Donald Trump has nominated Keith Sonderling as his permanent Secretary of Labor, a man whose most notable recent achievement was threatening to financially kneecap 53 states over unemployment fraud he couldn't actually prove. This is where we are. This is fine.
So Who Exactly Is Keith Sonderling?
Sonderling has been filling the acting secretary role since April, when his predecessor Lori Chavez-DeRemer left under circumstances that read more like a tabloid crime blotter than a cabinet resignation. More on that in a moment.
Trump announced the nomination on Truth Social, because of course he did, calling Sonderling "outstanding" and praising his "dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country." The capital letters are Trump's. The credulity required to take that framing at face value would have to be yours.
Sonderling's resume includes stints at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a run as deputy labor secretary in Trump's first term, and brief acting roles leading the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the minority business development agency. He is, in other words, a career Trump loyalist who has been collecting acting titles like frequent flier miles.
The Unemployment Shakedown That Made Him a Star
Here's what apparently sealed the deal for Trump. On June 17th, Sonderling sent letters to all 53 states and territories demanding they "combat waste, fraud, and abuse" in their unemployment insurance programs, and threatened to withhold federal administrative funds if they didn't comply. According to The Guardian, this would have been the first time in history such a threat had been made.
"We are officially putting governors on notice," Sonderling announced, with the energy of a man who just discovered he could make other people's lives very difficult and found he enjoyed it. "The American people will no longer tolerate the blatant waste, fraud, and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars."
He then went on Fox News and specifically called out California, New York, and Illinois as having the highest instances of fraud. Three guesses what those states have in common politically. The Guardian reports he provided no evidence for this claim. None. Zero. He just said it on television and presumably the chyron underneath looked official enough that it didn't matter.
Cutting Off Unemployment Funds: A Bold Move for a Labor Secretary
Let's be clear about what Sonderling was actually threatening. He told Fox News he would "cut off the states' administrative funds" so they "won't be able to administer this unemployment insurance." The Secretary of Labor was threatening to make it impossible for states to pay unemployment benefits to workers who had lost their jobs.
This is the Department of Labor. The one that is theoretically supposed to protect workers. The one whose entire reason for existing is to ensure people who lose their jobs can survive while they find new ones. Sonderling's pitch for the top job was apparently: watch how fast I'll pull the rug out from under unemployed people in states that voted for the other guy.
And it worked. He got the nomination.
What Happened to the Last Labor Secretary
A brief, grim detour: Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the woman Sonderling is replacing, stepped down in April following what The Guardian describes as "a series of misconduct allegations" serious enough to trigger an internal investigation. These included allegations of a sexual relationship with a member of her security detail, sending staff to fetch her liquor, and using official business travel as cover for personal trips.
Her husband, Shawn DeRemer, also faced separate and deeply serious allegations, including claims of sexually assaulting two female staff members.
So the bar Sonderling has to clear to look like a stable, competent replacement is: don't do any of that. On that narrow metric, he appears to be succeeding. Whether he clears the bar for "person who should control the nation's labor policy" is a much more complicated question.
Sonderling Says He's Honored, Promises More of the Same
Sonderling responded to the nomination with a social media post thanking Trump for his "trust and confidence" and describing his service across both Trump administrations as "the greatest honor of my life." He added that if confirmed, he looks forward to "advancing the President's agenda on behalf of America's workers, families, unions, and job creators."
Workers and unions are mentioned in that sentence. This is technically true in the same way that a restaurant menu technically contains the word "fresh." Sonderling's concrete actions have involved threatening workers' access to unemployment benefits without evidence of wrongdoing in the states he targeted.
The Senate confirmation process will now determine whether Sonderling graduates from acting secretary to the real thing. Given the current Senate's relationship with accountability, don't hold your breath for a prolonged fight.
The Dingo Take
The promotion of Keith Sonderling to Labor Secretary nominee tells you everything about what the Trump administration thinks the Department of Labor is actually for. He didn't earn this job by expanding worker protections or cracking down on wage theft, which the DOL's Wage and Hour Division exists to do and which costs American workers tens of billions of dollars a year. He earned it by threatening to shut off unemployment payments to blue states while appearing on Fox News to talk about fraud he couldn't document.
That's the move. Weaponize a department's administrative powers against political opponents, make the threat loudly and publicly, and collect your reward. It's a governing philosophy that's less about policy than about demonstrating willingness to hurt the right people. The fact that those "right people" include unemployed workers in California, New York, and Illinois who had nothing to do with whatever budget dispute Sonderling was performing for the cameras is, presumably, beside the point.
The outgoing Labor Secretary allegedly had her staff fetch her booze and her husband allegedly assaulted multiple women. Sonderling's pitch is essentially "I have not done those specific things." For this administration, that appears to be sufficient. The workers of America deserve someone who will fight for them. What they're getting is someone auditioning for it by threatening them instead.
