Trump's weekend of unhinged rants, attacks on judge should earn him a gag order

To put this in terms former president and current defendant Donald Trump might understand, the judge in his latest criminal case needs to hit him with a big, beautiful, powerful gag order – the kind of gag order many will look at and say, “Wow, sir, that is the strongest, most incredibly huge gag order ever issued.”

The front-runner (by a mile) in the GOP presidential primary spent the weekend after his third indictment (the one relating to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results) posting insults and veiled, mob-boss-like threats on the extremely dumb and unsuccessful social media site he runs.

I share the following … I guess you’d call them “statements,” but they’re more like effluent from an angry random-word generator … not to amplify the wailings of a wounded narcissist but to make sure folks pay attention to how far Trump has descended into the Dungeon of Lunacy, and how deserving he is of a judge’s reprimand.

If the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, showed nothing else, it's that Trump has ample followers willing to act violently on his behalf. So any time the defendant aims his ire at a perceived enemy, it comes with a baked-in threat. On Friday, Trump posted this broad warning: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

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Donald Trump's litany of angry posts should earn him a gag order

He later went after former Vice President Mike Pence, who will likely be a witness in the trial: “WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side. … He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy. I once read a major magazine article on Mike. It said he was not a very good person.”

He attacked the federal judge overseeing the case, Tanya Chutkan: “THERE IS NO WAY I CAN GET A FAIR TRIAL WITH THE JUDGE 'ASSIGNED' TO THE RIDICULOUS FREEDOM OF SPEECH/FAIR ELECTIONS CASE. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS, AND SO DOES SHE!”

He attacked the prosecutor, special counsel Jack Smith: “DERANGED JACK SMITH AND OUR HIGHLY PARTISAN, AND VERY CORRUPT,  DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE, COULD HAVE BROUGHT THIS BIDIN 'OPPONENT' CASE YEARS AGO, BUT CHOSE TO WAIT AND BRING IT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY ELECTION CAMPAIGN. NO WAY!!! I HOPE YOU ARE WATCHING AMERICA. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED.”

Make America great again: If Trump cares about America and its greatness, he must leave politics. Permanently.

GOP presidential primary front-runner says Nancy Pelosi 'will someday live in HELL!'

Oh, and for kicks he also wrote of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi: “She is a sick & demented psycho who will someday live in HELL!”

And then Sunday night he mocked the U.S. women’s soccer team for getting knocked out of the World Cup.

Collectively, that’s about five barrels of crazy. And again, the sad little man-boy filling those barrels is favored by more than 50% of Republican voters in the GOP presidential primary.

Judge in Trump's Jan. 6 federal case will now consider a protective order

The leader of the GOP flailing about nonsensically on social media and trying to sound tough is nothing new, of course. But when that twisted and indecent behavior is entwined with a criminal case, there can and should be consequences.

The “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” line on Friday prompted Smith to ask the judge for a protective order that would keep Trump from publicizing or spouting off on evidence shared with his defense team.

Trump’s attorneys have until 5 p.m. Monday to respond to the prosecution’s request.

As always, Trump was warned, and as always, he ignored the rules

I don’t envy judges. Dealing with Trump, as the nation has learned, is like dealing with a wet, rabid ferret, assuming that ferret has an overinflated ego and authoritarian tendencies.

At the end of Trump’s federal arraignment Thursday, Judge Moxila Upadhyaya told the former president: “Finally, sir, I want to remind you that it is a crime to try to influence a juror or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.”

She asked if Trump understood all that, and he said he did.

Based on his Truth Social ramblings this weekend, it kinda looks like he didn’t.

Trump shouldn't get special treatment – he needs a muzzle

As a candidate the first time around, Trump pushed the boundaries of decency and ignored long-held norms, like releasing tax returns. As president, his nuttery was restrained – barely – by judges and a handful of Republican lawmakers willing to stand up to him.

So anyone who thinks Trump will now abide by a simple “please don’t try to threaten or influence anyone involved in this case” agreement hasn’t been paying attention to the man’s entire dishonest history.

Third time's the charm: I'll always remember where I was for Trump indictment No. 3

Judge Chutkan needs to muzzle Trump before his behavior becomes a precedent for defendants in other cases to justify threats and other acts intended to cow defendants, prosecutors or judges.

This is a big, serious case involving a small, unserious man. Trump, incapable of humility, believes he is always in control.

He should be swiftly disabused of that notion.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump attacks federal judge, because of course. Time for gag order