When Donald Trump attacked several supreme court justices as “fools”, “lapdogs”, “disloyal to our constitution”, and a “disgrace to our nation” after they ruled against his tariffs on Friday, it was probably the most vicious public tirade that a US president ever leveled against the country’s highest court. But as extraordinary – and extraordinarily ugly – as Trump’s rant was, everyone should realize that it was part of a systematic campaign in which Trump and his top aides have vehemently denounced and smeared judges as part of Trump’s quest for ever more power.

Whether it’s Trump, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi or others, Trump and his lieutenants often pummel judges with brutal rhetoric. To many judges, these attacks no doubt spur fears that some Trump loyalists will threaten them or worse.

Trump’s campaign to vilify judges follows Authoritarian Playbook 101: by mocking and demeaning the judiciary, the autocratic leader seeks to diminish the public’s trust and respect for judges, making it easier for the leader to put himself high above the judiciary and assert that judicial rulings are illegitimate, and it’s fine for him to defy them. In recent months, the Trump administration has repeatedly defied judicial rulings, most notably violating 52 court orders in New Jersey and nearly 100 in Minnesota, according to a judge.

Trump and his aides have treated judges with contempt and even enmity, as if judges are out-and-out traitors whenever they side with the rule of law instead of Trump. After Trump faced astonishingly little pushback from the judiciary, Congress or society after repeatedly attacking judges over the past year, Trump no doubt felt emboldened to savage the supreme court, too.

In October 2024, Trump denounced the federal district court judge Tanya Chutkan as “the most evil person;” Chutkan was presiding over the special prosecutor Jack........

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