‘Stop this madness right now’: Conservative writer begs Congress to block Trump trade war
Republicans in Congress have the power to "stop this tariff madness right now" and prevent a catastrophic trade war that will undermine the U.S. economy, conservative analyst Charles W. Cooke wrote for the National Review — all they have to do is find the courage to do it.
The tariffs on Canada and Mexico, previously delayed by thirty days after Trump cut "deals" with these countries, are now in full force, with the stock market in freefall, and major companies scrambling to minimize the damage as goods and raw materials are subject to new taxes at the border. It's a similar shock to the tariffs on China, which went into effect last month and left consumers stunned at new fees for shipping. The economic losses could be compounded as targeted countries prepare to hit back with their own tariffs.
"Congress can stop this right now. Literally right now. Today. This morning. Before lunch. In a matter of hours," wrote Cooke. "The Constitution gives absolute control over tariffs to Congress. As such, any power that the president enjoys must be delegated. With one bill — passed by veto-proof majorities — Congress could take back some (or all) of that power."
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Trump's authority to unilaterally pass tariffs stems from a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a law which, as the name implies, is meant for emergency situations, but which gives the president the power to determine what constitutes an emergency.
"Congress can repeal it, amend it, or pass a separate law that supersedes it, and there’s nothing that anybody can do to stop it," said Cooke. "Such a law could exempt Canada and Mexico from its provisions, or make clear that other tariff deals involving those countries (like the one Trump signed in 2019) have precedence, or do anything else that Congress wants it to do, because — again! — Congress has plenary power over tariffs. Heck, if Congress passed a law that simply read, 'All delegation of the legislature’s Article I, Section 8 tariff powers is hereby rescinded,' that would immediately be the law of the land."
Congress is reluctant to do this, he noted, because "both parties like the imperial presidency" and anticipate using these powers when they are in charge. But this is "dumb" and "shortsighted," Cooke admonished, and it weakens the original purpose of the Constitution — and it's time lawmakers found their voice again.
"Its legality notwithstanding, there was arguably a time in history at which it made utilitarian sense for the president to be in charge of trade deals. But times change," wrote Cooke. "In a system such as ours, it is utterly bizarre that president enjoys this quasi-monarchical authority. If it wishes, Congress can remove it before you’ve even finished reading this post."
VA employee calls BS on DOGE firing him after getting ‘cash bonus’ for good work
Some Democratic lawmakers plan to pack the House chamber Tuesday night with fired federal workers to hear President Donald Trump's address to Congress. One person expected to be there is an Army veteran who until recently worked at the Veterans' Administration and was laid off around the same time he received a bonus check for "outstanding performance."
Adam Mulvey told CNN's Kate Bolduan that he plans to attend the president's speech as the guest of Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL).
"Tonight, I'd like to hear what the overarching plan is," Mulvey said. "I understand there's areas to cut and there's ways we can tighten up the budget, and we probably need to. But I don't think the way we're doing it is correct. We're going about it in a haphazard manner."
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Mulvey said he worked for a federal health care center in Illinois that serves veterans and active-duty military recruits from Naval Station Great Lakes, and that he and his colleagues had discussed the DOGE firings hitting other federal agencies.
"We've been hearing about different things in the media, but none of us there expected it would touch the VA because our mission is so important, and the patients that come in our doors are so important and need the care that they're getting," Mulvey said. "So, I received a call from my supervisor, who's also a disabled veteran, Gill. He told me he heard there were rumors that employees were getting emails about terminations. I quickly got my work phone, and looked down and there it was: I saw an email saying that I was terminated."
Mulvey continued, "The part that was hard to swallow at first is that it said I was terminated for performance. Every employee from the VA and across the federal government that has been terminated has received the same carbon-copy email that says, 'Your firing is based on your poor performance.' You know, nothing could be further from the truth. I just received a performance evaluation where I received the highest ratings. In fact, yesterday I received my final paycheck from the federal government and it included a cash bonus for performance exceeding the standards for the year, so to be terminated and fired from a layoff for financial reasons is one thing. But to be told it's based on my poor performance, I think that was very disingenuous."
Watch the clip below via CNN.
‘I don’t know where to begin!’ Morning Joe angrily shreds JD Vance’s diplomatic blunder
Vice President J.D. Vance's casual dismissal of the United Kingdom during an interview on Fox News on Monday night led to a furious tirade from MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday morning.
Speaking with host Sean Hannity, Vance downplayed Britain's support for Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky as "some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years"
After sharing the clip, the "Morning Joe" host launched into a brutal tirade aimed at the VP, who has been heavily criticized for his sneering attack on Zelensky in the Oval Office last Friday that shocked the world.
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"We can do fact checks," the MSNBC host blurted. "And this 'random country,' Great Britain, the country, we have a special relationship."
''Some random country,'" he repeated. "Well, here's a list of recent wars that that random country fought alongside with the United States: in 1990, the Gulf war, the British lost 47 lives. 1992, the Bosnian war –– 59 British personnel died. 1998 the Kosovo war, they fought alongside of us and 72 Brits killed. 2000, the Sierra Leone civil war, two personnel died. 2000 war, 2001 the war i Afghanistan, 457 British personnel lost their lives. 2003 the Iraq war 179 Brits lost their lives, 136 killed in hostile incidents."
"And then you go on and you see that the overall war on terror was proportionately 12 percent deadlier for the United Kingdom than it was for Americans, based on the number of troops deployed and the number of troops killed," he detailed. "Three times the number of British troops were shot and killed in Afghanistan than they were in Iraq, and a UK soldier was twice as likely to be shot and killed than their U.S. counterpart."
The exasperated Scarborough then blurted, "I don't know where to begin."
You can watch below or at the link.
- YouTube youtu.be
Tyranny expert warns Trump’s people may be eying fake terror attack in US
With the war with Iran spiraling and public opinion about the military excursion at an all-time low, a leading scholar on tyranny warned on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s people may do the unthinkable.
Late Monday, Fox News host Laura Ingraham warned the president that “the clock is ticking” as supporters lose patience with the war that has been unpopular since the U.S. attacked in late February.
According to historian Timothy Snyder, whose book "On Tyranny" is often cited when discussing the Trump administration, a false flag terror attack in the U.S. that can be blamed on Iran is not beyond the realm of possibilities as the president's approval numbers slide.
On X he wrote, “Trump is pursuing this war in the HOPE that Iran carries out an act of terror in the US. And even if it doesn’t, which I doubt it will, consider the possibility that Trump's people would fake one. Please consider this essay, written back in March, as well as the last few lessons of ‘On Tyranny.’”
In the March essay he linked to, he predicted, "A purpose of the war on Iran might well be to provoke a terrorist attack inside the United States. This would provide Donald Trump with a pretext to try to cancel or 'federalize' the coming Congressional elections.“
"Self-terrorism might not have been the initial aim; but as time goes by, and failures and atrocities mount, its appeal will grow. Trump could think that he has much to gain; the war itself makes terrorism more likely; there are plausible vectors of terror; and the United States has let down its defenses," he added.
As for the timing, he elaborated, “We know that he is obsessed with the fall elections, which his party will almost certainly lose by spectacular margins, and that he fears the accordant loss of power. This is clear from his own statements and actions.”
