Never-Trumper David French writes a good column. But if he had his way Hillary would now be in office and SCOTUS would be lost to conservatives for a generation or more. (Do you really think Jeb! could have beaten Hillary? Be serious.)
But like I said, French writes a good game:
After all, for an immense number of base GOP voters, judges aren’t just an issue. They’re the issue that drives them to the polls. Republicans are all over the place on immigration policy, trade policy, and foreign policy. Divisions in the party are deep and real. Those divisions disappear when judges are on the line. We can debate all we want about Russian influence on the 2016 election (or about the effect of the Comey letter), but one thing is certain — if Evangelicals and other conservatives weren’t afraid of the impact of a progressive Supreme Court on their fundamental liberties, Donald Trump doesn’t win. A new Supreme Court pick will galvanize the entire base for months.
And let’s not forget that this pick is landing in the middle of one of the most toxic political environments in generations. Progressives believe that Justice Gorsuch sits in a “stolen” seat. Many of them see Trump as an illegitimate president — for reasons that range from Russian interference to disgust at his popular-vote loss — and find it unbearable that he could not just win the presidency but also select the man who could swing the Supreme Court. Expect increasing rage. Expect more personal confrontations of senators and Trump officials. Expect the political environment to get even more toxic, perhaps dangerously so.
It would have been nice if French gave us some advice on how to counter that boiling rage and its vicious expressions. (E. g., the outrageous treatment of Nielsen, Bondi, S. H. Sanders) Should we reply in kind? Should we speak softly and carry a big stick? Should we egg on the likes of the vicious and vile Maxine Waters? What is to be done?
Recent Comments