In the grand scheme of MAGA implosions, Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s forced resignation barely registers. She isn’t infamous like Kristi Noem or Pam Bondi. It’s safe to say that most Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, don’t even know who she is.

But Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s former Labor Secretary, represents the end of what some pundits and intellectuals believed could have been an actual realignment in American politics. As an Oregon congresswoman, she was a backer of the PRO Act, which would encourage collective bargaining throughout the national economy. The PRO Act is a priority for many progressives and leftists, including Bernie Sanders, and the nomination of Chavez-DeRemer appeared to be an attempt to unite economic populists in both political parties. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who spoke at the Republican National Convention, praised the pick, while Democratic labor leaders were at least encouraged; Trump, it seemed, could be the least anti-union GOP president they had encountered in decades.

That was not to be. Chavez-DeRemer’s legacy will be the host of misconduct allegations that led to her resignation: using department resources for personal trips, having an affair with a member of her security team, and trying to steer grants to favored political operatives. Her husband had been barred from the department’s headquarters........

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