Pete Buttigieg may have passed the Senate vote easily, with 86 votes in favor, to become the first openly-LGBTQ person to hold a cabinet position as secretary of transportation, but there was one vote on the nay side that certainly stands out.
Sen. Josh Hawley, the Missouri Republican, has stayed a no vote, not just on Buttigieg, but on every single nomination the Biden administration has put forward. The policy that Hawley has apparently adopted is simple: he is going to vote no on every single nominee, period, to placate the Trump-supporting Republican base.
The senator will of course come up with a reason for every nominee. It all boils down to the Goldilocks theory: This porridge is too hot, that one is too cold. Truth be told: None of them will ever be acceptable, because “just right” is something that, for Hawley, he can only get if he continues to egg on Republicans to distrust the government and members who serve in it.