As for Trump appointing conservative ideologues to the Supreme Court, that was kind of the point. There are areas where Trump does his own thing in opposition to conservative Republicans, like trade; and areas where he allows the conservative Republicans to get what they want, like judicial appointments. And despite all the talk from the Republicans about appointing originalist judges who merely "call balls & strikes" rather than being activists on the bench, what they really want are judges (and Supreme Court Justices) who will advance a conservative agenda and continue to advance that agenda even when Democrats are the majority in Congress or are in The White House.
Television favorites such as Senator Ben Sasse suggest that Trump could have avoided the problems with Kavanaugh if he had nominated a different judge, particularly a woman. But Trump and the Republicans didn't just want a qualified jurist, they wanted someone who would be loyal, the benchmark by which all Trump appointees are appraised. So it is hardly shocking that Trump and his allies in the Senate would dig in their heels against any and all opposition, no matter what came up; that they would hide 90% of documentation regarding his political activities behind presidential executive privilege; that even a credible accusation of sexual assault would not deter them.
Sure, some of them gave the appearance of believing Dr. Ford, but even if she were believed 100%, there was no way that this key appointee would be voted down, there is no way that the Republicans, and more importantly Trump, would suffer defeat at the hands of "the Left". It's not that some of them didn't believe, but it's that they didn't care. Getting Kavanaugh confirmed outweighed all other considerations.
And why is anyone surprised at the backlash against Dr. Ford? Trump has never shied away from insulting and demeaning those who stand against them. He started off attempting to sound even-handed, but quickly moved to his usual mode, mocking her at a rally and calling her testimony a Democratic hit job. And of course Republican Senators started piling on as well, including the implausible explanation by Senator Collins that she believed that Dr. Ford had been assaulted, just not by Justice Kavanaugh. They all quickly moved from skepticism about Dr. Ford's account to being unalterably convinced that she was lying. Is anyone surprised at that? Once the deal was struck, every opponent must be demonized.
Is anyone surprised that Trump got laughs and applause when he mocked Dr. Ford? That a percentage of Americans are more worried about false accusations, which are statistically insignificant, than actual sexual assault? And finally, is any surprised that some of us are outraged? That we have taken to accosting elected officials in airports and restaurants, blocking streets and disrupting Congressional hearings?
What are you going to do about it? Be outraged, accost, block, protest, yell, disrupt...do all those things, but don't forget to do one thing:
Vote.
No comments:
Post a Comment