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Could This Be the Real Reason Why Trump Nominated Matt Gaetz As Attorney General?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  November 14, 2024 10:30 PM

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been nominated to be our next attorney general. It’s triggered all the right people, as he would take a baseball bat to the Department of Justice. It’s a clear sign that the era of gangster antics from the rogue officials and agents here is over. Gaetz is indeed the king of controversy. He wallows in it so that this confirmation fight will be bloody. It just is since there are more than enough squishy Republicans who could make this fight a slog. 

There have been many theories as to why Gaetz was selected. Is it 4-D chess? Is it a ploy to get Gaetz to resign from Congress? He did so yesterday, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson. Even Politico thought the ploy of Gaetz leaving would make it easier for Trump to select who he really wants to be a stretch.  Yet, it might be one massive loyalty test (via Politico) [emphasis mine]: 

Once Gaetz’s selection was announced, the chatter among top Republicans on Capitol Hill quickly turned to four questions: 

1. Was Trump aware of the coming Ethics report on its Gaetz investigation? 

The committee was planning to vote Friday on whether to release the report, as Punchbowl first reported. But if “Gaetz is no longer a member of the House, the report likely won’t be formally released,” as Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney report.

Frankly, it seems implausible to us that this won’t come out — if not on Friday, then during Gaetz’s confirmation hearings (assuming, of course, that Trump doesn’t try to end-run around those with recess appointments to the Cabinet). The House leaks like a sieve, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is definitely going to want to see at least the underlying evidence in the report. 

2. Is this for real? 

Pretty much every Hill Republican we spoke with thinks there’s something strange going on here. One theory we heard over and over from bewildered Republicans is that perhaps by picking him, Trump is giving Gaetz an out from the Ethics report (which seems possible), and that Gaetz is returning the favor by becoming a sacrificial lamb who will ease the way for Trump’s eventual pick for AG (which seems like a stretch). 

A separate theory we heard goes like this: Maybe Gaetz is resigning only from this Congress — so as to stymie the Ethics probe for now — with an intent to be seated for the next Congress come January. We find that very hard to believe, both because it doesn’t sound like it would realistically slow the Ethics report’s release, and because House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON has already spoken to Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS about holding a special election right away — which there would be no need for if Gaetz were planning to be seated in January. 

3. Can Gaetz actually get the Senate votes to be confirmed? 

It’s certainly possible, but count us as cautiously skeptical. (So is longtime Gaetz foe KEVIN McCARTHY, per Bloomberg.) Republicans will have a three-seat majority (with VP-elect JD VANCE available for any tie-breaking needed), so if four senators bounce, it’s a wrap. And the early reactions haven’t exactly been encouraging for Gaetz: 

Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) told reporters she was shocked. “Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes,” she said. “But this is why the Senate’s advise and consent process is so important. I’m sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz’s hearing, if in fact the nomination goes forward.” 

Sen. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska): “I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general. … I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious. This one was not on my bingo card.” 

Sen. THOM TILLIS (R-N.C.): “I have very few skills, vote counting is one, and I think he’s got a lot of work to get 50.” 

Sen. TODD YOUNG (R-Ind.), asked for comment, immediately started praising Secretary of State nominee MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) instead.

Sen. BILL CASSIDY (R-La.) dodged our very own Ursula Perano with an excuse we haven’t heard before: “I’m trying to go fix a toilet between getting back for a vote. Life’s a little hectic right now.” 

We’re also personally wondering what MITCH McCONNELL is thinking right now. Could delivering a thundering rejection of Trump’s preferred top cop be one of his first acts back in the GOP rank-and-file?

4. Beyond an AG, what is Trump trying to get out of this? 

One of the sharpest initial reactions we saw came from NYT columnist Ezra Klein. “Demanding Senate Republicans back Gaetz as attorney general and [PETE] HEGSETH as Defense Secretary is the 2024 version of forcing SEAN SPICER to say it was the largest inauguration crowd ever,” Klein wrote on X. “These aren’t just appointments. They’re loyalty tests.” 

In that way, it’s a test for every Republican in the Senate to see how they respond to Trump’s wishes. It’s also a test for incoming Senate Majority Leader JOHN THUNE, who won election yesterday — becoming the conference’s first new leader in a generation, as McConnell steps aside — only to have that news dwarfed by the Gaetz story. 

Think of it as Senate Republicans’ version of the Kobayashi Maru — the famous exam in “Star Trek” that presents trainees with a no-win situation. It isn’t meant to be passed; it’s intended to reveal something about the people who take it. 

What exactly it reveals about Senate Republicans, we’re about to find out.

Until this nomination is rescinded, Gaetz’s nomination will continue to rile up the establishment. It will make for some elite television-watching if it reaches the hearing stage.