JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Will the last Florida Republican who leaves Congress for the Trump administration please turn out the lights?
That’s one takeaway from President-elect Donald Trump’s slam-dunk selection of Panhandle Rep. Matt Gaetz for his second-term attorney general.
As opposed to his first-term AGs, Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr, there is no doubt where the always-quotable congressman falls with his legal and political philosophy.
He is, from beginning to end, a pit-bull defender of Donald Trump, in good times, in bad times and everything in between.
At a low point for Trump reputationally, for example, as Republicans lined up to begin what some actually thought would be a post-Trump era, Gaetz in 2022 pushed for the former president to be House speaker.
In the just-concluded campaign, Gaetz promised at a July rally he would be the president’s “strongest defender in Congress.”
That’s one promise the bombastic legal eagle won’t be able to keep, as he’ll be defending the president and the reforms he seeks to make on the national stage.
And unlike the previous occupants of the position under Trump, he will crawl over broken glass if necessary to serve out the full four years.
Gaetz’s ascension means the age of lawfare against the president is over for good.
There is no ambivalence at all for this man the Florida Republican Party hails as a “conservative warrior who will end the weaponization of our government, protect our borders, and restore confidence in our Justice Department.”
Gaetz has been subject to that weaponization himself of course, with the Justice Department smearing his name a few years back, dogging him with unfounded allegations of scandal related to improper sexual conduct.
The drip, drip, drip of the leaks was intended to ruin him, trying him in the media and denying him due process and the ability to answer his accusers, who ended up lacking credibility.
Now, in an illustration of how full circle politics is, he’s the president-elect’s choice for the chief legal officer in the land.
Gaetz was without vocal allies during his time in the wilderness, including a man he got elected Florida governor in 2018: Ron DeSantis.
Back then, Gaetz was the hypeman for DeSantis’ campaign as the future gov dispatched a primary challenger then fought an uphill battle against Democrat Andrew Gillum. Gaetz traveled around the state with the then-congressman to various events, accompanied him to at least one debate and coached him up for debates as well.
Among the points of advice for DeSantis: Be “likable” and not “condescending.” Good counsel, indeed!
His reward was a spot on DeSantis’ transition team. Then just like Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — called “the most powerful woman in the world” by the president Wednesday — he was kicked to the curb unceremoniously.
But whereas DeSantis actively tried to wreck Wiles, he shivved Gaetz repeatedly.
Asked about Gaetz’s legal issues years ago when they were most prominent, DeSantis said he didn’t “have anything to say” about them — not offering a defense of the man who made him ready for primetime.
And in 2023, DeSantis harrumphed he was “uncomfortable” with Gaetz trying to “generate fundraising” over the removal of wet-noodle House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Some gratitude!
The Gaetz selection is but the latest high-profile Florida pick so far, with the Panama City Beach legislator joining Mike Waltz, who will advise Trump on national security, and Marco Rubio, who will be secretary of state.
And it is arguable that Gaetz will be the first AG who’s ready for the 21st century, providing a stark contrast to the wax figures Trump installed his first time around, as well as to the Merrick Garlands of the world.
On issues like cannabis legalization and other libertarian matters, the congressman is a clear-eyed, emphatic reformer, a small-government conservative who will privilege the rights of the people over those of the federal leviathan.
He’s the latest sign of the president-elect’s big-tent approach to Trump 2.0. And he will be a transformational force in an office so often staffed by people who are at best forgettable and at worst anathemic to normal Americans’ desires.
