{"id":143328,"date":"2026-02-04T16:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/04\/donald-trump-calls-leonard-leo-a-sleazebag-again\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:05:13","slug":"donald-trump-calls-leonard-leo-a-sleazebag-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/04\/donald-trump-calls-leonard-leo-a-sleazebag-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump Calls Leonard Leo A \u2018Sleazebag\u2019\u2026 Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president took a break from overseeing a domestic occupation, issuing threats to Iran, and pretending he\u2019s not deeply implicated in the latest Epstein file dump. Speaking of dumps, Trump finds himself so overburdened these days that he\u2019s taken his capacity for multitasking to extreme levels<\/a>. And yet he still has time for his passion project: authoring a real-time record of his sundowning through his vanity social media outlet.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, his ire fell upon Federalist Society bigwig Leonard Leo, whom Trump considers a sleazebag.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s the most powerful person on Earth blasting his rage wank to millions of followers about the \u201cbig and very dangerous mouth\u201d on an \u201cinfluencer\u201d so notoriously behind the scenes that almost no one outside the legal nerd cult even knows who he is.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Trump\u2019s lashed out at Leo. Last year, when the Court of International Trade struck down Trump\u2019s attempt to unilaterally issue tariffs on products from everywhere up to and including an uninhabited penguin reserve<\/a>, the president took to social media to bash Leo as a \u201csleazebag.\u201d<\/a> Who are we to argue with the president?<\/p>\n

While Trump complains about Leo claiming the legal system is \u201cRIGGED\u201d his actual complaint seems to be the possibility that it is not. <\/p>\n

Having railed against Leo when the Trade court ruled against the illegal tariff regime, he\u2019s back at it now that the Supreme Court \u2014 generally exceedingly compliant to the administration\u2019s whims \u2014 appears likely to break with the White House on both tariffs and his attempt to seize control of the Federal Reserve. Add in the various Republican judges around the country refusing to allow the administration to run roughshod over the Constitution, and Trump might feel genuinely misled. <\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s a weird complaint to air in public when Trump has three more years to work and no viable alternative for vetting judicial nominees. The Federalist Society manages the MAGA cursus honorum<\/em> and cutting ties with the group leaves the administration picking judges based on vibes. Presumably Leo \u2014 directly or indirectly \u2014 guided the administration in choosing the FedSoc all-stars most willing to embrace the president\u2019s agenda as opposed to the squishy libertarians only showing up for low taxes and free Chick-fil-A. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a reminder that the White House\u2019s obsession with loyalty remains a one-way street. No amount of obsequious service will ever be enough to satisfy Trump. Presumably, Leo doesn\u2019t really care. He managed substantially stock the courts with enough low-hanging fruit to deliver activist-friendly one-judge courthouses<\/a> and appellate courts more interested in clicks than laws<\/a> that will pay off for ages. They may not always<\/em> deliver for Trump, but when they don\u2019t they\u2019re just delivering for traditional Republican values. Leo\u2019s success will outlast Trump. <\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Donald Trump Rips Federalist Society, Calls Leonard Leo A \u2018Sleazebag\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Donald Trump Calls Leonard Leo A \u2018Sleazebag\u2019\u2026 Again<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The president took a break from overseeing a domestic occupation, issuing threats to Iran, and pretending he\u2019s not deeply implicated in the latest Epstein file dump. Speaking of dumps, Trump finds himself so overburdened these days that he\u2019s taken his capacity for multitasking to extreme levels<\/a>. And yet he still has time for his passion project: authoring a real-time record of his sundowning through his vanity social media outlet.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, his ire fell upon Federalist Society bigwig Leonard Leo, whom Trump considers a sleazebag.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s the most powerful person on Earth blasting his rage wank to millions of followers about the \u201cbig and very dangerous mouth\u201d on an \u201cinfluencer\u201d so notoriously behind the scenes that almost no one outside the legal nerd cult even knows who he is.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Trump\u2019s lashed out at Leo. Last year, when the Court of International Trade struck down Trump\u2019s attempt to unilaterally issue tariffs on products from everywhere up to and including an uninhabited penguin reserve<\/a>, the president took to social media to bash Leo as a \u201csleazebag.\u201d<\/a> Who are we to argue with the president?<\/p>\n

While Trump complains about Leo claiming the legal system is \u201cRIGGED\u201d his actual complaint seems to be the possibility that it is not. <\/p>\n

Having railed against Leo when the Trade court ruled against the illegal tariff regime, he\u2019s back at it now that the Supreme Court \u2014 generally exceedingly compliant to the administration\u2019s whims \u2014 appears likely to break with the White House on both tariffs and his attempt to seize control of the Federal Reserve. Add in the various Republican judges around the country refusing to allow the administration to run roughshod over the Constitution, and Trump might feel genuinely misled. <\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s a weird complaint to air in public when Trump has three more years to work and no viable alternative for vetting judicial nominees. The Federalist Society manages the MAGA cursus honorum<\/em> and cutting ties with the group leaves the administration picking judges based on vibes. Presumably Leo \u2014 directly or indirectly \u2014 guided the administration in choosing the FedSoc all-stars most willing to embrace the president\u2019s agenda as opposed to the squishy libertarians only showing up for low taxes and free Chick-fil-A. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a reminder that the White House\u2019s obsession with loyalty remains a one-way street. No amount of obsequious service will ever be enough to satisfy Trump. Presumably, Leo doesn\u2019t really care. He managed substantially stock the courts with enough low-hanging fruit to deliver activist-friendly one-judge courthouses<\/a> and appellate courts more interested in clicks than laws<\/a> that will pay off for ages. They may not always<\/em> deliver for Trump, but when they don\u2019t they\u2019re just delivering for traditional Republican values. Leo\u2019s success will outlast Trump. <\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Donald Trump Rips Federalist Society, Calls Leonard Leo A \u2018Sleazebag\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Donald Trump Calls Leonard Leo A \u2018Sleazebag\u2019\u2026 Again<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president took a break from overseeing a domestic occupation, issuing threats to Iran, and pretending he\u2019s not deeply implicated in the latest Epstein file dump. Speaking of dumps, Trump finds himself so overburdened these days that he\u2019s taken his capacity for multitasking to extreme levels. And yet he still has time for his passion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}