Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear tore into President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, warning they would wreak havoc on both his home state and the nation.
“Donald Trump’s tariffs are going to harm all of our Kentucky families, but they’re going to harm all of our American families,” Beshear said in an interview with CNN’s Jessica Dean on Saturday. “They’re going to make prices go up, make it harder to pay the bills at the end of the month when it’s already too hard to pay those bills.”
Trump has recently hit U.S. trading partners with tariffs, including Canada, a major importer of Kentucky bourbon. Beshear, a Democrat in a deep-red state, warned that retaliatory tariffs and boycotts would ripple across the industry.
Beyond bourbon, Beshear painted a bleak economic picture, citing increased costs for gas, groceries, and new homes due to tariffs on Canada and Mexico, labeling the added burden on consumers the “Trump tax.”
“I don’t say that because I’m a Democratic governor and he’s a Republican president. I say that because it’s his decision and his decision alone that’s harming our American families,” said Beshear.
The governor, who is seen as a potential candidate for president in 2028, also weighed in on the Democratic Party’s internal turmoil after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backed a Republican funding bill, a move that sparked outrage among Democrats.
He argued that Democrats had “lost the messaging war” by allowing the debate to shift to whether they would support keeping the government open rather than exposing what was at stake, pointing to Republican efforts to give Elon Musk more authority to lay off thousands of federal workers through the Department of Government Efficiency.
“We’ve got to make sure that we are out there proactively talking about the truth, talking about what’s happening and talking about what we’re for, instead of just who we’re against,” Beshear said.
