TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Rural voters helped President Donald Trump win Iowa in 2016. And despite rising concerns about the economic impact of several rounds of tariffs, they’ve been willing to endure the ill effects of his trade policies, trusting he’ll ultimately deliver. But the president’s sudden announcement this week that he’ll give $12 billion in subsidies to farmers is setting off a new wave of anxiety — a deep sense of apprehension over Trump’s unpredictability on trade and questions over whether the White House has any plan at all…Trump will try to assuage some of those worries when he arrives here Thursday [7-26-18] before heading to southern Illinois, just two weeks after Vice President Mike Pence also made hand-holding stops in the two states — both of which stand to suffer greatly from a drawn-out trade war. The president will be visiting two Republican congressmen whose districts whiplashed from voting for Barack Obama in 2012 to voting overwhelmingly for Trump four years later — and their fate in November may be closely tied to how local voters feel about Trump’s first two years in office. With as many as six battleground House races in Iowa and Illinois this fall — a quarter of the seats necessary to deliver the House to the Democratic Party — there are few regions that carry as much political significance.”
-Natasha Korecki, “Trade war anxiety surges ahead of Trump’s Midwest swing,” Politico, July 26, 2018 5:06 am