This is going to get some coffee pots flying at Mar-a-Lago tonight. And look out if you’re a TV set. There are no more ketchup bottles. The few that were left formed a PTSD support group and they’re hiding behind the mayonnaise. Mitch McConnell says there will be no recess of the Senate and hence no recess appointments. Mike Johnson, however, wants to recess the House. If he does that, then the House and the Senate will be in disagreement and that avails what exactly? So what is going on? I can only assume that this is the “secret” that Johnson and Trump dreamt up, to do recess appointments.
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday left the door open to adjourning Congress so President-elect Donald Trump can appoint his Cabinet nominees outside of the usual Senate confirmation process if necessary.
“We’re in a time of very divided government and a very partisan atmosphere in Washington. I wish it were not. I wish the Senate would simply do its job of advise and consent and allow the president to put the persons in his Cabinet of his choosing. But if this thing bogs down, it would be a great detriment to the country, to the American people,” Johnson, R-La., told “Fox News Sunday” in response to a question about whether he’d be willing to let Trump use the recess appointment process, rather than the traditional Senate confirmation process for certain nominees.
A recess appointment occurs when a president unilaterally bypasses the Senate’s responsibility to confirm Cabinet nominees and appoints them to the job during a period when both the House and Senate are not in session for at least 10 days. […]
To allow the recess appointment process to take place, the House and Senate would have to both vote to adjourn for a period of at least 10 days, which would either require them to agree unanimously to do so, or would require both chambers to vote on a concurrent resolution to adjourn for a specific amount of time.
Both chambers usually gavel in for pro forma sessions even during times of recess specifically to prevent the president from making recess appointments and bypassing congressional approval.
Now the plot thickens. This tweet got deleted after it was up a short while.
Jane Mayer is a journalist who works for the New Yorker. I don’t know why she would have posted that and then deleted it. Maybe she wants to avoid controversy or to stay off of the list of journalists that Trump intends to go after. No clue. But assuming that the information was accurate when she posted it, McConnell does not intend that Republicans just roll over and let the circus take over.
I think it’s safe to say that John Thune follows McConnell’s lead in these matters. I think John Cornyn might have as well. They’re old school Republicans. Rick Scott went down in flames quickly. He would have done Trump’s bidding but he didn’t get the gavel.
And a lot of people in both the House and Senate hate Matt Gaetz. Gaetz will not sail through a normal confirmation process. And Johnson might find out quickly that he doesn’t own John Thune. Both Johnson and Trump may find out that they don’t own the Senate. All we can do is speculate but so far what we are definitely seeing is a lack of desire to simply roll over and do what Trump wants on the part of a lot of people. Expect that to continue as the days go on.
What happens to power-mad narcissists who want to be dictatorial despots with their every whim obeyed, after they’ve pissed off everyone with the power to help them?
This.
Karma.
And a reminder to him that he’s not the king he thought he was.
The real kings of America are 5 SCOTUS justices (plus one princess).
Um, that’s the job of the Chief Executive Officer: Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more
noun
a chief executive officer, the highest-ranking person in a company or other institution, ultimately responsible for making managerial decisions.
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere.
Voltaire
I can never be sure what Mitch McConnell is thinking. But I THINK I know what he’s thinking: “It’s payback time.” He doesn’t have to worry about reelection. And Thune’s got the next six years . . .
Hee hee hee hee hee hee heeeeeee!
Um. Just a thought but Trump’s NOT President yet. He CAN’T appoint anyone to anything.
Why aren’t people pointing this SIMPLE fact out? Where’s the media reminding people that Trump hasn’t even been formally selected by the Electoral College (which doesn’t meet until December 10th, I believe) much less had the results officially confirmed by the Congress (which doesn’t happen until January 6th, several days after the new Congress is sworn in on January 3rd) and been sworn in himself until January 20th?
Trump is always free to announce the names of people he WANTS in his Cabinet and other prominent posts but the ONLY job he can announce which doesn’t have to wait till he actually takes the oath of office on January 20th is that of White House Chief of Staff. EVERY OTHER CABINET POST, EVERY VACANT JUDICIAL SEAT, EVERY AMBASSADORSHIP–MUST WAIT UNTIL JANUARY 20TH TO BE CONSIDERED.
All this talk about “recess appointments” is just STUPID. And, as far as I understand the concept, since the SENATE ALONE has a role in the confirmation process (the House has NO role–key phrase in the Constitution to remember is “with the advise and consent of the Senate”), the Senate calendar is paramount here. To the best of my knowledge, there is NOTHING that mandates the House and the Senate must both agree to a specific recess period. If the House wants to go home early but the Senate wants to continue arguing about a vote on a bill, the House can go but the Senate can stay. Typically, the House and Senate will agree on certain recess periods but that’s at the start of the Congressional session but they are PROHIBITED BY THE CONSTITUTION from adjourning for more than three days (Article I, Section 5, Clause 4; “Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.”)
But again, Trump CANNOT APPOINT ANYONE at this time. He’s NOT the f*cking President of anything. He’s a petulant little brat who doesn’t understand the first thing about what he’s supposed to do. This is merely a TRANSITION period in which he’s ONLY supposed to be in the process of assembling his Cabinet and vetting potential appointments for various posts. But he has NO ACTUAL AUTHORITY OVER THE GOVERNMENT. That belongs ONLY to President Joe Biden. (It’s also worth remembering that McConnell won’t even be in charge of the Senate–unless he’s going to be behind the scenes, pulling Thune’s strings for the next couple of years so all his preening about “no recess appointments” is for naught, much like Johnson’s plans for, seemingly, continual recesses of Congress. For what it’s worth, is Johnson going to continue being the Speaker of the House after January 3? I haven’t heard any reports about the House GOP caucus picking a leader, much less Johnson’s chances of remaining Speaker.)
I’m also more than a bit disappointed that this site seems to have ignored this basic fact about how government operates. (Granted, we’ve got members of Congress who don’t seem to know how their own body is supposed to function. Johnson’s quote even shows his own ignorance–he’s quoted as saying the Senate should do its job and “advise and consent” but he seems to think that means, “just rubberstamp unqualified idiots because the President says so.” Of course, that’s GOP SOP for you. When a Democrat is President, the GOP will do anything and everything they can to FORCE hearings or BLOCK hearings–as the case may be–in order to “protect” the Senate’s “advise and consent” role. When a GOPer is President, though, just hold the most minimal of sessions and every single toady the President wants, no matter how pathetic a choice they are.)
Thank you, Joseph! I’m glad YOU don’t have your hair on fire!
I must respectfully disagree. Trump was and remains, well Trump. However in our lifetimes both major Party candidates have a transition team at work well before election day and it’s routine for a President-Elect to announce picks for top positions right away. Even before the Electoral College meets. This allows the new Senate which is sworn in on Jan. 3 of a new Congress to if they choose to consider and hold confirmation hearings BEFORE a President is sworn in on Jan. 20. The relevant committee(s) can approve a nomination during that interlude, and either refer it to the floor for a vote immediately or set things up for a floor vote as soon as the new President is sworn in.
It’s not an uncommon thing for a handful of the top jobs. Especially for Secretaries of State and Defense. AG is also one everyone likes to have hit the ground running. They don’t have any actual authority until the new President is sworn in on the 20th but new Cabinet level officials CAN be approved PRIOR to noon on the 20th so that they have full authority to do their jobs at that moment.