Jeff Sessions for AG; Mike Pompeo for CIA Director; Mike Flynn for National Security Advisor

As I said yesterday, there are hopeful signs for conservatives coming from the Trump transition team, but we need hard actions to begin to feel more confident in a Trump administration. And today, we got that with three major administration announcements.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions will serve as Attorney General, Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo will be CIA director, and retired Lt. General Michael Flynn will be Trump’s National Security Advisor.

Sessions and Pompeo are both solid picks who should comfort #NeverTrump Republicans still concerned about the incoming Trump administration. Both have strong conservative voting records in Congress—Sessions has an 80% lifetime score from Heritage Action, while Pompeo has an 83% lifetime score—and moreover have a long history of aggressively promoting conservative positions on many of the issues over which they will now have direct jurisdiction in their new roles. Sessions has been a vocal critic of the Obama Justice Department in the Senate, defending voter ID laws and pushing for tougher border security when Trump was still singing the praises of Hillary Clinton and amnesty alike. Pompeo has likewise been a vocal critic of foes such as Iran, as well as the current administration’s attempted negotiations.

And I talk about both as if their Senate confirmation is all but sealed, because essentially it is. Both are members of Congress and are unquestionably qualified for the positions, which by itself will likely broad bipartisan consensus based on the principle of member courtesy. If a member is nominated for a post, be it a Cabinet pick or in the federal judiciary, they are almost always confirmed by an overwhelming margin.

Sessions especially is well-known and liked by members on both sides of the aisle. Some Democrats may try to raise the questionable statements he has made in the past with regard to race, the Voting Rights Act, and the NAACP, but it will likely get little traction. Some of those statements are somewhat troubling, but were made decades ago and have been in the public record for just as long. Others are nonissues being whipped up by an angry and hurting Democratic base, itching for a fight. They are unlikely to get it with either Sessions or Pompeo.

And those Democrats who would vote against either are weakened by the fact that only 51 votes are required to confirm Cabinet-level appointees. A change from the historic 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster, a change made several years ago by one Harry Reid and his Senate Democrats, who forgot that no majority lasts forever. Expect a sudden outcry from the Left about the tyranny of the majority.

Michael Flynn’s position requires no Senate confirmation, and his appointment is less of a shining moment for conservatives. He has taken a much-needed hard stand against Islamic terrorism, to be sure, but he has also voiced praise and admiration for Vladimir Putin and Russia on several occasions, and his new position will be sure to reinforce the president-elect’s own tendencies in that regard. Regardless, his appointment to some high level office in the Trump administration was widely expected.

So overall, two pieces of good news, along with a split opinion. Not a bad way to start Cabinet announcements.