GLENN: Welcome to the program, Kelly Shackelford. How are you?
KELLY: Good. Great to be on, Glenn.
GLENN: Kelly has all the information at TrumpNominee.com. TrumpNominee.com, where you can follow it, see the videos, and get all of the background on Gorsuch.
What did you think, Kelly?
KELLY: You know, what I expected. A lot of preening. Speeches given by senators. Really, today is when it started. It already has started, the hearing. And that's when they're going to try to catch him. And, of course, they dropped their bomb -- the best they could do today. NPR dropped a story attacking him having some student that was in his class making claims that now all the other students are saying are false.
GLENN: What were the claims?
KELLY: That he teaches a class at the University of Colorado Law School. And they said that in the class he -- this one student said that he had said something about women taking advantage of maternity leave in the workplace. And a number of other students just totally disputed that. It's an ethics class. And he was talking about the different things that people are pressured by. And he gave that amongst many other examples. And then gave the arguments and counterarguments for both sides. But the attacker that was used by NPR didn't bother to say that.
GLENN: Unbelievable.
KELLY: So, you know, they don't really have much on him. So the attacks are very weak. And they almost always fall apart within seconds. But that's -- I think their only hope is during the questioning and answering, you know, which has already started already today, that they can catch him saying something. Otherwise, I think they're really in an uphill battle.
STU: I was looking at the article you mentioned, which I had not seen, Kelly, from NPR, which begins now with this: Editor's note, since the story was first published, we have added material from another former student and former law clerks of Gorsuch, as well as more information about Jennifer Sisk's political affiliations. And those political affiliations are she used to work for a Democratic senator. That's the person who is accusing Gorsuch of this. A staffer of Democratic senator Mark Udall of Colorado.
GLENN: Wow.
STU: So this is, you know, nonsensical.
GLENN: Well, first of all, it's in an ethics class. Of course, you're going to say things that are unethical in an ethics class. You're exploring ethics.
KELLY: Yeah, the Socratic method is kind of what you do when you're teaching these sort of classes.
GLENN: Yes.
KELLY: And, by the way, one of the people that came forward supporting Judge Gorsuch was a very liberal Democrat student who totally disagreed with what NPR was saying. So I guess that's why they are updating it. They've even got people who are on the far left wing.
I do find some irony in the fact that NPR -- you know, meanwhile, we have President Trump cutting some of the money to NPR and these types of groups. And here they are, a somewhat government-funded entity that is attacking, you know, somebody to be on the Supreme Court. There's some -- I don't know. There's something really bizarre about all of that. And I think it gives extra credence to why maybe government money shouldn't go to groups who are going to do that.
GLENN: Let me -- let me ask -- the question that was asked of me over and over again yesterday was how -- how nasty is this going to get. Is this going to go to the nuclear option or not?
And I think we touched on this yesterday. I can't imagine they're going to do that because he's not -- I mean, if you listen to him yesterday, he's a very reasoned, soft-spoken -- he sounds like books on tape. He's just not that kind of a caricature, that I think the American people will be afraid of. And, you know, Chuck Schumer yesterday was calling for chaos in the streets. I mean, this is nuts.
Are --
KELLY: I agree with you, Glenn. I think he's -- they can make him a Bork. They can't make him somebody into -- the image they want to create for him just doesn't work because he's a humble person. He's a restrained person. He's got 3,000 opinions. He's got liberals who are endorsing him because they think he's just such a good person.
You know, one of Obama's head solicitor general came out and endorsed him. Said, you have all these people that recognize what anybody does when you look at him, which is not this monster that they would like to create. So I think they're in a struggle though. I think the base really wants these Democratic senators to bring out the knives. So I think that's why we see them saying some of these things. But when push comes to shove, you have all these senators that were in states that were carried by Trump. And when they vote, that could cost them their seat. Because their seat is coming up. A third of the Senate is coming up in this next election. And a number of those were carried by Trump, those states. So I don't think we are going to see the filibuster.
Now, I think many conservatives kind of hope we do. Because if there is a filibuster, it's so unreasonable in this situation, that I think most people think that they will use the nuclear option, what they call the nuclear option and just change the rules and say, "Okay. There's no need for a filibuster. This is abusive." And that will make the way for the next time when it is going to be a huge battle about who controls the court, not using the filibuster. So many people kind of hope they do overplay their hand, but I just don't think they will.
GLENN: So, Kelly, do you think that the American people are going to sit through -- for instance, what Schumer is talking about is he's said, this is -- all the stuff that's going on with Trump. And he brings up -- he ends up with immigration reform. And he said, "You know, if this -- if this isn't solved -- you know, you want to build the wall. Maybe we should say, we're going to shut down the government." This is a quote, "We're going to shut down the government. We're not going to raise the debt ceiling, until you pass immigration reform."
Well, wait a minute. That is exactly what they said was irresponsible and was anti-government. Do you think people are even going to remember that, or do you think people will call bullcrap on both parties for playing this game?
KELLY: I think at this point -- I think people, you know, voted for some pretty dramatic change. They felt like the government was broken. And they wanted to see something get done. So they did something pretty drastic. And I think somebody just obstructing for obstruction's sake doesn't go over well right now. I think that's sort of the politics that people are tired of.
So I think that -- I really think that people like Schumer are playing to their base, which want them to do this kind of thing, but I think with the regular American, it's not something they like. And, again, they look at Gorsuch, and they think, this is the kind of guy I want on the court, you know. He's very mild mannered. He seems to want to do the right thing, just follow the law. So I think they're going to have a real hard time. You know, I'll tell people, Glenn. Watch for themselves. At TrumpNominee.com, where we've got our website there, the first link is just watch the hearings. And I think you'll see pretty quickly why they're having a hard time.
But that's their only hope, again, in my opinion -- their only hope is to catch him in something in these hearings. And, again, I think that would be a surprise to a lot of people, but I think that's what they're hoping for, knowing that otherwise, their arguments really do seem to fall apart whenever they really start because they just don't have much.
GLENN: Anything in particular we should watch for today?
KELLY: I just watch the Democratic senators -- obviously the Republican senators are going to say nice things, prop him up, do that. I'd watch the Democratic senators and see -- you might have some ask him about judicial philosophy, which might be very educational to people. But I think the real thing are the Democratic senators are going to try to go after him. They're going to try to force him to state where he stands on abortion and a number of issues which I would guess he's not going to answer. Because judges typically don't answer about policy issues that might come before them. They would want to see the facts of a particular case. So they don't want to prejudice themselves or look like they're prejudiced. So my guess is they're going to try to force him to answer, and they're going to complain. And he's not going to take the bait. And we're going to have a couple of days of this. And then eventually in, what? Three weeks? Four weeks? or whatever, we'll have Gorsuch on the court.
GLENN: Great. Kelly, thank you so much. I appreciate it.