View from K Street: Lapdogs and lackeys

In his peevish, petulant, and puerile response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs, the president once again revealed what he has done little to obscure—everything has only to do with him.

His excoriating, grossly personal comments on the Justices carried one central, dominant theme: How could my Justices refuse me? The unfamiliar language of shame—a concept believed to be unknown by this shameless president—was repeatedly used to describe his own feelings and what he thought the majority (and their families!) should feel, as if this were a moral failure or, more likely, a deal gone bad, a broken promise. Notably, there was no reference to the legal underpinnings of the case. No recognition of the multiple decisions of the lower courts, all finding against this illicit extension of executive authority. Just a sense of personal insult, an intended public act of disloyalty, designed to diminish him.

It’s clear, no matter how you describe it, this president thinks Supreme Court Justices should be his lackeys. And when they aren’t, to cite him, they must be someone else’s—probably foreign—“lapdogs.” This level of contempt for the Court, for its constitutional responsibilities, and for the Justices themselves is unprecedented, as are most of Trump’s descents into personal disparagement.