariffs are damaging the U.S. economy — in both the short and long term.

“Prices are increasing, and any time Trump gives us an opportunity to say something happened in the news today — and that is another point of proof that he’s making things more expensive — is a good day for Democrats,” said Andrew Mamo, a Democratic strategist involved in 2026 congressional races, including the Texas Democratic Senate primary. “Every time there is an event that we can bring back to affordability is good.”

There’s also a growing push to send tariff revenue back to consumers, which Democrats believe plays perfectly into their affordability message.

Reps. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), who both represent battleground districts, introduced legislation Friday that would require Customs and Border Patrol to refund tariffs collected over the past year to small and independent businesses. A group of Democratic senators — led by Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire — introduced a similar bill Monday with the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The legislation is likely a nonstarter in the GOP-controlled Congress, but gives Democrats a way to put pressure on Republicans.

“When someone takes money that wasn’t authorized and does it in a way that harms you, they’ve stolen from you, and that is what the Trump administration has done for the last year,” Horsford said in an interview.

It follows calls from several Democratic governors — and 2028 contenders — who quickly seized on the debate about refunds in their responses to last week’s court decision.

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois demanded the federal government refund families $1,700 per household. California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters that Trump has an “obligation” to return the money to consumers who paid more for goods as a result of the tariffs.

“He took hundreds of billions of dollars from working folks — from the ag community, from small businesses — for this vanity play, this illegal action,” Newsom said Friday.

At least one Democrat in a key Senate race is also embracing the demand for a tariff refund. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is trying to unseat Jon Husted, said on Xthat he wanted a refund for every Ohio household and that Husted supported the tariffs “at every turn.”

Providing direct relief to consumers is resonating beyond highly engaged Democratic online circles more so than pointing out the illegality of Trump’s tariffs, said Parker Butler, a Democratic digital strategist and managing partner at Luminary Strategies.

“Pointing out the fact that, ‘See, look, Trump did something illegal’ — obviously that’s worth doing, because he did do something illegal,” said Butler, who ran KamalaHQ in 2024 and now leads digital for James Talarico’s Senate campaign in Texas. “But unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to permeate outside these sort of online political bubbles. If you want to actually break through beyond that bubble, which is what Democrats need to be doing, you can say, ‘Trump owes you money. He’s been illegally taxing you for nearly a year.’”

Trump has only doubled down on his tariff plans in the wake of the court decision, saying Friday that he would use Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a 15 percent global tariff. But that would expire after 150 days unless Congress extends it — a vote that could squeeze vulnerable members just months before the November midterm.

Vulnerable Republicans and GOP strategists who quietly cheered the Friday court decision are worried that they’re heading into a heated, economy-focused election on their back foot.

Meanwhile, Democrats see the president’s insistence on keeping his tariff program alive as fuel for their affordability message.

“We can’t communicate episodically. We need to be communicating constantly,” said Will Robinson, a Democratic consultant and ad-maker. “I think the theoretical thing about the Supreme Court and tariffs is less impactful than what’s actually going on in the grocery basket.”

Brakkton Booker and Jordain Carney contributed reporting.

Politics

Trump invites battleground Republicans to Rose Garden dinner

Published

3 hours ago

September 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump has invited a group of GOP lawmakers including Republicans in competitive races to dine with him Wednesday night at the White House as many in the party press the president to unleash his massive war chest ahead of the November elections, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The White House plans to hold the dinner in the Rose Garden, according to two of the people who know about the invitation. The people were granted anonymity to discuss private planning. Some House Republicans in tough races were sent invitations, including Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), who are planning to attend, along with a wider group of GOP lawmakers and senators.

“Of course,” Van Orden said when asked if he would go to the dinner.

The White House invited at least several dozen lawmakers, according to two people familiar with the invitation list. The dinner also comes ahead of next week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas, though attendance from Republican lawmakers is expected to be mixed. Barrett, for example, said in an interview Tuesday he is not planning to attend the convention and will instead campaign and spend time with his family. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s political operation, MAGA Inc., has spent little of its $400 million war chest to help GOP lawmakers. But he recently helped boost Sen. Darline Graham over the line in her heated primary.

Senate Republicans are eager for him to start spending for Ken Paxton in Texas as he has thus far been outspent on the airwaves by Democrat James Talarico and his allies.

Politics

Susan Collins on Trump, tariffs and her fight for Maine

Published

8 hours ago

September 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Susan Collins on Trump, tariffs and her fight for Maine

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Politics

JD Vance courts Jewish Republicans. Tucker Carlson still looms.

Published

16 hours ago

September 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

LAS VEGAS — Vice President JD Vance tried to make inroads with Jewish Republicans. Not everyone is sold.

Vance’s closed-door speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit Monday night went a long way in alleviating top pro-Israel donors’ concerns about his support for the U.S.-Israeli relationship, and it cemented their view that Vance would be a preferable choice to whomever the Democratic Party nominee is in 2028.

But some attendees still have questions for Vance — particularly around his relationship with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who has long drawn ire from the Republican Jewish leaders for his criticism of Israel and outraged many when he hosted the antisemite Nick Fuentes for a lengthy podcast interview last year.

“He allayed a lot of concern, but he failed to address his relationship with Tucker Carlson, and that left a lot of people wondering why,” said Josh Katzen, a real estate developer and member of the RJC board, speaking in his personal capacity.

Vance, the current front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2028, has long faced skepticism from Jewish Republicans who question his commitment to the U.S.-Israeli relationship and his response to antisemitism within the GOP. In his speech Monday, he took both issues head-on, and largely appeased the skeptical crowd with his answers, declaring that “Jew-hatred is corrosive to the soul” and saying Republicans need to articulate to young Americans why an alliance with Israel is in the best interest of the U.S.

But his meandering response to a question about Carlson and other podcasters left some in attendance yearning for more.

“A few names: Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Joe Rogan, Nick Fuentes. They have platformed antisemites,” former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), the RJC’s board chair, asked Vance. “How do you draw the line, in terms of … the platforms that you appear on?

“I recognize a lot of people in this room may disagree with things that Tucker Carlson or Megyn Kelly or Joe Rogan have said,” Vance said, before pivoting to discuss Rogan and Fuentes, saying those are “two very, very different categories of people” and suggesting people like Rogan should be reasoned with, even when there are disagreements.

The answer was not sufficient to some, who wonder about his longtime relationship with Carlson. Vance was a regular on Carlson’s Fox News show and creditedCarlson for helping carry him to victory in his 2022 U.S. Senate primary in Ohio. In 2024, Carlson pushed for Trump to pick Vance as his running mate.

“JD Vance allying himself with an individual who has called for Trump’s immediate removal from office will make it harder for many of us Jewish conservatives to consider his candidacy,” said Shabbos Kestenbaum, a pro-Israel campus activist who spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024 and spoke at last year’s RJC conference. “We hope this issue is resolved quickly so we can focus on policy, not personality.”

Eric Levine, a major GOP donor and member of the RJC board, said Vance could’ve had “an incredible Sister Souljah moment” if he took on Carlson.

“In my view, on the issue of Jews and Israel, there is no difference between Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani, Abdul El-Sayed and the DSA writ large on the one hand and Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, Marjorie Taylor Green and neo-Nazis on the other hand,” said Levine, speaking in his personal capacity. “That is why I wish the vice president had unambiguously separated himself and condemned Tucker by name.”

Conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg also wasn’t satisfied. Just hours after urging RJC attendees in a speech onstage to “give Vance a chance,” he was critical of how Vance handled that opportunity.

“He had a chance to hammer @TuckerCarlson and @megynkelly but instead spent all his time defending @joerogan over Nick Fuentes,” Rosenberg wrote on X. “Look, he’s still better than any Democrat candidate but I don’t think he wowed the STRONG Jews in the room tonight.”

Carlson, in a text message, said, “An organization that promotes and defends genocide is continuing to insist that they’re the real victims? I can’t imagine who buys this nonsense anymore.”

Human rights groups have accused Israel of genocide over its conduct in the war in Gaza, which the country’s leaders vehemently deny. Vance’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

An individual close to Vance, granted anonymity to describe sentiment within the vice president’s orbit, said there was no illusion Vance would win over every person in attendance, “or that every single person would love every single answer.”

“The goal was to lower the temperature, extend an olive branch, and make clear that the vice president is an ally, not an enemy,” the person said, arguing that goal was “achieved.”

Sam Markstein, spokesperson for the RJC, emphasized that the organization is a coalition.

“There will always be many opinions within the organization,” Markstein said. “In an hour when too many public figures are walking away from the Jewish community and the U.S.-Israel relationship, the Republican Jewish Coalition will always stand with the leaders who show up. Vice President JD Vance shows up — and received multiple standing ovations with thunderous applause.”

Vance, who was elected to the Senate in 2022, faces a fundamental disadvantage among potential Republican 2028ers: He’s still a relative newcomer to the Republican political scene.

Others, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have developed relationships with pro-Israel Republicans in both the Jewish and evangelical Christian communities for years, going well back before their respective 2016 presidential runs. Rubio has pushed to revoke visas from individuals accused of promoting antisemitism or supporting terrorism. Cruz has publicly sparred with Carlson, criticizing him of antisemitism. A Cruz-aligned nonprofit recently launched to take on right-wing antisemitism.

Vance’s speech was his first at an RJC leadership summit, though he attended in 2022. It was the first time since 2019 a sitting president or vice president attended the conference, which draws some of the country’s most influential Republican donors.

Not being a favorite among RJC leaders wasn’t an impediment to Donald Trump’s political outsider 2016 presidential bid. During that campaign, he was accused of invoking antisemitic stereotypes during a speech to the RJC and in a social media post. But upon taking office, he formed a strong relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, culminating in the Abraham Accords and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Speakers at the RJC’s two-day summit this week frequently referred to Trump as the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history.

But Rubio and Cruz have been fixtures at past iterations of the RJC’s annual leadership summit, and they maintain strong ties with the group’s leadership. (None have announced whether they’ll seek the presidential nomination, though Rubio has stated he will not run if Vance does.)

Many attendees said Rubio is still the favorite amongst the crowd.

“Every time Marco Rubio’s name is mentioned in this conference, there’s a spontaneous round of applause,” said Katzen, the RJC board member. Indeed, when Rosenberg urged attendees to welcome Vance in a speech Monday, he mentioned the hypothetical, “If Marco Rubio was here tonight—” and was drowned out by applause.

Should Rubio not run for the nomination against Vance, other observers think Cruz will have the inside lane among the RJC crowd.

“Ted Cruz is loved here, and he deserves to be loved here,” said Levine, prior to Vance’s speech. “Look, if it’s Cruz and Vance, I expect that this crowd would be 90 percent Cruz.”

Ari Fleischer, an RJC board member and a former White House press secretary, said Vance made inroads — but building a relationship with the pro-Israel community takes time.

“It’s fair to say hearts and minds are changing, but I think it’s also fair to say that when you come before the Republican Jewish Coalition, it’s like when you come to New Hampshire to campaign,” Fleischer said. “After the third or fourth time, we let you know how you’re doing.”