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(CNN) – President Donald Trump claimed a place in history on Monday when Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation secured a dominant conservative majority in the Supreme Court.
But the glitz of his victory lap could not mask the reality of a pandemic that put his presidency in grave danger a week before the election.
A brilliant ceremony on a crisp autumn night in the White House had deep political overtones that will only exacerbate the fury of Democrats who feel Republican maneuvers stole two Supreme Court seats.
It will also inexorably drag the court into a toxic political battle that has already tainted its reputation as a non-party.
Amy Coney Barrett event and regrowth
The event took place despite another covid-19 outbreak at the White House, this time with the staff of Vice President Mike Pence.
He framed Trump, smiling, along with a new judge owed to him for a lifetime appointment.
After the president warned he could contest an election he had already declared unfair to the Supreme Court.
About next week he will say whether the White House party was a moment of farewell glory for a president headed for the desert.
Or announce a much bigger celebration for a second term in the White House next week.
The ceremony took place at the end of a day Trump visited Pennsylvania.
It is the key state that could be the deciding factor in case of close elections where you are currently following Democrat Joe Biden on the election map.
He only mentioned the pandemic to mislead the country about the rapidly worsening emergency that killed 225,000 Americans.
As hospitals fill up and many states report the largest number of new cases.
He hopes his show alongside Barrett on Monday night will motivate conservatives and generate a lot of grassroots turnout.
Although it could provide even the most moderate voters, especially women, with one more reason to reject it.
Barrett was previously confirmed in a 52-48 vote in the Republican-led Senate.
Its rise to the highest level, consolidating a conservative 6-3 majority, means a major reshaping of Washington’s tectonic power.
Just a week before an election in which Republicans risk being excluded from power in the executive and legislative branches of the government.
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A moment of true inheritance
Trump’s third appointment to the Supreme Court marked one of the most triumphal moments of his presidency.
But it was also the culmination of a ten-year struggle for a clear majority of the conservative movement that has embraced multiple presidencies.
And true to form, Trump put on a show, with huge American flags hanging from the south porch of the White House.
But their reunion evoked painful memories of the previous event that celebrated Barrett in September at the White House and became a covid-19 super-popularizer.
This time the chairs were spaced out on the lawn and most of the guests wore masks.
But the fact that five people in Pence’s orbit tested positive for COVID-19 led health experts to disapprove of another event in which Trump prioritized his personal political aspirations over public health.
Pence, who had previously hoped to preside over the Senate upon Barrett’s confirmation, did not appear on camera or at the White House celebration.
However, the vice president refuses to quarantine himself, arguing that his job – not chairing the nearly inactive coronavirus task force but leading a campaign – is essential and similar to what frontline health workers do.
But the fact that even the Trump White House admitted that social distancing was necessary symbolizes how the message chosen by the campaign’s end has been completely dampened by the deteriorating public health situation.
New balance of power
The new balance of power in court has significant implications for civil, racial, corporate, reproductive and voting rights laws.
And for future Democratic presidents and lawmakers to use future electoral terms to further their progressive priorities.
But Barrett insisted after taking an oath before the court’s conservative bloc dean, Justice Clarence Thomas, that he would be politically impartial despite the highly partisan nature of Trump’s celebration.
“A senator’s job is to pursue her political preferences. Indeed, it would be negligent in fulfilling its duty to set aside its own political goals, ”Barrett said.
On the contrary, a judge’s job is to resist his political preferences. It would be negligent to give in to them.
In a political sense, the event also helps explain Trump’s presidency. The agreement between ideological, social and Christian conservatives with a less pious president has paid off for both sides.
The outcome of next week’s elections will decide whether the move will strengthen Trump’s coalition and increase his base stake enough for him to forge a backward victory over Biden.
Conservative majority
Even if Trump loses, conservatives are likely to build up years of courage by staying with Trump and can thank Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for creating the clear majority, in part for refusing to confirm the candidate of then President Barack Obama. , Merrick Garland, in an election year.
Barrett’s new place on the nation’s highest stage could also be very significant in the short term.
In his first few weeks in court, Barrett will hear cases about Obamacare’s fate, abortion, and Trump’s taxes. As well as the possible disputes arising from the 2020 elections. All these cases are of great interest to the president and his political future.
Thus, his decision to attend a highly political event after accepting a life appointment just days before an election that Trump has already declared unfair will raise further questions about his ability to consider cases independently.
Democrats’ anger is prompting Biden and the Senate Democrats to increase the number of Supreme Court seats if they take power.
A battle for Pennsylvania
Both Biden and Trump came out on Monday during the Pennsylvania election campaign, pointing out how the Commonwealth could end up being the deciding state in a head-to-head election. The president held three demonstrations with large crowds, not socially distant. Despite the first news broke out of three series of infections related to the demonstrations held in Minnesota in September.
The president reacted sharply to reporters’ question about Biden’s claim that he waved the white flag on the pandemic.
After his general secretary, Mark Meadows, told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that the virus cannot be contained.
“He waved the white flag in life. He doesn’t come out of his cellar, he’s a pathetic candidate, “the president said.
Biden visited Delaware County, a Democratic stronghold in the state of Keystone. He reacted angrily to Trump’s claim over the weekend that doctors had inflated the number of Covid-19 cases to get more funds for their hospitals.
“What the hell is wrong with this man?” Biden asked. He added that more than 1,000 frontline health workers have died from the coronavirus.
In the bell
The travel plans of the candidates in the coming days reflect the reality of an election in which the president defends territories across the map.
And it must win a long list of fluctuating states to have a path towards 270 electoral votes.
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Biden’s plans include stops in Iowa and Georgia. Georgia did not vote for a Democrat in the presidential election since Bill Clinton in 1992.
He said he will soon also visit Wisconsin, a state that Trump won four years ago and is now getting closer to the Democrats. And the eternal indecisive state of Florida.
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris will visit Texas this week. It’s a reddish state, but where Democrats hope to make an impact.
The president will be in Michigan and Wisconsin on Tuesday, two states that formed the Midwestern base for his 2016 election victory. But where he is far behind Biden in the polls.
He is also heading to Nebraska to fight for the single Electoral College vote in the state’s second Congressional district that Biden has a chance to win.
Trump’s campaign on Monday insisted that polls showing the president overdue almost everywhere didn’t mean much, and he claimed a position of strength in the key states that will decide the elections.
Campaign manager Bill Stepien said the president had more ways to win 270 electoral votes.
And he said his play on the pitch would sink the Democrats who knocked on far fewer doors in the midst of the pandemic. Stepien said the president was “expanding his base and getting new voters”.
Electoral map
Yet a glance at the election map shows the difficult task facing the president in repeating his narrow victory over Hillary Clinton. It should collect almost all undecided states. Including Florida, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina. Before keeping Pennsylvania where Biden is leading. And potentially win one from Arizona, Michigan, or Wisconsin, who are currently leaning on the former vice president.
In a normal election, both candidates at this point will simply try to increase their turnout within days of the end. Especially since in 2020 polls show that few undecided voters remain.
This year, the prospect of a last-minute change is even more troubling than usual, as more than 60 million Americans voted early.
About 33 states surpassed the total votes until the 2016 election. And the numbers suggest that a high turnout is likely.
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