Robert Costa, the dogged Washington Post reporter who often appears on Morning Joe, let loose with a startling story this morning. With the Trump campaign knowing it is way behind in the race, the White House is hoping that Justice Clarence Thomas will announce his retirement this summer-fall. The White House believes that such an announcement would galvanize the base and bring Trump’s numbers back up to the mid 40s – his high water mark – against Joe Biden. Conservatives who hate Trump might reconsider if they know that a SCOTUS seat is on the line with the presidential election.

According to Crooks and Liars, quoting Costa:

There are some people inside of the White House that are around this president who are hoping at this point, knowing that it may not happen, but they are hoping that there might be a Supreme Court vacancy. Clarence Thomas, the justice since the early ’90s, could decide to retire. and as this White House really looks to galvanize that base, they are quietly preparing for the possibility of a Supreme Court vacancy, looking like people, like the judge Amul Thapar, a favorite of majority leader Mitch McConnell, Amy Coney Barrett from Indiana, another federal judge, and they’re looking at the possibility of an opening.”

Costa said they’re hoping to stoke the base with a SCOTUS culture war, but the suburbs are more focused on bringing back the economy.

No doubt, Justice Thomas is the type that might consider making such a naked political move. Thomas’s wife Ginny is heavily involved in Republican politics. she played a role in the White House “loyalty purges,” ensuring that Trump had no resistance to any action, nor any fear of leaks. It would be shocking to some of us if Thomas wasn’t giving Ginny a “heads-up” on rulings coming down the line. Ginny could then report in to the White House.

However, there are some problems with the theory that a supreme court vacancy will help Trump. First, having been burned by McConnell and his games with the supreme court once already, it is every bit as likely to motivate liberals, and especially black Americans, if there is a supreme court vacancy on the line. Second, conservatives would simply be replacing one utterly hopeless right-wing judge with another one (albeit younger). Third, Republican games with the SCOTUS have led to talk that Biden needs to stack the court with two new justices to make up for the stolen seats and Kavanaugh. Last, Roberts’ recent decisions against the administration haven’t come in a vacuum. Roberts must detest Trump already, and he knows that if the court had ruled 5-4 for the conservative side in each big decision, he would definitely face two new judges on an 11 member court should Biden win. Imagine how Roberts might react to this new gamesmanship?

This long-shot plan is easy to pick apart and that indicates the level of desperation within the White House. They should be desperate. Trump continues to fall in the polls and the polls haven’t even factored in the bounty scandal and the new rise in COVID cases.

But desperate people make desperate moves. It is entirely possible that Thomas will announce he is retiring, especially if it gets to the point where it cannot get any worse for the Trumpers.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom