(The Nation) -- n December 8, days after Donald Trump chose Andy Puzder as his nominee for Labor Secretary, I predicted that he wouldn’t get confirmed. I didn’t have any special inside information, just the knowledge that Puzder’s beliefs included the one idea conservatives would not not abide: support for immigration reform. Breitbart’s Julia Hahn, who’s now working in the White House, wrote a scathing piece on December 8, excoriating Puzder for supporting “amnesty and flooding the labor market with foreign workers."
It wasn’t just that the immigration issue would sap Puzder’s support among the far right. It meant that the grassroots wouldn’t have his back if any other damaging information about Puzder revealed itself. And boy, did it reveal itself, resulting today in Puzder’s withdrawal from consideration for the cabinet post.
The hidden catalyst in Puzder’s demise is actually Betsy DeVos. Her confirmation hearing went forward without completion of financial disclosures and ethics documents, to the outcry of Senate Democrats. Because the hearing went so badly and the confirmation became a mess requiring a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence, Senate HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander vowed that Puzder would not get the same latitude, and would have to finish his forms before any hearing.
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