Tom Nichols: Trump Cabinet Nominees Are an ‘All Fronts Assault on American Democracy’

EXCERPT:

NICHOLS: "He's trying to break the institutions of American government and American society. And what you've been seeing for the past few weeks is an all-fronts assault on American democracy, especially with these nominations. The idea that we're even sitting here talking about Attorney General Matt Gaetz would have been so fantastic, such science fiction, even a year ago, even six weeks ago, that it tells you how much he is really just, you know, trying to flood the system. I think the most dangerous of these nominations is actually Hegseth. And I'm kind of startled that we're not sitting here talking more about taking a morning Fox host and sticking him in the nuclear chain of command, to lead the largest -- one of the largest bureaucracies in the United States and the world, including the person that's supposed to look after the most powerful fighting force on the planet. This is not just an attack on the Senate, although the recess appointments issue, again, something that conservatives used to hate, they took Obama to court for this, now saying, 'OK, you know, the Senate will just kind of turn our backs. We'll sort of head to the men's room when nominations are supposed to come up.' I can't imagine that the United States Senate, that the men and women of the United States Senate, think their job is to go home and plug their ears while Donald Trump fills the cabinet with completely unqualified and deeply dangerous nominations. So this is the first test of a major constitutional issue. And if Trump decides to go ahead that way, along with his attack on the military that your network, that NBC is reporting he has in the works, you know, it's great to talk about moving forward, but it's also important to recognize that we could be in the first phases of a major constitutional crisis even before Trump is sworn in."