Former President Trump shocked and appalled some Republican lawmakers on Wednesday by announcing plans to nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general.
Why it matters: Republican reaction to even Trump’s most controversial nominations has been muted so far, but placing the scandal-prone right-winger in the nation’s highest law enforcement role is a step too far for many.
“We wanted him out of the House … this isn’t what we were thinking,” quipped one House Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak frankly about Trump’s decision.
What we’re hearing: Trump’s announcement was met with audible gasps by House Republicans during a conference meeting on Wednesday afternoon, multiple sources in the room told Axios.
One House Republican in the meeting described the conference’s response as “stunned and disgusted.”
What they’re saying: “Gaetz has a better shot at having dinner with Queen Elizabeth II than being confirmed by the senate,” said Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), referring to the British monarch who died in 2022.
Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.), noting that Gaetz is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, said he would be “a compromised AG” and that “there are better choices.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she was “shocked” by the pick: “This shows why the advice and consent process is so important and I’m sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing.”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Gaetz has “got his work really cut out for him” to get confirmed.
No, they aren’t. Quit lying.
They might be, right now.
See, there’s plenty of time before they actually have to cast a vote. So I’m sure that means Trump will send some mean tweets out about them. And then they’ll make the pligrimage down to Mar-a-Lago, bend the knee, say 3 Hail Donalds as penance and promise to insult a brown person on their way out before returning to Washington, DC and voting to confirm him.
They’re not going to cast votes. This will all be done with recess appointments, and all of these “concerned” senators will “express their concerns” with the exploitation of the recess appointment process and lament that there was nothing they could do about it.
They had really hoped that Mr. Trump would cooperate with the advice and consent process, but what can they do if he pursues the recess route? It really is too bad and all of that.
I’m pretty over believing stories about Republicans showing regret about Trump and his picks/actions. I’m 100% this is liberal media copium. Republicans love his ass and every asshole he hires
On the other hand I can see republican politicians pretending to be stunned in order to say one thing and do another. They get to pretend they don’t like it for the political game and then actually support it.
They’ll ALL bend the knee and smoke the pole when it’s presented.
It’s just gonna be never ending laughing to keep from crying from here on out.
Sure.
He’ll be confirmed with no problem. They always give Trump whatever he wants.
And they lie. A lot.
Want to win a chance at maybe having power? Enter the contest by falling in line and kissing the ring.
No way, I know where that ring has been.
Mr Fish caution NSFW & icky
If they dare to challenge him Trump will sic his army of sycophantic lunatics on them and they’ll fold. It’s cute that these moronic GOP senators think they get a choice in this.
I’m so tired. I can’t handle another four years of journalism covering the most recent crazy thing he did or proposed every hour. Just a firehose of sneaky, selfish plans and actions.
Thune (just chosen as the new Senate majority leader) has already agreed to recess the Senate so that Trump could appoint whoever he wants without going through the confirmation process by using the recess appointment process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recess_appointment
Spineless
Yep. Add that to Trump’s plan to fire all the military generals who won’t swear loyalty to him and surprise! Fascism. (Well I guess it’s not really a surprise.)
Someone, somewhere wished that Rubio and Gaetz were no longer in Congress.
And the monkey paw curled a finger.
Rubio is probably the least controversial pick so far.
Yeah, at least he probably knew what the job was before he got it.
Do we get to bring back the “dispense with this notion” meme?
Careful what you vote for.
No they aren’t.
They voted for it and they wanted this.
Gaetz has a better shot at having dinner with Queen Elizabeth II than being confirmed by the senate,"
Dem senators should help confirm him to help Trump show the nation he wants to burn everything down.
Sorry, dear Americans we in Europe can’t take all of you. Our borders are closed now. Steve Bannon once told us to do so. Sorry!
deleted by creator
You mean Trump didn’t learn his lesson?!?
Remember. According to Susan Collins, he learned his lesson with his first impeachment so he won’t do corruption and crime stuff again. Because Trump pinky swore. Or something.
Of course she’ll rubber stamp it.
It’s only been a week since he was elected. Dude’s not even in office yet and there’s already shock and scandal coming from his own party. This is going to be a very long four years…
As designed by the media. Eternal despair is great for viewership.
I’ve been saying what will keep me alive the next four years is reminding Trump voters they are getting what they voted for every time they start to complain.
But, four years of even Republicans having to fight tooth and nail against his insanity would be even better.
The last time, when he was approaching 100 days in office, someone said that it felt like we were living in dog years. It’s true, this week has been incredibly long and it won’t get better.
Outrageous choice.
In other news, the nomination of Matt Gaetz as AG by Donald Trump has moved the Mitt Romney Outrage Meter from “distasteful” to “bothersome”.
How many steps are we away from a furrowed brow?
Hey pedophiles stick together
