Stunning allegations about the past sexual misconduct of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh were revealed over the weekend, throwing a significant wrench into a confirmation that was scheduled to come to a vote on Thursday of this week. The Washington Post published the name of the woman behind the sexual assault accusation from decades ago, which led to this topic being the lead subject on Monday morning cable news programming. Morning Joe is one such example.

The implications of this recent development are still very much not clear and as a result, there have been far less declarative and bombastic statements that one typically sees in a “black and white” era that comes with White House social media hyperbole.

But the Kavanaugh nomination is in trouble if only because a nondelayed vote (in light of the sexual assault allegation) presents a rather significant political challenge for Republicans eager to get their nominee on the Supreme Court.

After a half hour of nuanced discussion of the many shades of grey surrounding this complicated and fluid subject, host Joe Scarborough appeared to stick the landing on the gender politics of this vote , claiming “If the #MeToo movement had never happened Republicans would still be able to read their poll numbers and see how poorly they were doing with women because of Donald Trump.”

He then added how we haw the long-term impact of a pro-Kavanaugh vote in the context of reproductive rights, noting “They will forever be branded as casting their vote for a man who has a cloud over his head, no matter how fair or unfair that is, and that Supreme Court nominee will be the deciding vote on Roe V. Wade. The consequences for Republicans long-term with women especially could be devastating.”

Scarborough ended the segment by suggesting that it may be time for the White House to consider another option, while co-host Mika Brzezinski added a noteworthy segment coda that she saw the Democrat’s handling of these allegations as “dirty” politics., before throwing to break.

Watch the clip above, courtesy of MSNBC.

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