The Outrageous Case of the Judge In The Trump Hat

Imagine you're having a really bad post U.S. election nightmare, where you're being dragged before a judge for joining in an anti-Trump demo. 

And when you look up from your clanking leg irons, you see the judge is Rudy Giuliani and he's wearing a Donald Trump baseball cap. 

That would be a horrible nightmare wouldn't it? But at least you could say only in America eh?

Until you found out you were wrong.



It seems that can also happen in Canada, for real. 

And here the cap was on the head of the guy in the middle, Ontario Court judge Bernd Zabel 

An Ontario Court judge wore a “Make America Great Again” hat in his courtroom the day after the U.S. election to mark president-elect Donald Trump’s “historic” victory, according to a source in the room.

Ontario Court Justice Bernd Zabel arrived at the John Sopinka courthouse in Hamilton on Wednesday morning wearing Mr. Trump’s signature campaign hat, according to the source, and addressed the numerous lawyers, police officers and defendants.

Now imagine you're a woman, or a Muslim, or a Mexican immigrant, or a black or hispanic or gay Canadian.  

How would you feel after the way Trump has insulted you, and threatened to take away your rights?

Could you trust a judge like that not to be biased, and render a fair judgement?

I think the answer is obvious.

For Kim Stanton, legal director at the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, the hat is especially problematic because of Mr. Trump’s derogatory comments about women.

“Unfortunately for many women, Trump is now linked inextricably with misogyny. The idea that a judge in a Canadian court would not just make a partisan political display but also link to someone who is now infamous for misogynous comments and conduct would absolutely suggest to a woman that this might not be a courtroom where she’ll have a fair shake,” Ms. Stanton said.

What was Zabel thinking? What country or century does he think he's living in? Can't he tell the difference between historic and catastrophic?

And why is everybody running for cover?

Justice Zabel did not return phone calls Thursday requesting comment about the incident. A spokesman for Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General referred requests to the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, Lise Maisonneuve, who declined to comment when contacted by The Globe. Assistant Crown Attorney Janet Booy also declined to comment.

Instead of denouncing him, and at the very least demanding an apology.

You know, this is my nightmare and the reason I avoid driving through Manitoba...



In case I get a traffic ticket and end up in Vic Toews' court.

But now I've got to avoid Hamilton as well? 

And let's not forget that Lorne at Politics And Its Discontents caught another Ontario judge in flagrante delicto wearing a Trump t-shirt.

And thanks to his complaint to the Canadian Judicial Council, that judge had to promise not to do that again. Only to have another judge do something even more egregious.

What is going on? Where are these Trumpling judges coming from? 

Is this the Twilight Zone? 



Oh boy. Vice's Josh Visser has some more questions for judge Zabel.

While I try to imagine what he looks like with a Trump hat on...



And yes, it is just as I figured.

Not good, totally ridiculous, and definitely not Canadian.

The old Trumplings in Canada, of whom there are many, really are pathetic.

And Zabel should apologize, or be fired or retired as soon as is humanly possible...