The Supreme Court vs. The Tariff King

Trump’s trade war isn’t a patriotic crusade; it’s a pocket-picking, economy-wrecking tax scheme that punishes American families while pretending to protect them. And the Supreme Court knows it.

Guest article by Michael Cohen. Remember to follow him on Substack for more by clicking here. Michael is also racing to 500K followers on YouTube! Subscribe today for free here.

Editorial credit: Brian Jason / Shutterstock.com

There’s a special kind of arrogance in watching Donald Trump pound the podium, sneering at economists and insisting that “foreign countries are paying the tariffs.” He says it with that New York swagger, that delusional conviction that the world should just believe him because he said it. But here’s the reality: tariffs are taxes. And consumers pay tariffs. Period. End of story.

Every dollar in “tariff revenue” Trump brags about is a dollar taken from American pockets. You, me, small business owners, families trying to buy a couch or a computer or a car—all paying for the privilege of Trump’s trade tantrum.

Right now, thanks to Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs, the average tax on imports is a staggering 18 percent. Eighteen. Before Trump swaggered back into office, it was 2.4. The Treasury is collecting almost four times more than it did a year ago, and the MAGA crowd cheers like he’s struck gold. But they’re cheering their own pickpocket. This is the con within the con—the illusion of “economic strength” built entirely on siphoning money out of the consumer economy.

Trump has always loved a shiny number that hides a rotten truth. Tariffs, he claims, are “making America rich again.” Sure—if you’re counting the extra cash flowing into federal coffers while factories close, inflation rises, and manufacturing jobs drop by tens of thousands. For everyone else, it’s just a tax hike by another name.

And make no mistake—it is a tax. Importers pay it upfront, and then they pass it along. That’s how business works. A wine importer in Ohio put it plainly: “It’s a tax. It gets built into the price everybody is paying.” If you’ve bought furniture, clothes, electronics, or even groceries lately, congratulations—you’re footing Trump’s bill.

Inflation has ticked back up since these tariffs began. Not 9 percent, pandemic-level chaos—but a steady grind that eats away at household budgets and small business margins. And while Trump promises these tariffs will bring jobs home, the data tells a different story: factory employment is down more than 40,000 since April. The only thing rising is uncertainty, as importers and manufacturers scramble to guess what arbitrary new rate the White House will slap on next.

This isn’t policy. It’s chaos with a gold-plated logo.

And now, the Supreme Court—the same conservative bench Trump helped build—is staring down a decision that could declare his tariffs flat-out illegal. The case cuts to the heart of Trump’s abuse of power. Under a 1977 law meant for true emergencies, the president can regulate imports during a crisis. Regulate, not tax. The word “tariff” doesn’t appear anywhere in the statute. Lower courts have already ruled that Trump’s sweeping global tariffs were an overreach—an emperor with no constitutional clothes.

So here we are: Trump’s lawyers screaming about “life or death for our country,” while the justices squirm in the ideological trap Trump set for them. On one hand, conservatives love to champion executive power, especially when it’s their guy. On the other, they’ve built decades of case law railing against government meddling in the free market. You can’t claim to defend liberty and capitalism while letting a president single-handedly tax the global economy like a monarch.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, of all people, could be the wild card. He’s made a career out of warning against overreach in economic regulation. Yet he also worships at the altar of executive authority in the name of “national security.” So which version of Kavanaugh shows up—the Bush-era loyalist who bows to presidential power, or the self-proclaimed originalist who says Congress, not the Oval Office, holds the power of the purse?

Even The Wall Street Journal, that bastion of pro-business conservatism, has had enough. “Tariffs are taxes,” their editorial board declared. “If he can impose a tax on any imported product any time he wants, he really has the power of a king.” That’s not free-market capitalism; that’s economic authoritarianism in a red tie.

And yet, Trump keeps selling the same snake oil: that tariffs make America strong, rich, independent. The truth? They make everything more expensive and everyone a little poorer—except him. He’s betting, as always, that his base won’t read the fine print on their receipts.

If the Supreme Court has the backbone to strike down these tariffs, it won’t just be a legal victory—it’ll be a constitutional exorcism. Because this case isn’t about trade. It’s about power. It’s about whether one man, under the banner of “national emergency,” can tax the entire economy without a single vote from Congress.

If the Court sides with Trump, they won’t just be blessing tariffs; they’ll be blessing tyranny. If they strike them down, they’ll be affirming what the Founders already knew: that taxation without representation isn’t strength—it’s theft.

Trump is wrong. Dead wrong. Tariffs are taxes. Consumers pay tariffs. And no amount of bluster, branding, or “America First” propaganda can change the fact that this is just another Trump scam—wrapped in a flag, sold as patriotism, and billed directly to you.

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