CLAY: Joe Biden has picked Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is on the D.C. Circuit right now. He said he was going to pick a black woman two years ago when he was on the campaign trail in South Carolina. Justice Breyer stepping down, and so this is the official announcement of the nominee. Now, there were three women that were widely discussed as the potential nominees — a woman on the California Supreme Court, a woman in South Carolina on the court there — and he has made this selection.

Buck, big picture what this represents is Biden went with the most avowed left-wing of the three nominees, right? They were all going to be leftists, but Childs in South Carolina “had a moderate streak to her,” was the analysis, based on her legal career. And let me be clear, by the way, on this as well. You can’t 100% tell how any justice is going to do once they get on the Supreme Court and have life tenure. But if you look at the three biographies so far, it appears that Biden acceded to the wishes of the left wing of his party yet again and has picked the most liberal of the activist judges, the black women that he was considering.

BUCK: Do we really think this is the day to announce this?

CLAY: Yeah, that’s the other question.

BUCK: And we’re going to see a lot of it. You know, war in the past at different times, in different places, you know, you’re not seeing it the way I think it’s gonna be visualized for all of us. Today is the day with Kiev fighting for its life as a city that they announce this? It seems… Are they that desperate to change the news cycle? Is that really what’s going on?

CLAY: It seems tone-deaf, and I think the answer is, Buck, yes, they are that desperate, and also it’s setting the table for Tuesday’s State of the Union address, which is also gonna be messy, given what’s going on in Ukraine.

BUCK: Absolutely. Absolutely true.