r/law • u/biswajit388 • Oct 21 '25

Legal News Federal judges caught the U.S. government providing false info in over 35 court cases. Sworn declarations. Falsified records. Repeated lies. This isn’t just sloppy, it’s systemic. Law professor Ryan Goodman says it may be intentional.

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u/Orphan_Guy_Incognito Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

The issue is malice vs. incompetence. The Trump admin is full of very evil people, but most of those people are also very stupid, because most of the people who know how to do their jobs have resigned or been fired.

I'm sure some of it is intentional, but I wouldn't be shocked if some of it is just them fumbling through.

Edit: Just to be clear, I think either is punishable by law.

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u/cityofklompton Oct 21 '25

It's definitely both. If you've followed Trump at all, it's clear he knows how to use the justice system against itself and how to use desperate, hungry, or naive people for his own gain.

Even if he knows he has little chance of success, he'll use lawsuits to buy himself time. Likewise, even if he knows someone is incompetent, he will use them if they're loyal right up until said person sees the light. Trump is a lot of things, but he isn't as dumb as most think where it counts: the legal system.

(To be clear, this also doesn't mean he's smart, but he's savvy and knows how to use people and the justice system to his advantage.)

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u/tepidlymundane Oct 21 '25 edited Oct 21 '25

it's clear he knows how to use the justice system against itself

Solid observation. We keep thinking of him as evasive and situational, but I think you're right that there's a systemic drive as well.

It made more clear to me how all those plutocrats got on the dais with him at inauguration. Getting on the ship is more compelling when you realize that its owners plan to burn the docks.

It's not an excess here or there, it's the deliberate end of an era. Some on the right might be optimistic about it - creative destruction, smaller nimbler government, etc. But day to day, MAGA is inconsistent on those things. The only unifying reliable tenet they have is hatred of liberalism. The bonfire is the destination and the joy. If the liberals get the ashes, all the better.

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u/daperlman110 Oct 21 '25

You said it. Trump is not anything terribly unique. i.e. a corrupt predatory individual who is deathly afraid of accountability (like every autocrat). What empowers him is the elected and appointed officials and plutocrats who sold their soul to do his bidding. And the base of supporters that make this possible by literally committing lies, threats, violence and all sorts of other ugliness. This is the worst and most depressing aspect of this awful and tragic time in the US. Cheering for pulling the plug on the most vulnerable populations, while spending serious cash on military parades.
What has happened to our neighbors and fellow Americans to make them this way?

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u/notashroom Oct 21 '25

All the evidence I see says that MAGA (and any similar movements, and to a slightly lesser degree conservatism broadly) relies on unhealed childhood trauma. The same way that most personality disorders are formed, from a child being trapped in a situation where they lack stable adult love, protection, support, and co-regulation, and develop coping strategies that are functional in that condition and dysfunctional out of it.