Chuck Schumer, a political genius, has apparently hit on a wild new idea: Democrats should oppose Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Chuck Schumer is warning Democrats in the chamber that if they don’t put up a brutal fight over the next Supreme Court justice, there will be hell to pay from the Democratic base, according to senior Senate aides briefed on Schumer’s message.
You mean to tell me that Schumer politely asking Trump to nominate Merrick Garland wasn’t gonna cut it?
Again, from the Intercept (emphasis mine):
Schumer has told colleagues that reviving complaints about the Garland process will be ineffective, referring to Republicans’ refusal to consider Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. Instead the party needs to attack the nominee specifically, Schumer’s team has advised Senate offices, according to Democratic aides who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
So, if I’m getting this correctly, Senate Democrats should oppose Kavanaugh by pointing out specific things that are wrong with him, specifically, now, instead of discussing things that happened nearly two years ago? Wow, tell me more.
Whipping those Senate votes into line will require Schumer to push his colleagues in ways he never has before. “Chuck has spent his career trying to make everyone of his colleagues happy, and telling them what they want to hear,” said one Democratic senator, speaking anonymously so as not to anger the party’s Senate leader. “There’s no sense of leadership. It just [feels] as if everyone is in a big tent, just staying where they are, doing whatever they feel is in their best interests.”
Allowing each Democratic senator to do whatever they want even if it screws everyone else has not proved to be an optimal strategy, you say? Huh.
Now, some might call this extremely basic stuff. They might say that the fact that it took the Democratic leader in the Senate over 18 months of a Donald Trump presidency to figure this basic stuff out is something of a mark against him. They might even say that it proves that Chuck Schumer’s handling of Trump’s presidency has been, at best, an ineffectual disaster. But not me! You go Chuck!