Tracking Trump: Wednesday's Executive activity:
Bottom Line: The Trump administration had 18 executive orders and a Supreme Court Nominee to show for his Presidency through Tuesday. Wednesday brought the following...
The confirmation of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State: After an unprecedented boycott by Democrats of hearings to attempt to further delay a vote on President Trump's nomination for Secretary of State, Republicans pushed forward bringing the vote to the full floor. Tillerson won confirmation with a 56-43.
What's notable about this action is the general hard line Democrats had decided to take during the majority of the confirmation process. As I've outlined previously, only one time ever has a Presidential cabinet nominee been defeated when brought to a vote by the Senate (and it was when Democrats voted down George H.W. Bush's nominee for the Department of Defense). By comparison President Obama's two Secretary's of State won overwhelming support for their confirmations. Hillary Clinton was confirmed by a 94-2 vote and John Kerry by a 94-3 vote. What we've historically seen is that partisans have put aside partisan differences when cabinet votes come about out of respect for the President. That's clearly not going to be extended by Democrats and therefore the Republicans have history and numbers on their side to deal with the unprecedented partisanship and obstructionism they're demonstrating. As the President suggested yesterday. If the Democrats attempt to filibuster - "go nuclear".
In 2013 when the Democrats did just that I mentioned that a day would come in which they'd regret having opened that door in the Senate. That day has come much sooner than they expected. There are two sides to every story but just one side to every fact. This group of Senate Democrats are proving themselves to be the most partisan group of senators, in at least, modern American history and it's not likely going to prove to be successful.