Don Bacon (NE-R) concerned President Trump's tariffs now weighing on economy of Nebraska, nation

[Ol Janx Spirit]

16. Like all Republicans with a somewhat functional cerebral cortex, he's only speaking up on the way out the door.

But you can bet that 99% of his votes until he leaves will be WITH the the guy he says is hurting his constituents. Then, when it is so important for conservative voices to be speaking out to an audience that progressives can't reach, he will be hanging pictures of his days in congress on the walls of his new office at some lobbying firm while he mulls a run for governor.

But you have to wonder if some of what he is saying now will redound to his favor in the long run? In Trump 1.0, many of his worst instincts were suppressed by the people around him that tended to know somewhat what they were doing. The stock market cruised along and the economy generally did well. Then the pandemic came along and was incredibly mismanaged, but it is far easier to find grace for a once-in-a-century event than it is for totally self-inflicted pain. These two things largely muted the effect of his insane philosophies in the first term.

But in the intervening four years, all of the people in both his inner circle and in the Republican party at large that would temper his toddler-like impulses and views of the world have been purged. They have been replaced not by smart but cynical people willing to do his bidding for power or for money, but by people as actually demented and damaged as himself--some even more so.

The concerns that Don Bacon has about Nebraska's economy stem largely from the tariff policy pushed by Peter Navarro--a person that made up a source for an economic theory he could not back up in his book on China and tariffs. What could go wrong now that his fever dream has become reality? A lot. And it increasingly looks like it will. And that will be harder for Republicans to run away from--unless they've already done so and are waiting in the wings to pick up the mantle of what used to be conservatism.