Trump's Plan B Tariff Is Live — and 17 Republicans Just Blinked
Trump's 10% global tariff via Section 122 is now in effect. 17 House Republicans broke ranks on ACA tax credits. DOGE dumped 7 years of Medicaid data. Big day.
HIGH ALERT
A new tariff order already in effect, a surprise Republican House revolt on the ACA, a massive DOGE data dump, and the Jack Smith case evolving in real time — this is a busy, consequential news cycle across multiple fronts simultaneously.
Key Developments
Seventeen.
That's the number of House Republicans who just made their party's leadership very nervous.
**Seventeen Republicans crossed the aisle** and voted with Democrats to restore Affordable Care Act tax credits — tax credits that expired on January 1st after Congress let them lapse.
The bill passed. And now every Republican who didn't vote for it has a problem.
But let's back up — because that's not even the biggest story of the day.
Start with the tariff situation, because it is moving fast.
After the Supreme Court struck down Trump's IEEPA-based tariff plan, the White House didn't pause for a breath.
**Trump signed a new executive order** — this time leaning on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — imposing a flat 10% tariff on all countries, effective immediately.
Same destination. Completely different legal road.
According to posts on X verified by Grok, the order was signed on February 20th and has already taken effect.
The administration is framing this as a clean legal workaround. Critics are calling it defiance.
Trump himself issued a fresh warning to trading partners over the weekend — according to one post on X: "I could hit them with HIGHER tariffs."