If you didn’t vote for Hillary, this is your fault

The Chico Enterprise-Record ^ | June 29, 2018 | Cynthia Tucker

[2ndDivisionVet]

It matters less, now, if President Donald J. Trump serves only one term. It matters less if he is impeached. It matters less if Robert Mueller indicts him for colluding with a foreign power. With the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy from the U.S. Supreme Court, Trump is a hairbreadth away from sealing his legacy as one of the most influential (if petty, crude, divisive, corrupt and antidemocratic) presidents in American history.

It is hard to overestimate the magnitude of this development. Trump has promised to appoint another hardcore conservative, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his minions will roll right over Senate Democrats to confirm him (or her). That jurist will likely be in his or her 40s or 50s and serve for decades.

That strongly suggests that for the rest of my life — and through a considerable part of my child’s adult life — the nation’s highest court will be a bastion of ultra-right doctrine, hostile to progressive causes of all sorts. That court will likely kill off reproductive rights, starve unions, look askance at affirmative action, eviscerate voting rights and abuse criminal defendants. It will coddle violent police officers, kowtow to corporations and re-write the First Amendment, bulldozing Thomas Jefferson’s famed “wall of separation between church and state.”

This is a huge victory for the forces of retrenchment. Conservatives are much better than liberals at playing the long game, and rich political players on the right have been plotting to remake the court in their own image for decades now. Even before Kennedy’s announcement (and with Kennedy’s assistance), the high court had shifted rightward. Just this summer, the court has weakened reproductive rights, upheld Trump’s hateful, anti-Muslim travel ban and hammered public sector unions. It aided and abetted homophobes with a ruling that sided with a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

McConnell gambled on that shift — and won — when he stymied President Barack Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland. Spitting on the U.S. Constitution, McConnell defied precedent, mocked tradition and trammeled bi-partisanship, insisting that no high court nominee should be confirmed in an election year. Senate Republicans later embraced Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch, who has become a reliable ultraconservative vote. Of course, McConnell quickly reversed himself after Kennedy’s announcement, revealing that the Senate will vote on a nominee in the fall. Never mind that it’s an election year. Conservatives see their long-held goal of a far-right court just a step or two away, and hypocrisy is their handmaiden.

For much of my life, the Supreme Court served as a defense for oppressed minorities — a bulwark that pushed political and civic institutions to fully respect our rights as citizens. Through several decades, the highest court issued rulings that desegregated public schools, upheld voting rights, sanctioned desegregation of public accommodations and respected affirmative action. It broadened protections for criminal defendants. As feminism took center stage, the court upheld reproductive rights.

And even as the court turned rightward after the appointment of Justice Clarence Thomas, it still found occasion to grant succor to the oppressed. Kennedy’s libertarian streak helped to sustain that impulse. He upheld Roe v. Wade. He championed gay rights. He voted against the death penalty for juvenile offenders. But Trump’s list of potential nominees likely includes no Kennedys.

While the Trump-McConnell machine is taking all the credit for their victory, they had help from the left — from the #NeverHillary crowd. Progressive activists such as actress Susan Sarandon insisted that the Democratic nominee would be no better than Trump. Green Party nominee Jill Stein drained votes away from Clinton. Young progressive voters stayed away from the polls in the 2016 presidential election because they weren’t “energized” by Clinton’s campaign.

They helped put Trump in office, and they will reap what they have sown. So, unfortunately, will the rest of us.

[ScottinVA]

The fact I didn’t vote for Hillary is something I see as a patriotic act, not a “fault.”

[MayflowerMadam]

“For much of my life, the Supreme Court served as a defense for oppressed minorities”

Their job is to follow the Constitution in every situation. It doesn’t exist to be an advocate for the oppressed.

Anyhow, this writer’s whining and liberal tears are delicious to me. She is sad; everything she wrote makes me happy.

[ScottinVA]

“That strongly suggests that for the rest of my life — and through a considerable part of my child’s adult life — the nation’s highest court will be a bastion of ultra-right doctrine”

God willing, since in the “mind” of this writer, adherence to Constitution originality means “ultra-right doctrine.”

[Liz]

With the retirement of Justice Kennedy, Pres Trump is a hairbreadth away from sealing his legacy
going down in history as one of the most influential and magnificent presidents in American history.

Trump's greatest legacy..... sticking it to liberals every which way but loose.......man, I love it.

[exDemMom]

Early in the primary season, I took a political quiz that suggested that I should support Cruz since I share about 97% of his positions. That same quiz suggested that I only share 75% of Trump’s positions. But I went with Trump, partly because his living in the public eye for decades makes it exceedingly difficult for the left to assassinate his character. Not that they haven’t tried, but he has already weathered a level of attack that would have destroyed a less public candidate.

So far, I have yet to encounter an issue I disagree with the president on. He is awesome. The fact that he makes bitter communists so desperate and angry is pure icing.

[MayflowerMadam]

“I don’t trust Roberts.”

For good reason. He betrayed the Constitution and us.

[exDemMom]

I am guilty as charged and fully unrepentant.

[MayflowerMadam]

“as usual the LEFT turns everything to be opposite to its meaning”

Like calling the murder of babies, “Women’s healthcare”.

[Jim Noble]

For much of my life, the Supreme Court served as a defense for oppressed minorities

Without Constitutional authority, I might add.

[mewzilla]

Note to Ms. Tucker: You’re welcome.

[SteveH]

“Life is tough ping

Thanks for your service

[Howie66]

I completely agree!

I look at him with a great deal of respect. He’s made his fortune and he’s now 72 years old. He didn’t deserve or need the crap that has been thrown at him and his family. At this stage of his life, he could be fully retired and doing whatever he wants or desires.

If nothing else, he has shown himself to be a purely selfless man who has a deep and abiding LOVE for this country and the American Citizens. He saw that our future was in jeopardy and that the status quo was not at all acceptable. He is working to reverse the rot and decay that a lesser man would not even know where to begin. He IS a problem solver and a builder.

Thank God that we have him and people like him among us.

[Liz]

Let's analyze that, again.

Trump's makeover of the USSC strongly suggests that the court will be:

<><> a bastion of ultra-right doctrine,

<><>hostile to lamebrain progressive causes of all sorts.

<><> be determined to protect the unborn

<><> will slap down offensive "reproductive rights,"

<><> starve unions,

<><> will look askance at affirmative action,

<><> will toss the ugliness of "diversity" into the dustbin of history

<><> uphold America's sacrosanct voting rights,

<><> keep criminal defendants in their place.

<><> keep the peace through enhanced L/E,

<><> keep capitalism alive,

<><> reinforce businesses large and small,

<><> uphold the First Amendment, and,

<><> elevate the Second Amendment to new legal heights.

[NativeSon]

This reads like a “please vote for Trump” ad...did I miss something?

[Boardwalk]

In other words, the best thing since sliced toast! God has truly blessed America!

[dp0622]

for maybe 40 percent of the population! But as I am not a fascist leftist, I am not insane enough to push for something like he left would for us.

But I still dont get “reproductive rights”.

It’s circular logic..

If you don’t want to reproduce, use birth control or whatever. Beats the heck out of murder.

But once you are pregnant, you already have reproduced, no?

The next 9 months is just waiting it out :)

So you have the right not to reproduce and use whatever you want to that end, until you’ve reproduced and the old egg got fertilized :)

I guess I don’t get leftist logic.

Also, is it really REproducing? You’re not splitting in two like an amoeba. The new product, your child will be different from anyone else who ever lived.

So what rights are they really asking for?

[Stepan12]

I enjoy this type of bitching. It is good that these lib/commies blame me for their troubles. I am glad to take the credit for choosing Trump over Hillary.

[BykrBayb]

This is a huge victory for the forces of retrenchment.

That’s the number one reason I voted for Trump.

This was one heck of a feel-good story. I think I’ll save it, to read every time I need a pick-me-up.

[Hardastarboard]

petty, crude, divisive, corrupt and antidemocratic) presidents in American history.

Wow - she swerved over into talking about 0bama, then swerved right back to talking about Trump.