Trump’s War on Paper Straws Is About Much More Than Straws

Democrats and Republicans alike who have marveled over Donald Trump’s resurgent popularity attribute that remarkable phenomenon to, among other conditions, the president’s ability to zero in on “80-20 issues” and align himself with the 80 percent. The president’s approach to the political opportunities he has exploited is clever but not necessarily revelatory. It is not as though Democrats did not know that, for example, letting men compete in women’s sports or allowing millions of illegal immigrants to flood the country were broadly unpopular. They understood the risks they were courting, but the 20 percent to whom Democrats shackled themselves pounded their tables until they drowned out the 80 percent.

That dynamic explains the bewilderingly foolish Democratic crusade against single-use plastics, which the president has taken aim at in an executive order this week that focuses on one of the more unpopular manifestations of this campaign: the scourge of the paper straw. But the political issue here is bigger than straws. Rather, the president and his party are laying claim to convenience and consumer choice.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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Democrats and Republicans alike who have marveled over Donald Trump’s resurgent popularity attribute that remarkable phenomenon to, among other conditions, the president’s ability to zero in on “80-20 issues” and align himself with the 80 percent. The president’s approach to the political opportunities he has exploited is clever but not necessarily revelatory. It is not as though Democrats did not know that, for example, letting men compete in women’s sports or allowing millions of illegal immigrants to flood the country were broadly unpopular. They understood the risks they were courting, but the 20 percent to whom Democrats shackled themselves pounded their tables until they drowned out the 80 percent.

That dynamic explains the bewilderingly foolish Democratic crusade against single-use plastics, which the president has taken aim at in an executive order this week that focuses on one of the more unpopular manifestations of this campaign: the scourge of the paper straw. But the political issue here is bigger than straws. Rather, the president and his party are laying claim to convenience and consumer choice.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.