By Michael Woyton
Haven’t we seen this movie already?
Convicted felon Donald Trump wins the presidential election and begins making outrageous nominations to staff his administration.
All are seemingly aghast at how horrible the nominations are, and there is a lot of tut-tutting among elected officials to reporters.
But then, when push comes to shove, the advice and consent function, well, gives advice and then always consents.
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After all, the president is the president and those in his party seem to just do what he says.
Take for example the adjudicated rapist’s nomination of now-former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for United States Attorney General, which is the top law enforcement official in the country.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins said she was “shocked” to hear that Trump picked Gaetz, who was two days away from hearing what the House Ethics Committee had found in its investigation of him.
The committee was getting ready to vote Friday on releasing its report on sexual misconduct and drug allegations against the just-reelected congressman.
Here’s the thing about the House Ethics Committee: When a congress member who is being investigated resigns that ends the investigation. How convenient.
So the joke going around on social media about Collins is, as the MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski posted that in a couple of months, Collins will say, “Matt Gaetz looked me in the eye and assured me that all the stuff about cocaine and underage girls is in the past and he’s just focused on preserving the institution of DOJ. I take him at his word.”
More than likely, if Trump doesn’t dissolve the Senate’s constitutional responsibility of advice and consent by forcing a Senate recess and making the appointments then, the senators will have forgotten their concerns about Gaetz and come to see things like Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Last year, Mullin said during an interview that Gaetz would brag about combining erectile dysfunction drugs and energy drinks to have sex all night and show videos of the girls he had slept with to other members of Congress on the House floor.
Flash forward to the announcement of Gaetz as the leading contender for AG and Mullin said, “I completely trust President Trump’s decision making on this one.”
In all fairness, Mullin said that Gaetz would have to come to Congress for approval.
Maybe Mullin will change his mind about that too, if Trump presses forward on recess appointments.
Should we start calling this mind-changing maneuver the “Markwayne move”?
Lead art: screen grab from CNN.
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