Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
As Donald Trump’s mass purge of federal employees, freeze of government contracts, and chaotic tariff policies threaten to spike inflation, collapse the job market, and send the country into a recession, Republican lawmakers are bending over backward to defend the president’s actions— even as they admit his cutthroat moves are hurting Americans.
Multiple GOP hard-liners said that Americans should suck up the economic pain in the wake of cuts made by Trump and his co-President Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. And Trump’s inflationary trade policies will at the end of the day cut federal spending, they argue—so deal with it.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said in an appearance on CNBC that it’s necessary for Americans to pay more so that Trump can get the trade war he has always dreamed of.
“There may be some short-time disruption that’s going to result in some negative impacts, no question,” Emmer said. “But this is the point. If you or others think that this is going to somehow reduce the president’s popularity, think again.”
Of course, polling shows that if Trump doesn’t get inflation down, he could see a backlash. His approval rating is already underwater just six weeks into his term, with Americans saying Trump has not done enough to lower costs.
Yet Emmer isn’t the only House member who is defending Trump’s inflationary policies.
“We have got to get our fiscal house in order in Washington, and if that means short-term pain for the country, then we’re gonna have to walk through that together to ensure that we put ourselves on a fiscal prudent path going into the next 10 years,” Florida’s Greg Steube said in an appearance on Fox Business, after he was asked by sycophantic host Maria Bartiromo whether he is worried that Trump’s policies will cause a recession.
Rep. Mark Alford, who recently faced angry constituents at a town hall in his Missouri district, said everyone should be willing to pay more because of Trump’s policies.
“We all have a role to play in this to right-size our government, and if I have to pay a little bit more for something, I’m all for it to get America right again, to start whittling down this $36.5 trillion worth of debt that we have,” Alford told CNN, adding that he thinks his constituents will be willing to pay more for everyday items—even though combatting inflation was the chief reason Trump won in 2024.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma made similar noises.
“Are the American people ready to get the country back on track and do what it takes to make that happen? Absolutely, “ he told CNN. “It’s going to affect a lot of companies. We’re going to have to adjust some prices for it, but the president is tired of people taking advantage of our country.”
Other Republicans went on to defend Musk’s cuts to the federal workforce, which are already having a negative impact on the economy.
A report released Thursday from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, found that U.S. employers cut 172,017 jobs in February, the highest number of February job cuts since 2009 when the country was in the midst of the Great Recession. The firm said that employers cited DOGE’s effort to slash the federal workforce and federal spending as the top reason for the cuts.
That didn’t stop Rep. Randy Weber of Texas from writing a poem praising Musk—and reading it aloud at a closed-door meeting Musk held with House Republicans on Wednesday.
“Elon works from dawn to dusk, and then it dawns on all of us, he’s figured out what’s crazy wrong. We should have known it all along,” Weber’s cringeworthy poem said, according to The Washington Post.
Some lawmakers jumped to make excuses for Musk, even though they admit his cuts to the federal workforce have been shoddy and chaotic.
“He said, like, you know, there’s going to be mistakes along the way. He has said that publicly before too. And then when those are identified, they will be corrected,” Rep. Russell Fry of South Carolina told CNN.
And some Republicans were even trying to preemptively spin Trump and Musk’s negative impact on the job market, with Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida saying federal workforce jobs didn’t really count anyway.
“The reason why the job growth numbers are down is because government workers are the ones who are starting to lose their jobs at the federal level,” Donalds said on CNN.
The usual suspects have predictably criticized Trump and Musk’s policies, but didn’t say how or even if they’d try to stop them.
“I think you have to think about the economic impacts through inflation, I think you have to look at growth in the economy and how that’s impacted by all of this, those are real issues, and so the administration is going to have to take, in my view, as they evaluate some of these policy decisions, the macroeconomic impact,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on CNN.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine also told NBC News that she’s “concerned.”
“I’m very concerned about the tariffs going into effect,” Collins said. “Maine and Canada’s economy are integrated. Much of our lobster, blueberries are processed in Canada and then come back over. We have a paper mill in northern Maine that’s right on the border.”
We truly wonder what level of concern would cause Collins to actually do something about her party’s leader.