U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune was hot under the collar. It wasnt just because of the August weather, or the crowd at the Dakotafest agricultural trade show in Mitchell, or the pole barn where the crowd was jammed in. Thune was hot because of the way hes being treated by Senate Democrats.
Those pesky Democrats have thrown up as many roadblocks as they can to delay the filling of more than 1,300 positions in the Trump administration that require Senate confirmation. We spend two-thirds of our time on personnel in the United States Senate, Thune said, according to a Dakota Scout story, calling the resistance from the minority party unprecedented.
In a recent op-ed, Thune promised that Senate Republicans are working on a rule change that should hurry the process along.
Gone are the days of the Senate gentlemens club where the prevailing tradition was that a president should be allowed to have the nominees he wanted. Thune said 90% of President Barack Obamas nominees were approved by unanimous consent, a fast way to approve nominees that skips committee hearings and floor debate. About 60% of President Joe Bidens appointees were approved that way. In Trumps first term, about half of his nominees were approved without hearings or debates.
The downward trend in using unanimous consent is a direct result of the ideological split in this country. To date, none of Trumps appointees during his second term have been approved by unanimous consent.
The irony here is that Trump cant get approval for the people he wants to serve in his administration while, during his first months in office, hes been busy firing or furloughing thousands of federal government employees.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has sworn to use every weapon in his arsenal to block the Trump agenda. It looks like that includes slowing the Senate confirmation process to a glacial pace.
Senate Democrats may have acted more favorably toward Trumps nominees if his Cabinet choices to be the leaders in his government werent so astoundingly unqualified. In Trumps first term, he chose high-ranking officials as if casting a movie. They had to have the right look, but with the right look came a reasonable amount of competence. In Trump 2.0, the need for competence has been discarded. This time out, the prevailing quality to serve in the Trump administration is blind loyalty to the president.
Theres no doubting that the likes of Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are loyal to Trump. Their competence at running the Pentagon, intelligence agencies and the nations health care are frequently and rightfully questioned. Life probably wouldnt be so tough for Thune if he and his Senate Republican colleagues had shown some backbone and told the president that competence had to be the standard for Cabinet secretaries rather than just fawning loyalty to the president.
Its easy to understand Thunes frustration. However, he and Senate Republicans brought this on themselves by treating Trumps Cabinet selections as if they were serious choices rather than a presidential power play to show that he could get anyone he wanted approved by the Senate.
This space has been used before to note that Thune may come to regret, if he doesnt already, his rise to the top Senate leadership post of his party during a Trump administration. As he complains about the long days he has to put in while fulfilling that role, he should remember that he won the office by claiming that Sen. Tom Daschle was paying too much attention to Senate leadership and not enough attention to South Dakotas needs.
Senate Democrats may be throwing up roadblocks to Trumps agenda, but for Republicans this is a self-inflicted wound developed by currying favor with the president rather than doing their jobs. Despite Thunes complaints, the slow pace of approval for Trumps nominees is likely whats best for the country. Thats particularly the case if the nominees Trump seeks to work in his government are anything like the clown car he calls a Cabinet.
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