Kathrine Frich
He believes they rule against his administration far too frequently.
When you hire people for top positions, you usually expect them to have your back. But in the world of high-level politics, handing someone a lifetime job does not always guarantee they will follow your lead. One prominent leader is currently learning this lesson the hard way.
A lack of loyalty
President Donald Trump recently expressed deep frustration with the judges he appointed to the highest court in the nation. He feels they are not returning the favor.
Speaking to Time magazine, the president targeted Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. He believes they rule against his administration far too frequently.
“Yeah. Yeah. What can I do? I put them in. They voted against me too often,” Trump told the publication. “I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often.”
He contrasted his conservative picks with the liberal wing of the court, complaining that Democratic appointees never break ranks. “The Democrats stick like glue, those three, they virtually never vary,” he stated.
Searching for support
The conversation quickly turned to the concept of political allegiance. The magazine asked the president directly if he expects his nominees to stay loyal to him.
“I do like loyalty, yeah,” Trump initially responded. However, he quickly walked back that sentiment when pressed a second time by the reporters.
“No, I don’t want loyalty,” the president clarified. “I want good decisions. The tariff decision was disastrous for the country.”
Two major defeats
That tariff dispute stems from a massive legal loss earlier this year. In February, the court ruled that the president lacked the emergency authority to impose certain trade taxes.
He is equally angry about a recent ruling on birthright citizenship. A majority of the court blocked his executive order aimed at ending the constitutional guarantee for babies born on American soil.
Trump argued the constitutional amendment was originally meant for the children of enslaved people, not for modern immigrants. He claimed the practice has now become a corrupt business.
“It’s unfortunate what they did, not to me, to our country,” Trump said about his hand-picked judges, as reported by HuffPost. “Look, I put these people in. It is what it is. Very disappointing, very disappointing for the country, their decisions.”
