Why I Love This President

Don’t get me wrong, I think Donald Trump is remaking the office of the presidency (for the worse) in ways we can’t even imagine yet. But there are times when his presidency actually makes it EASIER to teach some often difficult concepts. Lots of concepts in AP Government are very nuanced and wonky. Take the federal judiciary. Supreme Court confirmation hearings are like the Super Bowl of judicial politics. That makes the lower court posts like a junior high intramural game. Not that exciting. There is a long standing tradition called “senatorial courtesy.” All it means is that a president will take the recommendations of a sitting U.S. senator when nominating a federal judge in their home state. It’s quite routine. If you are the president, whomever the U.S. District court judge in New Hampshire is probably not your biggest concern. And if the senator from that state is from your party then you might want to make sure you nominate someone they approve of. Their political support could come in handy down the road. When I teach this I pretty much just explain it and move on. But thanks to the current president I now have a viral video to go with it. This is a video from a hearing where Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana is grilling one of Trump’s nominees to the bench in his home state:

This is pretty basic stuff. Any normal president would make sure that their judicial had, I don’t know, been in a courtroom?? The Trump Administration withdrew this clown’s name. Thanks to the unbelievable incompetence of the current president, it makes my job way easier.