Consent & Advise

(Consent & Advise)

To begin, much has been made of the meeting between President Biden and former President Trump. The gathering had been cordial and civil. It lasted about two hours and it was interesting that only months previously, one was incompetent and the other was Hitler and a threat to democracy. There has been some speculation that Biden, because he was smiling, he perhaps got final "revenge" for his ouster because he might have voted for Donald Trump. But the President has had recent cognitive issues so he might not have realized it.


The Constitution requires that members that a President appoints to a Cabinet need the "Advise and Consent" of the Senate. North Dakota Senator John Thune has just been elected Senate Majority Leader, a Republican Majority Leader. With the GOP also in control of the House and Donald Trump will be seated again at the White House. A re-elected elected President like Trump has been assembling a Cabinet that is unlike any ever. The list is un-conventional to be sure. However. in lieu of not proceeding with "recess" appointments, that would be the most rapid method to staff the Administration, putting Hegseth at Defense or Rubio at State. Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has been selected to be the next Attorney General.


Why would this Trump Nomination be problematic ? He is a lawyer, spent years on House Judiciary, and, as Trump has put it, would be precisely the one who should head Justice, to cut the dead weight in the Department. All the lawyers that led the anti-Trump crusade. Any AG commission would necessarily reform the FBI. A list of what a Gaetz Justice Department, meaning a Trump Justice Department.


Majority Leader Thune has said he agrees with President-Elect Trump on most of the issues involved. At least that is what he is saying, for the moment. Thuse will have to take legislation from the Republican House and move it through the Republican Senate, so it gets to the desk of a Republican President. Nominee Gaetz is a part of Trump's wish list, and it will be up to Thune to advance Gaetz to the best of his ability.


Can there be Hearings ? Sure. If Gaetz gets his day in court, so to speak, then wavering Republicans might otherwise be convinced. That being said, the basic story about Majority Leader Thune is that is all but the mirror image of outgoing Senator McConnell. Thune can offer lip service to Donald Trump and his ideas but it still with the understanding that the Senate will not be his automatic pass-through.


The choice is this. Either the President-Elect can have partners, and a cooperative pathway through Congress, or he could indulge less than solid Senate Republicans who all of a sudden are having reservations. 

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