I'm an anti-Trump conservative. Kennedy, Gabbard confirmations prove he owns GOP. | Opinion
I thought that Senate Republicans would hold President Donald Trump to some kind of standard. They did not.
My boss and I had a friendly wager on whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard would be confirmed for their respective posts. He thought Republicans would inevitably support Trump's Cabinet nominees, but I remained optimistic that the Senate GOP could reject his most objectionable ones.
One of us would have to write about being wrong, and unfortunately, that ended up being me.
During our conversation several weeks ago, I scoffed at the idea that more than 50 out of 53 Republican senators would go along with President Donald Trump's lunacy. Now that both Kennedy and Gabbard have been confirmed, it is clear that this is Trump's Republican Party, full stop.
Senate Republicans have historically been the most willing to keep the MAGA movement in check. However, the reality is that even the Senate can’t help restrain 2025 Trump, and America is along for the rollercoaster ride.
RFK Jr. and Gabbard share one crucial trait: Trump loyalty
What used to matter for GOP nominees no longer matters. You no longer have to be qualified. You no longer have to even be a decent person. You don't even have to be conservative. You only have to bend the knee.
While the GOP historically favors deference to a president’s Cabinet selections, these examples go further than that. Appointing a vaccine skeptic to lead the Health and Human Services Department and an anti-interventionist to lead national intelligence, both former Democrats, is unprecedented, to say the least.
RFK Jr., a snake oil salesman who supported the highest bidder between Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Trump, has no place in a Republican administration. He stands for nothing; his only goal is to grasp his influence. His nomination has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with an exchange of endorsement for power.
Gabbard, on the other hand, marks a stark departure from U.S. foreign policy and norms. Her anti-interventionist foreign policy and refusal to denounce intelligence leaker Edward Snowden directly clash with mainstream conservative thoughts on these issues. Her selection makes me even more nervous because her ideology is embraced by members of Trump's MAGA movement.
However, both individuals have pledged loyalty to Trump, which is all he demands from Cabinet nominees. It appears the Senate now only requires Trump's rubber stamp of approval.
The Senate can't be trusted to restrain Trump
Over the past eight years, the Senate has been more insulated against MAGA influence than the House of Representatives, which was lost to Trump years ago. Statewide elections meant that senators generally needed to maintain more mass appeal than House members, but that has changed.
During his first term, Trump still had to respond to pressures within his party. But Trumpism has since taken over the GOP. He controls the entire party platform and, in turn, the whole Congress.
RFK Jr. and Gabbard's confirmations prove that Republicans are unwilling to pressure Trump or keep him honest.
The checks and balances of our government are designed to restrain a brash executive, even when we have a single-party rule in our federal government. Now, the GOP has abandoned that, coalescing power behind Trump, unlike any presidency in my lifetime.
The lone GOP vote against both Gabbard and Kennedy's confirmations poetically came from former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a sad admission that the Republican Party he helped build no longer reflects his values.
Conservatives cannot count on the Senate Republicans to moderate Trump’s new direction for the party. They are no longer willing to preserve conservatism above Trumpism. I don't know if that is because they are shortsighted or do not care.
The truth is that this is Trump's party to its core now, and the GOP responds to what he wants, not the other way around. As disappointing as it is, this is the new landscape that anti-Trump conservatives like me need to accept.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for Paste BN and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.