Brett Kavanaugh Is Testifying

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Hoo boy. Brett Kavanaugh is going all-in on the “coordinated conspiracy by Democrats” defense. That’s good red meat for the base, but will it work on anyone else?

A few minutes later, Kavanaugh breaks down while telling a story about his daughter praying for Dr. Ford. “Such wisdom from a ten-year-old,” he stammered. I’m pretty bad at reading emotions, so it’s hard for me to tell how credible his emotional display was. It seemed genuine to me, but then again, he obviously made a decision from the start to come out with guns blazing, a man who’s legitimately outraged at the false allegations being leveled at him.

3:35 — Kavanaugh is in a nearly continual state of emotional breakdown now. He’s sniffing and his voice is breaking, even when he’s talking about something as banal as football camp or why he kept calendars. This is a little puzzling, isn’t it? Or not?

3:40 — Hmmm. We have a new explanation of the “Renate Alumnus” comment in his yearbook:

Yeah, this is not credible. It’s just not how teenage boys act.

3:55 — Another few shots at Democrats. “Thanks to what you on this side of the aisle have unleashed” I may never be able to coach again. Jesus. Can Kavanaugh even be any kind of judge after these repeated and brutal attacks on Democrats?

3:58 — Ah. Rachel Mitchell will be handling the Republican questioning of Brett Kavanaugh too. I guess I didn’t realize that.

4:05 — Kavanaugh responds angrily to Dianne Feinstein’s question about an FBI investigation. But this time the anger seems forced and fake. There’s also something else going on with Kavanaugh. It’s not just that he’s still just short of tears as he testifies, it’s the odd facial tics, the tongue in his cheek, the oddly pursed lips, and so forth. There’s something weird going on here.

4:10 — Is Kavanaugh’s anger and emotional breakdown for real? Or is this a carefully rehearsed persona because his handlers told him this is what a falsely accused man should sound like? I really, genuinely don’t know.

4:13 — Time for a break.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate