Under the Senate’s current rules, members of the Democratic minority have no practical way of stopping Donald Trump’s nominees. They can delay confirmation votes; they can make spirited cases against the nominees; and they can plead with members of the Republican majority to exercise good judgment. But when it comes time for a final vote on the president’s picks, if 50 GOP senators back the nominees, they prevail.
That said, Democrats are making the process as difficult as possible. The Hill reported:
Democrats are retaliating against President Trump’s broad assault on their most cherished policy priorities by turning the Senate’s confirmation proceedings for relatively noncontroversial executive branch nominees into pitched partisan battles, forcing Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to burn up the calendar on routine matters.
The Hill’s report added that Senate Democrats agreed to an expedited process for Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s nomination — the Florida Republican was a sitting senator at the time — but since then, “they have insisted on holding procedural votes to invoke cloture on the next 106 nominees who came to the floor.”
Not surprisingly, GOP senators have complained bitterly about this in recent months, but there was one specific criticism that stood out for me.
“When a new coach is hired, they get to pick their team. It’s that simple,” Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama complained via social media. The coach-turned-politician added, “77 million Americans PICKED President Trump to lead our country. And yet, radical Democrats continue to BLOCK over 150 of his nominees. RIDICULOUS. It’s time we buckle up and get @POTUS’s [the president’s] team confirmed.”
I can appreciate why Trump loyalists on Capitol Hill would be eager to do the president’s bidding, but Tuberville’s complaints represent an incredible failure of self-awareness.
To know anything about the Alabaman’s tenure in the Senate is to acknowledge his most notable effort: In 2023, Tuberville became the first and only senator in American history to impose a 10-month blockade against confirming U.S. military officials, as part of an anti-abortion fight that he didn’t seem to fully understand. To borrow the Republican’s phrasing, Joe Biden picked his own team, and 81 million Americans cast ballots for the Democrat to lead the nation. And yet, a radical Republican spent nearly a year blocking Biden’s highly qualified military leaders. The gambit left Tuberville’s reputation on Capitol Hill in tatters. Indeed, in the midst of his blockade, several Senate Republicans publicly accused him of, among other things, being dishonest, damaging the military during international crises, assisting U.S. adversaries abroad and relying on tactics that were “ridiculous” and “dumb.” If the Alabama Republican, who’ll soon give up his seat to run for governor, wants to be taken seriously, he’ll need to think of something else to complain about.
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."
Latest Post
Recommended
