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When you hear a certain phrase come up three, four times in less than 24 hours in Washington, you know there are some talking points circulating and everyone is on script. Today's phrase is "demoralizing and disheartening." That's what popular vote loser Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee says about his benefactor's attacks on the judiciary, and he wants everyone to know it. So he told Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal that, Blumenthal reported it, and now the Republican spin machine is reinforcing it.
Former New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Gorsuch's designated handler in the Senate, released a statement saying that Gorsuch "finds any criticism of a judge's integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing." For good measure, she added that Gorsuch "has also emphasized the importance of an independent judiciary." Uh huh.
Then Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse steps up to make sure everyone connects the dots. "Judge Gorsuch and I actually talked about that," he said on Morning Joe Thursday, "and frankly, he got pretty passionate about it." The obvious conclusion, says Sasse, is that this nomination shouldn't be politicized, because "people all across the political spectrum should love the fact that he's going to be a warrior for a constitutional system of executive restraint and limits."
See! He says he's demoralized and disheartened and that makes him totally independent of Trump. There's no excuse now for Democrats to oppose the nomination!
Democrats might have cottoned to the game, however.
Blumenthal says he told Gorsuch "they were more than disheartening and I said to him that he has an obligation to make his views clear to the American people, so they understand how abhorrent or unacceptable President Trump's attacks on the judiciary are." Sen. Chuck Schumer apparently also got the "disheartened" line when he talked to Gorsuch, but Schumer's spokesperson, Matt House, says that's not enough. "Given the President's comments, that a very milquetoast response.[…] Anyone can be disheartened, but the judge refused to condemn the comments privately or publicly."
It's all pretty transparent, and really not flying with anyone on the left.
"Is Gorsuch distancing himself from Trump? As we say on the Internet: LOL," Drew Courtney of People for the American Way said in a statement. "To be clear: Donald Trump's pattern of attacks on federal judges is more than demoralizing—it's a threat to the separation of powers and our constitutional system, and it's hard to imagine a more tepid response than to call them 'disheartening.'"
But the biggest problem Gorsuch might have now is the guy he's working so hard to distance himself from. The rage tweeting from Trump suggests that maybe he hasn't been looped into this plan, and even if he has been, he still won't be able to control himself if Gorsuch and team continue to try to drive this wedge. That orange skin is paper thin.