President Donald Trump, a man who isn’t afraid to get down and dirty when it comes to verbal fisticuffs, struck back at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) who referred to him as a “wannabe king,” in a brutal takedown while taking questions from members of the press. Jeffries made the comment in his response to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Trump’s tariff policy in February 2026.
Following the ruling, Jeffries jumped on social media platform X, where he wrote, “The Supreme Court decision striking down the harmful Trump Tariffs is a big victory for the American people. And another crushing defeat for the wannabe King.” During a White House briefing a reporter asked the president about Jeffries’ insult, quoting it verbatim.
The president’s response was brutal. “Well, I call him a low IQ – he doesn’t even know, and I watched him the other day, interview, the guy doesn’t even know what a tariff is,” Trump replied to the reporter. After the Supreme Court’s ruling stated that President Trump could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to justify the use of tariffs, he responded that he would utilize pre-existing statutes to legitimize them.
According to the Daily Mail, Trump told reporters that he had no plans to push for new tariff legislation through Congress. “I don’t have to,” the president said. “I have the right to do tariffs and I’ve always had the right to do tariffs. And it’s all been approved by Congress, so there’s no reason to do it.” The president would likely have a difficult time getting a large tariff passed through Congress ahead of the midterm elections.
This is mostly due to fear that Republicans will face significant struggles keeping control of the House of Representatives. While a handful of Republicans supported the Supreme Court decision, Trump remained defiant, suggesting he could get a bill passed if he wanted to, but wouldn’t need to do so. When a reporter referred to a vote in the House to reject tariffs on Canada as “bipartisan,” Trump objected.
‘Not bipartisan, excuse me, a few people,’ Trump responded. “Because we lost two Republicans or three Republicans because they’re not good Republicans. What you don’t say is that we got 215 votes.” The reporter then pointed out that it takes a total of 218 votes for a bill to pass. Trump said, “We might have lost three votes, and what was the score of the Republican side?”
“Two-hundred and 15 to three, right? But you don’t say that,” he scolded the journalist. “There’s great unity in the Republican Party, and I hope everyone is going to vote Republican because otherwise you won’t have a country left,” the President continued. “Because these people have been destroying, they are destroying our country.”
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One user who commented on the video clip of the exchange on X celebrated Trump’s fighting spirit. “Man, what a fighter! President Trump is the baddest Mfkr’ I’ve ever seen. So tough! So strong! I love his bold, straightforward, tell it like it is, style! Trump 2028,” the user wrote. Another took a jab at Jeffries, saying, “I call him a communist masquerading as a Democrat.”
Featured Image: screenshot from an embedded video