Tahra Hoops

I appreciate this piece from @garywinslett.bsky.social & @tahrajirari.bsky.social about Medicaid and what it means for rural communities. I particularly like this callout that the point is to kick people off of Medicaid to achieve the "savings."
open.substack.com/pub/colrebui...

The Battle for the House sits in the Suburbs As the 2026 midterms approach, the cost of living is poised to become a central battlefield in the fight for control of the House—where only 3 seats sit between Democrats and the Republicans.

The road to a House majority runs through suburban America, where affordability still rings as the number one issue. Read the full piece here: www.therebuild.pub/p/the-battl...

69% of Dem targets are suburban districts. Meanwhile, Republicans are defending seats where their incumbents underperform by -3.4 points on average. Dems who champion specific policies on housing, healthcare & childcare affordability will win these crucial battlegrounds.

New: The battle for the House in 2026 will be won in the suburbs. Our analysis shows Democrats targeting districts where economic anxiety over healthcare, childcare & daily costs is high. With just 3 seats between the parties, cost-of-living issues will decide who governs. 🧵

A Progressive Framework for Family Policy: Reducing Costs for What Matters Most (Part II) This is Part Two of that two-part set of posts.

Progressives must reject the false choice between compassion & order. Chaos just prices families out. We need safe streets and affordable housing, not just “family values” talk from Trump while progressives shy away from basic order. www.therebuild.pub/p/a-progres...

Democrats need a real pro-family agenda that makes it easier, and cheaper, to raise kids. @garywinslett outlines 10 smart policies, from baby bonuses to single-stair reform. Families deserve affordable childcare, safe cities, and homes that work for real life.

California’s Anti-Development Addiction There’s a maddening dynamic going on in California housing policy.

Purity myths, anti‑profit politics, and ransom‑style discretionary reviews keep supply locked up. Until lawmakers break this three‑part addiction, rents rise, families flee, and the state shrinks from promise to museum piece. www.therebuild.pub/p/californi...

NEW: California voters put housing costs first, yet the Senate made Aisha Wahab housing chair. She says “protect supply, curb demand” and fights parking reforms. Putting a brake pedal at the wheel shows Sacramento won't kick its anti‑development habit.

By @GaryWinslett

How Maritime Protectionism Is Backfiring On April 17th, the U.S.

Extending Jones Act-style rules to global trade won't revitalize shipbuilding, it only increases costs for Americans. The path to competitiveness is through modernizing ports, automating infrastructure, and investing in our maritime workforce. www.therebuild.pub/p/how-marit...

This is not the only case of volatility in the trade world, tariffs have wrecked any ounce of certainty left, and these impending proposed fees, will continue to hurt an industry that is already seeing drops in volume.https://x.com/krassenstein/status/1911724263649714585

Even the administration is now considering walking it back, hinting the fees won’t be stacked, may be scaled by tonnage, and could have delayed implementation.

Translation: they know it was a mess. But we still do not know the full scale and impacts.

The proposed fees:

• $1.5M per call for China-built ships
• $1M if a carrier owns just one China-built vessel
• $1M for Chinese state-owned ships
• Potentially stackable

It’s unclear what will be implemented, but the uncertainty alone is already hurting trade.

And let's be real the U.S. already has has no global shipbuilding presence.

In 2022:

China built 1,794 large oceangoing ships

The U.S. built 5

We built zero container ships in 2024. Yet we’re writing policy like we’re a global maritime power. x.com/AlecStapp/s...

On April 17th, we'll learn if massive fees on Chinese-built vessels will move forward. This expansion of failed protectionism into international shipping has faced massive backlash with the CEO of the ACA stating the impact would ultimately be felt by the consumer.

New Rebuild Post!

Maritime protectionism has failed for 100 years. It didn't build us a fleet. It won't now. But the USTR's originally proposed fees of up to $1.5M per port call on Chinese ships will raise prices, shrink exports, and creates more chaos for U.S. businesses. 🧵

Overall, Americans overwhelmingly believe Trump's tariffs will damage the U.S. economy (53% hurt vs. 31% help). This skepticism cuts across demographics but runs deepest among Black (62%) and Hispanic (60%) respondents.

Americans overwhelmingly expect retaliation against Trump's tariffs (81% likely), aligning with reality. China has already imposed 84% retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, while the EU approved €21 billion in countermeasures on American products.

Americans remain skeptical about Trump's tariffs hurting U.S. global standing, with 52% believing they damage international relationships. Despite Trump's "America First" messaging, only 19% see tariffs improving our global position. Black + Hispanic voters (59%/55%) are most concerned.

NEW Economist/YouGov Poll: 55% of Americans believe Trump's recent tariffs will hurt their financial wellbeing. The negative perception crosses demographic lines but is strongest among Black (64%) and Hispanic (60%) respondents. 🧵

Fighting Back, Staying Centered: The Democratic Tariff Strategy Democrats need to embrace "combative centrism"— the strategy of fighting harder against Trump's policies while maintaining centrist economic positions that appeal to swing voters.

Voters won't grasp Section 301 or the intricacies of trade law, but they acutely feel the pinch when grocery bills rise. The best messaging sounds mad on voters' behalf, that families' cost of living is caught in the crossfire of chaotic policy. www.therebuild.pub/p/fighting-...

Democrats learned this lesson the hard way under Biden: voters won't sacrifice their present economic comfort for abstract future benefits.

Democrats who make tariffs personal - connecting them directly to local industries and household budgets - are showing the way forward. The most effective voices highlight specific impacts on their communities, not abstract trade policy.

CO Gov. @jaredpolis shows how effective messaging looks: "Trump's tariffs will be a tax on Coloradans and American families, and increase the cost of everything from food to gas." His straightforward language that tariffs "make no sense" connects with everyday voters.

With Trump's tariffs taking effect April 2nd, Democrats need to understand this fight is just starting. The economic impacts will ripple through supply chains, affecting everything from manufacturing to agriculture long after implementation.

Tomorrow's "Liberation Day" is just the start of a trade war that jeopardizes America's economic growth. When we limit ourselves to domestic production of basics, we sacrifice the diverse economic ecosystem that drives prosperity. 🧵

NYC's Airbnb Ban: 18 Months Later Hotels thrived and rents are still high.

The lesson? Blanket bans rarely work as intended. NYC needs nuanced policies that distinguish between commercial operators and homeowners simply trying to make ends meet in an unaffordable city. The only way out of a housing shortage is to build more.

open.substack.com/pub/colrebu...

Real solutions require increasing supply through new construction and zoning reforms. Even the watered-down "City of Yes" initiative will build only about 80,000 new homes over 15 yrs—nowhere near enough as rents continue to skyrocket hitting median $4,500 in Manhattan.

Manhattan hotel rates hit $445/night in Dec 2024—TRIPLE the US average. Hotel occupancy is at 84% (effectively full capacity). The hotel industry is thriving with rates climbing 7.4% YoY vs just 2.1% nationally.

NEW: NYC's Airbnb ban has been in effect for 18 months, and the unintended consequences are piling up. Beyond failing to lower rents, it's disproportionately harming outer borough communities and small businesses.

Combative Centrism and the Fight for the Attention Economy Historically, Democrats have played by old media rules: secure endorsements, focus on earned media, and treat attention as something to be cautiously managed rather than aggressively pursued.

If they Dems stick with risk-averse, technocratic messaging → they’ll lose the economic narrative again. If they embrace combative centrism → they can win back working Americans.

More on Combative Centrism and how Dems can tackle this here: www.therebuild.pub/p/combative...