These red state Republicans just stabbed their voters in the back

On Wednesday night, the U.S. House delivered a stinging, bipartisan rebuke to President Donald Trump’s trade agenda, voting 219-211 to rescind the “fentanyl emergency” tariffs on Canadian imports.

Six Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Don Bacon (R-NE), Kevin Kiley (R-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and Jeff Hurd (R-CO) — joined every Democrat but one to pass the resolution. It was a historic moment: the first time Trump’s own House has formally voted to terminate a national emergency used to justify tariffs.

Missouri Republicans decided keeping the president happy is their top priority. Politically, that’s easily rationalized. This was a symbolic vote unlikely to pass the U.S. Senate, and it’s never getting signed by Trump.

Reps. Ann Wagner, Jason Smith, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Mark Alford, Eric Burlison, and Sam Graves all voted to maintain the 35 percent duties — despite a wall of evidence that these tariffs are bleeding their own constituents. Under a normal president, even one of their own party, these Republicans would have instinctively thrown down for the interests of their voters.

But we don’t have a normal president. It’s a solid indication of how partisanship literally trumps pocketbooks in congressional districts where incumbents feel safe.

The economic reality was laid bare just hours before Wednesday's vote. The Tax Foundation confirmed that Trump’s tariffs represent the largest U.S. tax increase as a percent of GDP since 1993.

For the average American household, this hidden tax cost $1,000 in 2025 and is projected to climb to $1,500 in 2026. The same analysis found the tariffs will offset most of the economic gains from Trump’s own tax cuts.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office, in its flagship outlook released on Thursday morning, revised inflation projections higher for the next three years, citing direct upward pressure from these duties.

This isn’t an abstract dispute. Canada is Missouri’s largest trading partner, its auto and aerospace supply chains running directly through the northern border.

By voting to uphold these levies, the Missouri GOP bucked the very business groups they once regarded as sacrosanct — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Soybean Association — all of which have publicly opposed these tariffs.

For Wagner, the choice was binary: stand with the president, or side with the West County exporters, homebuilders, and manufacturers she claims to represent. She chose the president.

A majority of Americans oppose the tariffs. A January New York Times/Siena poll found 54 percent of voters want them gone. A Marist survey released last week put the number at 56 percent.

When Americans are told that Canadian tariffs could raise gas prices 30 to 70 cents per gallon, half of Trump’s own supporters flip to opposition.

Minutes before the vote closed, Trump posted on Truth Social:

Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!

Six Republicans heard that threat and voted their conscience anyway.

Missouri’s delegation heard it and fell in line.

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