How about the teamwork by the Trump-Grassley-Kavanaugh confirmation team!

I was struck by the extreme effective teamwork that produced the Kavanaugh result, and that the team seemed to arise and assign roles spontaneously. Here are the team members and their roles:

The team

McConnell—steady-as-she-goes captain of the Senate ship choosing when to hold the vote
Grassley—buffeted Senate Judiciary committee chair who thought on his feet, dealt effectively with one surprise Democrat tactic after another, but always kept his eye on the ball
McGahn—behind the scenes selection of and coaching of Kavanaugh especially during the halftime between Ford’s testimony and Kavanaugh’s second hearing
Kavanaugh—angry response, Wall Street Journal op-ed
Mitchell—summary analysis of Ford’s testimony
Graham—angry Army-McCarthy-style Senate speech
Collins—measured, impassioned, surprising “Reedian” speech emphasizing facts, logic, and the rule of law—devoid of the theatrics to which most politicians are addicted
Trump—comedy routine highlighting the dubious aspects of Ford’s charges, proving you could criticize Ford and not be instantly impeached
Flake—calling for the FBI investigation
FBI—doing the investigation one day sooner than allocated thereby telling all this was not a close call

Each team member used their strengths

Especially impressive was how the strengths of each of these team members were brought out and utilized extremely effectively. Kavanaugh was not using his strength in the second hearing. He did that in the first hearings, but was coached adequately for his second that he pulled it off, and he used it in the last minute op-ed.

Great orchestra with no leader?

Trump was Trump, McConnell was McConnell, and so on down the line. People who did not like Trump’s style did not try to mimic his style. And neither did Trump try to mute his style. It was if there had been some great orchestra leader in charge when it actually appears that no one was. The Constitution makes our federal government have three-co-equal branches. All three of them worked together seamlessly in this effort: JUDGE Kavanaugh, PRESIDENT Trump and his FBI and his Counsel McGahn, and SENATE leaders and other senators McConnell, Grassley, Graham, Flake, and Collins, and well as the temp Mitchell

Don’t forget the roles played by the Democrats

Actually, speaking of lack of coordination, I must—Academy Award acceptance speech-like—give additional credit for the confirmation to the Democrats: Shumer, Gillibrand, Hirono, Feinstein, Blumenthal, Spartacus, and all the little people who shrieked high-pitched noises at Kavanaugh supporters in elevator and hallways. To use professional wrestling terminology, the Democrats did a fabulous job of playing the “heels” and making the Republicans look good in comparison.