Oh, to have video...audio...aftermath pictures....a receipt...,anything...but we got nuthin'. And nowadays, without pics etc., it didn't happen.
Now, do I believe Hillary had a meltdown? Oh yea. Do I believe she blamed everyone but herself? Definitely. Do I think it went down the way the story was told. Unfortunately, no.
So the question becomes "for what purpose is there, to tell such a tale?" In our 2020 SCOTUS tale, I believe the purpose is for the left, Antifa, etc., to feel/believe/delight in the fantasy that their violence swayed the court. That will embolden them to keep it up, because through mayhem centrists feel fear and demand that society pay these ruffians their ransom.
It also has the unintended benefit of making Deplorables feel even MORE defeated.
Do I believe Thomas and Alito will prove to be the most traditionalist/originalist jurists this term? Yes. Do I believe Roberts is the new Kennedy? Uh huh. Do I foresee the Trump picks proving to be disappointments? Yep. Do I think it went down the way the story was told. Hell no.
I'm pretty much in agreement with you there, I don't think the conversation between the SCOTUS judges happened the way this article claims, nor did they use those exact words.
You have to remember, I was very skeptical and doubtful of Trump's SCOTUS picks long BEFORE the rest of FR was. I was HELL NO on Gorsuch, "Hold your nose and vote Kavanaugh because he MIGHT be a SLIGHT improvement over Kennedy" and "Meh, Amy Coney Barrett SEEMS to be sincerely conservative on the surface, but Trump shouldn't have picked her or even put her on his short list"
Back in 2017, my views reflected only a tiny percentage of this forum. I've gone back and looked at the threads at the time Trump picked those judges, and my memory hasn't failed me. Probably 95% of FReepers thought Gorsuch was a Scalia clone, 80% thought that of Kavanaugh, and 95% thought that of Barrett.
I think three years later, the rest of FR is finally waking up to the alarms bells I was ringing, but now we are stuck with Trump's faux "originalist" justices for decades.
In any case, I see it this way thus far:
Roberts = the new Warren Burger
Gorsuch = the new Sandra Day O'Connor
Kavanaugh = the new Anthony Kennedy
Barrett = dunno, but based on her first action on SCOTUS, I've increased my odds that she will be a dud from 5% to 20%