Republicans seem to be priming their followers to accept price increases.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made some revealing remarks Monday, as House Republicans held a summit at President Donald Trump’s privately owned resort in Doral, Florida. Asked whether the new administration’s anti-immigration raids, and Trump’s immigration enforcement plan more broadly, risked harming the economy, the Louisiana Republican said: “I hope not; I don’t think so.” Johnson went on to say, “We are going to restore law and order at any cost, and I think we owe that to the people.”
“At any cost” sure sounds like it could mean “higher costs” for American consumers.
Economic experts have said Trump’s immigration plans are almost certain to hurt the labor market and drive up prices. During the presidential campaign, Trump and his supporters essentially stuck their fingers in their ears and denied such predictions. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, the then-candidate said: “Starting on Day 1, we will drive down prices and make America affordable again.”
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First, we must get economic relief to our citizens. Starting on Day One, we will drive down prices and Make America AFFORDABLE again!
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) July 19, 2024
— President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/ZADzZOtPNG
Trump has since changed course, admitting that bringing down prices will be “very hard.” And now it seems we’re starting to hear his allies — such as Johnson — essentially priming MAGA world to accept higher prices.On Sunday, after Trump threatened a trade war with Colombia over immigration, popular conservative pundit Erick Erickson wrote on X that he’d be willing to “pay more for flowers and coffee to lower the social costs of illegal alien criminals roaming my streets and menacing my neighbors.”
Personally, if I had to pay more for flowers and coffee to lower the social costs of illegal alien criminals roaming my streets and menacing my neighbors, I’m okay with that.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 26, 2025
When you peel back the layers of bigotry in Erickson’s words, you find a truth that Trump and his supporters have largely refused to acknowledge: that tariffs are inflationary and felt by the consumer. But the not-so-clever framing here is that paying higher costs is actually the patriotic thing to do.And he’s not alone in suggesting this. During a Fox News discussion Monday about the Colombia standoff, co-host Steve Doocy asked: “Would you pay an extra quarter on a cup of coffee to send those people back?”
Co-host Brian Kilmeade immediately responded: “Yes.”
Fox's Steve Doocy: This all happened while Donald Trump was playing golf. Essentially, he heard about it, picked up his phone, and fixed it! … ultimately, would you pay an extra quarter on a cup of coffee to send those people back? He's thinking yes!
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) 2025-01-27T13:19:56.875Z
This, again, contradicts Trump’s messaging during the campaign. I also found it noteworthy that the new president essentially put inflation on the back burner during his Oval Office interview with Sean Hannity last week.All of these comments suggest that Trump and his allies are priming conservatives — and Americans, more broadly — to come to terms with the likelihood that Trump’s policies will do more harm than good to the U.S. economy.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.