Kavanaugh’s insular world, cushioned by the rich and famous

It was George W. Bush who had played matchmaker; 14 years later, Bush is working the phones to save his fellow Yale alumnus

He would be, in the words of his prep school’s motto, a man for others. At an age when most young people struggle to figure out their path forward, he knew he would devote his life to public service. Brett Kavanaugh was destined for something big.

The people around him knew it, too. Through the years, Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appellate judge since 2006, has been rich in friends, loyal and true. Teachers, parents, classmates, colleagues — they made it their business to buff and defend Kavanaugh’s reputation.

The story of President Donald Trump’s embattled choice for the Supreme Court is a classic Washington tale of a young man who grew up surrounded by people in high places, keenly aware of protecting his image. He told a girlfriend in college that he didn’t plan to buy stocks because he had to avoid conflicts if he wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps as a judge.

Kavanaugh’s story is also one of the power and insularity of wealth. He grew up in an idyll of country clubs and beach retreats, private schools and public prominence. The only child of a lobbyist and a judge, he had parents who pushed him hard, teachers who assured him that he faced no limits, and friends whose families knew the art of making problems go away quietly.

Some of his classmates called him ‘The Genius’. Women found him thoughtful and empathetic. Men said he was a guy’s guy — a walking encyclopaedia of sports.

Apex of democracy

But this time, as he faces the Senate vote that will determine whether he will spend the rest of his working life at the apex of American democracy or in permanent disgrace, he is up against devastating allegations that he was a nasty, belligerent drinker who, according to his chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, pinned her to a bed and held his hand over her mouth when she tried to stop his sexual assault when they were in high school.

Once again, schoolmates, friends, family members and co-workers have rushed to his defence. When it was time for Kavanaugh to marry after years of playing the field, it was the then president of the United States who encouraged him to do so. Kavanaugh, like fellow Yale alumnus George W. Bush, settled down with a strong woman from a modest west Texas background.

Fourteen years later, Bush would get on the phone to rally senators to try to save Kavanaugh’s nomination as Kavanaugh finds himself in a humiliatingly intimate and public job interview that has turned into a historic reckoning, for him and his country.