Fortunately, Trump Has Trouble Achieving His Goals

[justaprogressive]

There is one, and probably only one, saving grace to this moment in U.S. history: Donald Trump is absolutely terrible at getting things done. Despite a Republican Party filled with sycophants and a Democratic Party that still can’t figure out how to resist him, despite a cowed media, business, and legal elite, despite the prodigious powers of the presidency, he still manages to stumble. Inattention to what the job entails has something to do with it, but really he just has a superior knack for failing. Remember this is a guy who managed to bankrupt a casino.

Trump’s latest misadventure concerns his Liberation Day tariffs, which late on Wednesday were unanimously ruled illegal by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade that included a Trump nominee. Presidents do not have authority from the Constitution to impose tariffs, but over the past century, Congress has rather willingly handed that authority over. Presidents have multiple paths to impose tariffs, but Trump just happened to choose an illegal course.

Even that probably wouldn’t have raised much more than grumbling, but for the haphazard nature of the on-again, off-again, up-again, down-again tariffs, which finally moved to action maybe the only group willing to buck Trump at this point: free-market libertarians. Here’s who argued the case on behalf of five small businesses attesting to the illegality of Trump’s tariff moves: the Liberty Justice Center—an outfit normally seen in courts defending Second Amendment rights or trying to set up religious charter schools—aided by professors from the Antonin Scalia Law School at Koch-funded George Mason University. (Twelve state attorneys general later submitted their own lawsuit; the court ruled on both on Wednesday.)

The ruling will be immediately appealed, and we’ll see whether the Supreme Court will ultimately ride to Trump’s rescue, or whether the administration will abide by the verdict if it goes against them. And even if all appeals are exhausted, that will not end the tariff merry-go-round, though it will get harder. But what strikes me is how completely avoidable this was. Competency is a tragically undervalued skill in America; fortunately for us and the world, it’s in short supply in Washington today.

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-05-29-fortunately-trump-has-trouble-achieving-his-goals/

[creon]

1. el gringo loco

is nuts and stupid
half the country has no use for him.

I expect he will hqave trouble getting aqnything done

And, half the country does not care what happens