The withdrawal of Matt Gaetz as Trump’s preferred nominee for the Justice Department is a wake-up call for the president-elect. Despite a strong mandate, he cannot easily escape democratic control.
Bastian Brauns reports from Washington
The abrupt withdrawal of Matt Gaetz as Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General and Attorney General is a bitter first blow to the authority of the elected President of the United States. As Trump prepares for his second term, one of his most important nominations has turned into a major scandal. You have to imagine this: a designated Minister of Justice who, according to witness statements, is accused of having sex with a minor and more. And who apparently also bragged about it.
Actually, the transition of power phase is a moment of consolidation and strength for the president-elect. Instead, the withdrawal of his favorite Matt Gaetz reveals the cracks in Trump’s internal party coalition. And it turns out that the constitutionally guaranteed power of institutions is still effective in the USA. Despite his efforts to undermine the Constitution, the President must expect that his power will be checked and limited.
Matt Gaetz’s nomination was controversial from the start due to his personal background and the ongoing controversy surrounding drug, sex and embezzlement scandals. Donald Trump knew that – and nominated him anyway. Gaetz justified his decision to withdraw his candidacy by saying that he did not want to be a “distraction” to the overall project of the coming Trump presidency. But of course this was not an act of magnanimity, but rather a reaction to political reality.
The material against Gaetz from the Ethics Committee of the US Congress, which was finally made public by the television channel CNN, is so incriminating that even Trump saw no way out other than to finally drop him.
Trump and his colleagues had lobbied aggressively for Matt Gaetz – sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes with open threats. Recalcitrant senators who wanted to oppose Gaetz’s nomination should be “removed” from the Senate. Trump also planned to completely override the Senate’s say with a special rule and simply push through his nominations. A considerable number of Republicans in the Senate had signaled resistance to Gaetz. Not only his person was dissatisfied, but also Trump’s audacity in the manner of an autocrat to put together his cabinet as he saw fit.
The events surrounding Matt Gaetz are a bitter pill for Trump because the strategy behind almost all of his nominations is to test the limits of his authority. Trump wanted to install Gaetz, a loyalist who would transform the Justice Department into an instrument of his revenge against his political opponents.
There are many other characters from Trump’s chamber of horrors who could cause trouble. At the forefront is Tulsi Gabbard, whom the president wants to appoint as his new intelligence coordinator. Of all people, a person who has so far attracted attention primarily by defending dictators like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping or Bashar al-Assad. There is also Pete Hegseth, his preferred candidate as the new defense minister, and Linda McMahon, the future education minister. Both, like Matt Gaetz, are facing allegations that have to do with sexual violence.
With Matt Gaetz, Trump has now gotten a taste of the unnecessary and dangerous fights he risks with his personnel decisions. His insistence on Gaetz has proven to be a strategic mistake.
Trump has already proven that he can generate broad support within the party and among the public with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State or Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior and Energy. His understandable demand for loyalty can be combined with competence. The latter is essential if the relevant authorities are to meet his expectations and work efficiently.
Trump quickly found a successor to the problematic Matt Gaetz in former Attorney General Pam Bondi. The two have a questionable corruption story in common, according to which Trump once donated to her election campaign and she subsequently did not initiate an investigation into his private university. But this is a quality that is unlikely to lead to opposition in Washington.
Trump has now nominated Bondi, who is now his own lawyer, so quickly that it cannot be ruled out that he ultimately just used Matt Gaetz as a guinea pig to once again test how far he can really go.
