The Gorsuch Nomination: Were We Surprised? A Little

President Donald Trump, basking in the afterglow of announcing on national television that he had nominated federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court seat formerly held by the late Antonin Scalia, seemed almost playful.

“Were you surprised? Weren’t you surprised?” he asked, smiling.

The answer would be yes, a little.

For once, the president, more than a week after his inauguration, made a decision that did not produce a fire-and-rainstorm of outrage. No additional demonstrators took to the streets.

Almost from the moment that the president-elect said “I, Donald Trump” (when taking the oath, not while shaving), the United States has been convulsed in controversy over things large — for instance, the ban on Muslim refugees and immigrants from seven Middle East countries, which isn’t really a ban and especially not a Muslim ban, we’re told — and small: Will the first lady ever come to Washington? How about that glittery dress Ivanka was wearing?

From the moment the president was sworn in, placing his hands on two bibles and looking out at the vast, but not endless expanse of people (later reporting he counted a million and a half), things have been Trump 24/7, the endless 2016 campaign all over again, quadrupled, the wrap-around Trump effect.

We wondered what would happen to this constant barrage once Trump took office. Now we know. It’s show time. Many dread either the morning (the latest headline) or the night (the weird dreams) or both. It’s a three-ring circus, taking the place of Ringling Bros. There are plenty of elephants in the room at the White House, however.

Things went into high gear just after the Obamas had left the building, what with the Women’s March on Washington, which was not only a call to focus on women’s concerns, but a massive protest aimed at the new president. Depending who you listened to, the march was about twice as large as Trump’s inaugural crowd, attendance-wise.

This led to Trump’s visit to the CIA when, after seeking to mend fences and show his pride about the intelligence work and courage there, he promptly took off on a tirade against the press regarding the attendance at his inauguration. From there, we proceeded to the parade of confirmation hearings, some controversial, some contentious, some just plain strange (that would be you, Mr. Perry, at Energy).

And every day was Proclamation Day and Executive Order Day, during which, much to many people’s surprise, President Trump, in one form or another, actually tried to make good on his promises, setting the world trembling.

There was the promise to build the wall along the Mexican border, there was the cancelled meeting with the president of Mexico, there was a meeting with the new prime minister of Great Britain (good, except for the sanctions part). There were numerous phone calls to world leaders — Vladimir, my man, and Angela, nicht so gut — and there was the reshuffle at the National Security Council, where Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s alt-right strategist and counselor, received a place at the table, apparently at the expense of the CIA director and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And there was the ongoing obsession with the actual number of popular votes (which still favored Hillary Clinton by a margin of about three million) and which the president, calling for an investigation, insisted were possibly fraudulent votes by illegal aliens.

Executive orders followed presidential memorandums followed “alternative facts.” Bannon (and then Trump) labeled the press and the media “the opposition.” A statement on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day didn’t mention Jews — an insult to the Six Million and to history itself.

There were marches — the March for Life last week — and there were protests — all over the world, in D.C. and across the country — in response to the ban that was not a ban. There was fear and loathing and gloating. Every day was a meteor shower.

That’s why the announcement about the Supreme Court nominee — a straight-backed, sterling, prematurely white-haired man who looked the very model of a major jurist and spoke in complicated, eloquent sentences — was a surprise. No surprise, though, was the fact that it was presented in the manner of a television show on all the networks, where a false suspense was kept up about the possibility of two finalists. The whole thing, as one observer noted, felt like “The Apprentice.”

Still, it seemed, not full of sound and fury, but of a more judicious nature. Which is only natural, given that it had at its center a judge. Nonetheless, there was something scrupulous about the man, who clerked under Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, considered the swing vote on a deeply divided court.

The social media for once was constrained and muted.

Perhaps it was because the event had a quality rare among the court of Trump, if not the court of law: “Standing here in a house of history, and acutely aware of my own imperfections, I pledge that if I am confirmed, I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great country,” Gorsuch said, offering up a note of humility rarely struck in recent times.

Gorsuch, who sees himself in the mold of Scalia as a constitutional originalist, might also turn out to be an original. His nomination should give some pause to the Democrats, who are understandably still miffed — not so much about the election but about the GOP’s refusal to bring President Obama’s nominee to the floor. They need to save whatever remaining strength they have for the next nomination, which on an aging court could come soon enough, at which time another shoe will drop.

It surely could have been worse. Think Justice Bannon.