Wednesday on his primetime Fox News Channel program, host Sean Hannity warned the forthcoming confirmation process for the replacement for Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement earlier in the day, will get ugly.
Transcript as follows:
HANNITY: Now, for the second time in 18 months, President Trump will make a decision that will impact our country for decades. And yes, for generations.
With Justice Anthony Kennedy now retiring, the president is now task with picking his replacement. A task he does not take lightly, nor should he. Take a look from earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He’s been a great justice of the Supreme Court. He is a man who is displaying great vision. He’s displayed tremendous vision and tremendous heart and he will be missed, but he will be retiring.
And we will begin our search for a new justice of the United States Supreme Court. That will begin immediately.
We have a very excellent list of great, talented, and highly educated, highly intelligent, hopefully tremendous people. I think the list is very outstanding.
When I was running, I put down a list of 20 people. Because not being a politician, I think people wanted to hear what some of my choices may be. And it was pretty effective. And I think you see the kind of quality that we are looking at when you look at that list.
But I did add — I added five additional people to the list. So, it will be somebody from that list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: I want to take a minute, by the way. For all of you Never Trumpers and you all know who you are, I’m thinking about naming names, but not tonight. I do have a message for you: if you had your way, remember we’d say the Supreme Court is at stake. That alone means everything.
Hillary Rodham Clinton now would be making this now a second appointment in the terms of the judicial course of American history which would alter this country for decades to come. It’s time to admit a lot of you how wrong you were about Donald Trump, although I’m not going to hold my breath tonight.
So, as the president has mentioned many times, he is committed to picking from a solid list of qualified originalist justices who have a proven track record of upholding the Constitution, not legislating from the bench, people who’s judicial philosophy is one that believes in separation of powers, co-equal branches of government.
Now, sadly, this is the opposite of what Democrats and people like Hillary would want. Instead, the left — they want judges who even value and cite international law, not our own Constitution. People that would legislate from the bench, people that believe in this evolving interpretation that means nothing of our Constitution. What the left can never accomplish through the ballot box, or through real legislation, they actually tried to accomplish by abusing the court system and using activist judges to accomplish their left wing dreams and ideology.
Now, make no mistake. As soon as the president taps whoever Anthony Kennedy’s replacement will be, you are going to witness the single most contentious, nasty, vicious, dirty propaganda, character assassination campaign. It will be one of the most contentious political battles in decades.
Tonight, your news media is already going there. So, in light of today’s breaking news, yes, it’s time for another “Hannity” history lesson to bring you. This time it involves just how desperate and low Democrats will go and literally malign the character of good, decent, smart people and what they plan to do to the president’s next Supreme Court nominee, whoever it ends up being, they will try to destroy them.
Let’s start with the outgoing Justice Anthony Kennedy. Now, for 30 years, Kennedy, he’s accumulated what is a very mixed track record, nominated by Ronald Reagan in 1988. Many referred to him as the court’s swing justice. He saved Roe versus Wade from being overturned. He upheld the use of affirmative action, extended legal rights to foreign terrorists at Gitmo.
But Kennedy also voted to kill Obamacare, preserve Second Amendment rights, and most recently, he voted to uphold the president’s travel ban. It’s kind of weird because he never had a judicial philosophy that he seemed to adhere to like Justice Thomas or Justice Scalia or Justice Alito.
And now with President Trump poised to nominate what he has said he will do in the campaign, a strict originalist to replace the very unpredictable Kennedy, Democrats are now sharpening their spears just like they did back in 1987.
Let’s go down memory lane. Now, before Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court, he did tap somebody who was a judicial genius. He tapped a strict constitutional originalist. His name was Judge Robert Bork.
And hell-bent on preventing Robert Bork from becoming a Supreme Court justice, Senate Democrats engaged in one of the most disgusting smear campaigns which culminated on the Senate floor, with outright lies from Senator Ted Kennedy.
Watch how low they can go. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Robert Bork’s America is a land on which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rouge police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, and school children could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All lies, all attempts to scare, intimidate the American people.
Now, after what you just saw, Democrats were able to actually block the nomination. That’s how we now have ended up with the term of being Borked, which, by the way, the Oxford English Dictionary described as, quote, obstruct someone by systematically defaming or vilifying them.
Let’s fast forward a couple of years later. The confirmation of now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, during his Senate hearings. This goes back to 1991. Democrats rolled out his former colleague Anita Hill to make sexual harassment allegations against him. The process became so vicious and nasty, Justice Thomas in what is now infamous, famous comments, he referred to it as a high-tech lynching.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)
CLARENCE THOMAS, THEN-SUPREME COURT JUSTICE NOMINEE: This is a circus. It’s a national disgrace. And from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I’m concerned, it is a high tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any dame to think for themselves. To do for themselves. To have different ideas.
And it is a message that unless you kowtow to the old order this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate rather than hung from a tree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Wow! Powerful, powerful remarks. Character assassination. Look at just the last week. And what is happening? What has been said and what is being said about women and Secretary Nielsen and Pam Bondi and so many others and Ivanka and Melania and Sarah Sanders.
By the way, if you want to read one of the best books you will ever read it’s written by Clarence Thomas. It’s called “My Grandfather’s Son.”
Now if you think what you saw is bad it’s about to get actually probably worse with the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court now hanging in the balance after President Trump successfully nominated originalist Neil Gorsuch to the court. Senate Democrats are about to pull out all stops. They’ll do and say anything just like Ted Chappaqua (Ph) Kennedy to block Donald Trump’s pick.
Now we’re not even a day out from Justice Kennedy’s announcement and the left is already in total free freak out panic and scare the American people mode and full on lying mode. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you ready to maybe rip up some of the rules that have, as Rachel said, limited Democrats?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Nicole. I know we are ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the fabric of our democracy, Democrats should dig in hard here and do everything they conceivably can do to block this nomination and any nomination for going forward.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016. Not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It’s time for Democrats to throw down. And what I mean by that, is that we have been playing by the rule book. Donald Trump and Republicans have been playing by street rules. We need to play by street rules.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don’t allow a vote in this. Don’t have a hearing. Don’t have a meeting. Don’t let anything go forward. Don’t play ball with this decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Merely a preview of coming attractions. At this massive rally today in Fargo, North Dakota, the president previewed this looming battle and so much more. Let’s take a look at what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A very special guy also just announced a little while ago his retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: A great man. And I’m very honored that he chose to do it during my term in office because he felt confident in me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy. That’s why he did it.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Democrats want judges who will rewrite the Constitution any way they want to do it and take away your Second Amendment, erase your borders, and throw open the jail house doors and destroy your freedoms.
We must elect more Republicans. We have to do that. We need more Republicans especially in the Senate. We have to hold the House and maybe even increase it. And I think we’ll be able to do. They keep talking about this blue wave. Their blue wave is really sputtering pretty badly. The red wave is happening. Just look what happened last night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: So it will be the most important mid-term election in our lifetime. It’s that profound. As the president now gains political momentum and build in a press of track record, accomplishment. I think we’re the only that shows you them.
The Democratic Party is falling apart. The era of global free loathing, the president said is over. An example, last night a 28-year-old socialist from New York defeated the long time Democratic incumbent in a congressional primary race.
As President Trump said tonight he got his assed kicked. And many are hailing Cortez as a rising star on the political landscape but in reality her views her policy positions are actually downright scary.
Look, by the way, he was a guy that was supposed to take over for Nancy Pelosi perhaps. Look very carefully. This is the future. This is your modern Democratic Party. Cortez will likely win the general election in a Democratic district is pushing for, let’s see, single payer universal health care, universal jobs, government subsidized housing for everybody. Tuition and free colleges. She wants to abolish ICE and of course impeach President Trump. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you push for a Trump impeachment should you — can you win?
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, NEW YORK: Well, I would support impeachment. I think that, you know, we have the grounds to do it. I think what really we need to focus on is making sure that we are advocating for the policies to win in November.
But ultimately, I think what we need to kind of focus on is ensuring that we can — you know, when people break the law, potentially break the law that we have to hold everyone accountable and that no person is above that law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: Now the only difference between the self-proclaimed socialist that you just saw and the rest of the Democrat Party is, she is actually more honest. And as we have shown you many times, and we’ll show you all through this election season, I will give you the agenda of the Democratic Party.
First they want to impeach 45. You just turn it but they are not going to tell you. And of course they want to preserve Obamacare. And by the way, Nancy Pelosi and company, they are even saying this publicly. They want the tax cuts back. They want their crumbs returned and that means $2,000 on average per American family, and obviously they want open borders.
Now we have a fifth part of their Democratic agenda that we’re adding to our list. And that is to destroy whoever the president picks to replace Justice Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court.
I keep saying this is the single most important midterm election of our lifetimes. Now will President Trump be able to assert his agenda for the last two years of his first term? Or are socialists, will they be able to impeach him or obstruct him every step of the way?
Will we have another originalist on the Supreme Court or will Democrats be able to successfully block Kennedy’s successor? Do you really want these people running the country? Let’s take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), VERMONT: A few years ago, ideas that we talked about were thought to be fringe ideas, radical ideas, extremist ideas. Those ideas are now mainstream.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA, MINORITY LEADER: I just even don’t know why there are understand uprising all over the country.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they are not welcome anymore anywhere.
SAMANTHA BEE, COMEDIAN: Do something about your dad’s immigration practices. You feckless (muted).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What’s Uncle Tom for white women who disappoint other white women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One way you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy. So bring on the recession.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When was the last time an actor assassinated the president?
MADONNA, SINGER: I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: That’s a powerful ad from the RNC perfectly encapsulating the mindset of the left today. And as you can see they’re not really the peaceful people that they claim to be. Their rhetoric is not just wrong, it’s now downright dangerous.
We are going to have more on the Democrat’s disgusting tactics in a moment. But first, we do have breaking development surrounding Peter Strzok. As you know by now he was the corrupt, bias, pro-Hillary, anti-Trump, Trump hating FBI official once tasked with investigating Trump Russia collusion, and also was at the forefront of helping to exonerate Hillary Clinton of all the felonies and obstruction we know she committed as it relates to her server investigation.
Well today he was apparently grilled but only behind closed doors by two committees on Capitol Hill. And according to a brand new report from Sara Carter, bad news. One congressman in attendance Representative Ron DeSantis said, quote, “It was Strzok.” He is full of it and he kept hiding behind the, quote, “classified information excuse.”
Now fortunately we do have one hopeful development. Now today the House judiciary tweeted, quote, “Peter Strzok will be interviewed first in a closed door deposition they will be classified information to sort through before a public hearing is held. A public hearing will be held.
Now this public hearing is crucial. You the American people deserve to know how biased at the highest levels of the FBI, in fact, tainted what was the Hillary Clinton so-called investigation. It’s irrefutable, incontrovertible. She committed crimes.
And then the same people involved in literally putting the fix in for her were the beginnings or begun the witch hunt into of course so-called collusion and the Mueller investigation. Peter Strzok and Lisa Page and three other FBI investigators, Comey and McCabe, the Ohrs, Mueller, Mary Bond (Ph), the Democratic donors, Jeannie Rhee, Andrew Weissmann and so many more.
We deserve answers. You know why? Because this was about influencing a presidential election. And literally supporting and helping somebody we know broke the law and then viciously trying to destroy another candidate. And Peter Strzok must be held accountable and he has questions to answer to the public.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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