During Donald Trump’s highly vitriolic campaign in 2016, he constantly revved up his angry base, especially the seriously misguided evangelicals, by promising to nominate a Justice to the Supreme Court who could definitely be relied on to overrule Roe v. Wade.
That’s why he nominated Brett Kavanaugh to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has, for many years, had at the top of his agenda to use all the considerable powers of his office to place very conservative judges and Justices in the federal judiciary, to thwart the common-sense desires of the American people.
Initially, Judge Kavanaugh received the most favorable rating from the American Bar Association.
But that was before the very courageous Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at Stanford Medical School, publicly alleged that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when she was fifteen.
Yesterday, in a context in which she had never previously been tested, Professor Blasey Ford testified sincerely about how a drunken Kavanaugh tried to rape her, while Kavanaugh and his similiarly inebriated friend Mark Judge yukked it up.
Then Kavanaugh testified in response to Blasey Ford’s allegations. He erupted in anger, calling the efforts of Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee highly partisan and designed to get back at the doofus who nominated him.
Kavanaugh seemed to have forgotten that it was McConnell, in 2016, who refused to allow President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee, the well-regarded Judge Merrick Garland, even to have a hearing.
And now McConnell & Co. are rushing Kavanaugh through because they know full well that Donald Trump is the worst albatross they could possibly have as the leader of their political party. McConnell also knows that he may lose his majority in the Senate and that Congressman Tim Ryan, a 45-year old Democrat who represents Ohio’s 13th Congressional District in northeast Ohio, is more than likely to be the next Speaker of the House after Nancy Pelosi (we hope) retires.
Now the ABA has urged Senate Republicans to delay voting on Kavanaugh’s nomination so the FBI can investigate Professor Blasey Ford’s claims.
Enter Arizona’s very conservative senior senator, Jeff Flake, a Republican who has been on the outs with Trump for many months now — he’s so sick of Trump’s Swamp that he’s not running for re-election.
Sen. Flake voted today in favor of referring the Kavanaugh nomination to the full Senate. He was the swing vote. If he had voted no, as he should have, considering the high stakes involved — Kavanaugh would be dead meat. Then, Sen. Flake was conspicuously accosted by justifiably angry women in an elevator, about his midguided vote in committee — namely, to vote in favor of a man who, if the very creditable Blasey Ford is to be believed, is most likely a liar and, as we saw yesterday, highly intemperate and partisan.
Then Sen. Flake came back into the hearing room and moved for a one week delay for the FBI to investigate Blasey Ford’s claims.
Our Chief Congressional correspondent, associate solitary reporter Melissa Smith, skipped her fiive minute lunch hour today to talk with GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), as well as Democratic Senators Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), Joe Donnelly (Indiana) and Joe Mancin (West Virginia), to ask how they plan to vote on Kavanaugh.
As ASR Smith is very well known in the halls of Congress, all five senators spoke with her at the same time.
“We all believe Dr. Ford,” they said, “and Brett Kavanaugh has no place on the highest court of the land for a lifetime appointment which was designed to please Donald Trump’s base.”
ASR Smith promptly reported her findings to us and to DNC Chair Tom Perez.
Happy Days Are Here Again — until Trump’s next stupidity.