Criticizing the Qualifications of Trump's Nominees

Democrats are expressing much displeasure over many of President-elect Trump's picks for his cabinet and, truth to tell, some of their concerns about some of the picks seem to me to be justified.

This is particularly the case regarding Mr. Trump's wish to have Matt Gaetz head up the Department of Justice. Gaetz was, until he resigned from the House of Representatives the other day, under a congressional ethics investigation for, among other things, participating in sex parties with underage girls.

Whether the allegations are true or false, Gaetz is very unpopular among his congressional colleagues, and I'll be surprised if he's actually confirmed by the Senate.

One criticism leveled by Democrats against some of Trump's selections, however, is hard to take seriously. The opposition party is arguing that some of the nominees lack the qualifications for the position to which they're being appointed.

I say this is hard to take seriously because many of the folks in Congress and in the media who are expressing reservations about the qualifications of people like Pete Hegseth (Department of Defense) and Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) were just fine with President Biden's cabinet nominations despite many of them having no qualifications whatsoever other than checking off some identity group box.

Elizabeth MacDonald, in a post on X, shines the spotlight on the paucity of qualifications that Democrats nevertheless thought sufficient to confirm much of Mr. Biden's cabinet. Here's her list:

• Xavier Becerra, Health and Human Services - not a doctor, he’s a lawyer, ex-attorney general of California
• Jared Bernstein, Chair of Council of Economic Advisors - not an economist, Bachelor’s degree in music, Masters in sociology
• Pete Buttigieg, Transportation - no transportation background, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana
• Alejandro Mayorkas, Department of Homeland Security - no security background, lawyer, Asst U.S. attorney, Obama transition team
• Jennifer Granholm, Energy - no energy background, Michigan Governor
• Gina Raimondo, Commerce - no trade background, Rhode Island Governor
• Deb Haaland, Interior - New Mexico Congresswoman
• And just for kicks…Bill Nye, the environmentalist “Science Guy” — no background in environmentalism or science, he’s a mechanical engineer and comedy writer

Anyone who's okay with these folks serving as the heads of their various departments really shouldn't complain about the qualifications of Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard.