As Americans awake to the glowering reality of resurgent Russian imperialism, our political parties seem to be trading places. Democrats have rallied behind President Biden’s policy of military aid to Ukraine, while Republicans are torn over the wisdom of U.S. intervention.

The sheer ferocity of Russia’s assault, including deliberate massacres of civilians, seems to have quieted the anti-interventionist left. Even leaders of the House’s ultra-progressive Squad support sending U.S. arms to help Ukraine to defend itself against Russian ruler Vladimir Putin’s bloody rampage. That’s put them at odds with their allies in the Democratic Socialists of America, which by force of habit if not logic blame “American imperialism” for the conflict.

While Democrats bask in a rare moment of unity, Republicans are all over the ideological map. GOP congressional leaders mostly have backed Biden’s Ukraine policy but try to conceal that from their wrathful base by heaping abuse on him for being too weak to prevent the invasion.

That’s rich coming from party leaders who dared not protest former President Trump’s fawning attempts to befriend the Russian dictator, or his frequently expressed desire to quit NATO — which would have been the strategic equivalent of handing Moscow the keys to Europe.

Nor were they unduly troubled by Trump’s threat to withhold weapons Ukraine desperately needed to defend itself against a second Russian invasion until President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to dig up non-existent dirt on Trump’s domestic political rival.   
 

The Trump Party Blames America First
By Will Marshall
for the The Hill

NEW PPI REPORT:
U.S. Tariffs Are Regressive Taxes That Hurt American Working Families 

Last week, Ed Gresser, Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets at the Progressive Policy Institute, published a new paper on the adverse effects of the United States tariff system on working American families — in particular, single-parent families and Black and Hispanic families.

The paper, titled “Trade Policy, Equity, and the Working Poor: United States MFN Tariffs are Regressive Taxes Which Help Few Workers and Harm Many” was published in concert with Mr. Gresser’s testimony before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on the issue of Distributional Effects of Trade and Trade Policy on U.S. Workers. At the request of U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the ITC is conducting a year-long investigation of this topic, in the hopes of providing the U.S. government and Congress with deeper analyses of the effects of U.S. trade policies and agreements on lower-income and disadvantaged American communities.

Gresser’s paper and testimony highlight the very high permanent tariffs imposed on clothes, shoes, silverware, and other home goods. These range up to 48% for cheap sneakers, and are systematically higher on cheap goods bought by low-income families than on analogous luxuries bought by wealthy families.

“We have a unique opportunity to right a wrong in our U.S. tax system — one that disproportionately impacts low-income Americans by imposing tariffs that make home necessities more expensive,” said Ed Gresser. “The Biden Administration deserves credit for asking a core question that looms over trade policy and the path forward to a more fair U.S. trading system. The ITC’s research, data, and public hearings on tariff fairness are integral in illuminating this problem and inspiring trade policy that works for every American worker and family.”

 

Join PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project on Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. ET for a one-hour Zoom webinar on the power of parents to access educational options for their children and the impact the federal government has on those options. 

Tune in to learn about the current state of parent choice in America and its ability to close achievement gaps exacerbated during the COVID pandemic. 

Panelists will include: 

• Atasha James, Legends Public Charter School
• Ebony Lee, Charter School Growth Fund
• Dr. Howard Fuller, Marquette University
• Earl Martin Phalen, Phalen Leadership Academies

Moderator:
Curtis Valentine, Co-Director, Reinventing America’s Schools

Join us for an engaging talk on what experts at the national, district, and school levels are learning, and get their advice on how Congress and the Biden Administration can ensure neither race nor socio-economic conditions are a barrier to educational options for America's children.