Matt Gaetz Is the Best Possible Outcome for Attorney General

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Matt Gaetz Is the Best Possible Outcome for Attorney General
The man is a preposterous pick who will almost certainly do terrible things—just not as terrible as what a savvier prosecutor would do.


Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was an unreconstructed racist who had one good moment (when he recused himself from the investigation into Trump’s dismissal of FBI Director James Comey) but otherwise weaponized the Justice Department against vulnerable people. His third attorney general, Bill Barr, was a devious monarchist whose wackadoodle theories about executive power exempted Trump from any level of accountability. Jeffrey Rosen was Trump’s last attorney general, and he was fine for the few minutes he was in charge, but Rosen barely fought off a challenge from Trump sycophant Jeffrey Clark, who almost overthrew the government after Trump lost the 2020 election.

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As we look towards the second Trump administration, I did not dare to hope for another Matthew Whitaker as head of the DOJ. The MAGA bench is deep with frightening individuals who understand the immense power of the DOJ and are eager to deploy it against Trump’s enemies, their own enemies, the free press, and vulnerable people across the country. These people include functional Klansmen, who are just itching to get their hands on the FBI and would revel in bringing prosecutions against any Black person who dissents from their rule.

But in the first bit of good news since the election, Trump announced that his pick for Attorney General is Florida Representative Matt Gaetz. Given the universe of likely options, I will take Gaetz as AG any freaking day.


Matt Gaetz is an unserious person. He’s not known as being particularly savvy; he’s not a calculating man who knows how to maximize power, like Barr was. He’s not an inside operator with powerful friends, like Jeff Sessions was. He’s not even a dedicated Christian warrior like former attorney general John Ashcroft, or a constitutional scholar like former acting attorney general and Republican super-lawyer Paul Clement. He’s just… a guy. A “bro.” A creepy dude who allegedly shares pictures on the House floor of women he’s had sex with. The DOJ is the most powerful and dangerous executive branch—the institution that can be weaponized against average citizens’ basic domestic freedoms—and Trump is handing it to a guy who cannot fully comprehend the terms of service of his Venmo account.

Don’t get me wrong, unserious people can be very dangerous, especially when given power. Pennywise, the clown from the horror movie IT, preys on children while hiding in the sewers—and, well, Matt Gaetz reminds me of Pennywise. He can do incredible damage to the entire nation with the power of the DOJ.