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Either Kavanaugh Goes Down or the Republicans Do

Women — and many men — will still remember Thursday’s hearing when they vote in 2018 and 2020

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham points at the Democrats as he defends Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at a Senate Judiciary hearing Thursday. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call, Pool

OPINION — Watching Christine Blasey Ford’s harrowing testimony, it seemed clear that either Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination goes down or he will take the entire Republican Party with him.

Women of all political persuasions — and a hell of a lot of men — will be remembering this hearing when they go to the polls in 2018 and 2020. And while it is dangerous to overexaggerate the political influence of a single event in our hyper-partisan times, Thursday’s testimony has the potential to be seismic.

It wasn’t even what Ford said — though her repeated recollections of Kavanaugh laughing during the alleged sexual attack were haunting — so much as her mixture of composure and emotion as she said it. This was a wrenching event in her life and she had no hesitation in testifying that Brett Kavanaugh was one her two sexual assailants.

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