Well. The reaction to the Matt Gaetz choice has gone over about as well as I would expect, which is to say, he’s facing opposition from what the Wall Street Journal estimates to be THIRTY Republican Senators.
Trump can afford to lose the support of no more than three GOP senators on his most contentious picks, assuming all Democrats are opposed, in a chamber that will be split 53-47 in the new Congress. People familiar with discussions among Senate Republicans said that far more than three of them are prepared to vote no if the matter comes to a vote, and some said there was already talk of trying to convince Trump to pull Gaetz, or get Gaetz to voluntarily withdraw his name.
“It’s simply that Matt Gaetz has a very long, steep hill to get across the finish line,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.). “And it will require the spending of a lot of capital, and you just have to ask: if you could get him across the finish line, was it worth the cost?”
Cramer said he didn’t think Gaetz would have the votes to be approved by the Judiciary Committee, much less to be confirmed by the full Senate.
One person familiar with the conversations among Republican senators said “significantly more than four” of them are opposed, which would be enough to tank Gaetz’s chances. “People are pissed,” the person said.
Other estimates ranged from more than a dozen Republican “no” votes to more than 30. “It won’t even be close,” another person said.
“It’s going to be very difficult,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.), when asked if Gaetz could win the votes necessary for confirmation. Mullin, a close Trump ally, said he would keep an open mind because he trusts Trump to pick his cabinet. But he said Gaetz will have to go through the vigorous vetting process required of any nominee, and said the former Florida congressman might decide to opt out and withdraw.
“We’ve seen a lot of nominees, when they go through the process, they’re like, ‘You know, it’s not going to happen,’ and they pull out,” Mullin said.
Needless to say, pulling out would be a good thing, generally, for Matt Gaetz to adopt as a general philosophy, but it may be particularly necessary in this moment given the math:
Cramer said Gaetz is “more than capable of litigating the case for why the [Department of Justice] should be turned on its head” but added that he “just doesn’t have the moral authority” to shake up the department after being embroiled in a federal sex trafficking investigation.
“I’m glad I’m not on Judiciary, put it that way,” he said, alluding to what is expected to be a fierce fight on the committee level over Gaetz.
Some Senate Republican sources are speculating that Trump’s choice of Gaetz to head the Justice Department may be intended to draw scrutiny and opposition away from other controversial nominations.
Look, it’s a fair possibility: the lightning rod as big as the Eiffel Tower does distract from any other lightning rods you have in the appointment mix. So perhaps Trump’s best way of getting Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, and Pete Hegseth confirmed is for Matt Gaetz to eat up all the oxygen.
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