Alone Among Senate Democrats, Kirsten Gillibrand Is Standing Against Trumps Cabinet [View all]

[TomCADem]

Source: Slate

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is getting all kinds of props this week for being the only Democrat to vote against all Donald Trump’s appointments besides Nikki Haley for United Nations ambassador. High school student and Democratic activist Rachel Gonzalez tweeted out the news on Tuesday afternoon, imploring readers to remember Gillibrand’s votes “in 2020.” The tweet has been liked 81,000 times as of Thursday afternoon.

Insofar as hearts on a tweet can offer insight into the conventional wisdom of a political party, it seems like Gillibrand’s principled stance is setting her up as a recognizable Trump opponent if she decides to run for president, as many have speculated she might, in two years or so. The Senate, with its filibuster, is one of the only bulwarks the country has left against an authoritarian administration that is already following through on its most damaging campaign promises. Massive marches, like the ones that went down in hundreds of communities around the world the day after Trump’s inauguration, are good for keeping the people engaged and energized. But without leaders in office who will turn progressive, humane values into votes, the worst those people can imagine of a Trump regime will likely come to fruition.

That’s why liberals were incensed to learn that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another oft-proposed 2020 presidential candidate, gave Ben Carson her vote to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Carson has never worked in government, knows not one thing about housing nor urban development, and has repeatedly expressed contempt for the marginalized and low-income Americans he’d be tasked with serving as HUD secretary. Thanks to the likes of Warren and fellow progressive darling Sen. Sherrod Brown, who claim Carson is better than any likely alternative because he’s never literally threatened to demolish the department he may lead, Carson now has a unanimous mandate from the Senate’s banking committee.

Gillibrand, meanwhile, is proving that she won’t back down from her beliefs, even if her vote is symbolic. She was the only senator, period, to vote against retired Gen. James Mattis for Secretary of Defense, on the grounds that federal law prevents a military leader from taking that civilian leadership post until she or he has been retired for seven years. (Mattis retired in May 2013.) The Senate had to pass a special waiver to allow Mattis to take on the role; Gillibrand and 16 other Democrats voted against it. When the waiver passed anyway, Gillibrand was the only one of the 17 who stood her ground.

Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/01/26/alone_among_senate_democrats_kirsten_gillibrand_is_taking_a_stand_against.html