David Axelrod, speculating on the likelihood of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's imminent death or disablement--in other words, the likelihood that she is not much longer for the SCOTUS bench--tweeted a few days ago:
David Axelrod
@davidaxelrod
If there is a SCOTUS vacancy next year and @senatemajldr [i.e., Mitch McConnell] carries through on his extraordinary promise to fill it-despite his own previous precedent in blocking Garland-it will tear this country apart.
11:49 AM - 23 Aug 2019
I take that as essentially a threat rather than a warning. And it's a threat that is overwhelmingly likely to backfire in a major way against the Dems.
Consider the public revulsion against the treatment of Brett Kavanaugh--the Dems did themselves no favors with those antics. Presumably the Trump legal team has been vetting candidates ever since and will have another solid choice ready. We know from polling that the SCOTUS issue is always a winner for the GOP, and that it played a significant role in Trump's victory in 2016. If the Dems attempt to tear this country apart, as they attempted in the Kavanaugh hearings, if they once again attempt to stage a lynching the public revulsion might well lead to a Trump landslide.
The betting is that Amy Coney Barrett will be the next nominee. The spectacle of a qualified mother being savaged by the likes of Maizie Hirono and Dick Blumenthal for the crimes of being not only an articulate conservative, a Catholic, amd a mother as well will, IMO, make the backlash occasioned by the Kavanaugh hearings pale in comparison.
