Your conclusion that he's an idiot is based upon the reaction of the courtroom spectators and the resulting loss of etiquette due to the generated laughter.

I'm quite sure he had absolutely no inclination or belief that such an act would result in hyesterics by the gallery. The "slap" was hardly significant and it occurred exactly at the point where the judge congratulated the performance of the attorney.

The judge reacted to the behavior of the gallery and penalized the individual because of the response of the gallery. If the gallery did not respond, the judge would not have acted..........be sure of that.

So, we have a judge that makes a ruling based upon the response of the spectators. How fair is that?