“Never make it through the Senate.’
That’s why you recess appoint an absolute Pit Bull of an FBI director over the Memorial Day weekend. Someone so brazen and counter to the DC mentality, that shocks the establishment to the core, then the senate will break their neck to confirm whoever you put forward that seems more reasonable, in their view.
Why not just put through the candidate that you want to begin with? Why set Clarke up for failure by appointing him to a job he is completely unsuited for? Clarke is a county sheriff. He runs the jail. He doesn't run police work. Send him to Justice to run the Federal Bureau of Prisons if you're that high on him. At least there he's dealing with something he's had experience with.