Whats next for her . First, the week begins with Brett Kavanaugh taking his seat on the Supreme Court. Last night President Trump was triumphant in kansas under the banner promises made, promises kept. Republican leadership spent the weekend celebrating. John cornyn posting this photo. Not beers for brett but bubbly for brett. Still from certainty hed be confirmed to near certainty he could not be. It exposed one of the nastiest, bare knuckle confirmations in history. Its anyones guess how long it take for the wounds to heal. Dr. Christine blasey ford wrote an anonymous letter to democratic lawmakers. She was pushed into the spotlight for the world to decide whether she was credible or not. To the surprise of many, the president held off on targeting her. Until this week. I had one beer. Well, you think it was nope. It was one beer. Oh, good. How did you get home . I dont remember. How did you get there . I dont remember. Where is the place . I dont remember. How many years ago was it . I dont know. I dont know. Democrats have been openly wondering whether this will turn into midterm momentum. But that is cold comfort after losing the swing seat on the Supreme Court. And it has some rethinking their calculus altogether. The Washington Post reports, democratic strategists tracking polls in republicanleaning states where Democratic Senators are running for reelection. Said they were surprised by the galvanizing impact that trumps offensive had on his base. Brian fallon who ran a group opposing kavanaugh said support for the judge increased in these states after trump changed his tactics. Fallon said hed begown reevaluate the dominant analyses of the 2016 election which held that trump was elected despite evidence of Sexual Misconduct against him not because the controversy motivated his rovoters to the polls. I feel there was a primal screamtype reaction from the republicans overly white, overly male base. It leaves open the question of whether any lessons have been learned from the 2016 election. Particularly for democrats. Let me bring in my panel here on set in d. C. Washington post Congressional Correspondent paul kane, Washington Post white house reporter, ashley parker, former special assistant to the president and former press secretary to the Vice President , mike lauder and Political Correspondent and author of the red and the blue, Steve Kornacki. Thank you all for being here tonight. Paul kane, i want to start with you because you and i have been running around the halls. Im not exactly sure how to characterize it. Weve spent a lot of time on marble floors in the capitol over the past 20 days. From kind of a history making 30,000foot perspective, what do you think happened over the course of this week thats going to matter most in the long term . And is the damage thats been done to the institution of the senate irreparable . I think the biggest longterm shift is on the court itself. This is a seat that for 47 years beforehand had been held by louis powell who was himself a cent rift swing vote and then bjork got defeated and that led to kennedy replacing powell who spent 30 years as a cent rift vo centrist vote. He has the possibility shifting the court to the right for years to come. In terms of the senate, Lindsey Graham summed it up best. If this isnt bottom, god help us. I think were going to find out. Cheerful. Steve kornacki, let me go to you on this question that we sort of were talking about at the end of that script there. This idea that for democrats, they may have learned the opposite lesson. We all assumed the president overcame the obstacles of having had all of these misconduct allegations and brian fallon was essentially arguing, well, actually perhaps those attacks motivated his base to get out there. Is that what you see across the map . Theres an interesting parallel, i think, between how the politics of the kavanaugh nomination may be turned around in a way that allowed republicans to get this nomination through. And what we saw time and time again in the 2016 campaign, i think most notably with that access Hollywood Tape around this time in 2016 but so many other trump controversies where in the moment where the controversy would come to light, when the access Hollywood Tape came to light, when the allegation against kavanaugh came to light this time, when Christine Blasey ford initially gave that testimony in front of the committee. In those comments, politically, it looked like the nomination was finished. Politically in 16, it looked like donald trump was finished. But what would then happen was, over the next couple of days hours, days, weeks even, the republican side, the right side of the divide in this country would start to see the issue in different terms. And they would start to see it more in terms of who their enemies were, how their enemies were treating them, how their enemies were treating this story. This was the media, the democrats. This was Popular Culture ganging up on, in this case, Brett Kavanaugh. Looking turning over every stone trying to get every piece of information out there, even including the Michael Avenatti stuff. It ends up having this rallying effect where theres a rallying behind trump in 16, behind kavanaugh. This time it had a lot to do with who their enemies were. And just the idea of being a bullwark against those enemies. We had a survey monkey poll in the field as the access Hollywood Tape came out in 2016. It was in for four days and you watched trumps numbers collapse in the first two days. The second dave that poll he was losing to Hillary Clinton by 16 points that day, second day after the tape broke. By the forth day, back to base line. And ashley parker, two years ago tomorrow, it came out. Wow. Right . You have been doing some reporting on how the white house thought through all of this because initially the reaction to the president mocking dr. Ford was incredibly negative from the senators whose votes at the end of the day were the ones that mattered. Have they come to see what he did as something that contributed to getting kavanaugh confirmed . They almost instantaneously thought what he did was a net positive. To be clear it wasnt a strategic decision. They department sort of order him up to go off script. This was described to me as a president as he often does, having a visceral sense of the moment and seizing what he saw as an opportunity. He knew there would be blowback but its worth mentioning that that trio, two of whom voted for him, one who did not. None of them allowed the president s mocking of dr. Ford to impact their decision. They came out, condemned it, they were unhappy about it but it did not affect how they voted on kavanaugh on the court. And what was interesting was the white house said that the president in doing that, and again, the white house would say that the president did not mock her quite reasonable people can disagree. But they argue that basically the president changed the momentum. He brought tarks wit away from conversation and scrutiny of kavanaughs debauchery and youth drinking. He pointed out gaps in her memory and gave a green light and permission for republican senators on capitol hill, for these outside groups, for people to take a much more aggressive approach. And they absolutely believe that that was one of the key moments that helped shift the momentum. Interesting. I want to talk about the broader impact here. Grover norquist told the Washington Post, weve been winning Little Victories with regulation. This is the big win. We are cutting down the forest, not the trees. You agree . I would agree. Its one of the longstanding goals of republicans, conservatives was to stop the judicial activism of a liberal court. And so having a right center majority that will look at the laws the way they were written and the constitution the way it was written is something thats been long sought after and going all the way become through reagan, they could not get it done. So weve finally seen 30plus, 40 years of work on this as a success. So theres been speculation, Maggie Haberman tweeted this earlier today about whether or not this potentially opens the door for republicans to break with the president and hear me out on this because theyve actually gotten done what they needed him to do. They passed tax cuts and cemented a conservative major ut on the court. The argument would go they dont necessarily need him anymore. Do you think thats fair or off base . I think its off base. But republicans are going to say were not done yet. I mean there are at least a couple more seats that may be coming up in what i would say the next six years, just given the age of the various justices. There are also still a lot of regulations that need to be rolled back. There are still more things they need to do to reorganize government. And the president wants to keep this economy going. So i think there will be a lot of reason to keep with this progress. And i think its also very strong message for the midterms and heading into 2020. Speaking of what people might do in 2020 or if there were additional Mitch Mcconnell was pressed on whether theyd appoint a Trump Nominee to the court if a vacancy should become available in 2020 which is a president ial Election Year. It harkens back to 2016 when mcconnell led republicans in blocking president obamas nomination of Merrick Garland saying the president shouldnt be able to choose a justice during an Election Year. The answer is well see whether theres a vacancy in 2020. But youre not ruling out the possibility since youre the republican majority leader and theres a republican president that you would go for and push the nomination of a Trump Nominee in the Election Year . What im telling you is the history is you have to go back to 1880 to find the last time a senate controlled a party different from the president filled a vacancy on the Supreme Court that was created in the middle of a president ial Election Year. Thats been the history. Meanwhile, President Trump seems to believe republicans will have multiple opportunities to appoint other justices, possibly many more. Youre going to have other Supreme Court justices, places to be filled. It could be three. It could even be four. It could be a lot. Paul kane, so to parse mcconnells words, and i sort of had missed how carefully he was parsing this, but hes saying, hes leaving the door open to absolutely. Because hes saying, the last time that this happened in 1880 was actually when there was a split between control of the congress and control of the white house which obviously we dont have or wont have, we dont think well have in 2020. We called it the biden rule two years ago with Merrick Garland being nominated and joe bidens floor speech in 1992 said ghog who was in the Senate Majority and who was in the white house. Biden was saying the final months before a president ial election you should not have a Supreme Court clash and mcconnell said that over and over again. That was when he expected Hillary Clinton to win. Now its, oh, gosh, well, we might have a president who is in a the party is this, that. Hes adding on addendum to his rule as he sees fit and thinks it will help him. Whats your view of mcconnells level of devotion to the senate versus his devotion to politics . Democrats have really turned him into the villain in this whole affair. How much of that is justified . Theres both. He is a senate institutionalist but wants to win more than anything else. His autobiography was called the long game for a reason. Its all about trying to set up long game victories. And in when it comes to judicial confirmations, Supreme Court especially, and winning elections, he has now two cycles in a row. 2016 and 18. Thinks those two things are coming together for him and hes going to do that. Hes going to choose that over senate comedy every time. Steve kornacki, how do you think this plays out over the course of the next 30 days before the elections . Is your sense that this may be something where republicans sit back, are satisfied and say we dont need to show up or does this enthusiasm bump were seeing keep going . Ive never known gratitude to be a motivating and energizing force in politics which it seems to be what republicans are counting on right here. I think its almost unquestionable when you look at the polling out there. When you start to look at some of the fundraising. The grassroots fundraising numbers weve seen. Theres been what republicans have been searching for the entire Trump Presidency is some kind of equalizing boost in energy on their side to match what theyre seeing on the democratic side. And the last ten days, two weeks, they have finally found it. But, yes, the election is a month away. If you just think back one month earlier, one month ago today, what were the big, defining stories in politics. It was the aftermath of john mccains funeral and Donald Trumps handling of that. It was paul manafort. It was michael cohen. It feels like years ago. So you know, are we still going to be talking about this in a month . Its a great question. When we continue, well have much more on exactly this. How the kavanaugh vote shuffles the deck on the n kornacki is g up his big board. And kasie dc back after this. Chaos over kavanaughs confirmation. Christine ford tells the Washington Post that she is the author of that confidential letter. Accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of Sexual Assault. I think this woman, whoever she is, is mixed up. The judge says this is a completely false allegation. Very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. Republican senator jeff flake told multiple outlets hes not comfortable moving forward with the vote until he hears more from kavanaughs accuser. She should testify under oath and do it on capitol hill. Senate republicans have a message for dr. Christine blasey ford. Testify monday or theyll move on with the vote. New yorker has published a piece claiming now Sexual Misconduct allegations against him during his college days at yale. A third woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of Sexual Misconduct. Do you have 50 votes . I believe hell be confirmed. Dr. Ford has arrived on capitol hill. With what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you . 100 . Do you think the American People are going to believe dr. Ford . What happened to her, i dont know. Why dont you believe him . What is it about him you dont want to believe . This whole twoweek effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit. The most unethical sham since ive been in politics. We drank beer. I liked beer. Still like beer. I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote. There is a sense among some Republican Leaders that a delay of kavanaughs vote is essentially a death sentence. How did you get home . I dont remember. How did you get there . I dont remember. How many years ago was it . I dont know. Three of the four key senators voting to end debate and proceed to a final vote. I could not conclude that he is the right person for the court. I will vote to confirm judge kavanaugh. The nomination of brett m. Kavanaugh of maryland to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is confirmed. Senator, do you think theres still a place in the Democratic Party for you after this . Hes just an extraordinary person. A great, great talent. And i think hes going to make us all very proud. Here we go. Discover. I like your card, but im absolutely not paying an annual fee. Discover has no annual fees. Really . Yeah. We just dont believe in them. Oh nice. You would not believe how long ive been rehearsing that. No annual fee on any card. Only from discover. Should happen everydred five hundred years, right . Fact is, there have been twentysix in the last decade. Allstate is adapting. With drones to assess home damage sooner. And if a flying object damages your car, you can snap a photo and get your claim processed in hours, not days. Plus, allstate can pay your claim in minutes. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . One of the sharpest displays of divisiveness was the show of activism. Large crowds of americans opposing kavanaughs appointment took to the steps of the Supreme Court and came inside the chamber in the senate. With scores of them getting arrested. Senate majority leader Mitch Mcconnell called the opposition a, quote, great political gift for republicans ahead of next months midterm elections. Adding that the opposition is charging up the republican base. Well, the people that were attacking our members at their homes and in the halls, it was really quite a displ