Summary
Senate Democrats who initially backed some of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees now regret their votes, citing broken promises and controversial policies.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) apologized for supporting Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins after the administration terminated over 1,000 VA employees, including those at the Veterans Crisis Line.
Senator Andy Kim (D-N.J.) regretted confirming Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem due to aggressive immigration policies.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) expressed disappointment with Secretary of State Marco Rubio for actions undermining USAID.
The vote to confirm Marco Rubio was unanimous, including even reliably outspoken opponents like Sanders. I can only assume that there was some behind-the-scenes deal where they thought they were getting something worth making that huge compromise. I have no fucking clue what it could possibly be, but it had to be something because even if the majority of Democrats are cowardly neolibs who prioritize the ‘absence of tension’ over the 'presence of justice," it is not true that all of them are.
If they’ve now been betrayed on that, it had to have been a big betrayal. One can only hope it’s enough to wake them the fuck up.
And if they don’t, well, they’ll be real surprised when Trump puts them up against a wall at some point not too far in the future.
Doubt it’s that big. These votes aren’t meant to be controversial, and Rubio has to be the most normal of the bunch so a unanimous vote is what you’d do. That said, while trying to block even reasonable nominations in the name of obstruction would be patriotic at this moment, its very much a Republican playbook dirty tactic and one I wouldn’t waste on fucking Rubio when they’re not going to even need your fucking vote anyway.