PUTNEY — One of the greatest political travesties of the last few years that will have the largest and most lasting impact was the ability of the Republicans to block President Obama's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Obama nominated an individual with impeccable credentials who was far from a liberal firebrand. That he was not even considered because (GOP leaders said) the president had (only!) most of his final quarter of his second term - that is incredible.
However, what I found even more incredible was the acquiescence to this bullying that the Democrats showed.
Whether or not lawmakers could have prevented it, I believe all stops should have been pulled, all methods tried, to exert influence over the Republicans. Maybe they needed to threaten to reveal “dirt” on someone or simply tie up legislation that was important to certain key Republicans.
But, of course, nothing like that happened, and so now we have many vitally important Supreme Court decisions being decided on slim 5–4 margins. Precedent is being set in matters of voting rights, privacy rights, gerrymandering, and other realms, with corporate power winning time after time, against ordinary citizens and unions.
And now with the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, the situation is becoming substantially worse.
And I see the Democrats doing the same thing as before - rolling over and playing dead!
Frankly, I do not see how our elected officials have not been saying at the outset that we cannot have this president nominating a judge to our highest court! Trump has multiple lawsuits against him, as well as a major one against his foundation by the state of New York alleging major illegal and unethical operations and an ongoing investigation into whether this presidency is tainted by treasonous actions. (It has already been shown that it is tainted due to influence wielded by a foreign power.)
Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation has already yielded several confessions and many indictments. And with the confession of his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, Trump is currently an unindicted co-conspirator in high crimes and misdemeanors! How does this illegitimate, compromised president get to nominate someone to our top court?
Then, of course, there is the travesty and embarrassment of Trump's Helsinki debacle. He stands next to a dictator, one who his own intelligence community has said multiple times tried to influence our elections, and basically says, “I believe him - over my own people!”
This treasonous real estate developer and reality TV star - who is obviously the obedient lapdog of one of our clearest adversaries - must be stopped from successfully installing another judge! Please, legislators, try to do something to prevent this Supreme Court nomination from proceeding. Anything.
This is our darkest hour. The damage Trump has done already to our nation, its values, our environment, our discourse, and our alliances has been immense. As Winston Churchill made clear, when fighting for a just cause, even a failed attempt is better than no attempt.