The Unshackled Waves Ep. 168 Trump on the Supreme Court and NATO
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While The Unshackled is based in Australia and mainly focus on Australian news and politics we do follow global developments and of course what is happening in the United States with the Trump Administration. Without having done a Trump show for a while I welcome back to the show to catch up on all of it with Deputy Editor of The Unshackled Emilio Garcia.
The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy allowed Trump to nominate his second Justice to the United States’ highest court. Kennedy was known as the swing justice in a court that was divided 4-4 liberal-conservative. He supported abortion rights and gay marriage but also free speech and gun rights. Progressives have been freaking out believing Roe vs Wade which legalized abortion in 1973 will be overturned.
However, Donald Trump nominated United States Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh a moderate conservative. He worked as an Associate Counsel in the Bush Administration and as a law clerk for Justice Kennedy. He’s a constitutional originalist but also respects precedent so is not in favour of overturning Roe vs Wade.
Many are questioning Trump’s motives in nominating Kavanaugh as conservatives don’t consider him a home run like Neil Gorsuch was. Trump is most likely wanting to soften his approach in some areas ahead of the mid-term congressional elections where Democrats will throw everything at him.
Many conservatives only supported Trump based on the assumption he would appoint constitutional conservatives to the Supreme Court. With other justices nearing retirement age conservatives may not be able to rule the Supreme Court for a generation as they once hoped.
Trump is now in Europe, his first stop was in Belgium for the NATO summit. He repeated his call for NATO countries to pay their fair share. He refrained from criticizing Russia and tried to turn the issue onto Germany saying they were captive to Russia for gas. Many have criticized Trump for treating the country’s allies poorly but this is the type of style is what we have come to expect from Trump.
Links to Trump News
United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Retires
Michelle Wolf Is Pure Evil
Amy Coney Barrett: How a Catholic professor became the conservative dream for Supreme Court – The Independent
NATO summit: Donald Trump meets Angela Merkel after calling Germany a Russian ‘captive’ – ABC News
Trump in the UK: Pomp and protest as visit stokes culture war – BBC News
Battle of the Baby Balloons, The Right Responds to the Baby Trump Balloon