GAETZ WILL GET THE JOB ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

Many people believe that Donald Trump picked Matt Gaetz to be attorney general as a ploy:

I worry that Gaetz is the sacrificial lamb and who Trump really wants through is Tulsi and the Fox host.

— Allie A (@alliea.bsky.social) November 13, 2024 at 6:52 PM

Hypothesis: Gaetz is the sacrificial lamb Trump is giving to the Senate to make it more likely Hegseth - who Trump actually wants - gets through.

— Jeff Lazarus wants to live in a democracy (@jlazarus.bsky.social) November 13, 2024 at 8:40 PM

He probably nominated Gaetz as a sacrificial lamb so he can push through Paxton on the second try.

— jeanjeanie.bsky.social (@jeanjeanie.bsky.social) November 13, 2024 at 5:51 PM

But that seems a lot less plausible coming from Trump than this scenario, from a very connected figure in the right-wing legal world:

Hope it's wrong, but I'm hearing through the grapevine about this bonkers plan: Trump would adjourn both Houses of Congress under Article II, section 3, and then recess-appoint his Cabinet.

— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) November 13, 2024

Article II, section 3 says that the president

may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses [of Congress], or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper....

The "extraordinary Occasion" in this case would be adult toddler Trump saying, "WAAAAHHHH! I'm not getting my own way!"

And will the Senate really put up resistance? The Bulwark's Marc Caputo reports that even a senator who had unpleasant interactions with Gaetz is open to voting for him:

... an old clip of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) quickly resurfaced in which he noted that, in the House, Gaetz would show colleagues videos “of the girls that he had slept with” and “brag about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night.”

But ... even the once tough-talking Mullins signaled on Wednesday afternoon that he’d be at least open to voting for Gaetz.

“I completely trust President Trump’s decision-making on this one,” Mullins told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “He has to answer those questions. And hopefully, he‘s able to answer the questions right. If he can, then we’ll go through the confirmation process.”

If there's sufficient resistance, I think the Senate will get Gaetz the job via a recess appointment, with the Senate calling the recess or Trump using the Constitution to call it. The Supreme Court didn't ban recess appointments -- it said that if the Senate is effectively in recess but is holding pro forma sessions so it's technically in session, the president can't treat that as a recess and slip in an appointee. Previous presidents had done that, but when Barack Obama did it, the Court ruled against him. Trump will get his way.

I agree with Marc Caputo that this is extremely important to Trump:

In Trump’s mind, there is no more important post than attorney general, both because of the sheer number of federal investigations and indictments he’s weathered since leaving office and his conviction that he was let down by feckless or non-loyal AGs when he served as president.

And I can easily imagine that Trump sees Gaetz, the subject of Justice Department probes himself, as his new Roy Cohn:

[Gaetz's] attitude has won him many enemies on the Hill. But it was also fundamental to Trump’s decision to choose him for the AG slot, according to a Trump adviser familiar with the transition process.

“None of the attorneys had what Trump wants, and they didn’t talk like Gaetz,” the adviser said. “Everyone else looked at AG as if they were applying for a judicial appointment. They talked about their vaunted legal theories and constitutional bullshit. Gaetz was the only one who said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ fuckin’ heads.’”

... those familiar with Trump’s thinking say he’s deadly serious about getting Gaetz in at DOJ.

But if Gaetz doesn't get the job one way or another, I'm not sure it will matter much. Slate's Mark Joseph Stern writes:

It is a shocking choice, surely by design, that reflects an obvious desire to corrupt the agency from the top down. If Gaetz is confirmed, it’s no exaggeration to say that the Justice Department will be permanently damaged, as civil servants flee (or face termination), partisan loyalists take their place, and the entire agency reorients around settling old scores against Trump’s perceived enemies. If Senate Republicans do not draw the line here, then a line does not exist.

But if Gaetz doesn't get the job, anyone Trump appoints in his place will be there to do exactly the same thing. Trump ran for office to do precisely this. It was the main goal of the campaign. Trump just thinks Gaetz will do it harder than anyone else will do it.