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Trump wants <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/senate-recess-appointments-trump-republicans/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4" target=_blank>to go around the Senate</a>. That could be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/trump-senate-recess-appointments-powergrab/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4" target=_blank>a disaster</a>.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/fluoride-water-rfk-jr-trump-public-health/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5" target=_blank>Water fluoridation is actually a mixed bag</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/disinformation-threat-democracy/?itid=lk_inline_manual_6" target=_blank>How to compete with the right-wing media ecosystem</a>

Make circumventing the Senate great again?

Michael A. McCoy

Greetings to you all from Transition Washington, a concentration-busting liminal state (well, liminal city — of statehood, we can only dream) in which we all obsess nonstop about what happens next. On Sunday, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> dropped into the roiling cauldron this announcement: “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner.”

Noted! But what are the implications of the president-elect demanding that he should be able to appoint people to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/senate-recess-appointments-trump-republicans/" target=_blank>major positions without Senate oversight</a>? The Editorial Board explains: “Mr. Trump wants opportunities to circumvent the Senate confirmation process even though Republicans will have a clear majority of seats — at least 52, according to the latest count — signaling his intention to elevate appointees whom even some Republicans cannot tolerate.” A few Republicans have already signaled they’re on board.

Seem dark? Let Ruth Marcus go off. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/trump-senate-recess-appointments-powergrab/" target=_blank>Insisting on recess appointments</a> “might sound like an arcane corner of Senate parliamentary procedure,” she writes. “It’s actually a dangerous end run around the separation of powers.” Such appointments were originally intended for situations in which the Senate is not in session, and when temporary leadership is needed until someone could be confirmed. But, Ruth writes, they are “supposed to be an aberration, not the norm.”

Ruth points out that Trump has another card he can threaten to play: He could forcibly adjourn both chambers of Congress himself. “So, we must contemplate the possibility: One way or another — either because the supine Senate steps aside or because Trump suspends the legislature, as no president has done before — Trump installs his chosen officials without bothering to obtain Senate approval,” Ruth writes. “This would not be the separation of powers that the framers envisioned but a president without checks and a system dangerously out of balance.”

Chaser: Never mind trying to be Senate majority leader; Opinions administrator Rachel Manteuffel is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/dc-gop-trump-election-voting-rights/" target="_blank">done with the entire GOP, after spending years as perhaps the District’s leftwardest registered Republican</a>. “Now, showing even absurdist or ironic bipartisan support feels gross,” she writes. “I no longer want to be on that list.”

Though some proposals of would-be Trump health czar Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s can only be described as anti-health — measles for your newborn, anyone? — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/fluoride-water-rfk-jr-trump-public-health/" target=_blank>his point about the risks of water fluoridation does bear consideration</a>, Leana Wen writes. Yes, fluoride in water is good for your teeth, especially if you’re not brushing with fluoridated toothpaste, she says. But there is evidence to suggest added fluoride in drinking water is not good for babies in utero — and so, overall, the picture is somewhat muddied.

That kernel of truth points to what it would mean to assess policy proposals from a nondoctor steeped in alternative health — an area in which some received wisdom might be extremely harmful and other parts might check out. “To be clear, I am deeply concerned about the public health implications of a second Trump administration,” Leana concludes. “But I would caution the medical and scientific community against knee-jerk reactions. Not every proposal from Trump and Kennedy is a five-alarm fire.”

Jen Rubin writes about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/disinformation-threat-democracy/" target=_blank>the highly successful right-wing media establishment</a> and how the reality-based community can compete: “The answer to combating the avalanche of disinformation, sadly, does not reside primarily in legacy media, which millions upon millions of Americans never see or read,” she writes. That’s a bummer for us, but we are all too aware of the many people we’re not reaching.

So what to do? “The solution lies largely in fostering new forms of media to counteract the gusher of right-wing disinformation,” Jen writes. She’s got a point. For now, we’ll just refer you to Dave Jorgenson, the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@washingtonpost" target=_blank>Washington Post TikTok</a> guy, whom you can also find on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/davetakespictures/" target=_blank>Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.threads.net/@davetakespictures" target=_blank>Threads</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/davejorgenson.bsky.social" target=_blank>Bluesky</a>.

Chaser: Shortly after the election, Erik Wemple wrote about a media landscape in which Trump vehemently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/07/trump-media-future-fragmentation/" target=_blank>coaches his followers against trusting the mainstream news media</a> — a campaign that has left us with a radically polarized infosphere.

How can Trump get some leverage in brokering a Ukraine deal with Russia? <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/donald-trump-russia-ukraine-peace-deal/?itid=lk_inline_manual_29" target=_blank>Max Boot has some ideas</a>.

Poorer countries especially will feel the brunt of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/trump-globalization-backlash-countries-pain/?itid=lk_inline_manual_30" target=_blank>Trump’s opposition to globalism</a>, Eduardo Porter warns.

The United States seems to be drifting back to an older model of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/12/united-states-middle-east-nation-building-israel/?itid=lk_inline_manual_31" target=_blank>nation-building through force</a>. That hasn’t gone well in the recent past, writes Connor Echols.

It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.

Have your own newsy haiku? <a href="mailto:amanda.katz@washpost.com?subject=Opinions+Newsletter+Feedback" target=_blank>Email it to me</a>, along with any questions/comments/compliments/complaints. See you tomorrow!

Amanda Katz is a senior assignment editor for Opinions, where she has worked since 2022. She was previously an editor at CNN, the Boston Globe and Bloomsbury Publishing, and has written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Slate and other publications.

Amanda Katz

Today’s Opinions: Wanted: Senate leader. Must love recess appointments.

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