What The Hell America!

President Donald Trump has been ranting wildly at the Supreme Court. In a pair of tweets after oral arguments over his effort to end birthright citizenship displeased him, Trump raged that the people are on his side—a dark hint that he will wield the wrath of his supporters against the high court. Then, after it dealt a setback to his use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations, he furiously castigated the court for standing in his way, and even shared a tweet from a top MAGA figure suggesting the release of terrorists near the justices’ homes. This was boosted by big MAGA accounts, and Stephen Miller then accused the courts of “sabotaging democracy.” We talked to legal commentator Matthew Seligman about why these eruptions constitute active threats to defy the courts, why that’s trending inexorably toward a major confrontation, and why there’s a danger that the Supreme Court could constrain itself to avoid that terrible outcome. Listen to this episode here.