Well, well, well. How things have changed in just a month.
After Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans vowed that they wouldn’t hold confirmation hearings for his replacement. They claimed that the people should have a say in who the next SCOTUS justice would be by waiting until a new president is elected. Conservatives seem to be rethinking that position, though.
Especially considering who the Republican nominee for president is going to be.
Hours after Trump’s Indiana victory and Cruz’s suspension of his campaign, conservative website RedState called for the Senate to confirm Obama’s SCOTUS pick Merrick Garland. Now that Trump is the going to be the GOP nominee, many conservatives are scared of the future.
“Republicans must know that there is absolutely no chance that we will win the White House in 2016 now. They must also know that we are likely to lose the Senate as well. So the choices, essentially, are to confirm Garland and have another bite at the apple in a decade, or watch as President Clinton nominates someone who is radically more leftist and 10-15 years younger, and we are in no position to stop it.”
So there you have it.
Assuming that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee aside, at least some of the GOP seem to have very little faith in Donald Trump’s ability to win the general election. As they see it, they have two choices: they either have to confirm Garland, a respected judge with a practical and moderate record, or wait to see who the next President will choose.
It may be someone they really, really don’t like.
Despite this, Mitch McConnell has indicated that despite the Trump nomination, his position on blocking Garland has not changed. He has also said that he would support whoever the GOP picks, and now that means singing the praises of Donald Trump, the man that the party tried so hard to keep from becoming The Man.
Well, the impossible has happened. The pig flies. Donald Trump will be running in the general election this fall.
Some in his own party have zero faith that he has an actual shot, so in their minds, it has become a matter of picking the lesser of two evils.
To remember the conservative reaction to Merrick Garland’s nomination not long ago, see the video below:
Feature image via Getty/Chip Somodevilla
