One year after Trump’s victory, Democrats are still struggling with the basic question: why did Trump win and what should we do about it?
It’s not about left vs. center or woke vs. cruel.
It’s about rising prices, stupid.
Why did Donald Trump win? Because he promised to reduce prices on Day One at a time when rising prices were crushing working families.
And rising prices are still crushing working families.
One year later, nothing has changed except Trump’s failure to reduce prices on Day One, and instead to increase prices through a series of idiotic and destructive policies – massive tariffs, mass deportations, healthcare cuts, and huge giveaways to billionaires.
And Trump’s plummeting polls show the inevitable political result — see above.
So what should Democrats do? It’s obvious: attack!
Trump first major act was to increase prices with his signature tariffs on everything we import, from electronics to steel to lumber.
Then he drove up the cost of labor through mass deportations of hard-working immigrants.
Now he’s increasing the cost of everyone’s health insurance by eliminating Obamacare subsidies and slashing funds for Medicaid.
For months, Democrats in Congress made passionate speeches but refused to fight back.
But this fall, Democrats finally decided to draw a bright red line over healthcare premiums – even if it meant a government shutdown.
And it’s working – polls show a majority of voters support Democrats in their fight over affordable healthcare.
So let’s draw the obvious conclusion and make affordability the center of our 2026 strategy!
How?
First, let’s identify all the different ways in which Trump’s rightwing policies are increasing prices and crushing American workers and families.
- Healthcare: Trump’s deep cuts will not only devastate families on Medicaid and Obamacare; they will drive up costs for everyone, whether on Medicare or private insurance or unable to afford insurance at all.
- Groceries: Trump’s mass deportations are raising the cost of growing and harvesting fruits, vegetables, and grains. Giant agribusinesses are increasing their profits by shrinking package sizes. Giant meatpackers are eliminating competition to increase profits by driving up the cost of beef and pork.
- Electricity: Trump’s war on wind and solar power is killing low-cost energy supplies at exactly the same time as data centers are massively increasing electricity demand by Big Tech monopolies. Consumers from coast to coast are seeing record increases in electric bills as a result.
- Housing: It’s the same story here as Trump’s insane tariffs drive up the cost of lumber, sheetrock, and copper at the same time his mass deportations drive up the cost of labor.
Second, let’s create a Democratic Affordability Plan to reduce prices after the 2026 elections.
- Healthcare: Let’s reverse all of Trump’s cuts and pay for them in two specific ways: eliminating tax breaks for billionaires and reducing ICE to the size needed to deport truly violent criminals - not workers.
- Groceries: Let’s stop mass deportations and give immigrant workers a path to citizenship. Let’s use antitrust laws to break up giant agribusinesses and meatpackers.
- Electricity: Let’s restore funds for solar and wind energy, and force Big Tech to build its own data center power supplies.
- Housing: Let’s eliminate tariffs on building materials and end mass deportations of construction workers.
These are just some of the most obvious planks in an Affordability Agenda that Democrats can unify around.
In addition, there are many more ideas being promoted by elected Democrats and candidates, like lower-cost childcare and higher-density zoning.
Some of these ideas can be adopted nationally. Others can be adopted in Blue states, cities, and towns. Different approaches can be tested in different places, and we can build on those that work best.
So let’s gather all the best ideas into our Democratic Affordability Plan, put them on every Democratic Party website, and invite voters to reduce their own costs by electing Democrats everywhere.
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Written by Bob Fertik. Cross-posted from Daily Kos.
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