Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement. President Trump responded by providing a list of 25 candidates, who have all been vetted. His standard is a highly qualified jurist that will stick to the constitution and the law. Democrats have rejected every candidate on this list without bothering to learn anything about these candidates.

Democrats will try to delay the confirmation beyond the mid-term elections. They are praying that they regain the control of the Senate and make it impossible for Trump to appoint another Supreme Court Justice. Good luck with that strategy. Following is a list of senators up for re-election:

Democrats
Baldwin, Tammy (D-WI)
Brown, Sherrod (D-OH)
Cantwell, Maria (D-WA)
Cardin, Benjamin L. (D-MD)
Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE)
Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA)
Donnelly, Joe (D-IN)
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (D-NY)
Heinrich, Martin (D-NM)
Heitkamp, Heidi (D-ND)
Hirono, Mazie K. (D-HI)
Kaine, Tim (D-VA)
Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN)
Manchin, Joe, III (D-WV)
McCaskill, Claire (D-MO)
Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)
Murphy, Christopher (D-CT)
Nelson, Bill (D-FL)
Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI)
Tester, Jon (D-MT)
Warren, Elizabeth (D-MA)
Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI)

Republicans
Barrasso, John (R-WY)
Corker, Bob (R-TN)
Cruz, Ted (R-TX)
Fischer, Deb (R-NE)
Flake, Jeff (R-AZ)
Hatch, Orrin G. (R-UT)
Heller, Dean (R-NV)
Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS)

Independents
King, Angus S., Jr. (I-ME)
Sanders, Bernard (I-VT)

The math is really simple. Democrats need to defend 25 seats. Republicans need to defend nine seats. Unless Democrats run the table and win every close race, odds are that Republicans will increase their majority in the Senate.

With regard to refusing to approve judges, Democrats have pulled this crap before. Republicans let Bill Clinton appoint radical leftists like Ginsburg. But when George W. Bush was elected, Democrats tried to prevent Bush was getting any judges confirmed. That only changed when a compromise was reached in 2005 by seven Democrats and seven Republicans. Most justicial appointments by Bush were grudgingly approved, but Republicans were stopped from removing the right to filibuster.

When Obama was President Republicans used the filibuster to stop some of his judicial appointments. Harry Reid went nuclear. He eliminated the filibuster. President Obama praised this decision. It seemed like a good idea at the time:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/21/harry-reid-nuclear-senate/3662445/

“A deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the merits, just to re-fight the result of an election is not normal, and for the sake of future generations, we can’t let it become normal,”

Well it sure looks like the new normal now and the Harry Reid nuclear option has blown up in Democrat’s face. Republicans can and and probably will confirm Trump’s nominee. The only real hope for Democrats is to find some serious dirt on whoever Trump chooses. If he chooses wisely they are in big trouble.

Democrats are more likely to embarrass themselves than they are to stop Trump from appointing a Supreme Court justice. Democrats may be starting a war they cannot possibly win. A war that could result in a lot of casualties in pursuit of the impossible dream. In addition, if they lose this war, they lose their base.

Democrats are missing something really important. You can’t beat somebody with nobody and whether you like him or not, Donald Trump is somebody. His name recognition is off the charts. This reminds me of when Arnold Schwarzennegger ran for Governor of California. Everyone thought he was a joke candidate, until he won. People failed to realized that Schwarzennegger was a big star. Some people liked him, some people hated him, but not one could take their eyes off him.

Donald Trump is a bigger star than Schwarzenegger. Democrats have nobody.The more Democrats attack Donald Trump, the more he looms over them. They are just embarrassing themselves in the process.

TDM