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There is no world in which Matt Gaetz should be the top law enforcement officer in the United States. While he does hold a law degree, that’s pretty much the only place his resume matches up with any qualified candidate for attorney general.
This newsletter is for all Americans, but especially those 75 million of you who didn’t vote for Donald Trump because you knew, or at least suspected, his fully authoritarian bent would reveal itself sooner rather than later.
Welcome to sooner.
Let’s back up for the wide shot. President-elect Trump started the week by demanding that the forthcoming Republican-controlled Senate bow to his authority and agree to recess appointments for his Cabinet nominees — meaning no Senate approval. Now we know why: He wants to circumvent the checks and balances the Founding Fathers installed in the Constitution.
Of the handful of nominees Trump has already announced, some would have a hard time getting 51 votes, even with a Republican majority. Recess appointments are supposed to be used in emergencies. Trump is making noise that he could use them to fill his entire Cabinet with no oversight.
So far, Trump says he will nominate former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Putin apologist who believes the U.S. intelligence community has been weaponized against Trump, to be the director of national intelligence. Senator Mitt Romney has accused her of “parroting” false propaganda from Russia, our country’s most hostile espionage adversary.
The pick for secretary of defense is Fox “News” host Pete Hegseth. The decorated National Guardsman did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan but has had zero experience running a massive agency with an $800 billion budget and more than 2 million employees. Do Hegseth’s duties as a weekend anchor on Fox qualify him even to be in the same room as generals and admirals dealing with high-level military strategy and international diplomacy? Is he prepared to be on the phone with his counterpart in China or Russia as all hell is breaking loose? Could he stop World War III without a teleprompter? Here’s why Trump likes him: He’s been outspoken in condemning diversity programs within the military and women in combat and is willing to overlook charges against American soldiers facing war crimes.
Today, Trump made good on a late campaign promise to choose anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Please refer to this recent Steady for a longer take on why this appointment could be catastrophic for our nation’s health and security.
This is a zero-sum game in which Trump wants the fox watching the hen house. The picks show unvarnished contempt for the U.S. government. His intention is to create chaos and “own the liberals,” according to his former communications director Anthony Scaramucci, who told CNN that Trump’s mindset is, “‘Let’s pick some triggering people.’ And those are the triggering people.” Creating chaos and confusion with, in effect, one-man rule is the endgame.
Trump does not care about his detractors or even his supporters. The only constituent he cares about is the one in the mirror. With no third term to run for, a majority in both houses of Congress, a stacked Supreme Court, and zero moral compass, this is the newly emboldened and empowered Donald Trump. And it’s only week two.
If you think he is doing as he pleases because of some vast mandate — he does, by the way — think again. He won by less than Biden did in 2020, by 1.4%. But Trump could have won by just one vote and it wouldn’t change his behavior.
The appointment of Matt Gaetz for attorney general is case in point and deserves a deeper dive.
The 42-year-old now former congressman worked in private practice for only a few years before winning a seat in the Florida legislature. He’s never spent a day as a prosecutor, but he has spent the past eight years in the United States Congress as Trump’s most zealous sycophant.
As Trump’s loudest enabler, he was one of the most vociferous 2020 election deniers. More troubling is his disdain for federal law enforcement agencies. He has called for the abolition of the FBI and Department of Justice if they do not “come to heel.”
If the only issues were his lack of experience and contempt for the department he is to head, this column would end here. Ah, but there is so much more.
First, the backstory.
The Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee have spent the past several years investigating Gaetz. He has been accused of: statutory rape, underage sexual abuse, illicit drug use, sharing inappropriate images and videos on the House floor, using campaign funds for personal use, accepting a bribe and improper gifts, giving favors to friends, and obstructing justice.
The Justice Department chose not to indict him because of what they say were concerns about the quality of the witnesses. But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has continued its own investigation, even though they “had difficulty in obtaining” information from Gaetz.
The record shows that Gaetz has not been formally charged with any crime, much less been indicted. He is therefore, of course, entitled to a presumption of innocence as a matter of law.
Gaetz has called the ethics probe “frivolous” and claims it is retribution for helping to oust Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. In response, McCarthy accused Gaetz of orchestrating his removal because he refused to quash the ethics investigation. Good thing there aren’t real problems the U.S. Congress needs to address.
Timing is important to this story, so please follow along.
This coming Friday, November 15, the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing its “very damaging” report on Gaetz. According to Politico, as of Monday, November 12, Gaetz was not on the shortlist for AG; however, Trump reportedly wasn’t happy with anyone on the list. Then yesterday, on Trump’s plane from Palm Beach to Washington, D.C., with Gaetz aboard, a plan was hatched to tap the Florida congressman for attorney general. It happened so quickly that Trump’s soon-to-be chief of staff, Susie Wiles, sitting in another part of the plane, was unaware of the decision.
When the plane landed, Trump announced his intention to nominate Gaetz. Gaetz then promptly resigned from Congress. If you are wondering what happens to the ethics investigation, you should. With Gaetz no longer a member of Congress, the House no longer has jurisdiction over his actions, and the investigation dies. Here’s betting the report somehow miraculously becomes public. From my experience, House committees leak like nets.
So now, a dyed-in-the-wool Trump toady, who has the president-elect to thank for getting him out from under what was likely a scathing and perhaps disqualifying report, could become the U.S. attorney general, perhaps by recess appointment.
He may not need to resort to recess appointments, because as The New York Times’ Ezra Klein said on X, the Senate may fall in line. “Demanding Senate Republicans back Gaetz as attorney general and Hegseth as Defense Secretary is the 2024 version of forcing Sean Spicer to say it was the largest inauguration crowd ever. These aren’t just appointments. They’re loyalty tests.”
Most of you have hopefully ceased being shocked by the drama of these new developments. It’s all designed to raise your anxiety and give Trump what he craves most: attention. There is a difference between voyeuristically watching a train wreck and holding those in power accountable. Speaking truth to power and working to hold those in power to a high standard of accountability is one of the roles of Steady — and of journalism in a free society. The job was assigned to journalists by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
A test of whether journalists can and will meet that responsibility is now unfolding in Washington with the start of the new Trump era.
To support my team’s efforts to protect our democracy through the power of independent journalism, please consider joining as a paid subscriber. It keeps Steady sustainable and accessible for all. Thank you.
No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.
Stay Steady,
Dan
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