Trump Losing

And, anger management cartoons

A federal judicial panel served Trump a big blow yesterday, ruling that his tariff scheme is illegal. They found that federal law did not grant him “unbounded authority” to tax imports from nearly every country around the world. They said his actions exceeded any powers of the presidency, and were illegal. Of course Trump calls this “judicial overreach.”

I was unaware of this, but in 1977, Congress passed the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, often abbreviated as IEEPA, delegating to the president the power to adjust tariffs in times of national emergency, but Trump has used that power far beyond what the Constitution will permit. This is what Trump has been using to manipulate tariffs in ways his position does not normally allow.

“Congress manifestly is not permitted to abdicate or to transfer to other the essential legislative functions with which it is thus vested,” the court writes.

Also yesterday, a nickname was floated around in the media, calling Trump “TACO TRUMP,” an acroynm to say “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Amid his tariff behavior, it implies that he “chickens out” when the markets tumble over his tariffs, then rebound when he changes them back. When asked about it at a press conference, Trump appeared very annoyed and said, “I chicken out? I’ve never heard that. Don’t…