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> Trump is the representation No, it's not. Congress is the representation, not the executive. The executive is supposed to implement what Congress decides.

hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
Well, the people voted for Congress, and Congress could curtail Trump's tariff-setting ability anytime they want to, and they have chosen not to. FWIW I agree that Congress has completely abdicated their duties, but by and large "the people" voted for this, it was not hidden or secret (for all his flaws Trump was very clear what he would do with respect to tariffs for a long time), and I think "taxation without representation" is an incredibly poor analogy.
Auracle 1y ago
And congress decided that the president can raise tariffs himself. Congress has given away a lot of power, of the years. Ironically I think this is one instance that sort of thing made sense, but they should have done their usual and made some sort of government agency to oversee it themselves. Neither congress nor the president are good managers of tariffs as they're unpopular in the short term, as we've seen, and need a long term outlook.
- vkou 1y ago
  It's fascinating that just last year, SCOTUS has determined that Congress couldn't delegate its powers to rulemaking agencies that Congress explicitly creates, charters, and funds. Yet, somehow, this implicit 'delegation' (where Congress is very actively doing nothing) is somehow kosher. As long as they won't impeach the leader of their party, anything goes! The man could drop a nuclear bomb on Ohio, and as long as he had 34 surviving votes in the Senate, he'd be fine. If this kind of congressional silence is endorsement, why the hell did SCOTUS get involved to start legislating regulations from the bench in the first place?
  - vel0city 1y ago
    It's not implicit, they're directly doing it. They made a law giving the executive this exact power. They then passed a law redefining the length of a day so they would prevent the countdown in that law from them actually reviewing these. That's right, the Republicans decided the rest of 2025 is just one long legal day.
    - vkou 1y ago
      A day is a year, and we're now in a permanent state of emergency, yet, apparently, Congress isn't allowed to delegate the job of policing pollutants to the EPA, and the judiciary must come in and save us from it.
seunosewa 1y ago
Then why must the president be elected into his position?
- JohnFen 1y ago
  The president is elected to enact the will of congress and to represent the US internationally. He is not elected to be the people's representative in government. That's what congress is for, and that's one of the reasons why the executive is not supposed to have the ability to impose taxes. What Trump is doing is unambiguously taxation without representation, as he is not the representative of the citizenry. For one, no single person can be the "representative of the citizenry". Or, to put it another way, "representation" means that the people have a say in what's happening. With the executive branch, that's not the case. The mechanism for that is Congress.

hn_throwaway_99 1y ago

Well, the people voted for Congress, and Congress could curtail Trump's tariff-setting ability anytime they want to, and they have chosen not to. FWIW I agree that Congress has completely abdicated their duties, but by and large "the people" voted for this, it was not hidden or secret (for all his flaws Trump was very clear what he would do with respect to tariffs for a long time), and I think "taxation without representation" is an incredibly poor analogy.

Auracle 1y ago

And congress decided that the president can raise tariffs himself. Congress has given away a lot of power, of the years. Ironically I think this is one instance that sort of thing made sense, but they should have done their usual and made some sort of government agency to oversee it themselves. Neither congress nor the president are good managers of tariffs as they're unpopular in the short term, as we've seen, and need a long term outlook.

vkou 1y ago
It's fascinating that just last year, SCOTUS has determined that Congress couldn't delegate its powers to rulemaking agencies that Congress explicitly creates, charters, and funds. Yet, somehow, this implicit 'delegation' (where Congress is very actively doing nothing) is somehow kosher. As long as they won't impeach the leader of their party, anything goes! The man could drop a nuclear bomb on Ohio, and as long as he had 34 surviving votes in the Senate, he'd be fine. If this kind of congressional silence is endorsement, why the hell did SCOTUS get involved to start legislating regulations from the bench in the first place?
- vel0city 1y ago
  It's not implicit, they're directly doing it. They made a law giving the executive this exact power. They then passed a law redefining the length of a day so they would prevent the countdown in that law from them actually reviewing these. That's right, the Republicans decided the rest of 2025 is just one long legal day.
  - vkou 1y ago
    A day is a year, and we're now in a permanent state of emergency, yet, apparently, Congress isn't allowed to delegate the job of policing pollutants to the EPA, and the judiciary must come in and save us from it.

seunosewa 1y ago

Then why must the president be elected into his position?

JohnFen 1y ago
The president is elected to enact the will of congress and to represent the US internationally. He is not elected to be the people's representative in government. That's what congress is for, and that's one of the reasons why the executive is not supposed to have the ability to impose taxes. What Trump is doing is unambiguously taxation without representation, as he is not the representative of the citizenry. For one, no single person can be the "representative of the citizenry". Or, to put it another way, "representation" means that the people have a say in what's happening. With the executive branch, that's not the case. The mechanism for that is Congress.