If you’re ever unfortunate enough to have a pending legal action, one bit of generally accepted advice might be: Don’t make the judge angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry. And you won’t like his rulings.
On the other hand, if you already know you’re going to lose the case—perhaps because you’re clearly in the wrong—setting up the idea that judge has it in for you might not only provide a bit of PR cover, but also make a springboard for your inevitable appeal. And what better way to make sure that the judge really does have it in for you than by pulling out Don Trump’s patented world's greatest dog whistle.
After a federal judge ordered documents in a lawsuit over Trump University to be unsealed, Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the judge in the case on Monday.
Trump went after U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel on Friday, calling him a "hater" and noting that Curiel is "we believe, Mexican."
Okay, correction—that’s not a dog whistle. That’s a blatantly racist howl. For the record, Curiel was born in the United States. Also for the record, Trump is still at it.