This just in: Trump is a vulgar lout. Oh, wait. We knew that. But at least he’s not Clinton. Oh, wait – we knew that, too.
Every woman inundated with campaign phone calls and palm cards and TV commercials and web ads about how one or the other is better for women ought to be throwing up right about now.
ButButBut the Supreme Court! I know the next President will set the Court’s tone for a generation. I don’t trust Trump to get it right any more than I trust Clinton. Her judgment is manifestly destructive; his is manifestly awful. I cannot kid myself that simply voting not-Hillary is going to save the Republic. After this election, hemlock is going to be the only thing on the menu for SCOTUS watchers.
Unless the Senate does its job, that is. That’s going to mean independent Senators who see both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for who they are, and who owe neither one of them anything. The Senate is going to be a firewall against malice and stupidity and coldblooded calculation by whomever is President.
Senate candidates might as well practice now for the pressure. Kelly Ayotte and Maggie Hassan could start by repudiating their parties’ respective presidential nominees.
I know Hassan won’t. She and Hillary Clinton are joined at the hip. There is no way she would ever vote against a Clinton nominee to SCOTUS. Pass the hemlock.
That leaves Kelly Ayotte, whose support for Trump has always been comical. It’s obvious to every voter that she can’t stand the guy, whom she tolerates only because he’s the GOP nominee.
Here’s something that will take everyone’s mind off the condom bowl, Senator: repudiate Trump. Quit holding your nose so much. That’s gotta hurt.
I’m a New Hampshire voter, and Trump doesn’t speak for me. He’s as cringeworthy as Clinton. Does he have the same effect on you? Say so. (If he doesn’t, say that, too. The world wonders.) You’re a U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, and you weren’t elected to follow some ticket-topper over a cliff. You might even find that independent voters will respect you for not following a creature just because he’s wearing a GOP button.
The Senate is the ONLY thing standing between us and a thoroughly awful Court. Maggie Hassan’s a party operative first, last, and always. You just might be willing to be something other than a rubber stamp. Show your mettle now.
By the way, when are you going to make Hassan own her own candidate, Hillary Clinton? Hassan has no problem tying you to Trump and all his detritus. I’ve yet to hear you demand that Hassan explain Clinton’s missing emails, contempt for the right to life, or treatment of Juanita Broaddrick et al. Don’t be shy.
Nothing I say is going to change the mind of dedicated Trump backers who think he’s going to save the Court. I’ll wager, though, that you don’t count yourself as part of that company.
If you won’t put Trump in his place now, then you won’t be able to stand up to the pressure of protecting the integrity and independence of the U.S. judiciary after the election, regardless of who wins. More likely, you’ll hand the Senate seat to another Clinton ally to join Senator Shaheen.
C’mon, Senator Ayotte. Our daughters deserve better. And I hate hemlock.
