Gaetz and the Frightful Four
Almost any Trump appointee who promises real change must overcome these toadstools.
Thank goodness that David McCormick continued to fight and emerged the U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. We are probably going to need his vote.
A quick recap: President Trump nominated Matt Gaetz to be his Attorney General. (Gaetz wasn’t my first choice—-that was Ken Paxton or Andrew Bailey, but Gaetz had all the right enemies so I would have been fine with his confirmation). Immediately DemoKKKrats began circulating references to a House Ethics Panel report (can there be a bigger oxymoron in politics than a House Ethics Panel? But I digress). This apparently had Gaetz engaging in sexual behavior with underage girls. The Rutabaga Department of INJustice found no grounds for the accusations and did not press any charges. But proof is different than innuendo and senator seeing slime where they wanted to see slime.
Before Gaetz could say “lawsuit” four Republican senators—particularly the Frightful Four—-had lined up as no votes. They are predictable, save one: Susan “Tom” Collins, the perpetually useless Lisa MurCowSki, the now aggrieved Yertle—-who knows he is forever irrelevant (and apparently in the same twilight zone as Rutabaga as he froze up again yesterday), and a new villain, John (miniMinion) Curtis of Utah. I knew when I saw him get the primary nod that he would not vote one iota different than Minion, and I was right. It now appears that Gaetz also was lacking the votes of four other senators, but that may be a problem unique only to him.
Assuming that with other candidates (former AG of Florida, Pam BIondi, has been named to replace Gaetz—-to me a “meh” pick. I do not know that she has the bulldog focus to go after the Deep State)—-others may confront the problem of the Frightful Four. What happens then?
Although somewhat controversial, the Constitutional clause on the duties of the Vice President make it clear that he has a vote in any such tie. A careful reading of Article I, Section 3 says that the Vice President, as President of the Senate, “shall have no Vote, unless they [the Senators] be equally divided.” It does not say that the Vice President has this voting power only as to Article I matters. Rather, the Vice President has this voting power whenever the Senators are equally divided. Period.
As my court guru, ZenMaster, notes, “There wouldn't be any litigation over it. Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education in 2017 through a Pence tiebreaking vote. No litigation. No legal difference between AG and Sec. of Education. Judicial nominees also have been confirmed with tiebreaking VP votes (Jonathan Kobes of the 8th Circuit under Trump and Jennifer Sung of the 9th Circuit under Biden).”
So that means any other candidate must make sure he or she can get to just 50. Then the Frightful Four be damned.
Meanwhile as of this writing there is still no FBI director named. I desperately hope Mike Rogers, who just lost the senate race in Michigan, is not the pick. A weak Biondi combined with a Swampy Rogers would seriously undermine President Trump’s entire agenda. His cabinet up to this point has been near perfect, but, unfortunately these are probably the two most important picks. Remember what an oafish and incompetent (if not compromised) Jeff Sessions did to Trump’s first term, not only enabling the “Muh Russia” investigations, but completely standing down from enforcing immigration laws against “sanctuary city” mayors and governors; refusing to go after fascist Antia or Black Looters Matter aggressively; and ensuring Trump spent the majority of his first term under an investigation.
Pam Biondi better step up and look more like Vlad the Impaler than Sessions, or much of Trump’s second term will come to naught.
Larry Schweikart
Rock drummer, Film maker,NYTimes #1 bestselling author
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