Demonstrators over the weekend appeared in front of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) home in an attempt to put pressure on him to not go ahead with the Senate nominating process for a new Supreme Court justice following Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.
Meanwhile, a number of celebrities and verified Twitter users made veiled threats of violence.
Katie Herzog, a podcaster, said she hoped McConnell suffered a stroke.
Democrats began vehemently opposing the move to fill the seat before the election immediately following Ginsburg’s death.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump said he would nominate his selection despite Democrats’ objections. And, after conducting what he joked was a “very scientific poll” of the Fayetteville crowd as to whether supporters wanted a man or a woman, he declared the choice would be “a very talented, very brilliant woman.”
“We win an election and those are the consequences,” said the president, who then seemed to signal that he’d be willing to accept a vote on his nominee during the lame-duck period after the election. “We have a lot of time. We have plenty of time. We’re talking about January 20th.”
Two GOP senators, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), have signaled that they do not support nominating a judge to the Supreme Court ahead of the November elections. However, Democrats would still need to convince two more Republican senators to break the tie.
Ginsburg, considered a member of the liberal wing of the Supreme Court, died on Sept. 18 after several bouts of cancer.