They nuked the filibuster. That's actually a good thing. The scab has been ripped off.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

The G.O.P. are not our friends. They are not friendly rivals like Paul George and LeBron James. They are our enemies. We expect no quarter and will give no quarter.

[putitinD]

1. this decision will haunt the GOP later!

[kimbutgar]

3. No they will not suffer any damage

Remember the government shutdowns? No consequences. They have so gained the system that now with gorsuch they have effectively taken over the country in a bloodless coup.

We have to continue to take to the streets and go after them at public meetings calling them out. We must of course vote but I feel they have so manipulated the system in their favor we can't vote them out. And don't get me started on Russia winning big and destabilizing our country by putting a madman in as president.

[putitinD]

5. we can vote them out, if only we would all vote in the mid-terms and special elections. Just

voting for President once every 4 years isn't enough! Republicans will crawl through broken glass to get to the polls EVERY time they are open.

[Blue_true]

15. Exactly. I really hate it when people talk about voter suppression

and gerrymandering as not a reason to keep fighting to win offices. The things republicans put up are obstacles that can be overcome. Our larger problem is getting rid of the "no difference between the parties" people that insist critical election after critical election on blowing up our chances to prevent Republican's from doing damage to society.

[putitinD]

17. +1

[Ohioblue22]

4. reid's failure to do this when he killed the filibuster the first time

[n2doc]

6. It will when Dems get power back

Then we can nominate without worrying about RW support.

[MrPurple]

8. If Trump gets to fill a few seats, the horse will already be out of the barn

[n2doc]

9. People don't live forever n/t

[MrPurple]

2. That scab was ripped off a long time ago

This is not a good thing, as Trump could get more picks. If this was Sept. 2018, it might not be as bad, because they could pay a price for it at the polls, but depressingly, I doubt this will have much impact on the next election. The R's weren't punished for Merrick Garland in 2016 and certainly should have been.

[Ms. Toad]

12. You are correct.

And Trump now has no need to nominate anyone remotely qualified or centrist, knowing that he only has to get 51 votes.

Had he nominated Bannon (as an example), do you really think the Senate - you know, the body that was moderate enough it was expected to block even the more modest version of the AHCA, would vote to change the rules so Bannon could get confirmed to the Supreme Court? I can't imagine them changing the rules for a Bannon (purely theoretical), or Harriet Miers, or Robert Bork.

But now they don't have to. The rules are already changed, and we are out of ammunition. Trump is free to nominate whavever rabid right-wing ideologue he wants and confirmation is all but certain.

We fired off our one shot against an enemy who, realistically, will makes absolutely no difference in the outcome of any decisions - because he is replacing an equally conservative Scalia. Next time we'll have a Miers, Bork, or Bannon replacing a much more liberal Justice - and there won't be a darn thing we can do about it because it now only takes 51 votes to confirm the next justice.

[MrPurple]

13. Exactly, though I'm not sure that Gorsuch is less radically originalist than Bork

But the Dems are out of bullets now and things look bleak. Supposedly, Anthony Kennedy is thinking of stepping down from the court this summer and he was a swing vote on some things like gay marriage.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Every thing I've seen suggests he will be very similar to Scalia

But I've been too busy cranking out new lawyers to take a careful look.

[Initech]

7. It wasn't until Nixon that they started going apeshit.

There was a point in time where both parties got along. It started with McCarthyism, grew with the Southern Strategy, and grew even more after 9/11, and now is manifesting itself in Trump. Time to extinguish this fire or something really ugly is going to happen.

[seshers]

10. Whether good or not...

At least it can't be held over anyone's head any more. It will be up to us, the electorate, to hold accountable the individuals who continue to enact bad policies that will inevitably result from the continued polarization that this move facilitates. Good or not, our fight continues regardless.

[GoCubsGo]

11. There is nothing good about a smarmy, souless POS getting a lifetime appointment to the USSC.

[Blue_true]

16. I have felt for a while that the Democratic Party

Will ultimately own all coastal states accept for maybe Mississippi, Alabama and Louidiana and states like Arizona, Vermont, the Midwest except for Indiana, Colorado, Nevada when Senate seats are concerned. The party should periodically take seats from interior states. The party should be able to reach 60 senate seats regularly going forward. Republicans are feeling their oats now, but their voters have been riled up for years now and could barely elect a President and a Senate majority, they are at their zenith, IMO. Our problem is getting rid of the purist and encouraging more non voters (who include a lot of minorities) to vote regularly, if we do that, we are successful.

[MrPurple]

18. The Dems need to take the Governorships & the state legislatures

To undo voter suppression and the gerrymandering. If there was motor/voter in every state, expanded early voting - the Republicans would be the minority party that they truly are. But as of now, gaming the system is winning and the judicial appointments Trump will have won't help.