Trump Likes Some Populist Ideas. Progressives Are Split on Working With Him.

Progressives are torn over whether to work with President Donald Trump on populist proposals he’s floated recently. While some left-leaning lawmakers told NOTUS that the president endorsing ideas they like provides an opening for collaboration, others doubted Trump is serious about following through on actually implementing the policies.

Trump has called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates, signed an executive order to stop Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes and issued another to stop defense companies from issuing dividends or stock buybacks within the past month.

Those proposals have baffled some House Republicans, who said the president’s suggestions more closely resemble the priorities of the left. For some progressive lawmakers, the president’s comments are in line with their economic agenda.

“It’s great,” Rep. Ro Khanna told NOTUS. “We’ve been pushing for this progressive policy for years and stopping Wall Street from buying up single family homes. I’m happy, he should support my legislation on that.”

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, another progressive, also told NOTUS she’s willing to work with the president on any progressive policy.

“I’ll sit and work with anyone in the name of progress, if they’re serious about it and if they want to center the American people,” Pressley said.

Trump’s comments have already spurred some surprising conversations across the aisle. He called Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, last week to discuss capping credit card interest rates. Warren said after the call she’d be open to working with the president, which the White House called “productive.”

“He said he wanted to work on that. And I said ‘great,’” Warren said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” after the phone call. “Let’s get something done.”

But other progressive lawmakers say they still feel uneasy about working with Trump on his policy priorities, whatever their substance may be. Rep. Emily Randall told NOTUS she doesn’t fully trust the president’s promises to cap interest rates or promote affordable housing.

“I’m really questioning whether or not it’s good faith, or whether they’ll include problematic line items, pieces of policy in those bills and rules, the way that we saw in the Republican stock-trading ban,” Randall said.

Rep. Sarah McBride also told NOTUS she wasn’t sold that the president was serious about the economic policy proposals.

“What we’ve seen throughout Donald Trump’s time in office is that when genuinely progressive economic policy is put forward, it’s either a proposal that never materializes to anything, or, if it does, it’s actually structured in a way that’s not truly to benefit the working class,” McBride said.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal told reporters Wednesday she was nervous that the president’s ideas to work with her wing of the party would ultimately fall flat.

“I just feel skeptical that he’s going to do anything, because he’s talking about a 10% credit card cap on rates, but he overturned our original things that we had done on credit cards and capping overdraft fees,” Jayapal said. “He’s pardoned all of these big banks that had financial settlements that had been negotiated.”

But, Jayapal added, Democrats should be willing to work with the Trump administration on the bills they are pushing already. Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill last year to cap credit card interest rates that has since stalled in the Senate.

“If he wants to work on our actual bills, sure,” Jayapal said. “If he’s actually committed to getting it across the finish line, sure.”

Trump’s proposals come as the Republican Party struggles to identify a unified message on lowering costs. Though Trump ran his 2024 campaign on cost-of-living concerns, he has met some criticism for dismissing questions about affordability as a “hoax.”

While Republicans have repeatedly said that Americans would see lower prices due to their June reconciliation bill, a New York Times/Siena poll released Thursday found that 58% of registered voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy.

Rep. Ilhan Omar told NOTUS that Democrats should be skeptical of Trump’s comments as his administration works on an affordability message.

“He’s looking for an off-ramp, off of the fact that he said the affordability crisis was a Democratic hoax,” Omar said. “They know that that does not pass with the American people. That is not sustainable, and so they’re trying to figure out ways to save face. I don’t think he’s interested in doing actual things.”

Randall echoed Omar, adding that she thinks the midterms are motivating Trump’s newfound attention to affordability. Though Randall said she thinks the president is looking for a message with voters, she said that shouldn’t prevent Democrats from working across the aisle to get things done.

“I understand why they’re pulling Democratic ideas, because their ‘affordability agenda’ is not functional. Because they’re waging an expensive war on immigrants, driving up costs, using tariffs like a sledgehammer,” Randall said. “But you reach around for good allies who will make you look good.”