Thread by @JonathanMetzl

Having interviewed GOP supporters for years - many care mainly, only, about courts. Little else matters - people I’ve interviewed literally lay down on the tracks of life for the courts. While everyone else is concerned about trumps tweets...they follow his judicial appointments

They will see this as - providence, restitution, the payoff for their sacrifice, I believe

Meanwhile the GOP has very effectively cast court-issues (guns, choice, etc) as deep identity ones - in ways Libs of often fail to understand

The people I interviewed literally gave months and years of their lives for what these issues represented -

This is, in other words, their end game -

Countering this strategy would require Democrats to be similarly singularly focused and long-game, institutionally oriented.

To fight back, the Dems need to do much more than rebut McConnell - they need to articulate with power and clarity WHY and HOW the courts are important - and to unify Dems and others around that message. As @esglaude and others rightly argue

Just calling out hypocrisy IMO wont do enough. GOP sees courts as their path to power--and its working. The Dems - to counter - need a unified vision of *why* the courts are important to their aims in ways that *unify* their base. Dems have **not done this**nearly enough

The Dems fell into the trap of thinking that the 'southern strategy' was about the south, and neat dividing lines would be respected. In fact - its aim was......us.

Ie, to fight back - Dems need a clear, unifying, long-game strategy **that works w/in the system.** End filibuster, expand SCOTUS, term limits. Breaking news - you need to be in power to do any of that, otherwise you're always the resistance. Ie, lets keep mobilizing, urgently