For decades, I stated that if there was a SCOTUS vacancy within say six months of a Presidential election, then a nomination and vote should be held until after the election as that was one of the few times the voters had at least somewhat of a say. Yeah, about that.

You threaten to riot? You threaten to shut it all down? You show up at McConnell's house to protest the very night RBG dies? Fine. Do that and I'll advocate for hardball to be played right back with the ball to be hit directly into your face. You want it, you got it.

It isn't just last night. This is the accumulation of decades of ever increasing nastiness re: Republican SCOTUS nominations. This is the threats of court packing, this is hearing vileness, this is *gestures* all of it. I didn't want this game. But I'll play it to win.

Since we're going to play this stupidest possible game, then play it as hard as possible. I want the nomination Monday, the vote Tuesday, and the swearing in on Wednesday. Hearings are an insulting joke. Everyone knows how everyone will vote. Just do this thing.

BUT BUT YOUR PRINCIPLES! PRINCIPLES, I SAY! You know what my main principle is? I don't give in to threats. I'm done with this pretending that this is about anything other than pure power plays. In the era of the Golden Scalp Weasel came the Great Unmasking.

Since the masks are off, let me take off mine. I am, underneath it all, an utterly cold blooded pragmatist. I loathe to my DNA that SCOTUS is now most powerful. But it is. That's not changing. And thus I want that power to be on my side as much as possible.

If that means ramming a vote through as hard and fast as possible, so be it. So be it. I screamed my throat raw and typed my fingers bloody for decades telling everyone not to get to this point. I lost that argument. I lost that argument entirely. Will to power it is then.

I am, by the by, fully aware of what will happen when the roles are reversed. How can I not be? It's been laid bare for years. I am doing my enemies, and it is clear now they are not opponents, the favor of taking them seriously. I'm just using the power they want first.

Since this is the game that will be played, play it we shall. And play it to win. And the Senate Republicans better understand by the end of today that if they do not, they will lose and they will deserve to do so. Oh all of this is as terrible as I thought. Yet here we are.