Democrats are denouncing President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz for attorney general.
But writing at UnHerd, far-left journalist Lee Fang says no so fast.
Gaetz will be good for the Left, he wrote, and has often voted for progressive measures that some Democrats oppose because of their corporate ties. Gaetz, he observed, is the American consumer’s friend.
Regardless, the U.S. Senate might not confirm Trump’s pick, given the serious allegations against him that include sexual and other misconduct. Republicans are doubtful; Democrats vehemently oppose him.
Bipartisan Worries
Gaetz can expect zero support from the 47 Democrats during the Senate confirmation process, Politico reported.
“There’s a lot of folks that would be excellent attorney generals, uphold the rule of law,” Judiciary Committee member Peter Welch (D-Vt.) told the website. “I don’t think Gaetz is on the short list of that group.”
Said Democratic Delaware Senator Chris Coons, “You can record me as speechless.”
And GOP Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Gaetz has “his work cut out for him,” and predicted zero Democrat votes.
Concerns range from Gaetz’s refusal to acknowledge President Joe Biden’s suspicious victory in 2020, to claims that he was involved in sex-trafficking young girls.
Writing at the far-left Slate, homosexual Mark Joseph Stern claimed that Gaetz would “destroy” the Justice Department.
The appointment “marks an effort to simultaneously degrade and weaponize the DOJ, subverting its mission of principled, nonpartisan law enforcement while punishing those who pursued charges against Trump (and, perhaps, against Gaetz himself),” Stern wrote:
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.
However, Stern’s prediction can be taken with a grain of salt. In 2016, after Trump won, he wrote a column titled “I Am a Gay Jew in Trump’s America. And I Am Afraid for My Life.” It was the usual Trump-Is-Hitler hysteria.
“Trump wants people like me gone,” he wrote. “Dead. They tell me how they’ll do it. It’s always with a gun. Liberal gay Jews don’t have a place in the new order, they explain.”
“I am scared,” he wrote. “I’ve never been scared like this before.”
Well, despite that fearful prediction, Stern is still with us, turning pink with hysteria.
“The Populist Progressive Case”
Fang likes Gaetz because he’s a consumer advocate. He fights for the little guy, the man forgotten by the Uniparty Ruling Class Establishment.
“Gaetz may be known as a bombastic MAGA supporter in the eyes of the media,” Fang wrote, noting that he lambastes political foes with “acidic bluster.”
Then again, Gaetz’s legislative career reveals “a sharp break from the corporate-friendly orthodoxy of the modern Republican Party,” he wrote:
Indeed, Gaetz’s elevation will provide sprawling prosecutorial powers for continuing his push against special interest influence and corporate malfeasance.
His record speaks for itself. From his perch on the House Judiciary Committee, Gaetz has promoted a surprisingly consumer-friendly agenda, routinely breaking with his GOP colleagues on crucial votes. He previously supported legislative measures to break up Silicon Valley monopolies, sharply regulate the online data broker industry, ban noncompete employment contracts, and [put] an end to the practice of forced arbitration, among other corporate accountability votes. He has also taken maverick positions on reducing FBI surveillance powers, cutting certain arms supplies to Saudi Arabia and legalising marijuana.
As well, Gaetz has moved to the left of Ruling Class Democrats. Most notably, he voted for the Ending Platform Monopolies Act, which was designed to hobble “anticompetitive practices by Amazon and Google.” California Democrats such as Zoe Lofgren and Eric Swalwell, Fang observed, voted against it.
Continued Fang:
In an era of severe political polarisation, the Florida representative has found opportunities to support actions of the Biden administration. In August, Gaetz wrote a letter to Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai, urging him to “adhere fully” to the antitrust ruling against the company secured by the current Department of Justice. He has called on Trump to continue a corporate law enforcement pattern started by the Biden administration. “I would hope that whoever is the next FTC chair would continue many of the cases that [current FTC chair Lina] Khan has brought against predatory businesses,” Gaetz told the Wall Street Journal.
Plus, Gaetz joined far-left Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to stop legislators from trading stocks “over concerns that lawmakers have enriched themselves using insider knowledge.”
If his recent actions are any indication, Gaetz may be the perfect man for the job to solidify the drift away from the GOP’s corporatism. “As the Republican Party becomes more working class, we’re less captive to the neolibertarian view that everything big business does to people is OK,” he once told reporters. That means, he added, the party “can’t be whores for big business and be the voice of the working class at the same time.”
Reform may be on the horizon. The Gaetz nomination represents the second most significant personnel choice towards a more consumer-centric GOP.
On other hand, Gaetz rated a strong B+ in The New American’s Freedom Index. Lifetime score: 85 percent. He peaked at 97 percent in the 117th Congress, 2021-2022.
Ethics Investigation
But the nomination might be undone because of the House Ethics Committee probe into allegations of Gaetz’s sexual and other misconduct.
The committee was supposed to vote on releasing a “highly damaging” report on Gaetz tomorrow, Punchbowl News reported.
And, Forbes reported today, senators are demanding to see it:
Senators, including Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Judiciary Committee that will hold a preliminary vote whether to approve Gaetz as AG, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Thursday senators should have access to the report as part of the vetting process, despite his resignation.
Other senators have said they expect the House Ethics Committee’s findings into Gaetz to be released despite his resignation from Congress — Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told NBC News she is “confident” the information “will eventually be brought out,” and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said “it’s probably going to come to light one way or the other.”
The Ethics Committee report could complicate Gaetz’s already seemingly tough prospects of being confirmed by the Senate — at least five senators have publicly expressed doubts about confirming him as AG and others expressed shock at Trump’s choice.
They include GOP senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, and Rep. Max Miller of Ohio, Politico reported.
That suggests that Gaetz, who resigned his seat when Trump nominated him, might not be confirmed.
