Karma

I haven't posted about the Kavanaugh drama -- not because I've failed to notice its importance, but because it's being covered so heavily on political blogs and news sites that there seemed little left to say that wasn't already being said.  I've also been riveted by the much larger story which has erupted within the Catholic Church with the new revelations and fury over the molestation cover-up scandals.  What happens with the US Supreme Court affects only one country, whereas the Catholic Church's power reaches dozens of countries.

But it is an unendurable provocation to see the right-wing internet adopting a stance of oblivious self-righteousness about the Kavanaugh battle, as they are now increasingly doing (example), and especially to see McConnell himself denounce the accusations as a "shameful smear campaign", insinuating not only that the accusers are lying but that Democrats are depraved in making an issue of them at all.

A specter is haunting this confirmation fight, one that Republicans are struggling mightily to ignore -- the specter of Merrick Garland.  When McConnell and his gang refused to even consider Garland, they crossed a very fundamental line, denying President Obama the exercise of one of the most important powers of the office with which he had twice been entrusted by the voters.  (The claimed need to "wait for the election" was entirely specious -- a President is elected to a four-year term and is expected to exercise the full powers of the office during that entire term.  Senators who are up for re-election do not refrain from voting during their last year in office on such grounds.)  They showed that the Constitution, tradition, and playing by the rules meant nothing to them -- that it was all about power at any cost.  They showed that they were dead to any sense of shame or honor.

And in doing so, they lost any right to be treated honorably.

I believe Ford, Ramirez, and the others now starting to come forward are probably telling the truth about Kavanaugh.  The costs to them of speaking out are enormous -- Ford is already getting death threats from the slavering Morlocks who make up the core of Trump's support, and the accusers will probably never feel really safe for the rest of their lives.  And Ford has behaved like someone who is telling the truth.  Granted, if Kavanaugh were on trial for the assaults he's accused of, what we've seen so far would not meet the standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt that we rightly demand for a conviction.  But he's not on trial.  He's not at risk of going to prison.  We are entitled to judge by what the evidence suggests is most likely to be true.  And so is the Senate, and so are the voters to whom the Senators are answerable.

But even beyond all that, McConnell is simply in no position to call anything or anyone "shameful", ever again.  Nor are those who conspired with him to deny Garland a hearing, or those who tried to defend that action.

If the Kavanaugh nomination collapses and Democrats win control of the Senate, they should reject any other nominees Trump (or Pence) sends them, even though it means holding Kennedy's seat vacant for over two years.  In this case, two wrongs really do make a right -- in fact, that would be the only way of making this right.  The Republicans have shown that they will do whatever they have the raw power to get away with.  There must be payback in kind.  And their move to shift the Court to the right, illegitimately made possible by that power play, must be thwarted.

(The only circumstance in which the Senate should confirm a Trump nomination to the Court is if Trump re-nominates Garland, thus himself righting the wrong done by McConnell -- something I can safely say is drastically unlikely.)

Many people hope that someday moderation and compromise will return to the government and end the politics of raw power.  But in order for that to happen, the Republicans need to be shown that there's a massive price to be paid for what they've been doing.  It is pointless to declare peace before the aggressor has surrendered or at least shown a real willingness to negotiate.

In the meantime, Trump and the Senate Republicans (and most of the wingnut internet) seem determined to cling to Kavanaugh and ride out the storm.  Let them.  The longer they lie down with this dog, the more fleas they will get.  And if they bulldoze a confirmation vote through, to make this a done deal before any more accusers and evidence can surface -- well, those accusers and evidence will surface anyway, and the Senators who voted to deny them their say will find that they can't deny the voters their say.  Some of them have enough of those slavering Morlocks among their constituents to win regardless.  Some don't.  They'll learn that raw power cuts both ways.