Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted that President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general would be rejected by the Republican Senate next year.
Some Senate Republicans are signaling that they won’t vote for him, and it wouldn’t surprise me all that much if 4 Rs defect to block his confirmation.
Of course, Trump can and will still force him through as a recess appointment (fitting, giving Gaetz’ track record on consent) which will secure him as AG at least until the midterms when the balance of power in the Senate will inevitably shift again.
My understanding is that there hasn’t been a technical Senate recess in a long time. I think there b has to be a 5 day gap or something, so one senator stays in DC, calls the Senate to order, then adjourns it. Something like that.
That’s true, but Trump’s team is already lobbying the incoming majority leader to call an intentional recess so he can ram through all the appointments he wants without any Senate oversight.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t bet money on the new majority leader standing up to Trump on day one, right after he was elected with a significant mandate and handed full control of the legislative branch to Republicans. More likely, Thune will fold to whatever Trump demands until the the political winds begin to shift and Republicans need to start playing defense for the midterms. At that point we might start to see the Senate push back on Trump’s agenda if his approval ratings have gotten are low enough and the Dems have gotten their act together enough to run some decent congressional campaigns.
Some Senate Republicans are signaling that they won’t vote for him, and it wouldn’t surprise me all that much if 4 Rs defect to block his confirmation.
Of course, Trump can and will still force him through as a recess appointment (fitting, giving Gaetz’ track record on consent) which will secure him as AG at least until the midterms when the balance of power in the Senate will inevitably shift again.
My understanding is that there hasn’t been a technical Senate recess in a long time. I think there b has to be a 5 day gap or something, so one senator stays in DC, calls the Senate to order, then adjourns it. Something like that.
That’s true, but Trump’s team is already lobbying the incoming majority leader to call an intentional recess so he can ram through all the appointments he wants without any Senate oversight.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t bet money on the new majority leader standing up to Trump on day one, right after he was elected with a significant mandate and handed full control of the legislative branch to Republicans. More likely, Thune will fold to whatever Trump demands until the the political winds begin to shift and Republicans need to start playing defense for the midterms. At that point we might start to see the Senate push back on Trump’s agenda if his approval ratings have gotten are low enough and the Dems have gotten their act together enough to run some decent congressional campaigns.
Yeah, I just saw news about that last night. If he can make recess appointments it’s all over.