It was like election night 2016 all over again for the liberal media hit squads that tried desperately to sink Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The liberal media were so incensed that they were describing it as one of the darker times in American history and started to call the court’s legitimacy into question. During NBC’s Sunday Today, host Willie Geist was so confused by their radical tactics failing that his first question was simple: “what just happened over the last month?”
That question was actually posed to an anti-Trump panel which was not normal for the program, which shows you how much they were willing to drop the charade of objectivity. Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd wasted little in tearing into the Supreme Court as an institution. “Look, I think what happened is our polarization has now hit the Supreme Court. I mean, I think that's the simplest way to look at it,” he proclaimed.
“This idea that we battle for control of Congress, we battle for the control of the presidency and it's tearing us apart and we're polarized in doing it and now the institution of the Supreme Court which of course has had ideological battles in the past,” he continued the whine. “Now it feels like it's more partisan rather than ideological. That it has this partisan taint to it.”
None of the people Geist had on were fans of Republicans or Kavanaugh, so it was no surprise when he turned to Sophia Nelson, former counsel to the House GOP, who chided the confirmation:
This is bigger than a Supreme Court seat. This is about who we want to be, who we are as Americans and how we treat the least among us, how we treat those who have been hurt, harmed, or abused among us and how we respect and honor women when they come forward because it takes a lot of courage to say, I've been assaulted. I've been abused.
Nelson lashed out at Senators “Hatch and Grassley” and the “all-white” (because of course, they’re going to bring race into it) “all-male Republican judiciary, much of them and most of them over 70 years of age.” She attacked those men as “clueless” and decried how only one female Republican Senator (Lisa Murkowski of Alaska) “stood up”.
To round out his anti-Kavanaugh/Trump/GOP panel of jokers, Geist also brought on presidential historian Jon Meacham to give viewers “wisdom” and “hope” during this “difficult” time. “Well, I agree that -- with Chuck that this is the institutionalization of tribalism on the court in many ways,” he bemoaned. He noted what he seemed to suggest was the irony of this coming from a “70, 80-year cycle” starting with FDR trying to pack the courts in opposition of Republicans.
Meacham huffed about how back then the public said “no, we want the court to somehow be above politics” but “now it is very much part and parcel of our politics.” Turning up the dramatics, the historian noted that “it doesn’t feel like that right now,” but “as long as we are in a moment of crisis decide to do the right thing, then the journey toward a more perfect union continues.”
With the liberal media’s/Democrats’ vile tactics and the confirmation kicking the Republicans into overdrive ahead of the midterm elections, Todd tried desperately to throw cold water on the situation and pretend the left wasn’t in trouble.
“I think the Republicans are hoping that what has been this brief moment of unity between sort of the Bush-wing of the party or the Trump-wing of the party, where they all unified in this moment to get behind Kavanaugh,” he said in a dismissive tone. “[R]arely do voters show up to the polls to say thank you. Usually, the voters show up to say something-else you in anger."
Trying to paint the rosiest of pictures for Democrats, he laughably suggested that the GOP could lose even more seats in the House now than they were before. Sorry to break it to you Chuck, but the voters showing up to the polls in November to say “something-else you in anger” will be the Republicans.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC
Sunday Today
October 7, 2018
8:07:50 a.m. EasternWILLIE GEIST: Chuck, let me start with you and a very broad question. Now that he's been confirmed and sworn in, what just happened over the last month?
CHUCK TODD: Whoosh, and you're supposed to answer that quick and concise and make it so it's easy for you. Look, I think what happened is our polarization has now hit the Supreme Court. I mean, I think that's the simplest way to look at it. This idea that we battle for control of Congress, we battle for the control of the presidency and it's tearing us apart and we're polarized in doing it and now the institution of the Supreme Court which of course has had ideological battles in the past, now it feels like it's more partisan rather than ideological. That it has this partisan taint to it.
And I think the one thing we haven't fully comprehended is: if this is how we're going to conduct supreme court hearings going forward, it means that at any point in time depending on which party has appointed the most at any point in time, half the country is going to think it's a political decision out of the Supreme Court not a rule of law decision. The long-term consequences of that we haven't fully comprehended.
GEIST: Sophia, you and I have talked about this. I can say you generally had an open mind about Brett Kavanaugh going into this process. You were critical of some of the Democrats' tactics used throughout the process. What changed your mind about Brett Kavanaugh?
SOPHIA NELSON: Well, Dr. Ford's testimony changed my mind and reading the tens of thousands of why I didn't report hashtags on Twitter and Facebook and just understanding that we're in a moment right now that I don't think we really comprehend, Willie, in that we -- this is bigger than a Supreme Court seat. This is about who we want to be, who we are as Americans and how we treat the least among us, how we treat those who have been hurt, harmed, or abused among us and how we respect and honor women when they come forward because it takes a lot of courage to say, I've been assaulted. I've been abused. And to stand in front of literally the whole world which she had to do and then for the Republicans, from the President to Senator Collins to demean her the way they're demeaning her. To say, “Well, we think she was assaulted just not by Brett Kavanaugh.” She said she was 100 percent sure when senator Durbin asked her about her recollection, 100 percent and we've taken that and said, “Well, we think you were assaulted. We're sure something happened but you're mistaken, you're confused about who it is.” I think that’s wrong and that’s why I changed my mind.
GEIST: We need a little Jon Meacham wisdom this morning. In your book Jon, The Soul of America, you say, not that the current times are not difficult but that we've been through worst times before and there are ways out of difficult times as a country. How are you feeling this morning?
JON MEACHAM: Well, I agree that -- with Chuck that this is the institutionalization of tribalism on the court in many ways. This is the culmination of about a 70, 80-year cycle that started with FDR trying to pack the court in the late '30s because he didn't like the Republican appointees. What's so interesting about that is the country revolted against it. They just elected FDR by carrying every state except Maine and Vermont but the country said, no, we want the court to somehow be above politics. Now it is very much part and parcel of our politics.
The difference is that, I mean, the reason for hope here is that as long as we react -- the institutions we believe in and that is the presidency, the press, the court, the Congress, and all of us, the people, as long as we are in a moment of crisis decide to do the right thing, then the journey toward a more perfect union continues. It doesn’t feel like that right now, but if we've been talking during the McCarthy era, if we had been talking about Watergate even Iran-Contra, we would have been gloomy. And I just think there's something about what Winston Churchill said which is that “you can always count on Americans to do the right thing after we've exhausted every other possibility.”
GEIST: Right. So Chuck, let's talk about the nuts and bolts of this. There is no question this is another big win for President Trump. He’s got two Supreme Court justices in 20 months in office. He’s got Mitch McConnell to thank for hammering this through. Whether or not you like his tactics, he’s got on his record two more Supreme Court justices on the court. What does this do to the mid-term elections where the Democratic energy has been so high but Donald Trump last night at the rally saying, look, we're doing well here. Let's get out to the polls and win.
TODD: Well look, I think the Republicans are hoping that what has been this brief moment of unity between sort of the Bush-wing of the party or the Trump-wing of the party, where they all unified in this moment to get behind Kavanaugh, that it will propel the election. But I go back to something I’ve referred to a few times over the last week, which is, rarely do voters show up to the polls to say thank you. Usually, the voters show up to say something-else you in anger, so can they sustain it? That said, I do think we may look back on election night if Republicans hold the Senate, and we'll say Kavanaugh saved the Senate for the Republicans. But it’s also equally as likely that the Democratic gains in the House are actually bigger than we thought simultaneously. Both are possible given the unusual geography of the battles of the House and Senate this year.
GEIST: Sophia, this vote -- both of these votes over the weekend, first the procedural vote and the confirmation came on the one year anniversary of the publication of the #MeToo article from The New York Times that launched this movement. As an American woman, how do you feel this morning? And if you put all those pieces together over the last year, where are we?
NELSON: Well, I have a piece out today on NBC Think that I want to encourage everybody to read because I'm disappointed as a moderate Republican woman that six Republican women Senators, only one of them, Lisa Murkowski, stood up. Now that doesn't mean that women don't have agency and we can’t make up our minds about who we want to support for the Supreme Court. I'm not saying that. But I think that the Republican Party misses the #MeToo movement and the impact of it, the shift from 1991 from Thomas and Hill to Kavanaugh and Ford.
It's a big shift when you look at Hatch and Grassley and the optics of the all-white all-male Republican judiciary, much of them and most of them over 70 years of age. They're clueless and they don't understand so they call the protesters names and they don't understand as Jon writes in his book, dissent and democracy is all about us having the right to speak up. The right to disagree. And it's a good thing for America. And as a woman in America, I'm disappointed in where we still are not. We've come a long way but, baby, we have a long way to go. That's real apparent after this vote.
