Kavanaugh crisis bonds Trump with wary GOP

A half-dozen sources in the White House and on Capitol Hill acknowledged that developing a coherent strategy will test a Trump team not known for Swiss precision, or for close coordination with Congress — especially when the president can always upend careful plans with a tweet. Some are consoled, however, by what they call Trump’s relatively hands off approach towards Supreme Court nomination politics.

And they say that if anything can produce a crack all-hands effort, it is a nomination that could push the Supreme Court to the right for decades to come. Many conservatives who blanch at Trump’s personal behavior cite judicial picks as the top reason for turning a blind eye to his flaws. Confirming originalist judges is a decades-long project that has been a cornerstone of the conservative movement.

“They’ve got a massive cavalry of folks who all want to be helpful and all want to either push back on the allegations or push Kavanaugh forward,” said a Republican close to the White House. “The challenge is to have everybody marching in the same direction and playing off the same play sheet.”