I was a Dem Staffer for the Garland Hearings - here's what I learned from one of the Democrats biggest failures
I constantly get DMs and comments with a sentiment akin to - but the Dems won't do anything. And these are real people, not bots, some of whom have been following me for quite a long time (I check when you message me, by the way). I think there’s an inclination in some circles to cast aside the sentiments of the TikTok crowds due to the overwhelming nihilism of the content on that platform, one that reflects both the lived reality of many people as well as the algorithmic preference for outrage. But the people sending me DMs are often other middle-aged professional women, informed about politics and truly of the belief that “The Dems” (capital) are actively choosing not to do whatever needs to be done to protect our rights.
I was one of Leader Chuck Schumer’s Senate Judiciary Committee counsels during the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Merrick Garland (now Attorney General). Garland was chosen in particular because of his pristine record, his white maleness, his total milquetoast personality - no dirt for Republicans to find to use as a cudgel to block his nomination. And so what they did, to functionally steal a Supreme Court seat from Democrats, was create an arbitrary rule that Presidents don’t get to nominate a Supreme Court Justice in the final year of their term. They came up with some flimsy justifications for said argument, but we should consider the premise on face value: presidents just shouldn’t get to do this one very important thing they were elected to do for 25% of their term. Facially bananas.