SAN DIEGO — Are we winning yet? Donald Trump promised that — if he were elected president once, let alone twice — Americans would start winning so much that we'd get tired of it.

Part of that scenario came true. President Trump and his band of outlaws are exhausting. That's the point. By generating chaos and creating distractions, Trump keeps critics off balance.

Yet the Trump gang has very little experience with winning, at least not in federal court. The Trump administration is on a losing streak with the judicial branch, and it might as well get used to coming out on the short end. With the White House promising to be even more aggressive going forward, the idea of people in black robes having to rein in the federal government for going too far will likely become the new normal.

Naturally, this will not sit well with those conservatives who resent that federal judges — a group of people who are not elected and thus are not accountable to voters — have assumed for themselves so much power to derail and subvert Trump's agenda.

Someone slept through their eighth grade civics class. Here's a recap: The fact that federal judges don't have to go before the voters — and thus aren't susceptible to pressure from the mob — is precisely why the framers of the Constitution entrusted them with so much power. It's the only way the system works in a constitutional republic.

Besides, it should be noted that those conservatives do not show the same resentment toward federal judges when they agree with their rulings, as when a Republican-controlled Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade or eliminated affirmative action in college admissions.

It's only when they're on the losing end of a court ruling that conservatives cry foul. Recently, due to the Trump administration's heavy-handed immigration policies — which have been challenged by civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and public officials such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom — there has been an epidemic of losing.

First, U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb temporarily blocked the administration from rapidly deporting without a hearing undocumented immigrants who are detained away from the U.S.-Mexico border. Cobb wrote that the administration's policy of expanding a practice known as "expedited removal" — which has often been used to deport migrants detained at or near the U.S.-Mexico border — doesn't provide due process to those who are detained inside the country and "creates a significant risk of erroneous removal."

Next, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan temporarily blocked flights from Texas filled with migrant children who were being sent back to their native Guatemala. Sooknanan said the administration was violating the law and putting the children in danger. These Guatemalan children had arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents or guardians. They will remain in the United States for at least two weeks while the legal battle continues, according to the judge's ruling.

Then, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer declared that Trump's use of nearly 5,000 National Guard troops and about 700 U.S. Marines in Los Angeles was illegal. According to Breyer, the deployment — which was overseen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 which prohibits the U.S. military from engaging in domestic law enforcement. That include searches, arrests, interrogation and crowd control. Breyer warned against "creating a national police force with the President as its chief."

Finally, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that Trump unlawfully invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify swiftly deporting Venezuelan migrants. A 2-to-1 majority rejected Trump's reliance on the archaic law to remove alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The judges concluded that the fact that the gang members were in the United States did not constitute the kind of "predatory incursion" (read: invasion) that lawmakers had in mind when they drafted the statute.

That's a lot of hand-slapping. But don't expect Trump to see the error of his ways and correct course. The administration will probably appeal all these rulings, as well as any others down the road that they don't agree with.

After all, Trump is not about to let a little thing like being wrong interfere with his crusade to put America on what he believes is the right path.

To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Wesley Tingey at Unsplash