The strategy is now pretty plain to see, at least through the eyes of Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, who has stayed too long at the fair. Try to make Monday's scheduled hearing of the committee so pre-emptively terrifying that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford will decline to come to Washington, and then the Republicans can dismiss the whole matter and get on with the business of confirming Brett Kavanaugh.

To that end, Grassley has refused to allow any other witnesses except Ford and Kavanaugh, thus setting up a he said/she said bit of Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas cosplay. (Grassley was a member of the same committee for that episode, from which he apparently learned all the wrong lessons.) This prevents the committee from examining, among others, Mark Judge, who has been identified as the other person in the room when Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted Ford, and this in turn prevents us all from hearing even more of Judge's unique views on male-female relationships.

Meanwhile, the president* opposes the notion of having the FBI investigate the matter and, during a press availability with the president of Poland Tuesday afternoon, the president* expressed considerable distress at the terrible ordeal that his nominee is undergoing. From The Washington Post:

“I feel so badly that he’s going through this,” Trump said during a news conference at the White House. “This is not a man who deserves this.”

JIM WATSON Getty Images

Mitch McConnell threw in with the program, too. From Politico:

But Republican leaders argue that it’s the Democrats who created this situation. They blame Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, for holding on to a letter from Ford that she’s had since July. The missive details the allegation that Kavanaugh “physically and sexually assaulted” her during high school but asks Feinstein to keep the matter confidential until the two are able to speak. McConnell suggested Feinstein “decided to spring it right at the end” for political purposes. “It’s pretty obvious this is all about delaying the process, but the accuser certainly does deserve a right to be heard, and we’re looking forward to hearing what she has to say on Monday.”

(Essentially, what McConnell is arguing here is that Dianne Feinstein should have outed a rape victim who came to her in confidence. Certainly, it's what he would have done, if he could see even the smidgen of a splinter of a fragment of political advantage to be gained from it, because his soulless pursuit of power has left him a moral husk. Also, there is no time limit on the "process," and, therefore, nothing has happened "right at the end." Also, too: Merrick Fcking Garland.)

Aaron P. Bernstein Getty Images

So far, by all accounts, Ford hasn't confirmed that she would come to Washington to testify on Monday. At this point, her ambivalence should surprise nobody. Absent an assurance that other witnesses would be called, I'm not sure I'd advise her to testify. In the Anita Hill case, of course, then-Judiciary Chairman Joe Biden choked and declined to allow two other women to appear who would have explained how Thomas had harassed them similarly. This time, it seems, Grassley and the majority side are working to prevent that option even from being available to Dr. Ford and her attorney.

So what we seem to have in front of us is five days of rancid nonsense from horrible people designed to frighten Dr. Ford from testifying. Were I her friend, or her lawyer, I honestly don't know what I'd advise her to do.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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