Senate Republicans won the first round of their fight for power with Trump, as the president-elect’s attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration.
Gaetz posted on X, “It is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,”
The Trump crew is trying to soft sell the withdrawal as four Republican senators being opposed to Gaetz. The reality is that more than half of Republican senators were opposed to Gaetz, and no even threats from Trump were enough to move them.
Trump got a cold hard lesson in the limits of his power. Donald Trump isn’t going to be able to pick his own cabinet, or be a dictator, because the Senate both Republicans and Democrats isn’t willing to give up its power. If Trump wants to get things done, he is going to need the Senate, and the Senate will still require 60 votes to pass legislation.
The Gaetz nomination was Trump’s test to see if he could bully the Senate into giving up its power to him. The Senate didn’t go for it. Trump has two other nominees for Defense Secretary and HHS Secretary that will be facing difficult confirmation fights.
RFK Jr. could be the next Trump nominee to go down, but the implosion of the Gaetz nomination shows that Trump will not waltz in and be a dictator, and there is still some constitutional principles standing.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association