Recesspool
When confronted by the parade of cabinet nominees from the warmups like Kristi Noem and Fox and Friends’ Peter Hegseth to the main and inane acts like Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence and … (I’ll pause to provide you a chance to grab another handful of anti-nausea chewables) … Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, even a longtime Trump watcher like Charlie Sykes had to admit that he “had no idea of the avalanche of grotesqueries headed our way.” As this WaPo (Gift Article) headline suggests, Trump picks Gaetz and Gabbard for top jobs, daring Senate GOP to defy him. The big question is whether or not the Senate will confirm all of these picks. The scary answer to that question is that we have little reason to believe that the incoming GOP majorities will stand up to Trump on any appointment or issue. Why would they stand up to Trump on Gaetz and the others when they didn’t stand up to Trump on Trump? The scarier answer is that the Senate may not even get a say in the decision. In an effort to quickly obliterate the balances that keep a president in check, Trump could use recess appointments to push through all of his picks without any vote at all. Vox: “President-elect Donald Trump is pushing for the next Senate majority leader to allow recess appointments, which would allow him to install some officials without Senate confirmation.” I used to joke that recess was my favorite subject. At this point, even with a Senate GOP majority, I’d much prefer we stick with math.
+ Philip Bump in WaPo (Gift Article): There’s a plan in case Senate Republicans aren’t as pliant as Trump wants.
+ This is really worrisome stuff for democracy. Don’t take my word for it. Let’s check in with the Antonin Scalia chair in constitutional studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Edward Whelan in WaPo (Gift Article): Mike Johnson must block Trump’s scheme on recess appointments. “The Senate’s power to approve or reject a president’s nominees for Cabinet positions is a fundamental feature of the Constitution’s system of checks and balances. As Alexander Hamilton explained in the Federalist Papers, that power ‘would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters,’ including those “who had no other merit than that … of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of [the president’s] pleasure.” Almost as if Hamilton were describing Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general.”
+ The other angle on the Gaetz story. House Ethics committee was set to meet this week to vote on releasing Gaetz report. “The long-awaited report was expected to be released as soon as Friday, those sources said. But with Gaetz’s resignation, it’s uncertain if the information will ever be made public.” Going from the edge of being held to account to the height of power. It’s all the rage these days.
