Democrats Are Fighting Trump’s Tariffs, And Each Other

Party members who allow space for tariffs when criticizing Trump's trade war have faced heavy criticism.

As President Donald Trump drives the stock market down, and his approval rating along with it, by implementing massive tariffs on China and potentially the rest of the world, Democrats across the ideological spectrum have largely stuck to the same script: The tariffs are chaotic, damaging, unnecessary and ill-advised.

But small deviations have revealed the latest phase over the party’s seemingly never-ending ideological clash, as moderates have complained about Democratic politicians’ use of qualifiers when condemning tariffs, arguing it gives unnecessary credence to one of the Republican president’s most unpopular ideas.

Those politicians have often, but not always, come for the party’s progressive wing.

“Trump made a world historic, substantive and political mistake, and caveating your attack on him for this catastrophic error, it makes no sense, either substantively or politically,” said Matt Bennett, the co-founder of the center-left Democratic group Third Way.

Progressives, however, see a bigger issue at play, suspecting moderates are trying to enforce ideological purity and reverse influence the left gained over the party’s economic agenda under former President Joe Biden.