A few days ago, we told you that Chuck Schumer had vowed to halt Trump's SCOTUS nominee by any means necessary - pretty much regardless of who he or she turned out to be. This course of action is doomed for a whole host of reasons. There's just no way he'll be able to sustain a filibuster for four years, the nuclear option is out there, voters won't tolerate it, and (since the idea flies directly in the face of the last election) he probably won't be able to get all his cronies to go along with it.
Chuck, however, has not backed down. He's still promising a fight, and his constituents seem to like the idea.
Unfortunately, in addition to those outlined above, he has a new problem. You'd expect him to get hammered by Republicans, but even the soon-to-be-former Vice President isn't buying into Schumer's nonsense.
Joe "two blasts" Biden says that "Implicit in the Constitution is that the Senate will act on its constitutional responsibility, give its advice and consent. ...No one is required to vote for the nominee but they, in my view, are required to give the nominee a hearing and a vote."
Biden made the remarks during an interview with PBS Newshour's Judy Woodruff:
Kudos to the VP for making it through the whole answer without groping her!
Honestly, Biden's smart enough to read the tea leaves here. Much like the last election, I suspect he'd be down for the fight if he thought there was a chance of winning. He knows Democrats haven't a prayer when it comes to stopping Trump's nom, so he's wisely backing away.
That's good strategery if you're looking to take control of a rudderless party in 2020...
