It is time for Democrats to step up to the plate. President Donald Trump will address Congress and the nation tonight, and will doubtlessly boast about all the wonderful things he thinks he has been doing. In doing so, he will also doubtlessly lie about many of them in shameless fashion, since that's what he always does. But Democrats need to not get distracted and remain focused on one thing above all else. Call it a return to: "It's the economy, stupid."

From all indications, it looks like this is exactly what they are going to do, which is heartening news. Here's a good start, from an article today on the expected Democratic response:

"Democrats need to start holding Donald Trump accountable," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts). "He said he would lower prices for American families, quote, 'on Day One.' So far, he has done virtually nothing to lower prices or even to indicate that it's somewhere on his radar screen."

That is the way to lead with your strong suit. Because it is Trump's weakest point right now, and it's getting weaker by the day. Here's another senator's take on what the Democratic message should be:

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Democrats would emphasize the risk of cuts to services. "Republicans are cutting Medicare and Medicaid and firing veterans to create budget room for a tax cut for the wealthiest people to ever walk the planet," he said.

"I think we should never stop saying that," he added. “I don't think we should come up with clever new ways to say that. I don't think we should move to change our message from week to week. This is what they are doing."

Trump ran on bringing prices down. Joe Biden was politically vulnerable, after inflation spiked in the middle of his term. It was a powerful issue for Republicans. But since they won back power, they have done literally nothing to address the issue (unless you count "actions which make things worse").

So flip the issue on them, because it is just as potent as it was last year. Point out that the price of eggs keeps going up. Point out the fact that Trump's tariffs are starting a worldwide trade war -- and this is going to raise the price of a lot of other things, in the very near future. Such as gasoline, for instance (always a potent issue with the general public). It is easy to make this case: "Tariffs are a tax on you. When you have to pay more in the grocery store or the gas pump or at an auto dealership, you are paying a Trump tax, plain and simple."

Point out that inflation is going to rise as a direct result of all of this too. Inflation had actually fallen back to a reasonable level (under three percent) by the time Biden left office, but it's about to head back up again with the new Trump tax.

Point out that America's farmers are going to be hurt by this trade war. One of the first things other countries do when America levies a tariff on them is to slap their own big tariff on American farm products. This means farmers in all those red states aren't going to be able to sell to the rest of the world anymore, because countries will be looking for other (cheaper) produce to buy, from other countries. The last time Trump did this (in his first term), he had to bail American farmers out, using our tax dollars. Remind them of this, because it will likely become necessary once again.

Republicans in Congress are about to slash Medicaid in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. They deny this, but it is inescapable. When confronted by it, they mumble about cutting only "waste, fraud, and abuse." But that doesn't add up to the $880 billion in cuts that they are planning. Trump always says he's not going to touch Medicare and Medicaid, but if the Republicans follow their own budget blueprint then that is going to turn out to be a huge lie. One Democratic House member had a good point worth making on the subject:

"There's this perception that people on Medicaid are poor, that they're freeloaders, that Medicaid needs to be reformed because there are a lot of people who are lazy and benefiting from it," [Representative Suhas] Subramanyam said. "If you want to know who's on Medicaid, just go talk to your neighbors."

It's not just Medicaid, either. Republicans are also planning to slash subsidies which have allowed millions to afford health care policies through Obamacare. These subsidies were boosted during the COVID pandemic, but they are set to expire. And Republicans are going to allow this to happen -- in order to give billionaires tons of money. So point this out, because it shows what their priorities truly are.

All of this taken together could very easily send the American economy into a recession. A Federal Reserve Bank prediction of growth has collapsed just in the past few weeks. On February 19th, they were predicting a fairly healthy 2.3 percent growth for the first quarter of this year. Now -- only two weeks later -- this prediction has plummeted to negative 2.8 percent. Democrats need to raise the alarm on this: "Sometimes politicians are caught unawares by a recession, but other times it's the politicians who cause a recession!"

The job market could be affected as well. Joe Biden didn't have a single month with job losses during his entire presidency, but with Trump and his buddy Elon Musk firing people left and right for no reason, and with the economic outlook getting dimmer by the week, we could start to see big job losses return once again. Musk is firing thousands of American veterans and plenty of other hardworking government employees without caring one whit what this means not only to their lives but to the local economies of the areas they live in. They are doing all this to save money so they can hand it to people just like Elon Musk -- people who are already the richest of the rich. And doing so is not going to improve government "efficiency," it is going to do the opposite. It is going to increase inefficiency. Taxpayers who need a question answered are going to have a very long wait on hold, because there won't be many people answering the phones anymore. National Parks will not be able to serve the public because so many employees have been fired. And next time you get on a plane, you better hope that the air traffic controllers aren't too overworked. This is what all these blanket firings will mean to the public.

Tonight, Senator Elissa Slotkin will have the chance to make all of these points. She hails from Michigan, where she got elected even though the state very narrowly went for Trump. Hopefully, this was a good choice for Democrats -- a Midwestern senator who can speak directly to the economic fears of average Americans. Hopefully, she'll avoid taking the bait on all sorts of other issues Trump will likely raise in his speech tonight and instead zero in on his broken promises to bring prices down for everyone. Because tariffs aren't going to do that.

She might want to bring up one final point as well. Trump's secretary of Agriculture just gave an interview where she had a stunning answer for American shoppers who are feeling the pain every time they buy a dozen eggs. You know what it was? "People are sort of looking around thinking: 'Wow, well maybe I can get a chicken in my backyard,' and it's awesome." That's their answer, folks. If you don't like the price of eggs, just raise your own chickens. You're on your own, good luck! It's not quite: "Let them eat cake," but it shows a similar level of being incredibly out of touch and not caring about average people at all. Trump promised to bring prices down, not force everyone to raise their own chickens. He promised to start doing so on Day One. It's been a whole bunch of days since then, and he has done nothing but make the problem worse. Promise made, promise broken.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant