1/ A lot of people, incl. Dionne, are saying this is an obvious lie. I don't see it. Trump is known to talk to lots & lots of random people abt picks like this -- guests at Mar-a-lago, friends on the phone, etc. Given that, what Kav said may be quite true. washingtonpost.com/opinions/kavan… 
2/ Granted, it was kind of a silly thing to say, and I get it hits some strings b/c Trump's cabinet is so weirdly North Korean in how they speak of him. But I imagine that if a President just nominated you to the Supreme Court, you come up with something nice to say about him.
3/ I'm not sure what nice thing you would come up with to say about Trump in that setting, but what Kav said, about the # of people Trump talked to, seems just about the most innocuous compliment you can make in that circumstance.
4/ Based on my Twitter responses, it seems a lot of people would have taken that moment to condemn Trump & ensure he withdraws the nomination, and that that is the only honorable response. I appreciate the self-sacrifice people on Twitter are willing to show in that circumstance.
5/ How about this as a consensus view: What Kav said may have been literally true, & it's certainly not provably false. But it was little weird & it it has tapped into deep anxieties, so some react to what they fear it may symbolize even though it's innocuous on its face. Fair?
