November 15, 2024
The Gaetz appointment is a masterstroke
By Fritz PettyjohnLisa Murkowski is itching to vote against firebrand Matt Gaetz as attorney general. She may not get the chance. If the new Senate leadership recesses the Senate for three days, Gaetz can take office as a recess appointment, circumventing the confirmation process. It remains to be seen if Senate Majority Leader John Thune will play ball.
The Gaetz appointment is a giant middle finger to those in the Justice Department who have harassed Trump since before he took office in 2017. It started with the Russia hoax, and it's been going on nonstop for eight years. The final straw came when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, including searching Melania's bedroom, purportedly looking for evidence of a crime.
Trump will not allow this invasion of his wife's privacy to go unavenged. Heads will roll down the entire chain of command that was responsible for this travesty. If these people are smart, they're already packing their bags.
If Thune refuses to allow a recess appointment, it's highly unlikely Gaetz can be confirmed. If that's the case, Trump's replacement appointment, regardless of who it is, will look reasonable by comparison.
Gaetz also serves to distract attention from other controversial appointments, such as Pete Hegseth for Department of Defense.
The Department of Justice is infused with arrogance. These people think their loyalty is to their ideas about the law, not to the democratically elected President who appoints them. As the execrable James Comey put it in the title of his book, they have A Higher Loyalty.
But the courts decide the law, not the Department of Justice. They are the President's lawyers and are obliged to advocate for him. President Trump, with his appointment of Gaetz, is putting these people in their place.
It's pleasant to think that this is just the beginning of four years of fearless leadership.
