Why are Democrats Voting for Trump's Nominees?

If Trump's agenda is so dangerous, why endorse the people who will implement it.

To say it’s been a tough week for Democrats would be a historic understatement. Trump’s actions are more symbolic than substantive, yet he has grabbed the reins of American politics with stunning ferocity and efficacy. He dominated every minute of every day with announcement after announcement demonstrating a dramatic rightward shift in the government.

Elected Democrats up and down the ballot cannot muster a coherent or effective response to Trump’s moves. Matt Bennett, a longtime Democratic operative, summers in the situation during an interview with the New York Times:

It feels like we’re battling the L.A. fires, poll MM and the wind is 100 miles per hour, and it’s zero percent contained. We’re just going to have to wait for the wind to die down a little. It’s going to be a minute before Democrats can mount an effective response.

Democrats are essentially leaderless — President Biden and Vice President Harris have exited the stage. There is no DNC chair. Almost no one in the upper echelons of the party has the profile or skill to get sufficient attention in a media environment dominated so thoroughly by Trump and Musk. There is no Democratic entity with money or willingness to spend money carrying our message with TV or digital ads. It’s frustrating, but we cannot expect Democrats to have a battle plan to take on Trump right now.

Having said all of that, why are so many Democrats voting for Trump’s nominees?

This mind-boggling decision speaks to strategic incoherence and a misunderstanding of how politics works in the Trump era.

The Votes

In their defense, the Democrats voted en masse against confirming a weekend cable host with a reported drinking problem and accusations of sexual assault and domestic abuse as Secretary of Defense. I also suspect that every Democrat will vote against Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence and Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI. Most — if not all — Democrats will oppose Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination.

However, these are exceptions, not the rule.

Every Democrat voted to confirm Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. Nine Democrats voted to confirm Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security. Huge swaths of Democrats voted to advance the nomination of Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary. Twenty-one Democrats voted to confirm John Ratcliffe as CIA Director. The Ratcliffe nomination is a case in point for the incoherence of the Democratic approach. As Semafor’s Burgess Everett pointed out, no Democrat voted to confirm Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence when Trump nominated him in 2020. Even Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voted against him!

Did Ratcliffe do such a great job in his brief stint as Director of National Intelligence that many Democrats changed their mind about him?

Of course not. Ratcliffe didn’t change; how Democrats viewed politics changed.

The Political Miscalculation

Because Republicans have the majority, Democrats cannot block any of Trump’s nominees. These votes are entirely political judgments. My question to these Democrats is, what is the political upside of supporting any of these Trump nominees?

Ratcliffe is a partisan hack and a Trump flunkie (which is why they opposed him five years ago). What are Kristi Noem’s qualifications to manage one of the largest, most consequential agencies in the government? She was the middling governor of a small state who was mired in controversy throughout most of her tenure. After losing so many working-class voters, why would we feel the need to vote for the billionaire hedge fund manager who Trump wants to put in charge of the economy?

Marco Rubio seems exceedingly normal compared to the rest of the rogue gallery of Trump nominees. He is qualified and, at one time, expressed mainstream Republican views on foreign policy. Plus, he’s a Senator. Senators love to support the people who work out on the treadmill next to them in the Senate gym — no matter how odious their views, flawed their character, or insufficient their qualifications are. If there was one Trump nominee to support, it was probably Rubio. An aye vote would be a vote for normal politics, except there are no normal politics in the Trump era. Everyone is just a Trump minion who must blindly follow dear leader or face humiliation and excommunication. And where is Rubio, the presumably normal, establishment Secretary of State, headed on their first trip abroad?

You guessed it. Rubio is headed to Panama to help facilitate Trump’s misbegotten attempt to retake the canal based on a series of lies and misunderstandings. I hope every Democrat is proud of their vote.

These votes for Trump nominees are indicative of a tension in the Democratic messaging about Trump. For the entire campaign, Democrats argued Trump was a danger to democracy who would use the White House to exact revenge on his political adversaries. Establishment Republicans, business types, and media figures said we were being hyperbolic.

Well, in the first week, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1600 people involved in January 6th including those who assaulted police officers and the former leaders of anti-government militias. He threatened President Biden and Adam Schiff with prosecution. He rescinded the security protection from political opponents like Anthony Fauci and former State Department employees who are believed to be assassination targets by Iranian intelligence. Trump is doing exactly what he said. Democrats were right about the threat he posed.

What message does it send about Trump and his agenda when Democrats sign off on the people who are designated to implement that agenda?

Do these Democrats who voted yes think they are going to get points for bipartisanship or for upholding norms? Do they really believe they will get credit from Trump voters when they go to the polls in two years?

Look, none of these voters matter much. Amongst all of the complaints about the Democratic Party, this is pretty low on the list. I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill. I also think we need to be selective in our outrage. If we scream about everything Trump does, then it will be impossible for voters to know what to take most seriously.

These votes are just symbolism, but symbols matter — especially when we have so few opportunities to send a message.It’s a mistake of short-term politics and will erode the long-term legacy of Democrats to endorse the people who will be doing Trump’s bidding.

Rant over.