” ‘Tariffs’ is the most beautiful word in the dictionary, more beautiful than ‘love’,” said Donald Trump said at one point, with an air perhaps more ecstatic than when Columbus saw the land that in centuries would become the greatest power in the world on the horizon.
The endless pleasure that the American president experiences when uttering the word “tariffs” springs from his pathological greed, which he makes a virtue of.
And his pleasure of saying the word “tariffs” also springs, in Trump’s case, from his poor vocabulary.
French Post BFMTV has made a list of the words he uses most in public. There aren’t too many: “Biden”, “China”, “going”, “big”, “beautiful”, “people”. There are a few more, but there’s no point in insisting.
In terms of sound, it’s not exactly a fiery gallery, so you almost get to understand him, and from this point of view, why he was able to make a fixation for “tariffs”.
But starting with February 20, love has all the chances to turn from passion, infinite pleasure into endless suffering and depression.
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Trump illegally imposed tariffs on products imported by Americans from all corners of the world. It decided that the president could not behave like the emperor. It decided that this power belongs to Congress, and not to individual “X”, no matter how passionate he is about tariffs, power, contempt for norms and contempt for others in general.
February 20 is a truly great day: great for 8 billion earthlings minus one.
For a year, however, it had caused an unprecedented ordeal in international trade, in relations between nations, in terms of the very idea of doing business in an organized and predictable framework.
The dawn of Donald Trump’s sunset had already been foreseeable for some time (I have written many times, including HERE), the many levels: growing difficulties in the US economy, the alienation of allies, the encouragement of enemies, deceiving of one’s own voters – all translated into the collapse of the emperor in the polls.
American soft power had already declined dangerously until February 20, a treasure built up over more than half a decade was profoundly and irreparably devalued in less than a year.
But the erosion ceased from February 20, 2026, when the justices of the supreme court, dominated even by conservatives, pricked the very heart of Trumpism’s economic policy.
There can be no Trumpism without tariffs and no Trump without tariffs, just as there can be no American power without the alliances it has had for many decades in Europe and Asia.
Because he simply can’t stand failure, because he simply doesn’t understand economics even at the elementary level, and because he simply has nothing to put in place of tariffs, Donald Trump will probably react irresponsibly and panic at the emergency brake pulled by the Supreme Court.
Most likely, he will try to convince himself and convince his radicalized base that everything is (again) a big conspiracy, that he will still be able to continue on the same path, that tariffs can be imposed through other subterfuges.
It will, of course, create a risky situation, first of all for Americans. But a risky situation could also create for the international community (a month ago I did not rule out the hypothesis that the Iran case could be used by Donald Trump as a pretext when the Supreme Court declares the tariff nightmare illegal).
I resume, below, a few paragraphs from that text:
- << The testimonies of some of those who worked closely with President Trump during his first presidential term painted him as a non-stop self-obsessed guy permanently unable to distinguish between his personal interest and the interest of the country (let alone the broader interest of the world).
- The portrait in question is of a fundamental and obsessive person preoccupied with anything and anyone in the media – events or people who steal his spotlight or who would simply put him in a bad light.
- The deliberation process, in the White House led by Trump, is generally deficient. This time, if the tariff issue is blown up by the Supreme Court, things could go infinitely crazier.
- That is why I expect that Trump’s decision on Iran, where he promised interventions, will be rather influenced, maybe even one hundred percent dictated, less by considerations related to the situation of Iranians who took to the streets, or by considerations related to the complex regional equation. A tough Supreme Court decision on tariffs will rather lead to immediate attacks by the U.S. military on Iran, and then, God have mercy. >>
Seriously, I’m not saying that it will happen, but I’m saying that the risk is huge, and that’s enough and says a lot about the level of irresponsibility that reigns today in the White House.
But regardless of what Trump does in a potential bout of frustration and madness, whether it’s domestic policy action or foreign policy action, one thing is certain as of February 20, 2026: once the Supreme Court itself amputated his tariff arm, Donald Trump became extremely vulnerable domestically and extremely powerless externally.
The friends he has cheated on and the enemies he has strengthened will acquire an extravagant set of levers in the relationship with the White House in the sign of Trumpism.
In MAGA rallies, the tariffs that, the story said, will save America and its industry, can no longer be invoked by Trump and his close associates with the voluptuousness or credibility that once prevailed.
In the balance of power with the other countries on the other continents, Trump’s America will no longer be able to credibly threaten anyone with the introduction of insane tariffs. And without that, suddenly, from the powerful world, Donald Trump will become the butterfly of the planet.
And the fear and exacerbated caution of counterparts in foreign countries will immediately turn into unprecedented boldness, for the decisive cards have passed from his hands into their hands.
Finally, Donald Trump will feel the cold chill even more strongly on Monday. Today is Friday, we leave on the weekend. But from Monday, the markets and stock exchanges are active and the more excited they will be by this Supreme Court decision, the more authentically Trump will perceive what happened to him, and what is to come.
Studies so far have clearly shown that ordinary Americans – individuals and companies – bore the bill for the Trumpist tariff game.
The Republican Party itself, as suicidal as it has so far proven to be lining up behind this mutant president, has no way to go any further down this road.
Because the Supreme Court has decided one thing clearly: tariffs can be imposed further, but only if the president takes a mandate from the people. And the people are represented in Congress. And Congress will hold elections in November.
Suddenly, following the Supreme Court’s decision, Donald Trump’s personal agenda collided with the Republican Party’s agenda.
- PS: As a distinct note, in this context, I would once again note that President Nicușor Dan made a mistake by representing Romania at the highest level at the Board of Peace. The fact that President Dan went to Trump as if he were the great emperor, only for the US Supreme Court to rule that the emperor is empty 24 hours later, reminds me of an episode in Iliescu’s time, when Romania signed a treaty of collaboration with the USSR, and immediately afterwards, the USSR collapsed.
