President Donald Trump was dealt a huge blow by the Supreme Court on Friday as they eliminated his ability to impose tariffs under economic emergency powers — but he almost at once declared he will continue to charge global tariffs, using a number of alternative statutes. During his rant, he claimed under the ruling, he can't charge tariffs to foreign countries but can "destroy the country" by cutting off all trade to it instead.
Trump's bizarre diatribe, as well as his vow to keep all the same policies the Supreme Court eliminated in place by other means, provoked a stunned reaction from commenters on social media.
"Trump announces a new 10% global tariff. Happy midterms, @GOP," wrote progressive political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.
"Did Donald Trump just openly defy the court’s decision?! He will now impose tariffs by other statutory means," wrote Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude.
"He's having a mental breakdown over this," said Chronicles writer Pedro Gonzalez.
"Dude is screaming 'I'm allowed to destroy the country' in a ramble about tariffs," wrote conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild. "He's absolutely cooked, but they need him to stay in office another 11 months, or JD Vance's campaign is DOA."
"What's amazing about Trump is that if you created a fictional character with as little subtext as him, they'd get rejected for being too cartoonishly unrealistic," wrote YouTuber Velodus. "'You can't just have him say he's allowed to destroy the country, that's too on the nose,' your editor would say."
