What Trump truly fears when he lashes out at the Supreme Court

President Donald Trump once wanted to make criticizing the Supreme Court, something he now does regularly, illegal. According to a new analysis from The Atlantic, this shift is an "illuminating projection" that exposes what Trump truly "fears."

Writing for the outlet on Wednesday, staff writer and author Adam Serwer highlighted a quote Trump made on the subject during his 2024 campaign, in which he accused people critiquing the court's rulings of "playing the ref" and besmirching "some of our greatest justices and a lot of great judges." He further suggested that this alleged conduct should be "punishable by very serious fines and beyond that."

Now, Serwer noted, the president sings a wildly different tune.

"Trump criticizing the Supreme Court, however, is perfectly fine and not illegal at all," Serwer wrote. "Earlier this month, a day after a majority of the justices rejected Trump’s effort to restrict voting by mail in the midterms, Trump lashed out in a post: 'These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves.' Trump accused the justices of being 'bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left.'"

As has become a noticeable trend among Trump and the GOP, Serwer argued further that this tendency to lash out at the court exposes what the president is actually thinking, and what he "fears."

"As is nearly always the case with the president’s accusations, this was an illuminating projection," Serwer explained. "Trump fears that public pressure on the Supreme Court can sway the justices and how they rule. So when they don’t side with him, he assumes that’s what happened, and he trashes the Court in the hope that it will side with him the next time. He views criticism of the Supreme Court much as he views laws in general: When Trump or one of his allies wants to do something, such as use taxpayer dollars for cultish campaign ads, it’s legal. When his opponents want to do something, it’s illegal."

Serwer also conceded that it is widely understood that presidents expect their judicial appointments to rule in their favor more often, and that Trump has merely put this notion out in the open, noting that while it "is a little embarrassing... it’s not like he’s saying anything Americans don’t already know and understand."

"Trump has taken a few high-profile losses at the Supreme Court recently—in the tariffs case and in the birthright-citizenship case—but the Court has been more than willing to do his bidding most of the time," he concluded. "This is the Supreme Court that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais, sanctioned Trump’s overt racial discrimination toward Haitians in Mullin v. Doe, fabricated a right to presidential immunity that appears nowhere in the Constitution in Trump v. United States, and gave Trump unfettered control over agencies that are supposed to be independent. Considering that record, few could disagree that the justices have 'rendered some of the most destructive, hurtful, and damaging decisions in our Country’s history.' Trump’s real complaint is they haven’t done that enough."