Was Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrong to weigh in on Donald Trump? Read more

The political class is pretending to be shocked that supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is openly criticizing Donald Trump, but she has something to teach Republicans about their candidate-in-chief.



Ginsburg, affectionately known as The Notorious RBG, is garnering headlines for calling Trump a “faker”, before adding, “He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego.”

Republicans pounced on the notion of a supreme court justice wading into a presidential campaign.

“I find it very peculiar and I think it’s out of place for an appointed branch of government,” House speaker Paul Ryan told a live town hall audience on Tuesday evening. “For someone on the supreme court who is going to be calling balls and strikes in the future based upon whatever the next president and Congress does, that strikes me as inherently biased and out of the realm.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg wades deeper into Trump row: 'He really has an ego' Read more

In the same session with voters, Ryan twisted himself in knots trying to both embrace Trump and distance himself from his inflammatory comments that have stung every group from women to Latinos, saying: “We don’t have people who run for office who 100% reflect all of our views.”

The Republican establishment is deceiving voters with calls to treat Trump as if he’s a traditional candidate. Trump would be the first to admit he’s turned political tradition on its head.

In a normal political era, justices would be wise to stay above the political fray. But we left normalcy when Trump clinched the nomination.

It must be noted that RBG never endorsed or promoted Hillary Clinton, she merely predicted her victory in November and revealed that she’s a member of the growing Never Trump movement.

Let’s stop feigning surprise already and actually listen to what the black-robed sage has to teach us about the likely Republican nominee.

First, let’s examine RBG’s carefully chosen word “faker”. Many who have had professional dealings with him have alleged wrongdoing during those interactions. He’s been involved in some 3,500 lawsuits, a dubious record for a presidential candidate.

Besides most recently being sued for defrauding students at his now defunct Trump University, he has been ploughing some $6m of campaign cash into various Trump enterprises and into the hands of family members.

Then there’s the charge from RBG that Trump lacks consistency. Even he would admit as much. Years ago he was proud to be a godless pro-abortion Democrat who even donated to Clinton, while now, as a Republican candidate, he claims to be a baby Christian who opposes abortions. What changed? Trump changed, because he’s malleable according to the expediency of what is convenient in the moment.

Justice Ginsburg also highlighted Trump’s seemingly untamable tongue. Speaker Ryan himself, along with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, has also noted this in the past when they’ve been forced to scold their party’s standard-bearer for racist remarks he made about a judge with Mexican heritage and for calling for an outright ban on the world’s 1.6 billion strong Muslim population.

Lastly, RBG highlighted Trump’s ego. Trump himself is proud of his ego. “You think I’m going to change?” he told reporters last month. “I’m not going to change.”

Sure, Justice Ginsburg seems to have weighed in on the presidential contest in an unprecedented manner. But Republicans and independents would be wise to dig beneath the headlines and wrestle with the weight of her stinging critique. They may find they actually agree with her assessment.