Right-wing media splits over Trump tariff loss

Right-wing media splits over Trump tariff loss
MAGA erupts as Supreme Court serves Mike Pence’s revenge with Trump tariffs decision

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Writer
Published February 22, 2026 6:45AM (EST)


(Salon) Late Thursday night, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial with a headline that read like a prescient sigh of relief: “The Embarrassing Truth About Tariffs.” By Friday morning, the Supreme Court had done something far more consequential than scolding Donald Trump’s trade fantasies — it kneecapped them. In a 6–3 ruling, including two of Trump’s own appointees, the Court declared that most of his sweeping tariff regime was illegal. And by Friday evening, in a display of wounded bravado that has become his signature move, Trump took to Truth Social to announce a new global 10% tariff on all nations, as if the Constitution were a suggestion and not the supreme law of the land. Overnight, he upped the ante on his “retribution” for countries “ripping the U.S. off,” raising the tariff to 15%. The Journal’s op-ed following the ruling ripped Trump’s rant, calling it “arguably the worst moment of his Presidency.”

When tariffs hurt corporations, the establishment recoils.

But the more surprising result of the Supreme Court’s ruling has been the reaction of right-wing media beyond the Wall Street Journal. Fracture lines in the MAGA coalition that first emerged during the summer of 2025 are now gapping ruptures. The response to the decision from conservative media revealed a movement unsure whether to defend the institutions it once claimed to revere, or to demand open defiance of them.

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On Fox News, the reaction to the Court’s decision oscillated between delusion and rage. Jesse Watters claimed Trump had “gotten the Panama Canal back,” brought Greenland “into our orbit,” boosted NATO funding and even settled wars — all through his use of tariffs. It was a fever dream of geopolitical conquest. His co-host Greg Gutfeld, less inclined toward magical thinking but no less aggrieved, told the “people that are gloating” that they can “Shut the f**k up.”

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Some of the loudest anger was directed toward Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was the architect of Trump’s tariff strategy. At the same time he was pushing the president to weaponize IEEPA, Lutnick’s sons — whom he installed to run his financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald — were reportedly considering buying up the rights to potential tariff refunds at 20 to 30 cents on the dollar. The company, now under their control, positioned itself to profit handsomely if the tariffs were struck down and refunds issued at full value, a charge the firm denies. Still, the conspiratorial corners of the right smelled something rotten. Infowars’ Alex Jones called it “next-level insider trading.” Comedian and podcaster Andrew Schulz, who endorsed Trump in 2024, described it as “the Epstein Class playbook 101,” concluding that ordinary Americans are merely “a vessel for them to exploit for their own enrichment.” When your own influencers start using the language of oligarchy, you have a problem. .........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/02/22/right-wing-media-splits-over-trump-tariff-loss/