George Will has been writing op-ed commentary since the 1970’s for too many different publications to mention. Currently he’s one of the Washington Post’s conservatives, definitely of the Never Trump variety. He felt so strongly about that that when Trump clinched the GOP nomination in 2016, Will renounced his affiliation with the GOP, saying in a Washington Post op-ed that the USA is a Center-Left country.
Possibly he’s the country’s most famous conservative columnist, and if you read him, eventually you’ll get something outrageous that sets off alarm bells. I try to look at many of his columns nevertheless, because occasionally his commentary is undeniably right on the money, and his use of language is shall we say “unique”. Some say pretentious, but he’s been doing it the same way for so many decades, I think his writing style qualifies as authentic.
Now yesterday on another post, I made a comment about George Will, and immediately got a reply saying right wing scumbag who needs to apologize. Or something to that effect. It’s not a healthy attitude. George Will has renounced the Republican party, but he’s not going to apologize for being conservative.
Those who want democracy going forward are going to need to make peace with as many people as possible, and find ways to move forward wherever common ground exists.
So here is his latest in the Washington Post:
Hipocrisy and Constitutional Etiquette
The link may not work if you don’t have a Washington post account. Will starts by savaging Lindsay Graham:
Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina contortionist, illustrates the perils of attempted cleverness by people with negligible aptitude for it. He says that the principle he enunciated in 2016 and reaffirmed in 2018 — that he would not support confirming a Supreme Court nominee in the last year of President Trump’s term — has expired. One reason he gives is — really — that Democrats in 2013 ended filibusters for circuit-court nominees.
Then he goes on. The bold type is mine.
And if Trump loses, perhaps even this amazingly malleable Republican caucus might not confirm his nominee before Joe Biden’s inauguration. So, whomever Trump nominates might be about to have a tortuous Merrick Garland experience of disappointment.
Suppose, however — not altogether implausibly — that the Republican Senate caucus is incapable of embarrassment. Suppose Biden wins and Democrats have a net gain of at least three Senate seats. And suppose that either before the election, or before the new Senate is sworn in on Jan. 3, Republicans confirm a new justice. And suppose Senate Democrats, spurred by their party’s enraged base and enabled by their quick abolition of the filibuster, enlarge the Supreme Court by at least four members (two fewer than Franklin Roosevelt envisioned).
This would erase the principal achievement — three Trump nominees — for which Senate Republicans, during four years of canine obedience to the nominator, have rationalized shedding their dignity and shredding their reputations. This institutional vandalism by Democrats would be a grievous injury to the court, which has, so far, largely escaped being drenched by the Niagara of public contempt for the great institutions of national governance, not least Congress. Public confidence in the court’s disinterestedness is the source of its power to defend the Constitution from willful and imprudent majorities, including Senate majorities.
If George Will supports packing the court with liberals, you can probably get everyone from the Lincoln Project on board too. If George Will is willing to say it, that means it’s an idea with currency outside the world of liberal activists.
It is however too early to start calling your Democratic senators about this. There is an election to win first, and we need lots more Democratic senators before actions can be taken at the Congressional level to negate the Republican power grab at the Supreme Court. If I were advising Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi, I’d tell them to right now keep caucus members noncommittal on actions vis a vis the Supreme court next January. I imagine if you call your Democratic senator today, it will be frustrating, because you’re not likely to get a definite answer.