Well, apparently Trump won’t be grabbing the economy by the tariffs after all. The Supreme Court saw to that when it issued a big beautiful rejection of his tariff policy last Friday. In the shocker of the year, three conservative members of the Court sided with the three liberal members. Collectively, they decided that the economic emergency Trump declared did not justify his unlimited use of tariffs.

The $130 Billion Question

Businesses around the country heard the ruling and were like, um…collectively we’ve coughed up almost $130 billion behind these illegal tariffs. The Court didn’t say whether they should expect their refund checks in the mail or if the money would be credited to their accounts. Justice Brett Kavanaugh summed up the situation by saying it’s going to be a mess.

Trump’s Tantrum Tour

Meanwhile, Trump responded as expected. He threw a temper tantrum. Well, he actually threw two temper tantrums.

In the first one, he invoked an obscure Trade Act to impose a 10% tariff on all imports, and also called those three conservative members of the Court disgraces to their families.

In the second one, he invoked the same obscure Trade Act to impose a 15% tariff on all imports, and also called those three conservative members disgraces to their families, who are now all but uninvited to his State of the Union Address.

By the end of the week, don’t be surprised if he has a third tantrum where he officially declares Justice John Roberts a de facto liberal, petitions the Jefferson Parish Council to remove Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s name from the street they dedicated to her, and calls Justice Neil Gorsuch a name first graders would be proud of.

Related: How Americans Rose Up Against Trumps Tariffs

Questions That Need Answers

But still, all kinds of questions remain. Now that the Court has struck down Trump’s tariffs, will Qatar ask for their jet back? Will Vietnam back out of the deal to build a $1.5 billion golf resort in Trump’s name? When Trump goes to Congress and asks them to extend his obscure 15% tariffs beyond the 150-day limit, will Speaker Mike Johnson play fetch or develop a backbone? And lastly, does this latest rejection put Trump firmly in lame duck status?

A Pattern of Defeat

All scenarios say yes to the latter. Earlier this year, Trump huffed and puffed and threatened to blow Greenland down. But when the time came for action, he found himself on a political island. He later took another L when his ICE agents had to cut and run out of Minneapolis. In that case, Republicans even turned on him. Then there was the Obama ape episode where he found himself alienated. And now, the same Justices who granted him presidential immunity have declared enough is enough.

Too Sweet to Swallow

Trump is like an overly sweet dessert. You can only take so much before your senses are over-stimulated and you have to push it away from the table. In other words, he’s just overbearing. And he lacks tact. But he’s at a pivotal point in his presidency. If he doesn’t recognize these setbacks as serious threats to his strength, the midterms and beyond will surely point it out for him.

Quack, quack.