Screw college government classes.. just read Jack’s Substack.. I’ve learned more reading his Substack than 4 years of college and a couple of years of law school
Morgan, that’s incredibly kind of you to say...truly. 🙏
But...I’d never put what I write above real scholarship or serious study. Some people’ve devoted their lives to constitutional law...history...economics...I’m standing on work they’ve already done.
If anything, what I try to do here is translate. Connect dots. Slow things down. Make the structure visible in plain language. In short, I focus on packaging things in a way that can be easily "digested" and understood.
If it’s helping you see things more clearly...that means everything to me. But I’m not replacing education...I’m building on it.
You have made all my college and law school learning make sense. Finally. Yes I studied my ass off but learning in an academic way they leave out real life and real time application.
That's really a cool thing for you to say, Morgan. I'm glad you feel like you're getting your money's worth. That's important to me...and I work hard to make sure people feel like they are. So...it's wonderful when I get feedback from someone that suggests they feel that way!
Jack Hopkins’ piece highlights a fundamental truth about governance: the presidency is powerful, but not limitless. When Donald Trump attempted to impose sweeping tariffs using a statute that didn’t authorize them, the Supreme Court stepped in to reaffirm the constitutional boundary that Congress holds the taxing power. Hopkins captures not just a legal dispute, but a psychological pattern — a leader treating limits as personal affronts rather than structural rules.
The broader lesson is about systemic resilience. Separation of powers exists to prevent precisely this kind of overreach. When a president frames legal constraints as obstacles to personal dominance, the country faces real risks: markets disrupted, families burdened, and institutions undermined. Hopkins’ analysis is a warning that understanding these patterns is essential for preparing for the consequences of leadership driven by ego, not law.
Jane...I appreciate you putting it that way. Truly.
What you’re naming is the part that matters to me...not the tariff mechanics...but the structure underneath them. The presidency is powerful, yes. But...it was NEVER designed to be self-defining. It operates inside a framework.
When that framework...is treated as an obstacle...instead of a guardrail, that’s when things get revealing.
If the piece did anything useful, I hope it clarified that distinction...this wasn’t just about trade authority. It was about how someone reacts when the system asserts itself.
Thank you for seeing that layer! That’s the conversation worth having.
Jack, after re-reading the article, I’m even more struck by the clarity of your framing. It’s the structural lens, not the tariff mechanics, that reveals a leader’s instincts. Thank you again for the articulation and delivery — it made the underlying dynamics unmistakably clear.
Visible aggression does fit the pattern when someone feels publicly constrained. If the goal is restoring dominance optics...quiet administrative friction doesn’t scratch that itch. A LOUD move does.
What I appreciate most is your last line.
You’re not panicked. You’re CONCERNED.
That is SUCH a critical concept to grasp for resilience.
It's the right posture.
Concern keeps you attentive.
Panic...clouds judgment.
If escalation comes...it will telegraph itself. Large moves leave footprints...language shifts... asset positioning...market signals...allied reactions. Nothing at that scale happens in total silence.
We watch. We map. We stay steady.
That...is how you navigate volatility...without being consumed by it!
Over the next two weeks, expect performative moves to reclaim dominance: sudden immigration raids exploiting misinterpreted rules under the Save Act, surprise interventions in another blue city, tariff threats spun as victories, or provocative foreign statements. Not about policy — all about spectacle, control, and turning legal limits into media distractions.
Trump has already done visible aggression. I wonder what his staff is doing with this given each move weakens the US economy by making uncertainty grow, increasing costs to US households and small businesses further nixing the chance that the coalition that supported his election in 2024 hoping for lower egg prices and higher wages votes republican in the midterm.
Laura Russell, you’re reading this EXACTLY right: uncertainty is its own tax...it raises costs, freezes investment...and hits small businesses first.
On staff, I’d bet two tracks: the political track keeps the posture loud (“strength”)...while the operational track...hunts for a workaround that LOOKS decisive...but...limits market blowback (narrower targets, phased moves, quiet friction).
And...your midterm point is key...the “lower prices, higher wages” coalition won’t process this as ideology. They’ll feel it at checkout...and on pay stubs. If volatility keeps climbing... the promise breaks!
We can thank SCOTUS for basically giving trump Unconditional Power to do what ever he likes,as long as it's in the realm of Governing. This isn't over, Jack, I agree with you all the way on your essay this evening ✨ TGIF to you and all of your readers, and will reStack ASAP 🙏
Karen...totally get what you mean, and I’m with you on the “this isn’t over” part.
What’s unsettling is how it can feel unconditional in practice: once you expand the gray zone of “official acts,” the center of gravity shifts.
Then...the real fight becomes less “Is he allowed?”...and more “Who actually enforces the boundary, and how fast?”
Which is why your instinct is right, the next chapter isn’t the ruling...it’s the stress test. Funding. Injunctions. Agency lawyers. State suits. The boring machinery that either HOLDS…or quietly yields.
Thank you for the restack, Karen...truly. And...yes, TGIF to you and everyone still paying attention!
I think visible aggression is most likely because he operates at the most base, childish level. He is incapable of taking a deep breath, and then mapping out the course of action and strategies it would take to apply the regulatory stress. Further, he is so angry he's been "betrayed" that no one around him dare suggest he slow down and think.
Visible aggression. He’s flailing big time in between his naps. He only sees what he wants. It’s too bad the Supreme Court didn’t do this last year instead of now. Additionally, Mike Johnson betrayed his oath to his office and led Congress to turn over their authority to the mad man.
This is SO so well done, from inception throughout discussion. Jack, these remarks hopefully let you know how well you do what you do, and that we have internalized how vital this internalization is for our ability to be instrumental in the preservation of our beloved home. Whew! Sorry about that sentence. 😬
The rest of the world will take much longer (and wisely so) if they ever come around to trusting us again. I’ve no idea how that will work, but I hope and trust that it will.
Yes you got it : The Shut down of this Malific Psychopath's ' Precious Tarrifs ' will fester like a huge splinter he can not remove...The Tarrifs were his channel to inflict power over whatever country he wanted. He used the tariffs to be the ' Overlord'
Because these Tarrifs were so very important to him & what he wants to be known as,the 47-Git will find some cruelty to inflict some where on some one or some place - is a given.
Visible aggression...the last act of a tyrant lies before us as the walls close in on this wannebe diktator...War in Iran !!!...it's the last act of desperation, he has lost the narrative and his ego demands this sacrifice of American blood...
He is going to obsessively brood over the betrayal by “his” SC. Those around him will devise the most obscene actions knowing the credit/blame will fall on him. Innocents will suffer greatly-visible aggression.
Trump only knows visible aggression! He already started!
Michele Artascos....though I'd love to be able to intelligently argue with you on "He already started!," ...I can't.
Thank you for being here, Michele!
-Jack
Screw college government classes.. just read Jack’s Substack.. I’ve learned more reading his Substack than 4 years of college and a couple of years of law school
Morgan, that’s incredibly kind of you to say...truly. 🙏
But...I’d never put what I write above real scholarship or serious study. Some people’ve devoted their lives to constitutional law...history...economics...I’m standing on work they’ve already done.
If anything, what I try to do here is translate. Connect dots. Slow things down. Make the structure visible in plain language. In short, I focus on packaging things in a way that can be easily "digested" and understood.
If it’s helping you see things more clearly...that means everything to me. But I’m not replacing education...I’m building on it.
And I’m grateful you’re here, Morgan!
-Jack
You have made all my college and law school learning make sense. Finally. Yes I studied my ass off but learning in an academic way they leave out real life and real time application.
That's really a cool thing for you to say, Morgan. I'm glad you feel like you're getting your money's worth. That's important to me...and I work hard to make sure people feel like they are. So...it's wonderful when I get feedback from someone that suggests they feel that way!
-Jack
I was thinking the same thing &, I for one took a ton of history classes!
Jack Hopkins’ piece highlights a fundamental truth about governance: the presidency is powerful, but not limitless. When Donald Trump attempted to impose sweeping tariffs using a statute that didn’t authorize them, the Supreme Court stepped in to reaffirm the constitutional boundary that Congress holds the taxing power. Hopkins captures not just a legal dispute, but a psychological pattern — a leader treating limits as personal affronts rather than structural rules.
The broader lesson is about systemic resilience. Separation of powers exists to prevent precisely this kind of overreach. When a president frames legal constraints as obstacles to personal dominance, the country faces real risks: markets disrupted, families burdened, and institutions undermined. Hopkins’ analysis is a warning that understanding these patterns is essential for preparing for the consequences of leadership driven by ego, not law.
#HOLDFAST
Jane...I appreciate you putting it that way. Truly.
What you’re naming is the part that matters to me...not the tariff mechanics...but the structure underneath them. The presidency is powerful, yes. But...it was NEVER designed to be self-defining. It operates inside a framework.
When that framework...is treated as an obstacle...instead of a guardrail, that’s when things get revealing.
If the piece did anything useful, I hope it clarified that distinction...this wasn’t just about trade authority. It was about how someone reacts when the system asserts itself.
Thank you for seeing that layer! That’s the conversation worth having.
-Jack
Jack, after re-reading the article, I’m even more struck by the clarity of your framing. It’s the structural lens, not the tariff mechanics, that reveals a leader’s instincts. Thank you again for the articulation and delivery — it made the underlying dynamics unmistakably clear.
I appreciate that, Jane. I really do.
-Jack
Visible aggression
Thank you, Dr. David Black. I appreciate you being here!
-Jack
In my amateur opinion he’ll go with Visible Aggression.
He’ll want to make a statement… I can do whatever I want and he won’t want it to be quiet or vague.
Thank you for laying it all out, Jack
I’m not panicked but I am concerned.
#HOLDFAST
~Susan
Susan... this is a sharp read.
Visible aggression does fit the pattern when someone feels publicly constrained. If the goal is restoring dominance optics...quiet administrative friction doesn’t scratch that itch. A LOUD move does.
What I appreciate most is your last line.
You’re not panicked. You’re CONCERNED.
That is SUCH a critical concept to grasp for resilience.
It's the right posture.
Concern keeps you attentive.
Panic...clouds judgment.
If escalation comes...it will telegraph itself. Large moves leave footprints...language shifts... asset positioning...market signals...allied reactions. Nothing at that scale happens in total silence.
We watch. We map. We stay steady.
That...is how you navigate volatility...without being consumed by it!
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
Over the next two weeks, expect performative moves to reclaim dominance: sudden immigration raids exploiting misinterpreted rules under the Save Act, surprise interventions in another blue city, tariff threats spun as victories, or provocative foreign statements. Not about policy — all about spectacle, control, and turning legal limits into media distractions.
Trump has already done visible aggression. I wonder what his staff is doing with this given each move weakens the US economy by making uncertainty grow, increasing costs to US households and small businesses further nixing the chance that the coalition that supported his election in 2024 hoping for lower egg prices and higher wages votes republican in the midterm.
Laura Russell, you’re reading this EXACTLY right: uncertainty is its own tax...it raises costs, freezes investment...and hits small businesses first.
On staff, I’d bet two tracks: the political track keeps the posture loud (“strength”)...while the operational track...hunts for a workaround that LOOKS decisive...but...limits market blowback (narrower targets, phased moves, quiet friction).
And...your midterm point is key...the “lower prices, higher wages” coalition won’t process this as ideology. They’ll feel it at checkout...and on pay stubs. If volatility keeps climbing... the promise breaks!
-Jack
We can thank SCOTUS for basically giving trump Unconditional Power to do what ever he likes,as long as it's in the realm of Governing. This isn't over, Jack, I agree with you all the way on your essay this evening ✨ TGIF to you and all of your readers, and will reStack ASAP 🙏
Karen...totally get what you mean, and I’m with you on the “this isn’t over” part.
What’s unsettling is how it can feel unconditional in practice: once you expand the gray zone of “official acts,” the center of gravity shifts.
Then...the real fight becomes less “Is he allowed?”...and more “Who actually enforces the boundary, and how fast?”
Which is why your instinct is right, the next chapter isn’t the ruling...it’s the stress test. Funding. Injunctions. Agency lawyers. State suits. The boring machinery that either HOLDS…or quietly yields.
Thank you for the restack, Karen...truly. And...yes, TGIF to you and everyone still paying attention!
-Jack
I think visible aggression is most likely because he operates at the most base, childish level. He is incapable of taking a deep breath, and then mapping out the course of action and strategies it would take to apply the regulatory stress. Further, he is so angry he's been "betrayed" that no one around him dare suggest he slow down and think.
Visible aggression. He’s flailing big time in between his naps. He only sees what he wants. It’s too bad the Supreme Court didn’t do this last year instead of now. Additionally, Mike Johnson betrayed his oath to his office and led Congress to turn over their authority to the mad man.
Definitely Visable Agression!
I've stopped at the 'Pause here'.
I would expect visible histrionics - theatre - whilst underneath the quiet choke points are tightening.
This is SO so well done, from inception throughout discussion. Jack, these remarks hopefully let you know how well you do what you do, and that we have internalized how vital this internalization is for our ability to be instrumental in the preservation of our beloved home. Whew! Sorry about that sentence. 😬
The rest of the world will take much longer (and wisely so) if they ever come around to trusting us again. I’ve no idea how that will work, but I hope and trust that it will.
#HoldFast
Trump has one mode…visible aggression. It makes him look powerful, strongman, in control.
Yes you got it : The Shut down of this Malific Psychopath's ' Precious Tarrifs ' will fester like a huge splinter he can not remove...The Tarrifs were his channel to inflict power over whatever country he wanted. He used the tariffs to be the ' Overlord'
Because these Tarrifs were so very important to him & what he wants to be known as,the 47-Git will find some cruelty to inflict some where on some one or some place - is a given.
Visible aggression...the last act of a tyrant lies before us as the walls close in on this wannebe diktator...War in Iran !!!...it's the last act of desperation, he has lost the narrative and his ego demands this sacrifice of American blood...
He is going to obsessively brood over the betrayal by “his” SC. Those around him will devise the most obscene actions knowing the credit/blame will fall on him. Innocents will suffer greatly-visible aggression.