Congressional Cowards is a weekly collection highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—irrespective of how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
As Donald Trump’s mass purge of federal workers, freeze of presidency contracts, and chaotic tariff insurance policies threaten to spike inflation, collapse the job market, and ship the nation right into a recession, Republican lawmakers are bending over backward to defend the president’s actions— whilst they admit his cutthroat strikes are hurting Individuals.
A number of GOP hard-liners mentioned that Individuals ought to suck up the financial ache within the wake of cuts made by Trump and his co-President Elon Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity. And Trump’s inflationary commerce insurance policies will on the finish of the day minimize federal spending, they argue—so cope with it.
Home Majority Whip Tom Emmer mentioned in an look on CNBC that it’s crucial for Individuals to pay extra in order that Trump can get the commerce struggle he has all the time dreamed of.
“There may be some short-time disruption that’s going to result in some negative impacts, no question,” Emmer mentioned. “But this is the point. If you or others think that this is going to somehow reduce the president’s popularity, think again.”
After all, polling exhibits that if Trump doesn’t get inflation down, he might see a backlash. His approval score is already underwater simply six weeks into his time period, with Individuals saying Trump has not performed sufficient to decrease prices.
But Emmer isn’t the one Home member who’s defending Trump’s inflationary insurance policies.
“We have got to get our fiscal house in order in Washington, and if that means short-term pain for the country, then we’re gonna have to walk through that together to ensure that we put ourselves on a fiscal prudent path going into the next 10 years,” Florida’s Greg Steube mentioned in an look on Fox Enterprise, after he was requested by sycophantic host Maria Bartiromo whether or not he’s fearful that Trump’s insurance policies will trigger a recession.
Rep. Mark Alford, who just lately confronted offended constituents at a city corridor in his Missouri district, mentioned everybody must be keen to pay extra due to Trump’s insurance policies.
“We all have a role to play in this to right-size our government, and if I have to pay a little bit more for something, I’m all for it to get America right again, to start whittling down this $36.5 trillion worth of debt that we have,” Alford told CNN, adding that he thinks his constituents will be willing to pay more for everyday items—even though combatting inflation was the chief cause Trump received in 2024.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma made related noises.
“Are the American folks able to get the nation again on observe and do what it takes to make that occur? Completely, “ he told CNN. “It’s going to affect a lot of companies. We’re going to have to adjust some prices for it, but the president is tired of people taking advantage of our country.”
Different Republicans went on to defend Musk’s cuts to the federal workforce, that are already having a destructive influence on the financial system.
A report launched Thursday from the outplacement agency Challenger, Grey & Christmas, discovered that U.S. employers minimize 172,017 jobs in February, the very best variety of February job cuts since 2009 when the nation was within the midst of the Nice Recession. The agency mentioned that employers cited DOGE’s effort to slash the federal workforce and federal spending as the highest cause for the cuts.
That didn’t cease Rep. Randy Weber of Texas from writing a poem praising Musk—and studying it aloud at a closed-door assembly Musk held with Home Republicans on Wednesday.
“Elon works from dawn to dusk, and then it dawns on all of us, he’s figured out what’s crazy wrong. We should have known it all along,” Weber’s cringeworthy poem mentioned, in accordance to The Washington Publish.
Some lawmakers jumped to make excuses for Musk, though they admit his cuts to the federal workforce have been shoddy and chaotic.
“He said, like, you know, there’s going to be mistakes along the way. He has said that publicly before too. And then when those are identified, they will be corrected,” Rep. Russell Fry of South Carolina informed CNN.
And a few Republicans had been even attempting to preemptively spin Trump and Musk’s destructive influence on the job market, with Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida saying federal workforce jobs did not really matter anyway.
“The reason why the job growth numbers are down is because government workers are the ones who are starting to lose their jobs at the federal level,” Donalds mentioned on CNN.
The same old suspects have predictably criticized Trump and Musk’s insurance policies, however didn’t say how or even when they’d attempt to cease them.
“I think you have to think about the economic impacts through inflation, I think you have to look at growth in the economy and how that’s impacted by all of this, those are real issues, and so the administration is going to have to take, in my view, as they evaluate some of these policy decisions, the macroeconomic impact,” Senate Majority Chief John Thune mentioned on CNN.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine additionally informed NBC Information that she’s “concerned.”
“I’m very concerned about the tariffs going into effect,” Collins mentioned. “Maine and Canada’s economy are integrated. Much of our lobster, blueberries are processed in Canada and then come back over. We have a paper mill in northern Maine that’s right on the border.”
We actually surprise what stage of concern would trigger Collins to truly do one thing about her celebration’s chief.
