Tariffs are a Congressional function. They’ve handed limited tariff authority to the White House, pre-Trump, but Trump’s tariffs are beyond those bounds, and were illegal via common sense long before the Supremes heard the case.
Because Congress operates slowly and as a majority lead unit, any individual representative rarely gets everything they want. But a friendly relationship with an autocrat can deliver so much more.
Especially when you pull a Rubio or Cheney and jump from the legislature to the executive.
Tariffs are a Congressional function. They’ve handed limited tariff authority to the White House, pre-Trump, but Trump’s tariffs are beyond those bounds, and were illegal via common sense long before the Supremes heard the case.
Like so much else, they’re functions that the legislature has empowered the executive to administer.
Congress hates doing anything. And so we’ve spent decades vesting more and more power into the President, creating the modern day unitary executive.
And I’ve always wondered … why?
The Congressional habit of yielding power seems so at odds with… everything I’ve ever seen and (pretend to) understand about human nature.
Because Congress operates slowly and as a majority lead unit, any individual representative rarely gets everything they want. But a friendly relationship with an autocrat can deliver so much more.
Especially when you pull a Rubio or Cheney and jump from the legislature to the executive.