r/politics • u/sweatycat New York • 1d ago

California to Negotiate Trade With Other Countries to Bypass Trump Tariffs

https://www.newsweek.com/california-newsom-trade-trump-tariffs-2055414
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u/Ptricky17 1d ago

Without enforcement, laws are just suggestions.

Courts derive their power from people believing that their rulings are just. SCOTUS has become a laughing stock, and an obvious Kangaroo Court at this point. If California plays chicken with them over trade, what does enforcement even look like?

The Federal government is gutting all collective social programs that benefit states, so at this point they might as well go a step further and in addition to creating their own trade policies, just announce that they won’t take action against any company or individual that stops paying federal taxes.

At that point, what is Trump going to do? The only tool in his toolbox would be to threaten them with the power of the US military. I have much more faith in service members saying no to attacking their fellow Americans than I do to them refusing to invade Panama, Greenland, or Canada, so go for it.

Obviously this is all hypothetical, as I don’t think Newsom has the balls to go that far, but if he did - realistically what could the federal government actually do to push back against it?

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u/wanderlustcub I voted 19h ago

Interesting that California houses huge swaths of the US military.

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u/Ptricky17 19h ago

That could be a very good thing, or a very bad thing. It depends entirely on how indoctrinated you believe the average service member to be.

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u/wanderlustcub I voted 19h ago

I believe the military is very divided.