To show his iron grip and sow chaos and despair

Emily Singer of Daily Kos reported Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration for Attorney General. He said his nomination was becoming a distraction to the nasty guy. Gaetz said he had “excellent meetings” with senators to start the confirmation process. Likely some said they would oppose him – he’s hated my many fellow Republicans. What prompted the withdrawal was the renewed interest in his sexual transgressions his nomination stirred up. The House Ethics Committee deadlocked along party lines on whether to release their report on him. And women are coming forward to testify they had sex with him when underage. Gaetz resigned from the House to forestall the Ethics Committee report. Yet, he won another term that begins in January. If he takes the oath for that term he would be again under the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee. I had reported that Sarah McBride of Delaware will be the first transgender person elected to the House. Oliver Willis of Kos reported it didn’t take long for Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina to introduce a resolution to segregate the Capitol bathrooms, banning McBride from using a woman’s room. And Speaker Johnson didn’t bother going through the motions of a resolution, he simply announced the bathroom segregation – and he did it on Transgender Day of Remembrance. Johnson said the policy will be enforced, but didn’t specify how that’s to be done – who is going to do the checking and what will be done with a violator. Mace and Johnson were praised by conservative lawmakers and pundits and decried by progressives. McBride, bless her, said don’t make a big deal of this, it’s just a distraction. There are more important issues. Willis concluded:

The effort to reinstate a form of segregation as official American government policy is the first major action by Republicans since their victory in the 2024 election. Based on the party’s clear support for attacking an oppressed minority group, more is sure to come.

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is one of the conservative firebrands in the House, though quieter than Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Greene. She also gave birth in 2023 and that and complications meant she missed dozens of House votes. Singer reported that last January Luna and Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California introduced legislation to allow House members who give birth to vote remotely for six weeks afterward. Now, about ten months later, Johnson said he would not bring Luna’s legislation up for a vote. Luna said this is a very anti-family thing to do for a person who declares they are pro-family. A woman should not have to choose between serving their constituents and having children. I understand, though don’t agree with, Johnson’s position. He says he’s pro-family because getting pregnant can keep a woman out of politics and the business world. Giving birth keeping her out of the House, that’s just fine. Never mind he would lose a vote from a thin majority. Luna says when the next Speaker is voted on in January she will only vote for one who will allow women to vote remotely after giving birth. Singer noted there is a precedence for remote voting. Congress did it during the pandemic. Republicans ended it when they took the majority in 2023. In a pundit roundup for Kos, Greg Dworkin had a few good quotes. Mike Madrid of The Great Transformation discussed two previous mass deportations. Both affected Mexicans and US citizens of Mexican descent. One happened at the start of the Great Depression when politicians needed a scapegoat. Their story isn’t covered in American history because Mexicans don’t matter as much as Okies and Dust bowlers. Margaret Sullivan of American Crisis noted that the nasty guy got 49.99% of the vote. Also...

Don’t believe that these unfit nominees for Trump’s cabinet represent some lofty idea of making America great again. Despite all his effusive language about the supposed statesmanship of Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, these picks are meant to do two things: show his iron-grip control over the Senate; and sow chaos and despair in the non-MAGA members of the American public.

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer said all those op-eds discussing various cabinet picks and using facts to explain how bad they are falling into the nasty guy’s trap. They’re playing the game the way he wants it played. I see arguing with facts is meaningless because all it does is show he is working from a position of power, where facts don’t matter. In the comments are a couple good cartoons. Ella Baron drew one of The Ministry of Truth. Above the entrance are statues of the nasty guy, RFK Jr, Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Matt Gaetz. Annie for Truth posted a meme of three dinosaurs in red hats watching the incoming meteor. One of them says, “This is gonna be great!” In a second pundit roundup Chitown Kev had a couple quotes. One is from the Pew Research Center looking at people who get their news from “news influencers.” About 20% of Americans and 37% of adults under 30 get news from influencers. Most influencers are on X, though many are also on Instagram and YouTube. A few more influencers identify themselves as conservative or Republican than identify as Democratic or liberal. That leaves about half who don’t explicitly identify. Almost two-thirds are men. More than three-quarters are not affiliated with a news organization. I see they are called influencers, meaning they are advocating for a particular position. They are not reporting news. Having that as a person’s primary source of news is deeply troubling. Jennifer Berry Hawes and Mollie Simon of ProPublica discuss “segregation academies.” A big reason why many conservatives want to pay for schools with vouchers, which is tax dollars, is somewhat about the conservative schools that churches sponsor. The bigger reason is race. These academies are far whiter than the communities they are in. They play an integral role in perpetuating school segregation and racism. John Cassidy of The New Yorker thinks Elon Musk’s support of the nasty guy is about money and not about making the world a better place, as is the case for George Soros. Cassidy offers evidence.

On Wall Street, there is a more self-serving explanation for Musk’s bear hug of Trump. “It’s a poker move for the ages,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities who has long been bullish on Tesla’s stock, told CNBC. If that’s true, the play has already paid off big time. Between Trump’s victory on November 5th and the close of trading on Friday, Tesla’s stock price went from $251.50 to $320.72. According to Tesla’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk owns about 715 million shares, so based on that figure the value of his stake has risen by almost fifty billion dollars. ... The run-up in Tesla’s stock reflects investors’ conviction that the policies of a second Trump Administration will be favorable to the carmaker. But the presence of Trump in the White House could also have important implications for Musk’s other companies, many of which are subject to oversight by federal agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, or which have big contracts with government departments.

In the comments are a few good cartoons. One by Mike Luckovich shows Natives and Pilgrims around the table. A chief says, “Dinner’s over. Please make your way to the deportation wagons.” A cartoon by Sheneman posted by the Tennessee Holler shows a white man talking to an ICE agent who has detained a person of color, saying, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding, I only wanted you to deport the immigrants I don’t know personally.” Many of the nasty guy’s cabinet picks now have dirty pasts coming to light. That prompted RJ Matson to show two men on the National Mall.

First man: Let’s face it, I’ve got no future in this town without a felony conviction or an ethics probe. Second man: What about me? I’ve never paid hush money to anyone for anything!

Pedro Molina posted a cartoon on Kos. Two men are in a bar. One says, “OK, you voted for Trump, convince me I’m wrong about my worst fears.” The other replies, “Are you kidding?! I hope you’re right!”