When one is small, one needs food and shelter and a stable(ish) home life.
One wants every Lego ever made.
And one wishes that – if your mom invents cold fusion – you can move out of the city to a big place in the country and you can get a pony.
Matt Gaetz is Donald Trump’s pony.
It is a wish that may or may not come true – two GOP senators (Murkowski of Alaska and Collins of Maine) have already said hell to the millionth power of no to the idea. And while new senate majority leader John Thune may be as committed to the “Trump agenda” as he says he is, whether or not he sees the value in strongarming Gaetz through the confirmation process remains to be seen.
It is also possible Trump is using Gaetz – most people knew he is a lawyer, no people thought he would be nominated for Attorney General – as a hope and throwaway. As with the pony, when one makes a list of things (or enters into, say, into a job contract negotiation) they tend to be broken down into three things – need, want, and desire, knowing that not every desire will be met and/or things on that part of the list can be negotiated away to ensure the needs and wants are met.
And if you get your desire, it’s a bonus – it never hurts to ask.
There is also the politically hysterical in-your-face houndery of the Gaetz nomination. He may really want Gaetz, he may even think Gaetz is qualified, but, no matter what, he has already gotten the utterly infuriated reaction of the DC establishment he wanted.
As Sen. John Fetterman said, the Gaetz nomination is “God-tier trolling” of Trump’s political opponents.
While Gaetz is the most extreme example of the phenomena, Trump is creating a Cabinet with a theme, that theme being outsider, shaker-upper, guaranteed to terrify the establishment.
He is essentially creating a Cabinet the exact opposite of what DC wants, needs, and desires.
In other words, no pony for the deep state.
This is so obvious that even CNN has noticed.
“Donald Trump’s increasingly provocative Cabinet picks have left some Republican senators aghast and Washington in shock,” wrote the usually incorrect Stephen Collinson. “But they really shouldn’t. Because the outrage is the point.”
When it comes to appropriate experience and/or temperament, Gaetz is decidedly the most pushy of the nominations. But what of the rest?
Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence is a good pick (she actually has military experience in the field) and also pretty funny – if and when confirmed, she can take her own name off of Homeland Security’s watch lists.
Pete Hegseth is a good pick at Defense – might be nice to have a soldier who actually fought in charge there.
Kristi Noem at the aforementioned Homeland Security…meh. As with the Democrat’s fascination with Gretchen Whitmer, I’ve never been able to quite figure out the point of her.
Vivek and Elon get their own brand new department dedicated to eliminating and/reducing in size other departments? Excellent idea.
Tom Homan as border czar and Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel have both – again – irked the left/establishment, but both are actually qualified (Homan especially) for the gigs.
And one can expect further appointments following this same theme. The public health establishment will be filled with people who really really didn’t like the pandemic response, the education world will be filled with people who want to eliminate themselves out of their own jobs, and the folks in energy will be drill, baby, drilling.
After his election in 2016, Trump had no idea what to do and thought that just because he was President people would have to do what he said. Very wrong, very naïve, and it played a major role in hobbling his presidency from even before his inauguration (the nasty, destabilizing, and false leaks started almost exactly eight years ago.)
This time, Trump and his team (I don’t think he even really had one last time) have learned their lesson well and are moving quickly.
And that is crucial for Trump and it needs to continue next year. It keeps the opposition on their back foot and shows the American people that this time he has the skills and the people needed to implement the agenda they voted for in November.
And he might even get a pony.
The Gaetz nomination is very puzzling, and I suspect something else is afoot. He may be "whip-smart," but he is not only severely unqualified for the job but also devoid of the integrity and character required to lead the agency. There are already enough "no" votes among GOP Senators not to confirm him.