Because of the circumstances of the last nine years, the Attorney General position in the new Trump Administration is the Big Kahuna. It is, by far, the most important position. Everyone was waiting to see who Trump would pick.
I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the reactions today after Matt Gaetz was nominated. It seems this was a complete surprise to everyone because he was not on the radar screen. The appointment was announced at the House Republican meeting when they were nominating the Speaker for the next term; and there was a concerted, audible gasp in the room. The “journalists” at MSNBC and CNN were aghast and nearly panicked on air when discussing the appointment.
I have admired Gaetz’ work. He is extremely intelligent and insightful. He is a masterful communicator and tactician. He is good ideologically. But above all, he is determined and relentless.
He is not the typical betrayal-and-surrender Republican.
Above all else, this is a nomination to advance what is right and to reverse what is wrong. It is also a nomination to achieve accountability for awful things that have been perpetrated.
The “cherry on top” is that Elon Musk is apparently promising to fund primaries against any GOP Senator who gets in the way of Trump’s agenda. If true, we might be able to use that against Tillis. And it also might help Gaetz and other nominees get confirmed.
Check out Bannon’s reaction. Start at the 5:30 mark:
I suspect that the tactic of the new nominees will not be to reform their respective agencies, but to burn them to the ground and build on the ashes.
Wouldn’t that be great, Jaycee? In some cases, it would be best to leave the ashes alone, and refrain from rebuilding.
“Everyone else looked at AG as if they were applying for a judicial appointment. They talked about their vaunted legal theories and constitutional [expletive]. Gaetz was the only one who said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ ******* heads.'”
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-nominate-gaetz/2024/11/14/id/1188032/
Jaycee, I would be fascinated to learn who else was being considered, as discussed in the article. I think Lindsey Graham has already come out against the nomination– I don’t know about the others.
I believe Lindsey Graham voted to confirm the corrupt worm Merrick Garland. So Lindsey has scruples of some sort?
It would be interesting, Healey, to see the entire list of GOP Senators who voted to confirm Garland, and then see how they behave with respect to Gaetz. So many GOP Senators are badly compromised in various ways! I think Cornyn started making some noises yesterday against Gaetz also after he lost the leadership vote.
Trump may be engaging in multi-level trolling with the AG position just to fearmonger the current DOJ and troll the opposition.
Gaetz may not eventually get the job, but it sure has got the other side screaming and shouting.
You probably saw that Gaetz resigned his congressional position, so I expect he would get another Administration position that does not require confirmation in the event he is somehow boxed out by the awful Senate Republicans.