Political junkies, amateur historians, party activists, and policy-minded Americans ought to take a moment to appreciate Election Day 2025. This will probably be the very last U.S. election under the old Republican-versus-Democrat paradigm.
We’re one Supreme Court decision away from the Donkeys and Elephants flipping sides on taxes.
For over 50 years, no issue has defined the two parties more than taxation: Democrats favor more and Republicans favor less. The GOP’s go-to line of attack is to accuse Democrats of being “tax and spend liberals;” for the Democrats, it’s blasting Republicans for favoring “tax cuts for the rich.”
It’s a defining feature of both parties’ brand identities.
Part of the reason was historic: “Taxation without representation” was one of the rallying cries of the American Revolution. (Which helps explain why America is so frickin’ awesome: Other countries tolerated gross, disturbing abuses by kings, queens, and government officials. They shrugged their shoulders as monarchs jailed dissidents, stole property, and executed innocent people. But here in America, we were like, “Hey, they’re taxing our tea?! Those BASTARDS! THIS MEANS WAR!!”)
We Americans don’t put up with no bull[feces].
But the main reason was that taxation served as a proxy for each party’s worldview. Democrats wanted to grow the government; Republicans sought to shrink it. And when a Republican president broke his pledge of “Read my lips: no new taxes,” it crushed his credibility, giving the Donkeys the White House.
Such was the PR power of taxes.
In the three big elections that’ll be decided tonight (knock on wood: hopefully the cheating “vote counting” won’t drag on for days), the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have mostly been parroting the same old talking points they’ve used for decades. From Virginia through New Jersey and into the Big Apple, the GOP candidates are for keeping taxes low(er), and the Dems are promising a slew of new taxes to fund a bevy of new (“free!”) government goodies.
But that’s Election Day 2025 — the final chapter of the old paradigm.
What happens in 2026, when the Democrats make a blanket pledge to eliminate the Trump tariffs?
Or in 2028, when the GOP presidential nominee (likely to be JD Vance) runs on the platform of continuing MAGA’s tariff policies, whereas the Democrats promise to trash ‘em entirely?
Even if the Supreme Court rules against Trump’s tariffs (which is a distinct possibility; the constitutionality is unclear), this issue won’t go away. If we know anything about President Trump, it’s that he’ll keep fighting tooth and nail for what he believes in.
Aides have spent weeks strategizing how to reconstitute the president’s global tariff regime if the [Supreme Court] rules that he exceeded his authority. They’re ready to fall back on a patchwork of other trade statutes to keep pressure on U.S. trading partners and preserve billions in tariff revenue, according to six current and former White House officials and others familiar with the administration’s thinking, some of whom were granted anonymity to share details of private conversations.
“They’re aware there are a number of different statutes they can use to recoup the tariff authority,” said Everett Eissenstat, former deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council during Trump’s first term. “There’s a lot of tools there that they could go to make up that tariff revenue.”
The contingency planning underscores how much is at stake for Trump, who has used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law designed for national emergencies, to impose tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner — the foundation of his second-term economic agenda. The justices will weigh whether the law gives the president broad power to impose economic restrictions — or whether Trump has stretched it beyond what Congress intended.
And of course, if we know anything about the Democrats, it’s that they hate EVERYTHING about Donald Trump (who’s “literally Hitler” and a “fascist”). It’s a simple calculus: If Trump supports it, they’re against it.
I do mean EVERYTHING: We even have leading Democrats demanding the 2028 presidential nominees go on the record and vow to “take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE.”
Look, if they’re gonna destroy an innocent White House ballroom, imagine what they’ll do to Trump’s tariffs!
Furthermore, tariffs aren’t popular. We haven’t won that argument yet.
Most Americans say they are spending more on groceries and utilities and say tariffs hurt inflation, the economy and their own financial situations, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
As inflation climbs, about 7 in 10 Americans say they are spending more money on groceries compared to last year and about 6 in 10 say they are spending more on utilities. Another roughly 4 in 10 say they are spending more on health care, housing and gasoline than they were last year.
[…]
Overall, 65% of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs, including 96% of Democrats, 72% of independents and 29% of Republicans.
It sets the stage for one of the oddest, weirdest political switcharoos in recent American history: The Republican establishment will be the party of tariffs — which are a form of taxation — while the Democrats will be the ones pledging to get “Big Government” out of the import/export business.
And in this PR battle, the Democrats will have the upper hand, because it’s an easier “sell” to their base: Their Trump Derangement Syndrome is so severe, there won’t be any cognitive dissonance and/or blowback. All they need to do is say, “Trump supports tariffs,” and that’ll be more than enough to keep their base chomping at the bit to get rid of ‘em ASAP.
But how will the Republican base react?
Conservative Republicans have long recognized the link between financial freedom and personal liberty: The more money you have, the more options you have. The more options you have, the more freedom you have.
That’s how it works in the real world!
Furthermore, we also trust the American people to spend their own money more prudently than the politicians in D.C. Those closest to the problem are usually best equipped to solve it.
These are fundamentally conservative beliefs, and they’re directly tied to the ethos of limited government, personal autonomy, and laissez-faire economics. For “conservatives of a certain age,” these life-lessons were drilled into our heads — decades at a time — by the illustrious Dean of the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Which is why encouraging conservatives to get out and vote in FAVOR of higher taxes is a really big ask.
In fairness to President Trump, his tariff policies were never intended to be an added tax burden on the American people. It’s part and parcel of a far larger strategy: Tackling the affordability crisis by rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base, bringing good-paying jobs back to the heartland.
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He’s also hinted that tariff revenue could lead to the ultimate conservative victory: The total elimination of the income tax.
President Donald Trump on Sunday night reiterated an extraordinary ambition he and members of his administration have voiced from time to time throughout his young second term: One day, Americans won’t pay any more income tax, and you’ll have Trump’s tariffs to thank for it.
“We’re going to make a lot of money, and we’re going to cut taxes for the people of this country,” Trump said before boarding Air Force One for his return from Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome. “It’ll take a little while before we do that, but we’re going to be cutting taxes, and it’s possible we’ll do a complete tax cut, because I think the tariffs will be enough to cut all of the income tax.” [emphasis added]
The Trump White House must improve its pro-tariff messaging before the 2026 midterms, accentuating their role in Making America Great Again. It won’t be easy, because the Democrats and/or mainstream media will be working overtime to scapegoat tariffs for every economic ill imaginable.
And besides, it’s a message that millions of conservatives are predisposed to reject.
We’ve got some work to do.
One Last Thing: The Schumer Shutdown is upon us. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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