The Dunning-Kruger Coalition Spurns Advice

This man could save numerous lives simply by voting no today. (Image by United States Congress, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.)

According to the Constitution -- and, frankly, common sense -- it is the job of the Senate to provide "advice and consent" regarding government officials the President wishes to appoint.

Why wouldn't a President want to be surrounded by the best possible advisors? Who wouldn't want an ally to stop him short of making a stupid move?

I don't know, either, but the Dunning-Kruger Coalition (aka MAGA) is working overtime to make sure Senators with very good reservations about two of Trump's worst cabinet nominees make it to a floor vote. These are Tulsi Gabbard for Intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services:

[Todd Young's (R-IN)] potential opposition [to Gabbard] pushed Trump allies into overdrive over the weekend to heap pressure on him.

Leading that effort was Elon Musk, who posted on X that the Indiana Republican is "a deep state puppet." Musk eventually deleted the post after talking directly with Young, saying later that the senator is "a great ally in restoring power to the people from the vast, unelected bureaucracy." [link omitted]

The Trump Party is applying similar pressure to Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician (!) who has raised very good questions about Kennedy's fitness for office. (In my opinion, if any physician in the Senate -- there are four -- votes for Kennedy, he deserves to be stripped of his license.)

As if that isn't bad enough:

There's been chatter around the Capitol about the possibility of getting Gabbard to a floor vote even if she doesn't win the support of all nine GOP members on the panel, though it's unclear if Republicans will attempt the maneuver.

The Republican majority on the two committees voting today is one.

In each case, a single vote could save us from the consequences of particularly inept leadership in a major area of government. Or, to put it in the words of a Republican I heard: One vote is all it could take now to preserve Trump's legacy.

It says something that Trump would make such reckless, objectively bad nominations in the first place: It's beyond incredible that even that last consideration apparently gives pause to very few on the Trump Train.

-- CAV