If you voted for President-Elect Donald Trump, you may not care so much about all those left-wing complaints that democracy was at risk if Trump was elected.
After all, politics is propagated with lies, false claims, and exaggerations.
So, when the newly-elected second-term president named his nominees this week for high-level cabinet positions, you may consider that he should pick whoever he trusts to fill those positions…that is how the system works.
But then there is the case of Matt Gaetz, nominated to serve in the key position of the United States attorney general.
The AG is the chief law enforcement officer of the nation of 340 million American citizens, with responsibility for the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Secret Service.
Historically, the AG has functioned within any administration somewhat apart from the political side of the administration, thereby protecting the integrity of administering the law in a fair and balanced fashion, protecting both our citizens and our constitution.
Gaetz will not be appointed in that role.
You see, Mr. Gaetz is a LINO, a lawyer-in-name-only who has never actually practiced law. If confirmed by the Republican Senate, Mr. Gaetz will have earned his power and authority solely for his unwavering loyalty to Mr. Trump.
Even so, you may still opt to support loyalty over experience in serving the President; that is not unheard of in naming this position. However, Gaetz is exceptional in many regards because his qualifications and legal history stand apart from virtually any other person who could have been nominated.
Gaetz, the newly resigned congressperson representing the Florida Panhandle, has been under investigation, not by Democrats, not by the Deep State, but by his colleagues in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
The charges, dismissed with his resignation this week, included not jaywalking, not bundles of unpaid traffic tickets, but child sex trafficking.
The committee’s investigation also included charges of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts, sharing inappropriate pictures or videos on the House floor, accepting bribes, converting campaign donations for personal use, and obstructing justice in the investigation.
Rep. Gaetz blamed his troubles on Democrats, the Deep State, ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the “weaponized” government. But the charges were filed before McCarthy was speaker, and the investigation was initiated by House Republicans.
Separately, Mr. Gaetz had his law license suspended in 2021, though it has since been reinstated.
By now, you may be asking what qualifications Mr. Gaetz offers the Trump administration. That leads us to how to unwind a democracy, by undermining trust in our institutions and placing loyal and unqualified supplicants into positions of power.
Lest you think Gaetz to be an exception to appointing the deeply unqualified, consider the nomination of Pete Hegseth, Fox News personality, to be Secretary of Defense, who will be responsible for nearly three million employees and over $800 Billion in federal budget dollars after leading his staff of two at Fox.
Mr. Hegseth has called our military “effeminate,” called our NATO partners “Impotent nations,” suggested a “cleaning house” of our “woke” generals and admirals, has argued that women should not serve in combat, and has expressed his dislike of the Geneva Accords that protect prisoners of war from brutality.
However, Hegseth has one truly impressive credential beyond dispute: While he is unqualified in every other regard, he can be trusted to obey Donald Trump in whatever demands Trump expresses of our armed forces, whether in domestic engagement against American citizens or in building and managing prison camps across the nation.
Unwinding democracy works precisely this way.