The story is being reported on a number of mostly conservative websites but the Washington Examiner seems to be the primary source. As reported it seems to border on speculation. They give their source as “court watchers”.
I have to wonder if there’s anything to this or is it just an attempt at stiffening the backbone of Senate Republicans to not let Obama nominate a justice, and an attempt to spur conservative voters to the polls in November.
Thinking about this some more, I think it could have more of an effect on Republicans. Trump, if he does end up being the nominee, is more than enough incentive for Democrats to turn out and, given the dislike for him among Republicans, he may be a disincentive for them. The possibility of Thomas retiring could make some Republicans less reluctant to vote for him.
I mentioned that in the context of it being a ruse. There’s not enough of an upside for the Republicans to make up the story. But that’s just looking at it in terms of the presidency. The other side of this is maintaining control of the Senate, the Republicans would use something like this to try to get the vote out for the congressional seats. If they can keep the Senate they’ll block Democratic president’s nominees until they get a Republican president if they have to.
I doubt that they’d make it up out of whole cloth. I’m thinking more that they could be making a big deal out of an unsupported rumor for political purposes.
Even more cynically, there’s also the Republican operatives who would profit fr- I mean, be available to selflessly serve, for only 15% of the gross, a “Un-nominate Trump” fundraising campaign. No incentive there to make up stories about this presidential election being all about the Supreme Court.
True, but at this point in the election cycle, the Republicans appear to have fallen behind. So they have to try to change the direction events are moving in even if there’s a risk in doing so.
There have been recent studies showing that Republican voters, not the leadership but the actual voters, are reliably and fully coming around to supporting Trump. Everything is so shook up right now no one will make predictions, but white male Republicans are solidly behind Trump and becoming more so all the time. It used to be less-educated voters and economically distressed voters-now if you are Republican you are in favor of Trump. And that goes for the nominal Democrats that usually vote Republican in major races. As for disincentives, Trump has brought record turn-outs in the primaries. Far more people are voting in the primaries than ever before. Whether those are just regular voters who used to skip the primaries or actual new voters will be discovered in November.
As for the rumor, I doubt most Republican voters could name Justice Thomas, much less know what his voting record is. Such a rumor isn’t going to move any needles.
