On the trail
Trump campaigns in Montana, lauds Kavanaugh’s progress
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Donald Trump praised Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s progress toward winning confirmation to the Supreme Court but decried the “anger and the meanness on the other side,” blasting Democrats’ behaviour toward his nominee as “sick.”
During a campaign rally in Montana Thursday, Trump sought to elevate Kavanaugh’s confirmation as a political litmus test for voters as he embraced a Republican challenger to Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, a top GOP target in the fall elections.
Trump also raised the spectre of impeachment if Democrats win control of Congress.
As he stood alongside Tester’s opponent, state Auditor Matt Rosendale, Trump said Tester “will never drain the swamp because he happens to live in the swamp.” Seeking to portray the Montana farmer as a tool of liberal Democrats, Trump said, “Jon Tester talks like he’s from Montana, but he votes like he’s Nancy Pelosi” - a reference to the House minority leader, a frequent Trump target.
Trump said many of the Senate Democrats whom Tester had helped elect “are attacking Judge Kavanaugh and looking like fools.” He said Kavanaugh - who is strongly opposed by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee - deserved “overwhelming bipartisan support.”
“It’s embarrassing to watch those people make fools of themselves as they scream and shout at this great gentleman,” Trump said after three days of committee hearings on the nomination.
The president’s strategy on the Supreme Court nomination aims to turn the screws on Tester and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, where Trump planned to appear Friday. Both red-state Democrats find themselves caught between their Senate leaders and their states’ more conservative voters, who are more broadly supportive of Trump’s pick.
Neither senator has laid down clear markers on how they will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination, which Senate Republican leaders hope to bring to a floor vote later this month - just weeks before the Nov. 6 general election.
White House officials contend the Supreme Court was a powerful motivator for Republican base voters in 2016, when Trump won the White House, and they’re seeking to capitalize on Kavanaugh’s nomination to help overcome an enthusiasm gap with Democrats. Likewise, a vote for Kavanaugh by either Tester or Heitkamp could frustrate a Democratic base eager for a more confrontational approach to the Trump administration.