On Wednesday, November 5, the United States entered day 36 of a government shutdown, the longest in history, a counterproductive record that the White House blamed on “kamikaze” Democrats, a term used by the Republican president about the ultra-left.
“We are in the middle of a disastrous government shutdown created by Democratic extremists,” Trump said.
The objective: destabilize the government in Washington.
Contrary to what surveys cited by left-wing media indicate, 68% of Americans on average consider that the Democratic Party is totally disconnected from the interests of Americans, according to the latest polls by CBS, The Washington Post and Daily Mail.
The budget paralysis, created by radical left-wing senators in Congress, what it really seeks is the destabilization of President Trump’s government, as they did in 2019 during his first term. At that time, the stalemate lasted 35 days.
The combination
Democrats sought to tie the partial government shutdown to election results in three Democratic strongholds where they knew they would win New York, California and New Jersey, one of the reasons they were reluctant to negotiate. From that position all the (impossible pretexts) were invented to direct a way out of the paralysis.
At the airports, the situation is worsening by the day. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that he could be forced to partially close part of the airspace and other emergency measures.
“A week from today, extremist Democrats, you will see massive chaos… you will see massive flight delays,” Duffy warned.
Social assistance programs have also been affected.
“Aid recipients should understand that it will take time to receive this money, because Democrats have put the government in a difficult position,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
The government has been partially paralyzed since a group of senators, led by Chuck Schumer defending his Senate seat as well as others, chose to reject a bill – already passed on a bipartisan basis in the House of Representatives – to keep federal departments and agencies funded after October 1, when the new fiscal year began.
The current left in Congress doesn’t give a damn about the consequences of the shutdown; In fact, that is what they want: serious damage and generating a government crisis. They have as a pretext, knowing in advance that the President will not give in as he has reiterated, the request for 1.5 trillion dollars to continue with the same waste in federal spending as during the government of Joe Biden or whoever was in charge of the White House in that period.
The kidnapping
“I don’t think any of us expected this to go on this long,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said at a news conference; but how democrats they seem determined to continue the chaos to force the President to take unilateral measures and then sue him, calling him a dictator as they have already done.
The Republicans, who have narrow majorities in both Houses, wanted on September 30 five Democratic senators to second their legislative resolution to maintain the funds until the end of November, and discuss budget issues at the same time.
The conservatives have managed to get three Democrats to join them, but due to an internal congressional law (filibuster) that requires at least 60 votes for highly relevant issues like this, the vote of four senators would be needed to complete the required amount.
Trump demanded that Republicans use the legislative “nuclear weapon”: eliminate the minimum barrier of 60 votes in the Senate, what is known as a filibuster, and end the blockade imposed by Schumer and a handful of Democrats.
“Republicans, end the filibuster! Re-approve legislation and electoral reforms!” the President shouted on his Truth Social platform.
Tariffs and the Supreme Court
While all this is happening within Congress, the 9 judges of the United States Supreme Court began hearings on lawsuits against the tariff policy of President Donald J. Trump, his commercial and diplomatic weapon in the conservative “America First” platform.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has invoked emergency presidential and economic powers to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on unfair trade practices against Washington.
Judges attached to the ideology of the ultra-left have been determined to hinder, since the first day of the Republican leader in the White House, his presidential management in all angles: from immigration, the so-called inclusion policies (which are nothing more than discrimination), to his economic actions inside and outside the United States to benefit the economy drowned in debt left by the Biden-Obama administration, or whoever was in charge of the federal government.
The President has imposed, as a defense and national security measure, specific tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on steel, aluminum, and segments of the automotive industry.
A left-leaning court ruled in May that Trump “exceeded” his authority by imposing the tariffs, although an appeal allowed them to remain in effect.
Then a federal appeals court, also leaning in Democratic states, ruled 7-4 in August that the liens were “illegal.” This upheld the lower court’s decision, prompting Trump to take the dispute to the Supreme Court.
The repercussions
The decision of the nation’s highest court will have important repercussions, but the ruling could be delayed for several weeks or, in the worst case, months.
Supreme Court justices could consider Trump’s presidential actions and demands valid.
Although the tariff policy of the current administration is of historic magnitude, all US presidents – including Democrats – and in the rest of the world have used it as an essential economic tool; In this particular, Trump seeks justice for the United States in global trade in the midst of a radical internal economic transformation.
The “America First” platform includes the reindustrialization of the country, measures against excessive spending and bureaucracy in the federal government, strengthening of small and medium-sized businesses, regulation and promotion of cryptocurrencies as a new monetary exchange option, record increase in the production and export of fossil fuels, development of the exploitation and trade of “rare earths”, boom in technology and enormous investments in Artificial Intelligence, consolidation of the dollar and gold as reserves in the world’s central banks, among other premises.
Thanks to Trump’s effective tariff strategy, the country has raised or recovered more than $200 billion for its federal coffers, an unprecedented event in the economic life of the country.
The Supreme Court’s ruling leaves out of its analysis the sector-specific tariffs that Trump imposed, including those on steel, aluminum and automobiles, as a defense of the US economy and national security.
In the view of Ryan Majerus, a former top US trade official, the Supreme Court could finally validate Trump’s tariff policybut with certain limitations.
The options
Magistrates could rule differentially based on “reciprocal” tariffs, which seek to reduce trade gaps, and other customs duties that are rather sanctioning tools; for example, to combat the entry of fentanyl into the United States, added Majerus, currently a partner at the King & Spalding law firm.
Even if the Supreme Court found all of Trump’s tariffs illegal, the administration could resort to other laws to impose 15% tariffs for 150 days, and take advantage of that period to open official investigations, as granted by Section 301 of the Trade Act, Majerus explained.
That Section 301 allows Washington to respond to conduct considered unfair.
Majerus estimates that partners who have negotiated tariff agreements with Trump will prefer to maintain those terms rather than reopen negotiations.
Consultations in Congress on these issues can stall for several months and even years, one of the reasons why President Trump uses his emergency presidential powers to expedite the benefits that this new transformation in global trade represents for the country, with a debt left by his predecessor of 37 trillion dollars and more than 80% of the economic indicators in negative territory such as the contraction of the industry, the real estate market crisis, the trade and fiscal deficit, among others.
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