“the Beltway Swamp’s dream.”

[berg80]

Is This the Most Important Supreme Court Case of the Century?​

By assuming vast powers of taxation, Trump made himself the focal point for an enormous amount of lobbying and trading favors. In January, for example, Politico reported that the 20 largest lobbying firms raked in nearly $824 million in revenue in the first year of Trump’s second term, a sharp increase from $595 million in Biden’s last year.

The administration has sent a message, loudly and clearly — almost anything is for sale, at the right price. And as ProPublica reported last April, politically connected people and companies were already benefiting from what appears to be targeted relief from Trump’s tariffs.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called the administration’s opaque process for granting exemptions “the Beltway Swamp’s dream.”

The case is a victory for the Constitution and the rule of law, but there are still causes for concern. Trump is furious. He said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court” and said they were “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.”

Those are dangerous words from a dangerous man.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/opinion/tariffs-trump-supreme-court.html

The focus of the article is not how trump's unconstitutional tariff policies opened the door for grifting, his specialty. Rather, it makes a case in favor of the Roberts court because for all its unforgivable errors, it has blocked trump's authoritarian power grabs in a number of instances. Blocked them based on the “major questions doctrine,” which Gorsuch explained in his concurring opinion means, “When executive branch officials claim Congress has granted them an extraordinary power, they must identify clear statutory authority for it.”

The author points out the Court not only refused to stay a lower-court ruling blocking trump’s deployment of the NG in IL. It is also posed to block his firing of Fed member Lisa Cook and looks ready to rule against him in the birthright citizenship case. Pushing back on his authoritarian impulses.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the court’s decision is how it may help restore faith in how courts make decisions. The crisis in American democracy isn’t simply a product of the Trump administration’s overreach, it’s also a product of deep public cynicism about government institutions. Trump owes at least some of his appeal to that cynicism. If all that matters is power, then why not pick the man who exercises that power to its fullest?

As a result, millions of Americans wonder, do principles matter at all? Or is all of politics merely a matter of gaining and wielding power, supporting your friends and crushing your enemies?

Suggesting this ruling will help restore faith in our institutions is a stretch since trump has corrupted so many of them. Ones as diverse as the DOJ to the Kennedy Center. The former requiring years of repair before it can function normally again. But perhaps it can restore hope for a better future. That all is not lost.

 

[Winston]

W

Thread 'Was this the plan all along.'

Sep 7, 2025

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/07/trump-trade-supreme-court-refunds-bessent.html

I have participated in multiple threads about the tariffs. Who pays them, do corporations pass them on, how much does each American household pay, will it impact job creation, all the good stuff. But I got to admit, I am thinking, this was the plan all along.

Yes, the importer pays the tariff. It is paid at the point of entry. And yes, companies pass the cost of that tariff to the consumer. Sure, they try to mitigate that cost, but they have to pass it on. Who else is going to absorb that cost, the...

• Winston
• Replies: 12
• Forum: Current Events

• 
• 

 

[Winston]

I don't know why this whole tariff thing is not top of the news. And now Trump has just doubled down, attempting a new provision, this time the Trade Act of 1974. And again, beyond the scope of the act, unconstitutional. And even if these new tariffs were ruled constitutional, they can only be temporary, something like 120 days.

And the lobbying numbers in the OP are misleading. It is actually much worse. I mean hell, who needs lobbyists, just go straight to the big man. I mean first, it was his inauguration committee. I mean have we not been down this road before. Then, it was his ball room, and oh, yeah, a gifted luxury jumbo jet. And Crypto, don't forget Crypto. I mean there are so many ways you can pay, you just got to choose how to play.

Remember that meeting at the White House, all the big business dudes, the billionaires. Right in the midst of the whole tariff thing. And then, well the exemptions started rolling and the loot started coming in. And I just can't get it out of my head.

So Trump orders all the press out, and then he displays images of working people on a projector on one side of the Oval Office. From a secret entrance way marches these guys, let the bidding begin.

 

[berg80]

I don't know why this whole tariff thing is not top of the news. And now Trump has just doubled down, attempting a new provision, this time the Trade Act of 1974. And again, beyond the scope of the act, unconstitutional. And even if these new tariffs were ruled constitutional, they can only be temporary, something like 120 days.

And the lobbying numbers in the OP are misleading. It is actually much worse. I mean hell, who needs lobbyists, just go straight to the big man. I mean first, it was his inauguration committee. I mean have we not been down this road before. Then, it was his ball room, and oh, yeah, a gifted luxury jumbo jet. And Crypto, don't forget Crypto. I mean there are so many ways you can pay, you just got to choose how to play.

Remember that meeting at the White House, all the big business dudes, the billionaires. Right in the midst of the whole tariff thing. And then, well the exemptions started rolling and the loot started coming in. And I just can't get it out of my head.

So Trump orders all the press out, and then he displays images of working people on a projector on one side of the Oval Office. From a secret entrance way marches these guys, let the bidding begin.

We trump critics keep discussing things as though what we are going thru is happening in the context of normal parameters of our history. We aren't. If we were, trump re-imposing tariffs after the SC slapped him down for exceeding his authority would not have happened. Tariffs, having achieved exactly none of the regime's stated goals, would not have been allowed by Congress to be imposed. The studies, 3 of them, showing it's consumers who are paying the price of tariffs would have caused the regime to end them. They didn't. Our conversations about tariffs and their effects would be logical and fact based, grounded in the publicly available info. They aren't.

At this point in time laws are being broken, tradition is being ignored, facts are being disregarded, normality has been suspended. It's disorienting.

The singular event necessary for relative normalcy to return is trump's removal from power.

 

[berg80]

Politically Connected Firms Benefit From Trump Tariff Exemptions Amid Secrecy, Confusion​

After President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs earlier this month, the White House released a list of more than a thousand products that would be exempted.

One item that made the list is polyethylene terephthalate, more commonly known as PET resin, the thermoplastic used to make plastic bottles.

Why it was spared is unclear, and even people in the industry are confused about the reason for the reprieve.

But its inclusion is a win for Reyes Holdings, a Coca-Cola bottler that ranks among the largest privately held companies in the U.S. and is owned by a pair of brothers who have donated millions of dollars to Republican causes. Records show the company recently hired a lobbying firm with close ties to the Trump White House to make its case on tariffs.

Politically Connected Firms Benefit From Trump Tariff Exemptions Amid Secrecy, Confusion

The administration’s lack of transparency about tariff exemptions has experts concerned that some firms might be winning narrow carve-outs behind closed doors. “It could be corruption, but it could just as easily be incompetence,” one lobbyist said.

www.propublica.org

The WH has been open for business since the Grifter-in-Chief's return.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Rather, it makes a case in favor of the Roberts court because for all its unforgivable errors, it has blocked trump's authoritarian power grabs in a number of instances.

The problem is the Court has also facilitated Trump’s authoritarian power grabs – the consequence of codifying unitary executive dogma and an Imperial Presidency above the law and beyond the Constitution.

The conservative majority remains inconsistent and partisan.

 

[berg80]

The problem is the Court has also facilitated Trump’s authoritarian power grabs – the consequence of codifying unitary executive dogma and an Imperial Presidency above the law and beyond the Constitution.

The conservative majority remains inconsistent and partisan.

Agreed. The author notes that in the article. Especially giving trump carte blanche to break the law without personal accountability. I think he's too generous to the Roberts court on that front.