Instead of taking aim at inflation, Trump has returned to his familiar culture war fights

President Trump and I have a serious difference of opinion. I see immigrants as the future of the American dream. He sees them as the American nightmare.

I’m the product of the immigrant experience that has beautifully enriched our great nation. My great grandparents, the Bannons and Ryans came here from Ireland and the LaCounts and Precourtes emigrated from Quebec. My ancestors made a better life for themselves, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They’ve all contributed significantly to making the U.S. a prosperous and, dare I say it, diverse nation.

It wasn’t always easy for my family. My grandfather, Jim Bannon told me about the “No Irish Need Apply” signs he encountered when he was a young man looking for a job. But my ancestors persevered through strong prejudice, tough economic times and two world wars to help make America great.

My ancestors are white, most of the current immigrants who are Trump targets are Hispanic, African or Asians.

Malcolm X said, “Racism is like a Cadillac. They bring out a new model every year.” The National Football League made it easier for the president to attend this year’s Super Bowl when the league decided to remove the traditional “End Racism” signs in the end zones. That kind of language might have embarrassed Trump.

The Know Nothings of the 1840s who terrorized the first big wave of European immigrants are still with us. When he announced his presidential candidacy in 2015, he demonized and degraded Mexican immigrants saying, “They are bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Pretty rich stuff coming from the president who became a convicted felon and was found liable for sexual abuse.

During the 2024 campaign, he promised mass deportations of millions of immigrants. At the dawn of his second term, he issued an unconstitutional executive order to abolish birthright citizenship for the children of certain immigrants.

ICE has already invaded workplaces to begin the roundups. Schools could be next. Imagine the horror and terror as children watch their little friends rounded up by police and sent to detention camps, never to be seen again. Is that the lesson about American democracy that we teach our children? He even wants to build out Guantanamo Bay to accommodate 30,000 detainees, housing immigrants seeking peace and prosperity here alongside people who tried to destroy America.

There’s even a racial component to his foreign policy. For example, he wants to force battered and bruised Palestinians out of Gaza and turn the embattled area into a Riviera-style resort. Trump Tower Gaza will be the perfect vacation spot for rich Americans to spend extra cash they pocket from the proposed Trump tax cuts for bankers and billionaires.

The program of mass detentions and removal is unbelievably shortsighted, which is typical of Trump. He has already withdrawn from the Paris agreement despite the looming threat of climate change that has brought us savage fires in Los Angeles and more than nine inches of snow to New Orleans in recent weeks.

It’s with the same lack of regard to our nation’s future that Trump wants to deport the individuals who we will desperately need to work in our businesses, pay into Social Security and serve in our armed forces as the U.S. birthrate declines. It’s now or never for the new president, the future be dammed.

Then there’s the question of his priorities. He complained about high prices throughout his most recent and hopefully last campaign and voters took him at his word. The national exit polls indicated that inflation drove more votes toward the GOP presidential candidate than immigration did last year and that most voters opposed mass deportations.

Since then, Trump backed away from his promise to get prices down in favor of a relentless crusade against immigration and diversity. At a campaign rally last year in North Carolina, he told the audience prices will go down. “They’ll come down. You just watch. They’ll come down and they’ll come down fast,” Trump said. Of course, after the election he backpedaled on his pledge and told Time “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.”

Inquiring minds want to know what any of this feverish activity will do to reduce price gouging by big business. The answer is that it won’t. Grocery chain cartels which have been exploiting working families financially should be the targets of MAGA instead of people coming here to seek a better life for their families.

The biggest Trump economic initiative so far is to increase tariffs. Attention WalMart shoppers, you’re in for a nasty round of sticker shock and customers will leave with a smile turned upside down.

The culture war is not even popular. It’s simply a gimmick to move the spotlight from his abdication of the fight against inflation. It’s also a tactic to pacify his hard core, extremist right wing MAGA base.

Many of his attacks against immigration and diversity aren’t even popular. A recent Reuters national survey indicates that six out of every ten Americans oppose his plans to end birthright citizenship and to stop federal government efforts to hire women and racial minorities.

Democrats should continue to hold the new president accountable for his failure to address consumer anger over high prices. Republicans running for reelection in 2026 will regret that Trump turned the fight against inflation into a culture war.

Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research which polls for Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups. He hosts the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.

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