Progressives promised an army to fight Brett Kavanaugh. They are hardly recruiting.

Progressive groups are behind in the war against Donald Trump at the Supreme Court – and they are just trying to catch up.

Even though polls show that Brett Kavanaugh is initiating confirmation procedures with the lowest public support since President George Harriet Miers, a candidate for the false start of W. Bush, the well-oiled progressive machine promised in the hours that have followed his appointment, is still in the process of developing the problems. Some liberal groups opposed to Kavanaugh's confirmation barely pbad the motions, using resources to push untargeted Facebook ads and hold vigils instead of preparing for an ideological battle that could shape the Supreme Court for a long time. generation. Demand Justice, a dark Liberal money group founded as a result of the unfortunate appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court under President Barack Obama, has committed to spending $ 5 million in an advertising campaign for Therefore, much of the money initially spent was allocated to Facebook ads in non-championship states – useful for raising public awareness of the work of Demand Justice and for have an eye on its ads in the future – and expanding their e-mail list, but less useful to target voters in Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, the United States. Maine, North Dakota and Wes Virginia Justice, who played a decisive role in Kavanaugh's confirmation

Demand Justice broadcasted TV and digital commercials against Kavanaugh's confirmation in five days key markets: Alaska, Maine, North Dakota and West Virginia and Indianapolis. media market, which accounts for half of the Hoosier state's electoral population.

Other organizations have not been so quick on the front of the media mobilization. Asked about the mobilization efforts against Kavanaugh's appointment, the Civil and Human Rights Leadership Conference, a civil rights umbrella organization with hundreds of affiliated organizations, led The Daily Beast to a series of eve of Wednesday. Among the more than 100 vigils planned – including a "Vigil against the Beast, Donald Trump" in Indianapolis – only a specific appearance to the presidential candidate of the Supreme Court of Trump: a vigil "Handmaids Against Kavanaugh" in front of the Boston State House [19659005]. So far, ten people have responded to the RSVPD

Not all groups seem fully prepared for the Supreme Court's fight: Indivisible, progressive movement whose origins can be traced back to the online textbook #Resistance Indivisible : A Practical Guide to Resisting the Trump Program held 107 rallies in Senate offices across the country, with participants reaching more than 100 people in states such as Maine, Alaska, and New York.

"The week of action was the first part of a two-step strategy. "The indivisible press secretary Emily Phelps told the Daily Beast." The second step is election. Starting last weekend, to channel the progressive energy around this battle where it can do the most good mid-term, we are building a giant national bank to support the Democrats in five races in the world. Senate: Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Volunteers from across the country made more than 66,000 dials to voters in these five states as part of this phone bank. "

But telephone banking can not accomplish so much in the face of a mbadive fundraising and organizing effort." The Kavanaugh groups see its confirmation as crucial in tilting the court to the right

. Judicial Crisis Network's conservative network has increased its media spending by nearly 50% less than a week after the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court. cable and broadcast with a flurry of commercials doubling Trump's "best of the best" candidate and "a grand slam" for conservatives.

Other conservative outside groups promise even bigger amounts to ensure the confirmation from Kavanaugh: Great America PAC and Great America Alliance pledged $ 5 million to fund TV, radio and digital campaign America in seven Trump-won states with Democratic senators are fighting for re-election; Koch's affiliated group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), has pledged millions of dollars in advertising spending to support this effort, and has already sent door and phone scripts to each of its 36 state chapters.

The AFP mail and door hangers will be deployed in a dozen states over the next few weeks, in front of the AFP telecentres and Facebook.

Progressive groups are the first to admit that if the battle on the seat of Judge Anthony Kennedy was conceived as a dollar-against-investor exchange. fundraising contest in dollars, they would lose. At the end of a press conference held just hours after Kavanaugh's nomination, the progressive groups led by NARAL Pro-Choice America discussed their mobilization against Kavanaugh's nomination in the most apocalyptic terms, while acknowledging that conservative groups have abandoned judicial appointments. Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, admitted that the race for fundraising between outside groups opposed to Kavanaugh's nomination and those who support it had already been lost

"Yeah, good luck & "Says Network, telling him after a new cable appearance after Kavanaugh's appointment." And she's right to say it, because we'll never match her dollar for a dollar. "

On the appeal, Kennedy's replacement by Kavanaugh was called" a five-word fire for our fundamental rights and our democracy "" A disaster ", an" impetuous choice "with" a 100 percent batting average who is anti-abortion "- this is all part of a dark and bleak approach to Kavanaugh's appointment as an existential crisis for progressive Americans"

"Our belief is that this fight will be won on the ground, by the mobilisa ", Fallon elaborated.

Some on the left hope that once the confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh begin and more Americans pay attention, those who support access to abortion and the Law on Affordable care will make their feelings more clearly known, allowing for easier organization by groups seeking to mobilize progressives – the liberal political version of the apocryphal quote, "There go people, I have to follow them because I am their leader." "

" According to the poll I saw, about 70% of Americans do not believe that Roe v. Wade should be overthrown, "Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) Said to the Daily Beast. "About 90% of Americans do not think we should go back to the days when insurance companies can discriminate against people with preexisting conditions, et cetera, et cetera." And I think our job is to clarify in the states around this country that this is what is at stake. I think it will be a tough fight, but if we can get rid of a few Republican votes, we have a chance to stop this nomination.

This kind of thinking has helped shape some of the first Demand Justice advertisements in Indiana, North Dakota and West Virginia, where Joe Donnelly, Democrat, Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Manin are re-elected respectively – and are not no guaranteed cases to vote against the Supreme Court candidate of a president who won their states in the 2016 presidential election.

"Thanks to Senator Donnelly, over 2.7 million De Hoosiers with pre-existing conditions still have access to affordable health care, "says Demand Justice's announcement in Indiana. "But these protections are in danger again, this time in court." Kavanaugh has refused to maintain the main protections of patients in the past, and if he joined the court, he could vote to end these protections forever. "

Progressive activists have acknowledged that the Conservatives spent nearly $ 17 million to help Judge Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court, they will likely be spent again, but sources at NARAL told the Daily Beast , will not mean out-mobilization, even if this mobilization is not yet obvious.

But with a majority of the Republican Senate that, except for an explosive disqualification or defection of shock, all but Kavanaugh's confirmation, progressive groups could simply save their energy for the medium term – a battle they could really win.

– with additional reports by Gideon Resnick