Bottom line: Trump has a political need to discredit the Trump U case. He does not have an actual legal claim of judicial bias; instead, he finds it politically expedient to attack the judge. This is far from unheard of in high-profile cases in which a celebrity litigant believes there will inevitably be negative rulings. The point is to get ahead of the news curve in order to shape the public’s perception of the case and minimize the reputational damage.

It should go without saying that, as a lawyer who believes in legal ethics and the judicial process, I find such a strategy reprehensible – even allowing for the fact that it is lawyers, not clients, who are bound to affirm the dignity of the court. And ethics aside, a litigation strategy that elevates politics over legal considerations is self-defeating. There is no worse approach to litigation than effrontery toward the judge.

In the real world, however, the politics is sometimes more important to the litigant than the law. That is true here. Trump is running for president. Monetarily, the civil case is small potatoes in comparison to his fortune, and the significance of winning the case pales beside his political ambitions. He can afford to lose. Therefore, the risk that angering Judge Curiel will redound to his legal detriment is easily outweighed by the risk that the electorate will turn against him politically if the Trump U case appears to be real fraud, not – pardon the pun – trumped up bunkum.