Will Someone Try to Kill Kavanaugh?

With yesterday's confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and the outpouring of anger in the Senate chamber upon his confirmation, I cannot help but think someone is going to try to take matters into their own hands.

As I have stated previously, I don't know if Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape Susan Blasey Ford and none of us know with the exception of Kavanaugh, Ford and Mark Judge. But plenty of people have made up their mind that Kavanaugh is guilty of attempted rape, has gotten away with it and now has a lifetime sinecure on the Supreme Court. Thus it would come as no surprise to me if someone, perhaps a rape survivor or the parent or spouse of a rape survivor tried to kill Kavanaugh. Combine the hyper-partisan anger in our politics, the demagogic tendencies of both President Trump and the #MeToo movement and the misguided desire for plain old revenge and you have all the ingredients for a political assassination.

Let us not forget that it was just over a year ago that a gunman targeted Republicans at the Congressional Baseball practice nearly killing House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. The assailant in that case was content to kill any Republican. Kavanaugh, on the other hand, has a target on his back as big as that of President Trump himself. The price Kavanaugh and his family will have to pay for being seated on the Supreme Court is round the clock security for the rest of their live. But as we well know round the clock security isn't always enough to prevent an assassination (JFK) or assassination attempt (Reagan).

Of course, it is equally possible that Senate Republicans who voted to confirm Kavanaugh might also be targets especially Susan Collins of Maine who many expected to reject Kavanaugh. In the eyes of The Left, Collins betrayed her gender. But unlike Kavanaugh, Collins is up for re-election in 2020. Hopefully their energies will be spent unseating Collins with ballots instead of bullets.

Naturally, I hope no bloodshed comes to pass against Kavanaugh, Collins or anyone else regardless of their political affiliation. But as long as Democrats and Republicans perceive each other as enemies and believe they cannot achieve their objectives by peaceful means then invariably partisans will increasingly turn towards violence. Steve Scalise and his Congressional Republican colleagues were lucky last year. Brett Kavanaugh might not be so fortunate.