Backdoor promises are an ugly part of politics, but they’re status quo. I would have less of a problem with it if he picked someone who I didn’t think is completely in over his head.
Release what report, the one that has been kicked around by the MSM since 2021 that has no proof whatsoever?
Unfortunately, your first point is the norm for SECDEF nominees; those with high-level military experience are the exceptions.* In my opinion, the second point is irrelevant in the absence of the first; I don’t care, for instance, if a person was the CEO of Walgreens if they have never spent one day in uniform. There’s too much they just don’t and won’t understand, and surrounding them with people who have just doesn’t mean anything. That’s what I was trying to say earlier. There should be general minimum qualifications for this and other Cabinet positions. For SECDEF, I think you need to have held a rank no lower than major, a master’s degree in military studies or business administration, and be five years removed from military service. I say major (O-4) because that is the earliest grade in which a person is exposed to military strategy, force management (acquisitions, doctrine, facilities, etc), and whole-of-government solutions, which the SECDEF must be versed in. Earlier than that, and they just understand their specific military occupational specialty and little outside of it. From my perspective, having a SECDEF who has not been a field grade officer in one of the armed services is like having a Surgeon General who was never a doctor or a Supreme Court Justice who was never a judge. * Just looked it up: there have been 27 SECDEFs since the position was established in 1947; of those, only eight served as an O-4 or higher, and four of those had accelerated promotion due to WW2 and really never got the training and education that went with it.
Gaetz’s nemesis’s comments: “Look, Gaetz won’t get confirmed,” he continued. “Everybody knows that.” McCarthy, a loyal Trump ally while serving in the House, was asked why the former president would bother tapping Gaetz if he knew the Florida Republican couldn’t get confirmed You can talk to [the] president, but it’s a good deflection from others, but it also gives …” McCarthy responded, cutting himself off. “I’ll let it stand at that.” You’d have to ask the president, but Gaetz couldn’t win in a Republican conference, so it doesn’t matter.” McCarthy says Gaetz won’t get confirmed: ‘Everyone knows that’
What happens to the Gaetz House ethics report? No, the one the Republican led house ethics committee has recently completed.
Kind of surprised me. I thought that he would appoint Miriam Adelson. She's Israeli by birth and is one of Trump's largest donors (around $100 million to his 2024 campaign) as was her late husband, Sheldon.
Gaetz is a great pick. Virtually everyone picked so far is verbally dominant and young. Trump will have a great legacy
Yes to all that, but Gaetz has something else that surely appeals to Trump--he is a bulldog vs his opponents, and very much a partisan. IOW, he's Merrick Garland, from the right. (Which is far more damning commentary of Garland, than complimentary of Gaetz. It’s terrififying to think that partisan hack was almost on the SCOTUS, as his stint as AG is already incredibly damaging in its precedent. Note that the only reason Gaetz may not get confirmed is the lingering spectre of the sex with under age gal allegation, not that he's a partisan zealot--that would be bc Garland already annihilated that barrier).
Ben Domenech, co-founder of The Federalist, seems somewhat less than impressed with the pick.: Matt Gaetz is a Vile Sex Pest and Any Senator Who Votes For Him Owns That
So when does Gaetz remove himself from consideration? (at behest of Dear Leader behind the scenes, for another role further down the line)
Some senators will posture, but at the end of the day they will do dear leaders bidding. Crossing Trump is an early exit from the party.
Putting Gaetz in the AG is the epitome of putting the "fox in the henhouse". As he has said h Nonsense. Garland is far from a partisan. Dems have been complaining his entire term that he was too hands off which allowed trump and his cohorts to delay most actions against them, allowing most to evade their trials. As for partisan hacks on the SOS, the winner is easily Clarence Thomas.
