Gaetz nomination is “a big middle finger by Trump towards the Department of Justice based on what they’ve done to him”
My interview on Chicago’s Morning Answer: “is Trump supposed to respect an institution that, in his first term, tried to set him up? So I think this is a big middle finger. I think this is him saying, it’s going to be my Department of Justice. I’m not going let it destroy me again.”
I appeared this morning on one of my favorite shows, Chicago’s Morning Answer with Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson (no relation) to talk about the announced nomination of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General.
After an introduction, my portion stated at the 5 minute mark.
(Short transcript excerpt, cleaned up for transcript clarity)
Proft: Your reaction to the Gaetz nomination.
WAJ: Surprise. I didn’t have a bingo card for this, but he wasn’t somebody who was on the top of my mind as a possible nominee. So it’s surprising.
I think it is in many ways a big middle finger by Trump towards the Department of Justice based on what they’ve done to him.
A lot of people are complaining, you know, ‘this questions the institution itself’. Well, this is the same institution that in the infancy of the first Trump presidency tried to destroy him. Remember James Comey, Director of the FBI, part of the Department of Justice, in many ways, the Director of the FBI is as high profile as the Attorney General, set Trump up at a meeting at the White House a day or two into the first term, knowing that Trump wouldn’t have lawyers around him and used that as an excuse to get CNN to leak the phony Steele dossier.
So is Trump supposed to respect an institution that, in his first term, tried to set him up? So I think this is a big middle finger. I think this is him saying, it’s going to be my Department of Justice. I’m not going let it destroy me again.
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I haven’t said it recently, but it bears repeating: Thank God Garland never made it onto SCOTUS.
Thune and Cornyn both voted to confirm Garland as AG. It’ll be interesting to see whether they think he was a better pick than Gaetz.
Ironically, those two RINOs aren’t going to be an issue this time; it’s the Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Grassley, and the Pierre DeLecto faction that will attempt to be the albatross around Trump’s neck to slow him down from executing the will of the American people.
Gaetz, sadly, will have to be a recess appointment, unless the old man can whip up two more votes with some carrots and sticks…perhaps Matt Whitaker can serve America in the interim.
That is one thing I will always be grateful to McConnell for. The murder turtle did a lot of things I strongly disagree with, but he may well have saved the country there.
Don’t thank God. Thank MItch McConnell.
We owe McConnell a debt of gratitude. He saved us from that intellectually corrupt hack
McConnell did only what he was supposed to do, and for which there was precedent. It is one of the few things he has done correctly in recent years.
Trump nominated an outspoken and controversial person to head the Department of Justice who was the target of the DOJ in the same way Trump was. A middle finger to be sure. The two other announced DOJ appointees are career prosecutors who defended Trump in cases that have come to be known as lawfare.
As a recess appointee, if that is what it comes to, Gaetz will be able to serve for one year. Gaetz was certainly aware that he would face an uphill challenge to be confirmed. He gave up his Congressional seat to which he was just re-elected. He must think that he can achieve much in one year after which getting confirm might prove to be easier, or he goes to a different position where Senate confirmation is not an issue.
There are more than a few Justice Department lawyers who are currently working on their resumes and looking to firm where they can hole up for four years or more.
The wailing and gnashing of teeth is merely a guilty dog barking.
I hope he goes scorched earth on these traitors.
Brandon Herrera is being viraled for ATF.
He’s a gun-tuber that ran for congress out of Texas. He would be another epic troll to the left.
Yeah, but keep in mind that Trump’s nominees still need to get past Mini-Mitch’s Senate
You’re missing the larger plot.
PDT has already extracted promises from Thune and Cornyn (in return for which, he did not make any endorsement for majority leader) that they would put the Senate in recess shortly after beginning. The House will go along, and thus under Noel Canning, PDT can recess appoint everyone. Most of them will then go through the confirmation process, but there’s no obligation for PDT to submit his recess appointments for confirmation.
Recess appointees can serve up to two years (i.e., until the end of the current Congress term). So for Gaetz and hard cases like him that might draw opposition from the squishes, they can spend the next two years taking a chainsaw and flame thrower to their departments, and then switch over to a White House adviser position.
The point is to get someone in position at DoJ immediately to fire (or transfer to the Fairbanks, Alaska, DoJ office, for those who can’t be fired or persuaded to self-deport) everyone in that department that was part of the “Resistance” during PDT’s first term, or was involved in the lawfare against him during Biden’s.
PDT knows that if he doesn’t do this at DoJ, DoD, State, etc., the bureaucrats will gum up the works. And his brain trust has figured out how to keep that from happening.
The only thing I want Herrera to do at ATF if appointed is to start firing people and shut them down. They have been right up there with the EPA for the most out of control agencies in DC
As the saying goes, “Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency.”
Hopefully it’s his way of getting Gaetz out of the Congress, appearing to repay him for his support and putting him in a position where he can’t get confirmed.
Also on the wish list, Gaetz wants to bow out gracefully and will be glad the won’t face the ethics report. He will then decline the AG confirmation beating that would likely take place ending in his public humiliation by stepping aside, saying it was for the good of the country and party (both true, but for himself too).
Doesn’t have to be confirmed. As Thomas Massey said yesterday “recess appointment, baby” and they deal with him for 2 yrs.
But see what I wrote about Scalia’s Canning concurrence. If the senate calls a 2-week break and the president makes appointments, especially for vacancies that existed before the break, the Dems will go back to SCOTUS asking for it to overturn the Canning majority opinion in favor of Scalia’s opinion.
The three justices who voted with Scalia will likely still vote that way, they’ll probably be joined by at least two more, and some or all of the lefties may well join them too, just to screw Trump, so it might even be 9-0.
Thanks to g_d Milhouse is a commentr here.
The rest of you right wing nuts, pay attention to what he writes.
You can’t even write the word God? Is that like Voldemort to you? Milhouse has an interesting perspective but he isn’t always correct. Maybe learn to actual listen to some of us ” right wing nuts”. Sometimes we have good insights and important things to say…..just ask President elect Kamala Harris…..
oh wait…..😁
I think he’s trying to be respectful by not using God’s Name casually.
Personally I would not write “God” out in full on something that will eventually end up in the garbage, because that’s not respectful. But electrons on the screen will never end up that way, so I spell it in full.
It is far, far more likely that SCOTUS would say Noel Canning is still the law, rather than trash a recent precedent.
Much more importantly, the Dems cannot go directly to SCOTUS — there’s nothing here that falls under the narrow group of cases for which SCOTUS has original jurisdiction. Case will have to go through the trial and appellate courts, none of which have the authority to overrule Noel Canning.
By the time such a case gets to SCOTUS, this will all be moot, as the recess appointment period will be over.
Once again, this can’t be true, because if it were then he could simply have not run in this year’s election.
Even if Gaetz hadn’t run for re-election, he would be serving until January, and the ethics report was going to come out in the next few days, for sure before the end of November. The only way to block publication would still be resignation.
I think this is correct.
He could have done the same thing by nominating an ultra far-right, scholarly loyalist rather than this degenerate Herman Munster scumbag. Same thing with the pass-around, open-mouthed aging bimbo for DHS. These moves hurt him more than they outrage his critics. People spend a long time paying for their temper tantrums.
Goodness! For a moment there I thought I was reading a screed from JoJofromJerz on X.
“Same thing with the pass-around, open mouthed aging bimbo for DHS.”
Do you know anything about the governor’s qualifications or resume, or are you just that triggered because the nominee is a woman?
What makes his a scumbag? Have you convicted him of charges which the DOJ determined would not be pursued. Gaetz became persona non grata in the House when he conditioned his support for McCarthy as speaker. If McCarthy pledged to not permit any omnibus spending bills and give Gaetz status that would permit him to challenge McCarthy if he breached his agreement with Gaetz and others, Gaetz and his allies would support McCarthy. They did and McCarthy reneged by permitting omnibus spending bills to come to the floor.
What Gaetz did was unforgivable. He challenged McCarthy as speaker because McCarthy figured once in the speakership he could roll the persons to whom he had made the pledge. Such challenges in Washington are not allowed. Gaetz, responded “oh yea?” When Gaetz did what he set out to do, McCarthy attempted to secure the defeat of members who held his feet to the fire including Gaetz.
The Trump Administration is like a tornado, so much is happening that it is hard to keep up with all of it. This time Trump is well prepared. Heaven will not be able to help all the POS who are about to live in incredibly interesting times.
The big question now is whether or not Thune will squish the nomination.
My guess is, YES!
The problem really isn’t with Thune. There isn’t anything he can do beyond coercing certain votes with promises of committee assignments/chairs. The problem will rest with the GOP Senators who are either facing reelection in purple/blue states in 2026 – like Collins – or those who are looking to/likely to retire in 2026 or 2028. Even worse, Murkowski has given several interviews the last 12-months where she leaves the door wide open to leaving the GOP. That’s probably less likely now considering the 3-seat majority of the GOP. But, she’s clearly not a reliable team player. These Senators are going to do whatever they want no matter what Thune says or does. Manchin and Sinema were the exact same way for the Democrats the last 2-years, a HUGE pain their the rears of Schumer. Gaetz will make it through the confirmation process if there are no more than 3 of these IDGAF GOP Senators. It’s gonna be close.
See my comment above.
During the majority leader election campaign, Trump extracted a promise from Thune, Cornyn, and Scott that they’d put the Senate into recess for 11 days so that he could recess appoint everyone under the rule announced in Noel Canning.
If Thune reneges on that, he’s toast.
If it looks like Gaetz can’t be confirmed, PDT will just let him serve as a recess appointee for the next two years.
It’s not mostly a middle finger to the DoJ. It is instead, I believe, Trump wants to neuter the government’s biggest domestic weapon– the “National Security” card. The DoJ has a National Security Division whose operation is outside any guard rails, and any investigation labeled national security gives them the cover to hide evidence, witnesses and bar cross-examination of methods of investigation in order to “save lives” (and the courts defer to the DoJ and Intelligence on those matters). Further, the DoJ uses these cases to go after political opponents of Democrats or to guard the interests of D.C.
The classified documents case against Trump saw the DoJ denying discovery to Trump’s team citing, of course, national security, Not even a third party mediator was allowed. The new AG can easily reconfigure the workings of the DoJ simply by changing policy (and firing those who go against policy). That is why Trump’s pick shook the ground in D.C.
That’s it. This is a Republican party soon to be in charge of the Senate, not a conservative party in control..
So much for Susie Wiles stopping the clown car circus. She should resign.
I see no “clown car circus”. I see Trump appointing a bunch of people that are making the deep state quake in their boots. I saw a story today that even the defense lobbyists are complaining.
She doesn’t work for Biden.
The AG has to be the President’s Wingman. None other than Obama and Holder have told us this.
And, according to Alan Dershowitz, the president can tell the AG, who to prosecute, as well as who not to prosecute
How about this?
POTUS is the executive branch. The AG works at his direction. But what if the POTUS decided to run the DOJ himself? The Constitution doesn’t require the POTUS to delegate to others his authority to direct cabinet-level agencies.
If Gaetz is rejected by the Senate, Trump could say, “OK, I’m going to run it myself. And I’m designating Matt Gaetz as my liaison to the DOJ. He will sit in on all meetings in my stead and will perform all ministerial functions of an agency director, he will be my eyes and ears at the DOJ. He will make weekly reports to me, and with his advice, I will direct the DOJ.”
What could prevent this? What would prevent Trump from doing this with any agency?
If he has independent decision-making power that makes him a principal officer of the United States, and he needs senate confirmation. The only way he can be an inferior officer and not need confirmation is if he has to refer every significant decision to his superior.
and JFK picking his brother.
“No one is allowed to criticize Matt Gaetz for the next 4 years or else they are attacking democracy.”
GARLAND: “Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department… This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy.”
https://x.com/alx/status/1672288750745862164
Pot, meet new Kettle. Deal with it.
Turnabout’s fair, and sometimes it is glorious.
Gaetz is President Trump’s version of Eric Holder…yes?
Being retired from the Justice Department (DEA), I strongly believe the AG is the most important position in the Cabinet, at least domestically, The AG should be a person of unquestioned experience, reputation, and integrity.
I hope I am proved wrong, but I think this is a very bad pick.
Gaetz aside, how do you clean out a department that is corrupt and politicized from the top to the bottom and has exhibited nothing but contempt for any attempts at oversight?
It won’t be easy because you have career employees who are against Trump and who will be against Gaetz. DOJ has political appointees (like the AG) who can be replaced. The way I see it, the biggest problems are the DOJ itself and the FBI. With the FBI in particular, they suffer from a long-standing culture that goes back to Hoover in that they consider themselves the elite law enforcement agency and that they can do things other agencies cannot do (not allowed to do). Along the way, they have alienated many law enforcement agencies including other federal agencies.
As for DOJ, they have to get back to being non-partisan (hard to do with a politically appointed AG), but the point I am trying to make is that the AG must be a respected professional who will make it clear to the department that its job is to investigate criminal activity without regard to political considerations. Ideally, that should filter down. The AG should ensure that the political positions below him/her understand and adhere to that.
In my view, past AGs like Garland, and especially Eric Holder (Fast and Furious) are examples of bad AGs, not just because they are liberal, but because they went after political enemies.
So with Gaetz, is it going to be payback time?
Would Gaetz be my ideal choice to run a rebuilt DoJ? No, I’d prefer someone like Paul Clement.
But the problem is that DoJ (and the FBI, as you note) is now so hopelessly riddled with avowed members of “the Resistance” that have zero respect for the rule of law that it has to be torn down to the studs before it can be rebuilt. And Gaetz is the kind of person that you need to do that.
E.g., on Day 1, issue a directive that all DoJ employees above a certain grade must submit a report under penalty of perjury attesting to the fact that they either have no knowledge of x,y,z [various DoJ scandals, like FISA abuse, stonewalling Congressional subpoenas, or destroying documents], or that they do and attach a full description of what they know.
Any employee who fails or refuses to do so is fireable for insubordination. Any employee who files a false or incomplete one (i.e., doesn’t rat out others he later is shown to have known about) is fireable for cause (and potential prosecution for perjury).
Those of you with experience in game theory can see the huge trap this is setting up. As those involved in the misdeeds realize the trap being set for them, most of the career employee members of the resistance will likely self-deport.
After the place has been torn down to the studs and the debris removed, *then* bring in someone like you describe to rebuild it. But the demolition must occur first.
“he AG should be a person of unquestioned experience, reputation, and integrity”
Jeff Sessions agrees with you.
How did that turn out?
A little more detail please as to your point. I did not mention Sessions. You quoted one of my sentences. Do you disagree with that statement?
Selecting Gaetz is a win. All those speaking against Gaetz are swamp people. It identifies problem Republicans.
I fully concur, but the knives (including some GOP traitors) are out for him. If his nomination fails for any reason, I propose Harmeet Dhillon to be on deck.