'A mess entirely of Trump's creation' is pushing American justice to the brink: analysis

Former President Donald Trump is in a legal quagmire over the gag order in the 2020 election interference case, wrote Ruth Marcus for The Washington Post — and it's entirely his own fault.

The former president, she noted, has spent months attacking court officers in all of his cases and sending not-so-thinly-veiled threats like "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!" His suggestion that Gen. Mark Milley be executed and his branding of his political opponents as "vermin" are all part and parcel of this mindset — but when it comes to courts, they don't take kindly to being threatened.

"The legal system doesn’t have extensive experience with this kind of behavior, so there is not much case law in this area. We know broadly that judges have an obligation to criminal defendants to make certain that trial proceedings are conducted fairly and that the defense team retains a constitutional right to make some public statements," she wrote. However, with Trump "transgressing every possible boundary," he forced Judge Tanya Chutkan's hand and made her issue an order limiting his speech.

He is currently challenging this order in an appeals court that appears skeptical of his arguments.

All of this, wrote Marcus, has led to "a mess entirely of Trump’s creation — it is his line-crossing commentary that has necessitated judicial intervention. Chutkan took pains to carefully limit her order — for instance, she left Trump free to attack her personally, just not other court staff — for which she deserves credit."