September 19, 2020 - Why Republicans Should Wait to Replace RBG and What Democrats Can Learn From It

 

The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is, most likely, going to throw this election cycle into overdrive. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has already stated that "President Trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate." This is a bad idea. It's not bad because it shows his blatant hypocrisy after refusing for almost ten months to hold hearings for Merrick Garland, saying, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president." That's to be expected from him. McConnell has never been shy about his methodology to put party over the people, hence his refusal to bring almost 400 bills passed by the House for a vote in the Senate. One could make the argument that this is a false analogy, because Obama was a lame duck president and Trump has a chance at another term, but the heart of the matter is the same, McConnell working the system to his party's advantage.

No, the reason McConnell should hold off on a vote is because doing so is Trump's best shot for a victory on November 3rd. Almost every poll (and I say this having zero confidence in polls after 2016, but I have to start somewhere) has Trump trailing Biden. From what I understand, Trump's base - those who truly like him - is only around 30% of voters. The rest of those who vote for him aren't voting for him as much as they're voting for the party. Having another Supreme Court appointment will likely motivate more conservatives - especially Evangelicals who want to overturn Roe vs. Wade and gun enthusiasts who are afraid that Democrats will take away all their guns - to vote for Trump. According to a Washington Post poll in 2016, about 25% of people who voted for Trump did so because of an impending Supreme Court nominee. That could happen again.

If McConnell changes his mind because of this, Democrats need to take a cue from the other side and get every single registered voter to the polls. I live in Massachusetts, likely the most liberal state in the nation: see polls by World Population Review, Pew Forum, and Gallup. I'm not worried about how my state is going to vote. I am concerned about the six toss-up states that will help decide this election. Therefore, I encourage all my friends in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to do whatever they can to get out the vote. 

Ginsburg's passing gives her the opportunity to once again be the motivator she has been for twenty-seven years. Her passing should be the motivation to get everyone to the polls. This time she is motivating us to remove arguably the most dangerous, unstable man this nation has ever seen from office and set this country back on the right track. It would be a disservice to her and everything she ever stood for to let this opportunity pass.