When new presidents are elected, Presidents-elect usually pick their Cabinets with two things in mind: Rewarding factions that backed them in the election, and broadening their support by choosing unifying figures. But President-elect Donald Trump doesn't seem to care about that. And he's clearly betting that in the end, you won't care either.
A funny thing about almost every modern presidential election aftermath is that the losing side often makes the loudest demands. It doesn't matter if the losers are Republicans or Democrats. With every cabinet pick announcement you can bet the losing side will cry bloody murder about it as if they had won and the new president owed them something.
I call it the "Cain Effect," as in the Biblical villain Cain, who after God convicts him of murdering his brother Abel, he immediately demands God's special protection. Imagine what Cain would have asked for had he done something good!
But in 2016, the Democrats might have a point in that Trump seems to be going out of his way to choose a number of cabinet members who raise liberal hackles as much as possible. He's tapped several appointees who are best known for their strong opposition to the agencies they're going to lead.
There's the choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA, even as he's one of the Attorneys General suing the EPA for what they call excessive regulation.
There's Education Secretary pick Betsy DeVos, who has long opposed government control of public education as a fierce advocate for school choice.
Trump picked Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, a man who wants to trash a great deal of the Department of Justice's policies especially when it comes to immigration.
And the list goes on and on as similar Democrat and liberal anger has been stoked over the choice of public housing critic Dr. Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the tapping of labor union foe Andy Puzder to be Secretary of Labor.
Making it all worse for the Democrats is their ability to block these appointees is now almost nil. The Senate confirms cabinet-level choices and Republicans control the Senate with a 52-48 vote advantage this coming term, (53-48 when Vice President-elect Mike Pence's tie-breaking vote is accounted for).
Even worse, the Democrats themselves eliminated almost every significant minority party filibuster tool when former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid initiated the so-called "nuclear option" in 2013. Since that move, individual senators have only been able to seize the floor for marathon speeches opposing nominees. But once those speeches end, the majority can now confirm nominees without needing the once traditional minimum 60 votes. All of this is adding to a combination of liberal despair and vehement anger.