By Thurman Hayes

Shortly after President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, I wrote the following for this newspaper:

“Judge Kavanaugh’s views on religious liberty are rock solid. There is every indication that he will champion the religious freedom of all Americans, no matter what faith they hold. There is also every indication that he will promote the sanctity of human life, from womb to tomb. This is a man who has shown a willingness to follow the Constitution without prejudice. Furthermore, he is a man without personal prejudice. He invests his time in serving the needy and tutoring inner city students. But none of this will prevent the left from attacking him and engaging in irrational and vicious character assassination.”

That now sounds prophetic. Well, let me assure you, I am no prophet. What was done to Justice Kavanaugh was entirely predictable.

Ever since 1987, when Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and company smeared Judge Robert Bork, and successfully torpedoed his nomination to the Court, the left has used the tactic of character assassination in attempts to sink the nomination of conservative judges.

In this case, I knew they would literally try anything to stop Kavanaugh. Before they even knew who President Trump would nominate, they said as much. Thus, it would not have mattered who the President put forward. Whoever the nominee was, he or she was going to be attacked and smeared. They would pull out all the stops.

Their problem was that Justice Kavanaugh had such impeccable credentials and character that they could find nothing. It was obvious that he was going to be confirmed. They could find no dirt.

But Senator Dianne Feinstein had been sitting on an allegation for many weeks. She had not shared it with other senators, so that it could be quietly and thoroughly checked out. Why? Probably because it was 36 years old and there was no corroborating evidence to support it. In fact, not only was it uncorroborated, but it was refuted by multiple people, including Christine Ford’s lifelong friend, who said under oath that she was not at the party, and that she had never even met Brett Kavanaugh. Feinstein knew the allegation was incredibly weak.

But when all else failed, the senator or someone in her orbit allowed it to be leaked. This had its intended effect: It inaugurated a feeding frenzy, in which all kinds of outlandish allegations were made. The strategy was to begin throwing mud and hoping that something — anything — would stick enough to force Judge Kavanaugh to step down, or force the president to withdraw his nomination.

In the end, it did not work. Brett Kavanaugh is now on the Supreme Court.

Those of you who read this column know that as a pastor, husband and father to two girls, I have been very forthright about saying that sexual abuse needs to be fought and sexual predators need to be exposed. But in this case, it was not a sexual predator who was exposed, but rather the radical abortion lobby and their political pals.

Let us pray for healing in America. People are so divided. Our politics are broken. Only God can bring us together. Let us look up to Him in faith, and out to our neighbors in love — whatever their politics.

 

Dr. Thurman R. Hayes Jr. is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Suffolk. Follow him on Twitter at @ThurmanHayesJr.