Steve Corbin is emeritus professor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa and a freelance writer who receives no remuneration, funding, or endorsement from any for-profit business, nonprofit organization, political action committee, or political party. 

Roughly 1,200 positions in the federal government require U.S. Senate confirmation. The first cabinet official was confirmed in 1789 when the Senate unanimously approved President George Washington’s nomination of Alexander Hamilton to be treasury secretary.

The confirmation process involves judgment calls by 100 senators, who decide whether a nominee is professionally qualified, exhibits leadership skills, is ethically fit, morally just, doesn’t carry “baggage” and has the temperament for the job.

The adage “patience is a virtue” will most likely be tested by President-elect Donald Trump, his nominees, senators and the public over the increasingly lengthy confirmation process. According to the Center for Presidential Transition, the “official confirmation process takes almost three times as long now as it did during President Ronald Reagan’s administration.”

As our senators consider Trump’s cabinet picks, their credibility is as much on the line as that of the nominees or the president-elect. Here’s the question: will the senators judge each candidate based on what is best for America’s 335 million citizens, putting the people before their party, or show obedience to the president, putting their party before the people?

Peggy Noonan wrote in a recent column for the conservative Wall Street Journal, “… Republican Senators must approach the hearings with gravity because … they are life-and-death appointments.” Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal characterized Trump’s cabinet picks as “unconventional,” “lacking expertise,” which “reflects his idiosyncratic ideological impulses.”

Two recent polls should prompt our senators to think twice before voting “yes” on a Trump nominee. First, an AP-NORC poll from early December found only three in ten Americans have confidence in Trump’s cabinet picks. Also, a Fox News poll from earlier this month indicated that 50 percent of U.S. voters disapprove of the president-elect’s cabinet picks.

Chuck Todd wrote in a November 27 analysis for NBC News that several of Trump’s nominees have character flaws. He specifically mentioned Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to lead the Pentagon, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee for health and human services.

Nine other high-profile nominees under scrutiny include: Jay Bhattacharya (National Institutes of Health), Pam Bondi (attorney general), Tom Homan (“border czar”), Howard Lutnick (commerce secretary), Linda McMahon (education secretary), Governor Kristi Noem (homeland security), Kash Patel (FBI director), Representative Elise Stefanik (ambassador to the United Nations), and Russell Vought (Office of Management and Budget).

Let’s face the facts. Nominating and confirming good cabinet members has never been a hallmark of America’s presidents and senators. For starters, Andrew Jackson fired all of his cabinet members except his Postmaster General.

Here’s a sample of other poor cabinet picks:

• John F. Kennedy dismissed Allen Dulles, CIA director, who botched the Bay of Pigs operation;
• Lyndon Johnson de-hired Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for escalating the Vietnam War;
• Richard Kleindienst, attorney general and three White House associates (H.R. Haldeman, John Erlichman and John Dean) were released from duty by Richard Nixon for their involvement in the Watergate break-in and scandal;
• Gerald Ford terminated several Nixon holdovers in what became known as the Halloween Massacre;
• Jimmy Carter requested the resignation of his entire cabinet (very few resigned);
• Ronald Reagan dismissed Anne Gorsuch, EPA administrator, for mismanaging $1.6 billion in the hazardous waste cleanup program;
• When Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos proposed blocking federal aid designed for students of color attending college, George H.W. Bush quickly ended his employment;
• Bill Clinton discharged William Sessions, FBI director and Mike Espy, secretary of agriculture;
• George W. Bush booted Paul O’Neill, secretary of treasury and Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense;
• Barack Obama ousted CIA Director David Petraeus and Director of Defense Intelligence Agency Michael Flynn;
• Donald Trump also fired Michael Flynn, who has the distinction of being terminated by two different presidents. A 92 percent turnover of Trump’s executive officers occurred during his first presidency (2017-2021);
• Joe Biden’s executive officer turnover rate stands at 71 percent.

In other words, previous presidents and senators have not always shown good judgment. Turnover is costly and can point to poor presidential management and/or poor judgement in confirming nominees. Period.

We can do better. Don’t sit idly by during the current confirmation process without expressing your thoughts to your senators.

After you’ve done your due diligence of examining the background of the twelve nominees identified above, call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for the offices of your two senators. A staff member will answer, whereupon you can let them know what you think of the cabinet picks, and they will relay your input to the senator.

Watching how your senators vote on each nominee will tell you whether their judgement of character matches yours, and whether they are a people-before-their-party or a party-before-the-people oriented politician.

Don’t fret over Trump’s cabinet nominations; take action now before it’s too late. As noted in the Book of Common Prayer: “speak now or forever hold your peace.”

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Top photo of Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley was first published on Ernst’s official Facebook page on March 13, 2024.