The perverse logic of the Trump nomination circus

A month after his election in 2016, Donald Trump chose Andrew Puzder, the longtime CEO of a fast food company, as secretary of Labor. Most of Trump's Cabinet picks moved smoothly through the confirmation process, but Puzder's nomination stalled due to allegations of wage theft, sexual harassment, and domestic violence, as well as his acknowledgment that he hired an undocumented immigrant as a nanny and failed to pay her taxes. In February 2017, he dropped out and withdrew his candidacy.

Being the president's most troubled or scandal-plagued candidate is dangerous, as is being the weakest or sickest member of the herd when the predators start circling. Republican senators probably calculated that if they rejected Puzder, Trump would send a nominee with less baggage and higher qualifications, and that's exactly what he did: Alex Acosta, the final selection, had a long resume government and easily obtained confirmation.

Something very different is happening this time with Trump's Cabinet picks. Less than two weeks have passed since the election, but the president-elect has already fielded a field of candidates so aberrant by historical standards that any one of them would have been a gigantic story in the past. (Hello, Attorney General-designate, Matt Gaetz.) Each of them barely gets media attention for an hour or two before the next nomination overshadows them. (Oops, didn't see you there, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.)

If Senate Republicans reject one of these unqualified nominees, how can they justify saying yes to any of them? And yet, how could they reject the entire slate of candidates proposed by a president of their own party, who is so popular among their own voters? Perversely, the large number of individually troubling nominees might actually make it more difficult for the Senate to block any of them.

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The list of wild picks also includes Tulsi Gabbard, the walking embodiment of the horseshoe theory and Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence; Pete Hegseth, a square-jawed Fox News host hired by Trump to run the Pentagon; and Kristi Noem, a governor with no national security experience, selected to lead the Department of Homeland Security. The moment anyone realizes that Trump is appointing his personal lawyers (who have defended him in his several criminal trials) to top legal positions in government, who will have the energy to be shocked?

We don't yet know whether the Senate will confirm any or all of these nominees, but the weariness is apparent in the voices of Republican senators, who must choose between endorsing Trump's nominees and allowing Trump to use a solution questionable constitutionality to appoint them without requiring a Senate vote. Many gasped or raised painful questions about Gaetz, and some even predicted his nomination would fail, but none publicly committed to voting against him.

Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is a doctor who has shown a willingness to oppose Trump and even voted to convict him in Trump's second impeachment; he is the new chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Yet Cassidy responded to the absurd HHS nomination by posting on X that Kennedy had championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure. I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.

That's not how things worked. In 1989, President George HW Bush nominated former Senator John Tower as Secretary of Defense. Few would question Towers' credentials. A veteran of World War II, he served nearly 20 years on the Armed Services Committee; he then investigated the Iran-Contra affair. But allegations of feminization and alcohol abuse led the Senate to reject his nomination, even though the body tends to make it easier for former and current members. Hegseth, by comparison, is a veteran but has no government experience, has a history of infidelity and was accused of sexual assault in 2017, and has expressed a variety of extreme views, including pressuring Trump to pardons American soldiers accused of killing prisoners and unarmed civilians. (Trump granted the pardons.)

Or consider Tom Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader, whom President Barack Obama nominated to head HHS in 2009. Daschle was forced to withdraw his nomination due to $140 in unpaid taxes. 000 $. This was a serious mistake, but it seems quaint compared to Kennedy or Gaetz's dubious summary.

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A clear sign of the extent of the changes could come from Puzder, whom Trump is reportedly considering reappointing as labor secretary. If Senate Republicans are willing to approve the same man they rejected eight years ago, the safeguards of advice and consent will be well and truly gone.

The circus bombardment of incredibly unqualified personnel selections recalls Steve Bannon's notorious view that the press can only handle a limited amount of information, real or false, without being overloaded. Discovering, verifying, demystifying and explaining information takes time and resources. The real opposition is the media, Bannon told journalist Michael Lewis in 2018. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit. A similar situation could apply to U.S. senators who might otherwise be tempted to demonstrate some independence.

Attributing too many strategic intentions to Trump is always a risk. The president-elect works by impulse and intuition. Trump selected Gaetz on a whim during a two-hour flight, according to the New York Times; Politico reported that Susie Wiles, Trump's campaign manager and new chief of staff, was on the plane but was unaware of Gaetz's choice. Even if Trump does not consciously follow Bannon's directive, the effect is the same. Intentionally or not, the level of shit is high and growing.

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