What the hell is wrong with this guy?
Brett Kavanaugh’s opening statement just finished. So did, almost certainly, his career. What we all just watched was surprisingly shocking, disturbing, cringe-worthy, and just plain confusing, even within the context of a saga that’s already come face to face with all of those words. If this was all an act to try to impress Donald Trump, then Kavanaugh is deranged. If this was Kavanaugh simply being himself, then – simply put – he’s not mentally stable.
Kavanaugh barked, yelled, shouted, and at times all but screamed his way through a very lengthy opening statement. At various points he was shouting while crying. It was the kind of rage-fueled yet self-pitying meltdown that was so over the top, audiences would reject it for being too unrealistic if it were a scripted scene in a movie. Kavanaugh was screaming about how he’ll never be able to teach again, how he may never be able to coach again, and how his family has been “destroyed.”
If you think this guy is innocent of all he’s accused of, maybe you’re feeling sorry for him right now. But even if that were the case, he’s clearly not mentally stable enough to hold a low level job where he’d have to interact with customers, let alone a position on the Supreme Court – arguably the highest job in the land. But here’s the thing: in his unhinged fit of rage, he sounds exactly like he’s been described by his detractors. His former roommate stated this week that Kavanaugh was an “aggressive” and “belligerent” and “incoherent” drunk. We just watched Kavanaugh behave that way while he’s – presumably – sober.
Brett Kavanaugh is also coming off like the kind of rage monster who could easily pin a woman down and assault her, like he’s been accused of by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, or shove a woman up against a wall, like he’s been accused of by a still-unnamed individual. Ford just finished giving extraordinarily compelling testimony. But even if you somehow didn’t believe her by the time she was done talking, Kavanaugh’s fit of rage should be enough to leave little doubt that there is something very, very wrong with him.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report