Several of Donald Trump’s most important cabinet nominees have now undergone confirmation hearings. I have watched them live in bits and pieces as I have been able, and have seen many clips posted here and elsewhere. Some obvious common threads emerge.
First, Trump’s nominees have uniformly done well. Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Marco Rubio and Chris Wright have all come across as competent and likable, in contrast to most of their Democratic interlocutors, who have been shrill at best, and often dim-witted. (My favorite moment so far might be when the bizarre Mazie Hirono asked Pam Bondi whether she had ever made any unwanted sexual advances. Bondi’s puzzlement was understandable.)
Second, the main themes behind Trump’s nominations have come through. Trump nominated Pete Hegseth because he wants a soldier running the Pentagon–an idea to which I have enthusiastically come around. Pam Bondi will run a non-politicized Department of Justice. Marco Rubio will implement an America First foreign policy. And Chris Wright wants reliable, affordable energy. All of these themes are popular with the general public.
Third, the Democrats have played only to their hard-core base. Their questions often have focused on hobby horses that the general public has long lost interest in: Will you concede that Trump lost the 2020 election? Should the January 6 protesters be pardoned? And so on.
Further, the premise of much of their questioning is that Trump is a monster, and the job of his cabinet officer is to frustrate the president’s designs. Thus: Will you say No if Trump wants you to arrest political opponents? Can Trump pull out of NATO without Congress? Will you commit crimes if ordered to do so by Trump? Will you shoot protesters in cold blood if Trump orders you to? And so on.
Such questions are red meat for the Democratic base, but otherwise are fundamentally misconceived. Trump is taking office in the wake of a resounding electoral victory; some call it a landslide. Most voters obviously do not think that Trump is a monster who needs to be stopped. Voters don’t think the job of a cabinet officer is to frustrate Trump’s policies, but rather to effectuate the policies for which the majority voted.
What we are seeing here is a party that is utterly bereft of ideas. Democratic senators have nothing better than to yammer about January 6, and demand agreement with the proposition that Trump really did lose the 2020 election, and to resurrect whatever smears they can come up with against Trump and his nominees. How much interest do voters have in those smears? Very little.
Finally, all of Trump’s key nominees are going to be confirmed. Republicans control the Senate, and there is no sign that any Republican senators are wavering. Some nominees will sail through, like Marco Rubio, who not only benefits from a traditional senatorial privilege, but is genuinely popular with senators on both sides of the aisle. Others, like Pete Hegseth, will be the focus of Democratic opposition. But it won’t matter: Republicans have the votes, and Republicans are united behind the Trump administration. Democrats can howl at the moon, but they have no power to stop the administration from taking office and moving forward.
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