Republicans don’t have much hope for ex-Representative Matt Gaetz’s odds of getting into the presidential Cabinet.
The remarkably unpopular Florida politico was nominated by Donald Trump to become the country’s attorney general on Wednesday, a decision that would effectively hand the keys to the Justice Department to a man facing sex trafficking allegations. But before that happens, Gaetz has to be confirmed by the Senate—and that seems increasingly unlikely, according to members of the upper chamber.
Assuming that all Democrats will vote against Trump’s nominees, the president-elect can only afford to lose three Republican votes to squeeze his candidates into the executive branch. But Gaetz faces immense opposition from inside the party, reported The Wall Street Journal, with far more than three votes planning to oppose the MAGA bro’s nomination. Estimates predict that those against Gaetz range from 12 Republican “no” votes to upward of 30.
“It won’t even be close,” one source told the Journal.
Few conservatives were willing to point out the underlying reasons behind Gaetz’s unlikely candidacy, but they appeared to understand the 42-year-old wouldn’t hold up during the grueling confirmation process.
“It’s simply that Matt Gaetz has a very long, steep hill to get across the finish line,” North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer told the Journal. “And it will require the spending of a lot of capital, and you just have to ask: if you could get him across the finish line, was it worth the cost?”
Another unidentified source familiar with the conversations happening among Republicans over the process told the publication that “people are pissed.”
Trump ally Senator Markwayne Mullin acknowledged that actually getting Gaetz—who up until this week was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor—into the Cabinet would be “very difficult,” suggesting to the Journal that the vigorous vetting process might force Gaetz into a situation where he has to withdraw.
“Every nominee will have to acquit themselves well during the confirmation process by answering difficult questions and having their actions scrutinized,” Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, told the Journal.
Meanwhile, the soon-to-be upper chamber majority appears unwilling to concede any of its power to the executive branch, pushing back on Trump’s demand that the body expedite the nomination process via recess appointments.
Elon Musk is starting to seriously annoy some in Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Musk has been hanging around Mar-a-Lago ever since his million-dollar gamble to help Trump win the presidential election paid off last week. The billionaire technocrat seems to have no intention of taking a back seat in Trump’s presidency, and it’s starting to piss off those in the president’s ranks, according to two people familiar with the Trump team’s transition who spoke with NBC News earlier this week.
“He’s behaving as if he’s a co-president and making sure everyone knows it,” one of the two people told NBC.
“And he’s sure taking lots of credit for the president’s victory. Bragging about America PAC and X to anyone who will listen. He’s trying to make President Trump feel indebted to him. And the president is indebted to no one,” they added.
The second person said that Musk had been overstepping his bounds, and that Musk has an “opinion on and about everything.”
“He wants to be seen as having say in everything (even if he doesn’t),” the source told NBC.
Musk has been pretty busy since hitching his space-age wagon to the MAGA movement. Musk met with Iran’s U.N. ambassador on Monday, reportedly hoping to broker some kind of peace negotiation on behalf of the United States. Last week, Musk hopped on Trump’s calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Co-presidents” doesn’t sound too far off.
The second person suggested that Musk was hurting his chances of sticking around by not keeping a low profile, as the former president hates sharing the spotlight. Earlier this week, Trump cracked a joke at Musk’s expense during a meeting with Republican lawmakers, a reminder to everyone that Musk serves at his leisure, not the other way around.
The second person also speculated that Musk might not be as committed to Trump’s agenda as he presents.
This week, Trump tapped Musk to head the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental body that will push substantial cuts in regulations, spending, and personnel. While Trump has suggested that Musk’s role will be merely advisory, the high-level appointment has signaled that Trump’s White House is open for business to anyone who helps him politically and financially—after all, Musk transformed an essential information environment into a propaganda machine, with the sole purpose of having Trump reelected.
U.S. ambassador to Japan and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is floating the idea of running for chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Axios reports that Emanuel, who also served in Congress from 2003 to 2009 and worked in the Obama and Clinton administrations, is considering the move after the Democrats’ losses in the 2024 election. The party lost control of the Senate as well as the presidency—and Republicans maintained a narrow majority in the House—leaving open questions about its future direction.
Democratic strategist David Axelrod, a friend of Emanuel’s, said on his podcast Hacks On Tap earlier this week that he would support the ambassador if he ran for the post.
“If they said, ‘Well, what should we do? Who should lead the party?’ I would take Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, and I would bring him back from Japan and I would appoint him chairman of the Democratic National Committee,” Axelrod said.
Since then, other Democrats have told Emanuel he should run, according to Axios. But Emanuel is likely to face opposition from progressives, especially due to his actions as mayor of Chicago. Emanuel’s handling of police violence as well as his record with the........