Ben Carson may actually become the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development despite a confirmation hearing that made him look completely unqualified to do so.

The most shocking part of this is that his approval vote from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee was unanimous. Which means that even Democrat senators gave him a final pass. 

The next step will be for Carson to be approved by the Senate.

Anyone who watched Carson’s confirmation hearing could see that he seemed unprepared, to say the least. He decided to ditch a plagiarized opening statement at the last minute to offer a meandering monologue showing just how unqualified he was. The point was further driven home when he all but agreed that some of the money from the department would directly benefit President Trump’s profits.

Many critics of the political process view Carson’s unanimous approval as a sign that Democrats have rolled over to the Trump administration and are going to let him do as he pleases without any pushback. You can’t really blame them for having this opinion.

Elizabeth Warren, who is one of the shining stars of the Democratic party, was on the committee that approved Carson’s HUD appointment. Despite all of the doubts that were raised, she released a statement saying she’d give him a chance to prove himself after promising to help fight homelessness.

“In light of these promises, I support Dr. Carson’s nomination, and look forward to working with him to ensure that he follows through on his commitments,”she said, according to Jezebel.

Sen. Sherrod Brown’s reasoning behind her vote is even more shocking.

“Dr. Carson is not the nominee I would have chosen to lead HUD, due both to his lack of experience and his often troubling public statements over the last three years,” she said  in a statement. “But despite my reservations, and my disagreements with some of his positions, I will give Dr. Carson the benefit of the doubt based on commitments he has made to me in person and to this committee.”

President Trump isn’t looking to only impact the country’s politics for the next few years. In just three days, he’s signed executive orders restricting the funding for women’s health organizations, reinstated construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and plans to start plans to build a wall across the border of Mexico. These are all plans with serious, long-term implications.

This probably isn’t the time to give clearly unqualified people the chance to prove you wrong after being put in a position of power.

The optimist in me hopes that this is just a sign that they let Carson squeak by so that they could focus on bigger problems. But, then again, why is the Department of Housing and Urban Development the one that’s so expendable?