President Donald Trump is still stewing over a major loss that blew a hole in one of his signature policy priorities, venting online about “a complete lack of respect” and insisting those responsible “should be ashamed of themselves.”
The target of his rage became clear in a series of Truth Social posts on Monday, Feb. 23, two days after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his sweeping global tariff policy. What initially read as a familiar post-defeat tantrum quickly veered into something stranger, as Trump floated a retaliatory “punishment” so petty and oddly worded that critics began openly questioning whether he even authored the posts himself.
“The supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling,” the president groused.
“The court has also approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used,” Trump continued, clearly confused because the Supreme Court hasn’t made any other rulings on his tariff policy.
In the decision on Friday, Feb. 20, the court ruled 6-3 that Trump exceeded his authority in levying tariffs on almost every single U.S. trading partner under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) after first taking office last year.
The tariffs are essentially a tax on Americans and U.S. businesses because they drive up the costs of imported goods, transferring the price hikes onto consumers.
And that’s what the court ruled: that the tariffs are a tax on Americans and only Congress has the power to levy the duties, but the panel’s decision did not include specifics on what types of tariffs the president could legally implement, if any, or on returning the tens of billions already collected.
Trump continued to babble in the posts about “license fees” and how he expects the court to issue future rulings in favor of China.
“Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!),” he wrote.
But it’s this last sentence in one of the posts that has observers wondering who really wrote it, “Let our supreme court keep making decisions that are so bad and deleterious to the future of our Nation.”
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“Deleterious?” Trump just doesn’t use words like this.
Social media exploded after Trump’s ongoing sour grapes over the decision and his strange complaints.
“That is 100% Stephen Miller,” Threads user Brigitta Barone stated, referring to Trump’s deputy chief of staff. “This is insane,” another Threads user said.
In another post, Trump is still denying that only Congress has the power to levy taxes under the U.S. Constitution.
“As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of Tariffs. It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago! They were also just reaffirmed by the ridiculous and poorly crafted supreme court decision!” he wrote.
Another Threads user blames Congress for letting this presidency continue unchecked.
“This is insane and will make it to the history books. Everyone in office now, will have to explain why these ramblings of a madman went ignored.”
Threads user Kulu Music isn’t surprised by Trump’s antics. “Such a weak person. Never stops whining, crying and playing the victim. The only part of him that has grown beyond the fifth grade is his waistline.
Another poster offered up a very pointed warning about the president.
“Bless his heart. He’s trying to run the country like one of his many failed businesses – into the ground.”
Trump bypassed Congress last April in enacting whipsawing and exorbitant tariffs on friends and foes alike, using the IEEPA as justification.
Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to levy tariffs, not the president. And under IEEPA, the president can only “regulate” imports and exports in a national emergency in responding to an “extraordinary foreign threat.”
After the ruling on Friday, Feb. 20, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10 percent global tariff. By the following day, he announced he was increasing that number to 15 percent. Trump’s new tariffs are enacted under a law that limits the levies to 150 days unless renewed by Congress. The high court struck down only the tariffs Trump enacted under IEEPA.
