Trump's Judges Engage in Humiliation Ritual

Nearly 60 confirmed nominees have refused to say Biden won the 2020 election — and they're about to have real power over the 2026 midterms.

When I watched the circling of the drain that played out during what should have just been a routine confirmation hearing (although what does that even mean anymore) of Trump’s latest judicial nominees, all the alarm bells went off. That’s because Gregory Carl Cook, potential District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. And it wasn’t just him. At that hearing alone, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit nominee Anna St. John, nominee for the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Jason Manion, and the nominee to serve as assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, Adam Candeub, said variations of the same thing. In other words, they’re all election deniers.

Trump has confirmed nearly 60 of these people to judicial postings all over the country.

They’re following a script. When asked, point blank, who won the 2020 election, these judges have said “President Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 presidential election and served as the 46th President of the United States,” or he “was declared the victor,” or “Joe Biden was certified the winner and served four years.” Not one of them has given the real, simple answer: Joe Biden won.

These statements aren’t just absurd, they’re blood oaths to Trump. Effectively, these judges are going on the record endorsing a lie that serves the President, and which signals that their loyalties lie with him and not with the Constitution or the rule of law.

But Trump’s not just collecting sycophants for fun (even though I’m sure, to him, it is fun). By installing them in the judiciary, he’s building a standing army to do his bidding come election day. This is just another manifestation of his fear of losing the midterms. So instead of trying to win on the merits - which we all know he can’t - this is another way to rig the game.

This isn’t just some abstract anxiety (I have plenty of those; they’re somehow more existential). This could have tangible consequences coming down the pike. These judges will have real power the moment the polls close on election night. Here’s what they could do to interfere with the vote count, and either swing things in Republicans’ favor, or delegitimize the process wholesale.

Let’s say they see a slew of temporary restraining orders filed on election night. This was a popular move in 2020. More than 60 election lawsuits were filed, and Trump and the Republicans blitzed states with TROs to halt ballot counts and certifications. Let’s assume that was a test run and they’re going to double down this time.

These judges would probably salivate at the prospect of TROs, because they can be approved within hours, without the other party present, and without much scrutiny. By the time these would get turned over on appeal, whether they’re BS or not, deadlines might have passed, and we’ll have people questioning the legitimacy of the election anyway (read: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen”).

Preliminary injunctions might be even worse. If one of these judges issues one to halt a ballot count, it stays in place until a lawsuit plays out in court or is dismissed. Trump and Republicans filed these in Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania in 2020. They were dismissed in court by sane judges. But if they’re filed with this new batch of confirmed election deniers, they’ll be a lot more effective.

Whether or not these tactics actually work in the end is almost beside the point; they sow chaos and they undermine confidence in the electoral process, which is already hanging on by a thread. Trump learned from his last go around at trying to do this, and with these judicial appointments, he’s hoping to put what he learned into action.

What worries me, watching these sycophants parrot these lies, isn’t just that they’re willing to do it. It’s that they’re lying just enough to offer a wink and a nod to Dear Leader, while still preserving just enough plausible deniability to get confirmed. That means come election night, they’ll be sitting on the bench with a TRO in hand, ready to do his bidding.

So while legacy media focuses on infighting and online drama, I’m focused on these threats to our elections and democracy. No matter how many distractions get thrown my way, I will not look away. I hope you won’t either.