This author and blogger is so disillusioned at the lack of principle and guts of so many Republican Senators, as it seems more likely by the day that there will be little, if any, opposition to any of the most controversial Donald Trump Cabinet nominees.
By all reasonable judgment, the nominations of:
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense
Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services
should be rejected for a multitude of reasons.
And this does not include another objectionable nominee, Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security.
But at least four Senators would have to be willing to gamble their future and vote against, and that seems now highly unlikely.
Those most considered possible to oppose some, if not all, of these nominees, would include:
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Susan Collins of Maine
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
John Curtis of Utah (newly elected to succeed Mitt Romney)
Some other Republican Senators are also seen as possible holdouts, but not as likely as these four.
And even among these four, the truth is that Susan Collins is unreliable, and Mitch McConnell, despite his plans to retire, and his contempt for Donald Trump, cannot be considered in any way likely to vote against any of these nominees, when push comes to shove.
Murkowski and Curtis seem more likely, but the pressure on them and other Republicans is intense. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who first seemed likely to oppose Pete Hegseth, is now receiving blowback with her reelection race coming up in 2026, and Collins also faces reelection two years from now.
So the odds are that Trump will get all of his controversial Cabinet appointments confirmed, and the nation will face a Presidential cabinet with a number of ill qualified, and in some cases, totally terrifying, and reprehensible individuals who will undermine America and its population for the next four years at a minimum.
So this blogger and author is taking a break, escaping from the morass we are in, and will be back near the end of the year!