Back during the presidential campaign, which seems like a million years ago now, Kamala Harris was asked about including a Republican in her Cabinet in the event of her winning.
She indicated that she would do just that. Previous Democratic presidents had included Republicans in their cabinets and some Republican presidents included Democrats. The reaching out across the aisle is in every respect, a bipartisan tradition.
For the record, President Barack Obama had three Republicans. This is the high water mark. George W. Bush had one. Bill Clinton also had one. Ronald Reagan hired a Democrat who shortly after became a Republican. Jimmy Carter had one Republican in his Cabinet. Richard Nixon appointed Daniel Patrick Moynihan as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. This was not a cabinet posting but a significant gesture nonetheless. President Kennedy appointed two Republicans. Dwight Eisenhower appointed one and later replaced him with another Democrat. FDR appointed two Republicans. These were in key positions given the times that were in it: Frank Knox as Secretary of the Navy, and Henry Stimson as Secretary of War.
All these appointees were men of course and we could speculate that Harris might have appointed a Republican woman to her inner circle. All water under the bridge now.
This page welcomed the idea of a Republican in a Harris administration but went beyond this suggesting two or more appointees in a time of such sharp political divisions in the nation. Again, this was not to be. President Trump won the election and has since gone about proposing an inner circle devoid of members of the opposing party.
Trump's proposed cabinet - now minus the utterly inappropriate personage of Matt Gaetz as attorney general - includes some individuals who are certainly qualified, some who are at least partially qualified, and some who should not be allowed within a million miles of the post they have been nominated for.
There are no Democrats in view so we can forget any idea of even a nod towards national reconciliation. Loyalty and fealty to Trump is the primary consideration here so the notion of a clear-cut Democrat in the mix is absurd from the get go.
Who ends up making the cut - this assuming that the Senate plays its role in the nomination process - remains to be seen. We will doubtless hear some senators expressing "concerns," while ultimately relegating those concerns into the stygian depths of the public record.
At the end of it all we will have not a Republican Cabinet, nor one with even a token watered down Democrat. It will be a Trump Cabinet - in all capitals.
Outside and looking in will be quite a few qualified individuals from within the ranks of, well, the Republican Party. The days ahead will be lively ones indeed.
