Thread by @aliamjadrizvi

I don’t understand this naïveté around hoping that some Republicans will “do the right thing” and vote against moving ahead with filling RBG’s seat. Even the Republicans who hate Trump are with him when it comes to the Supreme Court. It was a major motivating factor for them back

in 2016. Now they’re looking at a 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court. So WHY WOULDN’T THEY DO IT?

If the situation was reversed and Clarence Thomas had just croaked and Democrats had a chance to have a liberal majority SCOTUS just before an election where Republicans were

looking certain to win and the filibuster wasn’t a barrier, OF COURSE the Democrats would push through a nominee. They would flip flop, they would rationalize, they would do whatever they need to do to ensure it.

It is completely legal and constitutionally permissible for a lame

duck Senate to confirm a SCOTUS nominee.

One of the most astounding things about the Trump presidency is the realization that so much of the decorum of the US presidency comes from self-regulation, not legal binding:

If his party holds the majority, he can ask foreign powers for oppo research on his political opponent, he can use the presidency to benefit his own business, he can violate the Hatch Act, he can appoint his family members to senior cabinet positions, he can refuse to disclose

his tax returns, and he can ignore subpoena after subpoena after subpoena. The old adage, “Even the President is not above the law...” is objectively false. The president is clearly above the law. Everyone around him can go to jail on felony charges but he stays standing.

Trump

has exposed this, and it won’t be going back to normal anytime soon. This has been normalized beyond anyone’s imagination.

So everyone should really stop talking about how Republicans need to do the conscionable thing here. They don’t need to and they won’t.

Don’t be surprised if Romney goes along with the vote. Don’t be surprised if Susan Collins goes back on her word that she won’t vote to confirm. This has nothing to do with Trump. This has to do with a 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court, which is a wet dream come true for

Republicans.

The Biden campaign should put up a fight and express its displeasure, sure. But they need to stop dragging this news cycle out and focus back on the pandemic. There are many Republicans and independents voting for Biden because they hate how Trump handled COVID...

Change the conversation to how Obamacare will be gone and Roe v Wade overturned, and you’re handing them an argument to vote for Trump on a platter.

The GOP will drag this out, all eyes will be on the nominee, live hearings will happen and take away valuable media time from the

election, Kamala Harris will be pulled off the road and into the Judiciary Committee, and all of this plays into the Trumpanzees’ hands.

Look, just like we all knew the impeachment thing was useless because the Senate would never convict Trump, we all know resisting this is

useless because Republicans absolutely can and will confirm a new conservative SCOTUS judge before January 20. Use this to raise cash (which has worked dramatically well) and boost turnout, but aside from that, let this go and bring the focus back on the pandemic.

One more thing—an unpopular opinion: put on your masks and sanitizer and GO VOTE IN PERSON.

Seriously.

Remember, if Trump throws a tantrum about the mail-in ballots if he loses, and the case goes to the Supreme Court, he’ll have a 6-3 majority potentially siding with him.

Bush v Gore 2000 will be nothing compared to the scale of what could happen here. So forget mail-in ballots, unless you absolutely have to. (Remember, mail-in ballots are also rejected at far higher rates than in-person ballots.)

Go out there, wear your mask, don't touch

anything, keep your physical distance, and VOTE IN PERSON. That’s the kind of resistance that can actually work.

UPDATE: As I was saying... politico.com/news/2020/09/2…