Ever since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Senate has been in a holding pattern on allowing confirmation hearings for President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland.

The idea was that the voting public should get the option to chime in via the ballot box and then allow the next president to select the nominee.

Regardless of how the party wants to spin it now, they were probably more ok with Hillary Clinton selecting a nominee than Donald Trump. He seemed just as likely to nominate Carrot Top as to nominate a constitutional conservative. So all of the talk about the will of the people started to become terror over the idea of a guy who consistently chose poorly on a reality tv show would select the next lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

Here at RedState, the case was made that we should just go ahead and confirm Merrick Garland so as to avoid the disaster that could come via either a Hillary or a Trump led nomination.

So the Trump camp, after securing the nomination, released a list of potential conservative justices that would make the most ardent anti-Trumper excited at the prospect of a Trump circus running the show.

And as expected, this has now become the intellectual escape hatch for many people who would otherwise rather have their naked bodies dragged over broken glass than pull the lever for the orange-headed charlatan who even admits his list was merely a suggestion and he’s not bound to it in any way.

Every time I or anyone else brings up our unwillingness to pull the lever for Trump, we’re told we’re giving away the Supreme Court. We’re surrendering in the fight over abortion and the 2nd amendment.

If dummy Bill Kristol actually does get a spoiler to run as an Independent, say good bye to the Supreme Court! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

I’ve been told more times than I can count that we know how Hillary will nominate but we have no idea how Trump will. So if I’m understanding them correctly, a bad but steady paycheck is worse than gambling your life savings. Seems weird, but are they even right?

I mean, what if Donald Trump is elected and his very first action is to nominate the most conservative, originalist, right-wing, pro-life, gun-toting justice you’ve ever laid eyes on? Wouldn’t that alone be enough to push for Trump’s presidency?

The first thing I find interesting about this line of thinking is how similar it is to the defining reason Trump is where he is. Trump’s rise has rested almost exclusively on building a wall on our southern border.

If you asked many of the throngs of his sycophants and drone-ish fans why they love him, they’d name the wall, every time. They would probably know just about nothing else about his immigration plans. They would just know “Wall = safety = good… me like Trump!”

I’ve had several Trumpanzees tell me that even if Donald Trump is a socialist marxist who institutes death camps for religious people, the fact that he will have built a wall would make him the greatest president in history.

I wish I was exaggerating.

I don’t care if @realDonaldTrump wants to perform abortions in White House after this immigration policy paper. http://t.co/l7nq8gN7i5 — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 16, 2015

So many of those anti-Trump dissenters I mentioned, who will now support Trump purely because of his furture SCOTUS powers, mocked such a simplistic view of the world. They had no use for people who couldn’t see the larger picture. They scolded simpletons who couldn’t comprehend that one policy alone doesn’t supersede all others.

But even if it did, how would this play out? How does Trump get this amazing nominee that saves all of our butts from having having guns rounded up at annual mandatory abortion procedures confirmed?

Simple: He won’t.

Trump can say whatever he wants right now but, unless you’ve not been paying attention, “saying stuff” is one thing he does, and he does it a lot. Importantly, the other thing he does is ignore whatever he said previously in favor of whatever is most expedient at the moment and gets him his “win.” Because that’s all he cares about. Appearing to win. Whatever that looks like. Whatever it means. Whoever he has to screw over to get there. Winning and the appearance of success is all he cares about.

Using SCOTUS as the “why I’m voting Trump” at this point is like sacrificing your entire hand to save your finger. Utterly pointless. — Ben Howe (@BenHowe) May 29, 2016

And in case you missed it, the U.S. Senate, the body that confirms Supreme Court nominees, is holding some elections this year. And unfortunately, the mere presence of Donald Trump as the GOP nominee has put the current majority in serious peril. If it were peril based on false narratives or phony baloney attacks? That would be one thing. But these seats are in play simply because Trump is exactly how he is and our Senators are busy telling people why they’ll support him in spite of that. It’s not good. Some estimates put 10 new seats in play and have the Democrats taking the majority with 56 senate seats.

The question you should ask yourself is this: how will Trump deal with it? Will he fight for a conservative nominee? Will he battle the democrats and make a show of GOP power right as he comes into office? Of course not! Did you just get here? Instead he’ll do exactly what he’s been promising to do. He’ll cut a deal with Democrats. And if Republicans complain he’ll tell them it’s their fault for not holding onto the Senate.

There is simply no scenario where Donald Trump benefits conservatism or advances our cause. Please those of you that have convinced yourself you must vote for this joker in order to save the Supreme Court, you must understand, we’ve already lost it.

Stopping Trump’s nomination was our only hope.

Unless…

Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate–an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance. — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 29, 2016

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