Each week, as an installment and mainstay of The Contrarian, I look at words or phrases that are so misused, distorted, or misunderstood that we might consider banishing them from our current political and policy parlance. This week, that word is “Cabinet.”
The White House website declares: “Established in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, the Cabinet’s role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member’s respective office.” Like so much else emerging from this White House, that is wrong. The Constitution is silent on the “cabinet” and refers only to “the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments.” (Which, by the way, is the subject of much litigation—given that acting president Elon Musk seems to be the principal officer in each department, without the required Senate confirmation.)