This clip is almost tailor-made to produce a Pavlovian response of disgust in most anti-Trumpers. President “Grab ‘Em By The Pussy,” who has himself been accused by multiple women of either sexual harassment or assault, would dare to challenge a woman who claims she was assaulted in college by his Supreme Court nominee? And not just on any grounds but on the age-old idea that she was too drunk at the time of the incident to be taken seriously? You couldn’t manufacture better sputtering-outrage material for Trump critics if you tried.

Minor wrinkle, though: Every complaint he makes is reasonable under the circumstances. Ramirez’s allegation *is* dubious given the suddenness of her memory recovery. It *is* strange that a person who seems to be so well-liked by the many women colleagues he’s had in his career would be presumed guilty of being a boorish sex criminal. Democrats *are* running a sort of con in sitting on Ford’s accusations for months and then trying to exploit the last-minute revelations for a delay in confirmation. Everything said in the clip below is being said in living rooms across the country. Trump was often praised by righties in 2015-16 on grounds that “he says what I’m thinking.” He’s saying here what a lot of people are thinking this week, and not all of them are Republicans.

But the fact remains that he is indeed President “Grab ‘Em By The Pussy” and for that reason alone some who might otherwise find credence in his points will recoil. McConnell reportedly phoned Trump a few days ago after he tweeted about Christine Blasey Ford and told him that he wasn’t helping, for understandable reasons. The public doesn’t know much about Kavanaugh; in a he-said-she-said with Ford, they might withhold judgment. If Trump, a man whom the public knows lots about, shoves Kavanaugh aside and asserts himself as the key protagonist in this drama, though, that can only help Ford. This is a guy who polls at 32/60 when Americans are asked whether they believe he’s honest or not. He keeps finding himself curiously allied with men who’ve been accused of sexual misconduct, from Roy Moore to Rob Porter to, uh, himself. And there’s no need for Trump to rally the base on Kavanaugh’s behalf; the base is already all-in precisely because they already agree with all of these points.

So, I have no idea how this plays. Since opinions of Trump, good or bad, seem frozen in amber, probably it’ll excite his fans and outrage his critics, as usual. But I’m a pretty reliable critic and on the merits his objections are all understandable. The sputtering will happen anyway because, like I say, Trump talking about sexual assault is a Pavlovian dynamic but on balance I’d bet this helps Kavanaugh a bit. Plenty of people will agree with him.

Exit question: If Ramirez has “nothing,” why does his press secretary think she should be part of Thursday’s hearing?

President Trump on Judge #Kavanaugh confirmation process: "This is a con game being played by the Democrats." pic.twitter.com/rHDDaTO4z0

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 25, 2018