Collins decides: Yes on Kavanaugh - The Washington Post
by Jennifer Rubin
In a 40-plus-minute speech on the Senate floor, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins did precisely what many had suspected she would do all along: She announced her support for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, opening the way for Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) to cast a “safe” vote in support as well. What was surprising was the length, incoherence and self-delusion evident in Collins’s oration. She waxed lyrical about his devotion to the law, suggested he could be another Justice David Souter and proclaimed that he would de-politicize the court. She believed Christine Blasey Ford, but not as much as she believed Kavanaugh. (Huh?!) She insinuated that the appearance of questionable claims against Kavanaugh made Ford’s allegation less credible. It’s one thing to cast a safe vote; it’s another to embarrass oneself and sound gullible about a nominee who revealed his partisan stripes.
With the benefit of hindsight, I suspect we will come to view the confirmation process for Kavanaugh in much the same way we view Donald Trump’s election: One side understands the national id, while the other hopes, somehow, to tap into a sense of national indignation or righteousness that will pull us back and restrain our worst impulses. In the end, tribalism usually wins.
Republicans tried for a time to make reasoned arguments for Kavanaugh based on experience. They whined about late-breaking facts when Ford’s letter became public. Ultimately, Republicans knew they could not prevail that way. They’ve fed their base a steady diet of anger and resentment; they now cannot subsist without it. As in 2016, Republicans had to electrify their base and make supporting Kavanaugh not only acceptable but indeed necessary for Republicans’ political survival. That meant smearing the victim, raging at the media and appealing to white male resentment.
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