Donald Trump blinked, as many people suspected he would. This week, he reduced the embargo-level tariffs he imposed on China a month ago, and did so unilaterally. So in exchange for a month-long crisis, a still-looming supply shortage, lost jobs, and lost wealth, we got nothing! But Trump’s supporters are all too ready to cover for him.

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* What does Trump’s reversal mean for the economy in the near and medium term?

* Will his army of propagandists be able to sell his flailing as a “win,” and, thus, blunt the political consequences of his economic mismanagement?

* Would Democrats be better off if their grassroots were similarly cult like, or is Trump’s “superpower” actually a big weakness, both for the GOP and the country?

Then, behind the paywall, how should Democrats think about the damage Trump is doing, not just in the trade realm but across government? It’s (apparently) easy to tweak tariff rates, but much harder to convince trading partners that we’re trustworthy. Could this be a basis for Democratic opposition? Should Democrats unify behind a general promise to reconstitute the government Trump broke, and rebuild global faith in the United States? Or are technical questions surrounding how to rebuild destined to leave the party mired in infighting?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Brian argues it’s counterproductive to wallow in the fact that building things is harder than breaking them, and that Dems should adopt a posture of resolve and defiance.

* Matt on Trump rediscovering the virtues of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and how he succeeds politically by claiming credit for renegotiating shittier versions of deals he broke in the past.

* Adam Serwer: “The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying.”

They won’t come right out and say it this time, the way they did in 2017. But Republicans are still hellbent on repealing the Affordable Care Act—or at least the half of the ACA that expanded Medicaid coverage to millions more poor and disabled Americans.

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* What do Republican pronouncements about their aspirational health care cuts actually mean?

* Will cuts to a program that benefits millions of Trump supporters, and that basically nobody in industry supports, create disarray among House and Senate Republicans?

* How should Democrats and industry stakeholders alike go about clarifying the stakes, so that Republicans might balk?

Then, behind the paywall, the ACA meant to expand Medicaid in every state. But the Supreme Court decided it was unconstitutional for the federal government to force states to adopt policy under threat of massive, peripheral spending cuts. Since that’s the law of the land, shouldn’t Democratic governors err on the side of fighting Trump, rather than capitulating to his extortionate threats? What counts as fair-game cooperation with the Trump administration, and what counts as caving? And do Democrats need to be mindful of the underlying issue, or should they fight everywhere the law’s on their side?

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Matt on not letting the awfulness of the GOP tax-and-Medicaid agenda slip through the cracks.

* Brian on why Democratic governors like Gretchen Whitmer should stop Paul Weissing themselves.

* Resources to help citizens with Republican representatives effectively oppose Medicaid cuts.

On Donald Trump’s hundredth day in office—the day we taped this podcast—he was historically unpopular, driving the country into recession, and responding to the loss of confidence in his administration by escalating his authoritarian threats against the public.

In this special episode, Paul Krugman joins Brian to discuss:

* What Trump has done to the U.S. economy in just the past 100 days.

* Why it’s too late for him to fix some of the mistakes he made without subjecting Americans to real economic hardships in the coming weeks.

* How his own faithless, erratic conduct will make recovery difficult (for the economy and his polling) even if he ends his trade war.

Then, behind the paywall, how can future leaders attempt to undo the damage Trump has done? What will the country look like after 1300ish more days of this? Are economic forecasters underrating the risk of recession to hedge their bets? Would further inroads toward dictatorship deepen the economic crisis as well as the crisis of democracy and human rights? And what does it say about the direness of our circumstances that major upheaval, like impeachment and removal, would likely help restore global economic confidence in the U.S.

All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.

Further reading:

* Krugman asks, Did Peter Navarro save democracy?

* Brian argues that though Trump is wreaking economic havoc, the rising against him isn’t class war as commonly understood on the left.

* Matt argues hoping Trump implodes is not enough, and Democrats need a plan to actually win back the Senate.