Is Matt Gaetz’s Nomination Dead on Arrival?

For the most part, the Republican Party is still basking in the warm afterglow of Trump’s victory. But there are some signs of danger ahead. One of them is named Matt Gaetz. 

Last Wednesday, president-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate the Florida congressman to be the next attorney general. MAGA World was ecstatic. Here was a loyalist who despised the deep state as much as Trump, and now was set to lay waste to a Justice Department that had tormented the incoming president for years. Rep. Lauren Boebert summed up the mood for the MAGA faithful when she posted on X three flame emojis and a photo of her and Gaetz carrying assault rifles. 

But not everyone in the Trump coalition is thrilled. At the annual meeting of the Federalist Society over the weekend, the mood might be described as—well, nauseous would probably be a good word.