If there is a SCOTUS vacancy next year and @senatemajldr carries through on his extraordinary promise to fill it-despite his own previous precedent in blocking Garland-it will tear this country apart.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 23, 2019
No it wouldn't tear the country apart, in part because it would barely inspire Democrats to do anything but make some sassy tweets about it. Mr. McConnell, SIRRAH, the HYPOCRISY!
I remember somebody in the Obama administration complaining that when McConnell was refusing to deal with Garland, reporters were, instead of reporting on the NORMS VIOLATION, basically asking them...well, what are you going to do about it? Obama barely got mad about it. Whatever the flaws in reporting, you can't expect reporters to get mad for you. At the time everybody knew what the Obama people were going to do about Garland was... Nothing. Advantage, Mitch.
And, no, the people aren't going to take to the streets over a Supreme Court appointment. If they did half the Democrats would be on teevee rejecting this uncouth display of incivility. They don't want to lead and they don't want "the people" to do anything. They want Joe Scarborough to have an "at long last" moment and RESTORE THE NORMS AND CIVILITY.
In 2020 they can get mad at "the base" who they hate for not voting. Again.
After both of this century’s Republican presidents came to power in corrupt fashion, and as popular vote losers, then set about stacking the judiciary, the case for reversing the GOP theft of the courts couldn’t be stronger. But that work won’t start by warning McConnell he’ll “tear this country apart”—a consequence he couldn’t care less about, and may actually excite him. It will only start by resolving to use power in turn to set things right.
We will know by the end of the year which Democratic faction prevailed, but we’ll look back on the bygone season as the moment the party reached a crossroads and chose a path.