Trump’s Attack on the Supreme Court Was Unhinged Even for Him
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Politics
/ February 20, 2026
Trump’s Attack on the Supreme Court Was Unhinged Even for Him
The president went on a wild rant alleging that the justices who struck down his tariffs were part of a vast global conspiracy to destroy him.
Chris Lehmann
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Donald Trump answers questions during a press briefing at the White House on February 20, 2026.
(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
In a press conference on Friday, President Donald Trump brought down the curtain on his bold “Liberation Day” tariffs agenda in much the same way he ushered it in—with a rolling litany of grievances against foreign economies allegedly ripping off the United States, a misleading characterization of trade deficits as zero-sum attacks on American prosperity, and fantasy-driven word-pictures of “strong and powerful” US business owners miraculously restored to their entrepreneurial prime by the sheer force of Trump’s presidential will. The only notable addition to this exercise in magical economic thinking was Trump’s attack on the Supreme Court, which had earlier gutted his tariff regime in a 6–3 ruling joined by, among others, two of Trump’s appointees to the court, Neal Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
“I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed of them for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said, in an ominous use of the rhetoric he deployed against his first-term vice president, Mike Pence, on January 6, 2021. Trump also found time to revive his pet lies about the supposedly stolen 2020 presidential election, which he tied to an equally nonsensical conspiracy to deny him lifelong maximum executive power, and—what amounts to the same thing in his mind—to render the United States a cringingly weak economic force, battered by rival powers determined to “treat us very badly.”
After offering a pro forma attack on Democrats as a congeries of villains who are “against anything that makes America strong, healthy, and great again,” including rank perfidies “having to do with voting,” Trump then took his court-bashing to an even wilder level. The parallel threats of hostile economic infiltration from without and anti-Trump sabotage from within prompted Trump to suggest that the court had succumbed to unspecified “foreign interests” in an effort to undermine America’s God-given economic sovereignty. “You can’t knock their loyalty,” he said grudgingly of the Democrats, “but you can with our people.… The court has been swayed by foreign interests and by a political movement that’s far smaller than people think”—a claim backed by no more evidence than he managed to adduce in …
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Trump’s Attack on the Supreme Court Was Unhinged Even for Him
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Current Issue
Politics
/ February 20, 2026
Trump’s Attack on the Supreme Court Was Unhinged Even for Him
The president went on a wild rant alleging that the justices who struck down his tariffs were part of a vast global conspiracy to destroy him.
Chris Lehmann
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Donald Trump answers questions during a press briefing at the White House on February 20, 2026.
(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
In a press conference on Friday, President Donald Trump brought down the curtain on his bold “Liberation Day” tariffs agenda in much the same way he ushered it in—with a rolling litany of grievances against foreign economies allegedly ripping off the United States, a misleading characterization of trade deficits as zero-sum attacks on American prosperity, and fantasy-driven word-pictures of “strong and powerful” US business owners miraculously restored to their entrepreneurial prime by the sheer force of Trump’s presidential will. The only notable addition to this exercise in magical economic thinking was Trump’s attack on the Supreme Court, which had earlier gutted his tariff regime in a 6–3 ruling joined by, among others, two of Trump’s appointees to the court, Neal Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
“I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed of them for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said, in an ominous use of the rhetoric he deployed against his first-term vice president, Mike Pence, on January 6, 2021. Trump also found time to revive his pet lies about the supposedly stolen 2020 presidential election, which he tied to an equally nonsensical conspiracy to deny him lifelong maximum executive power, and—what amounts to the same thing in his mind—to render the United States a cringingly weak economic force, battered by rival powers determined to “treat us very badly.”
After offering a pro forma attack on Democrats as a congeries of villains who are “against anything that makes America strong, healthy, and great again,” including rank perfidies “having to do with voting,” Trump then took his court-bashing to an even wilder level. The parallel threats of hostile economic infiltration from without and anti-Trump sabotage from within prompted Trump to suggest that the court had succumbed to unspecified “foreign interests” in an effort to undermine America’s God-given economic sovereignty. “You can’t knock their loyalty,” he said grudgingly of the Democrats, “but you can with our people.… The court has been swayed by foreign interests and by a political movement that’s far smaller than people think”—a claim backed by no more evidence than he managed to adduce in …
Trump’s Attack on the Supreme Court Was Unhinged Even for Him
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Trump’s Attack on the Supreme Court Was Unhinged Even for Him
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Current Issue
Politics
/ February 20, 2026
Trump’s Attack on the Supreme Court Was Unhinged Even for Him
The president went on a wild rant alleging that the justices who struck down his tariffs were part of a vast global conspiracy to destroy him.
Chris Lehmann
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Donald Trump answers questions during a press briefing at the White House on February 20, 2026.
(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
In a press conference on Friday, President Donald Trump brought down the curtain on his bold “Liberation Day” tariffs agenda in much the same way he ushered it in—with a rolling litany of grievances against foreign economies allegedly ripping off the United States, a misleading characterization of trade deficits as zero-sum attacks on American prosperity, and fantasy-driven word-pictures of “strong and powerful” US business owners miraculously restored to their entrepreneurial prime by the sheer force of Trump’s presidential will. The only notable addition to this exercise in magical economic thinking was Trump’s attack on the Supreme Court, which had earlier gutted his tariff regime in a 6–3 ruling joined by, among others, two of Trump’s appointees to the court, Neal Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
“I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed of them for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said, in an ominous use of the rhetoric he deployed against his first-term vice president, Mike Pence, on January 6, 2021. Trump also found time to revive his pet lies about the supposedly stolen 2020 presidential election, which he tied to an equally nonsensical conspiracy to deny him lifelong maximum executive power, and—what amounts to the same thing in his mind—to render the United States a cringingly weak economic force, battered by rival powers determined to “treat us very badly.”
After offering a pro forma attack on Democrats as a congeries of villains who are “against anything that makes America strong, healthy, and great again,” including rank perfidies “having to do with voting,” Trump then took his court-bashing to an even wilder level. The parallel threats of hostile economic infiltration from without and anti-Trump sabotage from within prompted Trump to suggest that the court had succumbed to unspecified “foreign interests” in an effort to undermine America’s God-given economic sovereignty. “You can’t knock their loyalty,” he said grudgingly of the Democrats, “but you can with our people.… The court has been swayed by foreign interests and by a political movement that’s far smaller than people think”—a claim backed by no more evidence than he managed to adduce in …
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