When Donald Trump named Ben Carson as his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, many wondered exactly what Carson’s qualifications were for the job. For a brief time, it looked as though Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, was among those wondering. It appeared as though Collins had broken ranks with her fellow Republicans in order to oppose Carson’s appointment, as Pat Callaghan, a Maine news anchor and reporter suggested.
“Sen. Collins says Carson is ‘uniquely unqualified’ to run the agency. #mepolitics,” Callaghan tweeted. Unfortunately, Callaghan quickly realized that he had made a mistake, deleting his tweet and replacing it with the following clarification:
Senator Collins also weighed in, promising that she looks forward to working with Carson after he is confirmed.
Collins elaborated in a statement on Carson's nomination, in which she ensured supporters that she was wholly enthusiastic about his running the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
For a second there, it looked like Collins might be ready to take a firm stance against one of the more ill-advised-seeming appointments president-elect Trump has made to his cabinet. Alas, our hopes for a rational politician were quickly dashed.