First, I was always of the view-because I vote on this issue, that the President gets his pick for SCOTUS unless there are severe and troubling issues that make the nominee unqualified to serve. I thought that when Ronald Reagan was President and I thought it when Barack Obama was President!
Second, the GOP abuse of power and the SCOTUS nomination stolen from Obama changed all that and was a death blow to any semblance of fair play. Mitch McConnell will go down in history as a detestable figure, who stood in the way of what is right in support of the evil lunatic in the White House and he continues to crap all over comity in the Senate, eschewing norms practiced for decades. The payoff was his wife’s cabinet position, among other things.
Third, one of the pretextual reasons by the GOP in 2016 was that a nominee replacing Justice Scalia should mirror his legal mindset. I don’t hear calls for that now from the GOP regarding Justice Kennedy’s successor!
Fourth, odds are really against Dems but every effort needs to be made to respond to this situation by using every available option against a Trump nominee. Lobbying GOP Senators might be our best option but given the tactics of the GOP in 2016 we need to do whatever is necessary. I will leave what that is to smarter heads than mine!
Fifth, the notion that we should let the people speak in 2016 and not let them speak in the midterms is extremely hypocritical, disgusting, and offends any sense of fair play.
Sixth, Donald Trump is under federal investigation for obstruction of justice as well as collusion with a foreign adversary, who he continues to romance. This raises significant questions regarding the legitimacy of his election and standing as President. Taking a page of what Trump had to say about Hillary Clinton’s right to be President and McConnell’s threat that if Hillary were elected he would keep the vacant SCOTUS seat open for four years-this is a firm foundation to fight hard to prevent his appointing a Justice to a lifetime appointment. In others words, let Bob Mueller be heard!
Each day our Founders are rolling quicker and quicker in their graves.
And although my progressive friends might say to me, as the fictional character Victor Laszlo said to Rick Blaine in “Casablanca” in analogous times-“welcome back to the fight-this is not about where the collaborator Sarah Huckabee Sanders can eat dinner with her family!
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