President Donald Trump suffered what could be called a "wipeout week" these past few days with the Supreme Court whacking him twice, the FDA pulling approval of his favorite coronavirus drug, and another court refusing to block publication of John Bolton's blockbuster tell-all book.
Even his handpicked Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch went against him, writing the 6-3 opinion that extends workplace protections to gay and transgender employees, while another conservative, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., wrote the 5-4 decision rejecting his administration’s attempt to dismantle the program protecting "dreamers," the undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
But the courts were not finished with Trump with those two rulings.
Today, a federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to block publication of Bolton’s White House memoir, in which he says Trump solicited election help from China's president, Xi, among other blockbuster revelations. However, in his ruling, the judge said Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, “likely jeopardized national security” and exposed himself to criminal prosecution.
After the two Supreme Court defeats, Trump renewed his calls for more right-wing justices and said he will issue a short list of judges from which he will select new justice nominations if given the opportunity.
“Based on decisions being rendered now, this list is more important than ever before (Second Amendment, Right to Life, Religous Liberty, etc.) – VOTE 2020!”, he tweeted.
In addition to losing the dreamers case, the Supreme Court rejected Trump's challenge to California's sanctuary city law, which protects undocumented immigrants.
"Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn't like me?" Trump tweeted Thursday.
That's ironic because Trump has done everything possible to load the court with conservative judges whom he believes will do his bidding. Gorsuch proved him wrong, and Roberts pissed him off. It was a good day for America.
The chief justice faulted the Trump administration for failing to balance its desire to end the program with the impact on recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and their employers, their children and the national economy.
Meanwhile, the court’s decision Monday to extend workplace protections to gay and transgender employees came during Pride Week and will benefit the estimated 8l.1 million LGBT workers across the nation. It was a remarkable decision.
Said Trump, "But they've ruled and we live with their decision. That's what it's all about. We live with the decision of the Supreme Court. Very powerful. A very powerful decision actually. But they have so ruled."
Yea, so did the court in the DACA case. So did the court in the John Bolton book publishing case. You lost, dude. Trump, you're a loser.
FDA Pulls Drug Approval
Trump also lost big time when the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it had withdrawn an emergency approval for the use of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a covid-19 treatment. Trump has long touted the drug as an effective treatment and even claims to have taken it himself.
But the FDA said Monday the drug, along with chloroquine, is “unlikely to be effective in treating Covid-19,” and highlighted “serious side effects.”
So, now the looming question is this. Why did Trump push the drug so hard when the evidence of efficacy and safety had not been proven?
Wait, There's More
Perhaps the topper to Trump's week came yesterday when the news broke that Attorney General William P Barr had fired Geoffrey Berman, the Manhattan U.S. attorney, who has been investigating a number of people close to Trump.
Yesterday, Berman said he would not leave his post and that he would continue his investigations. So today Barr said Trump, himself, had fired Berman, who now says he will step aside.
All of this only amounted to highlights -- err, lowlights -- for Trump's week. Now, it culminates with his Tulsa rally which he hopes will rebuild lost momentum as the national polls continue to show declining voter support as covid-19 deaths continue to climb -- 121,000 as of today.
We can expect that after the rally, he will declare it a great victory. He will brag that he -- and the nation -- are "winning."
But this past week is stark evidence to the contrary.
Trump is a loser.