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Donald Trump’s accession to the U.S. presidency comes as a shock for some and prophetic fulfillment for others- but the age of Trump 2.0 is not yet upon us. Joe Biden still has, as of the release of this article, 63 days as America’s head of state before the reins of power are handed off to the 45th turned 47th President. Unlike the British prime ministership, a President-elect does not assume office immediately after an election is certified; rather, 11 weeks pass between an election and the new leader’s inauguration. This president-elect, however, isn’t taking this time to relax on Mar-a-Lago’s golf course. Mr. Trump has been active in using this time to hand pick the people who will shape his administration.
Central to any President’s administration is his Cabinet, comprised of the several secretaries chosen to lead the massive organs of the U.S. government- departments. Each department is tasked with the gargantuan coordination and execution of often complex executive policy in their respective areas of concentration. It’s important for a President to choose Cabinet officials wisely- their day to day decisions, especially in politically sensitive departments, will deliver results, good or bad, that at the end of the day will be attributed to the administration. Key departments include those of defense, state, justice, and homeland security, among others. Mr. Trump’s first priority during this transition is curating a list of secretaries to lead these departments and execute his policy and platform. He has already selected a number of candidates, among them Fox News personality and veteran Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, current member of the House of Representatives Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, and Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.
Mr. Trump’s nominees, however, are not definite by any means, for the U.S. Constitution requires that nominees to Cabinet positions be confirmed by the Senate- the upper house of the country’s legislature. Easy, some might say; the Senate is firmly in control of the GOP. But not so fast- some of the president-elect’s nominees have been made subject to a number of controversies that may imperil their chances in the upper chamber of America’s Congress. Take, for example, Matt Gaetz, who is embroiled in an investigation by the House Ethics Committee over accusations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, or Pete Hegseth, who some doubt to have the credentials necessary to run the $841 billion Department of Defense. Senate GOP moderates like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are in a renewed limelight as their support in the upcoming years, not least when it comes to confirming Cabinet positions, will be important to the success of Mr. Trump’s proposals in Congress.
The 47th president to be, however, has an ace up his sleeve. Should the Senate choose to adjourn for more than 10 days, an event that can occur organically or inorganically, Mr. Trump could use an obscure part of the U.S. Constitution, known as the recess appointments clause, to bypass the confirmation process. Originally intended for use in the 18th century, when Congress was in session much less regularly than it is in the modern day, and when communication between states took days and even weeks, the mere suggestion that recess appointments might be necessary in the age of e-mails and Zoom meetings is ridiculous- yet the Constitution has never been amended to remove its obsolescence. The provision would allow Mr. Trump to appoint any number of people, free of Congressional scrutiny, to important executive roles, and wouldn’t be limited to Cabinet members; federal judgeships and ambassadorships would be fair game in such a situation. Conveniently, exercise of the power would also allow nominees to escape Senate confirmation hearings, which are great opportunities for the opposing political party to either discredit a nominee or to simply rub dirt in the face of the administration. Such a move would almost certainly violate the spirit in which the Framers wrote the clause, but modern-era presidents from either party have not yet been shown to have any qualms with its use- presidents from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton have used the power liberally, with 240 and 139 appointments made pursuant to the clause respectively.
Whether the recess clause will be necessary in Mr. Trump’s eyes is yet to be determined- but in any case, America’s political election drama is far from over. A tough battle, well covered in the media no doubt, will be fought on Capitol Hill in the next few months which a keen viewer would reap reward in monitoring.
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