Today’s tantrum is aimed at Leonard Leo, the guy at the Federalist Society in charge of the project of putting right-wing judges in all our courts. This is from Politico:
President Donald Trump leveled unusually pointed criticism of a prominent conservative legal activist and organization Thursday as he railed against a ruling that struck down his sweeping tariffs.
The president, in a post on his social media platform, slammed Leonard Leo, the former chair of the Federalist Society, calling him a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America.”
It was a striking characterization of Leo, who played a key role in working with Trump to shape the conservative Supreme Court.
“He openly brags how he controls Judges, and even Justices of the United States Supreme Court — I hope that is not so, and don’t believe it is!,” Trump wrote.
Translation: Trump thinks he owns the entire Department of Justice and expects judges he appoints to be loyal to him, not to Leonard Leo.
Everything with Trump is transactional. And everything with Trump is personal. In his mind, his opponents don’t oppose him over principles but because they don’t like him. I don’t think he grasps the concept of principles. And if all these judges are saying that his genius tariff plans are unconstitutional, that must be because they don’t like him and Leonard Leo is incompetent. I don’t think he grasps the concept of “unconstitutional.” In his mind, if he wants to do something, it must be constitutional.
What’s worse, the big baby might not ever get his fancy plane from Qatar. This is from the Washington Post:
Despite claims by the Defense Department to the contrary, legal teams representing the U.S. and Qatari governments have not finalized an agreement for transferring the luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner that President Donald Trump wants for Air Force One amid outstanding requests by Qatar for Washington to clarify the transaction’s terms, said officials familiar with the matter.
The plane from Qatar is currently in the United States, according to sources familiar with the matter as well as President Donald Trump, who confirmed the plane was here. However, Qatar wants to clarify the details surrounding the transfer, specifically emphasizing that the Trump administration was responsible for initiating the discussions about the donation of the luxury jet to the U.S. government, sources familiar with the negotiations said.
In brief, the Qataris want the world to know they didn’t initiate the offer to just give Trump a jet. Qatar wanted to sell the jet. Trump somehow steamrolled them into giving it to the Defense Department for his use. I also understand the Qataris want nothing to do with any future transfer of the jet to the Trump presidential library. And even if the Department of Defense does get full ownership of the jet, we still have the issue of how much time it will take and how much money it will cost to retrofit the jet for presidential use. The jet is a massive white elephant that may end up rusting away on a tarmac somewhere, unused. If Trump wants it, he can damn well spend the billions he’s making with his meme coin scam and buy the thing. And when he doesn’t get his “free” jet, watch him throw a tantrum at Qatar.
Back to the tariffs. In yesterday’s post I wrote about various laws passed by Congress in the past that he could still use to manipulate tariffs. The problem with all of them is that they all come with limits. Josh Marshall writes at Talking Points Memo that Trump’s not going to be happy with those limits.
There are a series of laws Congress has passed to give trade authority to presidents. But they tend to be focused on two things — protecting industries with a strong connection to national security and protection in response to unfair trade practices. Those are two areas in which Congress, not unreasonably, thought it might not be able to move with sufficient speed. Those laws require comment periods and investigations. They still give the President a lot of leeway to make “findings” of what threatens U.S. national security or constitutes unfair trade practices. But those criteria and processes and comment periods, even for this administration, significantly reduce the unilateral and willful authority Trump has used to go about all of this.
It’s not just a matter of easier or harder, quicker or slower. A huge amount of the drama of the last two months has been precisely the spectacle of Trump’s purportedly total and unchecked power. Trump can wake up one morning and totally upend the whole global economy. He can just tweet about 50% tariffs on Europe and well … now we’re up for a totally new drama.
Messing up the world’s economy gives Trump god-like power! He sees himself as an ancient jealous god who throws lighting bolts at mortals who piss him off and sends locusts and floods to torment people for his amusement.
These other laws work very differently. They tend not to apply to consumer goods. The cheap measuring cups you buy on Amazon have no impact on U.S. military capacity. They’re focused on things like steel production, high-end computers, uranium — again, things that the government can’t just leave to the market because control over them is required for military power and national security. If there are specific unfair trade practices, you need to say what they are. They need to be at least kind of real.
Assuming the SCOTUS doesn’t give Trump all his magic tariff powers back —
If it does stick, that means not only that Trump’s capacity to wage trade wars will be much more limited — though by no means ended. It also means the spectacle of his total power will be diminished as well. And that’s significant in a way that goes beyond the narrow confines of trade policy. I’d really urge you to focus almost as much on the curtailment of the spectacle of total power as the impact on trade policy itself.
So he may well use those other laws discussed yesterday to continue his trade wars, but it won’t be nearly as satisfying to his ego and he’s likely to lose interest and move on to some other outrage.
And then there’s Trump vs. Harvard. I haven’t been following all the twists and turns, but I understand at the moment Harvard is enjoying some court protection. But the all-out war on Harvard is utterly irrational on Trump’s part. This is not to say that no one could ever have reason to be miffed at Harvard over one thing or another, but Trump’s actions are outside all rational bounds. Trump’s antipathy to Harvard points to something personal to him, on some level, but I don’t know exactly what. There was a web rumor that Harvard rejected Barron, but the Trumps deny that.
Trump is also suddenly really pissed at China. The State Department is moving to revoke Chinese students’ visas. And Trump is screaming that China is in violation of some tariff deal, but he isn’t saying exactly how. There’s something going on with Chinese technology and advanced AI chips. Whatever it is, Trump is now having a tantrum at China after years of claiming he and Xi Jinping get along so well.
If I had any money, I’d pay some to find out what Trump’s blood pressure is these days.
Update: More on Trump’s tirade against Leonard Leo, from Greg Sargent at The New Republic:
I’d like to highlight something else in Trump’s tirade because it constitutes an actual argument on his part about his exercise of unilateral power on tariffs. Trump said this:
The horrific decision stated that I would have to get the approval of Congress for these Tariffs. In other words, hundreds of politicians would sit around D.C. for weeks, and even months, trying to come to a conclusion as to what to charge other Countries that are treating us unfairly. If allowed to stand, this would completely destroy Presidential Power—The Presidency would never be the same!
“Under this decision, Trillions of Dollars would be lost by our Country,” Trump fumed. “The President of the United States must be allowed to protect America against those that are doing it Economic and Financial harm.”
Here Trump derides the very idea that Congress should have a good deal of authority over the levying of tariffs. Trump claims this can’t apply in the case of his new tariffs because it prevents him from acting to protect the country in an emergency. In this case, that emergency is the one Trump has invoked—our trade deficits—to appropriate for himself virtually unlimited power to levy sweeping taxes on products imported from all over the world….
… Trump is openly declaring that he should have the power to circumvent Congress in levying these tariffs to address emergencies. Yet as Trump himself demonstrates here, in claiming this authority, he’s invoking an emergency that is not real. Trillions of dollars are not being “lost” by our country due to trade deficits, as his rant proclaims. That is not how trade deficits work, and they certainly do not constitute “emergencies.” As Trump’s tirade plainly shows, he made up the “emergency” to grant himself extraordinarily sweeping authorities.
Very fundamentally, Trump doesn’t understand separation of powers and how the federal government functions. And you really can’t call trade deficits an “emergency.” The last time the U.S. didn’t have trade deficits was 1970. We’ve been running deficits for 55 years.
Photo by Stockcake
News from red state hellworld: the orange people don't mind the corruption, in fact, they like the criminality. It looks "tough" to them. Chatting with the neighbors, they are doing mental gymnastics to rationalize the pardons, trade TACOs, crypto scams, cruelty and general lawlessness. There is also a lot of silence… other topics outside politics are more common. But, overall, they can not see their macho orange man as anything but a macho orange man. The thin-skinned, bobblehaded, emotionally weepy posts, and buttercup-soft reactions are modified into the "the art of the deal" 5d chess. Incompetence is the new normal and the GOP turned from the party of law-and-order to the party of gangsters.
Oh my, this comment is better placed here, but not off topic either place. Tariffs are crazy, ugly, and stupid.
Tariffs are ugly. When I bought a 92 Ford Ranger, I thought I had bought American. This vehicle is still in the family and operational, but way more an international product than I thought at the time of purchase. The engine it has now is a replacement of the original but designed for the European market. It is called the metric four, as its parts are metric. It was used with a supercharger in an Autobahn version for the Merkur made by Ford also. Who knows where its parts were built and where it was assembled. Then there was the manual transmission which was made by Mitsubishi. It has been replaced also and now has a rebuilt one. It was rebuilt in the United States but originally appears to be a product of Japan. All of this information I learned way after I bought it new. Not once did the dealer mention any of this information. That was 33years ago. It passed as made in America by an American automaker then. It makes you wonder what the truth is on "American" cars today. As far as I know, tariffs did not effect what I paid for it at the time.
What about today? Who can even say what percent of the sticker price is from tariffs? The last replacement brake rotors I bought for it were made in China. Would future parts be available or not have tariff tax? Who is to say? Do car dealers have to disclose the list of "foreign made" parts or partially "foreign made" parts or assemblies that are in their vehicles? If it has aluminum in it, do they need to say where the aluminum stock came from? As I understand we import all of the aluminum we use in this country. How much tariff do we pay directly or indirectly on beer or soda cans?
See how ugly this all gets? What about exceptions, favors, enforcement of smuggling laws, and just plain corruption. Will the big dogs weaponize the cops against the little dogs for tariff violations? You can bet they will. Will they have "legal" ways to get around tariff laws? Yes, there is such a thing as a stupid question. There are also stupid ideas and policy. Ugly and stupid tariffs are all tariffs unless proven otherwise by honest and transparent policy. Honest and transparent policy we are bankrupt of at the moment unfortunately.
There are Chinese in Ithaca (Cornell) studying Chinese history.
In re: Trump v. Leo –
I'm reminded of an episode that was probably in a novel, plausibly a Guy Gavriel Kay story, where the Emperor's (or maybe the Sultan's?) favorite concubine made too much of a public assertion that she had him wrapped around her finger and he'd do whatever she wanted.
Her big mouth got her killed, much to the Emperor's sorrow.
Lots of interesting stuff. Re Leo, not my favorite person, IMO, he has formulated and promoted a legal outlook that favors the rich. I don't think he "controls" individual justices and I doubt he says he does. What he's done is create a "club" that fast-tracks your legal career as long as you adhere to doctrine. Leo doctrine. The "club" favors the rich, so it's no more inclined to favor tariffs than Democrats. (Tariffs are a weapon you use if you have to, as sparingly as possible.)
I don't think the USSC is owned by Leo or by Trump. They are biased in favor of unconstitutional presidential power but they aren't out to destroy the Constitution or the country. (My opinion, you may disagree.) Given that it has to be someone's fault, and it's never Trump, Leo is catching Trump's ire. (Was there a phone call where Trump asked Leo to exert his control over the USSC?)
I understand the President of Harvard got a long spontaneous standing ovation at commencement. I suspect the feedback from alumni has been equally supportive. It will be a costly war but Harvard will get the glory for leading the charge.
IMO, the whole global tariff scheme is built around putting a leash on the Chinese dragon. With Trump holding it. Trump is looking like a cinder – the dragon has fire-breathing capabilities. Trump had tariffs at a hundered-something percent. China did not cave. We're most of the way to a recession – prices will go up. Hours at work are going down a lot, corporate ordered, nationwide, I believe. Trump took the tariffs down to 50% as an inducement to please start negotiations. China said, "OK, we can talk." But they are not in as much of a rush as Trump. (China understands the long game in ways no Americans do.) Trump needs a deal now. So he went after a quarter-million Chinese students as extortion. At the same time, Trump lost in court. China knows Trump is caving – now China knows the courts will take Trump's toy away. No way they are going to negotiate until the issue is settled.
The AI stuff with China??? Is there a conflict with the deal over AI Trump gave Qatar? I don't know if they are related.
Regarding the 747, Qatar is miffed that it is being accused of offering a bribe. Trump suggested that they bribe him – Trump even specified what the bribe should be. I'm not suggesting Qatar has any integrity, but Trump has less. They'd like that to be understood globally.
Big picture – Trump senses he's not winning. He ALWAYS doubles down on a bad hand.
I understand the Chinese are not having that much trouble finding alternative markets to deal with. Trump acts as if the U.S. has a monopoly on global trade. But the world is just reorganizing without us.
re: The tariff-worshiping. A day or two ago I read a brief blurb talking about how much money US tariffs have brought in in one day, some big number. Touting: See how much money our country has brought in in just one day??!!!
I don't think we can look at tariffs without looking at the intended tax-cut-for-the-rich bill that is coming (and is it in the BBB?).
Back to the cheering over the huge amount of money tariffs are bringing into our country… where is that money coming from? That money is coming from importers in the US, and they are darn sure they're gonna pass most of the cost on to the American consumers. The current administration is celebrating how much money we're pulling in from taxing the people of the US?? And nobody is pressing them on that??
But when one looks at the tariffs as a partner of tax-cuts-for-the-rich, it becomes obvious that what is going on is a gigantic transfer ofa significant portion of the tax burden of the US from the wealthy to the middle class and working class. That's what they're doing and that's why they're trying to cover it up with BS.
Neo-feudalism. Period.
The tax cuts are indeed in the BBB, which is entirely why it drives up the deficit so much.
Certainly, not even a hint of a trickle down. Joni Earns did the let them eat cake thing with the "We are all going to die." They think they rule by divine right. It is but one of many illusions of the cult of magical thinking. To one of the media hogs of the cult, we seem only to be expendables who's only use is to provide the means of transportation for a few chosen elites to inhabit Mars. The NYTs is now reporting evidence he may have a serious drug problem. I would contend it to be only one of many problems, which seem to be related to a lack of empathy and atypical social development. His destiny may be a rapid unscheduled disintegration rather than Mars. Time will tell perhaps.
"Trump’s antipathy to Harvard points to something personal to him"
I'm not so sure about that. I think they picked Harvard because it is the most visible an elite of all our "elite" universities. The low-info Trump voters hate Harvard almost as much as they hate Nancy Pelosi, it’s the reddest of red meat. This is in my opinion just the latest escalation in the GQP's decades long war on the nations IQ. They need votes to stay in power and most people with college educations aren't dumb enough to buy the magat line of bullshit. That is why he says he's going to transfer the Harvard endowments to trade schools, it's a brilliantly evil political strategy far too sophisticated for Stumps drug addled mind. To me it looks like the project 2025 folks and Stephen Miller. Of course all of this was predicated on the bullshit notion that somehow protesting the years long slaughter in Gaza is somehow anti-Semitic. It sickens me to watch democrats and corporate media types wring their hands about Stumps attacks on Harvard, Columbia, et-al yet they were all too willing to look the other way while tens of thousands of innocent civilians were slaughtered by Israel's murderous storm troopers. I didn't see any of them stand up when Stump started rounding up Mooslims students for protesting. Now they are outraged? I lay alot of this at the feet of Joe Biden. He was a fool to go along with this slaughter at the onset and as far as I'm concerned he bears some responsibility for the GOP exploitation of this whole horrific episode. We are were we are and I don’t see anyone with a platform explaining it and telling the truth about Israel anytime soon.
The scary thing about Baby Man, is that if he doesn't get his way, he will have no problem crashing the US for decades to come. And he's not alone – his Project 2025 buddies are fine with saddling the US with tons of debt that will severely constrain the government from doing anything more than collecting taxes to pay off debt. That was the point of the 2017 tax cuts – drown the government in a bathtub – which the BBB is adamant to continue.
The photo of the crying kid at the end of your post is far too benign for what these selfish people intend. They're like locusts – after looting the US down to the bone, they will simply move on to another country. For Baby Man, if he can't be King of the World, then nobody can.
It's a good sign that he's at war with Leo. The other war that's going to open is the Rs in Congress who have to answer to constituents at home – like Hawley and the Medicaid cuts – amazing how he actually has somewhat of a conscience. At the other extreme are the deficit hawks, like Rand Paul. Very strange bedfellows for Democrats, but any port in a storm.
Someone on MSNBC pointed out last night that Trump has appointed very few federal judges since the start of his second term. In his first term (with Leonard Leo's help) he was like a judge appointment machine. Trump's problem is that he now just wants to appoint judges he can count on to be loyal to him, and there are only so many of those.