I do believe though that the RINO’s are confirming, not in support of Trump, but in support of Mitch and the internal senate politics, which is still fine by me.
even in the few cases where the R votes no on a nominee for whatever ideological reason, it’s all part of the game, and Mitch will only put the vote on the floor when he knows the nominee will be confirmed. for example Mitt’s recent no vote on Eastern Texas District judge Michael Truncale.
Mitt got to look tough, but he knew the vote was going to pass anyways.
The job description of being Senate Majority Leader includes being able to not just count votes but to line them up. Many favors, threats, deals, and promises are made toward that end.
Exactly - they’re definitely not supporting the judges because they love Trump, at least most of the Senate Republicans. I suspect a few factors -
1 - They defer to the president on nominations, provided nothing egregrious shows up, even RINOs do that. In Trump’s case, they’re virtually all outstanding picks - so it’s easy for them here.
2 - They know the judges will be around long after Trump is gone.
3 - They see the damage being done by Democrat judges and they want to stop it.