Republicans had been trying to put a conservative majority on the Supreme Court since at least the Reagan era; when it came time to vote on Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Mitch McConnell simply chose never to schedule the vote, and made it the campaign issue that probably won Trump the election.
Good point but check this out. The Lewis Powell Memo. margaretjparkmdiv.substack.com/p/how-did-we...
We'd have a universal public option today if not for Mitch McConnell choosing to weaponize the filibuster, and changed the threshold for passing a bill in the Senate from 51 votes up to 60. We could have had a universal public option in 2009 if not for Mitch McConnell.