How John McCain can save us all
There are a number of ways in which Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nomination can be foiled. Presuming that the American public creates enough noise to give them cover for it to work, the Democrats can try a number of borderline tactics to stall the confirmation until after the November elections. But the most straightforward way to stop Trump’s nominee is to simply flip two votes – and at least one of them may be itching at the chance.
Mitch McConnell already killed the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations, so the Republicans only need 51 votes to confirm Trump’s nominee. If it’s a 50-50 tiebreaker, Mike Pence can be counted on to break the tie in Trump’s favor, so in reality the Republicans only need 50 votes. They have 51 Senators. If two of them vote “no” – or don’t vote at all – then the confirmation goes south. This is where Senator John McCain comes in.
We’ve already seen John McCain stick it to Donald Trump, whom he despises, and to the Republican leadership, whom he’s soured upon. In fact McCain’s famous “thumbs down” vote still bothers Trump to this day, as evidenced by Trump’s continual mocking of it during speeches. McCain is also very ill, to the point that he’s already made decisions about his funeral. But as long as McCain is still alive, he can foil this by voting “no” or by skipping it. The GOP could hypothetically try to oust McCain under the premise that he’s too ill to do the job, but the party would have a hard time selling the notion of forcibly ousting a popular and dying war hero.
Right now you’re probably wondering who the other vote would be. Two Republican Senators, Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, aren’t running for reelection. Susan Collins and others are in moderate states where they would very probably lose reelection if they confirm a Supreme Court nominee who could overturn Roe v Wade. Based on their track records, none of the above named people can be trusted. But if John McCain announces that he’s unwilling to give Trump’s Supreme Court nominee the time of day, he’ll be the one taking the heat, thus allowing one or more other GOP Senators to more quietly go against it as well.
