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Trump’s Gaetz AG nod is a test. Will Republicans succeed in the Senate?

Trump’s Gaetz AG nod is a test. Will Republicans succeed in the Senate?


Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general is the Republican Party’s first Trumpian test. Will Senate Republicans bend the knee to Donald Trump or do their job?

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Republicans in the US House and Senate sounded shocked by newly elected President Donald Trump’s statement selection of Matt Gaetz as attorney general I probably just woke up after a month long nap.

Gaetz, who has resigned from his seat in Congress in Florida Wednesday ahead of the possible release Friday of a report from the House Ethics Committee about his long-running sex and drug scandal involving minors, is exactly the kind of man Trump promised during his campaign to defeat his perceived enemies when he returned to the White House.

The real surprise here is the other guy from Florida: Trump’s pick for U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to become Secretary of State. Rubio is a former Trump critic who has given up his old-fashioned Republican approach to the world favor of loyalty to his new boss. But he still does voted to certify Trump’s 2020 presidential loss.

And he has the kind of political and foreign affairs experience that makes his choice logical, which you can’t say about Gaetz.

The shock here is that Trump is showing some tolerance for political skill as he assembles a group of advisers for what is clearly going to be a circus of revenge, where Republicans in Congress could be stuffed into the clown car as quickly as Democrats.

Trump’s selection of Gaetz as attorney general makes perfect Trumpian sense

Trump is fond of tearing down institutional norms that might get in the way of his worst impulses as president. There’s only one thing he loves more: testing people to test their ability to show him unconditional loyalty.

Gaetz is the perfect crash test dummy for that kind of ordeal, as Trump trusts Republicans in Congress about as much as he trusts Democrats.

His appointment promises a spectacle in the form of a confirmation hearing in the US Senate, which Republicans will control with a narrow majority in January. The usual suspects from the Senate Republican caucus – Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – make a fuss.

So Trump gets to take a roll call that will have Republicans opposing him, stammering and hesitating before getting in line, and doing what he wants as soon as he wants.

Take U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, who complained on CNN last year about Gaetz walking around the House floor showing people pictures of women he allegedly slept with while bragging about his prowess. Mullin acknowledged as much on CNN on Wednesday while adding, “I completely trust President Trump’s decision-making” on Gaetz.

Put Mullin in the “do what Trump wants, when he wants it” camp. He certainly won’t be lonely there.

Trump wants the Republican Senate not to do its job as a show of loyalty to him

What a time to be the new Republican leader in the Senate. John Thune from South Dakota won that title on Wednesdaybeating John Cornyn of Texas and the favorite in Trump’s camp, Rick Scott of Florida.

Trump last Sunday declared that each new leader in the Senate ‘must agree to the recess of appointments’, a procedural tactic that a president can try to circumvent the duty of the Senate to provide advice and consent while approving cabinet choices. Thune, Cornyn and Scott all quickly supported that idea.

Thune can now play ringmaster in the Gaetz show. Or he goes for transparency in an open hearing process in the Senate Judiciary Committee that exposes Gaetz’s nature, or he closes the Senate to allow Trump to temporarily install Gaetz as the nation’s top prosecutor. Either way, Trump puts Thune on the spot to see if he can pass the test.

Cornyn may have complicated that math Thursday by saying the House Ethics Committee is reporting on Gaetz’s alleged feuds with a 17 year old girl and drug fueled parties – which he has denied – must “absolutely” be released as part of the vetting of the proposed attorney general.

“I don’t think there should be any limitations on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation, including what the House Ethics Committee has produced,” Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol.

You know what Trump doesn’t want? A principled attorney general.

Trump’s history with attorneys general helps explain this his lame decision to get Gaetz to work. His first choice for the job in 2017 was former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, an archconservative from Alabama. angered Trump by withdrawing himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

Bill Barr, another longtime conservative who replaced Sessions, was doing better until he passed Trump discredit the former president’s lies about the theft of the 2020 election. Merrick Garland, a former judge chosen for the position by President Joe Biden, appointed a special counsel in 2022 to investigate Trump’s alleged criminal conduct at the end of his presidency.

Trump’s victory in the general election effectively killed two federal criminal cases brought by that special counsel, Jack Smith. He still faces a felony conviction in a case in New York State and criminal prosecution in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in that state.

Trump has learned only one lesson from this: the only way to escape responsibility for criminal behavior is to choose who prosecutes criminal behavior.

Gaetz is his man because he withstood a Justice Department investigation into his shady behavior came out the other side last year without any charges being filed against him.

That’s the kind of outcome Trump desires for his new presidency. And Gaetz would give it to him, while at the same time testing the loyalty of Republicans who might object.

Follow USA TODAY election columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan