For a long-time President Donald Trump’s true goal as president has been totally transparent. It has reached its ugliest expression during these final weeks of his seemingly sinking re-election campaign. Trump wanted to undermine, repeal, or destroy any successful programs or initiatives that his predecessors had achieved, especially those programs that had been created by President Barack Obama. Even more cynical than that effort was how the President sought to undermine and obfuscate the fundamental practices, norms, and institutions of American Government.
Leaving aside Trump’s leadership failures--most alarmingly during the pandemic--the President has sought to undercut and destroy whatever fabric of America’s political values and mores that he could. Only his personal sacred cows were to remain untouched; his wealth, his assets, as well as those of his family, and his closest friends. His behavior during the last debate-- in this case towards the non-partisan presidential debate system--was only the latest example of Trump’s persistent disdain of the American people.
His attacks on policies and his desire to bring down any of Obama’s successes was blatantly manifested throughout the past four years. Trump has employed the federal government and all its agencies and departments—to shred and attack Obama’s accomplishments. This single purpose will be completed against whatever is left, should Trump be re-elected in his second term. In addition to other explanations, this is also why the President showed such relish at the last-minute chance to rush to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Barring an outbreak of the coronavirus in the halls of the U.S. Senate, Judge Amy Coney Barrett will be confirmed to be a member of the U.S. Supreme Court before Election Day. There is no way her nomination can be blocked, and all the questioning of the Senate Democrats are merely demonstrations to lay down markers to affirm that they raised the substantive issues which were obvious in her previous writings, opinions, speeches, and affiliations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has played politics with the Senate’s role of advice and consent on judicial nominations for years. Now he had the cynical opportunity to place someone on the Supreme Court weeks before an election. McConnell saw nothing wrong now in turning 180 around degrees from what had been the self-righteous position he previously had espoused. In 2016, McConnell had refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Myrick Garland to fill the Court’s vacancy almost ten months before the 2016 election.
The sad part for the nation is that Judge Barrett may well be a very suitable jurist worthy of being seriously considered to sit on the SCOTUS. Her nomination and presumable accession to the Court will forever be tainted by the process under which she rose to the office. As a result of McConnell’s political shenanigans with nominations to the High Court—as well as the other federal courts--a Democratic President and Congress may well come back next year to create additional mischief as a consequence of McConnell as well as President Trump having made a mockery of the another basic institution of American Government. It is a sure bet that no President will ever again leave office with a single unfilled federal judgeship position. Next time appointments might even be made during a lame-duck session. Nothing will be left for a successor.
There is little that is uplifting for the American people as they consider President Trump’s term in office. The one thing for which the country should prepare in the final weeks is that a desperate Donald Trump could bring the level of the campaign to an even lower level.
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