GOP Hopes Kavanaugh Fight Can Rescue Midterms

“President Trump and his conservative allies now see their effort to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh as central to salvaging the Republican Party’s fortunes in the midterm elections, and hope to use the fervent liberal opposition to his nomination to the Supreme Court as a graphic example of the threat posed by a Democratic return to power in Congress,” the New York Times reports.

“The increasingly aggressive attacks on Judge Kavanaugh’s main accuser and the dark warnings about Democrats from his supporters are part of an effort to harness Republicans’ outrage over what they see as a Democratic scheme to steal a pivotal Supreme Court seat.”

“But even as Senate Republican leaders are increasingly confident that Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed, other party leaders fear his confirmation could dissipate some of the anger and sap the party of a powerful source of energy.”