THE GOP WILL MAKE DEMOCRATS PAY IF DIANNE FEINSTEIN IS PRESSURED TO QUIT

It's not sexist to say that Dianne Feinstein should resign her Senate seat. But it's terrible politics when Republicans are in a state of total war against the Democratic Party and liberalism.

Feinstein is no longer capable of serving effectively. Slate's Jim Newell makes that clear:

When [a] fellow reporter asked [Feinstein] what the response from her colleagues had been like since her return [to the Senate after an extended absence], though, the conversation took an odd turn.

“No, I haven’t been gone,” she said.

OK.

“You should follow the—I haven’t been gone. I’ve been working.”

When asked whether she meant that she’d been working from home, she turned feisty.

“No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting,” she said. “Please. You either know or don’t know.”

In a sane political system, I'd support putting pressure on Feinstein to resign. I'd feel exactly the same way if she were a man named Don Feinstein.

But as The New Republic's Walter Shapiro explained a month ago when Feinstein's time away from Washington stalled the approval of a number of judicial appointments, it probably wouldn't be possible to replace her on the Judiciary Committee (where Democrats have a one-vote majority) if she resigns, because Mitch McConnell is a sociopath:

The Democrats would need either unanimous consent or a filibuster-proof majority to appoint a senator to replace Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee in the middle of the term. Generally, during situations like this, the Senate operates under unanimous consent. But McConnell has defied Senate tradition before, especially with his refusal to even give Merrick Garland a hearing on his Supreme Court appointment in 2016. Jon Tester, Montana’s moderate Democratic senator, said recently that McConnell, who cares passionately about blocking liberal judges, would probably not relent even if Feinstein resigned. As Tester told Burgess Everett from Politico, “That’s what I’m hearing ... it won’t make any difference.”

I shouldn't make this about McConnell personally, because he couldn't do this without the enthusiastic support of his caucus. The entire Republican Party is sociopathic. This is not how the government should work in a developed country. But it's how our rotting, decaying government works.

If I thought there'd be Israel-size demonstrations in America in response to the filibuster of a Feinstein committee replacement, maybe I'd support pressuring Feinstein to quit. (Of course, the demonstrations in Israel have only forced a pause in Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plans, which are still on the table.) In America, no one took to the streets when Senate Republicans refused to hold a hearing on Merrick Garland. So of course no one will protest in response to the filibuster of a Judiciary Committee replacement.

So please, let's not gin up a pressure campaign to compel Feinstein's resignation. Let her stay as long as she can, even if it's through the end of her term. This is war.