Democrats are blowing their opportunity to hammer Trump on tariffs, Washington Post columnist warns

"This has been the mealymouthed critique of President Donald Trump's trade wars from many Democrats this past week. They awkwardly triangulate between bashing Trump's catastrophic ideas and touting support for their own similarly spirited, if scaled-down, ideas. No wonder their message is falling flat," she wrote.

Rampell described how bad the tariffs will be, stating they'll "raise a typical household's annual costs by $2,700," and that because of them, "recession risks have surged, companies have begun furloughing workers, and our once-close allies are flipping us the bird."

She declared that Democratic lawmakers should be having a field day over this, but they're not.

"If this is a curse to the U.S. economy, it should be a windfall for Democratic politicians. Instead, Democrats are blowing their good fortune," she said, adding, "Rather than shouting from the rooftops that trade wars are bad, Democrats babble in 'yes, buts.' Yes, these particular tariffs are costly and regressive, they say, but when Democrats impose tariffs, somehow they present no such downsides."

Rampell mentioned how the party has seemed to contradict itself on tariffs in the past, noting how it "assailed" the first Trump administration's tariffs "in the 2018 midterms and 2020 presidential election - shortly before adopting them as their own."

As the columnist recounted, former President Biden "extended (nearly) all of Trump's existing tariffs," even after denouncing them previously. "In some cases, he expanded them or replaced them with slightly different trade barriers. He did so with vigorous support from his party," she wrote.

Whitmer has been carefully criticizing Trump's tariffs while also acknowledging and understanding the president's "motivation behind the tariffs" and even agreeing with Trump that we "need to make more stuff in America."

Rampell slammed Whitmer for criticizing the tariffs but providing no real alternative to them.

"On Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) gave a speech criticizing Trump for wielding tariffs like a 'hammer.' When asked how would she deploy tariffs differently, Whitmer could not answer. 'I don't know how I would have enacted them differently,' she said. 'I haven't really thought about that. What I have thought about, though, is, you know, tariffs are, need to be used like a scalpel, not a hammer.'"

She also accused "lefty populist thinkers" of only criticizing Trump because the tariffs aren't being used for their agenda. Additionally, Rampell said that the party has backed itself into "a corner" on this topic because they're also trying to appeal to their supporters in pro-tariff constituencies, like unions. 

The columnist concluded her points, arguing that since "Americans hate Trump's tariffs," "Democrats should stop pulling their punches."

"What the country needs is an unequivocal, full-throated condemnation of pandering protectionism," she said.