The invocation of power by calling anything an emergency or national security problem was a gaping hole in Congress’ sloughing off responsibility and authority to do its job to the president. It presumed that the president wouldn’t be so shameless and abusive as to lay claim to power when there was no basis for it by merely incanting the magic words that would empower the president to take action whenever the whim struck.

And, to be fair, it worked out much of the time, although there were always exceptions that should have reminded Congress and the American people that it’s not good enough to just trust the president not to abuse his authority. And these exceptions, such as Biden’s attempt to forgive student loans as an emergency response to Covid, were flagrant enough that a functional Congress would have put a stop to it immediately. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a functional Congress then, and certainly don’t have one now.

But sometimes, the invocation of emergency powers is so ridiculous as be indistinguishable from parody. And President Donald Trump’s latest brainstorm is just such a parody.

There is nothing stopping Hollywood from making movies galore, other than a lack of imagination and artistry. Good movies are good, regardless of where they come from, and if movies people want to watch come from Hollywood (and many other areas within the U.S.A.), great.

But are there any circumstances in which movies made outside the United States are a “National Security” threat? To the extent one can glean coherent thought from Trump’s twit, it would appear that he’s claiming it’s an economic problem, that movies made outside the United States mean money that would otherwise go to Hollywood might go to Bollywood instead. Of course, when Hollywood makes movies people want to see, it makes tons of money. But how much can you milk the Marvel universe?

And then there’s the message.

It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!

At least Leni Riefenstahl would get a chuckle out of this. Granted, Barbie was a propaganda masterpiece, but then it’s homegrown propaganda. Perhaps it was Emilia Pérez that got Trump’s goat for its failure to glamorize either drug kingpins or transgender folks?

The solution to this non-existent problem is, natch, tariffs, the most beautiful word there is. And not just tariffs, but 100% tariffs. How exactly that would work remains something of a mystery, although it would appear that your tickets for the movies would double if it was a foreign film. It’s unclear how that would affect movie theaters, given that many already believe the cost of seeing a movie in a theater is excessive. Nor is it clear how this would make Hollywood movies any more interesting than before.

And then there is streaming, which doesn’t charge by the individual movie and necessarily requires a huge supply of material to keep people watching. If it were limited to American made movies, you would be done with Netflix in a week or less if you’re into binging.

But the absurdity of the call for tariffs, which remain beyond Trump’s authority in any event, under the guise of “National Security” lest the American movie-watching public send all its money to South America instead of Hollywood and be “messaged” into the inexplicable desire to grow up to be a cartel killer, is manifest. Not everything is an emergency. Not every financial transaction is a national security issue. Not every message is propaganda. Sometimes, it’s just entertainment, and we find our entertainment wherever it thrives.

If there is a problem with Hollywood (and many other areas within the U.S.A.) not making movies people want to watch, make better movies. But cut the crap about national security, and enough with the asinine tariffs.