Trump clearly wanted to delay his “case” – even though it hasn’t been charged as a crime yet – and it’s pretty easy to see why. Justice delayed is justice denied, and Trump is far more interested in delaying and denying justice than he has ever been interested in pursuing justice. Trump often likes to operate outside the law. It’s rare that Trump wants the system to move with due course.

So, Trump’s team finds a handpicked, totally MAGA, totally incompetent (had the reputation long before the case), and totally inexperienced judge to ask for an insane delay. A man who hadn’t even been charged wanted a special master to review documents that could be considered privileged. That could comprise a significant delay.

Instead, his move didn’t get any real delay, but it did cost Trump by putting pressure on Trump to put up or shut up. After all, their own choice for special master has already told Team Trump to set forth all evidence that he declassified everything and all evidence that the FBI  planted the files. Judge Dearie is no fool. He can read reports. He is holding Trump accountable for his lies to the media and knows that the lawyers won’t submit anything “real,” and thus, it will humiliate Trump.

From The Daily Beast, it goes even deeper:

“Who knows what’s still at Mar-a-Lago? Who knows where the rest of it is? It’s obvious that Trump can’t be trusted—and neither can his lawyers. But at least the bluff has been called on using the courts to delay this,” said Carl W. Tobias, a University of Richmond law school professor…

… His insistence on slowing down the investigation by forcefully inserting an independent referee has blown up in his face. Raymond Dearie, the semi-retired Brooklyn federal judge specifically brought in to second-guess the Justice Department, has actually used his special master role to speed up the review…

That was entirely foreseeable. A special master who is concurrently a judge could insist on a timeline that would speed up the process over just an FBI review.

“… Judge Cannon tried to throw a lifeline of delay, and it didn’t work… [Dearie] is the kind of judge who’s been around a long time. He’s not going to tolerate wasted time. And he’s not going to be played,” said George Washington University law school professor Stephen A. Saltzburg, who has twice served as a special master himself.”

The article also notes that the 11th Circuit made the same findings while also moving incredibly fast, taking less than a week to rule.

Meanwhile, Trump’s out-of-court statements have been used against him, making him look like that much bigger an ass. Yes, it backfired indeed.