Hi, this is Laura. I'm starting my first day of my master's degree in political science today.

This podcast was recorded at 526 p.m. on Wednesday, September 5th.

Things may have changed since you heard this. Alright, here's the show.

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics podcast.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was grilled today by senators about his stance on abortion, gun control and presidential powers.

I don't live in a bubble. I understand I live in the real world.

I'm a Smakhalı political reporter. I'm Domenico Montenaro political editor.

And I'm Nina Tottenberg and PR's Legal Affairs correspondent.

So Nina and Domenico, before we dig into some of the major questions that were put to Brett Kavanaugh today,

I'd love to get your both of you, your sort of quick takeaway of what you thought was the most illuminating from today.

You know, if you really step back and you look at these hearings as drama, as theater,

you know what the Republicans wanted. They wanted Kavanaugh not to get entrapped, not to commit himself on almost anything,

and to look like a wonderful, cuddly, warm and human person.

And they certainly succeeded on him not committing himself in most regards, although there were moments where he clearly was uncomfortable.

Still, he's a pretty serious guy. He's not even though they gave him every opportunity to be funny,

to show his warm self, to be show his dad's self, his husband's self,

it didn't really work well. What worked for him was being serious.

And he was very serious, but in the political terms, I would say not what politicians would love,

to be likable, to be lovable. Right. And at the same time, you know, he's not running for office.

He is trying to be appointed to the Supreme Court and voted on by senators by 51 senators now,

since the filibuster doesn't exist. And in fact, I think my big takeaway from the last couple days of these hearings,

the level of acrimony that we've seen has been unlike really anything in past Supreme Court confirmation battles.

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