When former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general, the thought “one down, four to go” surely occurred to some Republican members of the Senate. That is, they still must navigate the politically thorny nominations of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of National Intelligence, Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary, and Mehmet Oz for director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Trump’s other Cabinet picks are far more conventional and less objectionable, though the choice of outgoing Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is raising eyebrows from within her own party. Pro-business types point to Chavez-DeRemer’s support of labor on right-to-work and other key labor-management issues.
Still, the Oregonian can probably overcome some policy differences with her fellow Republicans. Gabbard, Hegseth, Kennedy, and Oz are another matter, because it's not just about policy.
Many claim these nominees lack the appropriate credentials to manage a gargantuan bureaucracy, but that's arguably the least of their problems. Like Gaetz, Kennedy faces allegations of both sexual impropriety and
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