If Democrats love the United States and loathe Donald Trump as much as they claim—and we have no reason to doubt their sincerity in these regards—they ought to express delight and gratitude when the president appoints someone with none of his own odious qualities to a high-level position. Instead, as White House legislative affairs director Marc Short rightly complained in March, they have “weaponized” the nomination process. Led by Chuck Schumer, Senate Democrats now stand foursquare against any Trump nominee, no matter how qualified or moderate or acclaimed that nominee might be.

Nowhere is this more frighteningly true than with Gina Haspel, who has been named to be the first woman to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. Despite his proclivity for nominating wild-card outsiders rather than “deep state” insiders to lead cabinet agencies, despite his extremely prickly relationship with the intelligence community, the president chose an accomplished and well-liked intelligence professional to head the CIA. The choice was made at the behest of former CIA director Mike Pompeo. Michael Hayden, former head of both the CIA and the National Security Agency under George W. Bush, applauds the choice. So does James Clapper, former director of national intelligence under Barack Obama. So does John Brennan, CIA director under Obama and a fierce critic of the current president.