Trump, who never shuts up, now has a gag order to whine about. And you know he will.

Great news, America. Criminal defendant and leading GOP presidential primary candidate Donald Trump has something new to whine about – a partial gag order placed on him by the federal judge in his election interference case.

If you thought Trump’s yearslong journey to become the sorest of sore losers by ceaselessly braying about the 2020 presidential election he lost was growing tiresome, just you wait. Monday’s order provides fresh fodder for his persecution cannon, which I’m sure will be red hot from firing as the former president processes the fact that he, like anyone facing criminal charges, can’t freely intimidate witnesses, prosecutors or court personnel.

In issuing the order, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said: “Mr. Trump can certainly claim he’s being unfairly prosecuted, but I cannot imagine any other case where a defendant is allowed to call the prosecution ‘deranged,’ a ‘thug’ or anything else.”

She added: “His political campaign does not give him carte blanche to vilify public servants for simply doing their job.”

With a partial gag order in place, imagine the rage Donald Trump will spout

Setting aside the remarkable fact that a federal judge sees credible concerns that the far-and-away front-runner for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination is attempting to intimidate witnesses and prosecutors in his own criminal case, consider the way we’d expect Trump to respond to Chutkan’s decision.

Something along the lines of: “A CRAZY RADICAL LEFTIST MARXIST TRUMP-HATING ‘JUDGE’ has now totally violated my CONSTITUTIONAL rights by issuing a ‘gag order’ on me in what everyone knows is ELECTION INTERFERENCE led by Crazy Joe Biden and his boss, Barack HUSSEIN Obama. FIGHT BACK!”

I made that all up, but would you be surprised if Trump wrote something similar? And if you wouldn't be surprised, doesn't that suggest we're facing a serious problem?

Immediately after the ruling, Trump posted on Truth Social: "A TERRIBLE THING HAPPENED TO DEMOCRACY TODAY – GAG ORDER!" and "WILL APPEAL THE GAG ORDER RULING. WITCH HUNT!"

There's little doubt the angry rants will get worse.

Be honest Republican voters. Is Trump really what you want?

Trump learns criminal defendants can't threaten witnesses or prosecutors

Prior to the gag order, Trump had labeled special counsel Jack Smith “a crackhead” and called him “psycho.”

In August, Trump posted what prosecutors viewed as a threat against witnesses, writing: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

And in a Sept. 22 post on Truth Social, Trump accused retired Gen. Mark Milley, a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and now a witness in the election interference case, of treason and suggested that he should be executed.

Prosecutors, in their filing requesting a gag order, wrote that “no other criminal defendant would be permitted to issue public statements insinuating that a known witness in his case should be executed; this defendant should not be, either.”

Judge muzzles Trump: McCarthy booted from House speaker, Trump gagged. The Republican Party is an unserious mess.

How long will it take Trump to violate the new partial gag order?

Trump will squeal desperately and claim his free-speech rights are being trampled, but even a low-functioning mollusk would know that’s nonsense.

Trump was president, true. He isn’t anymore.

Trump is running for president, true. But that doesn’t give him the freedom to say whatever the hell he wants about people involved in the multiple criminal cases in which he faces 91 state and federal felony charges.

I’m not above the law, you’re not above the law and Trump, sad as it may be for him to learn, is not above the law.

But at least now he has some new material to work with. When your very essence is defined by aggrievement, a legal setback provides fresh paint for your victimhood self-portrait.

Let’s see how long it takes the whiner in chief to violate the judge’s gag order. I’m guessing it comes in 3, 2, 1 …

Follow Paste BN columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk