If Kavanaugh fails, just nominate him again, says GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham

If at first you don't succeed, nominate, nominate again.

That's Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) advice for President Trump as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh hovers on the confirmation borderline. Of course, Graham is confident Kavanaugh will get through this time around, the senator said in a Tuesday statement. But just in case he doesn't, Graham suggested Trump give it another go.

From calling Kavanaugh "not Bill Cosby" to raging against the "unethical sham" of sexual assault allegations facing the nominee, Graham has become Kavanaugh's staunchest defender over the past week. Graham's Tuesday statement reiterated that support, imploring his fellow senators to ignore these "attempts at character assassination" and vote to confirm the nominee. But if they don't, well, Trump should just re-nominate Kavanaugh and "appeal the Senate's verdict directly to the American people."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This desperate plea hearkens back to a time long before the Kavanaugh fiasco, a time when Trump was still considering nominees to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Back in July, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reportedly asked Trump to re-nominate former President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland, for whom Senate Republicans refused to hold a hearing in 2016 — a request that seems almost humble when compared to Graham's passionate directive.