Donald Trump is now the President-elect, having won the electoral college vote (and the popular vote too). With inauguration day on the horizon, Americans are anticipating the impact of Trump’s next term on our country.
Prior to the election, when asked how they felt about politics, nearly 79% of Americans expressed a negative view. According to the Pew Research Center, common words used in 2023 to describe how people felt about politics included “divisive”, “polarized”, “broken”, and “dysfunctional.” Yet, many Americans share the same cares and concerns. An overwhelming majority for example, regardless of political party affiliation, agree that managing how much time their teen spends on the phone is a priority and have concerns about Artificial Intelligence—specifically that the government won’t go far enough to regulate ChatBots, for example. Americans in both parties have positive views about the National Park Service, the US Postal Service, and NASA!
Whether despondent or hopeful about the results of the election, Americans can feel proud that the process of going to the polls, according to the Associated Press, resulted in 153 million ballots cast, with hundreds of thousands of votes still being tallied. It is anticipated that the final tally will come close to 158 million, the record turnout seen in the 2020 election. Americans elected new members of Congress too, with the full expectation that our country would continue to benefit from and be governed in accordance with a system of checks and balances, thanks to a bicameral legislature composed of representatives and senators with important responsibilities.
Among these responsibilities is the vetting and power to confirm or reject Presidential nominees for cabinet level positions. These positions matter – Secretary of State, Education Secretary, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Health and Human Services Secretary just to name a few. Now is not the time to sidestep a confirmation hearing process for cabinet positions that has prevailed in modern times. While several presidents have invoked a Clause in Article II of the U.S. Constitution to fill vacancies at a lower level of the government when the senate is controlled by the opposing party, no president in modern times has attempted to bypass Senate Confirmation Hearings for cabinet level positions by with recess appointments. In 2014 the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision ruling that presidents can only make recess appointments during a recess period of at least ten days—and the Senate was never in recess for this long during Trump’s first term or Biden’s presidency.
Surely separation of powers is another unifying principle and point of pride for most Americans. Hopefully in January, whether disappointed or excited about cabinet nominees, we will feel proud that our branches of government are functional and operational in a manner that reflects well on the state of our democracy.
