Many conservatives see Kavanaugh’s hearing as rallying cry against liberals
The New York Times
Tony Gardner, a 60-yearold retired pipe fitter from Robbinsdale, Minn., flipped on Fox News on Thursday to watch Judge Brett Kavanaugh indignantly defend himself against an accusation of sexual assault from decades ago. If anything, Mr. Gardner said, Judge Kavanaugh was “too timid” in trying to refute the claims and fight back against senators examining his fitness for the Supreme Court.
“He’s probably perfect for the job, but the questions they’re asking are the wrong ones,” said Mr. Gardner, a supporter of President Donald Trump. “How will he judge? Not, did he feel up a woman when he was 18? I don’t know any guy who didn’t feel up a woman when he was 18.” (Judge Kavanaugh was accused of forcing himself on Christine Blasey Ford when they were teenagers.)
For many conservatives, especially white men who share Mr. Trump’s contempt for the left and his use of divisive remarks, the clash over Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation has become a rallying cry against a liberal order that, they argue, is hostile to their individual rights, political power and social status. Judge Kavanaugh’s claim that Democrats wielded the sexual assault allegation to try to sink his nomination has been fiercely disputed on the left, but resonated among conservatives suspicious that the real agenda is to hurt the president.
Judge Kavanaugh’s furious denials of the allegation and his tirade before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday also underscore how Mr. Trump’s own angry rhetorical defenses of himself — including his insistent dismissals and demeaning insults in response to sexual misconduct accusations against him — have become such an effective playbook with the Republican base.
Judge Kavanaugh himself — who insisted before the Senate that he had earned his success by “busting my tail”— has now taken a page from Mr. Trump, who often boasts about his intelligence and how he attended the best schools. Like the president, Judge Kavanaugh has become an avatar for the resentments of Americans like those who saw Mr. Trump’s election as a restoration of power they felt they had lost and a blow against elites they felt had devalued them.
In fact, few Americans qualify as more privileged and elite than Judge Kavanaugh, a prep school graduate with two Yale degrees who is on the brink of ascending to one of the most powerful positions in the country.