Republicans Are Revolting
Well, not really, not yet -- not enough to justify that particular word, but hey, we couldn't resist....
While it doesn't rise to the level of a "revolt" quite yet, there is already a significant pushback on the Trump tariff war coming from within the ranks of his own party. One Senate bill to rein in the tariffs already passed with four Republican votes, and that number has now grown to seven GOP senators who are cosponsoring an even wider clawback of the constitutional power of levying taxes from the White House. Significantly, now a House Republican has said he's going to introduce a companion bill in the House.
This isn't enough -- not yet, at any rate. But it is rather surprising to see happen so quickly. But then this whole self-inflicted economic crisis has been moving rather swiftly all around, so perhaps it's not that surprising to see.
So what would it take? Well, the White House has already issued a veto threat for the bill, complete with personal attacks on the Republicans who have already gotten behind it. The bill itself has a provision that would allow Congress to cancel any tariff by voting against it, which would be a major reversal in the balance of power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. So a veto threat was fully expected.
To not just pass such a bill but also to overcome such a veto would require the GOP to break ranks in a major way from their Dear Leader. Seven GOP senators is impressive so far, but it's still far short of what would be needed. The Democrats control 47 Senate seats, so to achieve a two-thirds majority would require 20 Republicans to cross the aisle. So a baker's dozen of them would still be needed.
On the House side, the math is even more daunting. A bill would need almost 70 Republicans to back it (and all the Democrats too) to overcome a presidential veto. That is a whole lot of GOP House members, who are all a whole lot more scared of being primaried (by a candidate backed by Elon Musk's millions) than most Republican senators are. So things are going to have to get a whole lot worse, economically-speaking, before that kind of pushback manifests itself.
At this point, "things are going to get a whole lot worse" looks like a safe bet, though. Today the stock markets didn't slide nearly as badly as they did last Thursday and Friday, but with skittishness abounding, this is going to be a day-to-day question. We're already perilously close to "bear market" territory (defined as the markets having lost 20 percent of their value from a recent peak). The S&P 500 briefly hit this mark today, before slightly recovering (it ended the day essentially flat). If the markets lurch downwards again (towards an overall 25 or even 30 percent loss), then a whole lot more Republicans are going to get a whole lot more worried about their political prospects in the midterms.
So far, only China and Canada have really taken the lead in terms of pushing back on their own. China matched the new U.S. tariff of 34 percent with their own 34 percent tariff today. Trump then threatened a new tariff of 50 percent, to be added in on top of what has already been levied on China -- which would drive the U.S. tariff rate on Chinese goods to over 100 percent, when they're all added together.
This is all a gigantic game of Russian roulette (Chinese roulette, maybe?). Tariffs will hurt, no matter who applies them. Will tariffs hurt China more or the U.S. more? That's the gamble both countries are playing. But the answer is going to be some flavor of: "It's going to hurt both countries' economies, very badly." The only question in this game is how bad things are going to get before someone backs down. Will either country essentially commit economic suicide or not? Who will blink first?
China has one thing going for them in this game that Trump doesn't, which is that the Chinese government can essentially ignore public opinion for as long as it takes to achieve their goals. Politically, they can afford to take a much longer view of the situation. America doesn't have that luxury. The more people's retirement accounts shrink, the more Wall Street loses trillions of dollars on a bad trading day, the more prices skyrocket upwards, then the more pressure there is going to be on Republican politicians to end the nightmare. Eventually, this pressure can grow to the point where a GOP politician is essentially damned if they do or damned if they don't -- if they don't stick with Trump they'll get primaried, but if they do stick with Trump they'll likely lose re-election the next time around to a Democrat.
We are only three business days in to the new Trump trade war. And already there are seven out of 53 Republican senators and one GOP House member willing to rein in the craziness to some extent or another. It's going to have to get a lot worse before those numbers grow big enough to be decisive. Let's see where things stand after three more days of this, though.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Republicans R Repulsive.
Yes, reading along my mind followed yours. No, a handful of Republicans bucking Trump on his tariff authority means nothing right now, as refreshing as it is, because in the end the Congress is going to have to override a veto to pass such a law. And there's no sign of any such movement in either the Senate or the House.
And yes: BUT THERE MIGHT BE, in a few more weeks or months, when the economy goes south and prices go north in a huge, Republican-voter-repellent way.
What is so annoying - awful - unbelievable even after all these years of horror at the Trump cult - is that it might actually take a worldwide trade war and US economic collapse to even begin to break Trump's hold on his Congressional base. No nuclear war is in sight, but that's about the only thing worse than what seems to be in store for all Americans in the coming year.
We are only three business days in to the new Trump trade war. And already there are seven out of 53 Republican senators and one GOP House member willing to rein in the craziness to some extent or another.
There are often a handful who are willing to do something as long as it's futile. It's a shell game.
Fat Donny implied that the Nazis were nicer to Jews than Hamas with Bibi sitting on one side and Little Marco on the other. A two-fer humiliation.
They most certainly are...
@kick [fpc],
ALL PIE GIVES A SCENT
be it apple, pecan, banana creme or cow.
I've never been a fan of pretty much anything from Texas, but i thought you'd have guessed from the tone of my post which kind of pie i meant.
JL
i mean, even lemon meringue isn't something i would make light of.
wait, there is something from Texas I'm a fan of:
this
We are only three business days in to the new Trump trade war.
There are thousands of penguins on a nature reserve of Antarctica who would like to report that while technically it's only been "three business days" in the United States, the penguins of Heard Island don't measure time in terms of "business days" because there is no day where a penguin isn't seriously TCB. So what might seem like nothing to America is like about a month to thousands of eating, sleeping, and pooping flightless birds who produce nothing beyond poop and eggs and will continue to export them to nowhere on Earth, including especially to the U.S. of America.
You think the penguins are kidding? Do the math (obviously keeping in mind that not a single one of them was born yesterday):
https://www.age-calculator.online/penguin-age-calculator/
Okay, maybe dozens of them were conceivably hatched yesterday.
And already there are seven out of 53 Republican senators and one GOP House member willing to rein in the craziness to some extent or another. It's going to have to get a lot worse before those numbers grow big enough to be decisive.
So you're saying they're jellyfish? Asking for the penguins.
nypoet22
6|7|8
ALL PIE GIVES A SCENT
You do realize that "all" is one of those exceedingly small words that means "every single one," right? Consult any dictionary besides that faulty one of yours wherein you searched for the meaning of "troll." Obviously, there is a pie that does not give a scent; however, in your defense, I would wager there are very few people who would expect someone who describes himself as "insufferably arrogant" to actually know anything about it.
be it apple, pecan, banana creme or cow.
Be it ever so modest, there's seriously no scent in humble pie.
I've never been a fan of pretty much anything from Texas, but i thought you'd have guessed from the tone of my post which kind of pie i meant.
I cannot say I did not know.
wait, there is something from Texas I'm a fan of:
this
I've actually got not one but two of those things... the hats! That Rangers hat you posted and the Houston ASHOS hat. It's also hard to unsee that Los Angeles ANAELS hat. *laughs*
Check what the Philadelphia Phillies hat says? It's "Phi Pies"... also with not even a scintilla of a scent there either. ;)
Good Lord, Chris Weigant! Maybe should have done a little more research?
Article 1
Section 8
US CONSTITUTION
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
No new legislation is required! Doormat Repugs can take their power back the moment they choose to.
@kick,
read more closely. at least in my opinion, I'm only insufferably arrogant when i know significantly more than you do. which in your case is not all that often :p
MtnCaddy
11
Good Lord, Chris Weigant! Maybe should have done a little more research?
Okay... so you're definitely not wrong about Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution; however, Congress has definitely voted to allow a POTUS the power to regulate and/or prohibit imports under the National Emergency Act contained in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which Trump is doing wherein there (my opinion) isn't actually an emergency except the ones he's falsely claiming in his multiple Executive Orders containing a plethora of lies.
Just imagine if Barack Obama had signed an Executive Order claiming there was an emergency fentanyl crisis at the Canadian border and repeatedly claimed that Venezuela was emptying their insane asylums and prisons directly into the United States at the Southern border of the United States. Republicans would lose their collective shit and rightly so, and Republicans Are Revolting for allowing Trump to do it... jellyfish with no spines, among other squishy things.
No new legislation is required! Doormat Repugs can take their power back the moment they choose to.
You're definitely correct about them taking their constitutional power back the moment they choose to, but then they're hypocrites and spineless jellyfish who have definitely chosen not to do a dang thing about it (yet), and they therefore currently don't have the votes they'd need to claw back the power they granted a POTUS in multiple laws in several prior Congresses. In Trumpian terms, they refer to this as "concepts of a plan."
nypoet22
12
read more closely.
I definitely encourage the same of you.
at least in my opinion, I'm only insufferably arrogant when i know significantly more than you do.
On closer read at your total insistence, it becomes infinitely obvious that you're confusing me with "@liz" a.k.a. "Canada."
which in your case is not all that often :p
I would wager that "@liz" will (once again) be elated to learn that you've gone out of your way to single her out for your particular brand of being "insufferably arrogant" and the way you slyly yet transparently backed yourself into that public humiliation of her and her views on a plethora of subjects, including but not limited to the Middle East. :p
:)
John M from Ct. [2] -
I'll just be relieved if there really IS a breaking point for the GOP, personally...
The whole "Aren't the emperor's new clothes amazing" thing is getting kinda scary...
I miss John McCain, personally....
-CW
nypoet22 [6] -
Wasn't Karl Rove once known as "Turd Blossom"?
that etymology seems pertinent to this discussion, somehow...
:-)
-CW
nypoet22 [8] -
One of my favorite National Parks to visit is Grand Tetons.
(heh)
Beautiful! Spectacular! In every beer/menthol cigarette ad ever made!
:-)
-CW
Kick [9] -
There's been a disturbing trend in the media to conflate "islands with only penguins and polar bears on them"...
maybe I missed some northern isle, but it reminds me of perhaps Gary Larson's biggest embarrassing mistake...
https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/far-side-comic-showing-a-polar-bear-with-penguins.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&h=422&dpr=1
1000s of miles apart (sigh)...
-CW
MtnCaddy [11] -
They ceded the power in the 1970s, as long as the pres declares some "natl emergency" or another.
So they've got to claw it back. The law is on the books (possibly unconstitutional, but those court cases are coming, don't worry!)
but thanks for pointing it out! nice cite!
-CW
Kick [13] -
Aha! There's all the research I didn't do (for that last comment)...
thanks.
-CW
ok, that's it for now, kiddies...
Melakon's little bro, Kimbal, seems a tad bit upset with his big brother's bestie, Big Brother:
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/07/musk-trump-tariffs-kimbal
Upon further reading, Melakon himself isn't all too happy with Big Brother.
I scrolled the entire politics sections of Fox News, Newsmax and OANN, so y’all don’t have to.
(opens the envelope)
Aaand…there was not a single mention of the Hands Off protests. Alternative reality they live in.
Millions marched (heck, LA, Chicago, Boston, New York and D.C. totaled 6 or 700,000 just by themselves!) and the BBC reports 1,200 plus rallies and so many MAGAts may be completely oblivious.
Caddy [23-24]
That's challenge for sites like this and others, even moderate centrist news and opinions, even people just talking with people they know: how do you speak to the millions in the right-wing news/opinion isolation bubble?
the challenge.
[14],
I would wager that "@liz" will (once again) be elated to learn that you've gone out of your way to single her out for your particular brand of being "insufferably arrogant" and the way you slyly yet transparently backed yourself into that public humiliation of her and her views on a plethora of subjects, including but not limited to the Middle East. :p
Is that what JL has been doing? I never thought of it that way. But it makes perfect sense. This place is a kind of public humiliation square where hardly a day goes by when someone or another isn't hurling varying kinds of insults toward a fellow Weigantian. I sincerely regret any part I may have played in any of that despicable behavior. And, I remain ever hopeful - being such an insufferable cockeyed optimist - that the comments sections will, one fine day, begin to reflect the respectfulness and thoughtfulness of Chris's excellent headlining columns. Chris's renewed interactions here will surely help to bring that day about!
whoops. sincerely sorry Liz. while admitting to insufferable arrogance i was providing further demonstration of it. no humiliation intended.
None taken, JL. That's because I'm SUCH a sucker for punishment. Which goes a long way toward explaining my long-term presence here. Heh.
MtnCaddy-
Print Media to Mass Protests: “Please Turn to Page 18”
Most media outlets "covered it" but you had to look/search to find it. Should have been front page material. Maybe April 19th will be...
a happy coincidence for chicago that it also has a C in the middle.
Elizabeth on [14]
Yes, that's what I'm hoping may happen too:
"...the comments sections will, one fine day, begin to reflect the respectfulness and thoughtfulness of Chris's excellent headlining columns. Chris's renewed interactions here will surely help to bring that day about!"
Thanks for the encouragement.
Sorry, I was responding to Elizabeth on [27]; she was replying to [14]!
Chris Weigant
16
Wasn't Karl Rove once known as "Turd Blossom"?
Yes, and you get brownie points for that; it was one of George W. Bush's nicknames for Karl Rove.
that etymology seems pertinent to this discussion, somehow...
Heh. :)
Chris Weigant
18
maybe I missed some northern isle, but it reminds me of perhaps Gary Larson's biggest embarrassing mistake...
https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/far-side-comic-showing-a-polar-bear-with-penguins.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&h=422&dpr=1
Heh. Nope, you didn't miss it, Larson did. A classic.
1000s of miles apart (sigh)...
Yes and actually factually also no; so if anyone queries you about this, you "one up" them and truthfully explain: The San Diego Zoo.
MtnCaddy
23
I scrolled the entire politics sections of Fox News, Newsmax and OANN, so y’all don’t have to.
Thank you! I would wager all that scrolling felt just like home (here). :)
Aaand…there was not a single mention of the Hands Off protests. Alternative reality they live in.
Yes, over on "Earth 2" where their main concern is culture wars and providing their viewers people to look down on so they won't notice the myriad of ways in which they are being grifted and conned by their icon.
Meanwhile, SSDD over on right-wingnut media:
It's a cult practicing culture wars... but nothing that we haven't seen before. Maybe some of them will "clue in" now or soon. We haven't hit bottom yet IMO so there's still time.
I think the market has to keep tanking for enough people to eventually bail, slowly at first then all of the sudden.
Elizabeth Miller and nypoet22
27|28
Is that what JL has been doing?
Heh. Y'all are both too intelligent to not know that I was kidding with JL. It was just too tempting what with all the incessant whining by the board troll desperately crying out for specifically you two posters to defend him against all the "others." Same old victim garbage.
I never thought of it that way.
And you've never had a reason to. The crux of it all is that there isn't a hair's width of difference in what JL has posted about the Middle East that I don't agree with, and that applies equally to the posts that MtnCaddy and JL have posted regarding the Ukraine/Russia historical ongoing SNAFU (situational normal, all effed up). So -- cut to the chase -- we're just knowledgeable people about certain things and... perhaps... we just can't understand how you can't see what is dang obvious to the rest of us.
This place is a kind of public humiliation square where hardly a day goes by when someone or another isn't hurling varying kinds of insults toward a fellow Weigantian.
I don't see our conversations that way; I see it as (your term) "muscular debate," and people wanting other people to see things as they see them. As for the endless right-wingnut desperate trolling for attention, that's a whole other issue.
I sincerely regret any part I may have played in any of that despicable behavior.
You're apologizing for nothing. There's nothing to regret... except maybe I/we couldn't find just the exact perfect wording to make you understand what we already know. I thought we were on the right track when we asked you how you would feel if the United States were threatening to invade Canada and whether you'd still agree that the nation being threatened should just appease the aggressor's demands.
Never in my wildest imagination did I envision a scenario where a POTUS would eff with our friends to the North in word wars and trade wars. It's batshit crazy, and I formally apologize for Trump's ignorance on behalf of the part of America that isn't part of the cult.
whoops. sincerely sorry Liz.
JL, you know I was teasing you. You're apologizing for nothing. I love it. :)
John,
Truth be told, I am not very optimistic about the prospects for change here in the comments sections of Chris's excellent blog.
I have been here long enough to have witnessed and participated in the best of the best and worst of the worst in terms of what has passed for discussion over the years. A lot would have to change in the way we presently interact with each other.
Childish name-calling and personal insults have become par for the course, even for those who have been here as long as I have and who have been heretofore respectful in their interactions, especially in the midst of deep disagreement.
Oh, I suppose this kind of change for the better is possible but it will take a great effort from all of us with none of us waiting for others to take that lead.
Kick [36] -
nice use of bolding.
Just had to say that...
heh
-CW
MtnCaddy [37] -
Nice Hemingway quote there, too...
-CW
Kick [38] -
Did you NOT see the "South Park" movie? I mean, the song was up for an Oscar and everything...
(heh)
-CW