Over the course of the year, Donald Trump has made all kinds of unfortunate personnel decisions, but he’s never reembraced a nominee whom he’s previously rejected — until now. The New York Times reported:
Five months after President Trump abruptly yanked the nomination of the person he had chosen to lead NASA, he finally put forth a new nomination on Tuesday — of the same person. Jared Isaacman, 42, a billionaire entrepreneur who led two private missions to orbit on SpaceX rockets, is again in line to become the next NASA administrator.
In a social media message, the Republican said he was “pleased to nominate” Isaacman, whom the president described as “an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut.” Trump added, “Jared’s passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new Space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era.”
There was one relevant detail the statement carefully avoided: Trump already nominated Isaacman and then pulled him.
For those who might benefit from a refresher, the president’s choice to lead NASA was on track to be one of the White House’s least controversial nominees. In May, after Isaacman cleared a committee vote with bipartisan support, his confirmation was practically a foregone conclusion.
Just a few days before the Senate was poised to approve the nominee in early June, however, the president pulled his choice from consideration. (He made the announcement on a Saturday afternoon, when Trump rarely makes news.)
The Republican’s statement explaining his motivation was uncharacteristically brief. “After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” he wrote.
He didn’t elaborate, but when Trump mentioned Isaacman’s “prior associations,” that was apparently in reference to campaign donations the nominee had made years ago to prominent Democrats. The rationale, however, didn’t make a lot of sense: Isaacman’s background as a political donor was well known before he was nominated. (For that matter, Trump himself previously donated to prominent Democrats, too.)
The more realistic explanation was that Isaacman was allied with Republican megadonor Elon Musk, who was publicly clashing with the president at the time. Nevertheless, in the days and weeks that followed, Trump continued to trash Isaacman as a Democratic partisan, as the White House continued its search for a new NASA nominee. Five months after rejecting Isaacman’s nomination, Trump settled on his pick: Isaacman. His confirmation is likely, though the bizarre series of events won’t silence criticisms that the West Wing is a chaotic place where incompetence reigns.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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