To me it looks like a lot of people have guns to their heads. At least that is what Jeff Flake looked like today. He looked like a guy scared to death from the threats he claims he received from people like RAZO demanding he stop interfering with the president.
So here we go.
I think what Flake did today is a win-win situation for himself. Maybe even his party.
If Grassley decided to ignore the FBI investigation request, Flake could EITHER still confirm Kavanaugh on the floor vote OR not. In either case, he has a suitable excuse. If he chose to vote YES, he could simply say he'd already voted 'yes' to move the confirmation to the senate so it was just a formality. You could argue, then, that he was a hypocrite but he's a politician and it's just another minor detail that would have gotten lost in all of this. If he chose to vote NO following a Grassley denial, he could say it was too risky and while that might piss off his constituents, he could argue that he'd previously voted yes pending the FBI investigation and his apprehensions were too deeply rooted for him to ignore.
Say Grassley approves the FBI investigation (which it appears he has,) now it goes to Trump to either re-open the investigation or not as he pleases, if I'm understanding this correctly. If Trump says yes, then it looks like everyone's playing nice, Ford's testimony is treated with all the respect one might expect in 2018 and the matter is essentially taken out of their hands anyway. if the FBI finds something substantial on Kavanaugh (which I don't believe they will, given the long road to this point), then everyone can wash their hands of it and say they acted with conscience or, at the very least, they all 'learned something about the democratic process' in this fashion.
If Trump says 'no' to the FBI reopening the investigation into Kavanaugh, then they can all point the finger at the loose cannon and fall back on their party lines, stating that their vote is consistent with their political and moral beliefs and all the while low key blaming Trump and shifting the focus on to the orange skinned loose cannon.
Then Kavanaugh gets confirmed and the Dems begin the impeachment process, potentially making a November blue wave all the more important towards this aim.
What do I think is going to happen?
Kavanaugh is going to get confirmed. I'd be shocked if this doesn't happen.
I DO think the Dems will take the house in November and I Do think the Republicans will further solidify their hold on the senate.
And Senator Booker will still be an insufferable, cringe inducing idiot. I don't say this out of partisan attitude. I just can't stand the guy's grandstanding. Today, he spent more time talking about himself than about the issue at hand. Textbook sign of a guy too emotional to be a part of this process.
Anyway, there's my political thought for the day. Again, I stress that I say all of this from the vantage of a person that prefers to remain a centrist, or perhaps what some call a 'classic liberal', if you will. Definitely not a party R or D.