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.
The only way to stop the nomination is for a Republican sentator on the relevant committee to vote no, or for 4 Republican Senators to vote no if it leaves committee. What are the odds of that?
Well I’m certain Susan Collins will do her dog-and-pony show of pretending to care about women again, and Murkowski will probably also object. It would be amusing, given the bad blood between them, if McCarthy had any allies in the Senate who would knife Gaetz.
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.
McConnell already blocked Trump’s ally from becoming the leader of the house. They voted yesterday, and the next senate majority leader is John Thune, who has criticized Trump for Jan 6 and for claiming the 2020 election was stolen. He was also against Trump’s tarrifs 6 years ago. Thankfully the senate doesn’t seem to be ending up under Trump’s control, and the checks and balances in our government might actually be working.
https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture/overview.htm
“The Senate adopted new precedents in the 2010s to allow a simple majority to end debate on nominations”
With a 53-47 split, and no filibuster on nominations, there’s no way to block it.
The only way to stop the nomination is for a Republican sentator on the relevant committee to vote no, or for 4 Republican Senators to vote no if it leaves committee. What are the odds of that?
Very likely. This guy does not have the support and multiple Republican senators have said they won’t confirm him.
Same as the odds of someone playing a Change of Heart card on Trump
Well I’m certain Susan Collins will do her dog-and-pony show of pretending to care about women again, and Murkowski will probably also object. It would be amusing, given the bad blood between them, if McCarthy had any allies in the Senate who would knife Gaetz.
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.
McConnell already blocked Trump’s ally from becoming the leader of the house. They voted yesterday, and the next senate majority leader is John Thune, who has criticized Trump for Jan 6 and for claiming the 2020 election was stolen. He was also against Trump’s tarrifs 6 years ago. Thankfully the senate doesn’t seem to be ending up under Trump’s control, and the checks and balances in our government might actually be working.