Since Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination was announced in July, thousands of progressive organizations and activists have fought tirelessly against his nomination for a multitude of reasons: his partisan judicial activism, his lack of credibility, the grave allegations of sexual assault against him, his false testimony under oath and his vitriolic comments and behavior during that testimony. But right-wing extremists and media have reacted differently to those developments and to Kavanaugh’s testimony.
On the October 5 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Drew Courtney and Cici Battle talk with Peter Montgomery, senior fellow at People For the American Way and PFAW’s Right Wing Watch, about the far Right’s reactions to the Kavanaugh hearings.
Montgomery contextualized Kavanaugh’s nomination in the Right’s broader goal to take over the Supreme Court and the judiciary. He shared, “It starts with abortion and Roe v. Wade … and they use the Supreme Court to do [that]. But their ultimate goal is to reverse the New Deal and the Great Society programs … they believe that if Trump has the ability to put 500 federal judges on the court who share that ideology along with two, three, four Supreme Court justices, they’ll be on the path to carrying out that vision.”
Montgomery continued that the reaction from some conservative Christian media to the Kavanaugh hearings has been described as “‘an attack of witchcraft, [that] Satan himself and his demons are driving the opposition to Kavanaugh.’ Millions of people base their world view on what they hear from these media outlets, and that helps explain why conservative white evangelicals are sticking with Trump [and his nomination].”
Montgomery advised activists to “keep up the pressure” on their senators after today’s cloture vote—which is not the final vote on his confirmation—and to “stay engaged on the courts and the midterm elections.”
Listeners can learn more about Montgomery’s work covering right-wing extremists by following and sharing Right Wing Watch’s reporting on Facebook and Twitter and by supporting PFAW. They can also follow Montgomery on Twitter at @petemont.
Also on this week’s episode, Drew and Cici also celebrate a momentous occasion—the one-year anniversary of the podcast. To our listeners, thank you for your support!
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