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‘Are you s******’ me?’ disbelief as Matt Gaetz nominated for attorney general

It’s been quite a while since Washington enjoyed a good, collective laugh. But on Wednesday, relief came in the unlikely form of the president-elect Donald Trump’s selection for the post of attorney general.

Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida is so entirely unqualified for the position atop the US Department of Justice, that at least one Republican Congressman was reported to have publicly laughed ’til he cried on Capitol Hill. 

“Are you shittin’ me?”, Congressman Mike Simpson of Idaho asked a reporter who had just broken the news to him. “I don’t think it’s a serious nomination”, opined Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one Republican whose confirmatory vote will be needed if Trump is serious about advancing his selection. “I’m sure there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing”, sniffed her fellow Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine.

It’s not simply that the ever-machinating Gaetz is the single-most loathed member of House by the other 434 members of the body. He is also under continuing investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, watched pornography on the floor of the House, accepted impermissible gifts under Congressional rules and used campaign funds for his personal use.

Gaetz’s resignation from Congress, announced on Wednesday night hours after Trump unveiled his planned promotion, seemed designed to scupper the imminent release of a report by the Ethics Committee into his conduct. Committee members can still vote to publish their findings, a move that would further complicate Gaetz’s path to securing Senate confirmation.

But in lighting upon Gaetz, Trump confirmed that in his second administration, he means hardcore business. All of the president-elect’s nominees to Cabinet and ambassadorial positions have demonstrated not just loyalty to the “Make America Great Again” and “America First” brands. They have also offered unreconstructed personal fealty to Trump, the quality America’s next leader values above all others.

Gaetz, a self-described “firebrand”, wants to make good on Trump’s promise to terminate the traditional independence of the Department of Justice. One Trump adviser told “The Bulwark” that Gaetz was recruited for the job because “he was the only one who said ‘yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ f**king heads”.

To begin the “retribution” that Trump has vowed against his enemies, he will need the services of an entirely pliant attorney general. In Gaetz he has found a lawyer who – like the president-elect – believes that he has been unfairly targeted by weaponised, politically motivated prosecutors.

Gaetz is not the only Trump selection to have sparked mirth in the US capital.

The president-elect’s determination to place Pete Hesgeth – the weekend anchor of Fox and Friends, Trump’s favourite breakfast TV programme – in charge of the Pentagon has also generated disbelief.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump is interviewed by Fox and Friends co-host Pete Hegseth at the White House in Washington, U.S. April 6, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
The US president-elect Donald Trump is interviewed by Fox and Friends co-host Pete Hegseth at the White House (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Hesgeth, at least, is a decorated combat veteran. But he never rose above the rank of infantry officer, and has absolutely no national security or senior military experience. The author of several books about the military, he argues that the Defence Department should restore its original name of the War Department. He opposes the deployment of women in combat, describes the Geneva Conventions as “outdated” and has publicly defended US service members who were accused of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The notion that Hesgeth is equipped to take command of a military with 1.4 million men-and-women in uniform has engendered disbelief within the corridors of both the Pentagon and Congress. Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois who lost both her legs in combat in Iraq in 2004, described him as “dangerous” and said he has demonstrated “an absolute lack of experience” and a “lack of suitability for the job”.

A third Trump nominee, former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, may also struggle to secure Senate confirmation for the post of Director of National Intelligence. Relatively new to Trump’s inner circle, the former Democrat only endorsed the president-elect in August and then campaigned vigorously on his behalf.

Tulsi Gabbard Image: Instagram/TulsiGabbard https://www.instagram.com/p/DCU5vzlTDg5/?hl=en&img_index=1
The former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, may also struggle to secure Senate confirmation for the post of Director of National Intelligence (Photo: Tulsi Gabbard/Instagram)

The skeletons in Gabbard’s closet include a controversial visit to Syria in 2017 where she held talks with President Bashar al-Assad, describing him as “not the enemy of the United States”. She has vigorously denied repeated suggestions that she has been an enthusiastic promoter of Russian disinformation, but has spoken of Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” in Ukraine.

Gabbard, who served in Congress as a Democrat, won few friends among her colleagues in the party. Now adhering herself firmly to Trump, she could be weeks away from overseeing 18 US intelligence agencies, a position that Washington insiders believe is too risky to be awarded to a nominee who may boast dubious friends overseas.

But Trump rewards fealty, and Gabbard is proffering it in spades.



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