Localizing the impact of Trump’s tariffs
Americans know something bad is happening. We’re here to hammer home the impacts
This week, Donald Trump’s wild tariff scheme took the world by storm and caused entire markets and industries to spiral into a panic. Business leaders who jumped on board the MAGA train after Trump’s November election win started having second thoughts, and even Trump-friendly media personalities like Joe Rogan, Dave Portnoy, and Ben Shapiro turned on their Dear Leader. The national news cycle was relentless - one day, there were tariffs; another day, they’re scaled back - but on the ground across the country, regular Americans were just seeing and hearing that something really bad was happening.
COURIER’s reporters on the ground in 11 states have worked around the clock to localize the impact of Trump’s policies and explain how the massive economic uncertainty his shoot-from-the-hip approach to destabilizing the global trade market is causing will hurt their communities’ interests. From Arizona to Pennsylvania, we’re interviewing elected officials and local leaders, explaining the specific impacts of Trump’s economic policies on certain groups, and highlighting cross-partisan and industry opposition to his extreme - and extremely unpopular agenda.
On the national level, we’ve also published content holding the administration accountable on the issue, highlighting Trump’s personal corruption, divisions in the MAGA coalition, and how the tariffs are hurting Americans’ bottom line. These posts have received millions of views across social media platforms in the past few days.
The story of Trump’s economy (er, oligarchy) is, unfortunately, just beginning. As our nation continues to face turmoil and uncertainty, our team will continue to fearlessly educate audiences on what’s happening in the news via skimmable, swipeable content that is easy to consume and share. By flooding the zone in real-time with this coverage, we can drive a consistent narrative to millions of news-avoidant Americans about who owns the harm they, their paychecks, 401ks, and children’s futures will feel over the coming months and years. These stories cannot wait for an election cycle to be told - the way we win back power is by informing and mobilizing the public about what’s happening right now. If you don’t already follow our national account on Instagram or TikTok, please take a minute to do so now, and share our content with your own social communities to help us spread good information even further.
- Tara
More from our team:
As Virginia’s gubernatorial election ramps up, our Virginia newsroom, Dogwood, is beginning to cover the hotly-contested race. Follow Dogwood on Instagram here or on TikTok here for the latest.
Across COURIER’s network, we added +1.5 million net new social media followers and email subscribers in Q1 of this year. We’re now fast approaching a total audience of 7 million active subscribers, viewers, and followers. 🚀
What I’m reading this week:
Gannett will stop publishing diversity information, citing Trump’s executive order (Nieman Lab, 4/10)
Sad but not surprising: The largest newspaper chain in the country is capitulating to Trump’s extreme agenda by getting rid of its diversity and inclusion practices and scrubbing its website.
Judge orders White House to allow AP access to news events (NPR, 4/9)
“A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump White House to let Associated Press journalists return to the Oval Office and other spaces immediately to cover news events, ruling it was unlawful to block the news service in a dispute over its choice of words.”
RFK’s Anti-Vax Flock Turns on Him (The Bulwark, 4/7)
“Kennedy conceded that the measles vaccine is “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.” He also said the government was providing “needed MMR vaccines.” That statement went off like a bomb in MAHA-land, where it’s taken as scripture that basic sanitation and vitamin A are the real way to avoid measles, which (they add) isn’t that serious of a disease anyway. The replies to Kennedy’s tweet filled up with former supporters, prominent and not, who thought he had made a grievous error.”
The platforms cash in their chips with Trump (Platformer, 4/10)
“From Meta to Nvidia, tech CEOs are paying the president to get the outcomes they want — and it's working.”