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Andrea Austria / Media Matters

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Right-wing media lash out at judges halting the Trump administration’s executive actions

Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk suggested “the Trump Administration should absolutely consider defying” a court order

Written by Jack Winstanley & Jack Wheatley

Published

On Monday, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to “immediately restore frozen funding,” claiming that the administration had violated his January 31 order to halt its freeze on spending appropriated by Congress. In response to this decision and a litany of other rulings against President Donald Trump’s actions, right-wing media figures and MAGA online influencers called on the Trump administration to defy the court orders, labelling the judges “unconstitutional” and “lawless,” and even calling for them to be impeached.

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  • The Trump administration faces a number of legal barriers to its executive actions

    • On February 10, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell issued an order for the Trump administration to “immediately restore frozen funding” after the White House failed to fully comply with his previous ruling. According to NBC News, McConnell issued the order after officials from 22 states “presented evidence” that “in some cases” the administration “continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds” after McConnell’s January 31 court order blocking the administration’s funding freeze. [NBC News, 2/10/25; The Associated Press, 2/10/25]
    • Other judges have ruled against several of Trump’s actions, including decisions at least temporarily blocking the administration’s moves “restricting birthright citizenship, a buyout offer to federal workers who agree to resign by Sept. 30," and the transfer of three Venezuelan immigrants to Guantanamo Bay. On February 8, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued an order in New York barring Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems. Another judge in Boston issued a February 10 order delaying Trump’s plan to offer resignation buyouts to tens of thousands of federal employees, and a separate federal court issued a February 9 order blocking the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants being held in New Mexico to the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. [USA Today, 2/10/25; Politico, 2/8/25; ABC News, 2/10/25; CBS News, 2/10/25]
    • On February 9, Vice President JD Vance posted, “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.” [Twitter/X, 2/9/25]
    • For years, right-wing media have repeatedly taken aim at judges overseeing cases across the country involving Trump. Conservative figures previously railed against judges in cases about Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, his New York hush money trial, and his civil fraud trial. [Media Matters, 5/30/24, 11/1/23, 5/28/24, 1/30/24]

  • Right-wing media personalities and social media figures have called on the Trump administration to “defy” court orders

    • Right-wing commentator Dan Bongino argued that the Trump administration “should ignore” McConnell’s court order to restore frozen federal funds. Bongino said, “This judge is clearly making up powers he does not have,” adding, “He does not have power to demand the president spend money.” [Rumble, The Dan Bongino Show, 2/11/25]
    • Online influencer account “End Wokeness” declared that Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency “can and absolutely should ignore the activist obstructionist judges.” The account also claimed that “Joe Biden openly bragged about defying Supreme Court rulings,” which The Washington Post has called “not a valid comparison.” According to the publication, “You could fault Biden for how he talked about working around the Supreme Court’s decision on student loan forgiveness. You could also fault him for doing something he and other Democrats wagered ahead of time wouldn’t pass legal muster. But he did not do what the Supreme Court told him he couldn’t.” [Twitter/X, 2/8/25; The Washington Post, 2/11/25]
    • Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk suggested “the Trump Administration should absolutely consider defying” a court order limiting access to the Treasury Department. He called the ruling “a grenade thrown into the functioning of the Treasury Department.” [Twitter/X, 2/8/25]
    • Sharing Kirk’s post, right-wing podcaster Tim Pool wrote: “DEFY IT.” [Twitter/X, 2/8/25]
    • On CNN, pro-Trump contributor Scott Jennings suggested the president may need to “defy” judges who order his administration to comply with the law. He asked: “Should the president, the singular president, should he have to share the presidency with 300 district court judges? No. Absolutely not.” [CNN, NewsNight with Abby Phillip, 2/10/25]
    • Ryan P. Williams, president of Project 2025 partner the Claremont Institute, wrote that “President Trump should initiate an emergency appeal, and if he doesn’t get a quick hearing, he should instruct Secretary Bessent to ignore this court ‘order.’” [Twitter/X, 2/8/25]
    • Online influencer George Behizy posted, “I think it's time for us to ignore unconstitutional orders from judges.” “One federal judge just blocked the sitting President of the United States from holding illegal aliens at a detention facility,” he wrote, adding, “Let the courts enforce their own dumb edicts.” [Twitter/X, 2/10/25]
    • Right-wing influencer account “Amuse” wrote, “The Trump Administration should treat this for what it is—an unconstitutional usurpation—and consider defying it outright.” The account called Engelmayer’s ruling “lawfare at its most brazen” and an “egregious and unconstitutional assault on executive authority.” [Twitter/X, 2/8/25]

  • Right-wing media and online influencers have said the court orders against Trump’s actions are “anti-constitutional” and “lawless” — and some have even called for judges to be impeached or jailed

    • Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn argued that “the conversation really should start shifting to the constitutionality of the judiciary." She added that the judiciary is “blocking a coequal branch's function." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/11/25]
    • Fox guest Philip Holloway defended Vance’s comments and attacked the courts, saying, “This is an anti-constitutional effort by the courts in many of these cases to simply substitute the judgment of an unelected judge for that of the duly elected president of the United States.” He added, “This is a clear anti-constitutional violation of separation of powers.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 2/10/25]
    • Article III Project founder Mike Davis called on Congress to “use its power of oversight and the purse to stop these lawless politicians in robes from subverting the will of American voters.” He added: “When courts lose their legitimacy, they lose their funding.” [Twitter/X, 2/10/25]
    • Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton posted a screenshot of The New York Times’ website covering the Trump administration’s legal challenges, saying, “The Leftist activists who run NYTIMES are literally cheering on an anti-@realDonaldTrump judicial coup.” [Twitter/X, 2/9/25]
    • Bongino claimed that a judge that attempted to block DOGE from accessing Treasury Department systems was “making up law.” Bongino went on to claim that the judge’s order was “a fairy tale.” [Rumble, The Dan Bongino Show, 2/10/25]
    • Right-wing radio host Bill Mitchell stated that a “rogue judge” was making a “power grab,” writing, “JUDICIAL TYRANNY STRIKES AGAIN: IS THIS AN ATTACK ON EXECUTIVE POWER?” His post continued, “The judiciary was never meant to rule from the bench like kings. Will Congress step up and hold this judge accountable, or will they cave to the madness? Time to fight back against this disgrace!” [Twitter/X, 2/9/25]
    • Attacking the judge who halted Trump’s dismissal of USAID workers, right-wing social media influencer Rogan O’Handley, who goes by “DC Draino” online, posted, “This judge has just way overstepped his authority.” He stated, “Trump was elected President of the United States and he controls Executive Branch,” “USAID falls under that branch and has funneled money to anti-American interests,” and “The President can fire their corrupt asses.” [Twitter/ X, 2/7/25]
    • Right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich claimed that judges “are making stuff up to try to ‘get Trump,’ and stop him from governing.” In a second post, Cernovich alleged that judges attempting to check Trump’s executive orders are “pushing the country into a true constitutional crisis.” [Twitter/X, 2/8/25, 2/8/25]
    • An article for The Gateway Pundit characterized Engelmayer’s ruling as an attempt to “sabotage the Trump Administration’s efforts to drain the swamp.” A second article called Engelmayer and his ruling “corrupt,” and alleged that the rulings were “Democrat judges sabotaging Trump’s efforts to downsize and make the federal government more accountable.” [The Gateway Pundit, 2/8/25, 2/9/25]
    • Attacking Engelmayer, right-wing YouTube personality Benny Johnson posted, “The Supreme Court must intervene. This is Judicial Activism.” [Twitter/X, 2/8/25]
    • MAGA influencer Phillip Buchanan, known online as “Catturd,” posted in response to Vance, “Impeach the commie corrupt activist judge.” [Twitter/X, 2/9/25; Daily Dot, 11/17/23]
    • Conservative influencer Paul Szypula also responded to Vance’s post, writing: “Jail the judge!” [Twitter/X, 2/9/25]