Republicans Get to Chew on Matt Gaetz for Two Months and a Week
Since Jack Smith conveyed that he was going to shut down, I’ve been pondering how to improve Democratic messaging enough such that when Smith issues his report, it would make clear to Republicans, especially Mitch McConnell (and now John Thune, his chosen successor who was chosen today), they would own Trump’s crimes going forward. Similarly, I’ve been trying to anticipate how to convey the sheer outrage of the pardons Trump will issue when he becomes President.
I didn’t and don’t have great expectations that Democrats will be up to the task.
But then, after appointing a Fox TV pundit to run the largest military in the world, Trump picked Tulsi Gabbard to run the biggest intelligence operation, and then picked Matt Gaetz to run DOJ.
Thus far I’ve heard just a few Republicans (Lindsey Graham, Tommy Tuberville, Anna Paulina Luna), in either chamber, suggest Gaetz should be confirmed. Everyone else, especially Senators, are saying, welp, let’s have a thorough confirmation process. Some are nodding towards the clearance process they still imagine Trump would adhere to. Elsewhere, Ed Whelan is spreading rumors that Trump simply intends to recess Congress and appoint his cabinet that way.
It’s a frenzy. And it’s a frenzy led by Republicans — though Democrats are definitely joining the fun. A frenzy that has already led to a flood of new details about Gaetz’ debauchery.
If Gaetz gets this job via some means, it’ll be horrible. But it would probably be less horrible than if Mark Paoletta got the job, because Paoletta is highly competent, bureaucratically and legally, and personally close to Clarence Thomas and Sammy Alito. If you’re going to have a guy trying to thoroughly weaponize DOJ, I’d much rather have the guy who’ll piss off judges and natural Trump allies in the process.
Now, maybe this will burn through quickly and Trump will replace Gaetz with Paoletta. But if not, Gaetz serves as a ready symbol whom most Republicans loathe of all the same fitness problems that Trump has, of the same reasons why rule of law matters.
Trump is sprinting to bring the US down — and his nominations, and the means he might take to install his nominees, make that more clear.
Yes. It’s horrible. Everything is horrible. But this Gaetz nomination (along with the other two) may finally convince people that Trump really is the menace to America that Democrats and never-Trumpers have been warning he was. There may be no better person than Gaetz to convince the Republicans who hate him how poor Trump’s judgment is.
Update: After reporting that the Ethics Committee was going to vote on Friday to release their report on Gaetz (which is one of two reasons he quit), Dick Durbin called on the committee to preserve and share the report. John Cornyn also said he’d like to review it.
Frankly, I think Tulsi Gabbard as DNI is worse; she’s a cultist (for real), and given that plus her friendliness with Russia, Syria, …., I’d think it would be impossible for her to get any significant security clearance if it weren’t for the fact that Trump can make it so. See https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/tulsi-gabbard-cult-putin-democrat-science-of-identity-b2556594.html from a couple of years ago for more details. Gaetz can only ruin Federal law enforcement, not state law enforcement, but Gabbard will be able to give away the farm.
give away the farm? if it was only that simple. ah, yes the farm of intelligence information, yes I can see it now, sharing all the goods with the others so she appears to be sharing and caring. What wasn’t in trump’s bathroom could wind up in hers and then off to whomever puts in a request. Trump must be dead set on destroying the U.S.A. with appointments such as hers. No experience in that area, no education. Being an armed forces officer does not qualify you for the job she has been nominated for. It will be fun to see if she is confirmed and if she is even able to answer the questions.
Five Eyes and NATO must be having a few strategy meetings at this point.
They’re all bad but one thing in particular about Tulsi is potential Modi ties. Putin hasn’t, as far as we know anyway, attempted assassinations on dissidents in the US and Canada. But Modi’s government — our ostensible ally — has!
In November 2015, the former head of Russia Today died by getting drunk, falling down, and bashing his head on a baseball bat. Or was murdered by Putin.
https://www.occrp.org/en/news/us-russia-today-founder-died-in-dc-hotel-of-head-injuries
Or per Russian media, died of a heart attack.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lesin
Mea culpa. That’s useful yet terrible information. Thanks.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-diplomats-deaths-theories-putin-kremlin-a7602201.html
Not dissidents but diplomats
6 suspicious deaths of Russian Diplomats in 4 months between 8Nov2016 and 20Feb2017 the first and last of which happened in New York
lately found ‘archived’ WP report – long enough read, hard to compress into interesting title:
https://archive.is/2024.11.14-111231/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/14/trump-critics-enemies-presidency-preparations/
I believe that is wishful thinking. Yes, they’ll voice concern and whatever else, but remember how Senator Graham crumbled in weeks after Jan. 6th. Unfortunately, I expect the same.
Here it is the *day after* you posted this, and he’s already crumbled. Good call!
Lovely! Someone with fewer morals than Trump for AG and someone less intelligent than him to be his DNI. Where can Patel land to do even more damage?
Department of Labor. Union-busting to whole new levels.
Gonna give Labor back to Scalia’s kid, maybe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Scalia
It has the appearance of Trump daring the Senate to balk with having somebody worse next man up. Tulsi and Noem, and Susie as chief of staff. Women of the kind he trusts are appointed, Tulsi being Samoan on one parent side, so not all white men.
It could all be worse. I do not see Susie nor Tulsi as coup leaders. Hegseth, yeah, maybe. It ain’t over. More to be named. Rubio was a surprise.
Is there any sign he is using a transition team, or is this all Trump alone, perhaps Don Jr making up names?
“It has the appearance of Trump daring the Senate to balk.”
This. Gaetz withdraws, and all of a sudden Devin Nunes, John Eastman or Jonathan Turley looks like the “reasonable” option.
Looks like no slow walk-in’ but maybe some Stalin.
He’s gotta be Putin us on.
What Trump has done to the American body politic will leave a nasty Tsar.
Brutal comment!! Too true.
I think you’re Russian to judgment.
Women’s reproductive rights are now in the hands of an adjudicated rapist and a man credibly accused of raping a child.
Thanks, Paul, for mansplaining this to us. Gee, how would we ever have figured this out on our own. *eye roll*
Way to treat an ally I suppose. My daughter weeps.
Oh bullshit. Your daughter may tolerate your mansplaining but we don’t need to be inured to it here.
Mansplaining to women what’s happened to our rights is a waste of our time and yours. Go do something constructive. Maybe for once ask your daughter what you can do instead of telling her anything.
First Rule of Holes.
Mansplaining = correctile disfunction?
Let it go, Benji.
Any additional replies to this subthread I will remove.
Gaetz resigns from Congress
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/13/matt-gaetz-resigns-congress-00189488
Matt Gaetz resigning from Congress “immediately,” Johnson says
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/14/matt-gaetz-resigns-congress-ag-mike-johnson
So the ethics investigation goes away. He resigned so I am guessing no report will be released.
House of Reps being picked off by Trump. Leaves Johnson in a vulnerable position regarding votes.
That sounds like the move of someone who (among other factors) feels extremely confident that he’s getting (and keeping) that cabinet position.
I hope it bites him in the ass.
Or, someone who was leaving Congress anyway and knows he will be just fine wherever he ends up in MAGA-land, OAN-land or Fox News land.
Per Maya Miller at the NYT, the investigation may end, but a report is still possible:
For a report to be issued, the ethics committee has to be angry enough at Gaetz’ conduct at issue, pissed off enough at his arrogance and general behavior (see “McCarthy, Kevin, end of the speakership of”), and not in fear of any retribution from Trump or his minions. I think it is very likely he first two conditions can be met, but the third one is the one up in the air.
Ethics Committee Members:
Republicans
Chairman Michael Guest, Mississippi
David P. Joyce, Ohio
John H. Rutherford, Florida
Andrew R. Garbarino, New York
Michelle Fischbach, Minnesota
Democrats
Ranking Member Susan Wild, Pennsylvania
Veronica Escobar, Texas
Mark DeSaulnier, California
Deborah K. Ross, North Carolina
Glenn F. Ivey, Maryland
Thanks Peterr hoping for a report to release findings.
Mike Johnson will want that report filed in the deepest, darkest hole in DC.
Someone on Bluesky noted that a Dem could use parliamentary privilege to read the report into the record.
John Cornyn (!) appears anxious to see what the House Ethics Committee has uncovered. From The Guardian:
Internal links omitted.
By this point the picks are so strange that I am left wondering whether he has a “real” list hidden away after the outrage blows over. He has plenty of sycophants after all. Like some weird version of price-anchoring, and we’re all supposed to get wowed by the “discount” of the next people. Unless he fears competence this time around, even in positions that would actually benefit him. If so, he’s almost frighteningly on-point.
Or . . .
Trump is trying to force GOP Senators to declare their loyalty to Trump by confirming these wildly unsuitable appointments (Hegseth, Gabbert, and Gaetz), before getting to the outrageous policy positions he is going to bring to Congress. If there are Republicans who are intent on bucking his agenda, he wants to know now so that he can beat and beat and beat on them between now and Jan 20.
hmm, i agree that rooting out “disloyal” senators would be worth having an inefficient department head if you can slide in a useful deputy secretary at a later date. And admittedly with some of these picks he doesn’t even have to go looking for skeletons in the closet to use as leverage, and that doesn’t even include any leverage he can gain by pitting them against each other as an added layer of insulation. NSA confirming details of Gaetz indiscretions as the FBI keeps a team on potentially compromising business connections from Gabbard? The sky’s the limits for the man who hosted a survival-style TV show…
Do you think He thinks Gaetz ran the ethics committee off on the kind of charges He was convicted of, and Gaetz can get the fines thrown out? I know it is two different courts. But WTF?
Maybe the Senators are tired of this game show. It is weird.
“NSA confirming details of Gaetz indiscretions ” is an example of sanewashing that gives the Gray Lady a run for her money. Unless of course this blatant misuse of the English language is attributable to that same geriatric information relic.
I think Trump doesn’t even believe in “competence” or, honestly, objective reality. I think he really just believes in loyalty and disloyalty – if someone fails at the task he assigned them, that means they’re not fully loyal, not that the task was too hard or impossible.
And his first term, he learned that the people everyone says are “competent” told him “no” a lot, so, to him, they were disloyal – so this time he’s going all-in on people who tell him “yes” a lot.
I’m with Sotek here, I don’t think ‘competency’ (at least as we understand it) is a factor in Trump’s decisions here. The through line of weakening the capacities of the administrative state has been mentioned a few other times in the comments, but I also think Trump’s reality TV background is showing through.
Creating the problem to sell you the solution is nothing new, and a bloated, ineffective bureaucracy (or the appearance of one) lets him sell “small government” alternatives to his base. Such a move also goes hand in hand with the appointment of Musk and the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Trump’s power to rule the legislature, especially the Senate, is diminished by the day. He is old, tired, in poor health (sure, just as crazy venal as ever), but he will be gone within the next 2 years. At least as a power. He may be drooling in some corner, but his minions will only be using him as a prop, not obeying him.
Trump was the magnet. His minions? Not so much.
At least my ouija board tells me this.
You do realize that people have been saying this exact same thing since 2016 right?
Trump can be counted on to always have the element of surprise and his words and actions are so bizarre sometimes that they have a way of focusing our attention on him (even when we want to think of anything else but…)
I’ll offer this as a possibility – he has got some pretty heinous things in mind and he will need 100% committed people to carry them out. Putting those people who are unqualified but diabolical in jobs where they get to exact their own revenge for their own purposes makes them more likely to do whatever he wants them to do when the time comes. I do this for you so you will do that for me. That is how Trump ensnares people.
Senator Heinrich (D-NM) response to Gaetz nomination on Blue Sky:
People voted for cheaper eggs, not whatever the f@#(= this is.
From 5 years ago in Mother Jones:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/how-matt-gaetz-used-daddys-money-to-become-trumps-favorite-congressman/
“The meanest member of Congress hails from a town called Niceville . . . ”
“Gaetz is a third-generation politician. His grandfather, Jerry Gaetz, was the mayor of a small town in North Dakota and a state legislator who died in 1964 at the state GOP convention after giving a speech endorsing Barry Goldwater for president. Matt’s father, Don Gaetz, has been a prominent figure in Panhandle politics since first winning election to the Okaloosa County school board in 1994.”
“In the late 1970s, his father co-founded a nonprofit hospice company that successfully lobbied Congress to allow Medicare and Medicaid to cover its services. Once the public money started flowing, the nonprofit became a for-profit corporation, Vitas, that grew into the country’s largest hospice care provider.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VITAS_Healthcare
We should all remember that a great deal of the Gaetz family influence is related to the Sr. Gaetz’s disbursement of the billions in fines that BP ponied up to bury the fact that their reckless attempts to “beat the odds”, by usng questionable techniques in deepwater drilling procedures, polluted the Gulf of Mexico for a thousand years.
This is advance work for the Circus, teasers about the main characters next season. The entrail reading on all this is mostly staring into the abyss, but I really though Trump wanted a fixer, a Roy Cohn, an Avenging Angel. Does this sound like Matt Gaetz to anyone? It may be simply Trump was impressed with Matt’s rabid weasel audition, and he would arrest Congress at Trump’s command. Matt’s job will be to release the hounds, not go to court. There was little/no strategic appointments last time, and he thinks his problems were caused by a lack of loyalty, not competence.
What would it look like if Trump was told what to do by an authority figure whose respect and fluffier he wanted as narcissistic supply?
Would it look like he got a fixer? Or would it look like absolute foolishness if the authority figure was someone like Putin?
The nude photos of Melania may have been a threat to follow through with this kind of stupidity.
The picture of Melania Trump is some weird. At the old age of 75, don’t recall the leader of one country publishing a nude picture of the wife of another world leader. Now I may have forgotten if some one did, but its so unusual. A friend and I were discussing it this morning and they were shocked. Not by the picture but that one world leader would do that to another world leader. it is so weird. We both felt some one was sending a “message”.
Agreed that the pics are anomalous (crazy?). Humans often see patterns & ascribe intentions that have more connections to the observer than the realities of the day. Nonetheless: What if Putin’s has the pee tape? How better to remind Trump of than nude photos of Melania? Ricocheting through the hall of mirrors, what if Putin’s doesn’t have the pee tape, but feels free to troll Trump with it anyway? Continuing on the roll, what if either scenario rattles Trump, and he is just randomly throwing out potential cabinet nominees because he’s more worried about personal exposure than anything else? I don’t put much faith in any of this speculation, It’s likely more navel gazing than useful, lots of insomnia these days
That wasn’t a ‘message’. That was a sharp, upward snatch of the choke chain, reminding Trump whose leash he is on.
Some bull(y) needs to show Matt a door.
That thrust me onto the horns of a dilemma — do I laugh or cry?
Looking at his brow, I would say he has already met with a door. Ole.
Or some father who is at least as good a father as Al Bundy on “Married with Children” …
Putin must be laughing his ass off. Trump isn’t even in office yet and he’s already bringing the house down.
Donald Trump has endlessly demonstrated that his judgment is as bad as his ability to manage investments. Trump really wants these outrageous Cabinet picks. If nothing else, they advance his and Bannon’s project to bring down the government. Somehow, he’ll manage to create an information highway between himself and the Kremlin.
Gaetz’s resignation is a big red flag, though, suggesting how serious the House investigation against him is. He knows his nomination is among the few that a GOP-controlled Senate might not approve. But he resigned his seat anyway. Curious and curiouser.
I wonder if that was one of the conditions for the announcement. Resign now, greatly reduce the chance of a report being released. Still no guarantee he gets in, but he’d only get Trump’s support if he avoided becoming a spectacle. Only one of those allowed, at the top…
How kind of Donald Trump to give Matt Gaetz cover for what now seems to have been his prompt and inevitable resignation from the House. How absurd that he did it at the expense of the DoJ and the rule of law.
To quote the late great Raul Julia, “but for me, it was Tuesday”
I realized that if he isn’t confirmed then maybe DeSantis would name him to Rubio’s seat.
I have no doubt that you are correct.
Rick Scott and Matt Gaetz would have to be one of the worst ever pairs of Senators from any state.
Until yesterday, Gaetz was a member of the House.
If he were to be appointed to Rubio’s seat, how would that affect the House Ethics Committee’s actions?
Apples and oranges. The House Ethics Committee loses continuing jurisdiction, when a member leaves the House.
Were DeSantis to appoint Gaetz as interim Senator, replacing Rubio until the next election required to permanently fill the seat under state statute, he would still be a former member of the House. It would not revive the House’s jurisdiction.
Replying to EoH:
True, but the House Ethics Committee could refer the matter to their Senate counterpart, or the Senate could request it from the House.
Gaetz may have done the most damage in the House, but he certainly pissed off a lot of GOP senators along the way.
Or riddle me this…I posted this to EW on BlueSky yesterday because I heard it while not really paying attention to a local NBC (news) affiliate.
The IT is DeSantis getting appointed to Rubio’s Senate Seat.
Now it appears that this may be a (speculative) thing from The Miami Herald which is generally well respected.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article295429304.html
He don’t need no stinking confirmation, there is always the recess appointment and he can be ‘acting’ AG till hell freezes over.
Between Slotkin and Gaetz, how close is Speaker going to be? How many votes does Johnson have to spare before there isn’t a majority and/or a race for special elections?
Not Slotkin, but Stefanik. Slotkin is a Michigan Dem who went from the House to the Senate; Stafanik is a Republican in the House who is Trump’s nominee for US Ambassador.
But to your basic question, if the House is full, it takes 218 votes to become speaker. For every two vacancies in the House (deaths, resignations, un-resolved elections), it takes one less vote.
Meanwhile, what’s happening while we wait for the next ridiculous clown shoe to drop?
Gaetz’ resignation from Congress may be a gift if the Senate manages to reject his nomination, but I expect Rump to force him through via a “recess” appointment.
I screamed obscenities at the tv twice tonight.
1. Trump’s excuse for being a total asshole to Biden: “Politics is tough.”
2. Dave McCormick’s response to mandatory recount: “Waste of taxpayer money that won’t change the results.”
There doesn’t appear to be any reason or game plan for these nominees. From the incompetent to the weird. toilet sales person? The portfolios require skills and intelligence. These people seem to be lacking those. Last time there were people with skills in the Cabinet, even if people questioned their decisions, their motives, etc. the current crop and just so out there thought he might have had a stroke while making the announcements. Of course with his cabinet during his first term, they knew enough about the system to object to some of his plans and could have mounted a challenge. This bunch, they truly are going to have a problem finding the light or the bathroom. Perhaps some one ought to bring a toilet.
I think that’s wrong.
First, there’s a throughline of Christian nationalists, in Huckabee and Hegseth, especially.
Between Hegseth and Gaetz I suspect there’s a vision to turn the military into a personalized force defending Trump, not the Constitution.
I could be wrong but it seems to me that the military and justice will be repurposed toward domestic unrest and the rest will be closed down. It is the end of the federal government.
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The whole ‘shall I uphold my oath at the cost of my job?’ is going to be the canary in the coal mine. In the military context these types of decisions will determine whether or not the constitutional order will be preserved or grievously misshapen. Will their be a heroic pushback?
The implicit evolution of the GOP at the moment is toward squaring the circle: authoritarian yet not needing the Constitution to be replaced.
imo
Wholeheartedly agree. The throughline is crystal clear to me, and that is creating a frontline of cabinet-level fools to take the heat they probably can’t fully internalize for those behind the scenes dictating through, or of Trump, their mandates. RFK looks like a clown when he monopolizes the discourse banning flouride while the Fifth Circuit quietly lets every remaining abortion guardrail fall
My guess is that they’re meant to spur mass auto-da-fenestrations.
Another through-line is that Trump’s nominees are largely bent on destroying the traditional work of their agencies. Reagan and both Bushes provide precedents. Gaetz is the most extreme example, so far, although he’s neck-and-neck with Gabbard.
Sometimes, that’s to stop an agency’s work altogether, as Betsy DeVos wanted to do at the Education Dept., work Trump has promised to complete this time around. Sometimes, it’s to create an unfiltered conduit of data to the White House, bypassing agency analysis. Dick Cheney did that with a narrow portion of the CIA’s work about his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trump also seems to want to keep decision-making inside the White House. Weak, incompetent Cabinet members are more likely to shove things up the chain of command than do it themselves and risk Trump’s ire. Again, Cheney did that to a degree, when he installed political commissars in key departments. Trump is taking it to its logical conclusion when he puts the commissars in direct control. Kash Patel would be an example of that.
Agencies should be taking some of the load off the WH instead of shoving the work to the top. Perhaps this will be the Achilles heel of the next few years. He is lazy and incompetent, but petulant for sure. How will Wiles and Miller manage? The WH staff will be overwhelmed. More hires? Triage employees to the hallways like in hospitals?
It does not look promising, no matter what.
I thought Gorsuch at EPA and Watt at Interior during the Reagan administration would be a duo that would be hard to top.
Trump appears to have done exactly that in the span of about 48 hours, and he’s got a bunch of major positions yet to fill. Enrique Tarrio as head of the Bureau of Prisons? Don Jr. as Secretary of the Treasury?
Due to the terrible local news options, I began watching TMZ this year and as I watched, it became evident they were slanting toward Trump even as they had a wider group of different guests that they interviewed than other shows. I had worried about our side ignoring this medium and now I am convinced it is a place where AOC or Pete or someone needs to be.
Yesterday they brought on General Russel Honore to talk to him about the Pete Hegseth nomination and it was interesting to hear his reaction. What was not shown in the link I provided is how TMZ used Pete Buttigieg’s “Inexperience” to justify picking Hegseth after the Honore interview. I cannot find that part of the show which I find interesting as well.
There is a far more organized and orchestrated sales job going on and we have very little way to track it and respond to it.
Honore was funny but he thinks the Senate will do their job….I am not convinced…
https://www.tmz.com/2024/11/13/army-general-russel-honore-says-pete-hegseth-wrong-about-women-combat/
Sec’y Pete at least had management experience. And the size and scope of his work as Sec’y of Transportation doesn’t hold a candle to the job of SecDef.
Hegseth has no management experience. He’s an angry, radical right performance artist who makes millions playing the clown. His combat experience as a junior officer, while laudable, is not relevant to the job of SecDef.
Ignoring the plethora of black box and black budget ops it ultimately controls, the Pentagon’s budget is $800-900 billion a year. It’s the largest and most complex institution on the planet. Hegseth would be a blind man in a maze.
“… the Pentagon’s budget is $800-900 billion a year.”
Trump is about to graduate from petty grifting and ascend to full blown oligarch once he access to that kind of money.
Billions of dollars in costs that would normally be accounted for in the Pentagon’s budget have been distributed to other agencies, but are of fundamental importance to the Pentagon’s operations.
The VA exists, for example, to provide health care to its former employees. It has a separate $300 billion budget.
The Dept of Energy originally played a considerable role in managing the nuclear industry, whose principal role was development of nuclear weapons, not just domesticate energy production. Its budget is about $50 billion.
The Pentagon is the principal customer for US intel agencies. There are a plethora of them, beyond the usual suspects of the CIA and the NSA. Their budgets are both opaque and separate, though some, such as the DIA, are included in the Pentagon’s budget.
The point is that the SecDef’s duties are beyond what many people consider his responsibilities and profoundly beyond the reach of Pete Hegseth.
As an aside, I think Secty Pete has been brilliant at messaging what he has been doing. The rest of the Dems could learn a thing or two from him.
He is seen reaching out to every corner of the country and when he appears on interview shows, always manages to tie the transportation project to lifting up the local community or the jobs sector or all of the downstream beneficiaries.
As I’ve heard clips of Hegseth interviews and statements, he strikes me as a major who has spent many hours with other captains and majors bitching about the idiocy of colonels and generals, based on the limited knowledge and unlimited egos of the captains and majors involved.
Meanwhile, colonels and generals know which captains and majors understand what they don’t understand, and those captains and majors who don’t. My sense is that Hegseth falls into the latter category.
The gameplan is to bend agencies to favor certain donors, or make the them incompetent, as this amplifies the Republican message that there is no such thing as good governance. The former is much more preferable, as it’s lucrative. For example, they claim to want to eliminate the Department of Education. I suspect they’ll find that it’s more beneficial/profitable to restructure it to favor block grants to states that in turn will send the money to privately owned schools, while at the same time creating unachievable standards for public schools.
He may be too far gone to form a government.
We don’t form governments in the U.S.; if none of his nominees are approved by the Senate, the existing non-appointees continue to carry out the function of their department/agency.
The questions now: whether there are enough anti-Trump Senators to form a majority coalition to shoot down all inappropriate nominations, whether the same faction is committed to holding the Senate open on a pro forma basis to prevent recess nominations, and most importantly, is the new Senate Majority Leader with the anti-Trump faction such that he doesn’t make changes to the Senate’s rules.
“The questions now: whether there are enough anti-Trump Senators to form a majority coalition to shoot down all inappropriate nominations,”.
I think something needs to be added to this question. Are there enough Senators willing to face the threats of violence to themselves and their families.
It seems the line of goppers who ever say no to Trump is the same length as those who say they receive threats to themselves and their families.
Not all of them can afford the extra security like Mitt Romney. So most remain silent and the threats of fascist violence go far under reported.
This violence, a key aspect of fascism, which goes back as far and further as Jeff Flake, has been woefully underestimated and underreported.
That’s more true of House members. Nearly every Senator is a multi-millionaire. Sherrod Brown is one of the few who aren’t. We lose him in six weeks. His Republican successor appears to be a hundred millionaire.
The Deciding happened on the plane
goaded on by Boris EPSHTEYN
while Susie WILES was not there [around?][present?]
[Help! it’s too early…need a rhyming line here]
https://bsky.app/profile/juddlegum.bsky.social/post/3lavromj45k2t
November 14, 2024 at 6:40 AM
So, Epshteyn and Gaetz pulled a fast one on Susie Wiles, when they were on Trump’s plane but she was not? They persuaded Trump to pull Gaetz’s balls out of the House Ethics Committee fire he threw them in? (Imagine how bad the report must be if Mikey Johnson’s House contemplated taking action against Bully Gaetz.)
I’m beginning to wonder if Wiles will stay on Trump’s team even as far as next Jan. 20th.
According to the source [“a Trump official”],
Wiles WAS on the plane…just in an adjacent room.
I’ve been wondering lately about where in the world Roger STONE is.
[ ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” Mike FLYNN “]
[ ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” Eric PRINCE “]
The report is evidently pretty bad.
That makes more sense. But it would be worse for Wiles, were she not on board with Gaetz’s nomination.
There are usually many reasons for these things, some contradictory. With Trump, there’s always the possibility that he wants the sideshow to distract attention from the adjacent circus tent that’s on fire.
Last night I almost made a comment suggesting that Epshteyn probably had a hand in this decision. And I wondered what Wiles was thinking and doing. So much for controlling the clown car. Go along to get along is likely to be the new motto.
With Elon Musk around, the clown car is now self-driving (and prone to anomalous crashes).
@Harpie
Trump Force1 en route to dare,
AG choosing happened where?
While the Trump plane in the air!
Gaetz and Epshteyn were the pair,
When Susie Wiles was not there.
The Deciding happened on the plane
goaded on by Boris EPSHTEYN
while Susie WILES was not there
——————————————-
Selecting Gaetz without a care
LOL! THANKS for the great assists, Steve and Matt! :-)
Marcy writes about this here:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/11/15/boris-epshteyns-one-two-punch-on-doj/
Marcy:
Trump’s appointments are motivated, first and foremost, by a desire to surround himself with loyalists, who will do his bidding without pushback.
If confirmed, one of Gaetz’s first tasks will be to find any records of sexual malfeasance by Trump, his family or friends and make sure those records are forever expunged. Who better to expunge records than Gaetz?
We are going from late stage Roman Republic direct to Caligula.
While I agree that there is a throughline, I don’t think Trump gives a damn about “Christian” nationalism. And while I credit him with guile and a visceral, animal cunning, I don’t see him as particularly intelligent. So who is putting these names in front of him? Wiles? Miller? Musk? Thiel? It all seems to be lunacy, but someone has an agenda. As for the Senate, Thune presumably thinks power comes with the position of Majority Leader. If he doesn’t oppose the craziest of these nominations at the very least, he won’t have any. He’ll just be an American version of Medvedev. And, yes, our armed services will become a Praetorian Guard.
Zirc
If we are gaming strategy, I would think you appoint the extremists first to push through the destruction/ dismantling of the current system.
I don’t think Trump especially cares about anything beyond himself at all, so all these appointments make perfect sense as designed to protect and benefit him. They also make sense for those, like Elon, with longer range plans that require our current system to fail.
The plan seems to be to go to a technocracy/ Oligarchy. Recessions transfer wealth upwards, and Elon is planning a recession/ depression. I believe they will also push for a break up of the country into separate provinces/ fiefdoms. The argument will be that we are too large for government to work. Secessionist movements will be promoted on the right and left. The more fucked up the current government is, the more power these movements will have, and the more people will desire a ‘strong leader’.
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I received email from the Harris campaign concluding “Can we count on you to contribute $10, or whatever feels right to you, to support the Harris Fight Fund program to make sure we hold Trump and Gaetz accountable and prevent them from undermining our rights?”
What can they do at this point that they want my more money?
Retire debts.
I thought they had lots of money left over. And the email said nothing of retiring debts.
At the bottom of the email which I didn’t see earlier, it says “Thank you, and of course we’ll be in touch.”
Are you surprised they intend to fight? Are you not planning to?
The Onion says it has bought InfoWars
The Onion Says It Has Bought Infowars, Alex Jones’s Site, Out of Bankruptcy The satirical news site planned to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” who peddle conspiracy theories and health supplements. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/business/media/alex-jones-infowars-the-onion.html Nov. 14, 2024 Updated 9:32 a.m. ET
I think this is real: [???] IS this real?
https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3lavzohd42c2o
November 14, 2024 at 9:03 AM
Here’s Why I Decided To Buy ‘InfoWars’
https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/
By Bryce P. Tetraeder, Global Tetrahedron CEO Published: November 14, 2024
NYT reporting like this: “The Onion SAYS …”
Looks like it IS real…and “delicious”. Julian Sanchez:
https://bsky.app/profile/normative.bsky.social/post/3law4lrfl7k2f
November 14, 2024 at 9:55 AM
This could be a huge opportunity for liberal media depending on how this plays out.
I can definitely picture Alex Jones as Trump’s press secretary.
Reply to Matt Foley
November 14, 2024 at 10:42 am
Or Libs of TikTok.
Exactly.
“Here’s Why I Decided To Buy ‘InfoWars’”
“…No price would be too high for such a cornucopia of malleable assets and minds. And yet, in a stroke of good fortune, a formidable special interest group has outwitted the hapless owner of InfoWars…”
https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/
Hands down the funniest thing The Onion has done since Diamond Joe Biden.
They had the blessing of the Sandy Hook families and will be partnering with Everytown!
YES! :-)
William SHAKESPEARE of BlueSky:
https://bsky.app/profile/shakespeare.bsky.social/post/3law444g5e22h
November 14, 2024 at 9:46 AM
Some of the Sandy Hook Families contributed money to the purchase.
And because the amount paid for InfoWars is part of the settlement owed to Sandy Hook families, most of the funds will go back to the families.
Whoever thought this up is a genius.
DEAL MAY NOT GO THROUGH
https://bsky.app/profile/lizdye.bsky.social/post/3lawsidp26c22
November 14, 2024 at 4:27 PM
https://bsky.app/profile/andrewtorrez.bsky.social/post/3lawshqcgsc22
[I break down the law so you don’t have to. Practicing lawyer and
cohost of the Law and Chaos podcast with @lizdye.bsky.social]
November 14, 2024 at 4:26 PM
https://bsky.app/profile/andrewtorrez.bsky.social/post/3lawtij5yy222
November 14, 2024 at 4:45 PM
https://bsky.app/profile/andrewtorrez.bsky.social/post/3lawc2tww5c2y
November 14, 2024 at 11:33 AM
FUAC sounds like an acronym devised by Roger STONE and/or Steve BANNON.
BWAHAHAHA! Called it!
https://bsky.app/profile/ronfilipkowski.bsky.social/post/3laxan5fdfc2r
November 14, 2024 at 8:40 PM
STONE on X@AJNLIVE, unknown time:
Alex Jones Is Trying to Halt the Sale of Infowars. Elon Musk’s X Just Got Involved in the Case At an emergency hearing this week, lawyers for the social media company appeared. They haven’t explained why. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/alex-jones-infowars-sale-onion-elon-musk-x/ Anna Merlan 11/16/24
THREAD from Ben Collins [Tim Onion]:
https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social/post/3lb3hecp7l22k
November 16, 2024 at 12:51 PM
Two more about The Onion purchase of Alex JONES’ Infowars:
1] No, Elon Musk Isn’t Riding To Alex Jones’s Rescue He’s evil, but come on. https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/no-elon-musk-isnt-riding-to-alex
Andrew Torrez and Liz Dye Nov 18, 2024
2] https://bsky.app/profile/andrewtorrez.bsky.social/post/3lbafrcjnzk2f
November 18, 2024 at 12:06 PM
LOL!
Here’s the THREAD from earlier today:
https://bsky.app/profile/andrewtorrez.bsky.social/post/3lba6mjikrc2g
November 18, 2024 at 9:58 AM
And one new addition to the latest news:
https://bsky.app/profile/andrewtorrez.bsky.social/post/3lbajlch2dc26
November 18, 2024 at 1:14 PM
Stepping into the black void ahead, is this a step toward dissolving congress in the future? Create a bunch of outrageous conflict that even some Republicans won’t go along with so Trump can say how corrupt the entire federal government has become and that only he can do what needs to be done to “save” America, so he must rule by fiat? I’m only writing partly in jest.
It’s becoming a very bad movie.
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Elon will be in chart of DOGE so as to eliminate gov’t investigation of his businesses and him, https://jalopnik.com/fiery-tesla-crash-traps-and-kills-four-after-electric-d-1851697336
The Once and Future Guy always said he wanted a Roy Cohn. It looks like now he wants a Ratko Mladić.
I’m a sexual assault survivor and I’ve had to seriously curtail my news consumption since the election because Trump is a huge trigger for PTSD related, paralyzing panic attacks. (Dealt with this the last time.)
I’ve been doing pretty, good staying on a fairly even keel until yesterday when I heard the announcement about Gaetz on NPR coming home from the grocery. I had to pull off on the side of the road I was bawling so hard.
I mentioned in the comments on Hegseth that he was Trump material having had an affair with a Fox executive producer during his first marriage resulting in a child. Mostly just more ick manosphere types.
But psychologically, Gaetz is just a whole ‘nuther story. If I find it suffocating and panic inducing that my president is a rapey misogynist, the thought of Gaetz running the DOJ is just so much more trauma on top of Trump as Gaetz feels uncomfortably closer overseeing law enforcement that can impact so many of our lives- Comstock anyone?
I was hoping that Trump’s courting of the manosphere was just for votes, but the horror is he’s turning over critical positions to other misogynists and abusers which fortunately he didn’t overtly do last time.
I really have to believe that there is some grains of sensibility left in the GOP and the Senate will not stoop to installing Gaetz to oversee our country’s law enforcement. I’d be eating Ativan like candy and not sleeping at all.
Thank you for speaking up and speaking out. Good for you allowing yourself to express your feelings releasing the past. I too am a survivor of sexual assault. I too get triggered as do many with a personal history of sexual abuse. It is appalling a man who is adjudicated for sexual assault is now president elect. Disturbing people voted for him knowing his history of assault. Plus congressional colleagues continue to excuse and reward abusive behavior.
For 9 years, it’s been challenging. However, I too am speaking up and speaking out. A family member asked ask me why I didn’t vote for him I replied, “I refuse to reward abusive behavior. I refuse to be abused.” Then walked away. Satisfaction!
Take care of yourself. Be gentle with yourself. Reach out to others if you need help. Allow yourself to move through the discomfort. And breathe.
Ladies — many thanks for speaking out. I support you. We all must defend ourselves in this political climate. I salute your courage.
Take care, Fancy Chicken. I too am a survivor, not as easily triggered, and I hope you have support from people who love you and are close by.
These things are very hard. Thank you for speaking out. It gets easier as you use your voice more.
I’m a man and not a sexual assault victim but I am furious on behalf of you and all victims. Please know that I and most men are not like these MAGA bullies who feel entitled to grab and take whatever the hell they want.
I am also a survivor of sexual assault, during my childhood. I admire your courage in writing and posting your comment. Thank you. Please know that you are not alone.
Hey thanks ya’ll.
It feels comforting to know I’m not alone or weak that some of this really triggers me.
As always, you’re the best comments section online.
Definitely not weak.
Naming what is the true source of your anger and anxiety, owning your responses as being justified, recognising what you need to do to take care of yourself, and requesting respect for all of those things is strength not weakness.
The sooner the ignorant recognise that lame comments though ostensibly targeting a predator as the butt of humour, merely contribute to a culture of bantering permission, which serves to validate predatory creepy behaviour as edgy rather than vile, the better the world will be.
@ Fancy Chicken – I had two gang of boys attempted assaults in elementary years – in two entirely different states. I started to think there was an invisible target on my back…then drug raped at 20 and as a result found trauma resolution work, built up a ton of resources and grew into working in the field for years.
I got stuck in intense rage since the election which was for me a cover for intense terror. The perpetrators (mostly men) that are in the world around us, have kept a pretense of functionality at work and in public institutions, but now the hoods are off and they are in power. It is terrifying.
I am only just now finding my way back to some semblance of self-care and sanity, however iffy.
I read here most days and it is clarifying and more helpful than I can say. Grateful for Marcy, Rayne, Peterr, Ed, Nicole, and all the regular deep and wise contributors here.
My annual donation is coming soon, wish it could be more but am planning for reductions in benefits soon.
Rayne, just noticed my comment has been in moderation for a day or thereabouts.
Not important – can leave it there or delete. Sorry for hassle.
[Moderator’s note: I don’t see any comment from you in Pending, Spam, or Trash moved there by auto-moderation, sorry. /~Rayne]
And the new Department of Justice experience program will get your middle school daughter the opportunity to work alongside the Attorney General!
Rape of minors is not funny. Rape isn’t funny, period.
Consider the possibility members of this comment community and readers may include sexual assault survivors.
You’re already on thin ice here given your history of sockpuppeting (8 names so far).
Thank you, Rayne.
In comedy, timing is everything.
Which is why I cannot fathom how someone could read the comment above the one I’m replying to then think to themselves, “lemme make a joke about statutory rape.”
Jesus H. Christ, y’all.
TY JSG- I started college at 16. I was the subject of a lot of “statutory rape” jokes. I can say that it was horrible then, and despite what mr asshole sock puppet might think, it isn’t funny now. It’s just plain abusive.
I am sorry you had to endure that.
Hope I’m wrong, but I believe the Media All Sorts and Republicans will have it (the sycophants cabinet) all normalized by January.
Not if you and I can help it.
David and Goliath.
I’ve lived my life as such. I’m in Canada David, but I’ve got your back.
Miami Herald’s Julie Brown:
https://bsky.app/profile/jkbjournalist.bsky.social/post/3lawb6gmwg52c
November 14, 2024 at 11:17 AM
Good exposure is needed.
If true, that’s seriously illegal under every state’s laws.
Why in the flying f*** hasn’t he been charged!? Never mind, I know the answer. But it is infuriating that he walks free.
What are other players like Leonard Leo up to with his alleged Maine meet up last week with people flying in in private jets? I doubt there is any daylight between them and the self called Christians who helped make homosexuality a capital offense in Uganda.
Link?
The Maine GOP wants to institute Voter ID, because there are so many illegals not voting in Maine.
Leo bought a mansion in Northeast Harbor, I believe, in 2109. If people are flying in, it is just to kiss his ring and plan for what Leo wants to do over the next four years. It is easier and more private for him to have everyone fly in and meet at his discretion than to have to go meet at some other place He recently bought a church near his house there. People like to name their cottages and such up in that neck of the woods so I would imagine he named his mansion Chateauneuf de la Nouveau Pape.
Can anyone name 4 Republican Senators who are willing to oppose any of Trump’s nominees, no matter how ridiculous they are? Lisa Murkowski, maybe. Anyone else?
Susan Collins is concerned…
I’m sure that a thorough FBI investigation that ends with a classified report sent to the Senate will be more than enough to convince her that everything’s okay.
…but not concerned enough to do anything with those concerns.
Can we play “Foreign Asset Roulette” now?
This definitely looks like a conspiracy to discredit the Congress itself.
Trying to counter Marcy’s next post, per cnn, Trump picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
And in a totally normal way of things, the announcement was made first by the first son of the president elect.
I can’t see the health care and health insurance companies backing him. Diseases (especially those that require lots of treatment/ICUs/kill people slowly) are expensive.
Elon Musk, a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, met with Iran’s UN ambassador to discuss defusing Iranian-U.S. tensions during the next Trump term, two Iranian officials said. [NYT]
https://bsky.app/profile/nytimes.com/post/3lawttitlac2x
Move fast and break things … like the Logan Act.
Emoluments Clause says: Been there, done that.
Trump says RFK Jr. will keep us protected from “harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives…”
I’m SURE it was an honest mistake that he omitted viruses.
In the United States, there have been 277 measles cases reported across 30 states and the District of Columbia in 2024, more than four times the number of cases last year when there were 59 cases, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, there were 16 outbreaks in 2024 compared to just four in 2023.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/measles-cases-surge-worldwide-infecting-103-million-people/story?id=115863196
“Only 16 outbreaks? Far more important things to worry about. Obesity! Look how many pushups I can do!”
–what RFK Jr. is thinking
No worries. The CDC is part of HHS. Bobby won’t issue any reports next year, which was Trump’s preferred way to handle Covid. If you don’t report them, there are no cases, so there’s nuffink to worry about. That sort of thinking suggests a complete failure of Trump’s K through 12 education.
‘Just Poison’ And ‘Inedible’: Donald Trump’s Diet Gets Totally Cooked By Top Ally
The president-elect’s food choices received a less-than-glowing review.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-diet-ripped_n_67349cd9e4b0c06fd0e4119c#
Says the guy with a home freezer full of roadkill.
…but the EPA rollbacks that WILL happen under Trump 2.0 will negate RFKjr’s “protection” of keeping us safe.
I hope not too OT, re: Trump’s staffing and appointments, and their function both as trolling mechanisms and rounding out the cast members of Trump II.
Kari Lake, having lost her senate bid, is available to be comms director and/or head spox. She’s of the same trolling caliber as some of his other choices.
Huckabee in the first admin wouldn’t do any briefings when things started getting testy.
But Lake seems to really be out there so I don’t think they can hold her back if things get testy.
Trump won’t make her a spox or comms director. If anything, he’d name her Secretary of the Interior, and they wouldn’t dream of holding her back.
Trump: “Your job is to demolish everything Deb Haaland has accomplished over the last four years. Indian stuff, woke climate change stuff, oil industry regulations, all of it. I want it gone.”
Lake: “Yes sir. Absolutely sir. Right away sir.”
As I recall Kari Lake persistently hung around at Mar a Lago, practically begging for recognition and was ultimately told to leave and not return
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-reportedly-annoyed-kari-lakes-141029125.html
Interior’s gonna be the other lousy Dakota governor, whose only saving grace is that he doesn’t publicly advocate for killing dogs a la Noem.
Elizabeth Warren denounces Biden administration over Gaza humanitarian situation Massachusetts senator now joins Bernie Sanders in endorsing joint resolution of disapproval against Joe Biden https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/14/elizabeth-warren-biden-gaza David Smith Thu 14 Nov 2024 14.24 EST
She does understand that there are treaties/binding agreements involved, doesn’t she?
Remember John Sauer? He’s Trump’s nominee for Soliciter General
Marcy wrote about him here:
John Sauer Says Joe Biden May Assassinate His Client
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/01/09/john-sauer-says-joe-biden-may-assassinate-his-client/ January 9, 2024
Todd Blanche as Deputy AG
…With FBI director as his direct report.
Given whom he has nominated thus far, I am going to go out on a limb and say that the Secretary of the Treasury will be the little man in the top hat from the Monopoly game.
LOL, yep.
Scrooge McDuck.
I’ve been making not-very-good jokes that the next chair of the Federal Maritime Commission will be either the “I’m the Captain Now” Somali pirate guy or… Wait for it…
Cap’n Crunch.
Rich Uncle Pennybags!
(who later became “Mr. Monopoly”)
Who was modeled after the original J.P.Morgan, apparently.
Seems too old school rich and classic to be someone Trump + Co. would go for though, me thinks… he likes the new, young, brash crazies…
The only appointment Trump has made that resembles a glitch of reality imo is Rubio. Hegseth is the guy who said he doesn’t fear what he can’t see. Does he fear the wrath of his “God”, or does the site of a depiction of the almighty do the trick? Putin is celebrating the Gabbard appointment. Huckabee doesn’t believe Palestinians exist and he’s the ambassador to Isreal. RFK Jr…. sorry not sorry. That’s bat shit crazy. Are recess appointments possible cuz I believe they can stay 2 years. That’s too damn long. I’m beyond concerned
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Trump’s Defense Secretary Pick Pete Hegseth Said to Face Previous Sexual Misconduct Allegation
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/pete-hegseth-misconduct-allegation-meeting
I note the terms of the denial
“Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed”
‘Any and all’ suggests to me that that there is an unspecified concern about more than the specific details of this particular incident.
Sounds like the Roger Ailes defense.
Yep. There was a laundry list of sexual abusers at Fox having to pay out millions of dollars. And Fox News is the number one news channel. Screams volumes.
OT: Wow powerful protest in New Zealand parliament.
New Zealand parliament suspended after haka protest over Maori rights
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTQFTDIc4vE)
Utterly phenomenal session. We need a Democratic Hawaiian member of Congress to lead a ha’a each time MAGA legislation is debated.
(Ha’a is comparable to Maori haka.)
I don’t feel I should even comment on Marcy’s wonderful new post because
I AM STILL FEELING LIKE THIS! [edited to add: !!!!!!!!!]
There’s another VIDEO here:
https://bsky.app/profile/joshuadrummond.cynics.guide/post/3lauzdipyos2s
November 13, 2024 at 11:24 PM
And some history:
https://bsky.app/profile/judah-grunstein.bsky.social/post/3lawchlodps26
November 14, 2024 at 11:40 AM
Yep, radical right politicians are returning to their standard justification: “We stole it fair and square.”
“Chew on Matt Gaetz”
The old speaker of the house will be rubbing all their noses in it unless tfg placates him with some sort of job for his troubles.
McCarthy is already making the rounds on cable news against Gaetz.
I got a feeling tfg will offer him a job to button his lip.
I’ll place 100 donuts on “No”
Under this new kleptocratic mobster regime I guess we’re going to have to call you “Stevie BagaDonuts.”
;-)