The federal government employs well over 2 million people. One man cannot lead an organization that large by himself.
Not only do you need a full Cabinet, but you need hundreds of undersecretaries and deputies as well. Being president without the aid of your Cabinet and agency leaders makes the job almost impossible.
But this is exactly the position Senate Democrats have chosen for the new Trump administration.
Of the last seven administrations, three had a full Cabinet confirmed and in place within three weeks of the president’s inauguration.
President Barack Obama had all but two nominees confirmed within two weeks of his inauguration. And President Bill Clinton had all but one nominee confirmed within one week after he took the oath of office.
So, what about President Donald Trump?
At four weeks into his presidency, a mere six of his 15 nominees had not yet been voted on. And at the end of week seven, two of those nominees haven’t even had a single committee hearing.
How did this happen? Simple: Senate Democrats decided, as a conference, to block and obstruct Trump’s Cabinet nominees, carelessly smashing Senate norms of procedure and etiquette in the process.
Senate Democrats have gone to such extraordinary lengths to sabotage the normal process of a new president staffing his administration that even The Washington Post called their obstruction “unprecedented.”
Trump’s Cabinet remains unfilled nearly three months into his presidency. And the rate of confirmation for his other nominees has been just as slow.
With more than 1,000 additional positions still needing to be confirmed by the Senate, the bureaucracy will keep humming along without reforms and critical areas of the government will be compromised. Meanwhile, Democrats fill their election war chests and cause a political media frenzy.
This is not what the American people voted for in last year’s drain-the-swamp election. This is business as usual in Washington. And that’s just how the Democrats like it.
