What Was the Matt Gaetz Attorney General Pick Really About? | RealClearPolitics
But the rapidity with which Trump announced Bondi after Gaetz withdrew his own nomination does add further cause for speculation: Was all this planned all along? Was this elaborate exercise in musical chairs an actual instance of Trumpian “4-D chess”?
Maybe. The reality was that there was little to no chance that Gaetz was ever going to get confirmed. He is too controversial, has made too many enemies, has too many alleged skeletons in his closet, and was always going to lack any GOP establishment support. It really does seem likelier than not that Trump named Gaetz for attorney general to give him a viable off-ramp from the House, allowing him to salvage his reputation from the menacing House Ethics Committee report and permitting him to more freely seek his next post — quite possibly governor of Florida.
From Trump’s perspective, he has thus killed two birds with one stone. First, he has demonstrated reciprocal loyalty to an arch-MAGA loyalist, Gaetz, and permitted him the ability to play his difficult political hand as well as he could possibly have played it. Second, Bondi’s confirmation fight now looks like a genuine breeze. The Gaetz announcement caught so many off-guard, ruffled so many feathers and was vociferously opposed by so many that anyone — literally anyone — who Trump picked next, after the Gaetz nomination inevitably failed, would have looked calm, cool and sober by comparison.
Josh Hammer.
Lots of folks are wondering this. At this point it’s fair to say you don’t want to underestimate the Trumpster.