America’s Collapse Continues on Schedule With the Kavanaugh Hearings
I don’t really know what to say about the Kavanaugh hearings, except that I believe he’ll be confirmed. I don’t think that display of unhinged emotional incontinence he put on in front of the whole world will have the slightest effect on any Republican senators. Barring any new, even more stunning developments, he’ll have their votes and will sit on the highest court in the United States. I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt it.
I believe Christine Blasey Ford, and I think yesterday’s over-the-top emotionalizing from Kavanaugh, Senator Lindsey Graham and others was meant to mask that they do too. They just don’t think what happened to her is particularly important and can’t for the life of them understand why anyone would give a damn. Their inability to comprehend what all the fuss is about isn’t feigned. They don’t understand why what happened to Dr. Blasey Ford matters, especially not when weighed against the reputation of a man with Kavanaugh’s pedigree. Let’s not forget that Dr. Blasey Ford shares Kavanaugh’s pedigree as well, but she’s a woman, and that’s why she’s disposable to the Lindsey Grahams and Chuck Grassleys of the world. How casually they’re throwing her away is quite chilling when you think about it. She should be one of them, but her womanhood is disqualifying. They’re using this moment to trumpet to the world that she doesn’t matter, that no woman does.
Dr. Blasey Ford surpasses Kavanugh in every metric of human decency, and that was on full display yesterday. It’s been said so many times, but it will always bear repeating: Could you imagine what would have happened to Dr. Blasey Ford, or any woman, who’d conducted herself the way Kavanaugh did in that setting? She would have been derided as hysterical and carted off to professional oblivion, her reputation in tatters.
Brett Kavanaugh lacks the temperament to sit on the Supreme Court. It’s the one thing yesterday’s proceedings made clear. He’s boorish, spoiled, belligerent, rude, and dishonest. He also refuses to take responsibility for his actions and becomes aggressive and bellicose when challenged. He lacks respect for anything save his own ego. His sense of entitlement to a lifetime appointment on America’s highest court should by itself disqualify him. It’s a giant red flag. It demonstrates a stunning lack of perspective that has to affect the manner in which he weighs judicial decisions.
That someone of Brett Kavanaugh’s character managed to slither this high up the ladder of the federal judiciary is quite an indictment. It’s also a sign that the ship has sailed, and the horse is out of the barn. Brett Kavanaughs are everywhere in America’s halls of power, and the pretense that they had to at least feign being well-behaved was defenestrated yesterday.
Can you think of any other stable, relatively wealthy democracy that would have allowed such an absolute clown show to unfold beneath the eyes of the whole world? Part of what we’re being shown is that the already unforgivably lax, permissive rules that restrain wealthy, privileged white men in America are going out the window. Not even credible allegations of gang rape put a hitch in their steps. The patina of temperance has been scoured away. Brett Kavanaugh’s sneering face, twisted in rage at having to answer for his trespasses is the avatar for what is in store for America: even more cruelty.
This isn’t normal.
Dr. Blasey Ford raised her concerns before Kavanaugh was nominated. This all could have been avoided. There’s a reason it wasn’t: A clear statement is being made about women and their proper place in society.
Roe v. Wade casts a long shadow over American politics, especially confirmation hearings for judicial appointments. That clutch of white, Republican men, who hid behind another woman to attack Dr. Blasey Ford, is determined to overturn Roe v. Wade, criminalize abortion, and force pregnant women to give birth. If a nasty piece of work like Brett Kavanaugh is willing to facilitate that, then so be it — he’ll be granted a lifetime appointment to shape American jurisprudence for generations.
I’ve written before that I believe America is suffering a collapse that could be catastrophic. Yesterday’s events only strengthened my belief. None of this should be happening in a properly functioning democracy. Brett Kavanaugh is unfit to hold the job he currently has and certainly shouldn’t receive a promotion after all the dirty business that has come to light. And let’s not forget about his mountain of debts that were mysteriously cleared up. His nomination should never have gone forward, and he shouldn’t be confirmed. The rules — whatever was left of them — are out the window, though.
