'Two dolls': Can Trump sell Americans on austerity?

There may not be much under the tree for America's children this Christmas, said Chris Cillizza in his Substack newsletter, but "Donald Trump just handed Democrats a huge gift." In last week's televised Cabinet meeting, the president shrugged off concerns that his trade war with China could lead to higher prices and empty shelves. "Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know?" he told reporters. "And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more." Not since Dr. Seuss' Grinch has a strangely hued public figure been so upbeat about the prospect of children going without toys. And with millions of average Americans "already struggling to meet their basic needs," it would be "campaign malpractice" for Democrats not to run this "out-of-touch" sound bite on a loop. Trump even obliged them with a second take, telling NBC News' Kristen Welker that kids also "don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five." So much for Trump's campaign-trail "promises of abundance," said Dan McLaughlin in National Review. This sudden embrace of austerity echoes President Jimmy Carter's 1979 infamous "malaise speech" that preceded Ronald Reagan's 1980 landslide. If Trump's best defense of tariffs is really "'Suck it up and buy less stuff for your kids this Christmas,' Republicans are headed to a Carter-size catastrophe."

It's hard to put a positive spin on price hikes and empty shelves, said Rebecca Onion in Slate. Yet Trump's framing of his "disastrous" tariffs as a chance for American children to appreciate "fewer playthings of higher quality" is a masterpiece of political messaging. For "countless parents" who find their homes swamped by "stuffies" and fragile plastic toys, his "two dolls" line is a hit. Yes, the toy industry will suffer because of tariffs—China makes 80 percent of toys sold in the U.S.—but my guilt about overconsumption may be eased. Trump is channeling an "old-fashioned, morally vigorous philosophy" that sustained previous generations of Americans through hard times, said Peter Tonguette in The American Conservative: "It does you good to do without."

It depends on why times are hard, said Matthew Hennessey in The Wall Street Journal. Americans will happily "scrimp and save in the event of a real emergency," be it a war or a natural disaster. "But this isn't a real emergency." We're being asked to tighten our belts purely because of Trump's "own policy decisions and his stubborn insistence on sticking with them," which is why his approval rating on the economy is now underwater by double digits. And since when do Republicans peddle this socialistic "scarcity mindset"? asked Nick Catoggio in The Dispatch. Trump's "two dolls" remark could have been lifted from one of Sen. Bernie Sanders' moralistic lectures about consumerism. "Except that Bernie would have framed it more tactfully."

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Perhaps Americans should "cut back on cheap, imported plastic goods," said David A. Graham in The Atlantic. But Trump is a "particularly flawed messenger" for that idea. From his "literal gilded mansion" to a career spent hawking branded steaks, neckties, and condos, he is the walking embodiment of shallow materialism. What's especially grating, said Joe Berkowitz in Fast Company, is that the president is pushing austerity as his own family rakes in billions from dubious crypto schemes and he seeks to extend tax cuts for the superrich. This "new embrace of American sacrifice" would be easier to swallow, in short, if it weren't coming from "a billionaire who thinks other billionaires deserve more billions."