WASHINGTON — On Friday, C-SPAN received a call from an individual claiming to be “John Barron,” a well-known pseudonym previously used by former President Trump. The caller, adopting a distinctively familiar New York accent, took the opportunity to express dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on tariffs.
Identifying himself as a Republican from Virginia, the caller launched into a critique of the court’s decision, which he argued undermined the president’s tariff policies. “This is the worst decision you could ever make,” he lamented. “It’s a terrible decision.”
Continuing his tirade, the caller took aim at prominent political figures, criticizing Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer with personal jabs. “You have Hakeem Jeffries, who, he’s a dope, and you have Chuck Schumer, who can’t cook a cheeseburger,” he said. “Of course, these people are happy, but true Americans will not be.”
C-SPAN host Greta Brawner swiftly intervened, cutting off the caller and moving on to other participants.
The White House has yet to respond to inquiries from The Post regarding the incident.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Early on in Trump’s first term, it emerged that he had used pseudonyms such as “John Barron” to call up journalists in attempts to frame certain narratives, particularly about his net worth. Audio from those calls showed that “John Barron” sounded remarkably like Trump.
C-SPAN had been fielding calls from viewers across the country in reaction to the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling that Trump cannot use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs.
Trump had been using IEEPA, a statute that never mentioned the word tariff and has never been used by a president to impose duties to slap levies on foreign imports at will.
The president still has other powers that he is now turning to for tariffs, but those avenues are much more cumbersome to use than IEEPA, which he used to rake in some $133 billion in revenue as of December.
He has since moved to reimplement his 10% baseline tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which he later bumped up to 15%. Notably, Section 122 tariffs are limited to 150 days and need Congressional approval to get re-upped after that.
Shortly after the C-SPAN call, the real Trump took to the podium at the White House press briefing room and excoriated the Supreme Court.
“They’re just being fools and lapdogs for the RINOs [Republicans in name only] and the radical left Democrats, and not that they should have anything at all to do with it. They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution,” Trump fumed.
Friday’s decision was Trump’s most significant loss before the Supreme Court to date, and came despite his having appointed about a third of the bench.
