“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.
