Biden's controversial Cabinet picks will reveal who holds the cards in Washington

Republicans will be picky about Biden's nominees. Democrats should be, too.

Biden nominees.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

"I think they're going to pick a couple of people just to fight [over] no matter what."

That was President-elect Joe Biden's wearily wry response to New York Times columnist Tom Friedman when asked about Republican opposition to Neera Tanden, Biden's nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden has come under fire for a history of picking fights on Twitter, usually with Republicans, though she certainly has her fair share of left-wing detractors as well. The irony of Republicans of all people disqualifying a nominee on the basis of mean tweets escaped neither Biden nor Friedman — but what Biden's reaction telegraphed to me was that if Republicans needed a scalp, Tanden's was one they could have.

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Noah Millman

Noah Millman is a screenwriter and filmmaker, a political columnist and a critic. From 2012 through 2017 he was a senior editor and featured blogger at The American Conservative. His work has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Politico, USA Today, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Modern Age, First Things, and the Jewish Review of Books, among other publications. Noah lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.