Trump thanks Obama for leaving so many judicial vacancies

President Trump mockingly thanked his predecessor former President Obama for leaving so many judicial posts vacant despite a Republican-controlled Senate slowing down confirmations during the last two years of the Obama administration. 

“When I got in, we had over 100 federal judges that weren’t appointed,” Trump said during a speech in Ohio on Thursday. “I don’t know why Obama left that. It was like a big, beautiful present to all of us. Why the hell did he leave that?”

{mosads}

“Maybe he got complacent,” Trump added.

“It was like the gift from heaven. We were left judges,”  Trump said. “They are the ones that judge all your disputes. They judge on what’s fair on the environment and what’s not fair. Where they’re going to take your farms and factories away and where they’re not.”

Republicans took control of the Senate in 2014 during Obama’s last two years in office and did not confirm many of his nominees.

The Senate’s top Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitchel McConnell (Ky.), teamed up to block Democratic efforts to push forward Obama’s nominees, slowing down confirmations by the most in six decades. 

Most notably, McConnell refused to hold a confirmation hearing on Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court justice, Merrick Garland. Trump went on to nominate Neil Gorsuch to the high court, a conservative victory.

Social media users were quick to remind Trump that the vacancies left behind by the Obama administration were not by choice.

*Merrick Garland reads this tweet, turns off his monitor, and lies down on his office couch for a while, breathing deeply* https://t.co/jRWK4Gapdr

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 29, 2018

Trump is asking why Obama left so many judicial vacancies open. He didn’t. Mitch McConnell blocked Obama from filling them.

— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) March 29, 2018

My head just exploded and my brain fell to the ground in the shape of Merrick Garland. https://t.co/tFFooMDKtC

— (@resisterhood) March 29, 2018

Trump is asking why @BarackObama left him judicial vacancies and suggests it was complacency.

No, @realDonaldTrump, it was an obscene level of Republican obstruction of Obama’s nominees. It wasn’t a present from Obama, it was a present from Mitch McConnell.

— Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) March 29, 2018

In fairness, it’s possible Trump doesn’t know why there were so many judicial vacancies when he became President. Of course, as in most cases, likely he’s simply a pathological liar. But he may have no clue.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) March 29, 2018

The President is marveling that Obama left so many unfilled judicial vacancies. “What happened? How did he do that?”

I can’t even.

— ((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal) March 29, 2018