President Trump has made a hard turn toward his affordability agenda, which is good because people are always economically uncertain, and especially so after President Eggplant face-planted the economy. It’s going to take Trump a while to fix the economy – both Ronald Reagan 1.0 and Donald Trump 1.0 didn’t get things moving until after their midterms and got hammered. Right now, it’s all about the 2026 midterms – we need the voters to understand that we hear them, that we have their backs, and that we are doing things to make their lives better. The big stuff is done. Trump got an early start on deregulation, the trade reforms and deals, the Big Beautiful Bill, and other large-scale initiatives, so next year things should really get kicking. If you have a retirement account, you’re already looking good. All the indicators are up, but it’s important to get that message out. And how do you get the message out? Messaging.
Part of the messaging is Donald Trump going out there and talking to people, which is important because he’s got to get around the regime media gatekeepers who will parrot the doom agenda of their Democrat masters. While we’re waiting for the results of the Trump agenda to kick in, probably in the second quarter, and certainly after replacing the Fed chairman in May, Congress can finally do something to both help President Trump and put Democrats on the spot. You see, Democrats are always going to oppose whatever we do, no matter how necessary or helpful it is. If Trump is for them, they will oppose baseball, apple pie, the Flag, and cisgenderism – the last one they’ll oppose regardless of where Trump comes down on the deviant question.
Republicans in Congress have been getting grief about not actually doing anything, and their reasons for why they can’t pass laws have some merit. There’s a thing called the filibuster, and a lot of conservatives just sort of forget about that. You need Democrats to sign on to actually pass anything, but one benefit of pushing legislation is that the Dems have to take a position. They can’t just whine. So, we need to put them in the position of either supporting something that the GOP can take credit for or opposing something popular that everybody wants because “Trump is a fascist transphobe.”
That’s what they need to do on the affordability issue – put Democrats in the position of either giving the GOP a win ahead of the midterms or taking a position to screw the electorate ahead of the midterms. Republicans must start forcing Democrats to go on the record about small things that resonate – Bill Clinton used to do that against the Republicans, and it worked. The big stuff is done. We’re not letting taxes go up, we’ve cut taxes on tips and overtime, we’ve deregulated and renegotiated awful trade deals, so the economy is going to boom. We don’t have a lot of obvious major things left to do.
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While we let the Trump agenda kick in, let’s do some minor things, things that people can get their heads around and that make a difference to them. Things like these…
1. Outlaw Subscription Scams: When you buy something, you should expect to have actually bought it. But the newest scam is to sell you a subscription to use the thing you already bought. Just the other day, I got a notice that my fine German touring sedan will lose various capabilities if I don’t pony up a couple of hundred bucks a year. What the hell is that? You shouldn’t have to subscribe to your car, or your printer, or your toaster. Outlaw this crap.
2. “Dynamic Pricing” Scams: Did you know that Instacart and other services could be charging you more than they’re charging your neighbor based on some algorithm that tells them they might be able to get away with it? Maybe your eggs are $1.32 a dozen, but somebody else’s are $1.12. Why? Who knows, but it’s obnoxious. We need to ban it.
3. Corporations Buying Up Houses: Somewhere along the way, huge corporations decided they could make big money buying up single-family residences and renting them back to people. I’m not talking about an entrepreneur who owns three or four houses and rents them out. I’m talking about the Wall Street dwellers who own tens of thousands of homes that young families should be able to buy. It distorts the market and wrecks our society – we need a society based on ownership, not on servitude to absentee landlords who are limited liability companies instead of human beings you can pick up the phone and talk to.
4. Break Big Beef: Ever wonder why sirloin is so expensive? Part of the reason is that there are only a handful of meat processors out there. Everybody else is kept out of the business. We have to open it up, particularly for small processors who can provide competition and healthier options. There’s no reason these giant faceless corporations should have a monopoly on our hamburger.
5. Tipping Point: I get so tired of being presented with the option of an 18 percent, 20 percent, or 25 percent tip. Tipping is 15 percent; 20 percent if the service is really good. We should mandate that you are presented with those options, as well as “No Tip.” If you want a custom tip, that’s fine, but this moral extortion and inconvenience have to end.
6. Speak American: We need to outlaw overseas phone banks. I’m tired of trying to explain the company’s screw-up to some foreigner sharing a hut with a goat. And we also need to put clearly in the law that you can – and should – discriminate against phone reps in America who can’t speak English fluently.
7. Baloney Fees: “Resort fees,” “convenience fees,” and “we just want more of your money fees” are out of control. Mandate that every mandatory charge be included in the base advertised fee. No more thinking, “This looks like a great deal,” spending 20 minutes signing up, only to find a bunch of “fees” tacked on at the end that eclipse any bargain you thought you found.
8. Planned Obsolescence: Remember how your mom's lime green refrigerator from 1974 was still cooling away in 2014? And notice how the fridge you bought three years ago is rusting and falling apart? How come your phone batter life seems to suddenly get worse about the same time a new model drops? Don't tell me that things are not being designed to fail early so you have to go buy another. Enough! We need some well-drafted legislation that forbids designing products with the intent of them failing within an unreasonable time period. And we do not need the government to investigate or enforce this mandate - that's why we have class action lawyers! Making stuff that works is not some sort of lost ancient knowledge - it's a choice, and we have to make corporations afraid to make it!
9. Young People's Home Loans: We want young people to buy houses. We want young people raising families. Housing is a mess. Illegals are still occupying starter stock. Student loans are a millstone that keeps many young people out of the market. It’s hard to come up with a down. Time to use the tax system to help young people. Give married couples – we want them married – in their 20s a $5,000 credit if they buy a home. And give them a kicker for every kid during their 20s.
10. Catastrophic Health Insurance Policies: Young people should be allowed to skip all the bells and whistles and just get covered for if they get hit by a bus. Yeah, you’d have to pay for your own check-ups, but you’d be surprised how reasonable they are when the doctors know they’re getting cash or a credit card upfront. Many of them would much rather handle the transaction with their patient for a set and posted price than screw with the insurance company over whether that digital prostate exam was really necessary. But when something really goes wrong, something that is way beyond a high deductible, then the insurance policy steps in. That kind of thing is not allowed currently because Obamacare sucks. But healthy young people should be able to pay a low monthly rate to ensure that if something goes really wrong, they are protected.
None of these initiatives is going to change the world. That’s not the point. The world-changing stuff has already been done, and we just have to wait for it to kick in. These ideas attack real problems that really annoy real voters. The purpose is to send a message – we hear you, and we’re doing something. Yes, we’ll get some pushback about Muh Free Market, and that we’re not being nice to corporations, but remember, the corporations care nothing for us. They’ll support the Democrats in a heartbeat, so we don’t owe them at all. Don’t tell me about capitalism – rip-offs are not capitalism.
None of these corporations is capitalist in any meaningful sense except when it’s useful for them, and that’s been giving capitalism a bad name. Kids are flirting with socialism because alleged capitalists are shafting them.
I say we use our power when it’s useful for us and let the people know that we’ve got their back, going into these midterms. Dare the Democrats to take a hard stand in favor of Bangladeshi tech support, dunning us for 25% tips on our lattes, and subscriptions to our own Toyotas. Republicans, stand up for your voters!
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