Isn't this dude a Senator? He can help end the stupid tariff war any time he wants. If he can grow a spine and bring 4 friends with him he can at least put pressure on his pals on the house of representatives.
Ted Cruz famously has no friends.
Infamously, he's the Zodiac killer
His dad killed JFK. It's a whole family thing for the man who refuses to call people by the name they've chosen.
“If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.”
Isn’t this dude a Senator?
~ Lindsey Graham
Might also be worth noting that his wife is a managing director at Goldman Sachs. I have to imagine she's spent the last week in meltdown mode.
“I probably like Ted Cruz more than most of my colleagues like Ted Cruz, and I hate Ted Cruz."
-Al Franken
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/31/politics/al-franken-ted-cruz/index.html
Yeah 2/3 of congress can end the whole trade war. This is just showmanship.
You don't even need that much. At least at this stage, Trump is abusing existing laws as a sledgehammer against the economy. While Trump can veto new laws passed by "just" 50% of the Congress, they would at least have some leverage to pressure him.
But he won’t. Because he’s a morally defunct crumpet.
How dare you impune crumpets by comparison.
Oh, fuck, we have invoked the wrath of Lemmy's infamous crumpet stans.
You crumped around. Now it's time to find out.
In my defense, I really love watching these dumbasses trying to figure out what the heck a crumpet is, and then getting angry because they don't know and just assume it's something awful.
I can pretend, if that helps move things along:
"IT'S THE EXACT SAME THING AS AN ENGLISH MUFFIN!"
The trap is baited. Now, we wait.
Bruh...
If we're waiting for Raphael Cruz to grow a spine we'll never stop waiting.
There's a reason the title includes "begs" and I'm honestly surprised he's doing that.
It is so he can look like he was putting up a fight.
The Senate has already passed a bill that limits the President's power to set tariff rates on Canada. The House probably won't take that up.
Right now, there's also a Senate Bill with 7 GOP senators signed on that would limit the President's power to unilaterally set tariffs (requires 48 hours notice to Congress, can't last more than 60 days without Congressional approval, gives Congress fast track procedures for voting down new tariffs). There are some serious constitutional flaws in it (most notably the legislative non-aggrandizement doctrine, but also an issue with tying to sidestep the bicameralism and presentment requirement), though, and I'm not sure it would hit the point where it could overcome a presidential veto.
So right now it's not clear whether this GOP opposition would actually build into real legislation that could actually have an effect, or whether this is all showmanship trying to influence Trump himself to roll this back.
Trump's aides love tariffs because Trump loves tariffs. He's been obsessed with them his entire life.
Rafael isn't criticizing Trump, he's giving him an escape hatch, trying to pretend that this is all "bad advice".
NPR played a clip from 1987 of him calling into some radio show to bitch about trade imbalances.
Exactly. He's been holding onto this notion for decades, and no one has ever disabused him of it. Now he's a mentally declining old idiot and it's too late to teach him that he's wrong.
This is why Bessent is trying to bail. He's never been a fan of this "tariff everyone" approach, and it's now finally occurred to him that he's going to get the blame to cover Trump's ass.
Can't tell narcissists they're wrong, they just lash out. If he believes he's right he'll make 8000 excuses as to why his plan failed. IV seen it before in the family my aunt married into. Even when wrong they were never wrong, until a "higher ranking" narcissists in the family bullied them into submission. Sadly, no higher ranking narcissist than the president
From the US Constitution:
"Article I, Section 10, Clause 2:
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress." source
I won't call you Ted, because I know how much you hate people forcing preferred names. Rafael Cruz, you have the power granted to you by the US Constitution to stop the trump tariffs. You don't need to ask trump. The power is yours. Use it!
How Congress delegates its tariff powers to the president
According to the Congressional Research Service, there are six statutory provisions currently in place that control how the president and the executive branch can use tariffs. Three provisions require federal agency investigations before a tariff can be imposed. The other provisions do not require an investigation before actions are taken.
...
Among the three provisions that allow the president to act on his own to impose tariffs without an investigation, only one has ever been used: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. The act allows the president to declare an emergency under the National Emergency Act (NEA) and then use his extensive economic powers to regulate or prohibit imports. The CRS says that President Trump was the first chief executive to use this act in February 2025, when he announced tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico. The emergency stated by the president can be terminated at this request, or by a joint resolution of Congress.
Those Acts are laws written by Congress. Congress also has the power to write new laws amending or removing the previous ones. Again, its still in Rafael's (and his coworkers) hands to stop trump's tariffs.
It's really amazing how the GOP members of Congress have willingly given up their power.
It’s really amazing how the GOP members of Congress have willingly given up their power.
I have to chime in on this one. The President didn't just suddenly get all this authority; both mainstream parties started handing it over willingly decades ago.
The Executive Branch of our Government, led by the President, is in control of far too many things.
That's fair, but the are handing him these wins. All of his picks have been smooth sailing and if they had a spine they could impeach him right now. It's not that there are no ways to stop this, it's that he's "too big to fail" and the Rs let it get this way.
The abdication is real.
I can’t hear him. I stopped listening to Ted Cruz.
Why is rafael still using a preferred name?
I think I'll call her Rachel from now on
She's an immigrant, too.
My God, I FORGOT that!
I bet Trump doesn't listen to Rafael because he doesn't go by his birth name....
and he’s an immigrant
Well he is in luck. My senator is introducing a bill to limit his ability to impose tariffs:
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/09/nx-s1-5354912/trump-tariffs-senate-bill-bipartisan
Leopards everywhere today! What the hell is going on?!
Must be nice being in a position where when things go right (does that actually ever even happen with these fucking people?), you take all of the credit. But when things go wrong, it's because of your aides and advisors.
Runaway Ted's mistake is thinking Trump wants peace. Trump doesn't want peace. HE WANTS PROBLEMS! ALWAYS!
Mo Donnie Mo Problems
I bet his tariff-loving aides have shorted a bunch of stocks and are making hand over first right now.
It's not done going down yet.
What deals? Trump's tariff against the US numbers are made up, they are US trade deficits. Are other countries supposed to lower this number somehow? Is he forcing them to stop exporting to the US? Well that's going to have the same effect as tariffs, right? Or is he going to force them to buy more US products? First of all, that's straight up Mafia behavior; but also the US just doesn't manufacture that much to begin with.
How is this going to make any sense.
Is there a video?
You wanted him, you got him. Now live with the consequences like big boys.
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