Cabinet Confirmations - Week 1

We’re a little over a third of the way through Cabinet confirmations and seriously all I can even attempt to keep my mind on is the tech-based coup d'état occurring amidst Congress’ long weekend. There’s no sign of anyone doing much to stop it aside from terse tweets and skeets and I wish I could say I’m surprised. The utter disinterest to do anything that might interrupt the four-day work week was clearly shown by how few Democratic Senators have stood against the Trump Cabinet nominees. Thanks to the unanimous vote to confirm former Senator Marco Rubio to Secretary of State, none of the Democratic Senators have refused all of Donald Trump nominees. However, there was unity on the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense where every Democrat voted nay.

While no Dem Senators have fully supported or completely stood against the entire slate, after 8 nominees, a pattern is starting to unfold. So, let’s rip off the bandage and look at the top Senators who seem more than fine with supporting a fascist Cabinet.

• Ruben Gallego (AZ)

  • Yay for Rubio, Ratcliffe, Bessent, Duffy, Zeldin, & Burgum

• Maggie Hassan (NH)

  • Yay for Rubio, Ratcliffe, Noem, Bessent, Duffy, & Burgum

• Tim Kaine (VA)

  • Yay for Rubio, Ratcliffe, Noem, Bessent, Duffy, & Burgum

• Mark Kelly (AZ)

  • Yay for Rubio, Ratcliffe, Bessent, Duffy, Zeldin, & Burgum

• Jeanne Shaheen (NH)

  • Yay for Rubio, Ratcliffe, Noem, Bessent, Duffy, & Burgum

That’s a support rate of 75%. The only Senator with a higher rate of support for Trump is John Fetterman (PA), who has voted yay for 5 candidates over 6 votes (John missed the votes for Ratcliffe & Burgum). Even worse, all but Senator Kaine voted for the highly fascist Laken Riley Act. Not even two weeks into the Trump administration and these six have already shown themselves to be unreliable. And to just make it even worse, the only one of them up for re-election in 2026 is Jeanne Shaheen.

But its not completely bad news. There are a chunk of Senators that seem up for the task of only voting for Marco Rubio:

• Tammy Duckworth (IL)

• Mazie Hirono (HI)

• Ed Markey (MA)

• Chris Murphy (CT)

• Patty Murray (WA)

• Jack Reed (RI)

• Chris Van Hollen (MD)

• Elizabeth Warren (MA)

• Jeff Merkley (OR)

  • Missed 1 vote (Noem)

• Ron Wyden (OR)

  • Missed 1 vote (Noem)

• Jon Ossoff (GA)

  • Missed 4 votes (Bessent, Duffy, Zeldin, Burgum)

It is a bit disconcerting that only 11 Senators have committed to voting no across the board. That’s less than 25% of the minority’s Senators. It gets even shakier considering that Jon Ossoff has missed over half the votes, despite being in DC this whole time. While a non-vote works about the same as a ‘nay’ in this situation, it doesn’t bode well for what he supports in the future. Especially considering Ossoff voted for the Laken Riley Act.

That said, a part of me anticipates the number of stalwart Senators dropping in the next week, but we shall see.