Mitch McConnell has a number of tools at hand to try to divert that "shipwreck" Senate Republicans are fearing in November's election. Like this sledgehammer: keeping the Senate in session in October, and keeping the 10 Democrats running for re-election this fall off the campaign trail. The thing is, though, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has tools, too, tools that would allow those Democrats to keep campaigning. Schumer just needs to be willing to deploy them.
Back to McConnell. To be even more dastardly, because that is clearly what he lives for, he's implying he'd make a deal with Democrats: negotiate with me on getting more Trump nominees into the judiciary, and maybe I'll give you more time off. As Politico reports, the "Senate GOP has already confirmed 26 circuit court nominees and 41 district court nominees to lifetime appointments, plus Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, in about 20 months time." That's in part because of the deal McConnell made with Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to get a chunk of time off in August—a whopping 15 nominations were cleared. McConnell's aim is clear, because he says it out loud: "We're going to clear the deck of all the circuit judges. … If we can hold onto the Senate for two more years, we're going to transform the federal judiciary with young men and women who believe in the fundamental notion that the job of a judge is to interpret the law as it's written."
No matter what happens with the House or the Senate in 2018, or in decades to come, it will ultimately be far-right Republicans who win because they will have taken over the judiciary—and McConnell's use of "young" in describing those doing the taking over is clear. It will have a lasting impact for literal generations.
Democrats don't have to cave to McConnell's demands and don't have to forego the campaign trail. It does require that Schumer and team be willing to play hardball as McConnell is. Who knew how to play that kind of hardball was former leader Harry Reid and Adam Jentleson, his former deputy chief of staff, providing the playbook. He focuses on beating Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but it works for the planned onslaught of nominees as well.
The first part is probably the hardest—unity. "Conservatives win because they maintain unity, and progressives need to do the same. That means no hall passes get handed out on this vote." When it comes down to something as elemental as the judiciary, the argument for "bipartisanship," for Democrats showing their "independence" is moot. Especially when McConnell has laid out his plan in such diabolical terms. So they have to start with a solid block against Kavanaugh, and as Jentleson says there are numerous avenues for justified opposition there.
It's time to take back the Senate. Please give $1 to our Senate candidates.
Then it gets to the strategy part: Use the power of "unanimous consent," to grind the Senate to a halt. "Every single senator has to agree to do everything from calling a vote to mundane procedures as basic as convening in the morning and adjourning in the evening. If unanimous consent is not forthcoming, the Senate has to resort to painful, time-consuming votes and procedural obstacles." It only takes one Democratic senator to be on the floor at all times to refuse to give consent, "And since time and patience are finite, taking days instead of hours to confirm a single nominee or perform a routine piece of Senate business will result in fewer nominees confirmed and fewer Republican legislative priorities accomplished—until Republicans accede to Democrats’ eminently reasonable requests for scrutiny and transparency."
Democrats don't have to stick around D.C. when they need to be home campaigning—they just need to have enough hanging around to say "no" to unanimous consent. They also need a leader in Chuck Schumer who recognizes that and makes it happen.