Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Trump's Criticism of a Federal Judge Goes too Far but Not Surprising

View Frontline’s “President Trump” to understand Donald Trump and his rise to the Presidency of the United States. Clearly, manipulation, intimidation, and lies has been the way of his life. How could anyone think he would be any different as President?

Recently, President Trump criticized U.S. District Judge James Robart, calling him the "so-called judge." His attack was a result of Robart’s order that put a temporary restraining order on Trump’s Muslim ban.

The backlash has been significant against President Trump’s criticism of the judge.

That is except for Vice President Mike Pence, of course.

Robert Reich

February 6 at 3:28pm ·

Mike Pence said yesterday on Meet the Press that “the president of the United States has every right to criticize the other two branches of government. And we have a long tradition of that in this country.”

Wrong. While other presidents have publicly disagreed with court decisions, none has gone after individual judges with personal invective.

To understand Trump’s strategy, you have to understand his mentor, Roy Cohn, who trained Trump to abuse the legal system, intimidate opponents with personal smears, issue big lies repeatedly to confuse the public, and manipulate the press.

But Cohn was never president of the United States. Now, indirectly, he is.