Following what he described as a Democratic landslide in the midterm elections, Above the Law columnist Jonathan Wolf is urging the party not to abandon scrutiny of the MAGA movement in favor of a forward-looking economic agenda. His argument: holding officials accountable and lowering household costs are not competing goals.

Wolf’s column challenges pundits and winning candidates who have called on Democrats to move past Donald Trump’s political movement and concentrate on prices. He contends that voters remain angry and that Democrats risk squandering their victory if they fail to pursue accountability.

He opens with an anecdote from a Neil deGrasse Tyson lecture about science in Hollywood films. During a discussion of the 1995 movie “Waterworld,” Tyson showed an animation of rising seas that depicted Florida disappearing beneath the water. Wolf wrote that he cheered and that others in the audience joined him. He interpreted the reaction as reflecting hostility toward Florida’s prominence in the MAGA movement, while acknowledging that the lecture crowd was not representative of the broader population.

From there, Wolf links several policies and figures associated with Trump to economic pressures. He argues that the war against Iran contributed to higher fuel prices, which can also raise transportation costs for goods. He calls for accountability for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, citing articles of impeachment filed against him. Allegations in impeachment articles do not by themselves establish criminal guilt, and fuel prices are influenced by multiple global factors.

Wolf also argues that aggressive federal immigration enforcement has frightened workers away from jobs and increased costs. He points to an assessment from Minneapolis as evidence of local economic disruption and calls for consequences for Trump adviser Stephen Miller, whom he associates with the administration’s immigration approach.

The column further criticizes Elon Musk’s accumulation of wealth and government support for his businesses. Wolf cites a Forbes estimate that Musk was worth about $11.6 billion in 2016 and asserts that his fortune subsequently reached $1 trillion. His claim that government money provided to Musk was simply printed, and that printing money always increases inflation, does not establish a direct causal link between government support for Musk’s businesses and higher consumer prices.

Wolf cites research connecting corruption and inflation to support his broader thesis. But his prescription is principally a political argument: Democrats, he says, should treat scrutiny of Trump allies as part of an economic agenda rather than as a distraction from it.