Congressional Republicans had been quietly talking about the radical possibility of simply not giving in to Trump on applying pointless, vindictive tariffs against Mexico. Trump has proposed tariffs as high as 25%, scheduled them to start next week, and set the requirements to avoid them at … whatever he wants. Seriously, Trump has said that he and only he gets to judge whether Mexico has done enough to avoid the tariffs, and he’s not providing thing one in the way of numbers or actions that have to be taken.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that at a closed-door lunch meeting, at least a half-dozen Republican senators warned White House officials that they would join with Democrats to block Trump’s Mexico tariffs. Since the most direct way of blocking those tariffs is to challenge the declaration of a national emergency Trump is using as cover, that could also mean an end to funding for his border wall. Republican Ron Johnson spelled it out directly, saying, “I think the administration ought to be concerned about another vote of disapproval on another national emergency act ...”
The National Emergency Act and its amendments include at least 136 distinct powers delegated to the executive during a national emergency. A previous vote to end the national emergency passed in the Senate 59 to 41 with 12 Republicans joining Democrats in voting to end the emergency. If the six senators speaking out today are additional votes, that would put the Senate within one vote of being able to override any Trump veto. Republicans at the lunch suggested to the Trump officials that they had the votes to make any new ending of the emergency declaration stick.
But Trump is already snapping back at Republicans who have forgotten that they’ve already signed over their souls to him. As NBC News reports, Trump stated from London that, “I don't think they will do that," when asked about a potential GOP push back on tariffs. "I think if they do,” said Trump. “it's foolish."