Get ready to see more of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s threatening rant against Supreme Court Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the 2020 campaign trail.
Several conservative groups told Secrets that they are planning to use the images and angry words of Schumer in key battleground states, warning that if President Trump loses or the Democrats win the Senate, attacks on conservative judges will become the norm.
“This was a uniquely ugly moment in American politics,” said Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network. “Voters should see the kind of extreme tactics that are condoned by the Democrats,” she said.
“Everybody needs this wake-up call,” added Mallory Quigley, vice president of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion advocacy group.
She added, “Is this unhinged person the one who voters want to lead the United States Senate? The Susan B. Anthony List and Women Speak Out PAC field team are working tirelessly to ensure voters in battleground states have all this information in hand before they go to the polls in November.”
Her group has a $52 million 2020 election budget to promote anti-abortion candidates and will target key Trump states and Democratic Senate candidates with Schumer’s threat against the conservative judges.
“We are going to do whatever media is effective tarring Senate Democrats candidates in our battleground states with Schumer’s words,” Quigley said of the initial effort targeting races in North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Montana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Schumer opened the door to becoming the GOP poster boy when, standing in front of the Supreme Court, he said on March 4, “I want to tell you, Gorsuch! I want to tell you, Kavanaugh! You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price! You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
While most Democrats have been mute in their reaction, key GOP senators and Republican groups are calling for a censure vote against Schumer.
Several conservative groups said that GOP voters are keyed into court and abortion issues more than before. Jenny Beth Martin, who heads the Tea Party Patriots, said, “Our supporters are motivated by the Supreme Court more than anything else.”
She added that Schumer’s attack on the judges and his promises to block any future Trump pick to the high court has supercharged Tea Party voters.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is also teeing Schumer up in its fight to keep control of the Senate. It put out a hit list of 17 Democrats Schumer has endorsed in an effort to draw them into the fire.
“Chuck Schumer and Washington Democrats’ embrace of far-left, job-killing policies will haunt Senate candidates across the map,” said Nathan Brand, press secretary for the NRSC.
Critics also hope to take advantage of Schumer’s unpopularity. The latest Gallup survey said that he has the lowest approval rating of any congressional leader at 31%. His GOP approval rating is just 6%.
The bottom line, said Severino: “If Democrats do win control of the Senate, that would potentially make Schumer the majority leader. Is this the person we could trust in America to be majority leader, somebody with this type of poor judgment and bullying mafiosi tactics against the court?”
