Trump brags about how he’s ‘broken every record’ on judges, destroyed an independent judiciary
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The orange-tinged heap of rancid lard squatting in the White House had a particular accomplishment he wanted to brag to journalist Bob Woodward about. In the very first interview of the 18 interviews Woodward conducted, Trump “brought up judicial appointments four times and even had a list of judicial appointment orders displayed, prop-like, on the Resolute Desk—’kind of like he was cherishing it,’” Woodward said to The Washington Post. Not because Trump gives a damn about jurisprudence or has any kind of lofty visions about the courts in America. It’s about how he’s “broken every record” on confirmations. “The only one that has a better percentage is George Washington, because he appointed 100 percent,” Trump told Woodward. “But my percentage is, you know, like, ridiculous.”
He couldn’t have done it he says, without Sen. Mitch McConnell. “You know what Mitch’s biggest thing is in the whole world? His judges,” Trump said. He explained that if he approached McConnell with 10 ambassador appointments and one judge, “he will absolutely ask me, ‘Please, let’s get the judge approved instead of 10 ambassadors.'” That sounds suspiciously like one of Trump’s “please, sir” stories, but yeah, McConnell probably would grovel like that. In a later interview, Trump returned to the theme when he “crowed” about all the vacancies President Barack Obama had left open, calling them “golden nuggets.” Vacancies left open, of course, in large part by McConnell’s refusal to act on Obama’s nominees.
Trump being Trump, he lied about this too, telling Woodward in March he’d just had his 220th judge confirmed and said by the end of 2020, he’d have “260, 270, maybe even 280, maybe even 300.” Instead, as of this week the Senate has confirmed 216 Trump judges. That’s plenty bad. When Woodward quipped after all of Trump’s bragging that “Maybe they’ll put a statue of you outside the Supreme Court,” Trump leapt on the idea. “I think I’ll have it erected tomorrow. What a great idea. I’ll think I’ll use it. […] I won’t say it came from me.”
Woodward apparently enjoyed winding Trump up just to see how ridiculous it could get, just how freed from the moorings of reality this man is. He raised a hypothetical of how Trump may have voted on a case if he were on the court. After considering the idea, Trump said: “Well, I’ll never get that vote.” Pushing, maybe just to see how out there the boat would float, Woodward joked: “Well, maybe you can appoint yourself.” It wasn’t taken as a joke. “I am what’s good for the people,” he replied. “All people. So, you know, that’s where I am.”
And that’s where we are. A fascist in the White House enabled by a fascist Senate majority. There’s only one way to fix it: Get rid of them both while we still have elections free enough to do so.