The Daily Blast: Trump Accidentally Wrecks His Own Case for Tariffs in 3 Crazed Tirades

The DSR Network

Chris Cotnoir

Government

4.5 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Supreme Court is about to rule on Donald Trump’s tariffs, which lower courts deem illegal. But guess what: Trump himself has badly undermined his own case for them. He’s claimed broad tariff powers by absurdly declaring trade deficits an economic emergency. But he keeps admitting to other rationales for them. In a crazed tirade in Davos, he said he threatened Switzerland with tariffs partly because a female leader’s voice annoyed him. He unleashed a long rant in a letter threatening Brazil with higher tariffs over its treatment of ally Jair Bolsonaro. And in another tirade, he threatened to impose tariffs on European countries opposing his quest to seize Greenland. We talked to MS NOW’s Steve Benen, who identified this pattern in a good piece. We discuss all these threats, the GOP’s complicity with the Mad King’s whims, and what it’ll mean for our country if the high court greenlights such obviously absurd abuses of power. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	300 years of expertise in every twining sleep blend.
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0:18.0	Your moment of serenity. Brought to you by twining sleep. Twinings, alive in every drop. This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
0:46.5	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
1:00.7	Any day now, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on President Trump's tariffs.
1:07.1	The legal case against them is strong, in part because he's justified them by claiming an economic emergency that doesn't exist. But with this high court, you never know.
1:12.8	However, it turns out that Trump has already basically revealed right out in public again and
1:18.0	again that the rationale for his tariffs is bogus. He's done this by using tariffs to threaten
1:23.9	numerous people for all sorts of other reasons, meaning they have nothing to do with any
1:29.4	economic emergency. And Trump did this again during his speech in Davos.
1:35.3	MS now, Steve Benin, identified this odd pattern in a really good piece, so with a ruling
1:40.5	coming at any time, we're talking to him about all this today. Steve, good to have you on, man.
1:45.7	Thanks, Greg. It's great to see you.
1:47.4	So let's start here. During his Davos speech, Trump told a really odd story about how he decided
1:53.7	last year to impose 30% tariffs on imports from Switzerland.
1:58.5	At one point, he spoke with Switzerland's Karen Keller-Zuter. She rubbed him the wrong way,
2:04.0	and he hiked the tariffs to 39%. Subsequently, he reduced the tariffs after a Swiss delegation
2:10.3	of industry figures visited. As one report put it, they were literally bearing gifts, a Rolex, a personalized gold bar, and loads of flattery,
2:21.7	as Axios put it. But I brought it up to 30 percent. And the, I guess, Prime Minister,
2:29.1	I don't think President, I think Prime Minister called a woman. And she was very repetitive.
	...

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