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That same summer, Mitch McConnell labored to keep Trump in line, particularly on judges. Steering the federal judiciary to the right could be the keystone of his legacy.
Trump usually aligned with McConnell and Trump’s White House counsel, Don McGahn, who worked closely with the Senate leader to fill up the judicial pipeline with conservative nominees. But Trump’s commitment to the enterprise was never grounded in ideology, only in winning, leaving him susceptible to changing his mind.
Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Just before Kavanaugh’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor, stepped forward on September 16, 2018. She accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers.
Blasey Ford was soon scheduled to testify before the committee on September 27.
Trump called McConnell that morning. Should he pull the Kavanaugh nomination?
“Why don’t we talk after Dr. Ford testifies?” McConnell asked. “Think of that as halftime.”
Trump agreed. He would wait.
Blasey Ford, careful and hesitant, was widely seen as credible during her testimony. Trump, uneasy, stayed in touch with McConnell. He would wait to hear from Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh’s testimony, that same day, was charged and defensive, and praised on the right.
Trump placed another call after both Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh testified.
“How do you feel about Kavanaugh?” Trump asked.
“I feel stronger about Kavanaugh than mule piss,” McConnell said.
“What?” Trump asked.
In Kentucky, nothing is stronger than mule piss, McConnell said. “We ought to stick with him.”
Besides, he said, “We need to wrap this one up one way or the other because we don’t know whether we’ll still be in the majority after November.”
McConnell needed a swift confirmation vote on Kavanaugh. He was convinced that would be the only way to have enough time to approve another nominee before the election. If Kavanaugh lacked support or dropped out of the running, there was no guarantee he could get it done.
The Senate voted to confirm Kavanaugh on October 6, 50 votes to 48 votes.
The exhilaration of being out campaigning drove Joe Biden to hit 13 cities in the last six days of the 2018 congressional elections. And November 6 brought blue gains. Democrats won 40 additional House seats and took control, handing Nancy Pelosi the speaker’s gavel for a second time. Republicans held on to the Senate majority.
Richmond and Virgil Miller, his chief of staff, made an appointment to see Biden at his office in Washington at 101 Constitution Avenue, steps from the Capitol.
“You may be the only person who can beat Donald Trump,” Richmond said. “I think you should do it.” Run and beat him.
Richmond was friends with Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, two Black Democrats who were expected to run. But he kept coming back to Biden. For Richmond, electability was paramount. You cannot govern if you don’t win first, he would say.
“I’m not sure I’m the right person,” Biden replied. Richmond sensed genuine reluctance on Biden’s part. “I don’t have to be the person. It’s not about me. Somebody else can do it.”
Richmond said topic one with the Congressional Black Caucus was beating Trump. Many would support you, he said. You have a great relationship with the Black community. He reminded Biden of his visit to the Bartholomew Golf Course.
Richmond pushed. “Look, African Americans appreciate, one, your authenticity. Two, they appreciate that you had Barack Obama’s back. And three, they know how much our community has to lose if Democrats can’t beat Trump.”
Richmond added that Biden’s support extended not just through the Black Caucus but to the Hispanic Caucus and to moderates. He had a base.
By Thanksgiving 2018, the pieces were being assembled, albeit tentatively. Greg Schultz, wiry and not yet 40, was the informal campaign manager for a possible Biden campaign. He was the opposite of Donilon—a young tactician, focused on the mechanics of ground organizing and data, not soul.
A Cleveland area native, Schultz had helped guide Obama to back-to-back victories in Ohio as his state director and later joined Biden’s vice presidential office as a senior adviser.
Biden would bounce around ideas and grievances with his older crew, but they counted on Schultz to keep the Biden political machine humming. Schultz had his challenges. It was a creaky machine, and campaign talent was signing up with other candidates who thought Biden’s time had passed.
It was not an assessment without merit: Biden was popular on the campaign trail, but he was never a successful fundraiser. His social media following was what you would expect for a well-liked former vice president, but his political presence was almost nonexistent.
Schultz and his deputy, Pete Kavanaugh, sent Biden a detailed 11-page memo in December 2018 on the steps to set up a national campaign. It included decisions on a headquarters, scheduling, travel, staff. Clinton’s campaign in Brooklyn four years earlier had been a mammoth beast. Biden’s was a small cadre of loyalists.
A campaign announcement and launch were proposed for the first week of March 2019.
Richmond kept making appearances at 101 Constitution.
“I’m 74 percent in,” Biden said at one point. Soon after, he said, “I’m 82 percent in.”
What the hell are these percentages? Richmond asked himself. This is crazy.
Next, it was 85 percent, then 88 percent.
Oh, shit, he’s running for sure, Richmond realized. It was Biden’s way to get to yes.