and, what about these trump nominees?

i'll admit that i wasn't paying particularly close attention to much of the process around nominating somebody like the energy secretary.

however, if you can't stop the executive branch, why not try to gain concessions from them instead?

what i'm getting at is that aimlessly flailing against something you can't actually stop isn't a very intelligent strategy. if she had voted against these nominees, they may have sent somebody worse as replacement. by pretending that you're giving the executive branch a concession (when you're actually powerless to stop them), you're setting the situation up in such a way as to increase your bargaining power in the long run.

so, i don't know if i would have voted for or against any of these nominees, but i know that i would have tried to do something a little less stupid than kneejerking for the cameras, and trying to make a show of it.