The Week Trump Lost the Courts, His Own Prosecutor, and Two-Thirds of the Country
Four losses this week, and the pattern is almost artistic: nine federal appeals courts have now said no to the same detention policy, the guy he hired to hunt a conspiracy against himself quit without finding one, and his own approval number cratered to a level last seen in a pop quiz. Pour something cold — the receipts are excellent this week.
1. Trump's No-Bond Detention Policy Just Went 9-2 Against Every Appeals Court in the Country
On September 10, the 4th Circuit ruled 2-1 that longtime U.S. residents swept up by ICE are entitled to bond hearings, rejecting the administration's argument that a 1996 immigration statute lets it detain them indefinitely without one. It's the ninth federal appeals court to reject the policy, extending a 9-2 record against the administration across the circuits that have ruled, with Judge Nicole Berner comparing the mass detentions to 'some of the darkest moments in our country's history.' The case is now headed for the Supreme Court, where the administration will need its 9-2 losing streak to somehow read as a mandate.
When even the friendliest scoreboard in the country reads 9-2 against you, that's not a legal strategy anymore. That's a losing streak with a docket number.
2. The Guy Trump Hired to Prove a Conspiracy Against Him Just Quit Without Finding One
Joseph diGenova — the Trump loyalist installed in April as Counselor to the Attorney General specifically to run down a 'grand conspiracy' against the president — resigned Thursday, telling reporters only that he'd submitted his letter that afternoon. After more than a year in the job, dozens of subpoenas, and standing access to the Attorney General and the White House, the probe has produced zero criminal charges, and Justice Department leadership had reportedly lost confidence in his ability to run it. He had pitched himself to Trump as the man who could finally deliver results.
He had a year, a blank check, and a president cheering him on. He walked away with a resignation letter and nothing else — the most expensive nothing-burger in recent memory.
3. Trump Asked the Same Court to Undo the Same Loss. It Said No Again.
The 1st Circuit denied the Trump administration's request to lift a block on its new USPS mail-ballot rule, keeping a district court injunction in place just as ballots start going out for the midterms. NPR reported the panel found no evidence in the record of the mail-voting fraud the rule was supposedly written to stop. The administration has now lost at the district court and the appeals court on the same rule, and it's already back at the Supreme Court asking a third time.
Losing once is a setback. Appealing the loss, losing the appeal, and going back for more is a hobby.
4. Trump's Approval Rating Just Hit a Number His Own Pollster Has Never Seen Before
A Focaldata/Financial Times poll released September 6 found just 32% of Americans approve of Trump's job performance — the lowest number the tracker has recorded since it launched in May, a three-point drop in a single month. Even his own party isn't holding: Republican approval slid two points to a new low of 72%. The slide tracks with rising discontent over the economy and the ongoing Iran war.
Thirty-two percent isn't an approval rating anymore. It's a crowd he could fit in a mid-size ballroom.
Now go back to doomscrolling. You've earned five minutes of not-doom.