I’m not a political pessimist, I’m a realist. Which is basically the same difference these days. Almost four years ago, I knew how bad it would get with Donald Trump as president. People didn’t want to believe it. They wanted to normalize him or put in some kind of nonsensical historical context. The Republicans in Congress moved in lockstep with him. And here we are: Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are going to put someone in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat before the election. I’m telling you that as a realist: it’s going to happen. Of course we should fight. Of course we should be outraged about it. But all of us need to know that the worst is going to happen, and the Senate is going to replace RBG in the next few weeks.

Ever since RBG passed, the Democrats have been raking in money from donors. I would imagine that that Biden-Harris campaign and all of the Democrats running for the House and Senate have easily raised in $50-70 million or more in the past three days. Suddenly, all of the hypotheticals about SCOTUS we hear every four years have become less hypothetical and more like a living nightmare. I sincerely hope that we vote a Democratic majority in the House and Senate and Joe Biden as president. But again, it will be closing the barn door after the horses have bolted. Trump and McConnell are going to replace RBG in the next few weeks. So now Democratic Senators are trying to figure out what to do and what threats to make:

Facing what they acknowledge to be a nearly impossible task of blocking President Donald Trump from filling a Supreme Court vacancy, Senate Democrats are divided over what precise tactics they should deploy in the days and weeks ahead. On a caucus call Saturday, members laid out two types of approaches that they thought would best suit the party in its efforts to stop the president from filling the seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday from complications of pancreatic cancer. One faction felt that a dramatic show of resistance with overt political threats would provide the pressure needed to at least slow down the march of Senate Republicans towards confirming Trump’s inevitable nominee.

Another faction, composed mainly of moderates, felt that members should stay squarely focused on the implications that the confirmation would have on health care—arguing that the public, especially in key swing states, would be moved by fears that a new court (and even the current eight-member one) could allow for the full destruction of the Affordable Care Act.

“Those kinds of conversations are going on as we speak,” said one senior Democrat privy to the conversations. “Some want to keep the focus on the impact the court will have on health care, others want one or more message-type events to try and clarify what exactly is at stake.”

The divide was confirmed by two other sources, one of whom downplayed the disagreement as part of standard strategy sessions. A separate source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the contents of the call, said that an additional fear was expressed by some members over the party openly contemplating adding court seats as retribution for Republicans filling Ginsburg’s post.

“There was a discussion of, ‘OK, if we talk through this and lay out the things we are willing to do, what happens if we lose?’” the source, a Senate Democratic aide, said. “That’s an obvious concern because we’ve just given [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell the basis and moral authority to go do it himself. Suddenly, it’s an eight-three court.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Even if the Democrats get a majority in the House and Senate and we get Biden-Harris in the White House, I seriously doubt they’ll add seats to the Supreme Court. I just… doubt it. I feel like the Supreme Court is just… lost for several generations. Also: it’s asinine that Democrats in Congress can’t just RUN on reproductive rights and the court. This is why they’ve been raising money hand over fist for days – because WOMEN know what’s going to happen to the court, and we know Roe is about to be overturned.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.