Populism from left and right targets corporate America

Corporate tax hikes, tariffs may return to table, WSJ reports

A Wall Street Journal Politics newsletter published Tuesday reports that voters from the left and the right are finding a common, populist ground targeting American corporations. WSJ Washington coverage chief Damian Paletta, who has covered Washington for 22 years as a reporter and editor, opens the newsletter with the observation that “there’s a political horseshoe forming.”

The newsletter describes “a growing embrace of a bigger government role that could crack down on credit-card companies, healthcare companies, housing and child care.” Some Republicans have suggested certain CEOs are paid too much, Paletta writes, while some Democrats see it as “a badge of honor to attempt to evict companies from the political process.” He pointed to Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat running for Senate in Michigan, who has made removing corporate influence from politics a primary goal of his campaign.

“Fairly or unfairly, there is a broad frustration from voters in both parties that government policies have pushed prices higher,” Paletta wrote. The frustration has been building for a while, he noted, citing both the Biden and Trump administrations going after beef and energy companies as places where rising prices have drawn loud complaints.

The newsletter also identifies artificial intelligence as an area where unusual alliances have already “backed many Democrats and Republicans into a corner.” Paletta wrote that American businesses could see this energy only escalate in 2027 and 2028, when both political parties host open primaries and loud, populist voices will be calling for big changes. “Things like tariffs and even corporate tax increases, which used to be politically tough, might be back on the table,” he wrote.

Paletta situates the shift within a longer historical pattern. “American businesses have a long legacy of supporting lawmakers from both parties to help shape Washington’s agenda,” he wrote. “But it’s possible that the political center of the country has moved outside of Washington now, to places where this influence isn’t as salient.”

The same edition carried several other items. The newsletter reported that J. Dennis Hastert, the former Republican House speaker who went from being one of the nation’s most powerful politicians to serving a federal prison sentence, has died. It also previewed President Trump’s Tuesday schedule: policy meetings at 11 a.m. ET and 12:30 p.m., a Gold Star Families reception at 1 p.m., and remarks at a Maryland shipyard at 4 p.m.

On Congress, the newsletter reported that Republicans are pinning their hope for the Senate on John Sununu’s bid for a political comeback in New Hampshire. The race could act as a lifeline in the GOP’s effort to retain its teetering Senate majority, but Sununu will need to “navigate a narrow political tightrope, creating enough distance from Trump in a difficult political environment while still attracting MAGA supporters,” the newsletter said.

Abroad, the newsletter reported that the U.S. military moved a dozen B-1 bomber aircraft from a U.K. military base on Sunday because of concerns about a possible drone attack ordered by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to American and European officials briefed on the incident. On the domestic policy front, the newsletter reported that the Treasury Department has transformed children’s Trump Accounts, recently enabling auto-enrollment and stock donations for the program and turning it into a “universal child-investment vehicle.” Under the rules, kids and their parents cannot pick the stocks or reject donated shares, and they cannot sell for five years, the newsletter said.

MSI has previously reported on the bipartisan voter sentiment now reshaping corporate politics. A Wall Street Journal poll published Sept. 29 found majority support across party lines for government-imposed price caps on prescription drugs, credit-card interest rates, and child care costs, and earlier coverage on Sept. 20 documented the anti-establishment anger that has since spread into specific policy demands on corporate power.