I am dismayed that so many of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees have such a shocking lack of qualifications. I believe that many of the nominees, including Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, Russell Vought and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are clear threats to our country and not in Utah’s best interest. We have checks and balances for a reason, and we need Sen. Curtis and Sen. Lee to do what is right for the people of Utah and the people of the United States and vote no on these individuals. We elected our senators to represent Utah and our best interests. They took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, not to toe the Republican Party line. We see them and will remember their actions and inactions.

Mr. Patel has made it clear on social media that he wants to use his position to “get revenge” on anyone he himself considers an enemy of President Trump. He has an extensive published “enemies list.” This cannot be construed as normal behavior; it is alarming and it is dangerous. Mr. Patel has threatened the media and has posted a video of himself using a chainsaw to cut through a log with the faces of individuals he considers enemies of President Trump. Mr. Patel has also made it clear by his actions of violating hostage recovery protocol on more than one occasion that he is not fit for a sensitive, important position such as FBI director. He has demonstrated a lack of ethics and morals required to hold this position.

Ms. Gabbard does not have a background in intelligence. The law creating the position requires the nominee have “extensive national security expertise,” which she lacks. She has also made many inappropriate statements for someone being considered for this position. Ms. Gabbard is on record blaming NATO for Russia invading Ukraine. In 2017, she met with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians. She is also a solid supporter of Vladimir Putin. That alone should disqualify Ms. Gabbard from this position. I am concerned that she too lacks ethics and morals and is only interested in power and money, something that I’m seeing FAR too often in my own political party.

Mr. Vought is truly a terrifying candidate. He has referred to Americans as enemies. Mr. Vought wants the president to have the power to use the military to stop demonstrations and protests, halting free speech. He has a peculiar abhorrence of federal employees and wants to mandate absolute loyalty to the president and punish those who want to hold their own beliefs. Mr. Vought is on record stating that he wants them “in trauma.” Mr. Vought has shown clear disdain for the rule of law by denying a subpoena. Though denying any part of the wildly unpopular Project 2025, President Trump has put a large part of it into action. As architect of Project 2025, Mr. Vought will undoubtedly enact the rest of it. His record shows he is unsuited and unqualified for the position of Office of Management and Budget director.

RFK Jr. has done nothing but demonstrate his lack of scientific knowledge and experience. RFK Jr. promotes perilous lies about medication safety and about vaccines. His despicable actions in Samoa caused the deaths of 83 individuals in 2019, most of them children under the age of 5. And despite witness testimony and documentation, he flat out lied to the Senate about what happened. The top health official in the United States must have experience in health care, expertise in crisis management, technical knowledge, and widespread understanding of health care regulations, laws and policy. RFK Jr. could not even name any of the parts of Medicare. He is unsuitable, unqualified and a public health disaster in the making.

With all of the intentional chaos caused by President Trump and his attempts to give himself ultimate power, we need our senators to be honest, reasonable, lawful, and to take their positions and their votes very seriously.

Alesia Hanson is a registered pharmacist and a board-certified sterile compounding pharmacist.