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Gone Gaetz:  Panhandle Putz Matt Gaetz will not be the next Attorney General.  He withdrew from consideration yesterday after CNN told him they were about to reveal that his sexcapade with the seventeen-year-old wasn’t a one-off experience and after he received a call from Trump telling him that it was time for him to throw in the towel which isn’t to say that Trump won’t appoint him to another position, just not one that requires confirmation.  Trump’s decision was because he’d been told that at least five Republican Senators including former Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins, Oklahoma’s Markwayne Mullin and Utah’s incoming newbie Senator John Curtis, were likely to vote against the Gaetz confirmation.  Murkowski and Collins’ no votes were expected.  The question had been who else would be willing to cross Trump.  McConnell may have reached the no more fxcks stage of his career, if so, things could get interesting going forward. Before becoming Senator, Oklahoma’s Mullin served with Gaetz in the House and had heard him brag and about his drug fueled sexcapades, so he had every reason to believe the accusations against Gaetz were true.  Like McConnell, Utah’s Curtis is another one to watch, maybe he’ll be more like his predecessor, retiring Senator Mitt Romney rather than Utah’s other Senator Mike Lee who is one of Trump’s most avid supporters, only time will tell.  Shortly after dumping Gaetz, Trump announced that his nominee for Attorney General is now Pam Bondi who served as Florida’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2019.  She’s currently a partner at the lobbying firm that was run by Trump’s incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.  She’s was an early proponent of the election lie who has long been one of Trump’s most avid supporters, she served as a senior advisor to the team that defended him during his first impeachment and, when she was serving as Florida Attorney General, she nixed the state’s Trump University fraud case, a decision that “coincidentally” occurred after Trump contributed $25,000 to her AG campaign. Expectations are that she’ll be easily confirmed because all that makes her a normal Trump appointee.     

Cabinetry: Attention now turns to Defense Secretary nominee, accused rapist Pete Hegseth.  It’s highly likely that the allegation that Hegseth raped his accuser is true, however, it’s also possible that having just rejected Gaetz, Senate Republicans will give him a pass, in order to avoid incurring the wrath of Trump. For his part, Hegseth is sticking by his “consensual sex” claim and his supporters, including some in the Senate like the always complicit Lindsey Graham, are asserting that if there had been a crime, local police wouldn’t have dropped the case and anyway it’s just rape and the victim was of age so who cares?  For the record, police didn’t drop the case, they recommended that it be handed to local prosecutors for their review, but before that happened Hegseth paid off and entered into a non-disclosure agreement with his accuser.  Turning to Trump’s other nominees, RFK Jr’s nomination is still out there.  Despite all his flaws, and there are many, as well as the tape of him previously equating Trump with Hitler, something that he blames on believing biased media reports, he may benefit from all the attention currently being placed elsewhere, that would be a shame, but this is a shameless crowd.  The same is true of Tulsi Gabbard, suspected by many of being Putin’s tool, no one should forget how ill-suited she is to serve as Director of National Intelligence.  As to some of Trump’s other picks, earlier this week when Trump announced that transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick was his pick for Commerce Secretary he disappointed both Lutnick who really wants to be Treasury Secretary and his other co-chair, Linda McMahon who had hoped to be selected for the Commerce spot but who instead got “stuck” with Education, a great place for someone being sued for looking away while an employee sexually abused kids and also a department that Trump ran on eliminating.  As to that coveted Treasury Secretary role, Trump still hasn’t announced his pick because finding a credible candidate who is both a tariff supporter and acceptable to the “markets” ain’t easy. Contenders continue to include Kevin Warsh, a former investment banker and former Federal Reserve governor who Trump has often consulted for economic advice and Marc Rowan, the billionaire co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management who has the support of son-in-law Jared Kusher who won’t be joining the administration but will still advise on the Middle East because of course.  Tennessee’s current Senator Bill Hagerty and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, an early favorite who lost points for knocking heads with Lutnick, also remain in the mix.

State of Play:  Republicans have won 219 seats including three safe seats that will remain vacant until filled by special elections.  Democrats have won 213 seats.  Three House races have not been called yet.  Last night Pennsylvania’s incumbent Democrat Bob Casey conceded to Republican Dave McCormick, as a result the Senate split is officially 53 Republicans to 47 Democrats.   

Fog:  Everything is awful.  No peace in the Middle East and scarier than usual missiles are flying back and forth between Ukraine and Russia.

#BringThemAllHomeNow