For Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, there is always an egg-related angle.
After President Trump fired inspectors general last month, Ms. Klobuchar said that chaos and corruption were on the rise — along with egg prices.
When Mr. Trump’s numbers slipped in polling, she wrote on social media, “Verdict in the egg aisle: Yep! Trump’s honeymoon is over.”
And when she was booed at an event after mocking Mr. Trump onstage, Ms. Klobuchar offered a message to any Republican who, she suggested, might want to throw eggs at her in outrage.
“You can’t,” she cracked. “Because they’re too expensive.”
For years, Republicans hammered the Biden White House over inflation, riding a wave of frustration about the high cost of living back to total control of Washington.
Now, out of power and under pressure from their constituents, Democrats are struggling to press a unified and effective message against Mr. Trump. But some, like Ms. Klobuchar, are racing to turn the soaring costs of basic goods back on the administration.
They argue that while Mr. Trump won with promises to lower the cost of living, his White House is preoccupied with divisive policies and empowering billionaires rather than focusing on making life more affordable for most Americans.
(On Wednesday, the Agriculture Department said the federal government was looking into importing more eggs and increasing funding for efforts to combat the spread of bird flu, a significant driver in propelling egg prices higher.)
Ms. Klobuchar, who holds the No. 3 spot in Senate Democratic leadership, spoke by phone about egg messaging, the Trump administration and the next rounds of elections.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
You mention the steep cost of eggs in the Trump era at seemingly every opportunity. Can you describe the kinds of voters that you and your fellow Senate Democrats are trying to reach with that emphasis?
Let me make clear, it’s not just egg prices that are up.
A number of people that voted for Donald Trump, and in my state, some of whom also voted for me, they expected that he was going to be a change maker, not for chaos, not for corruption, but they wanted him to do something on their costs. That includes housing and child care and health care. And they’re just not seeing it. And instead, they’re seeing the opposite.
The way they have been creating chaos and getting rid of things that matter to people, whether it’s cancer research or whether it is their local park ranger or farm loan officer, this is not what they signed up for.
We’d love to work with them if they want to come work with us on child care or housing. But that’s not what he’s doing. He’s looking for wedges everywhere, trying to buy Greenland and Panama and make Canada the 51st state. This is not what people signed up for. So it is on us to make that case, and it is on them to be accountable for the things that they promised.
What did you last pay for a dozen eggs in Minnesota?
I’ll have to check at our local grocery store. I just got some last week, so I don’t want to give you the wrong figure. But I know that they have definitely gone up.
[Ms. Klobuchar interjects, later in the conversation:]
There is a reason I waited on this, because there is a difference. In Minnesota, it’s around $8.50, which is — in my memory, it’s two to three times what it was last summer or last year. And then in the Giant Food [in Washington], it’s nine bucks. I go to three different grocery stores, but I always shop on my own.
Eggs are expensive in large part because of bird flu. I wonder if Democrats hold President Trump responsible for that. And if so, how do you make that case?
I hold him responsible for promises that he made, and the eggs are not the only issue here. If it was just one problem, then that would not be the problem. The problem is housing, child care. I don’t think anyone thought he was going to turn it around in one day, but he’s made no moves to turn it around. None. Zero. And so that is the much bigger picture, and eggs are emblematic of the bigger picture.
If Americans have been mad at Democrats for a long time over the cost of living, how do you convince them that now it’s on Republicans?
They were very concerned about this in the last election. We all know that. This was a change election, so I’m very aware of that. But then promises were made that we were going to see change.
This idea of threatening tariffs and creating this kind of chaos is the exact opposite of what we need to bring prices down in our country and to actually make some significant policy changes.
Can you name two or three people who stand out as among the strongest Democratic messengers?
I’m not going to single anyone out, because we’ve had incredible unity among the Democrats in standing up, from some of our most moderate to some of our most liberal.
To me, it’s the courts, the Congress and our constituents. Our constituents matter big time, because they’re also the Republicans’ constituents. And them showing up and making their views clear and telling the stories from their local perspective makes a huge difference. And you’re just seeing this overwhelming outpouring now of people showing up and coming out.
Just a couple of political questions. One of your fellow Minnesotans, Gov. Tim Walz, recently said that he was not ruling out a presidential bid in the future. And I wonder if you have ruled out running for president?
I have a really important job to do right now. I’m No. 3 in the Senate, and that’s my focus.
Do you think President Biden should have run for re-election?
President Biden, when you especially look at what’s going on, got us through the pandemic in a very difficult time. And I believe his decision to withdraw was the right thing.
But I am not going to spend my time looking in the rearview mirror. I am looking forward.
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