Ross BarkanVerified account

If Republicans install a new Supreme Court justice and Chuck Schumer doesn't support packing the court next year, his primary challenge in 2022 will be furious and very well-funded

I'll continue my column writing duties with the @Guardian, contributing to the @thenation, @Gothamist, and other publications. My Substack, Political Currents, shall also continue unabated. This merely means you'll read more of me. Excited!

A bigger Supreme Court would be better than a smaller Supreme Court. An entire nation won't depend on the body of one very old person in failing health.https://twitter.com/McCormackJohn/status/1307668586333376514 …

Liberal pundits portray McConnell as venal or power-mad or disingenuous (all true to some extent) but miss the far bigger point that he is aggressively and rationally pursuing his self-interests better than any Democrat ever did

Get yourself a majority leader who cares as much about your priorities as Mitch McConnell cares about his

Fwiw if a Democratic president was on the verge of losing a re-election bid and the Democrats held the Senate majority and a conservative justice had died, MSNBC and every Times op-ed columnist would be begging them to fill the seat pronto

The reality for Democrats is the only rational move to make, if they have a majority, is pack the court. Expand it relentlessly, rush through judges, stamp out Republicans as Republicans have chosen to stamp out Democrats

There's actually nothing horrifying or wrong about McConnell ramming through judges. He's a right-wing ideologue doing what his party wants of him. It's up to Democrats to elect people who care this much about relentlessly helping the poor and everyone else.

McConnell and Trump are rationally pursuing their interests in the zero-sum world of American politics. If you aren't winning, you are losing. They seek to cement the conservative majority for the next 30 years. Democrats can either recognize the war for what it is or lose.

Mitch McConnell laughs a little inside every time you donate to Amy McGrath

Apparently Amy McGrath is trending now. Angry liberals are blinkered enough to waste all their ActBlue donations on one of the most hopeless Senate races this cycle.

What is the worst case scenario with court packing? It escalates until there are like 35 justices? Probably better for democracy to have justices with less power who can't become cult figures

Trump won 63% of the vote in Kentucky. Mitch McConnell is not going to lose Kentucky with Donald Trump on the ballot. Next.

With 10+ competitive Senate races right now, is there a bigger grift out there than Amy McGrath? Furious liberals everywhere are donating to a race that won't determine the outcome of the Senate and is, by every metric, pretty hopeless. Mitch McConnell isn't vulnerable.

Term limits for Supreme Court justices or simply mandatory retirement ages would solve a lot of this

There are a lot of good reasons to primary Schumer. As I've said before, *defeating* Schumer in a primary would be incredibly hard to do.