Thread by @JewhadiTM

Kavanaugh's hearings are a national disaster — and the worst is yet to come nyp.st/2xLBiva via @nypost

This is a golden age for cynics. You will rarely go wrong in assuming an absence of decency and courage in the political class. However low the bar is set, it will not be low enough.

And now the national disaster will be aided by more time and a fresh supply of dynamite.

Friday’s agreement to give the FBI a week to supplement its background check by looking into existing misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh guarantees the nightmare will continue, especially for him and his battered family.

You don’t have to be a cynic to assume the rabid left will come up with more outlandish accusations in an effort to make up in quantity what it lacks in quality.

The extension is the devil’s bargain Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake struck with his conscience. Naturally, he caved in to Democrats’ demands for the extension while supporting Kavanaugh, pending the outcome of the probe.

As popular as a rattlesnake in ­Arizona, Flake is “retiring” from the Senate, yet has outsized leverage because of the GOP’s narrowest possible majority, 51-49. He used it to reward those who debased the Senate he claims to love.

Dems and their media handmaidens were quick to praise Flake for his “bipartisanship,” a term they ­reserve for when a Republican crosses over to pass liberal initiatives.

But the favor is rarely returned, and there is no Democrat equivalent to Flake or Susan Collins of Maine. Even when more centrist Dems vote with Republicans, they never supply the crucial votes, joining only as add-ons to a majority.

In fairness, Washington is fractured because the nation is. Our so-called leaders are in fact followers, and wouldn’t behave as scurrilously as they do if there weren’t an audience cheering them on, demanding more. More attacks, more confrontation, more outrage, more, more, more

We have the government we deserve, and here’s the most revolting fact: The decline of our politics is not going to stop anytime soon.

The midterm elections will be the first referendum on President Trump since his shocking triumph in 2016. He’s not on the ballot, but his personality and policies are very much at issue as voters decide who controls Congress.

The hunt for an edge will go right up to Election Day, and no trick will be too dirty, especially for Democrats.

I say that not just because Minority Leader Chuck Schumer orchestrated the search-and-smear assault against Kavanaugh, but because it’s what they always do when they’re in a pinch.

The left used the same character-assassination tactics on previous occasions when they couldn’t defeat strong conservative Supreme Court nominees on the merits.

And please, spare the false comparisons to Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. Democrat Joe ­Biden, head of the Judiciary Committee, set the rule in 1992 of no confirmations in the final year of a presidential term while George H.W. Bush was president.

Besides, using the power of majority control, as Sen. Mitch McConnell did in 2016, is hardly the same as character assassination.

While there is no moral or principled defense for the Dems’ conduct, the explanation is that they are terrified of Kavanaugh because he would be the fifth constitutional conservative on the court.

That would be a death knell to much of their party’s game plan because the left has used the courts for 60 years to get big-government policies imposed on the nation that they couldn’t get through legislation.

That scenario is why the attacks on Kavanaugh are so vicious, and why they won’t stop. Schumer, who pledged to fight the nomination “with everything I have,” aims to keep the court seat open and use it as a rallying cry to help retake the Senate in the midterms.

He would then become majority leader and able to block anyone Trump picks. And if Dems also take the House and try to impeach Trump, Schumer would use that ­effort as a reason not even to consider any Trump nominations.

In short, as bad as last week was, coming weeks will be worse because nothing was resolved. All that happened was that America got kicked down the road.