Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is facing one of the toughest reelection battles of her lifetime. And at Tuesday night’s debate, she was clearly on the defensive.
This race should not have been this competitive. Collins has held this seat for five terms. And while Maine has voted for the Democrat in every presidential election since 1992, it still has a fierce independent streak and a healthy Republican base.
But this year is different. President Donald Trump’s approval numbers are abysmal, his tariffs and his war in Iran have tanked our economy, and he seems focused on things that would actively turn voters off — like spending taxpayer dollars on propaganda ads, vanity construction projects, fighting with journalists and punishing his enemies.
And all the while, he’s telling voters that their affordability concerns are a hoax. It’s hard to run on two more years of … this.
In Maine, Trump’s trade war with bordering Canada is a particular pain point, evidenced by how badly Collins tried to distance herself from the tariffs during the debate.
She boasted that she fought to keep a few important items off Trump’s tariff list, including concrete, pulp and road salt.
Her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, a longtime Maine legislator, delivered a response that should become a mantra for every Dem running this cycle: “We can’t eat road salt.”
It was a simple and straightforward acknowledgment that most Americans are struggling to pay their bills, put gas in their cars, put food on the table, and meanwhile Trump’s tariffs are making all of that harder. Collins saving the road salt doesn’t help with any of it.
But it’s more than road salt.
So much of what Trump and Republicans are offering in this eleventh-hour desperation won’t solve Americans’ affordability crisis either.
Trump’s obsession with building monuments to himself won’t help a farmer in Iowa put diesel in his tractor. We can’t eat ballrooms.
Trump’s cheerleading for artificial intelligence while the rest of the world panics about the power-hungry tech bros leading the charge won’t put money in the pocket of a single mom working three jobs in Trenton, New Jersey. We can’t eat data centers.
Trump’s endless war and its global economic destruction isn’t helping the North Carolina apple farmer who lost it all in Hurricane Helene. We can’t eat Iran strikes.
Trump’s fixation with punishing political enemies, and Republican lawmakers’ preening efforts to oblige him in Congress won’t help the laid-off autoworker in Pontiac, Michigan. We can’t eat Jack Smith hearings.
Trump’s constant grifting, self-dealing and his family’s efforts to line their own pockets through crypto and billion-dollar Pentagon contracts aren’t helping the family in Ames, Iowa, struggling to pay their cancer treatment bills. We can’t eat corruption.
Trump’s attacks on journalists, threats to sue over coverage he doesn’t like and attempts at turning the press into his personal Pravda won’t convince the soccer mom in Bakersfield, California, that $5 a gallon gas is somehow affordable. We can’t eat censorship.
Trump’s obsession with baseless election fraud claims and threats to rig or militarize our elections won’t help the recent college grad who’s sent out 300 resumes but can’t get a job. We can’t eat paranoia.
Trump’s preoccupation with authoritarian strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is a slap in the face of a Cuban refugee trying to make a life for his family in Miami. We can’t eat jealousy.
Running the country in service of one guy’s megalomania hasn’t made America great again, and it hasn’t made life better for Americans.
We can’t eat Trump.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.