Well, at least now we have some idea of the far limits of the Republican majority in the Senate when it comes to installing people at the head of the various departments of the executive. They'll sit for vast conflicts of interest (Rex Tillerson), basic hostility to the function of the department they'll be running (Jeff Sessions), space-alien detachment (Ben Carson), suspiciously barbered testimony (Stephen Mnuchin, Tom Price) and the happy mix of ignorance and fundamentalist bliss (Betsy DeVos). They'll even swing with a Labor Secretary who runs restaurants that have more in common with The Triangle Shirtwaist Company.

But, don't be hiring an undocumented worker to clean the family manse because, if you do, thanks for playing, Andrew Puzder. From CBS News:

The source says he does not believe Puzder will appear for his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee. Asked why, the source said, "I think he's very tired of the abuse." Another source working on Puzder's confirmation preparation also told Garrett that the odds were about 80 percent odds that the CKE Restaurants executive would pull out of the nomination. The news comes after days of intense scrutiny over Puzder's fitness to lead the Labor Department and questionable support from Republican senators.

There's no question in my mind that, if Puzder withdraws, whoever the administration comes up with to replace him will be just as bad, if not worse and, given the current occupant of the White House, who knows who it might be anyway?

(Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunuculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their Midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, seems to be campaigning on the electric Twitter machine, and those hearings would be a blast.)

But what this particular development doesn't prove is that the Republican majorities in the Congress are preparing to stand up to the president* in any significant way. Outside of Interior, I can't think of a less important Cabinet office under a Republican president than Labor. They're certainly not going to hold out for the president* to nominate someone who will be a Secretary of Labor who's sympathetic to, you know, labor. Likely, this was the easiest way to show how independent they are without actually doing anything serious to prove it.

In a way, it's terribly unfair. Puzder wasn't any worse of a pick than four or five of the nominees who are already confirmed. (Hell, Sessions pretty much has to recuse himself from any investigation regarding Russian involvement in the election.) He wasn't any better, either. He was just convenient.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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