More names leaked ministerial candidate The election results of Donald Trump’s second administration were as bad or worse than his first choice.
While it may seem like the Senate could serve as guardrails here and refuse to confirm the worst-acting and least-competent of President Trump’s picks, its particular checks and balances There are some problems with expectations.
First, a simple majority of the Senate is required to approve a Cabinet member, or any other member of the Cabinet. 1,200 positions It must be approved by the Senate, where Republicans control the Senate, led by insurrectionists like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.
The second, and much larger, problem is a loophole that allows President Trump to install whoever he wants without requiring a Senate vote. President Trump is expected to make frequent use of this loophole in the coming days: appointing “acting” Cabinet members rather than permanent ones.
In a functioning democracy, approving Cabinet secretaries and other high-ranking appointees should be a tedious task. You may not have loved, e.g. Margaret Spellings He served as Secretary of Education under George W. Bush, and at least had some background in actual education policy. Was she a fan? of the voucher?of course. she weirdo bigot What about same-sex parents? surely!
But as terrible as these ideas are, they have long been Republican positions, and it’s no surprise that Bush nominated Mr. Spellings, and that Mr. Spellings was confirmed. It wasn’t surprising either. voice vote.
In contrast, President Trump’s picks for a second term are being considered because of his willingness to support his abolishment of the Department of Education.
To that end, Mr. Trump floated There are two names for the Secretary of Education. They are Vivek Ramaswamy, a one-time rival in the 2024 election campaign, and former New York state congressman Lee Zeldin.
Ramaswami’s educational background is as follows: campaign in progress Regarding the pledge to shut down the Department of Education. Zeldin’s resume is much more than that. His only educational background is the bill was passed It allows parents to opt out of Common Core standards, a 20-year-old right-wing bug boo.
Even Senate Republicans should reject such a choice, but they don’t. Now people are playing jockeys exchange Republican leader Mitch McConnell, to his right, has spent the past few years infatuated with Trump (Rick Scott, anyone?), so it’s unlikely the Senate won’t back Trump’s nominee. It seems.
But even if Democrats were able to strip away some Republican votes and block confirmation, they may never get that chance. President Trump can simply nominate one of these nightmares as an “acting” head of the department, completely ignoring the Senate.
This was a favorite move of the Trump administration, and perhaps necessary since Trump’s first-term cabinet selections were so good from the start. “No” votes increase More than any cabinet in history.
Perhaps because of this and President Trump’s desire to exert pressure and control over his cabinet. give him “We have more flexibility,” he said, and in the case of acting ministers, “it’s easier to move.” of Federal Vacancy Reform Act set time limits 210 days For all actor appointments.
However, this loophole actually has an even bigger loophole. If the President nominates someone to permanently fill the slot through the necessary Senate confirmation, the acting position may be extended regardless of whether the Senate acts on it.
President Trump also replaced his acting secretary to circumvent the 210-day limit. Under the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security had three acting secretaries, so the department was under the control of the next acting secretary. 440 days total. By early 2020, there were 22 acting officials in cabinet secretariat and cabinet-level positions who also required confirmation. These officers served a total of 2,700 days. washington post Success means about 1 out of every 9 jobs across these jobs.
Mr. Trump did not just appoint his agents to have more control over them or to make them easier to replace. He also used it as a way to circumvent Senate opposition to confirmation. When it became clear that former Virginia Attorney General and immigration hardliner Ken Cuccinelli would not be confirmed as head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services because of Senate Republican policies, hated him By criticizing them and supporting more conservative challengers, Trump simply nominated Cucinelli as his presidential candidate. acting role.
This sloppy approach has a side effect that many would consider a bug, but for Mr. Trump, it’s a hallmark. create confusion In the executive branch.
By the end of President Trump’s term, 39 key positions in 15 Cabinet departments remained unfilled, leaving 131 positions vacant. This combination of key unfilled positions, inexperienced ideologues in top acting roles, and Trump’s goals purge Replacing longtime nonpartisan federal employees with loyalists would cripple government agencies.
But that’s exactly what conservatives want. They hate agencies because agencies have a nasty habit of making regulations about things like: limit pollution or trying to make things better transgender children.
Evacuation of the administrative state means President Trump will never have to deal with pesky experts again. Instead, we might get to experience Robert F. Kennedy Jr., conspiracy theorist and all-around weirdo. running F.D.A. If that’s what Trump wants, it probably won’t be possible to stop him, even if Republican senators band together to block someone who thinks this way. Wi-Fi causes cancerTrump can bypass them.
There is no doubt that the time has come to expect the absolute worst.
