It is obvious that Trump, unlike past presidents, is bypassing the vetting process in picking his governmental nominees. If the nominees had been vetted by the FBI, we wouldn't have had the likes of Matt Gaetz (sex abuser and congressional bomb-thrower), Pete Hegseth (sex abuser with white supremacy and christian nationalist leanings), Tulsi Gabbard (Russian sympathizer and possible Russian mole), and Robert Kennedy (who prefers conspiracy theories to actual science).
Matt Gaetz has now withdrawn his name from consideration. Trump will still nominate a sycophantic yes-man to be Attorney General, but at least it won't be someone with the ugly baggage that Gaetz had.
The question now is what will GOP senators do about the other three incompetents nominated by Trump? Will they properly vet them? Do they have the political courage to oppose any of them? Or will they bend to Trump's will and approve all of them?
I suspect they will approve them all - trying to use the Gaetz withdrawal as cover. It seems that some senators had told Gaetz that his troublesome past would be exposed.
But Gaetz is not the only problem. None of the other three should be approved either - especially Tulsi Gabbard, who would endanger U.S. intelligence activities (and those of other countries who share their intelligence with this country).
GOP senators now have a choice. They can uphold their constitutional duty of oversight and reject one or more of these three nominees. Or they can bend the knee to Trump and approve them. If they do the latter, it will give Trump the authoritarian power he is seeking. It will mean Trump has the power to do what he wants, no matter how ridiculous, without any effective congressional oversight.
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see four GOP senators with the backbone to oppose Trump - even a little bit. Even the few who have done some grumbling in the past have wound up supporting him.
Trump thinks he owns both houses of Congress right now. I think he's probably right.
