WASHINGTON (AP) – For once, President Donald Trump is following the playbook.
Trump, whose campaign was marked by the routine defiance of convention, is adhering to the traditional roadmap for selling his Supreme Court nominee to the public and Congress. His team is consulting lawmakers, working with influential outside groups and has made the calculated choice to present Democrats a tough choice: Oppose the pick of federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch or hold their fire for a possible future nomination.
But Trump signaled Wednesday, the day after nominating Gorsuch to the court, that this normalcy would not keep him from pushing for extraordinary measures. He urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to change Senate rules, if necessary, to overcome a Democratic blockade.
“If we end up with that gridlock I would say, ‘If you can, Mitch, go nuclear,'” Trump said. “Because that would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web. So I would say, it’s up to Mitch, but I would say, ‘Go for it.'”
For now, Trump’s campaign to push for Gorsuch’s approval looks familiar.