Written by Jayne Schack, a retired assistant professor of physical therapy at Arkansas State University.
Donald J. Trump is now President of the United States (POTUS). Since November, he’s been making personal choices for the heads of the departments and offices upon which our national security and democratic processes depend – cabinet secretaries and directors of other high-level governmental departments.
Are these nominees qualified for leadership positions that will impact the US and the world for years to come? Will they uphold our Constitution and the best interests of our nation and its citizens? Sadly, based on their backgrounds, histories and recent rhetoric, in many cases, the answer is: “No.”
Maybe you’re asking: “Why should I care and what can I do to possibly stop this from happening?” Targeting our senators is the first small step.
The nomination process
The President’s personal nominees include the 15 Cabinet secretaries (Agriculture, Defense, State, Homeland Security, Interior, Treasury, etc) and other commensurate positions such as CIA Director, FBI Director and Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Trump’s personal choices first undergo background checks.
Per Article II of the US Constitution, committees within our Senate then hold hearings to review the qualifications of the president’s choices. These Senate committees determine, by simple majority vote, which nominees will then proceed to a full Senate vote.
This is where and when POTUS’s nominees receive final confirmation, once again via a simple majority vote.
The President’s choices are now in preliminary Senate committee hearings.
Trump’s nominees
Some of Trump’s dozens of nominees include: Tulsi Gabbard, as Director of National Intelligence; Pete Hegseth, as Secretary of Defense; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as Secretary of Health and Human Services; Kash Patel as FBI Director; and Russell Vought, as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Are these folks qualified for high office? Let’s take a closer look at three nominees.
Kash Patel is Trump’s pick for FBI Director. Patel, an attorney, previously served as Chief of Staff under Christopher C. Miller as Secretary of Defense late in Trump’s previous administration.
Patel has publicly announced his intention to weaponize the FBI against individual journalists who refused to promote President Trump’s belief that the 2020 election results were rigged, saying, “we’re going to come after you.”
Since the inception of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, it’s had a history of singling out individuals for retribution, while allowing large corporate entities to continue with their malfeasance unchecked. With Patel as head, the chances of the FBI reforming itself or even acting ethically is pretty much nil.
Tulsi Gabbard is Trump’s pick for National Security Director, the agency responsible for our country’s national security systems. She has served in the US Army Reserve since 2003 and was US Representative for Hawaii from 2002-2004.
Since an unannounced visit to Syria in 2017, Gabbard has refused to call Bashar al-Assad an enemy of the United States or a brutal dictator.
Gabbard has openly stated positive views about Russia and Vladimir Putin. Former congressional staffers pointed to her reliance upon Russian news propaganda outlets, such as RT (formerly Russia Today).
Last month in a report by ABC news, a retired veteran intelligence officer, Doug London, stated this behavior reflects poorly on her suitability to fulfill the responsibilities as National Security Director. In addition, Gabbard lacks national security experience.
A Fox News presenter and former army major (2003-2014 and 2019-2021), Pete Hegseth, is the POTUS’s choice for Secretary of the Department of Defense (DOD).
The DOD is the nation’s largest federal agency, with a budget of over $800 billion, 3.4 million service members and civilians with sites in 160 countries. The DOD includes all six branches of the armed forces. Hegseth’s lack of relevant experience is disturbing. To effectively manage the behemoth DOD, the Secretary of Defense, must have extensive leadership experience and organizational acumen.
Hegseth briefly served as executive director of two veteran’s advocacy groups and was removed from both leadership positions due to questionable behavior. According to an article in The New Yorker Magazine last month, Hegseth was forced to step down at these nonprofits “in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety and personal misconduct.”
In November 2024, The New York Times published an email to Hegseth from his mother Penelope Hegseth, in which she comments on his egregious personal behavior, “It’s time for someone… to stand up to your abusive behavior and call it out, especially against women”
Again I ask, are these folks qualified for high office? I’d answer a resounding, “No.”
Who should serve in our high-level government offices
The people of the United States deserve Cabinet Secretaries, and other high-level office leaders, with in-depth knowledge of the departments they will lead. They require years of demonstrable excellence dealing with issues and situations related to the government offices they will captain.
These Directors must have robust management and organizational skills, with backgrounds free of any chance of compromising our national security. These men and women need to hit the ground running on day one in their respective positions.
They cannot be mere political appointments in the old quid pro quo vein. Serving the interests of the United States and its people with loyalty to the Constitution must be their primary duty; not weaponizing their departments against those individuals President Trump views as his personal enemies or developing policies that will benefit them personally.
Our national security and our democratic processes depend on it.
Why should I care?
You may say, “I’m just an 18 year old Arkansas State undergrad, what can I do and who cares what I think?” Your voice and opinions are important! And you can do something about it! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
As a young adult you may reasonably expect many decades of life ahead of you. This means you will have to deal with the consequences of passively accepting disastrous decisions made by our present government for a very long time.
I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see our nation remain a democracy well after I’m gone!
Many people have fought for and even died for the rights in which we all partake as American citizens. As a “baby boomer” I believe in doing what I can to preserve our democracy, a legacy I owe the generations who will supersede mine. And that includes you, the traditional A-State students.
If you feel as I do, take that first small step, targeting our Senators! The Cabinet-level leaders’ nomination and confirmation process resides with the Senate now. Targeting our senators is where you can do something to delay or stop unqualified candidates from being confirmed.
What can I do?
Urge our senators to do the right thing!
Let’s face it — you’re scrolling, swiping right, posting or texting on your iPhone or Android all the time. It doesn’t take much time to add “targeting our senators” to your daily smartphone routine.
Email our Senators from Arkansas, John Boozman and Tom Cotton.
Or even call their offices. It may be “retro” but it’s so effective and your phone calls are formally logged. And remember, these senators are from the “we use the phone to call people” generations. If we email and call daily, this starts taking up the senators staffs’ time and they pay attention to what their constituents are telling them.
Urge Boozman and Cotton to take their constitutional duty seriously and advise President Trump to choose qualified individuals, dedicated to our democracy, to fill these high-level positions.
Furthermore, should any unqualified candidates (like those mentioned above) pass through to the full Senate confirmation stage, compel Boozman and Cotton to vote “no” against these candidates.
I’ll be honest, the odds are against nominees being rejected by the Senate. The last time this occurred was in 1989, when John Tower, President George H. W. Bush’s choices for Secretary of Defense was voted down 47-53.
However, I’m an optimist. If we do nothing, the chance all Trump’s current nominees will become cabinet secretaries and directors of government departments is 100% — a frightening statistic. Whereas taking action yields at least a better than 0% chance of poor nominees being eliminated and high-quality ones taking their places.
Next steps?
There are many ways to preserve and uphold our American democracy. If you feel energized to go further, the local campus level is a good place to start.
Check out A-State’s Registered Student Organizations (RSO) focusing on a variety of community service and action projects, like campus branches of Lions and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Special Olympics College, Volunteer A-State and Arkansas State Young Democrats, to name a few. If you’re a member of a pre-professional RSO, develop and engage in service projects to fill specific needs addressed by your intended profession within our A-State campus or the Jonesboro community at large.
Volunteer with campus organizations dedicated to assisting our Red Wolves in need. One example is the A-State Food Pantry. Marginalized populations need the most help and will reap the greatest benefit.
Ben Franklin once said “we’re a republic, if we can keep it.” Let’s do what we can to keep it!
Categories: Opinion
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