The Matt Gaetz Test

Susan Estrich on Nov 16, 2024

Are you shocked? Matt Gaetz as attorney general. A man with virtually no experience as anything other than an election denier, a Jan. 6 troublemaker who called the rioters "patriotic Americans," a man who was within days of a withering report from the House Ethics Committee on everything from underage sex to misuse of campaign funds, this is the man who Donald Trump wants to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer.

"I don't think it's a serious nomination for the attorney general," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. "We need to have a serious attorney general, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious."

"This one was not on my bingo card," Murkowski added. That's one.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was "shocked" to hear of Trump's nomination of Gaetz. She expected better. I didn't. No reason to. "This is why the advice and consent process is so important," Collins said. "I'm sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing. Obviously the president has the right to nominate whoever he wishes but I'm certain there will be a lot of questions." Is that two?

A Republican friend of mine tells me there are already four votes against Gaetz among Senate Republicans. We will see.

Marco Rubio is out there spreading the company line. He expects Gaetz to be confirmed. "I think he will because presidents deserve great deference," Rubio said. The president "has a right to surround himself with people he trusts," he said.

Matt Gaetz is a test of exactly how spineless the Republican Senate will be. Trump already convinced the Supreme Court to let him get away with murder. Confirming Matt Gaetz would establish that there are no limits on Trump's power. There is no one he could pick who would be a less appropriate boss for the over 100,000 people who work at the Department of Justice.

Nominating Matt Gaetz was a giant "F you" to the legal establishment in this country, and to the tradition of an independent Department of Justice. It was Trump's way of saying that he plans to do exactly what he promised in the campaign: to dismantle the Department of Justice, to turn it into a partisan tool of the White House's determination to seek retribution against his political enemies, to reward loyalty to Trump as the only factor that counts in terms of who runs this country. Go along with him, be a coward, or risk retribution from the most powerful man in the world and his new best friend, the richest man in the world, who has promised to support primary challenges against any Republicans with the backbone and integrity to stand up to him.

What happens next? It depends on how much more dirt comes out about Gaetz. Senators have made clear that they want to see that Ethics Committee report. Democrats are not going to make it easy -- and they should not -- for their Republican colleagues. How much political capital does Trump really want to spend at this stage? He has a lot to begin with, but spending it on a guy like Gaetz is only something an arrogant king would do, which is to say it's only something Trump would do. And he might.

Here's what I think. Whoever we get instead of Gaetz will be just as bad in policy terms as Gaetz is, and will sail through confirmation precisely because Gaetz doesn't. If you want to destroy the Justice Department, this is the way to do it. Gaetz ends up as White House counsel. The Justice Department ends up in the hands of someone no less bent on executing Trump's agenda. It's a win-win for Trump. He shows everyone that he is unstoppable. And we can't complain that he didn't warn us because he did. It is going to be a long two years before there is even a chance to right the course.

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