
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">President Trump announced that he was going to nominate Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. ; The smoke you smell on the coasts is not from brush fires. ; It is the left-wing establishment’s hair on fire – which makes me laugh.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In my opinion, Matt Gaetz will never be Attorney General – and I believe Trump knows it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If reports are accurate, the announcement about Gaetz was made at the last minute by Trump personally. ; Gaetz was not on the list of likely candidates for the nation’s top law enforcement office, which means that he did not go through the transition team’s vetting process. ; The announcement itself seemed off-handed and unserious.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There are a lot of reasons why Gaetz would not be a good choice as Attorney General.  ;Personally, I have always viewed Gaetz as a grandstanding sleaze bag. ; That may seem harsh, but it is how I have seen him throughout his congressional career.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He was the primary provocateur of the GOP revolt against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. I was never a fan of McCarthy &#8212; as evident in a number of past commentaries – but removing him from that post at that time was political malpractice. It put the House through a prolonged,15 vote embarrassment.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The fact that the GOP ultimately wound up with a much better House Speaker in Mike Johnson does not justify Gaetz tactics and antics. Gaetz was not an enthusiastic supporter of Johnson – and has since expressed misgivings about the Speaker. At one point, he even talked of trying to oust Johnson. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Critics of the Gaetz appointment point out that he was once under investigation for sex trafficking – a case that involved a 17-year-old underage girl. ; A Gaetz friend is currently serving time for his involvement in an associated case.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">However, Gaetz was never indicted. ; The charges were dropped by the Biden Department of Justice in 2023. ; Under American rule-of-law that means Gaetz is to be considered to be innocent of the accusations no matter what you believe about his alleged involvement with an underage girl.  ; ;It is sleazy of Gaetz critics to keep harping on that issue since the DOJ could not make a case. There is more than enough to criticize without resorting to slander as a response.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Gaetz has also been the subject of a congressional ethics investigation – and a report was to be issued at any moment. ; I say “has been subject of a congressional ethics investigation” because Gaetz resigned from Congress – and that immediately shut down the ethics investigation. ; In fact, his effort to end the ethics investigation appears to be the ONLY reason for his sudden resignation. ; If the Ethics Committee report on Gaetz is not released, I suspect it will be leaked.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Just for the record, Gaetz also has a DUI conviction. ; That may be notable, but not all that significant in a world in which a lot of folks have one – including political figures.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When I say Trump’s proposing to officially nominate Gaetz is a joke it is because Trump must know a Gaetz nomination will be a very steep uphill effort in the Senate. ; Virtually impossible. ; Trump’s motive may have already been achieved – and that is setting all that lefty hair on fire. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He poked the left-wing hornets’ nest and dominated another news cycle. He them in panic with their speculative doom and gloom reports. ; Mass resignations at the DOJ. ; Trump put them back on their absurd “end of the American Republic” campaign narrative.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I see no way that a Gaetz appointment would obtain enough support in the Senate to confirm him for that post – and perhaps any post in the federal government.  ;Frankly, I would be surprised if Trump followed through with an official nomination. ; Upon hearing of his being named for the AG post, I immediately conjured up enough names of senators who I believe would vote “no”.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Gaetz, himself, realizes that he would never get the necessary votes in the Senate. ; In a past Newsmax interview, there was jocular speculation of an “Attorney General Gaetz.” ; Gaetz conceded that he would never get sufficient votes to be confirmed by the Senate.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Is there another reason for floating out Gaetz name? ; Perhaps it is just to give Gaetz cover for resigning from Congress to pursue the AG job. ; ; That is possible, but there is no reason for a nominee to resign before confirmation. ; Also, his resignation reduces the GOP narrow majority in the House. ; The resignation has more to do with the ethics probe than the AG nomination.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But &#8230; what about one of those recess appointments?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When the Senate is in recess, a President has the power to make a recess appointment. ; The appointee can serve in the post in an acting capacity for up to a year – maybe more. ; But the Senate has to be in recess – not just on a short adjournment.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That distinction came to play when President Obama attempted to make recess appointments when the Senate adjourned for a holiday. ; The issue went to the Supreme Court which decided that Obama had abused his power, and those appointments were nullified. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">(Contrary to the impression you get from the anti-Trump news media, Trump did not invent the recess appointment &#8212; and is not the first President to make such appointments. ; Although not a recess appointment, it is noteworthy that the current head of the Labor Department is an “acting” Secretary of Labor who took over the post upon the resignation of her boss. ; The point is, she is holding a job without Senate confirmation. ; But I digress.)</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Since a recess appointment can be made only when the Senate is in recess, the question is &#8230; will the Senate go into recess at any time in the next couple years for no other reason than to allow Trump to make such appointments? ; It does not have to do so. ; It can function quite well without an official recess.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Trump has proposed that the Senate go into recess so he can make such appointments. ; I am not convinced that it will. ; That would surrender a lot of power to the President. ; It would circumvent and undermine the balance of power that the Founders so carefully crafted in the Constitution. ;</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The possibility that Gaetz could get a recess appointment should be enough for the Senate to not go into any recesses simply to give Trump recess appointments. I do not believe that Gaetz will ever be confirmed by the Senate – at least I hope not. I do not believe he will ever serve as Attorney General. But &#8230; Trump sure knows how to craze the crazies. And seeing all that hyper hysteria from the left is worth the good laugh. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So, there ‘tis.</p>

Matt Gaetz is a joke … seriously
