Judge Brett Kavanaugh saved his nomination with a spellbinding indictment of the Senate, the Democratic Party, irresponsible press coverage, and a moral takedown of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her scheming staff. It was an emotionally raw appeal to what is still good in a country that is near the brink.
Like many Americans, I watched all I possibly could, but also recoiled at the horror of it all. At the end, I was emotionally drained, physically tired and spiritually alarmed about how we will handle our divisions. Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh are good people, and to watch them in pain for the world to see was really too much to take.{mosads}
If you love politics and Congress, this last hearing had all the drama and awkward dynamics imaginable. At least two preening Democratic presidential contenders, along with a handful of GOP presidential also-rans, a crusty veteran committee chairman and tales of wild, violent sexual escapades all made for riveting television.
I love politics but I despise how we have come to play it. I am deeply worried that the Democratic Party is now controlled by a radicalized core that believes the only good Republican is a humiliated Republican. I worry that my own party too often talks a big game but fails to follow through, or to mean what it tells the voters.
The hardcore left wants to drive conservatives from society or force us to hunker down in our homes. Restaurants are invaded, cabinet secretaries are harassed at their homes; anyone who dares to support President Trump is alternately a racist, a fascist or someone who puts their personal interests over their country’s interest. This revolting behavior is a demonstration that a political disagreement is now a triggering act of aggression.
This harassment is unacceptable and un-American. President Trump himself cleverly said that George Washington would not survive a Supreme Court confirmation. The president may have forgotten that these hyper-charged radicals actually want George Washington to be stricken from history.
For my entire life, conservatives have complained that GOP picks for the Supreme Court have been uneven. As a younger man I watched nominee Robert Bork being attacked by the liberals of yesterday and by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who persists. What was Bork’s fundamental weakness? He would have been the fifth vote on the Supreme Court to restore a constitutional order of original intent. Which means the nation’s highest court couldn’t just make it all up as it went along and follow the guidance of the New York Times editorial page, which I sometimes read after a dousing of holy water and a jigger of gin.
The Democrats mauled the character and record of Judge Bork, then they took after Judge Doug Ginsberg, and finally relented when Judge Anthony Kennedy was picked by President Reagan. Justice Kennedy went on to become the latest version of a Republican pick who was there only when we didn’t actually need him. I have attended more dinners saluting Anthony Kennedy which always reminded me that justices who simply interpret the words of the Constitution do not get awards, they get mocked.
In the intervening years there has been a certain Supreme Court détente, as presidents filled Supreme Court openings with new candidates resembling the formers. Finally, the Kennedy retirement gave President Trump the chance to right the wrong of turning Bork into a verb instead of a justice. Trump knew the deal he cut with conservatives, and he was willing to wade into the fight because he adores two things: fighting and keeping promises.
However, the left knew that Trump filling this opening would add a fifth justice to the “conservative” bloc, which they believe would place the killing of unborn children and other barbarisms in legal jeopardy. Of course, Democrats minimize abortion with the spin of “safe, legal and rare” when, in practice, it is bloody, sketchy and epidemic.
Conversely, for most conservatives the fight for Kavanaugh has less to do with abortion and more to do with the arrogance of a federal bench that intervenes in almost every aspect of our lives including, literally, the air we breathe.
The American people are divided. The Kavanaugh hearings only made things more radioactive. The one good aspect is that my friends from the Bush/Cheney administration have mostly realized that the hatred extended to Trump is an extension of the hatred made manifest during the second Bush 43 term. We are all the hunted, even when you are the class of the field like my friend, Judge Kavanaugh.
It will come as no surprise that, as a political partisan, I want to win in November. But when my party is complicit in the rise of bigger government or the destruction of constitutional principles, I hope voters send them a message. After the gaudy display of mendacity toward Judge Kavanaugh, I find myself wondering if the voters in November may wish to send the radicals a message. Perhaps they like the idea of divided government — but not at the price of stoking the hatred demonstrated by Feinstein and her Democratic colleagues.
The great irony is that, if Republicans stick together and keep their 50-year promise about a Supreme Court ruled by constitutionalists by confirming Brett Kavanaugh, they actually may be rewarded with a larger Senate majority and barely hold a House majority. It is possible, but only because a new fighting president picked a future justice who would not fold.
Now the question is, can the Republican Party stick together, and can the Democratic Party get the message? Each are rare, and each are desperately needed.
Matt Schlapp is chairman of the American Conservative Union and CPAC. He was the White House political director to former President George W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @mschlapp.