Here's the short version: I read and watch discussion about the appointment and confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice to replace Antonin Scalia, and I see and hear words and phrases like "power play," "obstruction," and "unprecedented," and I am disappointed because I think we are underplaying the gravity of what Mitch McConnell is trying to do.
I would use phrases like "coup," "overriding democracy," and "constitutional crisis." And I mean a true constitutional crisis, where the constitution no longer functions. Here's why:
Let's do a little thought experiment. Suppose the Republicans (Donald Trump!) win the White House, but Democrats somehow manage to get 51 senators elected. And Trump makes a Supreme Court nomination. Now those 51 senators could (and I would hope would, in fact), with considerably more justification than Republicans have for blocking an Obama appointment, refuse to confirm anyone other than a clearly left-leaning choice, because look, we got screwed out of an Obama nomination by your horseshit, you owe us one, and we have the power to make that happen or deny you any Supreme Court nominations. So we will. And Trump would almost certainly not concede. And the Supreme Court could remain at eight justices for a long time. Or seven if someone retired. Or six.
And that is an actual constitutional crisis. I am not saying that any of that is likely to happen. But it would be a logical consequence of both parties behaving exactly the way Mitch McConnell is behaving now.
Really, it's worse than that. Using McConnell's reasoning, which is obviously much more arbitrary than "it's an elections year" and really is "I have the power and I am going to do whatever the fuck I want, the Constitution and the American voters be damned," any future Senate majority can block all nominations from day 1. There is really no substantive difference between discrediting one year of a President's administration and discrediting all four; the election year argument is just window dressing (or should I say just bullshit?) And that would mean that Supreme Court vacancies could only be filled when the Senate and the Presidency are captured by the same party. Our Constitution was not meant to work that way. Again, this would create a constitutional crisis and potentially years without a full Supreme Court, and again it is simply a logical extension of what Mitch McConnell is choosing to do.
If we want to talk honestly about what the Republicans are proposing when they suggest that they will not consider any Obama nominees, we need to understand what will happen if every Senator, now and in the future, adopts the same tactics. When you look at it that way, this is about more than a power play. It is an assault on the Constitution, an assault on our democracy. I am not sure you can justify thinking anything less.