Charlie Savage writes in the New York Times that Donald Trump is furious about the fact that he is being beaten routinely in the courts by judges that he appointed in his first term. A little light bulb has turned on for the fascist leader and he now understands why he survived two worthy impeachment trials. It was almost solely because he was reliably nominating judges to the courts that had been recommended to him by the Federalist Society.
Mitch McConnell, who was then serving as Senate Majority Leader, blew off the vast majority of Trump’s agenda as the ravings of an immature child, but he gave him his tax cuts and he worked religiously and maniacally to confirm his judicial nominees. These judges weren’t selected for their fidelity to Trump or his MAGA movement. They were the price Senate Republicans demanded for tolerating Trump and MAGA at all.
“I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations,” Mr. Trump asserted on social media. “This is something that cannot be forgotten!”
And Trump has now identified the brains behind this whole arrangement.
“I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use the Federalist Society as a recommending source on judges,” the president wrote. “I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real ‘sleazebag’ named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.”
Trump is correct that Leonard Leo is a real sleazebag and a bad person. I guess it’s nice in a way that he realizes this now. But it also means that his judicial nominees from now on will be even worse. They will be vetted by Trump for the sole purpose of ruling in his favor.
So, this new awareness on Trump’s part is actually a bad thing.
Still, this is perversely funny:
Leo, when asked to comment on Trump’s remarks, said in a statement Friday: “I’m very grateful for President Trump transforming the Federal Courts, and it was a privilege being involved. There’s more work to be done, for sure, but the Federal Judiciary is better than it’s ever been in modern history, and that will be President Trump’s most important legacy.”
In other words, Leo is saying that nothing Trump does will be as important as what he has already done by handing control of the courts off to the Federalist Society. Those judges will be making business-friendly rulings for decades after Trump is in his grave. As far as Leo is concerned, the rest of Trump’s legacy is garbage.
It seems most of Leo’s judges agree.
