Into the blue again, after the money’s gone

And you may say to yourself, “My God, what have I done?”

Republican lawmakers are signaling they’re willing to tolerate the pain for now, despite the economic fallout back home. Lobbyists, who are quietly prodding the same lawmakers to defend their interests, don’t want to have a target on their back — or their clients’. Even some Trump world confidantes, alarmed about the tariffs’ impact, are hoping someone else intervenes.
“There is zero incentive for any company or brand to be remotely critical of this administration,” said a public affairs operative, who, like others interviewed for this story, was granted anonymity to speak freely. “It destroys your ability to work with the White House and advance your policies, period.”

An official in the energy industry echoed that sense of fear. “Hearing angst and frustration from all quarters,” the official said via text message, “but no one wants to be first out of the box saying anything negative about Trump’s decision-making.”

The paralysis reflects the broader mood of Trump’s second administration, in which he’s targeted and threatened to destroy institutions that cross him, including law firms, universities, and more. With his tight grip on Washington, Trump has faced no meaningful resistance to policies that are upending the global economy, tearing up America’s relationships with its closest allies and making deep, unilateral cuts to the federal government. Leaders have quickly learned that however harmful they think a Trump policy might be, publicly contradicting the president could be worse. Now with the Trump administration doubling down on tariffs and trying to sell the country on short-term pain for long-term gain, it’s unclear what the breaking point will be for officials and lobbyists representing the most-impacted constituencies.

“There is absolutely a sense that the administration is keeping a list, and no one on K Street wants to be on it,” said one executive at a trade group downtown.

Advocates for affected industries are scrambling to determine how durable the new tariffs will be, wary of coming out forcefully if the administration decides to quickly scale them back. They point to Trump’s swift reversal last month on tariffs targeting Canada and Mexico, which he largely paused amid an uproar from business leaders and even some Republicans. (In a Truth Social post Friday, Trump wrote, “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”)

“Hoping someone else intervenes” is how Republican elites and corporate interests (and Merrick Garland Democrats) have generally been dealing with Trump since 2015. We’ll see if it works this time!

One would hope that BigLaw, institutions of higher education, etc. will also learn the lesson about hanging seperately if you don’t hang together, but the initial returns (with some honorable exceptions) aren’t great.