How Kavanaugh’s Confirmation Finally United The Right Under Trump: Trumpism is now the unregretted tattoo that altered the Republican coalition, making it edgier, more rugged, and more relentless in pursuing its policy objectives.
It is not hard to imagine a President Jeb Bush nominating Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is difficult, however, to imagine Bush sticking with Kavanaugh through the fire his confirmation process became. That difference is why Republican enthusiasm for the midterm elections, which had been lagging, now is on steroids and might stay that way.
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Confronted with a liberal self-styled “resistance” movement — whose very name reeks of the virtue-signaling that galls the right — Trump responded in kind. Left-wingers march in the streets and chase prominent conservatives out of restaurants; he bows his back and marches Kavanaugh onto the bench for a lifetime. Liberals feel better for a weekend; pragmatic conservatives get to feel vindicated for decades. Good trade.
Trump not only refused to rescind Kavanaugh’s nomination when the confirmation process got rocky—as both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush had done with flagging nominees—he barnstormed the country and held campaign rallies in jam-packed basketball arenas rallying his coalition behind Kavanaugh. After playing nice for a handful of surprisingly diplomatic days, enabling a judiciary committee hearing to fairly hear the allegations against Kavanaugh, Trump retrieved his megaphone from its holster and unleashed ... By last Saturday’s confirmation vote, this episode was not even predominantly about Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford; it was a tectonic struggle between the voters’ chosen Republican government and the ruthless Democratic minority seeking to topple it by any means necessary.
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The price for Republicans of enduring Trump’s cringe-worthy moments can be high, but the product that has to date come with that price — a more muscular GOP every bit as willing to match the gladiator tactics of Democrats like Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Bernie Sanders — is one many conservatives are increasingly content to pay.
The completion of Kavanaugh’s confirmation on the eve of the midterm elections is a gift to Republicans even bigger than one justice, even a justice the cements a 5-4 conservative majority on the court. It’s the gift of common purpose.
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Confronted with a liberal self-styled “resistance” movement — whose very name reeks of the virtue-signaling that galls the right — Trump responded in kind. Left-wingers march in the streets and chase prominent conservatives out of restaurants; he bows his back and marches Kavanaugh onto the bench for a lifetime. Liberals feel better for a weekend; pragmatic conservatives get to feel vindicated for decades. Good trade.
Trump not only refused to rescind Kavanaugh’s nomination when the confirmation process got rocky—as both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush had done with flagging nominees—he barnstormed the country and held campaign rallies in jam-packed basketball arenas rallying his coalition behind Kavanaugh. After playing nice for a handful of surprisingly diplomatic days, enabling a judiciary committee hearing to fairly hear the allegations against Kavanaugh, Trump retrieved his megaphone from its holster and unleashed ... By last Saturday’s confirmation vote, this episode was not even predominantly about Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford; it was a tectonic struggle between the voters’ chosen Republican government and the ruthless Democratic minority seeking to topple it by any means necessary.
...
The price for Republicans of enduring Trump’s cringe-worthy moments can be high, but the product that has to date come with that price — a more muscular GOP every bit as willing to match the gladiator tactics of Democrats like Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Bernie Sanders — is one many conservatives are increasingly content to pay.
The completion of Kavanaugh’s confirmation on the eve of the midterm elections is a gift to Republicans even bigger than one justice, even a justice the cements a 5-4 conservative majority on the court. It’s the gift of common purpose.