Key Trump Cabinet Nominees Face a Daunting Energy Policy Mess

After a week spent watching hours of the various senate confirmation hearings for some of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, one compelling thought lingers with me more than any other: Does Hawaii Democrat Mazie Hirono have a seat on every Senate committee? Is there a Chuck Schumer-led conspiracy to give her a seat on every panel just to make the other Democrat members look less vapid and ignorant?

The answer to that is probably ‘no,’ but it seemed that way as the Senator began her questioning of nominees ranging from Pete Hegseth (Defense) to Pam Bondi (Justice) to Doug Burgum (Interior) to Chris Wright (Energy) by posting some iteration of the following question: “… since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?”

Sadly, Hirono’s mean-spirited, incurious, ultimately farcical style of questioning turned out to be less of an exception than a rule among the Democratic members of these committees as the week wore on. Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine ended his questioning of Hegseth by literally asking if he has ever beaten his wife, an obvious smear which Hegseth denied.