Finding Out

 With all the focus on Charlie Kirk/Jimmy Kimmel/acetomopeneneagin, there is a serious crisis building under the surface of the news. Trump's trade wars have destroyed the international market for American agricultural goods, especially soybeans, and subsidies for the Affordable Care Act are being slashed, which will raise insurance rates for millions of Americans.

Meanwhile, Trump is planning on bailing out Javier Milei's failed policies in Argentina. Why? Because Milei says nice things about Trump, unlike the starving kids in Africa that are dying because Trump killed USAID. 

Which brings us to the Democrats. Right now, we are barreling towards a government shutdown, and the main Democratic demand to keep it open is to re-fund those ACA subsidies. At some point, we can anticipate a bill to bail out American farmers who are getting crushed by Trump's trade wars.

This is the "finding out" phase of Trumpism. Those working class constituencies - farmers and some small independent operators like hair dressers - are about to get crushed. They did, in fact, vote for this, they just weren't paying attention.

What obligation though do Democrats owe these folks? What's more, why should Democrats work to undo the damage Trump is doing before the 2026 midterms? The assumption is always that only Democrats have agency; if the government shutters, it will be their fault. If farmers get crushed and people lose their health insurance because of Trump's policies, then it will somehow be Democrats' fault.

The broad middle of American politics who swung from Trump to Biden and back to Trump does not typically follow politics that closely. They are vibes voters and they roughly "get" that Democrats want government to "do more" and Republicans want government to "do less." If people's economic status declines - as it already is doing - then they will blame the party in power. Biden didn't cause inflation, but Harris likely lose the election because of inflation.

Democrats - to their credit - want to make people's lives better. They want to use the institutions of political power to make things better for the average person. However, if we are to save American democracy, we may have to immiserate people first.

They fucked around in November 2024. They will have to find out by November 2025.