For Americans considering voting Democrat because they want cheaper groceries and lower gas prices, a New York Times op-ed offers a warning about what a Democrat victory would actually deliver: another round of get-conservatives lawfare, resource-squandering impeachment witch hunts, and performative stonewalling of Trump’s judicial nominees.
Democrats have spent months positioning themselves as the answer to Americans’ affordability concerns. But voters — particularly independents, moderates, and frustrated Republicans — should pay attention to what Democrats say they would actually do with control of Congress.
Writing for the Times, Jamelle Bouie says if Democrats win back the House and Senate, they “would have an opportunity not just to check the Trump administration but to neuter it: to halt the confirmation of new judges, to block the president’s attempts to appoint more unqualified toadies to key offices and to focus the investigative fire of both chambers on every aspect of this White House.”
Bouie all but salivates at the prospect of lawfare, writing, “Should Democrats find the will to do so, they could launch the kind of full-court press that no president has faced from the opposition since Barack Obama had to contend with a Republican Congress in the last two years of his administration. The difference is that Democrats will have real corruption and malfeasance to work with.”
Bouie also warns Democrats against imagining they can have a “constructive relationship … with either Trump or the Republican Party over the next two years.” Instead, Bouie suggests Democrats wield “the full suite of Congress’s powers to constrain the president and restore constitutional government.”
In a lot more words than needed, Bouie is arguing for a two-year-long lawfare campaign against the president and his agenda. Elect Democrats, and you’ll get political lawfare, Bouie hopes. Voters anticipating a Democrat Congress would focus on affordability — which certainly would include working with Republicans and the president despite Bouie’s desire for no bipartisan work — should be wary.
And while Bouie is an opinion columnist, some of the very Democrats who campaign on affordability are also promising the same obstruction and lawfare that Bouie stumps for.
Ohio Democrat Senate candidate Sherrod Brown recently told voters: “I’m in this fight to make life more affordable. Ohioans are working harder than ever and they deserve to get ahead.” But appearing on MSNow, Brown also promised that no matter the qualifications of a candidate, a Democrat-controlled Senate will not confirm any Trump judges.
“We’re not, obviously, confirming judges that are Trump judges,” Brown said. How refusing to confirm a judge because Trump nominated him makes life more affordable for Ohioans is not clear, but what is clear is that Brown’s focus isn’t exactly on affordability.
Rep. Ro Khanna has similarly framed this upcoming election as a referendum on affordability, saying in a post in July: “American families are paying $3500 more a year because of Trump’s war in Iran, his blanket tariffs, and his tax breaks for the wealthy. We need Democrats back in power.”
Yet when asked in a Sept. 27 interview on Meet the Press if impeaching Trump for a third time would be “a mistake,” Khanna said, “No, it’s not,” and said impeachment would set a “standard.” Khanna claimed Democrats could pursue impeachment and also focus on the cost of living.
Democrats keep offering promises of political lawfare to stop Trump with vague assurances that they will make life more affordable. Voters can be frustrated with prices, disappointed in Republicans (for not doing enough), or unhappy with Trump without wanting to give Democrats two years to pursue lawfare. Democrats’ affordability pitch is merely a mask for their real goals: obsessively obstructing Trump and ushering in their radical socialist plans, including free health care for illegal aliens, wide-open borders, and get-the-“rich” schemes that will harm everyday Americans.
Virginia offers a warning about accepting the affordability pitch at face value. Last fall Abigail Spanberger turned the Virginia gubernatorial race into a referendum on affordability.
“Affordability takes center stage in New Jersey, Virginia governor races,” ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel wrote on Nov. 2, 2025. Politico’s Erin Doherty and Brakkton Booker wrote on Oct. 29, 2025, that “Spangberger has stuck to a message on the economy, specifically the cost of life for Virginians.”
Spanberger ultimatey won the race, and yet life has not gotten any more affordable in the commonwealth. July polling found that 47 percent of Virginians disapprove of Spanberger (compared to 42 percent who approve), and affordability issues are still the leading concerns. The Democrat-led state government has put forward proposal after proposal that would raise taxes on everyday services like gym classes, dry cleaning, home repairs, delivery and shipping services, and other items. Spanberger also announced plans to return Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative from which Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin withdrew the state during his tenure. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative raises Virginians’ electricity costs, as admitted by the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council.
The affordability shtick was nothing more than a campaign myth meant to deceive voters into voting for Spanberger. It’s the same playbook Democrats are running now. Impeaching Trump, blocking judicial nominees, and performatively opposing Trump regardless of the policy are all the real goals of Democrats, as made clear by Democrats themselves as well as Bouie.
It’s no surprise that Americans are frustrated with high gas prices. But electing Democrats — whether because they promise to make life affordable or to punish Republicans for inaction on other fronts — will not result in lower gas prices. It will, however, bring an end to deportations, an end to secure borders, an end to shrinking government, and an end to any other campaign promise the president is working on now.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2