"After more than a week of pitched speculation, Trump will go on prime-time television to reveal his choice to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy..."

"... selecting a conservative designed to rally Republican voters in a midterm election year. And with that, the optics-obsessed president will be in his comfort zone — taking center stage in a massive show.... 'Everything Trump does gets more sensational than with past presidents,' said Jeffrey McCaul, a communications professor at DePauw University. 'I'm sure he's hoping for a huge prime-time audience, and he'll probably get it.'"

That's how the Boston Herald puts it.

And Ross Douthat in the NYT has "The Supreme Court Show":

First, in the traditional establishment-front-runner role, you have the eminently qualified Brett Kavanaugh, darling of the legal-conservative community, bearing an Ivy League C.V., a long record of rigorous opinions and decades of Republican experience....

Then in the role of the social conservative insurgent, you have Amy Coney Barrett — newly appointed to the federal bench, famous for having her Catholic commitments crudely criticized by Dianne Feinstein, personally appealing because she’s managed to produce impressive legal scholarship while raising seven children (two adopted, one with special needs)....

Third, in the role of the populist dark horse, you have Raymond Kethledge — a hunting-and-fishing Michigander, a handsome central-casting judge who worked his way through law school and co-wrote a self-help book, a proud outside-the-Beltway type who apparently has the charm required to ace an interview with the president....

Here at Meadhouse, we think it will be Amy Coney Barrett. As Meade just said, "My thought is he's going to make the Democrats vote against the lady." And I said, "The men are too old. They're in their 50s. They're over the hill." Amy Coney Barrett is 46 (and Trump said he pictured the new Justice serving for 40 or more years).

From Douthat:

So who has the edge? A week ago I would have suggested Barrett, since we know she can survive a hostile Senate grilling and the politics of her appointment seem ideal for a White House that could use a liberal freakout over her fecundity and faith to encourage religious conservatives to show up for the 2018 polls.

But her interview with Trump apparently went quite badly...

I read that out loud and Meade said, "Oh, that's a smokescreen."

Douthat says, "I’m not exactly shocked that the Catholic mother-of-seven and the president didn’t hit it off." I wonder if Douthat can picture Trump "hitting it off" with any woman (short of a porn star).

ADDED: Kethledge has written a book on solitude, and he's said:

I talked [with my co-author Michael Erwin] about my barn office in northern Michigan, in a forested area overlooking Lake Huron. I have no internet connection, the HVAC is a wood stove, and my workspace is a simple pine desk. I told Mike that I get an extra 20 IQ points from being in that office.... After that conversation, we decided to try to write a book about the importance of solitude.

Much as I love the topic of solitude — click my solitude tag — this business about the disconnected barn in the north gives off a Souteresque vibe, and I believe the motto is "No more Souters."