Biden birthday, Inauguration Day in two months and the wisdom of choosing Matt Gaetz
Happy Birthday senile Joe Biden! Eighty-two years ago today the nation’s forty-sixth
president was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The details of Joe’s youth are inconsequential and will be passed over in this space. Realize that Biden will most likely mark today’s anniversary of his appearance in the world as bittersweet and worthy of skipping, seeing as his numerical tally was the primary cause of his political downfall – that and hapless mismanagement of the duties of his lofty position.
But it wouldn’t be polite not to wish the man a Happy birthday, would it?
Today is also the two-month point until Inauguration Day, the time when hundreds of thousands of celebratory Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters will assemble in Washington to listen to the festivities on enormous speakers and view them on gigantic big screens placed so that something other than the building itself is visible in the distance to the folks in the “cheap seats”, which is standing room only.
Distance from Trump and the rest of the newsmakers won’t matter a darn to the attendees, many of who traveled great distances to commemorate the occasion and witness history as Donald J. Trump repeats the oath of office he recited in 2017 in the same exact spot. Here’s hoping the authorities are able to keep the troublemaking leftist miscreants who are bound to be present from ruining the ceremony.
Time is passing quickly for the president-elect, and he’s taken advantage of his limited hours (thus far) to begin the task of staffing his administration. It’s safe to say conservatives have been thrilled with nearly all of Trump’s selections to this point, the individuals tapped being both knowledgeable and unquestionably dedicated to the 47th president’s success. For if Trump succeeds, so will the country. It’s what we pray for all the time.
That being said, Trump’s elevation of former (he already resigned from Congress) Florida
congressman Matt Gaetz to fill what is likely seen as the highest profile cabinet position (or maybe tied with Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense) has not only raised eyebrows, it’s elicited cries of foul from some circles. No one said we had to like or appreciate everything Trump does, and the president’s opting for Gaetz has gotten official Washington folks riled up.
In a column titled “Trump’s Matt Gaetz Fugue -- With his nomination for attorney general, the president-elect crosses the thin line that separates bravery from foolhardiness.”, the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel summed it up nicely last week, writing:
“The nomination was bad enough to make many Republicans wonder if Mr. Gaetz is this cycle’s sacrifice. Put up a lightning rod, make the base happy, draw fire away from other controversial picks— then pull him when it’s clear he’s sunk and guilt the Senate into a second choice. A Machiavellian might even wonder if this was designed to reward all of Washington by shuffling Mr. Gaetz out of politics entirely.
“The more troubling likelihood is that Mr. Gaetz was whom the president-elect had in mind when he made his recent demand that Congress bow to recess appointments. Yet it’s one thing for the Senate— a separate branch of government—to work with a president to speed a nominee bottled up by the opposition. It’s another for that body to abdicate its advice-and-consent duties to aid a nominee too insufferable to pass a 53seat GOP Senate. Also, Democrats would love that precedent.”
I agreed with some of Strassel’s analysis, for the most part, except for her final observation. “Picking off” one of Trump’s nominees will have little or no bearing on the confirmation-worthiness of the rest of Trump’s designated secretaries and undersecretaries, or his judicial appointments – or anyone else he chooses to put in charge of that portion of the executive branch.
53 (GOP senators) is still 53 is still 53, regardless of Matt Gaetz’s fate. In fact, one or both of probable naysayer Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and/or Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) may even feel more compelled to pass through other controversial nominees on the theory they can go back to their states and say, “See, I told you I wasn’t a Trump rubberstamp. Matt Gaetz was a bridge too far.”
And there’s always the possibility of getting Gaetz through via recess appointment. Brilliant, or politically dangerous?
But Strassel’s point regarding Gaetz is well-taken nonetheless. I believe most conservatives’ initial reaction to hearing Gaetz’s name associated with “Attorney General” was one of shock and bewilderment along with wondering whether Trump had perhaps pushed the equilibrium just a little too earnestly to demonstrate his desire for a shakeup in Washington and draining of the swamp.
The fact that Gaetz isn’t well-liked in Washington probably served as an enticement for the outsider president-to-be to choose him, Trump’s memory still fresh from the disaster that was appointing the all-around grandfatherly great guy Jeff Sessions to oversee Justice in the early part of his first term. Gaetz is about as far away from Sessions as one could possibly get in terms of likability.
I’m also not so worried about whether Gaetz could actually do the job of enforcing the laws and keeping track of the various deep state agencies that the DOJ manages. It seems to me the new Attorney General’s greatest need is to be willing and able to utter “You’re fired!” when the occasion calls for it as well as non-independently adhering to the wishes of the president.
You know, just like Merrick Garland’s done all this time for senile Joe Biden, right?
What could concern conservatives is Strassel’s other argument, that nobody is wild about Gaetz, least of all many of his own House colleagues. Gaetz has burned an awful lot of bridges in his days as a congressman and refused to take a “team” approach to actually accomplishing the possible in the House. Having principles is fine – and good in most cases – but constantly and haphazardly waging suicide grandstanding missions is also counterproductive.
You gotta know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Does Gaetz understand this?
Will it matter? Scott McKay at The American Spectator argues that Trump put Gaetz in for a reason – to bypass the need for 50 Senate votes and be confirmed via recess appointment, to then take a Bull-in-the-China-shop attitude towards liquidating the deep state players in the agencies’ leadership and then resign and make way for a more “respectable” AG candidate to come in and govern.
Flawless reasoning.
At any rate, it will be fascinating to see how it plays out. We’ll all be watching intently – and so will Donald J. Trump.
2024 Election a one-off Trumpian performance, or permanent realignment?
“Nothin’ lasts forever, even cold November rain” – Guns n’ Roses’ Axl Rose, in “November Rain.”
Conservatives overly encouraged by the soundness of the Democrats’ defeat at the hands of Donald Trump had best remember the concept. A good many observers have suggested the 2024 election signals semi-permanent good times for Republicans and perhaps a new voter coalition and realignment for GOP candidates from this point forward.
Kurt Schlichter urged caution on this way of thinking, suggesting that Trump – and Republicans – will hold voters’ support only as long as they improve economic conditions and return the country to the types of good feelings from the 1980s. In other words, GOPers, you can keep your majorities as long as you produce the goods. Or show me the money. Whatever. It still works.
I’d insist that nothing is permanent in American politics and the public will sway back and forth with the fortunes of themselves and their families. Can Trump and his cabinet keep people happy? It’s the operative question.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
Kamala Harris candidacy
Donald Trump campaign
Harris Trump debates
J.D. Vance
Kamala vice president
Speaker Mike Johnson
Donald Trump assassination
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election
Tim Walz
President Trump was not elected to make the Washington elite happy at their pink tea parties. He was elected because the Washington elite has sat on their a**** at too many pink tea parties! Normal Americans are ready for return to a normal America- not an America, where illegal aliens cross our border by the millions and where degeneracy is celebrated. So if President Trump thinks that he needs a certain person to do a certain job, then he should be allowed the privilege of naming who that person is and having that person in the job until they prove that they either can't or won't do it. And if the Washington snotnoses don't like that then too bad for…