Until today, insiders knew Leonard Leo as the man who engineered a right-wing takeover of the US judiciary. Now, MAGA nation will believe that he is somehow responsible for any ruling in which judges uphold the Constitution.
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Even by Donald Trump’s standards, his latest social media post is nuts. Stung by recent court defeats, including some involving judges he appointed during his first term, the president is looking for someone to blame… and he found the unlikeliest of scapegoats: Leonard Leo, the man who is perhaps most responsible for politicizing the US judiciary all the way to the Supreme Court.
Apparently, Trump cannot comprehend that many federal judges, including those he or other GOP presidents appointed, are more loyal to the Constitution than to him.
That was especially the case this week when a three-judge panel of the US Court of International Trade unanimously ruled that the tariffs Trump had imposed on Canada, Mexico, and China for not stemming the flow of fentanyl, as well as the “reciprocal” tariffs he announced in April, were illegal because the president lacked the authority to do so.
While a federal appeals court has stayed that decision for now, it does jeopardize the centerpiece of Trump’s economic agenda.
“Where do these initial three Judges come from? How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America?” Trump wondered in his social media post. “Is it purely a hatred of ‘TRUMP?’ What other reason could it be?”
To answer his questions in order:
- One of the three judges was appointed by Ronald Reagan, one by Barack Obama, and one by Trump.
- It is possible because Trump used a power to impose the tariffs that neither the Constitution nor any law grants him.
- No.
- They read the Constitution, the law, and applicable precedents.
Of course, those answers won’t satisfy Trump… especially not the one about him appointing one of the judges.
Therefore, he needs somebody to blame because, obviously, he, i.e., the man who only hires the best people, could not be at fault here.
To explain what happened, Trump tells a bit of a sob story (that sounds more like what happens to a pretty young actress who comes to the big city but then is taken advantage of by shady agents).
“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.”
Imagine Leo’s surprise when he first heard about this.
Here is a guy who has remade the judiciary and gotten a bunch of ideologues confirmed so that a right-wing authoritarian like Trump could be given more power, and then he gets thrown under the bus like this.
“In any event, Leo left The Federalist Society to do his own ‘thing,’” Trump said of Leo, who is currently the co-chairman of the group’s board of directors. “I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations. This is something that cannot be forgotten! With all of that being said, I am very proud of many of our picks, but very disappointed in others.”
In other words, whenever a judge makes a “good” ruling going forward, that’s because of Trump. If they make a “bad” ruling, then blame Leo and the Federalist Society.
Come to think of it, that sounds an awful lot like how Trump feels about the state of the economy: He should get credit for the good parts, and the bad parts are Joe Biden’s fault.
The president wasn’t done.
“The horrific decision stated that I would have to get the approval of Congress for these Tariffs,” wrote the president, who is decidedly not a constitutional scholar. “In other words, hundreds of politicians would sit around D.C. for weeks, and even months, trying to come to a conclusion as to what to charge other Countries that are treating us unfairly.”
He has a point.
Why would a king need the approval of a bunch of parliamentarians to get stuff done?
Oh, wait. Trump isn’t king… at least not yet.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
