Are President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominees conventional? The pundit class would lead you to believe that they are not, that they “have no experience” in the areas relevant to the positions they’ve been nominated to fill. That would be relevant information, were it a standard used in the past – used on Democrats as well – but it is not. In fact, not a single one of President Joe Biden’s nominees received a “no” vote from a single Senate Democrat, no matter how unqualified they were for their job. Why should it be any different with Donald Trump?
Scandal is usually the only disqualifying marker that prevents nominees from being confirmed. Employing an illegal alien as a nanny sunk the first two Attorney General nominees Bill Clinton submitted.
As far as experience goes, former Michigan Govern Jennifer Granholm had no experience in energy before being nominated as Secretary of it. Transportation might have made sense, as she was Governor of the automobile state, but the Department of Energy it was. After confirmation, we found out she’s had a series of stock controversies that were not previous disclosed. Each was initially reported, then almost completely ignored by the corporate media.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had zero qualifications for the position, he was a former Mayor of a mid-sized college town in Indiana. He was on paternity leave while the supply chain collapsed and no one seemed to notice it. He has always been in over his head, but he is favored by the media for reasons I’ll leave to your imagination, so responsibility for anything never makes it to his desk.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra was the Attorney General of California, before that he was a Member of Congress for 24 years. Nowhere in his career did he have any experience with health policy. It stopped exactly zero Democrats from opposing his confirmation.
Flashforward to today and the nominees from Donald Trump. They exist in a buzzword salad – inexperienced, controversial, unqualified, and “Trump loyalist.” Has any President ever nominated someone who pledged to be disloyal or swore they would not advance that President’s agenda?
Secretary of Defense nominee is “inexperienced,” according to Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. No Secretary of Defense has run the Defense Department until they started running the Defense Department. Pete Hegseth has more than a decade of military service, including two deployments to warzones. Is someone more likely to know the needs of the military from the field or an office in Washington, DC? The revolving door in the DoD that costs taxpayers untold billions is between the Pentagon and lobbying, not the Fox News green room.
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is described by the Associated Press as a “loyalist.” What does that mean? Eric Holder once famously called himself Barack Obama’s “wingman,” then was held in contempt of Congress and his subordinates chose not to prosecute him for it. Current AG Merrick Garland authorized a raid on Donald Trump’s home and the White House claimed to have no knowledge of it, something that turned out to be “less than accurate” later on.
The President appoints various positions in government “with the Advice and Consent of the Senate.” While that consent is not guaranteed, it’s usually pretty damn close to certain. Joe Biden had none of his Cabinet nominees even receive a no vote from a single Democrat in the Senate. Barack Obama had one nominee withdraw – former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, because he failed to pay $140,000 in taxes. Otherwise, they got who they wanted. Republican Senators should extend the same courtesy to the incoming President.
More than that, they should go to bat for them. They are meant to be disruptors because Donald Trump is a disruptor, so Democrats whining about Kash Patel not having previously worked in the FBI does not matter, as the last three heads of the FBI didn’t work there before they were confirmed to run it. That he wants to shake it up is not a reason to vote against him, it’s a reason to vote for him. I hope he treats it like he’s its British nanny.
If the Senate finds something illegal in one of the nominee’s backgrounds, fine, otherwise extend Donald Trump the courtesy Democrats give to themselves and fight for his nominees expressly because the old order establishment is made uncomfortable by them.
As for the Democrats worried that these Cabinet Secretaries might have too much power and could abuse it, instruct them to ask themselves why the idea of being a potential problem didn’t occur to them when it was their team filling those posts. We know the answer, and these nominees, along with Elon Musk and DOGE, are tasked with removing that power; to dismantle the opportunities for abuse.
That’s why Trump needs his people in there, and why the Senate, after confirmation, will need to hold all of their feet to the fire to make sure they actually do it.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.