R.I.P. Ruth Bader Ginsberg. While we were on entirely different sides of the aisle politically, I respected her; she was true to her beliefs and expressed them with passion and conviction. And, she was an inspiration to many women and cancer survivors. May she rest in peace.

Did I not predict something like this? I wasn’t bold enough at the time to predict someone’s death (and I never would do this, anyways) but I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. After all, it wasn’t as if 2020 wasn’t chaotic enough, right?

Let the freak-out begin. A few thoughts:

1. There’s no way Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell lets this opportunity to replace RBG’s seat on the court slide. Indeed, he’s already said there will be hearings and a Senate vote. After all, the Republicans have the Senate and the White House, and when there is a vacancy on the Court, regardless of the circumstances involved, the White House and the Senate have an obligation to fill that vacancy in a timely fashion.

2. Normally – at least as far as the Founders were concerned – this should not be that big a deal. After all, they perceived the Supreme Court and the Judicial Branch as co-equals to the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch (do they even teach Civics in school anymore?), so the prospect of replacing a Supreme Court judge would be seen by them as a normal part of the branch upon which it occupies. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has turned our judicial system into an activist branch of the Party’s agenda and ultimate goals. So now all hell is going to break loose.

3. The fact that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s first tweet following her death contained no condolences tells you everything you need to know. These people (and by that I mean Democrats in Washington) have no compassion, no soul, no humanity. They see everything in terms of politics. They are nothing but walking, living death and evil. Schumer and “San Fran Nan” Pelosi are despicable human beings, so you can expect them to use Ginsberg’s death as a way to gin up the heretofore invisible support for “Slo’ Joe” Biden’s candidacy. I like to say it won’t work, but the election is now a crapshoot.

4. In reality, this is all RBG’s fault. The liberal left were literally begging her to retire during the last year of the Obama administration and step aside so President Obama could select someone younger and just as (or even more so) politically progressive. I have it on pretty good word that it was Hillary Clinton (shocking!) who encouraged RBG to stay on out of the supreme confidence Clinton had that she would be elected President. As I understand it, RBG would then shortly thereafter announce her retirement, thus allowing HRC to choose yet another woman and one equally (if not more so) politically inclined. Talk about hubris!

5. When Donald J. Trump was elected, there was little RBG could do but try and hang on as long as she could in the hope that Trump would be a one-term president. She was fighter and hung on as long as she could, and I respect her greatly for that. But there’s something also sad about it: I can’t help but wonder what pressure RBG was under by those whose sad and pathetic lives revolve only around Washington politics. I just hope she had some time to enjoy her last days on earth and take time to smell the roses before she passed.

6. So now all hell is going to break loose. And I believe that to be the case, literally. Expect the liberal and progressive left to turn its afterburners outage to maximum
and do everything it can to intimidate McConnell and Republican senators, and use the mainstream media to make them cower to their demands. You thought the Kavanaugh hearings were bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet. Expect marches in the streets and renewed violence as a weapon of intimidation.

7. I wish I could tell you how it will all go and ultimately fall out, but this is a wrench into whatever machine the White House, McConnell, the pollsters, and senators on both sides of the aisle could ever have imagined. The election is now basically in free-fall, and it will take days – if not weeks – to see how this all fleshes out.

8. Keep a close eye on how all sitting senators decide to handle this. I already see AZ’s Martha McSally come out in favor of pushing forward with a judicial nomination. I think that’s smart: this will definitely be a factor in her race against Mark Kelly, and we’ll now see if the GOP has enough power in Arizona to pull her over the finish line along with Donald Trump. I think this also helps challengers like John James in Michigan. On the other hand, incumbents like Susan Collins in Maine and Cory Gardner in Colorado are really going to get squeezed politically.

9. For folks thinking it would be politically better for President Trump to hold off a judicial nomination because it’s so close to a presidential election, keep in mind the Democrats have publicly already stated they will do whatever it takes from a judicial point of view to win this election for “Slo’ Joe” Biden. The President, therefore, anticipating the need for Supreme Court rulings related to voting and vote counting, would be doing himself a great disservice were he not to follow though on nominating a replacement for RBG to ensure a full court has the opportunity to rule on election practices if needed.

10. Strap yourselves in, folks, if you thought 2020 was already a bumpy ride y’all ain’t seen nothing yet!