One of the most dangerous words in Donald Trump’s vocabulary is “real.” It’s the one word the president has repeatedly embraced to try to turn assorted scandals, embarrassments and fiascos into successes.

Accused of being a threat to democracy, Trump said “the real” threat to democracy was the FBI. Accused of having instigated an insurrectionist riot, the Republican said “the real insurrection” was an election he disapproved of. Confronted with evidence of Democratic success in lowering the nation’s unemployment rate, Trump said only he understands “the real” unemployment rate. Presented with discouraging poll numbers, the Republican said he prefers “the real” polls. Accused of being a criminal, Trump said his critics are “the real” criminals.

And as the president’s second term gets underway, and his administration expresses apparent indifference to legal limits, even going so far as to suggest the White House might disregard court rulings, there’s growing talk about the United States facing a constitutional crisis. It’s against this backdrop that Team Trump believes it’s uncovered “the real” constitutional crisis. NBC News reported:

At the White House press briefing today, press secretary Karoline Leavitt used some of the strongest language we’ve heard from the White House so far about judges blocking Trump’s executive action. “The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch, where district court judges in liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block President Trump’s basic executive authority,” Leavitt told reporters.

She went on to say unnamed judges are acting as “judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law,” and that as far the Trump administration is concerned, rulings the president disagrees with represent “the continuation of the weaponization of justice against President Trump.”

This coincides with the president himself making veiled threats and using provocative rhetoric about the judiciary, including comments such as, “We have to look at the judges.”

I think it’s fair to say that no modern White House has ever gone further than this in targeting the authority of federal courts. In his first term, Barack Obama made some far more restrained comments about the judiciary, causing a massive political freakout, but Trump and his operation are clearly taking matters to a level unseen in generations.

In case this isn’t obvious, in the runup to Election Day 2024, Trump invested a fair amount of time condemning those who criticize judges. Such criticisms, the Republican said in August, are “probably illegal.” Two weeks later, he went a little further, adding that judicial criticisms should be “illegal.”

In case that wasn’t quite enough, Trump, who’s spent years publicly chastising judges, went so far as to declare, “These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges.”

That was in late September, roughly five months ago. Evidently, his perspective on this changed, right around the time he returned to the Oval Office.