For Left and Right

This column is reserved for comments from liberal and progressive readers, as well as regular contributors. But there is plenty of space available in the right column for those of you who lean right, whether never-Trumper conservative or pro-MAGA populist or libertarian. 

Today we feature the latest right column by Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay, who proudly counts himself as a never-Trumper. That does not mean you will be left out if you write a civil, fact-based pro-MAGA response.

We are pro-free speech, but we are anti-Section 230, so we moderate comments, just like a traditional newspaper. We think that makes commenting by the public safe and comfortable. 

Simply email your Comments to editors@thehustings.news and let us know how you identify, politically, in the subject line (so we post comments in the correct column). 

Question of the week is whether the incoming Trump White House will maintain about 900 US troops in Syria following the ouster of brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.

This week, we especially welcome readers’ comments on President-elect Trump’s plans for undocumented aliens (or, “illegals” if you prefer), import tariffs and retribution against the January 6th Committee. We are also looking for your comments on the overthrow of Syrian’s notorious President Bashar al-Assad and on President Biden’s pardon last week for his son. 

Is there important political news you think we are missing? We’ll publish your comments about that, too.

_____
MONDAY 12/9/24

…meanwhile…

Kristen Welker interviewed President-elect Trump at Trump Tower Friday for Sunday's Meet the Press. (Scroll down with the center trackbar for details.) [NBC News]

Trump’s Laissez-Faire FTC Pick – President-elect Trump Tuesday selected Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission, The Wall Street Journal reports, noting he “is likely to abandon the Biden administration’s liberal approach to policing mergers while keeping the heat on big technology companies.” Ferguson is one of two Republicans on the five-member commission and will replace Lina Kahn, described in the WSJ report as a “progressive hero who sought to flex the FTC’s enforcement muscle in ways not seen in decades.”

The one issue we have with the WSJ’s report is the assertion Ferguson will keep “the heat” on Big Tech, which is ready to move into the White House with Trump – while he frees the reins of bitcoin -- and is led by Department of Government Efficiency chiefs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Food fight … Speaking of FTC chair Kahn, she may count as a departing victory denial of the $24.6 billion merger of the Kroger and the Albertsons grocery store chains by a federal judge and a King County, Washington, judge. The FTC argued the merger would have raised prices by eliminating competition, and weaken union bargaining power, Forbes reports. 

The two grocery chains had argued their bigger competition comes from Walmart, Costco and Amazon. Merger plans would have sold off a combined 579 stores nationwide to “preserve competition.”

The two had spent $1 billion on the merger, which could have been used to lower food prices, Capitalist Tool Forbes notes.

Meanwhile … Albertsons now is suing Kroger for failing to do enough to secure regulatory approval, The Associated Press reports.

•••

Prosaic Injustice – A federal bankruptcy judge late Tuesday rejected The Onion owner Global Tetrahedron’s winning bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars, NPR reports, saying the sealed-bid auction lacked transparency and left money on the table for Sandy Hook shooting victims who are owed $1.4 billion from their defamation case against Jones. Judge Christopher Lopez’s ruling came just four days before the 12th anniversary of the Sandy Hook, which took the lives 26 children and educators in Newtown, Connecticut.

Far-right conspiracy theorist Jones made claims the shooting was a “staged” TV event, which resulted in harassment of the victims’ families by Infowars followers. Global Tetrahedron had plans to re-establish Infowars in January as a sort of Colbert Report-style parody of right-wing conspiracies. 

Global Tetrahedron CEO Ben Collins said in a message to NPR’s Morning Edition that The Onion’s parent “will continue to work to purchase Infowars.”

Global Tetrahedron’s $1.75-million bid had the backing of Everytown for Gun Safety, and was valued at $7 million, including Sandy Hook victims’ families who backed Global Tetrahedron’s bid with potential earnings from the defamation judgment against Jones toward the purchase. 

The losing bid of $3.5 million was by First United American Companies, which is connected to Alex Jones. 

“We can celebrate the judge doing the right thing,” Jones said late Tuesday on Infowars.

--TL

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TUESDAY 12/10/24

Netanyahu on Trial – Eight years after police began investigating Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and four year after his trial began, Benjamin Netanyahu took to the stand Tuesday in Tel Aviv facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Meanwhile, Netanyahu continues to oversee Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, occupation of Southern Lebanon and recent air strikes against Syria, The New York Times notes. 

On the stand, Netanyahu minimized cases against him and focused on his legacy as Israel’s protector, according to Haaretz. The prime minister has claimed the trial is a “deep state witch hunt” designed to topple Israel’s right-wing rule. 

•••

Hegseth Rising – President-elect Trump’s allies in the Senate appear more amenable to confirming Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary, Politico reports, including Sen. Joni Ernst, who appeared “more open” to the nominee after meeting with Hegseth a second time Monday, though the Iowa Republican did not explicitly say she’s support him. The notion of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a backup nominee apparently is off, as Trump has employed his signature modus operandi of making life “extremely uncomfortable” for “anyone who dares oppose him,” according to Politico’s report.

•••

Bad News for Ukraine – The House Republican Steering Committee Monday recommended Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), an opponent of US aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, to be the next chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, CQ Roll Call reports. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made the surprise announcement. Roll Call describes Mast as an Army veteran “with a sharp tongue and grievance politics.”

--TL

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MONDAY 12/9/24

Syria Frees Itself – … with help. The US maintains about 900 troops in Syria and struck Islamic State targets there, after the mostly peaceful and orderly ouster of brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad Saturday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. President Biden said the US will maintain its presence to protect Syrian citizens as they try to put together a new government. That leaves open the question of whether the US will continue that in-country support after January 20.

The issue here is that the liberating force that first took over Aleppo last week, then moved on to the capital, Damascus, from where Assad has since escaped to Moscow, was Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which the US still considers a terrorist group. HTS disavowed ties to al-Qaida in 2016. 

Assad’s brutal regime, which turned back the Arab Spring attempted peaceful revolution of 2011 and whose army killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in 2013 according to the UN, was propped up by Iran and Russia and lost much of that support in recent months as Iran fought Israel via Hezbollah and Russia invaded Ukraine.

•••

Habba to White House – President-elect Trump Sunday named his personal attorney and “fierce media surrogate,” Alina Habba to be White House counsel, The Hill reports. No doubt her many television appearances in defense of Trump over the summer did not hurt. Habba represented Trump in New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James’ civil fraud trial, which resulted in a nearly half-billion-dollar judgment against Trump (which now may be reversed) and in former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual assault lawsuit.

•••

Trump’s Retribution Coming? – That, apparently, is up to President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, and his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel. Asked by NBC News’ Kristen Felker in her exclusive interview on Meet the Press whether Trump would direct the Justice Department and FBI to punish members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (a long title we may never forget), the once and future president said; “No, not at all. I think they’ll have to look at that, but I’m not going to -- I’m going to focus on drill, baby, drill.”

So, there’s that oil production promise in the name of lower fuel prices. Trump told Welker he planned to make a lot of economic moves on day one, and that he still finds “tariff” the most beautiful English word, though he is uncertain whether he could “guarantee American families won’t pay more” as a result of them. 

Trump followed that up by getting all existential about it, adding “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.” 

He said he intends to end birthright citizenship and that he may deport legal US citizens who have illegal family members. Also, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary-elect will investigate the discredited association between vaccines and autism.

Trump will “most likely pardon” 1/6 Capitol rioters. He won’t fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell (whose term is up in 2026, so this is simply not an economic priority so long as the Fed doesn’t significantly increase interest rates). And Trump believes Pete Hegseth can be confirmed as Defense secretary.

Kinzinger responds … “If Donald wants to pursue this vindictive fantasy, I say bring it on,” ex-Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of two members of the House Select Committee on the January 6th Capitol Attack writes in his Substack newsletter. “I’m not intimidated by a man whose actions on January 6th showed a cowardly disregard for democracy and the rule of law.”

--Contributed and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 12/9/24

Billy Long: People Person

Who needs experience when you’ve got charm?

By Stephen Macaulay

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Billy Long as IRS Commissioner. 

Full disclosure:

I had no idea who the current IRS Commissioner is until I Googled him.

Danny Werfel. And I learned the IRS consists of about 85,000 people and has a budget of in excess of $12 billion.

So, it is good to know that Werfel, who has an MA in Public Policy from Duke, a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a BA in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell, came to the IRS from the Boston Consulting Group, where he was global leader of its Public Sector practice. He got the global job after leading the North American sector.

And before joining the Boston Consulting Group, he had more than 15 years with the Federal government, with jobs ranging from trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to Acting Commissioner of the IRS.

But back to Billy.

Trump posted on Truth Social:

"Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country. He then served 12 years in Congress, because he 'felt it was important for his constituents to have a Representative who has signed the front of a check!' (Random capitalization, as always, the president-elect’s.)

"Since leaving Congress, Billy has worked as a Business and Tax advisor, helping Small Businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations. I have known Billy since 2011 -- He is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress. Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm. He is the consummate “people person,” well respected on both sides of the aisle."

Long was representative of the Missouri 7th Congressional district. The largest city in that district is Springfield, with a population of 304,611. Branson is also located there, so there’s that.

Long’s educational background is, well. . .he attended University of Missouri, but that didn’t work out, so he dropped out. 

Three years later he attended the nine-day training program at the Missouri Auction School.

And he never looked back.

Here again we have a Trump nomination that is, well, absurd.

Qualifications and expertise in doing the people’s business — whether this is at the Department of Defense or the IRS — simply doesn’t matter.

Which seems like malfeasance.

But then, Long is a “people person.”

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MONDAY 12/9/24

What’s Up

No false equivalencies. No echo chambers. A fact-based center column with civil discussion from the left, liberals and progressives in the left column and anti- and pro-Trump conservatives in the right column. 

Help us make The Hustings a space to escape the misinformation, disinformation and outright conspiracy theories that infest such social media sites as X/Twitter and Facebook. 

Email your Comments on our center column political news/aggregate and analysis to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Questions for This Week

•The Hill counts 11 times that President Biden said publicly he would not pardon his son, Hunter, before announcing Sunday that he would pardon his son, Hunter. What are your thoughts about Biden’s about-face? (In his first administration, President Trump pardoned his daughter's father-in-law, Charles Kushner, who now is the president-elect's choice for US ambassador to France.)

•After coordinating a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which Israel has been fighting in southern Lebanon, what are the chances the Biden administration can reach a similar agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, before President-elect Trump’s January 20 inauguration?

•Your thoughts on President-elect Trump’s naming uber-MAGAist Kash Patel to replace Christopher Wray as FBI director?

_____
MONDAY 12/2/24

…meanwhile…

The economy added a healthy 227,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department reports, with an unemployment rate of 4.2%. That’s up slightly from 4.1% in September and October, though new jobs in October were stifled by hurricanes Helene and Milton, and by a strike at aircraft manufacturer Boeing. November job growth was strongest in health care, leisure and hospitality, government and social assistance, while the retail trade lost jobs. CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

FRIDAY 12/6/24

Notre Dame Reopens – President-elect Trump will attend opening ceremonies for Notre Dame in Paris, The Guardian reports, as well as President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Trump has found a European ally in French President Emmanuel Macron, who has taken credit for Notre Dame’s deadline-beating five-year reconstruction following a severe fire at the cathedral. 

Macron is on the political ropes, however, for a looming budget crisis. Earlier this week, an unlikely coalition of hard-left and hard-right lawmakers removed Macron’s hand-picked prime minister, Michel Barnier, in the nation’s first successful vote of no-confidence since 1962.

•••

CBP Director Named – President-elect Trump named in a statement released Thursday former US Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott to lead Customs and Border Protection, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. Scott served the Trump 45 and Biden administrations for 19 months as Border Patrol head, implementing key border enforcement policies Title 42 and the Migrant Protection Protocol, a.k.a. “Remain in Mexico.” 

CPB has more than 600,000 employees covering more than 300 airport, seaport and land border points of entry.

•••

Buying With Crypto – Venture capitalist David Sacks, who worked with Elon Musk more than two decades ago at PayPal, is the president-elect’s choice for White House AI & Crypto czar, Donald J. Trump announced on his Truth Social, according to The Wall Street Journal, which notes that Sacks hosted a June fundraiser in San Francisco for the Trump campaign, raising more than $12 million. Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance congratulated Sacks on Musk’s X-Twitter.

--TL

_____________________________________________

...meanwhile...

THURSDAY 12/5/24

Pre-Emptive Pardons Pondered – The Biden White House is said to be considering pardons for President-elect Trump’s known enemies, “senior Democrats familiar with discussions” have told Politico. The list includes Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA), former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci and, of course, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who was lead Republican on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. 

And yes, in case you were wondering, if Trump’s choice for FBI director, Kash Patel, and/or his choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, were to target any of these individuals, it would be a sign our democracy indeed is faltering. 

•••

Hegseth Won’t Back Down – Allegations of serious misogyny and an excessive drinking problem aren’t affecting former Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth’s resolve in becoming the next Trump administration’s Defense secretary. 

“I spoke to the president this morning, he supports me fully,” Hegseth said Wednesday after meeting with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), according to The Wall Street Journal, which earlier this week broke the story that Team Trump is now in negotiations with Ron DeSantis to make the Florida governor the president-elect’s nominee, instead. “We’re not going anywhere.”

•••

Two More Named – Per Politico, President-elect Trump Wednesday named former senator from Georgia Kelly Loeffler – who lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in 2020 – to head the Small Business Administration. Loeffler serves as co-chair of Trump’s second inaugural committee. More intriguingly, Loeffler is former CEO of Bakkt, a commodity and cryptocurrency platform in talks to be purchased by Trump’s Truth Social platform. 

Trump also named to run the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano, CEO of fintech and payments company Fiserv.

--TL

_____________________________________________

Florida Men (and Women) – Donald J. Trump is looking at replacing ex-Fox News personality Pete Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his choice for Defense secretary, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing “people familiar with the discussions.” Hegseth has been the subject of deep scrutiny over his personal life -- including reports of a 2017 sexual assault allegation which he paid for to keep secret -- since Trump named him as the man he wants to lead the Pentagon.

Trump and DeSantis visited a memorial service together in Palm Beach, Florida, Tuesday, for fallen law enforcement, according to the report. 

DeSantis, aka “DeSanctimonious,” drew Trump’s ire when he challenged the former and future president for the GOP nomination early this year. Some of the closest members of Trump’s inner-circle are said to oppose making the Florida governor Hegseth’s replacement-nominee. DeSantis is a former US Navy attorney who served at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

If Trump chooses DeSantis, which would happen within a couple of days as Hegseth’s personal life remains pinned under a microscope, it would accelerate the game of musical chairs being played by the Florida GOP. DeSantis already has the task of replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who faces near-certain Senate confirmation as Trump’s choice for secretary of state. Trump’s closest loyalists want DeSantis to name the president-elect’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Convention, Lara Trump, as Rubio’s replacement, the WSJ says. 

Then there’s Florida’s governor’s office, which presumably would go to Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez (R). DeSantis is term-limited from running for governor again in 2026, and there has been speculation that former Trump attorney general nominee and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will run after next year.

•••

Briefing Room Shuffle? – The incoming Trump administration is looking at clearing out the White House James Brady Briefing Room of news outlets that are not loyal to the president-elect, The Hill reports. Outlets including NBC News, CBS News, ABC News and Reuters, which traditionally have seats in the front row along with Fox News, and in the second row The Wall Street Journal, CBS News Radio, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Bloomberg News would be replaced by podcasters, internet personalities and media “deemed more friendly” to Trump, according to The Hill, which traditionally is in the fourth row. 

“It would be a total mess,” a White House reporter told The Hill. “I would expect people would probably boycott the briefings, though that would put certain outlets in a tough spot deciding if they want to go along with what the people are trying to pull.”

--TL

_____________________________________________

...meanwhile...

TUESDAY 12/3/24

Martial Law in South Korea – Yoon Suk Yeol, president of South Korea declared an “emergency martial law” on TV overnight, accusing opposition forces of an “insurgency” and of trying to control parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing his government with “anti-state activities” (per BBC, AP and The New York Times). It’s the first declaration of martial law in South Korea since 1980, the BBC reports. One source told the BBC the streets of Seoul are quiet, but “The people here certainly look bewildered.”

Netanyahu’s playbook? … In his television address, Yoon accused those government opposition forces of “trying to overthrow the free democracy.” President since 2022, Yoon has been facing potential impeachment amid calls for independent investigations of scandals involving his wife and top officials.

•••

Advances Against Assad – Rebel group Haý at Tahrir al-Sham has taken over Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, and are advancing on the capital of Damascus in an uprising that began last week after nearly 14 years of civil war, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Fighting between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Armed Forces had been halted by a 2020 cease-fire. Assad’s allies Iran and Russia have had to divert military assistance to the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict and war in Ukraine, respectively, the last US ambassador to Syria (2011-14), Robert Ford, told NPR’s Leila Fadel.

So the Russian-Syrian connection could have implications for Ukraine after President-elect Trump takes office next month.

But Atlantic Council non-resident fellow Omer Ozkizilcik believes Russia will make Ukraine, and not Syria, its priority.

“I do highly doubt that Russia will accept to stall its advance in Ukraine, in the battlefield, for protecting the Assad regime in Syria,” Ozkizilcik told Al Jazeera. “And it’s very unlikely for the Russians to step up and rescue the Assad regime.”

•••

No Payout, Yet, for Musk – Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the Delaware judge who negated Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s multi-billion-dollar pay package last January, Monday ordered the package to be rescinded after shareholders voted its approval, The Wall Street Journal reports. McCormick said she was not swayed by shareholder approval coming after her January ruling, saying directors were beholden to Musk, and that the approval was “tainted” and lacks transparency.

Jumping for Trump … Musk’s stock-option pay package was valued at roughly $44-45 billion early this year. But Tesla shares have rallied since Donald J. Trump’s presidential election victory November 5 and Musk’s package is currently valued at $55.8 billion, according to the WSJ.

•••

Oxford Word of the Year – Is “brain rot” (though we count two words). Sure. Why not?

--TL

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While We've Been Feasting

MONDAY 12/2/24

Art of Ukraine’s NATO Deal – With the threat of President-elect Trump’s plan to end the Russian-Ukraine war on Day One looming over the invaded country, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week suggested that perhaps it’s time to fast-track Ukraine into NATO membership, at the alliance’s Foreign Ministerial meeting Tuesday and Wednesday. The plan outlined by Zelenskyy would end the “hot phase” of the war in exchange for NATO membership. It would not immediately include territories already occupied by Russia. 

“We understand that Article 5, when you’re a member of NATO, cannot apply to the entire territory of Ukraine during wartime, as countries are against the risks of being drawn into war,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference with Antonio Costa, the new president of the European Council, The Kyiv Independent reports.

•••

Biden’s Last Victory? – Israel signed a 60-day cease-fire with Hezbollah, in which it will gradually withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and Hezbollah will not entrench itself near the Israeli border, according to The New York Times. More to come … and as always, your opinions and perspectives are welcome. Email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

•••

He Is Trump’s Retribution – While noise from the opposition to Trump nominees ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (withdrawn) for attorney general, Peter Hegseth for Defense secretary and Orbánophile Sebastian Gorka as administrative assistant to the president nearly drowns each other out, controversy is hitting new heights with the president-elect’s choice for FBI director. Donald J. Trump has named one of his most loyal followers, Kash Patel, to replace Christopher Wray as FBI director. Trump appointed Wray seven years ago, which means the incoming president wants him removed with three years left in his term.

What would happen to the FBI under Patel? It seems the entire Trump administration will be quite busy on “day one.”

“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and then reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state,” he said, according to NBC News. 

Short-lived Trump administration National Security Advisor John Bolton reacted in this statement to NBC News’ Meet the Press: “Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria,” a reference to Stalin’s much-feared secret police chief. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject the nomination 100-0.”

Nepo in-laws … Last Saturday, Trump appointed Charles Kushner, father of son-in-law Jared, to be US ambassador to France, and Massad Boulos, the Lebanese-American father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, to be senior advisor of Arab and Middle-Eastern affairs (per The Forward). 

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 12/2/24

He Could Have Been Really Good, If Not Best

By Stephen Macaulay

You may recall the campaign kicked off by Melania Trump in May 2018, “Be Best.”

Well, maybe you don’t. According to the most recent Siena College Expert Survey of American First Ladies, released in December 2020, Melania Trump, when it came to metrics including such things as “value to the country,” “accomplishments,” “leadership,” and “public image” (who can forget the jacket with “I really don’t care, do u?” inscribed on the back when she went to visit a child migrant detention center?), of the 40 first ladies assessed, Mrs. Trump came in last, behind Eliza Johnson (36), Letitia Tyler (37), Margaret Taylor (38), and Jane Pierce (39).

So one could argue that there isn’t a lot of residual impact of her first go round as First Lady.

But the “Be Best” concept came to mind when I was thinking about Donald Trump and his selections for cabinet positions.

In the 2021 C-SPAN Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, the Top 10 presidents are:

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
  4. Theodor Roosevelt
  5. Dwight D. Eisenhower
  6. Harry S Truman
  7. Thomas Jefferson
  8. John F. Kennedy
  9. Ronald Reagan
  10. Barack Obama

The Bottom 5:

  1. James Buchanan
  2. Andrew Johnson
  3. Franklin Pierce
  4. William Henry Harrison
  5. Donald Trump

Claims about how he’s better than every president in history (and probably better than all of those who will exist in the future) notwithstanding, it seems likely that he isn’t going to do well in history books, and when you are 78, it is probably a good time to consider just how you will be thought of when you have departed this veil of tears.

One of the simple things that Trump could have done in order to rocket up that list is to make “Be Best” cabinet nominees.

Consider that the in-coming president could contact the most talented, respected, capable, educated, experienced, and not under suspicion for various imbroglios, sexual, financial, political.

Amazing diplomats. Renowned medical experts. Nobel-winning economists. Lauded business executives.

Trump could have created a cabinet full of people that would have made Thomas Jefferson seem like a dullard.

The world would have been amazed at the incredible collection of people that Trump brought together.

But what did he do?

Picked a group of people whose qualifications seem to be mainly appearing on Fox News, appealing to his sense of power (Trump undoubtedly feels a bit of jealousy about Kennedy’s Camelot so giving RFK Jr. a job he is imminently unqualified for puts Trump, he thinks, one up on JFK), or who have simply been lickspittles.

As you may recall, during the first meeting of Trump’s first cabinet in June 2017 Trump had each of the people, in effect, praise and offer fealty to him. Presumably it is going to be smarmier this time.

Consider: Rex Tillerson had been the CEO of ExxonMobil before becoming Trump’s first secretary of state. This time it is Marco Rubio, a man who Trump demeaned repeatedly, and who wilted under this — just the sort of behavior you want for someone who will be negotiating with people like Vladimir Putin.

James Mattis commanded U.S. Joint Forces Command, was NATO’s Supreme Allied Command for Transformation, and U.S. Central Command. Pete Hegseth is to be respected for his service, but his resume is a bit light command-wise, which is important for running the Department of Defense.

John F. Kelly, who enlisted in the Marines in 1970, was the commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) which had him working closely with US law enforcement personnel and the secretary of Homeland Security before being named secretary of Homeland Security. Kristi Noem in the governor with a state that has a population approximately that of Austin, Texas.

When history is written, Trump could have been not simply a contender, but a champ.

His cabinet picks show that isn’t something important to him.

Apparently there is more of a “I really don’t care, do u?” approach to his forthcoming presidency.

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MONDAY 12/2/24

What’s Left

No echo chambers. No false equivalencies. Free, fair and civil discussion of political news/news aggregate, in our center column, for liberals and conservatives. This is what we are about; the anti-X/Twitter.

Go to the top of Page 2, where contributor Hugh Hansen’s thoughts about the presidential election appear in the left column, and pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay’s thoughts appear in the right column.

You are encouraged to participate in this humble endeavor. Email your Comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate in the subject line your political leanings, so we post them in the proper column. 

_____
Thanksgiving Wk 2024

Happy Thanksgiving

Before we take a week off for Thanksgiving, let’s get you caught up with President-elect Trump’s picks for his cabinet, and other key appointments. Trump named the following on Friday …

Requires Senate Confirmation

•Labor secretary – Lori Chavez-DeRemer

•CIA director – John Ratcliffe

•Environmental Protection Agency director – Lee Zeldin 

•Treasury secretary – Scott Bessent

•Agriculture secretary – Brooke Rollins

•Commerce – Howard Lutnick

•Food and Drug Administration director – Martin A. Makary

•North Atlantic Treaty Organization ambassador – Matthew G. Whitaker

•Housing secretary – Scott Turner

•Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director – Dave Welden

•Surgeon General – Janette Nesheiwat

•Office of Management and Budget director – Russell T. Vought

No Senate Confirmation

•Deputy Chiefs of Staff --  James Blair, Taylor Budowich, Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino

•Border czar – Thomas Homan

•National Security Advisor – Michael Waltz

•White House Council – Bill McGinley

•Communication director – Steven Cheung

•Press secretary – Karoline Leavitt

•Staff secretary – Will Scharf

•Personnel – Sergio Gor

•Federal Communications Commission chair – Brendan Carr

•Deputy National Security advisor – Alex Wong

•Deputy assistant to the president – Sebastian Gorka

--TL

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Thanksgiving Wk 2024

What’s Right

What’s Right

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay has had a lot to say about Donald J. Trump’s stunning electoral college and popular vote win on November 5. Scroll down the page with the trackbar on the far right to read …

•”Drive, He Said”

•”Matt Gaetz: A Very Clever Man”

•”Help Wanted, Experience Irrelevant”

You will notice that our pundit-at-large is a conservative, but also cut from the never-Trumper cloth. That does not mean we want to discourage commentary from pro-Trump conservatives. As we ask all our readers (and expect from our contributors) please express your comments with civility and with adherence to the facts. 

Go to Page 2 to see what a page of The Hustings will look like when contributors and readers from the left and the right participate at the same time. At the top of the next page you will find straight coverage of the presidential election in the center column, with Hugh Hansen’s “Silver Linings?” in the left column and Macaulay’s “Those Who Need to Know Don’t” in the right column.

We encourage you to participate along with Hansen and Macaulay. Email your Comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate in the subject line your political leanings, so we post them in the proper column. 

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Thanksgiving Week 2024

Left to Your Devices

Last Friday, the real CEO of The Onion’s owner Global Tetrahedron, Ben Collins, told NPR’s All Things Considered he hopes to use his company’s purchase out of bankruptcy of Alex Jones’ Infowars as a way to fight extremist conspiracy theories dominating social media. We applaud this: If The Hustings had a better sense of humor (and the necessary funds) we would try to do exactly the same thing.

Instead, we are here to bring together citizens from various points on the left and right sides of the political horseshoe to discuss and argue – in a civil manner – real, fact-based news/news aggregate, and push back against the same sort of social media BS. We are the anti-X/Twitter.

No echo chambers. No false equivalency. Facts, useful analysis and context for political animals and the politically curious. 

No matter which side of the political horseshoe you are on, we humbly solicit your thoughts and opinions on the latest political news and issues.

Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line – you do not have to tow your side’s line on a specific issue, but we do want to post your comments in the appropriate column – right or left.

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TUESDAY 11/19/24

Trump’s AG and Russian Missiles

Joe Biden became the first US president to visit ‘Earth’s lungs,’ the Brazilian rainforest, Sunday, on his way to a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.  (White House photo) ... Biden later skipped the official G20 photo and refused to answer reporters' questions.

Bondi – President-elect Trump’s quick pivot from ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as his choice for attorney general to a “fellow loyalist” (Politico) from Florida, Pam Bondi, happened so quickly Thursday it seems like it has to have been planned this way all along. The remaining question is whether Gaetz might try to reclaim his House seat, as Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay predicted, or whether he might run for Florida governor when Ron DeSantis is term-limited out in two years. 

If Gaetz wants to return to the House, that would reignite the Ethics Committee’s investigation. But even if he doesn’t, the committee still may release its investigation of him.

Bondi was Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019 when she defended Trump in his first impeachment trial. She reappeared with Trump on the campaign trail in the final days of this year’s campaign, according to Politico and in the interim has served as the co-chair of the America First Policy Institute’s law and justice division, an organization described as a “Trump administration in waiting.”

Trump reportedly picked Gaetz after a Trump jet flight in which the president-elect was unhappy with his AG choices, and the then-representative suggested himself. Was Bondi to be shadow-AG to Gaetz? Was all this folderol over the Gaetz pick some sort of television performance art worthy of The Apprentice? (Trump’s TV show, not the new movie about Roy Cohn and DJT.)

•••

Correction – Russia hit Dnipro, Ukraine, not with an intercontinental ballistic missile as reported Thursday, but with an “experimental” intermediate-range ballistic missile. Like an ICBM however, the “Oreshnik” (Russian for “hazel”) missile could carry a nuclear warhead although this one didn’t. Vladimir Putin described Oreshnik on Russian TV, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

“This is an obvious and serious increase in the scale and brutality of war,” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram messaging app.

--TL

______________________________________________

...meanwhile...THURSDAY 11/21/24

Gaetz Withdraws -- Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) he is withdrawing his name to become President-elect Trump's US attorney general, Reuters reports.

•••

ICC Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu – Alleging Israel has used starvation as a weapon and directs attacks against civilians, the International Criminal Court Thursday has issued an arrest warrant for war crimes for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant (per The Wall Street Journal). ICC prosecution drew praise from many countries, but outrage from the Biden administration and much of US Congress last May when it first sought the warrants. Several Hamas leaders who were also named in the ICC warrant have been killed by the Israeli Defense Force.

•••

ICBMs Hit Dnipro, Ukraine – Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Dnipro Thursday morning, Kyiv’s air force reported according to The Kyiv Independent. ICBMs are capable of carrying nuclear warheads – though obviously not in this case. The ICBM triggered a country-wide air raid alert. 

•••

Gaetz Headed for Hearing – It looks like President-elect Trump’s choice for attorney general, ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is headed for a Senate confirmation hearing, as Republican members of the Judiciary Committee said he should be given the opportunity to address misconduct allegations (per CQ Roll Call). 

“I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, top Republican on Judiciary. “I have seen this movie before.”

Meanwhile… Speaking of unverified, the House Ethics Committee will not release findings of its investigation of Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct and drug use, committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) announced. The committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) indicated a 5-5 split between Republicans and Democrats on whether to release the report. At least one committee Republican would have to vote with the five Democrats to break the tie. Wild said the committee will reconvene Dec. 5 to further consider the matter, per NPR.

•••

Speaker Backs Mace – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has backed Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) in her efforts to keep the first transgender woman elected to the House of Representatives out of women’s restrooms.

“Transgender women should not use women’s bathrooms in the House,” Johnson said Wednesday (per Roll Call). “All single-use facilities in the Capitol and House Office Building – such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms – are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.”

Mace called for the restrictions earlier this week ahead of Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE), who will be sworn into the 119thCongress January 3.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 11/20/24

Billionaires, TV Stars – Donald J. Trump’s appointee for Commerce secretary, chief of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald Howard Lutnick, is the billionaire. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the television physician with nine daytime Emmys and a history of promoting quack medicine, whom the president-elect has chosen to lead the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (including the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare) is the latest on the growing list of TV stars.

Oz is best-known politics-wise as the Republican Senate candidate for Pennsylvania who lost to Democrat John Fetterman in the 2022 midterms.. 

Linda McMahon bridges both descriptions as a retired pro-wrestler who with her husband, Vince, founded Titan Sports, which became World Wrestling Entertainment – better known as the WWE. McMahon, who ran the Small Business Administration for Trump from 2017-19 is his choice to become what Newsweek says “may be America’s last Education secretary.”

Trump also has named his first term’s national intelligence director, John Ratcliffe, to become head of the CIA, 

As for the elephant in the elephant’s room, there is much speculation among the punditocracy that Trump’s chosen attorney general, ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, is actually, in political animal terms, a “sacrificial lamb” meant to divert the Senate’s attention from Trump’s other choices. Theory goes that were a few Republican senators to join Democrats in defeating Gaetz’s nomination, he would move on to run for Florida governor in a couple of years. 

But Trump has made it clear he wants Gaetz to be his AG, which seems more a case of the president-elect testing how far he can push things – his “mandate,” or agenda. Or as Mike Davis, president of the Article III Project nonprofit formed to defend Trump against criminal charges against him told The Washington Post at Mar-a-Lago: “It’s a hostile takeover on behalf of the American people.”

--TL

_______________________________________________

TUESDAY 11/19/24

On the 1,000th Day – Ukraine on Tuesday fired six US-made ATACMS – Army Tactical Missile System – missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region, sparking a fire but with no initial damage or casualties, Russia’s defense ministry said, according to the AP. The attack comes on the 1,000th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and two days after President Biden eased restrictions of Ukraine’s use of American-made weapons, which in turn prompted Dictator/President Vladimir Putin to lower the Kremlin’s threshold for using nuclear arms (per The New York Times).

The Biden administration “strongly supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the lame-duck president told leaders at the G20 summit in Brazil.

United Russia Minister of Parliament Maria Butina said Monday that the US is “actually pushing the world to a very dangerous red line,” (per the BBC). Yes, that’s the same Maria Butina who five years ago pleaded guilty before US District Judge Tanya Chutkin to conspiracy charges for infiltrating conservative groups, including the National Rifle Association, for the goal of advancing Russian interests.

Meanwhile… President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented in an address Tuesday to Ukraine’s parliament a 10-point plan for “internal resilience,” The Kyiv Independent reports.

“Ukraine may need to outlive someone in Moscow to achieve all the goals,” Zelenskyy said. 

Zelenskyy was criticized earlier this autumn, before Donald J. Trump won the November 5 presidential election, for presenting a victory plan that focused primarily on requests from external parties while lacking domestic reform, according to the Independent’s report.

•••

Another Fox Celeb for Trump’s Cabinet – President-elect Trump has named Fox Business’ The Bottom Line host Sean Duffy to be his transportation secretary (per The Hill). Duffy was US representative for Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019, where he was a loyal supporter of Trump during his first presidential term, according to his Wikipedia page. Duffy began his television career in a slew of MTV reality shows; The Real World: Boston, Road Rules: All Stars and Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons. He is married to Rachel Campos Duffy, co-host with Trump’s choice for Defense secretary Pete Hesgeth on Fox & Friends: Weekend.

Meanwhile… Senate Republicans and “people around Trump” say the president-elect has been told that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has “little chance” of confirmation as attorney general, Politico reports, adding that the GOP senators are “privately hoping” Trump “doesn’t make them walk the plank.”

ICYMI… Trump has nominated Chris Wright, CEO of the Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy to be his Energy secretary; former US Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) from 2015-23 to head the Environmental Protection Agency; and John Ratcliffe, Trump’s national intelligence director from 2020-21 to head the CIA.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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TUESDAY 11/19/24

Drive, He Said

“There’ll be spandex jackets, one for everyone. . . .”

By Stephen Macaulay

In announcing fellow former reality TV player Sean P. Duffy as his selection to be the Secretary of Transportation, Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social:

“Sean will use his experience and the relationships he has built over many years in Congress to maintain and rebuild our Nation’s Infrastructure, and full fill our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel, focusing on Safety, Efficiency, and Innovation. Importantly, he will greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”

Which is an absolutely consistent statement with all of the other statements that Trump tends to make about things.

First, let’s give Trump a pass for his tendency to capitalize Nouns whenever He wants to make a Point about Something. Maybe He thinks that’s what the Kids are doing.

The nation’s Infrastructure is currently being maintained and rebuilt as a result of the Biden Administration’s $1.2-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law November 15, 2021.

Trump, during his presidency, rolled out with various “infrastructure weeks.” There were numerous infrastructure plans.

None of these came to fruition.

Remember, during his first two years in office the Republicans controlled the House and Senate (January 2017 to January 2019).

Similarly, during Biden’s first two years (January 2021 to January 2023) the Democrats controlled both, too.

But Biden got something done with regard to infrastructure.

The most curious aspect of Trump’s announcement about Duffy — who, it should be noted, was on MTV’s Road Rules: All Stars, which put him and his colleagues in a Winnebago traveling around America, presumably hands-on experience for running an organization in charge of the US transportation system — is the “our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel.”

Does anyone know when The Golden Age of Travel occurred?

Perhaps this was about the time when Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which created the interstate highway system. That was in 1956, when Trump was 10. 

Big-finned Cadillacs. Cheap gas.

But then there’s this: In 1957 the traffic fatality rate was 5.9 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled — now it is down to 1.17 deaths.

So much for Golden. More like Bloody.

But then there’s claim “elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”

That is possibly more perplexing than “Golden Age.”

Now the Department of Transportation does have the Federal Aviation Administraation under its purview, which could be the “elevate” aspect.

But then there’s “all Americans.”

According to the Bureau of Transportation, in 2022 US airlines carried some 853 million Americans.

The same year, according to AAA, Americans made 227 billion trips by auto.

That means the air trips are 0.38% of the number of car trips.

So presumably Trump plans to do something to the ground-based travel experience for Americans. Whatever it is must be special. Flying cars for everyone, perhaps?

Let’s face it: that Truth Social post is like other pronouncements made by Donald Trump in that it sounds good (who doesn’t want a Golden Age of Transportation or an elevated Travel Experience?) but is quite meaningless.

What are the metrics for these things? How will it be known if he accomplished it?

And therein lies part of the rhetorical genius of Donald Trump: sound and fury signifying nothing.

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Monday’s center column, “Is Our Democracy Done?” asks whether Donald J. Trump’s incoming term already is proving to be as authoritarian, even fascist, as the failed Democratic presidential campaign had warned, as evidenced by his four most controversial staff and cabinet choices. Scroll down with the far-right trackbar to read our news aggregate and analysis.

The center column is accompanied by Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, “Matt Gaetz: A Very Clever Man,” on how the ex-US representative from Florida could return to the House sans the Ethics Committee report on him. Scroll down further to read Macaulay’s “Help Wanted. Experience Irrelevant.”

Scroll down yet further, but still on the home page, to read Macaulay’s reaction to the November 5 elections, “Those Who Need to Know Don’t.” Read contributor Hugh Hansen’s left-column response, “Silver Linings?”

Email your own Comments, whether pro-MAGA, never-Trumper right, moderate left or progressive – or virtually anything in-between as long as you are civil – to editors@thehustings.news.

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TUESDAY 11/19/24

Your Turn

Is our center-column analysis of the Trump transition team’s quickly moving plans for January 20 and beyond, unfair? Unbalanced? This is your chance to make your case for why the second term of Donald J. Trump would be good for our democracy.

Of course, this column is for left/liberal/progressive opinion. If you are conservative – whether pro-MAGA or never-Trumper, we will post your comments in the right column.

Simply email your civil, fact-based Comments to editors@thehustings.news and please be sure to indicate your political leanings in the subject line [we do not dismiss the possibility that some readers who lean left might take exception with the center column.]

Also, be sure to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s take on President-elect Trump’s choice of ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for attorney general, “Matt Gaetz: A Very Clever Man.”

Subscribe to our free Substack newsletter here.

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MONDAY 11/18/24

Is Our Democracy Done?

HHS chief nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (far right) shows loyalty to President-elect Trump by eating a McDonald’s Big Mac. Also in this “viral” picture on Trump's jet (L-R): Elon Musk, Trump, Donald Trump Jr., House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

By Todd Lassa

Was Donald J. Trump joking when he said earlier this year he would be a dictator only on Day One of his second administration? There are pretty clear signs that the president-elect’s plans to transform our democratic republic into something different already is underway. Consider his four most controversial proposed appointments, announced rapid-fire only in the week after Vice President Kamala Harris’ decisive defeat. 

The president-elect wants (Ex-) Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), one of the most loyal Trumpists in Congress these last four years to be his attorney general, knowing he will investigate politicians and government officials Trump feels have aggrieved him. 

Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was a key reason he lost his first re-election campaign. Anti-vaxxer/conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is his choice for secretary of Health & Human Services. 

Pete Hesgeth is a Fox News weekend host and an Army National Guard officer who is not a general who would resist any attempt to politicize the military. He is Trump’s choice for Defense secretary. 

After a private meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki six years ago, Trump told a press conference he trusted the dictator more than US intelligence about whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s choice for national intelligence director is former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who has been supportive of Russia and has visited Syria’s strongman-president, Bashar Assad. 

‘Warrior Board’

Whether or not he will, officially, implement key planks in The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, Trump has made it clear he plans to dismantle pillars of the federal government, beginning with firing four-star generals and admirals he wants to purge from the military. Trump’s transition team is considering a draft executive order, which The Wall Street Journal has reviewed, that would establish a “warrior board” of retired senior military personnel with power to review three- and four-star officers and recommend removing those deemed unfit – i.e., those devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion. Trump has in the past made a vow to fire “woke generals.”

As commander-in-chief, Trump already will have the ability to “fire at will,” but such an outside board as outlined in the draft EO would bypass the Pentagon’s regular promotional system, and hints at a wide-scale purge, according to the WSJ.

Two purges Trump might have wanted to make years ago are his former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during his first term, Gen. Mark Milley. Both publicly warned prior to the November 5 election they believe Trump is a fascist.

A progressive military group, VoteVets, warns that the “warrior board” in the proposed executive order would “politicize” the military, according to Newsweek, which dubs the potential plan in its headline, “MAGA Military.”

Musk and Ramaswamy

Then there’s the proposal for a Department of Government Efficiency to be led by Tesla/SpaceX/Starlink CEO Elon Musk (who apparently has become a perennial guest at Mar-a-Lago) and his fellow billionaire, pharmaceutical exec and former candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, Vivek Ramaswamy. The department would not be a government entity so to avoid Musk and Ramaswamy having to divest themselves of any corporate holdings or interest, and has been compared with President Reagan’s Grace Commission, which got nothing substantial accomplished. Musk says he wants to use the Efficiency Department to cut $2 trillion out from the $6.75 trillion federal budget. 

That sort of cut is widely considered impossible, but even managing a small fraction would have a profound effect on the federal government, not to mention on the unemployment rate and overall economy.

The Fourth Senator

Three Republican senators likely to push back against at least some of Trump’s nominees are Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, Susan Collins, of Maine, and Todd Young, of Indiana, each of whom did not vote for their party’s leader November 5. If these three plus 47 Democratic senators vote against any Trump nominees, the incoming vice president, JD Vance, will cast the tiebreaker on a 50-50 vote. 

The Trump team also has floated the possibility of recess appointments, which the former and future president used extensively in his first term in order to fill key positions.

Meanwhile … One of the 53 Republicans making up the Senate majority is freshman Sen.-elect David McCormick. The Associated Press called the Pennsylvania senate race for McCormick over three-time incumbent Democrat Bob Casey after it concluded there weren’t enough remaining ballots left to be counted in precincts where Casey was leading. McCormick’s 29,000-vote lead is well within the 0.5% margin that triggers an automatic recount, which Casey has refused to waive. 

Pennsylvania counties have until Wednesday, November 20, to begin the recount and must finish by noon on Tuesday, November 26.

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MONDAY 11/18/24

Matt Gaetz: A Very Clever Man

By Stephen Macaulay

On January 3, 2025, the 118th Congress comes to an end and the 119th session begins.

Matt Gaetz resigned from the 118th Congress. Max Gaetz was reelected to Florida’s 1st District with an impressive 66% of the vote.

Does Matt Gaetz enter the 119th session?

The man, who has been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be attorney general, may actually be more clever than his critics give him credit for.

Gaetz was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

The investigation looked into an array of bad behavior, including:

  • Sexual misconduct
  • Illegal drug use
  • Acceptance of improper gifts

The bipartisan Ethics Committee also had the question of whether the congressman was obstructing the investigation into his conduct.

Now there are those who look at Gaetz’s educational background and experience and think they are both lacking for the role that Trump wants him to play in the forthcoming administration.

Gaetz received his undergraduate degree from Florida State in Interdisciplinary Social Science, which certainly sounds like something that the Libs would have come up with. He earned his J.D. from the William & Mary Law School* (is alum former Chief Justice John Marshall rolling around in his grave at the Shockoe Hill Cemetery?).

As for his work experience, with the exception of a couple years of private practice in Florida, he has been a creature of the government, both the Florida House and the US House. Isn’t a career politician the sort of thing that is characteristic of The Swamp?

But back to Gaetz’s cleverness.

The Ethics Committee of the 118th Congress no longer has any authority over Gaetz because he is no longer in Congress. Even the work that they’ve accomplished could simply disappear (as Trump’s legal issues will, no matter who becomes his A.G.).

So if Gaetz returns to Washington for the 119th session, it is possible that the Ethics Committee’s clock is set back to zero. 

This means that he will have a job as the Senate considers whether to confirm him as the 87th Attorney General and by the time that process is complete, the Ethics Committee will probably still be looking for its office supplies.

And you may have thought that Matt Gaetz was ingenious only when it comes to combing his hair.

*The William & Mary Law School is actually the oldest law school in the U.S.; it was established by and large because of Thomas Jefferson. Without being an educationalist about this, it is interesting to compare Gaetz’s education with those of the last 10 U.S. attorneys general (William Barr is both number 2 and number 10):

  • Merrick Garland. Undergrad: Harvard; Law school: Harvard
  • William Barr: Columbia; George Washington University
  • Jeff Sessions: Huntingdon College; University of Alabama
  • Loretta Lynch: Harvard; Harvard
  • Eric Holder: Columbia; Columbia
  • Michael Mukasey: Columbia; Yale
  • Alberto Gonzales: Rice; Harvard
  • John Ashcroft: Yale; University of Chicago
  • Janet Reno: Cornell; Harvard

And in terms of experience, before they became Attorney General:

  • Garland: judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • Barr: Deputy Attorney General before his firsts term; corporate legal (e.g., Verizon) before second
  • Sessions: US Senator; had been Alabama Attorney General and US Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama
  • Lynch: US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York
  • Holder: Deputy Attorney General
  • Mukasey: judge on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • Gonzales: White House Counsel
  • Ashcroft: US Senator; had been governor of Missouri and Missouri Attorney General
  • Reno: State Attorney for Miami-Dade County, Florida

Gaetz’s former firm, which is now known as AnchorsGordon, lists its practice areas as: Complex Business and Commercial Litigation; Business and Corporate Law; Real Estate Litigation; Community Association Law; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Government Affairs and Public Records; Labor and Employment Law. And now one of its alum may head the Department of Justice.

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MONDAY 11/18/24