THERE ARE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON WHO AREN'T OBEYING IN ADVANCE, BUT THEY DON'T SEEM TO BE DEMOCRATS

As we approach Inauguration Day, many Trump critics are quoting this passage from Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny:

Lesson 1: Do not obey in advance. Thread of lessons from my book #OnTyranny. Written in 2016.

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— Timothy Snyder (@timothysnyder.bsky.social) November 23, 2024 at 8:43 AM

There are people who Washington who are openly refusing to obey every command from Donald Trump in advance ... but they mostly seem to be Republicans. Here's a list of setbacks Trump has had since Election Day:

Over the last 24 hours, Donald Trump lost his pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration. His choice for Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is struggling to gain support from Senate Republicans....

And these shake-ups to his not-yet-formed administration come after former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration as Trump’s choice for attorney general.

You might have missed the DEA story:

On Tuesday, Chad Chronister, Trump’s choice for DEA administrator, abruptly withdrew from consideration just days after being announced, saying in a post on X he made the decision “as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in,” without citing a specific reason.

Chronister is the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida. Why did he withdraw? Because he offended right-wingers:

Opponents on the political right pointed to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s arrest of Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne in March 2020 for holding a church service in violation of lockdown rules....

The Libertarian Party of Mississippi posted on X below the announcement of Mr. Chronister, “Trump’s nominee for DEA arrested a pastor for having the audacity to...checks notes...hold church service.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, responded to the Mississippi Libertarian Party’s statement by saying Mr. Trump’s DEA pick should be excluded from being nominated to lead the DEA based on the arrest of the pastor.

“I’m going to call ’em like I see ’em. Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest of a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns,” Mr. Massie wrote on X.

(Here's as reminder: There were more than a thousand COVID deaths in the U.S. every single day in April 2020. Public officials were right to try to limit public gatherings in March.)

As for Hegseth, some Republicans are making it clear that his nomination is in trouble:

As many as six Senate Republicans, perhaps more, are currently not comfortable supporting Hegseth's bid to lead the Pentagon as new revelations about his past continue to be made public, three Republican sources with direct knowledge of his nomination process said....

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is on the Armed Services Committee, would not commit to support Hegseth's nomination and said she planned to grill him about news accounts of allegations of alcohol abuse, mistreatment of woman and financial mismanagement....

After his first round of meetings on Capitol Hill last month, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chair of the Armed Services Committee, said he expected Hegseth to be confirmed. On Tuesday, after a series of other reports about Hegseth’s past but before NBC News reported on allegations concerning drinking at Fox News, Wicker sounded more cautious.

“I think there are questions that some members have, and we’re going to be looking for an answer,” Wicker said....

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he is still open to supporting Hegseth and believes he deserves a fair vetting, but he said Tuesday that Hegseth must explain media reports about his past conduct in a way that would make senators comfortable voting to confirm him.

And prior to this, Trump dumped Matt Gaetz as his attorney general nominee when "between four and six" Republican senators made clear to him that they wouldn't vote for him. (Trump can afford to lose only three Republicans if every Democrat votes no.)

Republicans are letting it be known that they won't rubber-stamp every nominee. Democrats will presumably vote no as a bloc on the worst picks, but they're being very quiet about any objections. That seems to be by design.

Senate Democrats staged dramatic showdowns to protest nominations during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office. This time around, Democrats are shifting tactics, reluctant to pick endless battles with Trump Cabinet picks that are unlikely to succeed....

“The mood is slightly different than the last time and there is a sense that if you are freaking out about everything, it becomes really hard for people to sort out what is worth worrying about,” Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, told CNN.

Is that your memory of how those confirmations went? I looked it up, and thirteen Democratric senators voted for a majority of Trump's initial Cabinet picks, as did Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats. Schatz himself voted for 9 of them (out of 22).

Obviously, Democrats are in the minority and can't make or break a nominee. But they can say something. They can do what Mike Bloomberg did this week:

Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, launched a lengthy broadside on Tuesday against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., using his opening remarks at a public health conference to warn that installing Mr. Kennedy as health secretary would be “beyond dangerous,” and tantamount to “medical malpractice on a mass scale.”

Mr. Bloomberg, speaking at the two-day Bloomberg American Health Summit in Washington, called on Senate Republicans to persuade President-elect Donald J. Trump to “rethink” his choice of Mr. Kennedy for health secretary. If Mr. Trump cannot be persuaded, he said, the Senate has “a duty to our whole country, but especially to our children,” to vote against confirming him.

Mr. Bloomberg also assailed Mr. Kennedy for discouraging measles vaccination during an outbreak in the island nation of Samoa, where 83 people died.

“Parents who have been swayed by vaccine skepticism love their children and want to protect them, and we need leaders who will help them do that,” he said, “not conspiracy theorists who will scare them into decisions that will put their children at risk of disease.”

By saying nothing, Democrats are reinforcing the notion that they have no moral authority and a political position becomes valid only when Republicans embrace it. (Democrats also reinforce this message every time they sing the praises of bipartisanship and tell us that Republican endorsements are proof that they're worthy of our votes.)

Democrats need to talk about the unfitness of Hegseth, Kennedy, and other Trump appointees. If they speak up in a compelling way, those of us who are dyed-in-the-wool Democrats will feel that they're fighting for us, while voters in the middle might start getting used to the idea that Democrats have valid opinions (and might get used to hearing Republican ideas rebutted). But elected Democrats seem to think voters won't like them unless they say as little as possible.