It looks like Hillary may have only been partially correct (Gabbard is not, in fact, a third-party candidate):
As l mentioned elsewhere, I think Trump has two lists-The ridiculous one that is supposed to be vetoed, and the real one that only looks good compared to the first.
It can only go up from what’s on the current docket.
I’m usually the one saying Trump is smart, but I’m hoping he’s not quite that organized.
My guess — which can perhaps be confirmed or denied by reading Bob Woodward’s next book — is that Trumpworld has not given up on recess appointments for anything that can’t get a quick Senate confirmation.
We’ll see if they try pressuring Thune to exempt recessing from the filibuster.
Thune won’t be up for reelection until 2028, and he won his last reelection by 43 points, so I’m not sure Trump has anything to threaten him with.
It’s not the general election where they get them. It’s in the primaries.
Thune is in a very safe red seat but but Republican-101 is threatening them in the primaries. And it has worked (that’s how MAGA came to power).
Is voter loyalty to MAGA or to the candidate? Historically it has been to MAGA. There are more than a few solid red politicians who got creamed in the polls underestimating this.
That’s one reason why it was bad news that Thune, not Cornyn, was the one to be majority leader. It would have been harder to primary a guy like Corynyn in Texas than Thune in South Dakota.
Which would be a factor if Thune were up in 2026. Trump doesn’t give a shit about 2028, because he won’t be on the ballot, and whoever does wind up being the Republican nominee that year isn’t going to have maga backing them, because cults of personality rarely outlive the subject of their veneration.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Definitely not. Trump is only suggesting Republicans could “do something” because he’s a narcissist and an idiot and he has no idea how the Constitution works or why it would be next to impossible for the 22nd amendment to be repealed.
It’s also a question of how much Thune cares about 2028. When he ran for a fourth term in 2022 there was talk he initially considered retiring.
He’ll only be 67 by then. A veritable spring chicken by Senate standards. 
At least it’ll be nice to see Congress being run by people who don’t remember a time before television.
The “Russian stooge” is Tulsi Gabbard.
You can’t make this shit up. It could have been something right out of the Onion or Borowitz Report, except it’s too ridiculous even for satire. A lunatic pedophile will be the next US Attorney General.
I wonder when it will dawn on even the most obtuse American voters that they have wrought a disaster. I guess we’ll find out in the mid-terms,. which is at least one glimmer of hope.
I don’t buy this explanation at all. Trump would view a Republican Senate refusing to confirm one of his nominees as a humiliating, public demonstration of political weakness. And if there is one thing Trump can’t abide, it’s appearing weak. These are the people he wants in these positions, and he’s going to get them.
And why wouldn’t he? Thune has committed to getting Trump’s nominees confirmed. Four Republicans would need to oppose a nominee for the nomination to fail. Collins and Murkowski may oppose, but who are the other two? Romney’s gone. Maybe a couple of the few remaining old guard dinosaurs? That was the hope on the Barrett nomination, but they all fell in line.
And for Trump, that’s part of the point of frontloading these deeply controversial nominees – like any good bully, he wants to force Senate Republicans to eat the shit sandwich. He needs to publicly demonstrate his total dominance. And once they’ve taken a bite, there’s no reasonable backstop left where they can say, “this is a bridge too far.”
Yes, with qualification that a recess appointment is almost as good. (Almost, because it is just for two years.)
And — of all his appointees, Gaetz is the most important one to Trump. According to this Trumpworld anonymous source quote, Trump interviewed a bunch of AG candidates and Gaetz was the only one fully onboard with autocracy:
The Bulwark: Donald Trump Is Dead Serious About Getting Matt Gaetz to DOJ
I wonder if Trump can make him an acting AG. Would the rest of the Justice Department just ignore an acting, or could an acting Gaetz actually get the people Trump wants to be jailed into the pokey?
Can’t make Gaetz an Acting anything since he hasn’t held a government position requiring approval by the Senate.
Serious question: why would the Senate keep the pro forma sessions to prevent Trump from making recess appointments? Is it no longer a Republican thing but now a pissing contest between the legislative and executive branch no matter who is President?
Wait! Did I miss it? Butthead will be the AG nomination?
It makes sense actually. After showing his incompetence in the SotH fiasco there’s no way he would be able to run an indictment against a sitting President.
Wishes and rainbows be as they may, I think we can be confident that the Senate isn’t going to approve Gaetz. That’s off the table.
Now, my understanding is that:
- Only the AG is allowed to fire a Special Counsel.
- Minus Senate Approval, the President can’t appoint anyone to any position except during a recess or by choosing someone who has already received Senate Approval.
- Biden’s cabinet isn’t out of office when Trump comes in, it’s just an expectation that they’ll leave their post. Otherwise, they’re still all in play as officers and acting officers of the government. They’re the only chess pieces for an incoming President.
Jack Smith is in the running so long as Trump can’t get a nominee past the Senate.
They may ditch the pro forma sessions – in some ways this would be a saving grace for those Senate Republicans who don’t want to incur Trump’s wrath but can’t stomach the idea of casting a vote for Gaetz, Gabbard, etc. But the practice has been in place since the W. Administration with Senate majorities and Administrations of both parties.