A vintage news conference by the president, a crazy day on Capitol Hill, and what we’ll be watching for in Thursday’s Kavanaugh hearings.
Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. I’m Lisa Lerer, your host.
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President Trump is back to his standard playbook for sexual assault allegations: Deny, dismiss and blame the accuser.
The tactic was on full display at a news conference in New York City this evening, in one of those vintage stream-of-consciousness appearances that the president rode into the White House. He rejected all three allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as false. Democrats, he said, were “dishonest people” running a “con job” on the American public.
And, perhaps most strikingly, the president said his personal experience with accusations of sexual assault “absolutely” influence his thinking about the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump was accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women.
Mr. Trump saved his empathy not for the women, but for the man facing the claims.
Even by Mr. Trump’s standards, the news conference was rambling and at times almost jaw-dropping. He veered from talking about North Korea to the employment state of Rod Rosenstein. He made misleading claims, including that he won a majority of women’s votes in 2016. He said Chinese leaders respect his “very large brain.” And he wondered aloud whether George Washington had a “bad past.”
At one point, a CNN reporter suggested the president could call on women reporters. “What does he mean by that,” Mr. Trump bristled. “What does he mean by that?”
But, after that, Mr. Trump called on a series of female journalists.
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A quick rundown of the latest developments in the Kavanaugh story:
• There were new allegations of drugging and gang rape, from a woman who said she had attended parties with Judge Kavanaugh in high school. (She was represented by Michael Avenatti, the lawyer-turned-liberal-firebrand whose clients include Stormy Daniels.)
• Judge Kavanaugh released prepared remarks, denying all of the allegations but admitting that he drank beer with friends in high school and that he occasionally “had too many.”
• The Judiciary Committee unveiled four pages of a green 1982 Northwestern Mutual Audubon wall calendar that Judge Kavanaugh planned to use as part of his defense. Entries included notes like “go to Rocky III” and “Play B-Ball at Chevy Chase Playground.”
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“Everybody shut up. I’m not in a good mood.”
That was how the morning began on Capitol Hill, with Senator Orrin Hatch, the second-most-senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, losing it just a little bit.
Hatch, a soft-spoken 84-year-old Mormon, is generally the kind of guy who uses phrases like “dipsy doodle.”
There was no doodling today.
“O! K!” he screamed at a gaggle of reporters waiting to get his thoughts on the latest accusations against Judge Kavanaugh. “Let’s… let’s knock it off for a minute. I don’t know anything about it. I’ll look at it.”
Making his way down the hall, he muttered: “I’m sorry to yell at you, but my God.”
This is a place under serious stress.
Even in the Trump era, when every day seems like The Day We Will Tell Our Children About, the stakes of the fight over the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh are undeniably high.
Tomorrow’s hearing is happening exactly 40 days before a midterm election that will decide control of Congress. The outcome could cement conservative control of the Supreme Court for a generation. And everyone — conservatives, liberals and independents — will be watching.
A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted this week found that almost 6 in 10 Americans said they will be following the proceedings closely or very closely. Forty-two percent are unsure which side they believe.
On the day before the main event, a sense of unpredictability hung over the Senate, unsettling politicians used to a place where things are usually carefully choreographed.
Senator Jeff Flake slipped into a senators-only staircase to avoid reporters.
“I’m just anxious for the hearing tomorrow,” he said.
Senator Ted Cruz strode quickly through a gaggle of press toward the safety of a senators-only elevator, telling reporters to “just call the press office.”
And Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat facing a tough re-election battle in his deep-red state, perhaps summed up the mood the best.
When asked whether the new allegations had changed his thinking on the nomination, he offered this: “I’m not saying nothing.”
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Everyone wants to hear what Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey have to say.
Here’s what else we’ll be watching tomorrow:
What do the Republicans do, exactly?
The Republicans have outsourced their questions in the hearing to the Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell.
The decision to abdicate their basic responsibilities as members of Congress was a political one: Republicans feared the optics of an all-male panel questioning Dr. Blasey.
But the idea of a senator not talking, particularly in a hearing, is like a fish not swimming. It’s almost impossible to picture.
So, uh, what do they do, exactly, during the questioning? Is there grimacing? Smiling? And really, none of them will say anything?
An Anita-overcorrection?
The specter of the treatment of Anita Hill by the committee lingers like one of Justice Kavanaugh’s high school hangovers. (Allegedly!)
Democrats are determined not to repeat the dismissive attitude expressed by members of the committee, their party included, toward Ms. Hill during those 1991 hearings.
Besides, being tough on Judge Kavanaugh and compassionate toward Dr. Blasey is great base-energizing politics for their party. Democrats can argue that his repeated denials have made a lot of awkward topics fair game: his drinking, high school sex life and general attitude toward women.
But there is risk for Democrats, too, particularly in a hearing that’s dealing with so many sensitive topics.
When it comes to Judge Kavanaugh, can they be tough without verging into the ridiculous? And when it comes to Dr. Blasey, can Democrats balance empathy with fairness?
A bad day for frat boys?
Some of Judge Kavanaugh’s supporters have dismissed some of the allegations as harmless “boys will be boys” behavior prevalent in fraternities and all-boys schools. They’ve argued that if these allegations end Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, any man could be taken down.
Does that rationale still cut it, given the country’s changing views on sexual harassment and assault, particularly on college campuses? How Dr. Blasey’s story is discussed by the committee, and the days of endless hot takes to follow, will tell us a lot about how woke our culture actually has — or has not — become in the #metoo era.
