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Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
Nearly everything is about to get more expensive, retirement savings are being washed away, and economists say a recession is perilously close—and it’s all thanks to President Donald Trump’s ill-conceived “Liberation Day” tariffs.
But don’t expect congressional Republicans to save you.
Republicans are, for the most part, cheering the insane tariffs that Trump placed on nearly every single country on the planet (except for Russia, of course).
“President Trump is bringing back Made in America,” Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia wrote on X.
And Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas made his stance clear—standing firmly behind Trump’s new policy.
“I’m behind the president 100%. There will be disruption and pain on the front end, we saw that in the first term, but he was successful then, he will be successful now, and Americans will win,” he said in an interview with CNBC.
“Look, you have to trust the president’s instincts on the economy,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.
Fellow Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, echoed this sentiment.
“I’m, at this point, giving the president the benefit of the doubt on this,” he told the news outlet NOTUS.
And GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa confidently told NOTUS that “President Trump has a plan. We’ll go with that.”
Other Republicans are plainly admitting that the tariffs are going to cause Americans pain, yet they can’t articulate what that pain is in service of.
“There’s absolutely going to be short-term pain. I mean, if you’re going to remodel your house to make it better in the end, it’s gonna be really annoying in the short-term,” Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana said on CNN.
And GOP Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said almost the exact same thing.
“I feel like in some ways in the economy this is kinda like a kitchen remodel or a bathroom remodel. There’s a bit of a mess at the beginning but everybody has a long-time look of where we’re headed. It’s going to be noisy for a little while, but we all know where we’re headed,” he said on CNN.
To give credit where credit is due, there are some Republicans who are taking a stand against Trump’s tariffs.
Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Democrats in voting to rescind Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
“Today I voted to terminate the emergency declaration put in place to justify higher tariffs on Canadian imports. While not all Canadian trade practices are fair, I’m keenly aware of the negative impacts in store for Alaskan families and businesses should tariffs drive up the costs of essential goods,” Murkowski wrote on X.
And Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa introduced a bill with Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington to rein in Trump’s tariff powers by requiring a president’s tariff policy to get approval from Congress.
“For too long, Congress has delegated its clear authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to the executive branch. Building on my previous efforts as Finance Committee Chairman, I’m joining Senator Cantwell to introduce the bipartisan Trade Review Act of 2025 to reassert Congress’ constitutional role and ensure Congress has a voice in trade policy,” they said in a news release.
But it’s unlikely that the bill will pass in the Senate, let alone in the House. And even if it did, Trump would surely veto it.
Unless Trump admits that his tariffs are destructive to Americans and scraps his chaotic trade policy, it looks like his tariffs are here to stay.
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