Trump thrilled with his appointed Supreme Court Justices — calls them "gold"

"You know, many presidents never get the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice. I had three," he says

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published July 1, 2023 9:22AM (EDT)

US President Donald Trump applauds next to Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House October 26, 2020, in Washington, DC. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump applauds next to Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House October 26, 2020, in Washington, DC. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

At the start of a holiday weekend in which a good portion of America is reeling from back-tracking rulings on the part of the Republican leaning Supreme Court, Donald Trump is apparently thrilled to have a hand in it.

On Friday, during a summit hosted by the right-wing Moms for Liberty campaign group, the former president discussed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett's votes to torch affirmative action and make it lawful for businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, calling them "gold."

"You know many presidents never get the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice. I had three, they are gold. They are not happy about that," Trump said, delighting in backlash from Democrats.

"And maybe we'll get three or four more. Can you imagine? Let's have seven. Let's have seven or eight or maybe even nine."


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In reference to the affirmative action ruling, Trump rattled off a statement to Truth Social on Friday calling it, "A great day for America."

As lawyer Steve Vladeck makes clear regarding the vote, "The majority does not expressly overrule Grutter or formally bar *all* race-based affirmative action, but the Court reconstrues the test in a way that will make it virtually impossible for any university to satisfy going forward. It's ending it without ending it." Meaning, it starts at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina and will surely spread. Trump's on board with this. 

"People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded. This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world. Our greatest minds must be cherished and that's what this wonderful day has brought. We're going back to all merit-based—and that's the way it should be!"

This in contrast with a now resurfaced clip of an interview he gave on "Meet the Press" years ago where he said he was "fine with it."

Presidential Ron DeSantis used the Supreme Court flops as an opportunity to celebrate the end of Pride month and s**t on Trump all at once via a bizarre campaign video that popped up on Friday interspersing clips of Trump claiming to be pro-LGBTQ+ with a very LGBTQ+ friendly booty-shaking soundtrack and random scenes from "American Psycho" along with illustrations of himself with fangs.


By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Nights and Weekends Editor covering daily news, politics and culture. Her work has also appeared in Vulture, Vanity Fair, Vice and many other outlets that don't start with the letter V. She is the author of one sad book called "Something Is Always Happening Somewhere." Follow her on Bluesky: @WolfieVibes

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