Former personal lawyer to Donald Trump Michael Cohen pleads guilty.

[Zaune]

I do know that effectively telling voters "nothing you do will really matter" is not going to help Democratic get out the vote efforts, though. Focus on getting as many seats as we can for now. If we don't have enough to block Trump after the votes are counted, then we'll deal with that then.

On the other hand, we also don't want to get everyone's hopes up and then lose anyway; that will entrench voter apathy even further with every election cycle where it happens. It's a difficult balance to strike, but it's got to be done.

[The Romulan Republic]

I do know that effectively telling voters "nothing you do will really matter" is not going to help Democratic get out the vote efforts, though. Focus on getting as many seats as we can for now. If we don't have enough to block Trump after the votes are counted, then we'll deal with that then.

On the other hand, we also don't want to get everyone's hopes up and then lose anyway; that will entrench voter apathy even further with every election cycle where it happens. It's a difficult balance to strike, but it's got to be done.

You're not wrong, but at the risk of sounding alarmist, I am genuinely not sure, if we lose this election , whether there will ever be another. I don't want to see where we'll be in two years, with a demoralized Democratic Party and a stronger, vindicated Trump in complete control of all three branches of the Federal government (he'll also almost certainly follow up an election win by trying to end the Mueller probe).

[Zaune]

All the more reason to manage expectations and prepare for every outcome. Forgive me if this metaphor comes off as cynical or nihilistic, but hope can act a lot like an opiate for someone with chronic pain: If you have just the right amount, you can have a normal and productive life and maybe go through short periods of withdrawal without too many long-term problems. But if you have too much, it starts to impair your judgement... and suddenly getting cut off from it will cause you to crash very hard very quickly. (And if you survive detox, you never want to go anywhere near the stuff again.)

And good grief, the stuff we can talk about in these threads and not be all that far off-topic...

[TimothyC]

Right now with McCain's death, the Republicans in the Senate no longer have a Quorum. Without Quorum, they can't do business, like shoving that recommendation to SCOTUS

Uhm, what?
McCain hasn't been in Washington for months, and for the purposes of a quorum call being in Arizona is the same as being dead. Furthermore, there are still 50 republican senators, and Pence to break any ties. It does mean that the republicans can't have any defections in votes to pass stuff (right now it is 50 to 47+2 in the senate), but we've been here (or something like here) before.

[Patroklos]

How long will the replacement take? At this point, the Republicans need to push Kavanaugh through fast if they want to do it before a potential blue wave. At this point, its not about blocking Kavanaugh. Its about stalling for a few months, and praying for a good Midterm.

I was looking at this yesterday, and it appears the Governor is waiting to make his announcement until after the funeral. I don't see any reason the replacement can't be sitting shortly, after the normal swearing in formalities.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well if true, that worsens the odds, though there are still other delaying tactics that can be employed.