Judge Kavanaugh and the culture of protest

Awaiting the outcome of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court has become a classic cliffhanger, teetering in front of the American public with as much dramatic tension as a major sports event — which is why, perhaps, several international betting houses have offered odds on the outcome. News coverage, meanwhile, has been tinctured with opinion and speculation — even as U.S. Capitol Police and U.S. Supreme Court Police have ramped up security for lawmakers, as confrontations and protests get vigorous. Some officers have been called to form a human barrier around the more ardent demonstrations.

With the continued involvement of organizers from the Women’s March, MoveOn.org and other activist groups, the protests also have been ramped up in tone and intent.

“The ideology of dominance and patriarchy is a dying ideology. Our sisterhood is equality and justice and freedom,” one speaker told a large group of cheering marchers near the Supreme Court, an event supported by Planned Parenthood, The Center for Popular Democracy and others groups on Thursday — augmented by appearances by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, and comedian Amy Schumer, who later was arrested with several hundred others demonstrators.

The organized throngs will be back again on Saturday. The Women’s March officials, in fact, are calling their planned activities for the day the “No Justice, No Seat: National March” — complete with local marches around the nation, all organized under the aegis of a dedicated website: CancelKavanaugh.com.

“Kavanaugh is poised to erode worker protections, deny rights to immigrants, take away health care access, all while bolstering the power of big corporations and millionaires and billionaires. Collectively, we understand that a Senate vote to confirm Kavanaugh would erode essential freedoms and protections for our communities for generations. This is a defining moment,” their mission statement reads.

There is an official T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “Believe Women” available for $25.

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But if it’s not one thing, it’s another. The Women’s March organizers already are gearing up for a big “Power to the Polls” push — and there’s also January.

“#WomensWave is coming It’s time to march again. We are outraged. We are organized. They forgot that 5 million women lit the world on fire two years ago. On January 19, 2019, we’re going to remind them when we flood the streets of Washington, D.C., and with sister marches in cities across the globe,” they note.

DAYS OF YORE

The ladies have heard the call to protest in previous decades. We’ve been here before.

“Don’t agonize. Organize,” advised columnist and lawyer Florynce R. Kennedy for the March 1973 issue of Ms., a women’s magazine.

But wait, there’s more.

“We can no longer depend on the electoral system. The street is the only place for our movement,” feminist Gloria Steinem said in a statement released following the defeat of Democratic Congresswoman Bella Abzug of New York in November 1978.

THE KAVANAUGH PRESS

“You idiot reporters are making it worse. Every 15 seconds, you’re demonstrating why millions of people love it when Trump calls you the fake news,” National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg writes about coverage of the Brett M. Kavanaugh matter as it nears either a high or a low point, depending on one’s political persuasion.

The press is out there, though. A few headlines from the last 24 hours to set the stage for what could be a long weekend:

“Republicans needed a midterms miracle. Could Brett Kavanaugh be it?” (CNN); “Pence ready for potential tie-breaker” (Roll Call); “Confusion, chaos hit Capitol Hill after FBI report” (Yahoo News); “Key Republicans signal satisfaction with FBI report” (The Washington Post); “Republicans have decided to ignore all of Brett Kavanaugh’s Lies” (New York Magazine); “Kavanaugh nomination battle is fought with millions in secret cash” (NPR); “‘Breezy’ daytime talk becomes ‘deranged propaganda’: Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter ask what happened to ‘The View?'” (Fox News).

KANSAS: RALLY NO. 5 FOR TRUMP

President Trump will be in Topeka, Kansas, on Saturday for the fifth jumbo Make America Great Again rally over the past week. This marks his second rally in the Sunflower State; he’ll be accompanied by campaign manager Brad Parscale, a Topeka native. Mr. Trump will be there to shore up support for gubernatorial hopeful Kris Kobach — currently Kansas’ secretary of state and formerly an unofficial adviser to Mr. Trump when he was incoming president.

“President Trump’s success in cutting taxes at the national level unleashed economic growth, and I want to accomplish the same thing in Kansas by reducing our crushing tax burden,” says the candidate.

And yes, protesters will be out in force, organized by an activist group called Kobach is Wrong for Kansas. Local police have restricted the activities of “peaceful dissenters and demonstrators” to sidewalks on one side of the arena; those who stray risk arrest for “disorderly conduct or unlawful obstruction.”

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POLL DU JOUR

• 67 percent of people age 18-34 say they have not participated in a protest or demonstration since the 2016 election and “don’t plan to.”

• 66 percent have not given money to a political campaign this year and “don’t plan to.”

• 63 percent say a political candidate’s race or ethnicity “doesn’t matter”; 59 percent say the same of their gender.

• 57 percent have not participated in a campaign rally since 2016 election and “don’t plan to.”

• 28 percent would be more likely to vote for a candidate who is described as a “socialist.”

Source: A BuzzFeed News and MaruBlue poll of 1,005 millennials age 22-37 years old conducted Sept. 21-24 and released Thursday

• Follow Jennifer harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin

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