The most important words spoken by Brett Kavanaugh to the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27 were these: “I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process.” By then, his family had received multiple death threats and he himself had been relentlessly slandered. But the judge refused to surrender. And the nominee was by no means the only victim of vicious Democratic attacks. Senator Susan Collins, whose vote would inevitably be crucial to his confirmation, was the target of constant harassment and her staff received numerous threats of violence. Her response to these disgusting tactics mirrored that of Kavanaugh:

When I have a caller who tells a young staffer in my office who does case work that he hopes she is raped and impregnated, we have really reached a new low … The people of Maine know me well enough that that’s not ever how I would make a decision and I am deeply offended by this effort.

The courage of Kavanaugh and Collins in the face of such attacks is an object lesson for the Republicans. Conservative voters are intelligent enough to know the GOP can’t win every battle in a political environment dominated by Democrats and their accomplices in the media as well as the deep state, but they do expect the Republicans to fight the good fight. This is why Lindsey Graham, so frequently the subject of criticism by conservatives, suddenly emerged as a hero in the Kavanaugh confirmation battle. It is why even Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has earned so much conservative praise. They put up a genuine fight this time — and won.

It’s probable that the original Democratic strategy anticipated a withdrawal of Kavanaugh’s nomination shortly after they launched their premeditated smear involving Christine Blasey Ford and her implausible tale of sexual abuse. Their previous experience with the Republicans in the past decade or so would certainly have led them to expect capitulation. And, even when the expected surrender didn’t happen as quickly as planned, the Democrats and their accomplices in the media were probably still confident that the cumulative effect of the additional accusations they began trotting out one by one would soon cause Judge Kavanaugh to cave.

The Democrats were almost certainly overconfident after Ford managed to put on a superficially compelling performance during the morning session of the September 27 Judiciary Committee hearing. They were clearly surprised to see Kavanaugh come out swinging that afternoon, and that neither the President nor the judge himself had any intention of withdrawing the nomination. Even worse, from the Democratic perspective, the Republicans on the committee also showed no sign of raising the white flag. There were obvious expressions of surprise on their faces when Lindsey Graham lit into them about their disgraceful tactics:

Boy, you all want power. God, I hope you never get it. I hope the American people can see through this sham.… This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn’t have done what you’ve done to this guy.

Graham thus reminded the voters that the real enemy to our fundamental freedoms is the Democratic Party. Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, and their co-conspirators deployed such a vicious campaign of slander and dirty tricks against Kavanaugh because the electorate has deprived their party of the power to enact its wrong-headed and unpopular agenda through Congress. In order to foist their will on the nation, therefore, the Democrats must impose it through the Court. They were desperate to prevent President Trump from appointing a second Supreme Court justice. They failed, as the Wall Street Journal reported:

The Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday, cementing a conservative majority on the nation’s top court after a blistering battle over sexual-assault allegations leveled against him.… Judge Kavanaugh was confirmed by a two-vote margin, with 50 in favor, 48 opposing, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) voting present.

This is not merely bad news for the ability of the Democrats to promote their agenda via the Court, the tactics they employed to kill Kavanaugh’s nomination may well have killed the fabled “blue wave.” They have been counting on a huge turnout by anti-Trump voters to give them a majority in the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. But the polls suggest that the dirty tricks they deployed against the judge may have energized the Republican base instead. As Stephen Kruiser pointed out in this space a few days ago, “Yes, the Democrats have energized the base with this heinous stunt, it just happened to be the wrong base.”

The enthusiasm gap that favored the Democrats a couple of months ago has “evaporated.” During the confirmation process, Schumer, Feinstein, et al. provided an illuminating glimpse of the dystopian future that awaits the nation if the Democrats win majorities in the House and Senate. And a lot of conservative and independent voters were unnerved by that look into the crystal ball. As Ben Shapiro puts it at the Daily Wire, “What they saw scared the bejeezus out of them.” Republicans usually turn out in higher numbers than Democrats for midterm elections, and the “Kavanaugh effect” will probably increase that built-in turnout advantage.

But that’s no reason to be complacent. The good guys won this fight because the voters elected Donald Trump President. He nominated an excellent judge to sit on the Supreme Court, who overcame a vicious smear campaign because he had the courage to look the Democrats in the eye and tell them, “You will never get me to quit. Never.” That inspired Republicans like Senator Collins to resist constant harassment and threats of violence to do the right thing. In the end, the key to the continuing political success for conservatives is to vote for Republicans who will fight the good fight. We know they can do it. We watched them do it this week.