Idaho senators face a crucial choice: Uphold the Constitution or align with Trump | Opinion

The U.S. Constitution states that the president shall appoint members of his cabinet “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate.”

We could find no clause that states “the Senate shall blindly approve if the president shall be of the same party but advise and obstruct if the president shall be of the opposing party.”

Will Idaho’s two Republican senators, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, demonstrate loyalty to the Constitution or will they on bended knee show loyalty to incoming President Donald Trump?

We hope for the former, but we see signs of the latter.

“We’re going to work really hard to get Donald Trump and his agenda pushed forward as much as we can,” Risch said on an Idaho radio station. “I have every intention of pressing the (appointments) that he’s made. … I have voted for every single appointment that Donald Trump has ever made.”

Risch also said that Trump won in a landslide, which would somehow suggest that Trump can do whatever he wants. But Trump won less than 50% of the popular vote. Regardless, executive powers aren’t magically expanded based on the percentage of victory.

“My default position on all of them is to support President Trump’s nomination right,” Crapo said in an interview with KAOX radio.

When talking about Trump using recess appointments to get around the Senate’s constitutional duty of advise and consent, Crapo rolled over, telling the radio station, “It is something that I and a number of others think we should give the president the authority to do in the appropriate circumstances.”

Not encouraging.

Many Americans breathed a sigh of relief when the eminently unqualified Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration for U.S. attorney general.

But Trump has put forth nearly equally preposterous nominations, including former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon for secretary of education and TV medical huckster Dr. Mehmet Oz for director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Some of these nominees make Robert F. Kennedy Jr. look like a normal pick for secretary of health. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump has called “Little Marco,” “lightweight choker” and “nervous basket case,” now seems like a reasonable choice for secretary of state. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Trump repeatedly called “DeSanctimonious,” is now a leading alternate for secretary of defense.

Risch’s fealty to Trump and whoever he selects led to an embarrassing incident on the international stage.

“Look, I think it’s delusional for anybody to not agree that women in combat creates certain unique situations that have to be dealt with. I think the jury’s still out on how to do that,” Risch said in a panel appearance at the annual Halifax International Security Forum over the weekend, apparently trying to justify misogynistic statements made by Hegseth.

“I can’t believe that in 2024, we still have to justify the contribution of women to their defense and to their service in their country,” Canadian Gen. Jennie Carignan said in response, generating a standing ovation from the audience.

Good for her and good for the audience for putting Risch, 81, in his place, which apparently is somewhere in the mid-1950s.

It has occurred to us that perhaps nominees like Gaetz, McMahon and Hegseth are part of a larger strategy to push through less crazy — but still crazy — nominees. Maybe that gives Trump too much credit. Regardless, it seems to be working on guys like Crapo and Risch.

We can’t help but think that if President Joe Biden had put such names forward, Crapo and Risch would be singing a different tune.

In fact, both Crapo and Risch opposed Biden’s nominations of Xavier Becerra for Health and Human Services, Alejandro Mayorkas for Homeland Security and Deb Haaland for Interior.

So blindly support the nominees when it’s your guy but oppose them when it’s the other party. Imagine opposing Deb Haaland but thinking Dr. Oz might be a good pick for a high-level government job.

That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.

Our system of checks and balances necessarily requires the legislative branch to be a check on the executive branch — regardless of party.

Trump has shown authoritarian tendencies, and without checks and balances, the executive branch can become a dictatorship.

Idaho’s two senators are in a position to be important leaders in this precarious situation.

Both have been longtime politicians and hopefully remember when the Republican Party was the Party of Reagan.

Both have seats that are safe. Crapo has won his last three elections with 60-71% of the vote, and Risch has won his last three elections with 57-65%.

Politically, they can afford to stand up and do the right thing.

And with the Republicans regaining control of the Senate, both Crapo and Risch rise to positions of power.

Crapo is slated to become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which will be considering several nominations, including the nomination of Kennedy Jr. Risch is slated to become chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which will vet ambassadors and State Department positions.

Benjamin Franklin famously said that the United States will be “a republic, if you can keep it.”

Idaho’s senators would do well to remember what the question was: “What have we got — a republic or a monarchy?”

Because, without guardrails and without senators fulfilling their constitutional duty of keeping the president in check, we might as well have a monarchy and crown Donald Trump king.

This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 4:00 AM.