As gas prices soar, Tafoya wants Americans to eat cake

Let’s talk about US Senate candidate Michele Tafoya’s viral quote about Starbucks, war and patriotism. The Republican podcaster and former TV sports reporter is running to become one of two US senators from Minnesota, succeeding the retiring DFL Sen. Tina Smith. Her entry into the race has given us a front-row seat to Tafoya’s transition from polite sideline interlocutor of quarterbacks and coaches to the candidate at the center of the chat, revealing her views on consequential concerns of governance and policy. Tafoya has never run for or held elective office, but she’s an experienced and skilled talker from her years as a broadcaster and podcaster.

Recently, she spoke about the attack on Iran, sounding as if she were trying to assure the masses and assuage concerns about casualties and rising gas prices caused by the war President Donald Trump began without authorization from Congress. “I know it’s frustrating and I know it’s hard for people. What I would say to them is we lost some service members over there who have put their lives on the line to protect us, to protect the region,” Tafoya said. She then recommended “keeping a stiff upper lip. Maybe you take one less trip to Starbucks so that gas goes a little further until this thing is over and these gas prices come back down again. Let’s just try to be patriots about this.”

There’s an inescapable let-them-eat-cake tenor of her comment that was ridiculed online. “Respectfully, she’s Marie Antoinette with a travel mug,” Republican communications consultant Michael Brodkorb posted. Even actor Henry Winkler, aka the Fonz for my generation, got in on Tafoya’s wartime analysis, writing, “Maybe you pass up a loaf of bread or an apple or some protein ... that will do it.”

First, let’s address the lattes. There are too many variables to determine whether skipping Starbucks will balance a budget, but it seems to be shaky ground to launch a conversation about required sacrifices. The value of skipping Starbucks depends on a person’s regular order. Would that be a tall black coffee or a venti white chocolate mocha with an extra shot of espresso and a drizzle of caramel? The coffee sells for about $3 before the tip while the other designer caffeinated drinks can easily surpass $8.

If a Starbucks run typically also includes food, then yes, definitely there will be real savings by skipping coffee and a fistful of cake pops. The fuel efficiency of the vehicle also matters, as does distance to the store. With gas prices headed toward $4 a gallon, those in larger vehicles or SUVs will save money by not driving, especially if the nearest Starbucks is 20 miles from home.

But does anyone really believe the impact of rising gas prices can be wiped out by passing up a single Starbucks run? That claim by Tafoya is going to sound increasingly absurd as fuel prices soar and spread to more consumer goods. Prominent economists are already warning that the economic damage from this war will be long-lasting and widespread, dragging the economy and markets for years. Tafoya’s done well enough that she’s probably blissfully insulated from the pocketbook pressures that most of us face.

If Tafoya wants to make a real run at this seat, she’s going to have to be more thoughtful about such serious concerns. “Skip Starbucks” isn’t a workable economic policy or a campaign slogan. This country doesn’t need another politician who equates governance with online virality through sound bites and memes. What we need in this elevated position of power is a senator with compassion and curiosity, much like Smith herself.

And yet the Starbucks quip wasn’t the worst of her riff on country and caffeine. That would be Tafoya’s claim that patriotism requires a stiff upper lip. As a career journalist, one would hope Tafoya would be more protective of the American right to speak truth to power. We are constitutionally protected by the First Amendment to ask questions and cause good trouble. Tafoya of all people should understand this foundational right.

Minnesota already has four Republicans in Congress, political eunuchs who continue to get in line with this president, unwilling to challenge or criticize his self-dealing, authoritarian ambitions and pardons for fraudsters. Now, Tafoya is signaling that she, too, would march in line with Trump and that we should stand behind her. No, thank you.

This is the time for all of us, including elected officials from both parties, to question and challenge Trump’s authority before it’s too late. Our blood, treasure and democracy are at risk. Protest is patriotic. It’s the tyrants who prefer silence. I sincerely hope that Tafoya, an Emmy Award-winning sports journalist and would-be national leader, belatedly decides she misspoke and that she actually values dissent as a fundamental right. If, however, she continues to tell Americans to suck it up and sacrifice caffeine for the greater good, her judgment reveals her to be far better suited for podcasting than a policy war room.

Tribune News Service