What did Donald Trump do today?
He said it would "literally destroy" America if he couldn't impose taxes on a whim.
Trump, or someone else posting from his social media account, blew up over the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision that today struck down virtually all of the import taxes he'd imposed since returning to office. In a lengthy rant to his private microblogging site, Trump thundered that depriving him of the right to impose tariffs at will (a power that the Constitution gives to Congress, not the president) would "literally destroy the United States of America."
In fact, Trump not being able to impose taxes on American businesses and consumers that Congress has not voted on will not "literally destroy" the United States of America.
What is "literally" true is that tariffs have not been this high since the 19th century, and the last time they were even close to this rate was during the Great Depression. As high school history students are generally expected to know, the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 are generally blamed for making the Depression much worse in the United States than it otherwise would have been, because instead of bolstering domestic industries, they all but killed the American export trade.
The post attributed to Trump also railed against the "HIGHLY PARTISAN" nature of the ruling, although the actual 7-4 decision fell along technical lines, with half of the dissenting votes (that is, in Trump's favor) coming from justices appointed by President Obama.
Most of the rant was aimed at begging the Supreme Court to decide the case in advance. In any event, Trump's tariffs—and the inflation in prices they cause—will remain in place at least through October, when the Supreme Court will likely hear it.
Why does this matter?
- Presidents aren't kings and they don't get to ignore "partisan" rulings either.
- A president who wanted to avoid "partisan" rulings would probably stop telling the Supreme Court justices he personally appointed how he expects them to vote via social media posts.