Can you eat road salt?
Where the question comes from, and what Troy Jackson meant by it.
No, and that was Troy Jackson's point. "We can't eat road salt," he said at his first debate with Susan Collins on October 6, 2026, after Collins cited getting road salt exempted from tariffs. His answer was about the tariffs that stayed on everything else.
He posted it again, then explained it
The next day, October 7, he posted the line again on its own: "We can't eat road salt."
On October 8, he said that he was referring to the fact that Susan Collins "didn’t stop Donald Trump from putting tariffs on everything else when she had the chance."
He came back to it at the second debate
At the second debate he came back to it: "How about all the other tariffs that are on?"
He said the other tariffs, for towns such as Presque Isle and Frenchville, were what mattered: "That's what's actually going to cost people."
At the third debate Troy advocate for no tariff list at all
His point by then was that the exemptions did not make up for a trade war Congress could have stopped. At the third debate, he said: "I'm not going to give Senator Collins credit for getting some things off the list when we should have never had a list."
Get to know Troy Jackson.
Meet TroySources
- Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate, Jackson wins first debate, https://www.jacksonformaine.com/news/jackson-wins-first-debate-as-collins-refuses-to-take-accountability-for-kavanaugh-vote · October 7, 2026
- Troy Jackson on Bluesky, "We can't eat road salt", https://bsky.app/profile/troyjackson207.bsky.social/post/3mxcppc2ojc2t · October 7, 2026
- Troy Jackson on Bluesky, video on road salt and tariffs, https://bsky.app/profile/troyjackson207.bsky.social/post/3mxf4lj2a4c22 · October 8, 2026
- Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate, Jackson wins second debate, https://www.jacksonformaine.com/news/jackson-wins-second-debate-holding-collins-feet-to-fire-on-corruption-scandals-cost-for-mainers · October 8, 2026
- Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate, In third debate, Jackson holds Collins accountable, https://www.jacksonformaine.com/news/in-third-debate-jackson-holds-collins-accountable-for-selling-out-mainers-to-trump · October 14, 2026
Last reviewed October 20, 2026.