NOMINATION/SENATE/SEX ABUSE/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Trump has some advice for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as he prepares for Thursday’s [9-27-28] climactic Senate hearing to confront sexual misconduct allegations: Be more aggressive, show more outrage, push back more. In other words, be more like Mr. Trump. But what works for Mr. Trump might not work for Judge Kavanaugh. His challenge is not to look like he is attacking his accusers. Anger could touch off a backlash, advisers said, though at the same time he needs to show more indignation than he did during a Fox News interview on Monday when he stuck closely to talking points and looked rehearsed. For Christine Blasey Ford, the California university professor who will testify about the night she said a drunken Mr. Kavanaugh held her down on a bed and tried to remove her clothes, the challenge is different. An unknown figure, she will be introducing herself to the senators and the nation for the first time, explaining who she is, what happened 36 years ago and why her account is more credible than his denial. She faces a veteran sex crimes prosecutor who will question her for Republicans, a scenario that could rattle even a more seasoned witness.”
–Peter Baker and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “A Hearing’s Test: Blasey Must Seem Credible. Kavanaugh Must Defend but Not Attack.,” The New York Times online, September 26, 2018