I kind of hate-follow this person on BlueSky because she’s a Democratic strategist who I think is right sometimes but is locked into consultant brain:
Trump won on “affordability” not just because he pointed out that the economy sucked over and over, but also because he promised to fix it. Now his promise was utter bullshit, and that’s clear to everyone who shops in a grocery store or buys gas for their car, but Trump wasn’t just complaining. He had a plan.
The constant talk about “affordability” from Democrats, and the fact that Trump is giving them ready-made TV ads showing his indifference to the plight of average Americans, will probably get some more Democrats elected. To do what, exactly? What is our plan? How are we going to lower prices? Because I sure don’t see any bright ideas from the Democrats who are clearly following the advice of consultants like Bitecofer.
The danger of making the campaign all about affordability is that we’re at a point where the resentment about high prices is almost impossible to overcome. A grocery item that used to be $4, and is now $7, isn’t going to magically become, say, $5. The best we can probably do is to keep it from going to $8. Gas may be the one exception to this, though there’s a pretty good chance that Trump will finally declare victory and run away from Iran, so gas prices will fall back to pre-war levels in 2028.
It’s easy to complain (fun, too!), so instead of just complaining, here are a couple of thoughts about how we can still focus on how shit is too expensive but also make some achievable promises:
Healthcare is one place where we can implement something that really affects people’s perception of economic well-being, so Democrats need to get back on the universal healthcare horse.
As Joe writes regularly, the corruption is awful and it can be tied to affordability: “You’re paying more for gas while Republicans are stealing your tax dollars.” Note that it’s “Republicans,” not just Trump, and also note the specificity and personalization of “stealing from you.” What we’re going to about it is prosecute them and get our money back.
Tax the rich, who need to pay their fair share. Also, tax corporations that are making out like bandits while prices go up. Billionaires and corporations are our enemies, let’s fight them, and also point out their share of responsibility for high prices.
I’m sure there are others, but these three things are a good start.
