Donald Trump appears to be reaching for anything that might stick as he tries to escape a mounting legal battle. Trump, 79, is facing a civil case over accusations that the MAGA leader incited the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his team of lawyers failed to convince a federal judge. Scre enshot ‘This Man Is Insane’: Trump Torches Bruce Springsteen Then Circles Back With a Second Post That Pushes It Way Too FarU.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled on March 31 that Trump’s remarks at his “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington ahead of the Jan. 6 riots were not protected free speech under the First Amendment, firmly rejecting the argument that his words should be treated like a hip-hop artist’s lyrics. Trump told his followers assembled on the Ellipse near the White House to “fight like hell” shortly before the fired-up crowd walked down to the Capitol, which eventually spiraled into many of them storming the building in a failed attempt to prevent the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory. The president argued to the court that the case against him could “open floodgates for incitement decisions” and possibly constrain First Amendment protections. Judge Mehta was not buying that argument, especially when rap music became part of the defense.  “To illustrate the point, he poses the hypothetical of a popular rapper (bearing some resemblance to Eminem) whose concert performance leads to fan violence,” read a section of Mehta’s decision. Trump’s filing to the court laid out a scenario where the unnamed rapper’s “provocative and controversial lyrics” caused chaos at their show without unequivocally calling for thousands of fans not to act violently. In Trump’s hypothetical, the rapper used expressions like “fight the man,” “fight like hell,” and “fight the establishment,” which his attorneys insisted were similar to the rhetoric the Republican standard-bearer used on Jan. 6. The judge shut down that comparison, writing, “Here is what is missing from the President’s hypothetical. There is no contention that, for weeks before the concert, the rapper told his fans that the Establishment had taken something valuable from them through fraud and deceit.” Trump's lawyers asked Judge Mehta to consider a hypothetical of an Eminem-like rapper who sings a song with lyrics like "Fight the Man!," and inadvertently spurs members of the crowd to vandalize stores afterward. Here's Mehta's response. pic.twitter.com/tT2nuEqPAy— Roger Parloff (@rparloff) April 1, 2026 Trump getting rejected by the Barack Obama-appointed judge for claiming to be the MAGA version of Eminem sparked ridicule online. The former reality television star’s outspoken critics jumped on the chance to mock the notoriously thin-skinned politicians. One person on X responded to news of the president taking a loss in court by sarcastically tweeting, “Trump’s lawyer in his head: Damnit, that always works on Fox News. Why can’t we be holding the trial there?” “Oh snap!” exclaimed a second poster on the app. A third person made fun of Trump’s level of intelligence with a reply that stated, “When your IQ is in the 70s.”  The president’s infamous fast food obsession set up a punchline from one social media jokester who tweeted, “Maybe he meant wrapper, like all the empty McDonald’s wrappers [lying] around him.” Trump’s unsuccessful legal defense inspired a tongue-in-cheek comment on Facebook that read, “Forever to be known as the Eminem argument… Why did he not liken himself to his pal Kid Rock… lol… or Ice Cube?” Eminem turns 51 today. Easily had one of the greatest runs in Hip Hop during his prime and still going!Let’s take a look back at his ICONIC cypher 6 years ago! #HipHopAwards pic.twitter.com/EAuaWwT00e— BET (@BET) October 17, 2023 The fact that Trump was hoping to use the fictional words of a controversial Eminem-like figure as a way to avoid civil liability came as a shock, considering the real Em has been one of the president’s most vocal detractors. As far back as 2016, when Trump was just days away from winning the presidency the first time that November, Eminem released his “Campaign Speech” freestyle that included bars dissing Trump.  For instance, the Detroit-bred emcee rapped, “Consider me a dangerous man. But you should be afraid of this dang candidate. You say Trump don’t kiss ass like a puppet,  ’cause he runs his campaign with his own cash for the funding. And that’s what you wanted.” Eminem’s most famous lyrical putdown came when the Shady Records founder appeared at the 2017 BET Hip-Hop Awards during the show’s annual cypher segment. He came out of the gate saying, “That’s an awfully hot coffee pot. Should I drop it on Donald Trump? Probably not.” He closed his 4-minute-long verse by rapping, “The rest of America, stand up! We love our military, and we love our country. But we f–king hate Trump!” That cypher performance followed the “Lose Yourself” hitmaker taking shots at Trump on Big Sean’s 2017 single “No Favors,” where Em called the real estate mogul a “b—h.” Eminem introduces former President Barack Obama at Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Detroit pic.twitter.com/YVEUUb3ck6— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) October 23, 2024 The blatant criticism of Trump continued on Eminem’s 2017 album “Revival” as well as his 2018 album “Kamikaze.” In particular, the man born Marshall Mathers claimed on “The Ringer” that he got a visit from federal agents over his lyrics about the president. “These verses are making him a wee bit nervous. And he’s too scared to answer me with words ’cause he knows that he will lyrically get murdered. But I know at least he’s heard it, ’cause Agent Orange just sent the Secret Service to meet in person, to see if I really think of hurting him,” Eminem expressed on the “Kamikaze” track. It was later reported that the Secret Service did question Eminem in December 2017, but after meeting with the rap legend’s lawyers the agency declined to refer the matter to federal prosecutors.  While his ill feelings for Trump have been made clear over the last decade, Em has been very supportive of the Democrats. He even campaigned with Obama at a rally for then-Vice President Kamala Harris during a 2024 presidential campaign stop in Detroit. ‘Oh Snap’: Trump Tries to Sound Like a Rapper in Court to Explain Jan. 6 Riot— The Judge Lets It Play Out, Then Shuts it Down With One Bar ...read more read less