Finding members for Donald Trump’s cabinet may seem like the simplest thing in the world. No matter what the job, think of the person who would be least qualified to assume that role. The previous secretary of Energy was a PhD physicist with expertise in nuclear weapons? Let’s try the guy that forgot the name of the Department of Energy, has no idea what it does, and whose degree is in meat. Need someone to head up the EPA? Well, who has the most outstanding frivolous suits against that agency? Hired! Department of Education? Where’s that woman whose biggest concern is arming children against grizzlies? Perfect.
But while Trump’s supply of mendacious idiots and Goldman Sachs executives is still gawpingly endless, getting them approved, the ease with which these appointments are sliding down the Republican approval chute, is starting to seem a little less silky smooth.
The difficulty to confirm Pompeo raises this question: Can Trump afford to fire any other cabinet members or appointees who need Senate confirmation in the current 51-49 U.S. Senate? If you’re EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt or HUD Secretary Ben Carson, you’re probably breathing a sigh of relief about your job when observing just how hard it has been for Trump to replace Rex Tillerson.
It’s not as if Trump is facing any real challenge at the moment. On Wednesday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake voted against the approval of the inexperienced and unprepared Jim Bridenstine as the new director of NASA … for about five minutes, after which Flake was done with demonstrating his “independence” and promptly voted to make Bridenstine the Rick Perry of space.
One thing that Trump seems to be working hard to accomplish: Making it impossible for any Democrat to vote in favor of his nominees. Trump is ensuring this not just by selecting candidates from the shallow end of the experience pool, but by making every vote all about Trump. Earlier nominees, including Pompeo when he was put forward for the CIA, may have received bipartisan approval,but by making every vote a mandate on Trump, Trump is both ensuring that there are 48 votes against.
As the First Read crew explains at NBC, Trump is raising the stakes on nominees in a way turns every vote into a quorum on Trump:
Trump Claim #1: "[T]here was no collusion, and that's been so found, as you know, by the House Intelligence Committee. There's no collusion. There was no collusion with Russia, other than by the Democrats — or, as I call them, the ‘obstructionists,’ because they truly are obstructionists."
By tying voting against Trump to a question of whether or not Democrats support the Russia investigation, Trump is making it very, very hard for Democrats to vote for his nominees—even assuming he put forward someone qualified. Even for someone like Republican Representative Bridenstine, whose qualifications to run the 80,000 person NASA are a turn at being on the board of a small Tulsa space museum. Democrats in red districts might overlook his lack of knowledge, and his attacks on gay rights and his denial of climate change, just so they can point out they are not rubber stamps for the Democratic Party.
But Trump making every nomination not just a vote for Trump, but a vote against investigating Trump, has made it harder to support even the most innocuous candidates.
All of which points to one thing: As hard as it is to get Trump’s nominees approved now, the loss of more than one Republican seat could mean that, come November, those empty offices in Trump’s cabinet are going to stay empty.