** FILE ** Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill April 26, 2004, on his nomination to be U. S. circuit judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. Kavanaugh’s nomination by President Bush to a federal appeals court judgeship is moving toward a vote in the Senate after being blocked for more than two years by Democrats. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)

I admit it. The headline is a rhetorical question containing some of the most shameful clickbait posted on this site since late April. But now that you’re here…

In the immediate wake of President Trump’s former shyster, Michael Cohen, pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws, Senate Democrats have hit upon a novel theory. Because Trump may have been involved in campaign finance violations, his election is illegitimate and therefore he’s not entitled to appoint a Supreme Court justice.

I have cancelled my meeting with Judge Kavanaugh. @realDonaldTrump, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal matter, does not deserve the courtesy of a meeting with his nominee—purposely selected to protect, as we say in Hawaii, his own okole.

— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) August 22, 2018

The President of the United States has been implicated in a criminal plot to violate campaign finance laws & influence the outcome of an election. Under no circumstances should we be considering his nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in just one week.

— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) August 22, 2018

Trump's personal lawyer has sworn under oath that POTUS directed him to commit a federal crime.

The Senate must reject any SCOTUS nominee from a president who is an alleged criminal co-conspirator—especially when that nominee may rule to protect Trump from any accountability.

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) August 22, 2018

I will not take a meeting with Brett Kavanaugh. He has been nominated by someone implicated, and all but named as a co-conspirator, in federal crimes.

His nomination is tainted and should be considered illegitimate.

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) August 22, 2018

Americans don't want a president who is an unindicted co-conspirator in a crime to have the power to appoint someone to the Supreme Court. We should not proceed with Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 22, 2018

I just included Adam Schiff for sh**s and grins…

In 2016 Republicans invented a new rule that you can’t confirm a Supreme Court Justice in an election year.

How about a new rule that you can’t confirm a Justice nominated by a president who was just implicated in a conspiracy to violate campaign finance law by his own lawyer?

— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) August 22, 2018

This argument is ludicrous. The idea that the $300K used to pay off Trump’s pair-a-paramours influenced the election is nothing short of bizarre. Some $2.4 billion was spent on the election. $300,000 is not even the rounding error in that calculation. I’m not entirely sure the act was a crime because right now the only evidence of it being a crime is Cohen pleading guilty to the allegation while trying to save his ass.

Here is what the FEC says about the definition of campaign expenditure vs. personal expenditure. You decide whether Trump would have paid off these women irrespective of the election, which would make it a personal expenditure not subject to reporting requirements. pic.twitter.com/b0RaIkuacJ

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 22, 2018

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1032279992133140486

And while this revelation might have sent another candidate home in disgrace, I think the assumption of this possibility was already baked into Trump’s candidacy. I don’t think that anyone who voted for him would have said: “I can go along with the other stuff to stop Hillary but banging a porn star and Playmate Playmate is just more than I can handle.”

This is just political theatrics. The Senate Democrats know that several RedState Democrat senators are going to vote for Kavanaugh. They know Susan Collins has found her fig leaf and that Lisa Murkowski will probably join her. Rand Paul has already said his initial objections to Kavanaugh have been overcome. They also know that Grassley isn’t going to allow them to slow down the train. Faced with a solid bloc of 54-55 votes and a GOP leadership determined to put Kavanaugh on the bench, the progressive majority of the Democrats has to put on a show for the mouthbreathers in the cheap seats.

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