Democrats are criticizing President-elect Donald Trump's choice of former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz to be attorney general.
But Lee Fan, a far-left journalist who writes for UnHerd, is quick to say no.
Gaetz has been useful to the left, he wrote, and has often voted for progressive policies that some Democrats oppose because of their ties to corporations. Gates is a friend of the American consumer, he said.
In any case, the U.S. Senate may not confirm Trump's selection given the serious allegations against him, including sexual and other misconduct. Republicans are skeptical. Democrats are fiercely opposed to him.
bipartisan concern
According to a report in Politico, Gaetz is expected to receive zero support from 47 Democratic senators during his confirmation process in the Senate.
“There are many people who would uphold the rule of law and would be good attorneys general,” Judiciary Committee member Peter Welch (D-Vermont) said on his website. “I don't think Gates is on that group's shortlist.”
“You can record me being speechless,” Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Gaetz is “the right person for the job,” predicting zero Democratic votes.
Concerns range from Gaetz's refusal to recognize President Joe Biden's dubious 2020 victory to allegations that Gaetz was involved in the sex trafficking of young girls.
Mark Joseph Stern, a gay man, wrote for the far-left Slate and claimed that Gaetz would “destroy” the Justice Department.
The appointment “subverts its mission of principled, bipartisan law enforcement, and seeks to simultaneously undermine and weaponize the Department of Justice while punishing those who pursued charges against Mr. Trump (and perhaps Mr. Gaetz himself).” ” Stern wrote.
This is a shocking choice, clearly designed on purpose, and reflects a clear desire to corrupt government institutions from the top down. It is no exaggeration to say that the Justice Department will be permanently damaged if Gates is confirmed. Public servants will flee (or face firing), partisan loyalists will take their place, and the entire Justice Department will pivot toward resolving past ties to Trump's perceived enemies. If Senate Republicans don't draw the line here, there is no line.
But Stern's predictions can be taken with a grain of salt. In 2016, after President Trump won, he said, “I'm a gay Jew in President Trump's America, and I'm scared for my life.'' It wasn't the usual “Trump is Hitler'' hysteria. Ta.
“Trump wants people like me gone,” he wrote. “Dead. They tell you how to do it. Always with guns. They explain that liberal homosexual Jews have no place in the new order.”
“I’m scared,” he wrote. “I've never been this scared before.”
Well, despite that dire prediction, Stern is still with us, pink with hysteria.
“The Populist Progressive Incident”
Fang likes Gates because he is a consumer advocate. He is fighting for this little man, the man who has been forgotten by the Unionist establishment.
“Mr. Gaetz may be known in the media's eyes as a bombastic MAGA supporter,” Hwang wrote, noting that he has been abusing political opponents with “sour rants.”
Then again, he writes, Gates' career as a member of Congress reveals “a sharp break from the pro-business orthodoxy of the modern Republican Party.”
Indeed, Gaetz's elevation would give him far-reaching prosecutorial powers over his continued push against special interest influence and corporate wrongdoing.
His record speaks for itself. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Gaetz has pushed a surprisingly consumer-friendly agenda and routinely clashed with his Republican colleagues on important votes. He has previously supported legislative measures to break up Silicon Valley monopolies, strictly regulate the online data broker industry, ban anti-competitive employment agreements, and end forced arbitration practices, among other bills such as a corporate accountability vote. I was doing it. He has also taken unusual positions on reducing the FBI's surveillance powers, cutting certain weapons supplies to Saudi Arabia, and legalizing marijuana.
Similarly, Gaetz moved to the left of the ruling-class Democratic Party. Most notably, he voted in favor of the Platform Monopoly Elimination Act, which aims to prevent “anticompetitive conduct by Amazon and Google.” California Democrats such as Zoe Lofgren and Eric Swalwell voted against it, Fang said.
More from Fang:
In a time of deep political polarization, Florida representatives saw an opportunity to support the Biden administration's actions. In August, Gates sent a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai asking for “full compliance” with the antitrust ruling against the company secured by the current Justice Department. He called on President Trump to continue the pattern of corporate enforcement begun by the Biden administration. “My hope is that whoever the next FTC chair is will carry on many of the cases that (current FTC Chair Lina) Khan has brought against predatory companies,” Gaetz said. told Street Journal.
Gaetz also joined far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in blocking stock trading by members of Congress “out of concern that they were using insider information to enrich their own pockets.”
Completed fang:
If his recent actions are any indication, Gates may be the perfect person to help solidify the Republican Party's move away from corporatism. “As the Republican Party has become more working class, we've become less obsessed with the neoliberal view that everything big business does to people is OK,” he once told reporters. That means the party “cannot be a whore for big business and at the same time be the voice of the working class,” he added.
Reform may be on the horizon. Gaetz's nomination is the second most important personnel choice in the party's quest for a more consumer-centric Republican Party.
Meanwhile, Gates received a strong B+ rating on The New American's Freedom Index. Lifetime score: 85%. It reached 97 percent in the 117th Congress in 2021-2022.
ethics investigation
However, the nomination could be rescinded as the House Ethics Committee investigates allegations of sexual misconduct and other misconduct by Gates.
The committee was scheduled to vote tomorrow on releasing a “highly damaging” report on Gaetz, according to Punchbowl News.
And as Forbes reported today, senators are demanding to see it:
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee that will hold a primary vote on whether to confirm Gaetz as a state representative, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, told the Senate on Thursday. Lawmakers said they should have access to the report as part of the bill. Despite his resignation, the review process.
Other senators have said they expect the House Ethics Committee's findings to be made public, even though Gates has resigned from Congress. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told NBC News that she is “confident” that information “will eventually come out.” “It's probably going to come out in some way,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, RN.C.
The Ethics Committee's report could complicate the already bleak-looking prospects for Gates to be confirmed by the Senate — at least as the AG and others express shock at Trump's choice. Five senators have publicly expressed doubts about Gates' confirmation.
Those include Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, and Rep. Max Miller of Ohio, Politico reported.
This suggests that Gaetz, who resigned when President Trump nominated him, may not be confirmed.
