It's no coincidence that Republican committee chairmen scheduled hearings for some of the president-elect's most controversial and polarizing nominees on Wednesday. Trump, after putting it off repeatedly, will also finally have his first press conference since the election at the same time. And Mitch McConnell plans a budget vote-o-rama, including votes related to the repeal of Obamacare. This will further distract the press and the public.

WASHINGTON — By scheduling six confirmation hearings for the same day, the Senate GOP is working to prevent any one Donald Trump nominee from dominating a news cycle. The strategy is very likely to succeed.

It's no coincidence that Republican committee chairmen scheduled hearings for some of the president-elect's most controversial and polarizing nominees on Wednesday.

Trump, after putting it off repeatedly, will also finally have his first press conference since the election at the same time. And Mitch McConnell plans a budget vote-o-rama, including votes related to the repeal of Obamacare. This will further distract the press and the public.

The GOP leadership's approach will minimize unflattering process stories and prevent Trump's nominees from receiving the kind of full airing and scrutiny that they would otherwise.

It's the political equivalent of running a no-huddle offense in the first quarter and throwing a lot of deep balls when you know the defense is outmatched. The other side's best safety is still recovering from a pulled hamstring, and the defensive coordinator is distracted by the head coaching job he's going to take next season. The odds are that Team Trump will score a bunch of touchdowns.

In fact, the conventional wisdom inside the Capitol right now is that all of Trump's picks will get confirmed, no matter how many red flags several have in their backgrounds.

Here are the six hearings now set for next Wednesday:

—Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, with his questionable ties to Vladimir Putin and long tenure as CEO of ExxonMobil, will appear before the Foreign Relations Committee. Making his rounds on the Hill, behind closed doors, Tillerson has been willing to talk tough about the Kremlin. But will he do so in open session? Will he commit to keep in place the sanctions put on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine? Will he punt when asked about Russian interference in the election? Tillerson has complex business interests from which he must disentangle himself yet he refuses to provide Congress with his full tax returns. His required financial disclosure form shows that he has assets worth up to half a billion dollars. This week day, he struck a deal with Exxon for a retirement package worth $180 million, to kick in if he is confirmed.

—Trump's pick for CIA director, Mike Pompeo, appears before the Intelligence Committee. He'll face questions about Trump's sustained attacks on the integrity of intelligence professionals, his plans to reorganize the community, as well as his outspoken support for torture.

—Education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos, who has funded campaigns both to expand charter schools and to limit regulations on them, will appear before the education committee. She played a central role in a Michigan charter school movement that even supporters of charters acknowledge lacks in oversight and quality. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on HELP, said this week that DeVos still hasn't returned her questionnaire or submitted financial disclosures.

—The Judiciary Committee on Jan. 10-11 considers the nomination of Attorney General nominee Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, whose checkered record on race prompted the Senate to block him when he was nominated for a district judgeship. Wednesday is when Democrats finally get their chance to call witnesses who can speak out against Sessions. (In addition to civil rights, which everyone knows is a liability for the Alabama senator, a new ACLU report is highly critical of his record on immigration, abortion and criminal justice.)

—John Kelly's confirmation hearing to run the department of homeland security, which would have jurisdiction over Trump's proposed deportation force and crackdown on illegal immigration, will be at 2 p.m. The retired Marine general is a border-security hawk who clashed with the Obama administration over allowing women in combat and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. He's also a Gold Star father whose son was killed by the Taliban in 2010.

—Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is a lock to become transportation secretary. She was George W. Bush's labor secretary and the first Asian American female Cabinet member in U.S. history. In 2001, she was approved by unanimous consent.

On a quiet day, most of the aforementioned hearings would have the potential to transform into get-your-popcorn-ready blockbusters that could lead the news and spark a national dialogue about hugely consequential topics, from the future of public education to race relations, America's role in the world, the moral hazards of Trump's support for torture or the virtue of a trillion-dollar infrastructure package. But the flurry of simultaneous activity will make it vastly easier for his allies to jam these secretaries through without any of these debates breaking through.

Don't forget: Because Harry Reid myopically went nuclear in 2014, all these folks can now be confirmed with just 50 votes.

It is inconceivable that Trump and his team did not have the Senate schedule in mind when they rescheduled their press conference for the 11th.

Frustrating some Hill Democrats, Barack Obama — who is concerned primarily with his own legacy at this point — has scheduled his farewell address for 9 p.m. Eastern on the night of the 10th. The speech is happening so late— to maximize the West Coast audience — that it will probably dominate the cable conversation on Wednesday morning, instead of news about the nominees.

The Post has the resources to flood the zone, with multiple beat reporters assigned to every hearing mentioned above, but very few news organizations do. And TV news has limited airtime. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine even savvy news consumers reading six standalone stories about Senate confirmation hearings, plus analysis of Obama's farewell speech and coverage of Trump's presser.