Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) was elected Nov. 13 by the Senate Republican conference and is promising “to get to work implementing President Trump’s agenda on behalf of the American people” in a post on X.com.
Now, Thune, whom President-elect Donald Trump congratulated on winning the post, can prove it by confirming Trump’s choices to head federal departments and agencies, as he promised in his campaign to win the Senate’s top leadership spot — even if Thune and Republican senators would prefer other, specific persons in those positions.
On Nov. 10 Thune promised to get Trump’s choices confirmed when he was still running for Senate Majority Leader including using recess appointments: “We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments. We cannot let Schumer and Senate Dems block the will of the American people.”
And on Nov. 12, Thune promised, “As Congress returns to Washington, we must prepare the Senate to advance President Trump’s agenda legislatively and ensure that the president-elect can hit the ground running with his appointees confirmed as soon as possible.”
But now the election for Senate Majority Leader is over and the American people get to find out the truth. Was Thune being honest, or just telling Americans and Senate colleagues what they wanted to hear?
For decades, the Senate’s constitutional advice and consent role has given undue legislative influence upon the President’s choices to staff an administration, has led to the creation of blacklists for undesirables and whitelists for candidates dubbed “acceptable” by Senate leaders.
Here’s the problem: The “acceptable” candidates won’t comply with President Trump’s policy prerogatives but instead will act as agents for the corrupt Washington, D.C. establishment. During the first Trump administration, the vetting process was actually used as a mechanism for preventing Trump from implementing his policies, who ultimately had to resort to appointing acting Secretaries and agency heads just to get anything done.
A perfect example of a pick unacceptable to political Washington, D.C. will be Trump’s choice for Attorney General, former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), whose mission will be to end the unconstitutional, illegal and political weaponization of federal law enforcement, end domestic political surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and restore faith and trust in what should be an impartial justice system.
But, not very many people in Congress like Gaetz, who is credited with deposing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and making it difficult for Republicans to pass spending bills with their slim House majority.
Those things might be true, but when it comes to reforming the Justice Department — very uncomfortable work — you need somebody who is willing to ruffle some feathers and willing to identify and root out political weaponization of our law enforcement institutions.
This weaponization was infamously used against Trump himself beginning in 2016 with unconstitutional, illegal surveillance of his presidential campaign, transition and then in 2017 in his administration under bogus, false charges he was a Russian agent who had coordinated with Moscow to steal Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta emails an publish them on Wikileaks when he had nothing to do with it. Gaetz will be able to root out those responsible for using FISA to spy on political opponents more broadly and end this weaponization that has endangered national security by making it more difficult for the President to resolve foreign conflicts including Ukraine.
And everyone in the Senate knows it. But very few would be willing to take it on as Gaetz has, conducting vigorous oversight of the Justice Department during his tenure in Congress, and even fewer willing to venture into the department itself to root it out — because they’re all afraid of being targeted by it.
Nonetheless, with just 53 Senators, Republicans — many of whom have traditionally deferred to Democratic presidents’ choices, including Joe Biden and Barack Obama, for the executive and judicial branches, no matter how radical — are now objecting to Gaetz and some of Trump’s other choices, threatening to torpedo the new Trump administration before it can even get any work done until more “acceptable” — re: compromised — candidates are chosen.
There’s probably enough votes to sink any given nomination, whether it is Gaetz, Trump’s choice for National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabbard, or for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, or whatever position Trump has in mind for Robert Kennedy, Jr. Or any other nominee who steps out of line.
And so, Trump appears to be immediately looking at a recess appointment strategy instead, wherein the GOP Congress would adjourn immediately, and Trump would use his constitutional power to make the appointments instead with the benefit of Senate consultation. To work, both the House and the Senate would need to go into recess for at least 10 days, affording Trump and his cabinet the opportunity to hit the ground running.
There are downsides, including that the appointments would then only last for 22 months, but given how long the Senate tends to slow walk nominations anyway, they can just get started while the permanent nominees are on the job, who will have an incentive — that is, to keep their jobs for longer—to act in the best interests of the U.S. and the American people.
This is certainly unorthodox. Were Trump only in his first term, a more drawn-out confirmation process might be more acceptable, but he’s in his second non-consecutive term — only Grover Cleveland has ever done that — and does not have permanent secretaries and agency heads to stay in office until their replacements can be Senate-confirmed. And so, Trump has asked, and Thune promised, to allow recess appointments, saying all options are on the table.
But are they really on the table? We’re about to find out.
Given the highly unique circumstances of a Trump only have one term, recess appointments might be the best solution for all parties involved, including the Senate, whose members either are unable or unwilling to work with the new Trump administration or otherwise don’t want to get their hands dirty for the hard, difficult work ahead to drain the swamp. That’s fine, but the question is: Will Thune keep his promise?
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.
