RUTHFULLY YOURS

I’m as stunned as anyone that President-elect Trump has nominated Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) for attorney general, reminding everyone of Trump’s propensity to step on his own good publicity and provoke needless fights that undermine his ability to accomplish things the country needs done. That said, I suspect Nathan Wade would have a better chance of getting confirmed to run the Justice Department than Gaetz does, so I don’t see the point in wasting a lot of time discussing this.

I’m not going to dwell further on the sex-trafficking investigation in which Gaetz was implicated but never charged. I wrote about it at the time. The feds couldn’t make the case and he’s presumed innocent. As Luther related early this year, it’s been reported that Gaetz’s ridiculous, solipsistic move to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) was payback for the latter’s role in an ongoing ethics probe of Gaetz. The congressman has denied any wrongdoing. Nothing has been established, so I’m not going to repeat mere allegations at this point. I imagine we’re about to hear a lot more about them in the coming weeks, and become better informed about whether there’s fire under the smoke.

In that regard, the president-elect has done his eccentric protégé no favors.

I also don’t see much use in going down the rabbit hole of whether, as the rabidly anti-Trump, highly irregular House January 6 committee claimed, Gaetz was among a group of GOP Congress critters who broached the subject of a pardon following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. I thought it was underhanded of the committee to imply that people were guilty of crimes — potentially including crimes of violence — based on speculation about pardons, particularly when Trump didn’t grant such pardons. A pardon is not necessarily an admission of guilt — something to bear in mind in an era of lawfare, when politicized actors weaponize investigative processes against their adversaries mainly for the purpose of humiliating and bankrupting them.

Nevertheless, Gaetz was among the leading proponents of the effort to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election, which means he took the constitutional-law position that the vice president had the authority to invalidate electoral votes that had been certified by the relevant state governments — or, at least, to remand the votes back to the states, despite their certification, for further proceedings aimed at getting state legislatures to reverse the result of the popular election. No one who took such a position is qualified to be attorney general of the United States — the federal government’s chief law-enforcement official (other than the president) among whose most important jobs is to defend the Constitution. Case closed.

Of course, that’s not the end of the case. Gaetz also dabbled in conspiracy theories that the Capitol riot had been led by left-wing radicals rather than Trump supporters, and that it may have been an inside job choreographed by the FBI. In this, Gaetz was either incredibly cynical or utterly incapable of grasping reality and applying basic criminal-law principles (no one gets entrapped into crimes of violence). In either event, he’s not AG material.

Matt Gaetz has a lot of political talent, and a lot of lawyer talent (which is why I intuit that cynicism more than idiocy explains his escapades). Watching him question witnesses at hearings, I often, in spite of myself, admire his preparation and delivery. He seems like a five-alarm jerk to me, but his constituents in Florida apparently like him (he’s been winning elections there for over a dozen years, helped by his father, Don Gaetz, an influential former president of the state senate). Gaetz is a deeply unpopular figure on Capitol Hill, but as a sycophantic Trump loyalist, he is popular where it counts these days. I am sure, then, that there are many White House staff positions — posts that do not require Senate confirmation — that he could fill with ease and perhaps do a good job. And I don’t doubt that he has a future in Florida electoral politics.

But AG? No . . . and why are we even talking about this, since Gaetz is unconfirmable? (The cockamamie recess-appointment scheme that has been floated is a nonstarter, for the reasons laid out in our editorial — and can you imagine trying to get an attorney general in place through an illegal recess appointment?)

The Justice Department has huge problems that have to be addressed. Much of what has to be done will require legislation, which means there would have to be some Democratic buy-in. Trump needs a strong, experienced hand who is widely respected for his or her legal acumen and bureaucratic know-how — specifically in the Justice Department, which is certain to chew up and spit out an outsider who doesn’t know how the place works and how veteran adversaries can sabotage a novice.

It’s not a job for Matt Gaetz. In insisting otherwise, President-elect Trump will only ignite GOP infighting and help reeling Democrats find their footing.