Jamel Bouie

The vibe was off.

People didn't feel as if they were living in a prosperous society, even though the indicators seemed to say that they were.

And that's sort of a—that's like a hard problem to solve.

So that's me being fair to the political problem here.

But the Trump administration and Donald Trump have done nothing to try to really—

Reach people where they are, right?

Like cutting food stamps, cutting ACA subsidies, like cutting direct assistance to people.

Recent analyses say that the tariffs have cost the typical American household about $1,000.

That's sort of the low end.

Higher end, the Democratic minority in Congress put out a report saying,

higher end, around $1,700.

So somewhere between $1,000 and $1,700, between a little less than $100 a month and a little more than $100 a month, Americans have lost due to tariffs.

And that's like real money.

So the president going before the country and kind of trying to browbeat people into believing that things are all good, I don't think it's going to be very effective.

And I actually want to make one just quick observation.

It has been, it's 2026, we are 10 years removed, just about, from when we had a president who could deliver good to exceptional oratory.

Neither Trump nor Biden, even young Biden, not a particularly good public speaker, neither Trump nor Biden have really that kind of rhetorical command.

But we, you know, politics is rhetoric.

And we are living at a time when the high arts of rhetoric are just in such short supply.

Ultimately, what happens in the Texas Senate race in terms of who wins the actual Senate seat in November is going to be shaped by national conditions.