Political analyst torpedoes Dems’ ‘poor tactics and strategy’ against Trump nominees
Political analyst Mark Halperin criticized Senate Democrats on Thursday for their handling of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees during confirmation hearings, accusing them of prioritizing attacks on Trump over meaningful scrutiny of his picks.
Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth was the first of Trump’s picks to testify Tuesday, in a hearing marked by what CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings referred to as the Democrats’ “mudslinging” strategy. Halperin, on “On Balance with Leland Vittert,” argued the Democrats have been missing an opportunity to perform their constitutional role effectively.
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“If the Democratic Party thinks the path back is this, they’re just as confused as they were during the election about how to win in the age of MAGA. There are ways to hold the nominee accountable to get valuable information and by the way, ask serious questions. And there’s been some of that,” Halperin said. “But this is all tactics, no strategy. This is all about trying to do damage to Donald Trump and not to figure out a way to be adults, be serious and pick their fights.”
“So I’ve been disappointed, but, as I said, I’m not surprised. The party is in the wilderness right now,” he continued. “And Donald Trump, for the most part, has nominated people who either are very accomplished and impressive or have prepared really well for their hearings. And so you’re not seeing a lot of success. You’ve got poor tactics and strategy against very well-prepared nominees.”
NewsNation host Leland Vittert suggested Trump and his upcoming administration appear to be in “better shape” following the first three days of hearings, a point with which Halperin agreed.
“Hegseth set the pace. His team did a very skillful job of reviving his nomination, which was given up for dead by folks in Mar-a-Lago, getting him his hearing and then, again, you can disagree with them. You can say he’s not qualified for the job, but there’s no disputing that he was extremely well-prepared,” the political analyst said. “They had gamed this out and that’s part of it. This is a gladiatorial contest and it does involve theatrics, but it also involved substance. And even on the substance, they didn’t try very hard, but they didn’t damage him in any meaningful way with the Republicans, which is what this is about.”
“This is one of these situations, and Leland, I’m sure you had the same experience. Pretty much everyone I know, people in finance, people in law, people in politics, people in media, total civilians. They looked at the performance of the Democrats so far and they said I could do better. Like anybody could do better,” he continued. “How can these people, whose job it is both to advise and consent and try to hold the Republicans accountable, how could they do such a poor job? And it’s a bit of a mystery, but it is what it is.”
For instance, a lifelong Democrat named Sandra told Halperin on “The Morning Meeting” Wednesday that she is switching her party affiliation to independent after being disturbed by her party’s senators’ performances during Hegseth’s hearing.
The political analyst also asserted Trump’s picks, including Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent, Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary nominee Doug Burgum are examples of high-quality choices that Democrats have mishandled in their hearings.
“I think the part of the story of this transition and of this confirmation process, although there are some Trump nominees like Pete Hegseth, whose credentials are to be a euphemistic, unorthodox, there are lot of very qualified people,” Halperin said. “And again, one of the big stories, and it has an implication for the failure of the Democrats to do much damage is people predicted for two years, if Donald Trump wins, he’ll only be able to find, and he’ll only want to find D-level MAGA sycophants to fill the jobs in the government, that there won’t be good people.
“And Scott Bessent and Marco Rubio and Governor Burgum and some of these others, these are very well-credentialed people,” he continued. “And the Democrats are treating them like two dimensional cartoon characters and that’s not going to work.”
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