Dem
47
GOP
53
This week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has begun meeting with senators, as he tries to make sure his appointment to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is approved by the upper chamber. No Democrats are buying what he's selling, but he's got appointments with about two dozen Republicans.
While Junior is on the Hill, the Kennedy opposition is rallying, in hopes of derailing his bid for the secretaryship. There is much arm-twisting going on behind the scenes. On top of that, the anti-Kennedy forces have also purchased ads in key states, encouraging voters to call their senators and express their opposition to the son of Bobby.
Is he in danger of actually failing, though? The answer to that is: Nobody knows. As we have noted several times, there is absolutely no upside, and plenty of downside, for a Republican member to lay their cards on the table right now. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), willingly or not, became the face of the anti-Pete Hegseth movement, and she came in for withering fire from both Donald Trump and from MAGA fanatics. No senator particularly wants to be that kind of man or woman on an island.
That said, there are at least a couple of very subtle signs that the nomination could be in trouble. First, Donald Trump is putting on the full-court press, and threatening that any senator who dares oppose his nominees will face a primary opponent the next time they are up for reelection. That is a threat with some oomph behind it, but not unlimited oomph. First, it isn't going to faze folks who are not likely to run again, like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). It's also not too likely to bother folks whose next run is 4-6 years away, like Sen. John Curtis (R-UT). And it may not cow the folks who have to face a moderate electorate in 2026, and don't want to be burned by "yea" votes for whackadoodle candidates. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Susan Collins (R-ME) would be in this group. In any event, the fact that Trump is throwing his weight around suggests that... he knows there's a need for him to throw his weight around.
The other (potentially) problematic sign for Kennedy is this: A number of Republicans have said that they want to hear about his views on vaccines before they decide whether to support him. The thing is, like everyone else, they already know full well what his views on vaccines are. So, this sounds like it could be a setup, so that the senators can claim that they had an "open mind" but that after doing their "due diligence" they just couldn't support him.
Admittedly, these are pretty thin clues. But thin clues are all we have, at the moment. (Z)