| Before he named even one person to serve in his Cabinet, President-elect Donald Trump made clear he expected Republicans in the Senate to confirm his nominees — or, preferably, to step aside and let him do it. Now, he is nominating some of the most controversial people in Washington – with little experience and a mandate to knock it all down – to some of the most powerful jobs in U.S. government. It will largely fall to Senate Republicans to try to stop such picks. Will they? Here’s what we know. What are you curious about in politics? Let me know, and I’ll try to answer it in an upcoming 5-Minute Fix. There are three Trump picks that a number of Republicans don’t want to vote for They are: 1. Former congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general: Gaetz was investigated by the Justice Department — the one he might soon lead — for allegedly trafficking underage women for sex. Federal investigators never charged him, citing the credibility of two witnesses, and Gaetz denied all of the allegations. But House lawmakers could release their own ethics report about Gaetz during his confirmation process; The Washington Post reported that two women testified to the House that Gaetz paid them for sex while on drugs at a “sex party,” and one was 17. (Or more damaging information could get leaked: Someone just accessed testimony in a related lawsuit from a woman who said Gaetz paid her to have sex when she was 17.) 2. Tulsi Gabbard as head of national intelligence: Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, repeatedly cites Russian propaganda and could be in charge of many of the nation’s secrets. 3. Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department: The former weekend TV host, who was already an eyebrow-raising pick to for one of the most consequential and powerful jobs in America, was accused of sexual assault in 2017. He paid his accuser while maintaining the encounter was consensual. (Trump has also named a fracking executive who has questioned climate change to lead the Energy Department; the conspiracy theorist and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the nation’s health department; Mehmet Oz, who pushed unproven covid-19 cures, to head Medicare and Medicaid; a former congressman and reality TV star to lead the Transportation Department; and a Wall Street CEO to head the Commerce Department.) Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has likened some of these picks to a hand grenade that could seriously hurt Republicans who allow them to go forward: “Republicans who throw themselves on those grenades for Donald Trump are risking their own personal reputations and places in history,” he told The Post. So what can the Senate can do to stop these picks? They can vote against them — but that carries its own political risks. Technically, it is the Senate’s job to vote on a president’s nomination. (“He shall nominate,” the Constitution says of the president, “and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls.”) But the Senate usually gives a lot of deference to a president’s pick. “His picks have maybe been unconventional, but we hired an unconventional president,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) said on CNBC on Tuesday. “The American people wanted that.” That’s especially true when the Senate is run by the president’s party, as it will be next year. There is nothing Senate Democrats can do to filibuster the nominees. And plenty of Republican lawmakers in years past have found out that bucking Trump can cost them their careers. Still, some of Trump’s picks are so controversial that a number of Republicans might try to vote them down. Trump has said he doesn’t think Gaetz can get confirmed but will push him anyway, the New York Times reported. If Trump’s nominees do get confirmed despite all of this controversy, it could set the tone for the rest of Trump’s term: He’s in charge, and Republicans in Congress have a lot less say. “He’s trying to run roughshod over the caucus,” Jim Manley, who served as an aide to former Senate majority leader Harry M. Reid (D), said in an interview last week. The Senate could also just not vote — and let Trump appoint whomever he wants Trump has asked the Senate to go home so that he can appoint people without their input. (When the Senate is on break, the president can appoint his or her own picks.) Several Republican senators have said they’re open to this. But in doing so, Senate Republicans risk capitulating to Trump. “What Trump is essentially doing is telling the Senate to give up one of its core constitutional roles,” Sarah Binder, a constitutional expert at George Washington University, told me last week. Republicans I’ve spoken with predict that all of this won’t be a big deal in a few months. It’s common for at least one Cabinet pick to bow out over controversy in every recent administration: President Barack Obama’s pick for the Department of Health and Human Services, Tom Daschle, withdrew over his failure to pay some taxes. “Some get confirmed,” said a former Senate Republican aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. “and some die on the vine.” Many Republicans are betting that will be Gaetz. And unless a Cabinet member is really unpopular, this will probably be quickly forgotten by voters under a blizzard of coming controversial Trump decisions. “There are a lot of things that are overblown,” said another former Senate Republican aide, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity over the sensitivity of the situation. “Two years later, do people go to the ballot box in the midterms and say, ‘Oh, you didn’t vote for so-and-so’”? | 
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