the senate. the supreme court ended up being the single biggest issue in leading trump to get 90% of the republican vote. mcconnell said as he later weighed the outcome, it ended up helping him win the election." with us is the author, carl hulse. he is chief washington correspondent for the "new york times." and again, the book is "confirmation bias: inside washington's war over the supreme court." from scalia's death, let's not forget that was the triggering event, to justice kavanaugh. it's great to have you. >> thank you. i really appreciate you having me here. >> carl, what has happened to the process of filling a vacancy on the court that did not exist when you and i were young kids? >> it's in tatters. i mean, it's super partisan. and you know, both parties have played a role in this. but senator mcconnell took a big gamble the night that justice scalia died, decided after briefly considering his own personal relationship with the justice, he was close to him, he