Donald Trump’s Supreme Court blind spot
So far, the United States Supreme Court hasn’t exactly been accommodating to Donald Trump. As you may recall, back in post-election 2020, SCOTUS both rejected Trump’s bid to overturn the election and refused to interfere with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr from obtaining Trump’s tax records.
Recently they refused to weigh in on the question of whether or not presidential immunity means Donald Trump could commit crimes while in office with impunity. They may weigh in on that later after the appeals process has been exhausted, but for now they’re staying out of it,
What does this all mean? For one, if SCOTUS was full-blown MAGA, by now they would have given him every accommodation he’d need to stay in office and avoid prosecution. Imagine, for example, that the Court was composed entirely of people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz. Yeah, pretty scary, huh?
But they aren’t. They are just like many Republicans in Congress right now, and what are many Republicans in Congress like? They detest Donald Trump, they wish he’d die or go away or was never born. But those congressional Republicans stay silent about Trump or even pretend to love him because they know that anything less than rabid fealty for Trump can be the kiss of death. They can be voted out in a heartbeat by their MAGA constituents.
That’s where congressional Republicans and SCOTUS Republicans differ. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett know that, while they were technically appointed by Trump, their allegiance lies with the Republican machine and the Federalist Society. Because they are appointed for life they don’t have to pretend to love Trump because Trump can’t hurt them. In other words, they are immune from MAGA Trumpery.
As far as the Republican money people go, Trump is detested by them as well. Trump has failed them at almost every turn. He has lost virtually every election he has ever been associated with. Even 2016 was a technical loss as far as the popular vote is concerned. Trump is a loser and a disrupter and they want him gone. Only Vladimir Putin really wants Trump back.
All of which is to say, it’s starting to look like we might have nothing much to fear from SCOTUS as far as helping Trump regain power and stay out of jail, goes. Sure, they’ll continue to behave like the fascistic assholes they are in defence of their anti-constitutional Christofascist agenda. But helping Trump back into the Oval Office is probably the last thing on earth that they want. Besides, Hitler wasn’t good for Germany’s Supreme Court, so why would SCOTUS want a Hitler Lite?
They also understand that Trump is not a “born again Christian,” and, with the exception of Clarence Thomas, being a Christian is vitally important to the extreme right wing of the high court. They understand that this twice-divorced, cheating, lying hypocrite can quote at least some of Mein Kampf but not a single word from the Bible. They aren’t complete fools.
So if you want to get into the SCOTUS prediction business you need to look carefully at their past rulings and interpret them through the lens of the Federalist Society and not the MAGA loonies. Therein lies Trump’s big vulnerability and big weakness. Apart from Clarence Thomas, SCOTUS is ultimately no friend of Donald Trump. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.