Kavanaugh explained in his WSJ op-ed that his intemperate behavior was motivated by his desire to protect his family. Like many of his comments over the last week, that was a lie, unless it was vital for some reason for him to sustain the myth within his family that he was a hard-working choir boy during his raucous high school days. No, he did it for himself, and Judge, and P.J., and Tobin, and Squi, and every other preppie who leveraged his family’s money and connections into financial success and convinced himself he was a virtuous, self-made man who had earned his privileges. Now, that’s a cause worth lying for.
His profoundly selfish, overtly partisan behavior has damaged the image of the Supreme Court as a fundamentally fair, apolitical body. Trump won’t care about that, since he enjoys displays of raw power, but the Chief Justice will. One imagines he will sit Kavanaugh down early in his tenure and suggest that he cool his jets and do his best to undo the damage done over the last few weeks for his own benefit, for the Court, and for the entire nation.
Will he take the advice? Will he write principled, moderate opinions and try to come across as a healer? Will he make Susan Collins proud? Or will he devote the rest of his life to getting even with his left-wing tormentors? Will he push the Court to dismantle the “administrative state,” go on Fox News every chance he gets, and throw rhetorical bombs to own the libs at every opportunity? Will he make Collins look like a chump?
Everything I’ve seen in the confirmation process points to (b), but it’s totally up to him.
Note to my readers: I will be taking a badly-needed break from Trump and Kavanaugh in the land of Brexit during the next two weeks. Posting during that period will be irregular at best.