So, Donald Trump is caving on tariffs. After a week of tanking markets and layoffs galore, the President has put in place a 90-day pause on tariffs on all countries other than China:

In response, the markets are actually having a decent day:

$SPY ( ▲ 0.13% ) | $DJIA ( ▼ 0.09% ) | $VIX ( ▲ 2.2% )  

I was going to write today’s newsletter on how the tariff plans aren’t actually reciprocal. How we tariffed countries like Singapore and Australia with which we have free trade agreements and trade surpluses. Or how we literally tariffed an uninhabited island populated only by penguins.

But that’s all moot for now.

So instead, I want to talk about the ideological shift happening in MAGA world. If it wasn’t so concerning, this shift would actually be pretty funny:

Trump implemented a dumb idea, saw the blowback, and is now backing down while trying to make it look like this is all part of a grand plan. And his followers/defenders are celebrating his backtracking as “the art of the deal.”

In other words, it’s looking a lot like the Trump Policy Scam Cycle in full effect.

But the problems aren’t over. This last week has shown the world that the global economy is resting in the hands of a demented, cantankerous octogenarian with no foundational principles. Under Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, Congress alone is the body that has the power to implement tariffs. But over the decades, Congress has slowly but consistently abrogated its responsibilities, including by delegating the tariff power to the Presidency.

Congress can undo this delegation and take back the tariff power today. There is even a bill circulating to do so, with some Republican support. Unfortunately, the chances that this bill actually goes anywhere are slim, as Congress waits for Trump’s “master plan” to play out.

Trump wants it to look like he has a master plan. His lackeys and apparatchiks seek to make it look like he has a master plan. But he has no plan. Former director of the National Economic Council and chief economic advisor to President Donald Trump Gary Cohn tried to explain the economic realities to Trump multiple times during his first administration:

The President of the United States spent a week groin-punching the American economy (including your retirement accounts, your pensions, and your employers) just because he’s “had these views for 30 years.”

As Jeremiah Johnson wrote over at Infinite Scroll: “There is No Plan. They're Just Morons.”

So what happens when you have a moronic, anti-market policy implemented with zero clear justification coupled with a legion of unprincipled grifters performing a sort of fecal haruspicy in order to make sense of Trump’s antics?

You get MAGA Maoism.

In response to the market collapse of the last week, so many pro-Trump talking heads sought to justify his actions at any cost. And in doing so, they adopted the language of the left. Many mainstream MAGA mouthpieces (say that three times fast) today sound no different than the progressive left of the 1960s, 1990s, and 2010s.

Don’t believe me?

Fine, let’s take a little quiz!

Below is a list of quotes from prominent MAGA influencers, and from folks on the left like Mao Zedong, Noam Chomsky, etc.

Take note of which one you think is which! There’s an answer key at the bottom.

MAGA or Maoist?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Ready for the results? I’d love for you to comment below or reply to this email to let me know how you did:

1. MAGA — Trump supporter (and noted plagiarist) Benny Johnson

2. Maoist — literally Mao Zedong

3. MAGA — Right-wing internet personality & consultant Emma-Jo Morris

4. MAGA — Trump Secretary of Commerce Scott Bessent

5. Maoist — Progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren (okay technically not a Maoist but the alliteration demands some wide brush strokes)

6. Maoist — Mao Zedong again

7. MAGA — Right-wing pundit Steve Cortes

8. Maoist — Socialist academic and genocide denier Noam Chomsky

Is it not concerning that Trump world is nearly indistinguishable from the leftists and progressives they claim to oppose? Is it not terrifying that the Chinese Communist Party is posting clips of Reagan while the party of Reagan is embracing Maoist thought?

Trump saw the writing on the wall and caved on tariffs, at least for now. For the moment, it’s not worth talking about tariffing penguins anymore. It’s not worth talking about Singapore, or Australia, or Oren Cass or Peter Navarro.

But there is no guarantee that Trump’s surrender is permanent. What needs to be talked about—yelled from the rooftops and screamed in the halls of congress—is that we have a President with a Third-Worldist ideology whose daily whims dictate whether we face feast or famine.

This MAGA Maoism, as Drew Pavlou calls it, will fail. We’ve seen over the last week that this movement does not have the ability to succeed in any meaningful way. But we have a responsibility to stand in their way and demand Congress does the same. Because, as, Drew puts it, “They are going to fail, but my God they will inflict an insane and psychotic amount of destruction and suffering in the process.”

Congress can put a stop to this madness today. But they need a backbone first.

It’s up to us to keep the pressure on them, and to encourage them to reclaim their constitutional responsibility.

That may sound like a big ask. But it boils down to many small actions.

Actions like calling your representative and demanding they support Don Bacon’s H.R. 2665 to take the tariff power back from the President.