A whole two confirmed appointees will now be able to join Donald Trump on his wacky presidential adventure. The Senate on Friday afternoon confirmed two of the many military men Donald Trump has nominated to serve in his Cabinet. Easily. The third nominee that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped to confirm, would-be CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a congressman from Kansas, will have to wait until next week, despite McConnell’s warning that the terrorists were going to spend all weekend doing terrorism if Pompeo wasn’t around to give them nasty looks.
Retired General James Mattis is your new secretary of defense, confirmed by a margin of 98 to 1. Mattis was not eligible to serve as secretary of defense until a couple of hours ago, when our new president signed off on his waiver. With that nettlesome question about civilian control of the military out of the way, Mattis was in the clear. The only vote against him was Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has nothing against the dude but is still not a fan of granting waivers for recently retired four-star generals to serve as secretary of defense. Also, if he screws up, she can say she was right.
Retired Gen. John Kelly is your new secretary of homeland security, confirmed by a somewhat narrower margin of 88 to 11. He will be keeping an eye on the terrorists while Pompeo cools his heels for the weekend.
McConnell had wanted Pompeo confirmed Friday, but Democrats objected on grounds that they wanted more time for a public debate over his nomination. McConnell was making it sound as if he’d keep them all in the chamber eternally until he got his vote. The problem with that plan was that senators had lots of fun parties to go to tonight. So after a lengthy wait on the floor, McConnell announced a deal: The Senate would tee up a Pompeo vote for early next week with six hours of debate. But if there’s any terrorism this weekend, it’s Democrats’ fault, etc.
These were two of Donald Trump’s easiest confirmations. The fun resumes next week.
