JEFF GREENFIELD:

On the issue of trade this is really going to cause and has caused an enormous problem with the Republicans because in the farm states, there are still states where farming is important,where a lot of vulnerable Democratic senators are up for re-election. The idea of a trade war, if it happens, is going to clobber the agricultural economy. And you're talking about states like Montana, Missouri, North Dakota, many others. The problem for the Republicans is broadly speaking, the president is so popular among Republicans that they're caught – they can't attack him, he's the leader of our party but they don't want to see a trade policy like he's announcing become reality. The other thing I think to remember about this is, what are Trump's notions about himself is he's a master negotiator and the art of the deal, to quote one of his books, suggests you begin with a kind of maximalist opening bargaining stance. If that were to work, if his threats result in a deal with China were they curb some of their clearly unfair practices, that's going to be a win. But the question is whether China is amenable to that kind of negotiation that is very much up in the air and could be a huge political problem for the Republicans in the fall.