Fifteen Republican senators now say that Donald Trump is too awful to be president and they aren't going to vote for him. But at least 14 of those are still supporting Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley's blockade of President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, even though there are enough of them now to join Democrats and confirm him. They are still, implicitly, leaving the Supreme Court seat open for a potential President Donald Trump to fill—as unlikely as that might be, they are still risking that.
Now that these senators have declared their independence from Trump, it's time they put their money where their mouths are: they need to tell Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley that the key to keeping the majority is a clean break, and that includes confirming Garland. And they need to do it before the election, because a lame-duck capitulation would do them no good.
Will they? Of course not! Even if they did, Grassley for one is not going to go along with it. Because Grassley is still holding the seat for Trump!
“This is not an election about who’s going to be president just for the next four years. This is an election about the direction of the Supreme Court for the next 40 years,” Grassley said.
Seriously, he just said that. If Grassley has anything to say about it—and as Judiciary Committee chairman, he does—Hillary Clinton won't get any Supreme Court nominees confirmed, either. So where are all these senators who can't abide Trump going to be then? Will they continue to keep the SCOTUS blockade going until there's a Republican in the White House?
If they were really about principle they'd end this now, and those in tight races for re-election might just salvage their campaigns. They'd demand a rush confirmation of Garland before the election. But they aren't going to do that, because the smoking remnants of their party are still more important to them than their country.
Let's put this way. Can you chip in $3 to each of these candidates to end Mitch McConnell's Senate leadership?