Chuck Schumer is backed into a corner and there are no good options.
The Democrats’ leader in the Senate is leading the resistance to Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Schumer only has one option and it could cost the Democrats the 2018 election.
The Democratic base will accept nothing less than their elected officials waging total war against Donald Trump.
That is especially true for the fight over Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation to succeed Anthony Kennedy.
Liberals regard every Trump Supreme Court nomination as illegitimate because Republicans successfully blocked Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill Justice Scalia’s seat in 2016 because it was an election year.
But because Democrats pointlessly filibustered Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination in 2017, Republicans changed Senate rules to confirm Supreme Court nominees with just a majority vote.
That means the Democrats – who only have 49 Senators – are powerless to stop Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination unless Republicans defect.
Those odds grew longer when Kentucky Senator Rand Paul announced he would support Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.
That leaves only pro-abortion RINOs Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine as possible turncoats.
So Schumer is playing a stall strategy to drag the confirmation out as long as Democrats can and hope pressure mounts on the two liberal Republicans.
This will blow up in Democrats’ faces.
By dragging out the process, Schumer is only opening up his vulnerable incumbents to millions of dollars in attack ads that will drive down their poll numbers.
Ten Democrats are running for re-election in red states Trump carried in 2016.
Groups such as Judicial Crisis Network and Americans for Prosperity are prepared to spend big in those states with ads pummeling Democrats for their opposition to Kavanaugh.
Not only is there zero chance any Republican opposes this nomination, but the longer the fight goes on, the more water Democrat Senators in red states will take on.
Eventually, three or four of these Democrats are going to vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
But they will be mercilessly attacked and suffer political consequences for refusing to commit to an action – voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh – that everyone knows they are eventually going to take.
Democrats need to flip just two seats to wrest control of the Senate from Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority.
They have strong chances to win in Nevada and Arizona where the likely GOP candidates are a sitting Senator who disavowed President Trump and a Congresswoman who blasted President Trump as “toxic.”
In addition to winning those two seats, Democrats must also win all ten Red State races.
Even losing just one will put the Senate in a 50-50 tie where Vice President Mike Pence’s vote will give the GOP a functional majority.
One of the key issues that decided the 2016 election was Donald Trump’s pledge to appoint conservative justices.
Exit polls showed Trump won the overwhelming majority of voters who put the Supreme Court as their top issue.
If the Democrats drag out this fight, it could re-energize those voters and allow the GOP to maintain control of the Senate in the midterm elections.
Only time will tell if Schumer’s bet blows up in his face.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in the 2018 elections.
