Dear Reader,

When you draw a line in the sand, you have to be prepared to punish anyone who crosses it. 

Judge Tanya S. Chutkan was no doubt aware of this principle on Monday, when she granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s motion to impose a limited gag order on Donald Trump in the federal election interference case. 

Trump has certainly earned a muzzle with his vitriolic statements against the judge, prosecutors, and witnesses. He has called Judge Chutkan a “fraud dressed up as a judge,” a “radical Obama hack,” and a “biased, Trump-hating judge.” He has referred to the special counsel team as “deranged Jack Smith” and his “thug prosecutors.” Trump has also targeted witnesses, including Mike Pence, William Barr, and Mark Milley. Trump has called his former vice president “Liddle Mike Pence,” stating that Pence has “gone to the Dark Side.” Trump said Pence was “delusional” when Pence said Trump wanted to be put above the Constitution and accused his former vice president of being “too honest.”