The GOP Is Trying to Thread a Needle With Kavanaugh Accusations
*By Amanda Weston and Max Godnick*
President Trump appears to be "losing his patience" with the Brett Kavanaugh scandal, according to one White House correspondent.
The commander-in-chief's latest Twitter comments certainly seem to indicate as much.
"I have no doubt that if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents," Trump [tweeted on Friday morning](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1043126336473055235). "I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!"
He's referring to accusations from Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh, a Supreme Court nominee, sexually assaulted her during a party while the two were in high school.
Moments after Trump's tweet on Friday, CRTV correspondent Jon Miller told Cheddar that Trump is reflecting the sentiment of many Americans who "absolutely want to take these charges seriously, \[but are\] wondering why they weren't filed 36 years ago when this event happened."
Miller himself said he thinks the chronology is "suspicious."
Still, Trump and his administration may have reason to worry.
"I think \[Trump\] was concerned that there's going to be bad news next week that could take down the Kavanaugh nomination," said Daniel Lippman, co-author of the Politico Playbook, in a separate interview with Cheddar on Friday.
Trump [took to Twitter](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1043160312315146240) later on Friday to address the controversy.
"Senator Feinstein and the Democrats held the letter for months, only to release it with a bang after the hearings were OVER - done very purposefully to Obstruct & Resist & Delay," he said. "Let her testify, or not, and TAKE THE VOTE!"
Trump's tweets followed the news that Ford is open to testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, [but only if certain terms are met](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey.html). Her lawyers said testifying Monday (the original date for testimony) was not possible, igniting a debate about when, if at all, a deadline ought to be set.
For Miller, the sooner Ford testifies, the better.
"I think that the Senate should hold the hearing Monday, and if she doesn't show up, they confirm him," Miller said.
Lippman disagreed.
"It would look very bad for Republicans to say, 'Well, if she won't come on Monday, we're not going to let her come \[later on\],'" he said.
NBC News and The Wall Street Journal [released poll results](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/poll-opposition-kavanaugh-s-confirmation-grows-n911581) this week claiming that more Americans now oppose Kavanaugh's confirmation than support it. It's the first time in the poll's history that a majority of Americans have opposed a Supreme Court nominee.
Lippman said the "constant drumbeat of bad news about Kavanaugh" is the main reason why most Americans have deemed the judge unfit for office.
"You want a Supreme Court justice to be the arbiter of fairness and good behavior and good morality," he said. "Most judges and lawyers, they don't act like \[Kavanaugh\] allegedly did when they were 17."
But the drumbeat aside, Miller believes the GOP still has the advantage.
"I think Republicans have the leg up simply because they have the numbers, given no one deflects," Miller said. "But I do think that in terms of public opinion ... that the numbers in support of Kavanaugh are going down. Unfortunately what the American people think about Kavanaugh doesn't exactly matter, here. The ball is in the Senate's court."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/trump-changes-his-tone-on-kavanaugh-accuser).
Dr. Nasia Safdar, Doctor at UW Madison, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the implications of Merck sharing its antiviral pill, which has been shown in early trials to cut hospitalizations and deaths by half, with poorer nations around the globe.
The Federal Reserve finally announced its taper plan on Wednesday saying that it planned to scale back on bond purchases as growth slows, and would not rush to raise interest rates. Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategy Analyst at Baird spoke on whether or not a decrease in inflation could be in the country’s future amidst comments made by Fed chairman Jerome Powell. Baird also broke down ADP jobs numbers ahead of the Labor Department's October jobs report.
Going into election day on Tuesday, many of us had an inkling it might not be a great day for Democrats. History tells us the president's party tends to lose congressional seats, governorships and state legislature seats in off-year and midterm elections. Tuesday turned out to be a big wake-up call for democrats. Not only did Terry McAuliffe lose in the Virginia governor's race, Gov. Phil Murphy won re-election by an incredibly slim margin. Both races saw continued Democratic losses in rural areas and a shift of suburban voters back to the GOP. Liz Landers, chief political correspondent at Vice News, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
Week one of UN climate summit is coming to an end, world leaders made a number of promises to save the planet. President Biden attended the first two days of the meeting.
Alan Neuhauser, vice president of Silverline Communications, joined Cheddar Politics to talk more about the pledges that came out from the summit and their significance.
It's been a busy week for the Supreme Court. It heard arguments on three of the most watched cases in the docket for this term. The court heard arguments in two cases challenging the Texas abortion law on Monday - one filed by abortion providers and the other by the justice department. Instead of weighing in on the constitutionality of the matter itself, justices focused on the unusual structure of the law that enables citizens to enforce the law, not the state government.
On Wednesday, the court heard arguments in the biggest Second Amendment case in more than a decade. The dispute is over a New York gun law that requires people seeking a license to carry a handgun in public to show a "proper cause." The challengers in this case claim the law inhibits their constitutional Second Amendment rights.
Amy Howe, co-founder of SCOTUSBlog, joined Cheddar Politics to break the cases down.
This is the first installment of Cheddar Changemakers, where we spotlight young activists making a difference in the world and speaking up on issues regarding mental health, voting, and climate change.
Republicans are considered, and often act like, the party opposed to action on climate change. They've made a point of fighting even modest regulations on businesses related to stemming the worst effects of climate change. But Republicans aren't a monolith on climate change, and our next guest reminds us that "conservation" and "conservative" have the same word root.
Quill Robinson, VP of government affairs at the American Conservation Coalition, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
The mayor of Portland, Oregon, Ted Wheeler joined Cheddar News Wrap to discuss his plans to get an increase in the city's police budget for more personnel, changes to public safety response, and more body cameras. The Democratic mayor addressed the growth in violent crimes amid the pandemic, but noted the need for officers who take their roles seriously. We want officers who understand that policing is an important responsibility, it's a high calling," he said. "We also want a police bureau that is accountable and responsible to the public it serves."
More American tech companies continue to pull their businesses out of China as the Communist Party cracks down on firms — both foreign and domestic. Yahoo and Fortnite have become the latest companies to withdraw from the country, and the withdrawals come just days after Microsoft announced it would take LinkedIn offline. Shehzad Qazi, managing director at China Beige Book International, joined Cheddar to provide some insight into how the crackdowns in China would also impact the tech companies at home in the United States.
