The double-edged sword in Trump's hands

Trump's talk of recess appointments couldn't save Matt Gaetz's nomination from GOP senators' skepticism; what will it mean for Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr.?

In 1961, Louis Martin, a newspaper publisher and political adviser to Democrats, bumped into Thurgood Marshall at a LaGuardia Airport hot dog stand.

“You know, we’re trying to get the president to appoint you to a judgeship,” Martin said, “and we have to have you because you’re Mr. Civil Rights.” Marshall had won Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in schools unconstitutional, along with other landmark rights cases.

Martin was eager to talk up Marshall’s merits for the new administration of President John F. Kennedy as it sought greater support in the Black community.  Yet the lawyer had had some stormy meetings with the president’s brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. A sticking point was that the Kennedys were offering him a federal district court judgeship, while Marshall refused to consider anything less than a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals.

After the LaGuardia Airport conversation, “Martin now understood that Marshall was …