Letters from an American - February 23, 2026

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

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February 23, 26. Since the U.S. Supreme Court found that the tariffs Trump levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEPA, are unconstitutional, Trump has attacked the court and continued to insist he has the power to issue the tariffs that gave him economic leverage over other countries and companies. After the decision was announced on Friday, Trump announced he was putting a 10% tariff on foreign imports. Then on Saturday, he posted that his social media announcement would serve to represent that I, as president of the United States of America, will be effective immediately, raising the 10% worldwide tariff on countries, many of which have been ripping the U.S. off for decades without retribution until I came along,

to the fully allowed and legally tested 15% level. At 706 this morning, Trump tried to reaffirm his unchecked power when he posted on social media, the Supreme Court will be using lowercase letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect. Of the United States, accidentally and unwittingly gave me

as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling. He claimed that he could do absolutely terrible things to foreign countries, and that the court has approved other tariffs that can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty than the tariffs as initially used. On Sunday, the head of the International Trade Committee in the European Parliament, Bernd Lange, posted, pure tariff chaos on the part of the U.S. government. No one can make any sense of it anymore, just open questions and growing uncertainty for the European Union and other U.S. trading partners. Lange noted that it is unclear if the United States will adhere to its trade deals

or even be able to at all. He proposed pausing the process of approving the EU's trade deal with the U.S. until we have a comprehensive legal assessment and clear commitments from the U.S. side. This morning, the European Parliament agreed. After the decision, officials from India postponed a trip to the U.S. to finalize a trade deal. Late last month, India and the EU completed a trade agreement that creates the largest free trade zone in the world. Experts say the deal will support economic growth in the EU and India. At 9.34 this morning, Trump threatened any country that wants to play games with the ridiculous Supreme Court decision,

especially those that have ripped off the USA for years and even decades, will be met with a much higher tariff and worse than that which they just recently agreed to. Buyer beware. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President Donald J. Trump. Fifteen minutes later, he posted, As president, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of tariffs. It has already been gotten in many forms a long time ago. They were also just reaffirmed by the ridiculous and poorly-goersed. crafted Supreme Court decision, President D.J.T. Trump's tariffs are enormously unpopular. As G. Eliot Morris noted in strength in numbers yesterday, an ABC News Washington Post-IPSO's poll

taken before the Supreme Court decision found that 64% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of tariffs. He had tried to shore up support for them by promising Americans a $2,000 check. as a dividend from the tariffs. But as financial planner Stephen Cates told Jessica Dickler of CNBC today, tariff dividends were a long shot from the beginning. Now, he says, the odds of their moving forward are effectively zero. 82% of Americans, including 76% of Republicans, say the president must obey rulings of the Supreme Court. Morris adds that 50% of Americans, think Trump's policy decisions have hurt the economy, while only 26% say they have helped.

And the Washington Post reported yesterday that 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump's job performance, his lowest approval rating since shortly after the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. This morning, in remarks to so-called Angel Families, a right-wing name for the families of Americans' killed by undocumented immigrants, Trump spoke in a slow monotone as he complained about the fake polls that show his popularity falling. We actually have a silent support, he said. Today, Jason Biferman of

Politico reported that the silent support to which right-wing figures point as evidence of their popularity is not necessarily authentic. An examination of social media accounts that pushed Nikki Minaj's new right-wing persona, showed that 18,784 of the profiles boosting her content, or about 33% of them, are fake. The report assesses with high confidence that a coordinated fake campaign was actively amplifying political content on Nikki Minaj's ex-account during the period reviewed. The report found that when the conversation is limited to toxic content, a substantially stronger amplification effect emerges. These accounts predominantly amplify content produced by Nikki Minaj and Turning Point USA,

indicating a notable overlap between the two within this discourse. In his speech this morning, Trump returned again to his complaints about the 2020 election, which he continues to insist the Democrats rigged again. against him. As for the 2024 vote, in which Trump got about 77.3 million votes, he claimed, I won. I got probably 85 million votes. They say 78 million, 79 million. They cheated in this election, too. It was just too big to rig. But they cheated like hell. Nonsensically, he claimed that Republicans don't receive their mail-in ballots, while Democratic voters are showered with them. Republicans don't get theirs and they're calling frantically to get their ballot.

A Democrat will get three, four, five, six, and even seven ballots, Trump said. And then we're supposed to win? That's what they're good at. They're professional cheaters. The stock market fell sharply today as investors worried about the uncertainty of Trump's tariff threats and about the implications of AI. The New York City Bar Association issued a statement, condemning Trump's attacks on the Supreme Court, saying they constitute a calculated and dangerous assault

on the independence of the judiciary and on our constitutional system of separated powers. Today, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, acknowledged that Congress has no appetite for levying the tariffs Trump and his MAGA supporters in Congress want. Johnson told reporters, it's going to be, I think, a challenge. to find consensus on any path forward on the tariffs, on the legislative side. And so that is why, I think, you see so much of the attention on the executive side, the executive branch, and what they're doing and how they're reacting to the ruling. Meanwhile, prominent federal officials aren't helping the popular image of the administration.

After the U.S. men's hockey team won the gold at the Olympics yesterday, yesterday, video and images circulated of Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, director Cash Patel, wearing a USA jersey, screaming and chugging a beer in the team's locker room, rather as if he were at a frat party. MS Now reporters Ken Delanian and Carol Lenig said eight former officials from the FBI and the Department of Justice, or DOJ, sent them the video, which they said was infuriating FBI and DOJ officials. When Delanyan questioned the trip, spokesperson Ben Williamson insisted on Saturday that Patel, who is a big fan of hockey, flew to Milan on the FBI's private jet for official events. Williamson even demanded that Delanian correct his false theory that Patel went to hang out at the Olympics

on the taxpayer dime. Williamson did not respond after Delanian and Lenig asked him to comment on the video. From Italy, Patel posted yesterday that the FBI is dedicating all necessary resources in the investigation of this morning's incident at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago, where an armed individual was shot and killed after unlawfully entering the perimeter. He was referring to the fact that the Secret Service shot and killed 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin outside Mara Lago on Sunday. Reporters say Martin is from a family of Trump supporters

and lately had become fixated on the evil in the Epstein files. Today, Reuters reported that U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco, Charles Kushner, has been banned from contact with members of the French government. Kushner is the father of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump pardoned the elder Kushner, in December 2020, after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, lying to the Federal Election Commission, and retaliating against a federal witness.

Kushner has twice refused to meet with French Foreign Ministry officials after interfering with French politics and being summoned, a breach of diplomatic protocol. Max Rigo and Laura Kelly of the Hill reported a French official's explanation. It's a question of the basic expectations, expectations attached to the mission of an ambassador.

Representative Tony Gonzalez, a Republican of Texas, is facing calls to resign after allegations that he pressured a staff member into a sexual relationship. Gonzalez, who is married and has six children, has denied the allegations, but published text messages are explicit and show the staffer warning him he was going too far. The woman later died by suicide. House Speaker Johnson has endorsed Gonzalez for re-election and cannot lose another Republican from the House, but pressure is mounting for Gonzalez's resignation. Judge Eileen Cannon today blocked the release of Jack Smith's report about his investigation of Trump's retention of classified documents

after he left office in 2021. It is usual procedure for a special counsel's report to be made public, but Cannon is a Trump appointee, who has, as legal analyst Joyce White Vance of civil discourse noted, done everything she can to bottle up Smith's report. Vance notes that few people initially thought they would be much new in the report, but Trump's fierce fight to keep it under wraps has led to speculation that there might be something surprising in it. It's hard to miss the glaring similarity to the Epstein files, Vance wrote. where it increasingly appears attempts to avoid disclosure were meant to protect wealthy, powerful people.

Why not just release volume two if Trump, as he says, is innocent? You'd think that might help him prove his case and set the matter aside once and for all. U.S. Southern Command posted today that it struck another small vessel, killing three people. This brings the total killed in these small boat attacks. to at least 137 people. U.S. Southern Command claimed that those operating it were engaged in narco-trafficking operations, although there remains no proof of the government's allegations.

Tomorrow, Trump will deliver the State of the Union address. It's going to be a long speech, he said today, because we have so much to talk about. But in a sign of his slipping control, many Democrats are skipping the speech to attend the State of the Swamp event at the National Press Club or the People's State of the Union rally on the National Mall. Ever since taking office a year ago, the president has shown no respect for the principles upon which this country is based, the constitutional separation of powers, the rule of law,

and the rights guaranteed to every person under the country. Constitution. His actions have done tremendous harm to the American people, to our standing among nations, and to our institutions of government, Senator Angus King and Independent of Maine, said in a statement, for this reason I cannot, in good conscience, participate in a function with this president at its center. To do so would require me to ignore all that has gone. before and to pay him a measure of respect which he has not earned. I will not be attending the State of the Union address. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson.

It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.