President Donald Trump appears to be unable to catch a break. Just hours before stepping up to deliver his State of the Union address, he confronted the same challenge he has spent months trying to smooth over and spin into progress.
Yet no matter how often he claimed that everything was under control, he couldn’t outrun the steady decline in his approval ratings — and voters kept signaling that whatever he was selling, they weren’t buying it.
In the weeks leading up to the address, a sequence of awkward moments and dwindling polls chipped away at the aura of confidence he projected onstage. Then came the moment that cut through the noise. When pressed in an NBC interview about why Americans remain deeply pessimistic, Trump was caught off guard — unable to retreat quickly and left with what appeared to be an unguarded moment of candor.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Trump said after being confronted with polling showing that voters are unhappy with inflation and the rising cost of living.
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But days later, after the Supreme Court struck down a centerpiece of his economic program, that uncertainty gave way to fury, and one of his sharpest political rivals says he saw it coming.
In a 6–3 ruling Friday, the Supreme Court invalidated Trump’s 2025 tariffs imposed under emergency powers, ruling that only Congress can levy tariffs and dismantling the legal foundation of his “Liberation Day” agenda.
Rather than concede ground, Trump escalated the confrontation.
Within hours of announcing a 10% global tariff under Section 122, he signaled an increase to 15% for countries he accused of “ripping” the United States off for decades.
The aggressive maneuver drew counterpoints from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of Trump’s chief political adversaries, who had warned this exact scenario would unfold.
Last week, Newsom warned that Trump would likely lose at the Supreme Court on the tariff question.
“He’s gonna lose likely on the Supreme Court on the tariff question,” Newsom said. “Trump isn’t strong. He’s weak, masquerading as strong.”
He went further, anticipating that the economic fallout would damage Trump politically: “Trump’s gonna get shellacked in the midterms. He knows that.”
After the Court’s decision on Friday, Newsom responded plainly: “Donald Trump was finally held accountable for using his illegal tariffs to siphon hundreds of billions of dollars from Americans. And he’s already throwing a tantrum.”
On social media, one user resurfaced Newsom’s earlier forecast with a brief caption: “This aged incredibly well.”
Other reactions were more biting and sardonic.
“Republicans, clean up on aisle 47. Big mess,” one X user wrote, hinting that the president’s economic plan had backfired.
Another remarked, “He’s going down. Took long enough.”
The remarks underscore a growing critique among observers that Trump’s tariff agenda, once praised as a defining strength, has become a legal and political liability.
The shift from an admitted moment of confusion to a defiant stance after the ruling has not gone unnoticed.
During his NBC interview, Trump insisted he was “starting to get great polls on the economy.”
“The polls on the economy, they’re not great,” NBC Nightly News host Tom Llamas corrected him.
“They should be great,” Trump replied.
“So why aren’t they?” Llamas pressed.
“I don’t know,” Trump conceded, lifting his hands in a gesture of defeat.
When Llamas pointed out that Americans say “it’s expensive out there,” Trump suggested the issue lay in messaging rather than policy.
“I just don’t think we’re selling it properly. We’ve done a great job,” he said.
Critics now argue that Friday’s Supreme Court decision undermines that assertion.
Economists have also openly questioned the potency of Trump’s tariff strategy. In a widely circulated clip shared by University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers, he is seen breaking into laughter when asked about the tariffs’ effectiveness — a moment critics say reveals skepticism even within financial circles.
Meanwhile, key economic indicators continue to complicate Trump’s narrative.
Inflation, which peaked at 9 percent during the pandemic, had fallen to about 2.8 percent by the time Trump returned to office in January 2025. It now hovers around 2.7 percent — still above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
Trump has highlighted a 4.3 percent GDP figure from last year, though that reflected third-quarter growth rather than full-year expansion. Independent projections for 2025 place growth closer to 2 percent.
Job openings have dropped to their lowest level in five years, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.
Polls reflect the unease. Trump’s overall approval rating remains in the low 40s, with a majority disapproving of how he’s handling the economy.
For critics, the rapid shift from “I don’t know” to a pledge to impose a new global tariff after a Supreme Court rebuke reinforces Newsom’s earlier assessment that the president’s economic bravado masks a clear vulnerability.
