For some reason I can’t fathom, the conservative group FreedomWorks seems to think it’s a big deal whether or not Republican senators have courtesy meet-and-greet meetings with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. It strikes me as trivial whether or not a Republican senator chooses to have a meeting. The important thing is holding the line against proceeding to a hearing.
I suppose that FreedomWorks might imagine that not having meet-and-greets might make it easier to hold the line against having a hearing. But I don’t see why that would be the case. It seems to me far more likely that by picking a fight that is not worth fighting FreedomWorks is generating unhelpful divisiveness and controversy among Republicans and distracting attention away from the heat that Democratic senators in red states ought to be receiving.
Also in the “not helpful” category: I see that a group calling itself the American Security Coalition is attacking Senator James Lankford (and others?) for supposedly supporting the Garland nomination even though Lankford has stated explicitly that he agrees with other Senate Republicans that there should be no action on the nomination.