Political Insider Predicts Trump’s Admin Picks Will All Be Confirmed
Washington DC journalist Mark Halperin predicts that President-elect Donald Trump’s administration selections, even the most controversial ones, will likely secure confirmation. This scenario is expected to stir frustration among Democrats and never-Trump Republicans already displeased with the choices.
Appearing on 2WayTV, Halperin noted that Trump winning the popular vote could “change the calculation” for Republican senators who might otherwise fear backlash from their constituents if they opposed his nominees.
“No normal president” would appoint someone like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to oversee Health and Human Services, Halperin pointed out, especially following the uproar caused by Trump’s selection of Matt Gaetz as U.S. attorney general.
Halperin emphasized that the president-elect is strategic, understanding the mandate given by voters. “That’s not what we’re dealing with here. We’re dealing with almost five unfathomable choices for the normal rules,” he said, adding, “Tens of millions of Americans share Donald Trump’s beliefs about these departments and about what needs to be done.”
To bypass the traditional Senate approval process, Trump has floated the possibility of using “recess appointments,” a strategy allowing confirmation when the Senate is not in session.
“It now falls to John Thune (R-SD) and his fifty-two colleagues to decide what they want to do about this,” Halperin explained. “There’s the prerogatives of the Senate to not be rolled by the executive branch. There’s individual senators’ views about the fitness of these five and others to serve in these jobs. But there’s also the reality that it’s an incoming Republican president who won the popular vote. You hear Democrats already saying Trump is forfeiting his mandate, he’s forfeiting his political capital, he’s dooming his term in the first one hundred days and any legislative progress by asking the senators to devote time to deciding up or down. I continue to put my finger on the side of, I think it’s more likely all five will be confirmed than most people do,” he concluded.
One of the most contentious nominations is Matt Gaetz for attorney general.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the immediate resignation of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. “I think out of deference to us, he issued his resignation letter effective immediately, of Congress. That caught us by surprise a little bit,” Johnson said. “But I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, well, you can’t have too many absences. So under Florida State law, there’s about an eight-week period to select and fill in a vacancy.”
Johnson elaborated, “And so by doing so today, that allows me—I’ve already placed a call to Governor DeSantis in Florida and said, let’s start the clock. He’s in Italy at the moment. And so we’re going to talk first thing in the morning about this. And if we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as January 3rd when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress.”
The development followed Trump’s announcement nominating Gaetz for Attorney General. “It is my Great Honor to announce that Congressman Matt Gaetz, of Florida, is hereby nominated to be The Attorney General of the United States,” Trump declared. He praised Gaetz as a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney,” noting his education at the William & Mary College of Law and his dedication to reforming the Department of Justice.
Gaetz responded on X, saying, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”