By Robert Laurie

Tonight at 9PM, President Trump will unveil his next Supreme Court nominee. That person will, immediately, be reviled by the left. They will be branded a racist, a misogynist, a Nazi, a monster, a fascist, and all of the other standard left-wing attack labels. It makes absolutely NO DIFFERENCE who that person is, either. Democrats don’t really care who Trump puts up. Whoever it is, the attacks will be largely the same.

That’s why, of the three oft-named front runners, Amy Coney Barrett makes the most sense.

Yes, I know, the conventional wisdom says she’s the least likely to be confirmed, and the most-hated by Democrats, and by far the most controversial. That’s exactly why Trump should pick her. If you’re shaking your head, hear me out.

Barrett is, by a very large margin, the favorite of the GOP’s social conservative base. Her nomination – whether she’s confirmed or not – would be seen as a major win for Trump’s most faithful supporters. As the hearings commenced, she and her positions would become a rallying cry for conservatives. “But why,” you wonder “does any of that matter if she can’t be confirmed?”

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Here’s why:

1: Her Catholic faith will be mercilessly attacked by the left. There is nothing progressives despise quite so much as a devout person of faith. To them, government should be your one and only God. Any belief that pulls attention for the glory of the state will trigger the same foamy-mouthed, unhinged, assault that we saw after election day. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing going into the midterms and the 2020 election.

The broader electorate (meaning not the coasts) has had enough of the histrionics. …But the left simply can’t help itself.The more crazed Dems we can put on TV attacking Christians, the worse Democrats will do in the next two elections.

2: Democrats will be screaming bloody murder at a female nominee.

Even if Trump can’t get her confirmed, every time a Dem attacks Republicans for being anti-woman over the course of the next two years, they can respond “We tried to put a woman on the SCOTUS, and you people went nuts because you don’t really care about women – you only care about women you agree with.”

3: I’m not so sure she can’t be confirmed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s won’t be easy, but it would only take two or three red state Democrats to turn the tide in her favor. If, as I suspect he will, the President hammers folks like Manchin and Heitkamp every single day throughout the confirmation process, I wouldn’t bet against his ability to flip a few.

If they refuse, their 2018 and 2020 positions become even shakier than they already are. That’s win-win.

4: If she’s confirmed, great. If not, she’ll make it easier for his next pick. Right now, the top contenders are all palatable to conservatives to varying degrees. Yes, there are issues here or there, but for the most part they’re acceptable. Barrett is certainly the favorite, but if Dems deny her, Trump can pick another name from his list and they’ll have a harder time defeating whoever comes next.

5: If Barrett is Borked, the Dem celebration will be short-lived. Trump is going to get a nominee onto the bench. That’s simply a fact of life at this point. There’s no way Dems have the fortitude to hold out against his nominations for the remainder of his first term.

So, if they defeat Trump for the first time in two long years, they’ll undoubtedly get a shot in the arm. …But it will be quickly drowned out by the fact that his next nom would probably already have been selected.

6: Finally, and far less strategically, Trump simply loves extending the middle finger to his opponents. Barrett is qualified and loved by the base, but she’s also a gargantuan bird aimed squarely at the heart of the left. I suspect that Trump would love nothing more than replying to the last year of attacks by nominating the Dems’ worst nightmare to the SCOTUS.

Will he do it? I have no idea. I’m posting this at about 12:45 and I’m genuinely shocked that there have been no leaks about tonight’s announcement. For all I know, the nominee could be a complete dark horse.

However, I do think there’s a lot of “winning” to be had with Amy Coney Barrett – even if she never makes it to the bench.

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